Tribalism and nepotism has failed Somali nation.

Completing the Circle! A reflective note on the abuse of power in Somalia's Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy.

A Somali Embassy Building in Doha, Qatar.

Hussein is back with more interesting, if sometimes sad and disturbing reflections from his days at the Somali Foreign Affairs Ministry (FAM hereafter) of the 1980s and later as a diplomat in Turkey and the UAE. He reminds us that the seeds of Somali’s failure as a nation-state were sown during the military regime of 1969-1990.

The following are reflections from my days at the Somali FAM.  This episode highlights  how the revolutionary regime of that era dealt with a case involving a personnel who was dismissed from the Somali civil service when it emerged that he could neither do his official duty nor get along with his immediate superiors. This is a historical note and the source of this information is a ministerial colleague who narrated  this verbatim. The intention as always is to inform the Somali community, especially the future generation.  

On the first occasion, the Somali civil service management system worked perfectly and that person in question was discharged from duty, becoming momentarily unemployed. Sometime later, however, and under different circumstance, that same person would be recruited again by the Somali FAM under the direction of then Minister, even resulting later in his swift promotion to become an ambassador extraordinary. This following episode first narrates the story of that civil servant and how he mysteriously completed the circle of his career. This highlights how the seeds of Somalia’s descent to failed status started much earlier than many realise.  

From the beginning, this individual who graduated with a BSc in law in the latter years of 1970s,   joined the Somali Justice Ministry as a judge and while working there clashed with the incumbent Minister in charge when it emerged that he could not do his assigned workload. This resulted in his eventual dismissal from the ministry altogether. He then applied after some time and was admitted to the Somali Bar Association where it became apparent later that he could not continue to work with his colleagues there as well as the chief Advocate the late Ismail Juma’ale, which subsequently resulted in him losing his job again, and becoming unemployed for the second time.  

Then to the surprise of many government officials he has received a visa for one of the Gulf countries from an influential diplomatic who was a family relative. He left the country and went to try his luck for an employment abroad. However, when he despaired of getting suitable work and his visit visa was about to expire, the Embassy, who had incidentally a tea-boy vacancy, applied the position for him, for the job seeker to be able to stay the country legally.  

In the meantime, a presidential delegation came to visit the Gulf nation and the Somali accredited Ambassador availed the opportunity of the visit to inform the accompanying foreign affairs minister of the blight of the former - justice ministry staff who is now a desperate job seeker. After some time, the FAM sent a telex message requesting the repatriation of the job seeker, as he was placed in the Department of Arab affairs of the foreign ministry as a Counsellor – a very high position indeed. Owing to his family ties and perhaps close kinship to the foreign minister, within short period of time he was transferred to the Somali Embassy in Algeria as Counsellor and deputy head of mission, whereas many expected he immediately clashed with the incumbent Ambassador. 

Rather than being restrained or reprimanded, he was immediately promoted to be an ambassador and subsequently assigned to a significantly important and busy post –Tunis, the seat of Arab League in the 1980s. Then performing poorly and unsatisfactorily of his assigned duties as Ambassador to both the Republic of Tunisia and the Arab League, he was again speedily transferred to another Arab capital as an ambassador, which he subsequently served for a couple of years. But this time, he set his eyes to acquire a higher prize when he demanded to be posted as Ambassador to the same Gulf country where his adventure began several years ago, completing the circle of time and oblivious of the fact that a resident permit as an embassy local staff was applied once on his behalf a long time ago. 

Upon receiving his nomination note as Ambassador Extraordinary and realizing of his previous status, one may wonder how the Gulf country’s authorities reacted. Considering the existing good bilateral relations, they eventually consented to his nomination as ambassador, accommodating the request of the Somali government. And that man then assumed the ambassadorship where he ended his service later by pocketing the entire administration fund of the Embassy, ultimately emigrating, and joining the Somali diaspora abroad.

So this should be remembered and reflected upon, when one may ask why our country, Somalia collapsed the way it did? Tribalism, nepotism was used initially in a subtle way to corrupt the bureaucracy and the functioning of the ministries and ultimately, in ‘in your face’ style, the whole of government. Fast forward a few decades, and now with tribalism promoted to a national power sharing model, i.e., the disgraceful 4.5 model, the chances of forming a reliable and accountable government are rapidly diminishing. The rest as they say is history. A history for the future generation to write and contemplate, as well as learn from it.

This is one of the many sad stories which undoubtedly tarnished our country’s reputation abroad. And there is no doubt in my mind of the existence of similar or worse scenarios where our country’s honour and its image were trampled. Another example worth mentioning here was when a man who used to be a driver at one of Somali embassies in one of the Gulf countries was assigned to coordinate a special mission on behalf of the country. This incident also happened during the hay days of Siad Barre’s regime when the country in question decided to grant fuel donation to the logistics section of the Somali armed forces. Upon sensing the reluctance of the donor nation in dealing with the local staff, Siad Barre’s regime simply changed his status to become a diplomat, thereby enabling him to enrich himself in the process.  

Yet, another case worth mentioning here was when a Somalian envoy who was head of an Embassy in the capacity of Charge affairs a.i. recruited his own brother as being a member of the local staff. After a while and knowing being member of the powerful ruling clan, the Charge d’Affairs  was able to convince the Foreign Minister issue a diplomatic appointment for his brother at the same Embassy. Just imagine when that man who used to work as local staff a while ago assumes the direction of the Embassy! 

Those episodes surely damaged our country’s reputation abroad in the past. But the fact remains that even now, worse situations  are currently prevailing in the management of our country’s FAM, whereby the least educated individuals are routinely appointed to positions of authority, right from the leadership of the ministry to its embassies. We have witnessed the unacceptable characters of some of those who served both as ministers and ambassadors alike. Our countrymen know how those who never worked for the foreign ministry acquired ambassadorial positions. How can one rightly serve one’s country if one is ignorant of what one should do?  

It is really so unfortunate that at this present time when this book is being readied for publication, to know of one particular Ambassador representing our country in a very important Arab capital, who previously used to work in that same mission as a local staff. Of course, there is nothing wrong for one to be ambitious to excel in life. But one should attain that honour in a proper manner, via education and training, not by clan affiliation or other immoral and disgustful means. No wonder, when the diplomat who was administering the office found out about the appointment of this individual who used to work under his direction, decided to immediately resign and leave the service altogether for good. 

Knowing of all the diplomatic plunders and mistakes that have had happened, since the collapse of Somalia’s central government in early 1991, because of those unqualified diplomatic appointments which were too many, yet we have to admit that there may be instances where few of those appointees – no matter how they came - tried sincerely to contribute positively for the advancement of the foreign affairs service, which in a sense is good outcome.

Postscript: This week I am in Istanbul and as a concerned Somali citizen where should I find more information about the suspicious death of a Somali person or I want to know more about the trending story about Somalia being the only Muslim and African country to vote “yes” on holding debate on the rights situation in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. The logical source of information on these issues, one assumes to be the Somali consular or embassy in the country or the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s website. Unfortunately we are not there yet…

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Hussein M Mohamed and I went to Casa Popolare Primary School, Hodan, Mogadishu in the 1970s. And later on, admitted to the faculty of Journalism where he graduated and joined the Somali FAM. He continued to serve the country as a diplomat, but I left and continued my studies at Monash University in Australia. We are now working on a book about Somali Foreign Affairs, stay tuned.