Understanding the Somalia Conflagration: Identity, Political Islam and Peacebuilding by Afyare Abdi Elmi

Author:Afyare Abdi Elmi [Elmi, Afyare Abdi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, History & Theory, East, Africa, Political Science, History, Politics, General
ISBN: 9780745329741
Google: R52KQAAACAAJ
Goodreads: 7979835
Publisher: Pluto Press
Published: 2010-08-04T00:00:00+00:00

KENYA: FACILITATOR AND BENEFICIARY OF THE CONFLICT

Historically, unlike Ethiopia, Kenya is a young state that has not had past hostile relations with the Somali people. Like Somalis, Kenyans themselves also lived under colonial rule. But in the early 1960s when Great Britain granted independence to Kenya it forcibly put together people of many different tribes. In fact, Great Britain appointed a commission that was to report on public opinion of Somalis in the Somali region. The commission reported that five of the six Somali districts in Kenya favoured unity with the Somali republic. But, Great Britain went ahead with its decision and made the Somali region the seventh province of Kenya. Initially the Somali Republic and Somalis in the region protested this decision. The Somali Republic broke off diplomatic relations with Great Britain and openly renounced the move. Somalis in the region mobilized to fight for their independence during the 1960s.29

In 1963 Kenya and Ethiopia signed a ‘mutual defence-pact’ against Somalia.30 The rationale for this agreement was that the Somali Republic was irredentist and was seeking to unite all Somalis in the region. For Ethiopia and Kenya, this meant that they could lose the Somali regions under their control. Moreover, Ethiopia and Kenya collaborated diplomatically against Somalia, particularly at the Organization of African Unity (OAU) level. Ethiopia and Kenya capitalized on the idea that they faced a common enemy. Even though there was never a major war between Kenya and Somalia, the Kenyan government sided with Ethiopia in the 1964 and 1977 wars between Somalia and Ethiopia. Like many other black African countries, Kenya perceived Somalia as the aggressor state when Somalia and Ethiopia fought over the ‘Ogaden’ region.31

After several rounds of negotiations, the question of the Somali region in Kenya was finally settled in 1967 in Arusha, Tanzania. Although Somalis in Kenya have had their grievances against the Kenyan government, their situation is far better than the Somalis in the ‘Ogaden’ region. Somalis in Kenya have significant influence in the political direction of that country. That said, although Kenya is not as confrontational as Ethiopia, this background informs Kenya’s policy toward the Somali Republic. While it shares common goals with Ethiopia, Kenya follows a different strategy.

When the Somali state collapsed in 1991, Kenya’s policy toward Somalia followed Ethiopia’s policy. Although hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled to Kenya, it shared the objective with Ethiopia that it did not want to see a strong Somalia re-emerge. President Daniel Arap Moi openly admitted this in 2002 when he visited the United States Navy Academy in Washington. Kenya and Ethiopia feared another revival of the ‘Greater Somalia’ concept. Second, many Somalis, particularly business groups, moved to Nairobi and began to contribute effectively to Kenya’s economy. Finally, almost all of the international organizations and non-governmental organizations that worked in Somalia began to operate from Nairobi, Kenya. When I was doing my field research I visited Nairobi and it seemed to me that this city had become Somalia’s de-facto capital. I met with and

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