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Somalia: dysfunctional Arab statehood anchored in complicit leadership

by Daily Star, Lebanon (reposted)
Almost on cue, one more Arab land is defaced by intense fighting in its capital city, as hundreds of thousands of civilians are displaced and thousands others are killed or wounded. This season, the venue for showcasing dysfunctional modern Arab statehood is Somalia, and not for its first time, either. The pattern is similar throughout the region: local warlords, tribal leaders, gangsters and militias compete for power, and ultimately fight it out on the streets; neighbors side with the various antagonists and foreign powers send in a regular flow of money, arms and diplomatic fuel. The rekindled domestic warfare in Somalia is hard to blame on foreign powers, given the frequent legacy of dysfunctional national leadership and ample local fighters. Yet the great powers in the days of the Cold War and other foreign powers today continue to meddle in the affairs of Somalia, whether neighbors like Ethiopia or far-off powers like the United States that sees Somalia as one more battlefield where it must confront Islamist movements by all possible means, including total war by proxies.
It is difficult to determine if President Abdullahi Yusuf, assorted clan leaders, or the Union of Islamic Courts is most to blame for the current state of affairs. One thing is clear, though: Somalia does not function well as an independent state, and has not done so for decades. It is only the latest example of a string of Arab countries that have collapsed into shattered sovereignties and active domestic warfare, because they allowed their local feuds to converge with regional and global power contests. The end of the Cold War slowed down this process around the world - except for the Arab world, for some bizarre, cruel reason. A new factor in the region is the assertion of non-Arab neighboring powers who flex their political muscles or send in their troops, whether to protect their national interests or to serve the interests of faraway global powers. Iran is one example at the eastern edge of the Arab region, and Ethiopia plays this role today in Somalia. Turkey is involved in issues in its Arab neighboring areas, as is Israel here and there.

All the tense or actively violent situations that emanate from such dynamics reflect a combination of local, regional and global tensions, but these require Arab leaders who are willing to play this ugly game. Leaders of states, tribes or militias who go down this route doom their countries to perpetual strife, certain poverty and ultimate marginalization. The fact that so many Arab leaders opt for this sort of mediocrity and criminality is a homegrown Arab problem that regional and foreign powers aggravate, but do not create.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&article_id=81614&categ_id=17
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