Somali-Canadian UN Envoy Laments His Nation's Isolation

Somali-Canadian Ahmed Abdi Hashi may be an ambassador to the United Nations, but Ottawa won't give him the time of day, leaving him with the impression that Canada has abandoned one of the world's poorest and least developed countries.

As far as the Canadian government is concerned, he says, "the Somali file is closed."

Unlike news-topping Haiti, whose cries for international intervention are at least being heard in the world's corridors of power, Somalia's horrendous sores continue to fester out of sight and largely out of mind.

Without direct engagement by countries such as Canada, Mr. Hashi warns, grave humanitarian consequences remain for Somalis.

The envoy's professional bitterness is also personal because he is a Canadian citizen, a situation shared by several other Somalis who are members of the Transitional National Government.

"I thought my second home would be proud that a Somali-Canadian was an ambassador to the United Nations, one of the most coveted diplomatic posts in the world," Mr. Hashi said in an interview during a visit to Toronto yesterday. "To be shunned by your own people sometimes makes you feel uncomfortable."

The transitional government was formed four years ago in an effort to lead Somalia out of more than a decade of civil war. Although the UN has given it a seat, the Department of Foreign Affairs considers it just another of the factions vying for control of the state in the Horn of Africa.

While the Mogadishu-based TNG claims to represent the entire country, it controls only patches of the chaotic territory outside the capital. A country of about seven million, Somalia is fragmented into fiefdoms run by rival warlords, and Washington accuses it of harbouring terrorists.

This week, a top U.S. general visiting East Africa pointed to the anarchy in Somalia as a prime factor in its infiltration by such groups.

"We know the terrorists gravitate toward ungoverned spaces, and these are areas where they look for the opportunities to gain recruits, establish safe havens and move money," General John Abizaid said. "I certainly have indications to believe that people associated with these groups operate in and around areas such as Somalia."

Ottawa, which still bears the scars of the ill-fated 1992-93 military operation in Somalia, has taken the position that Somalis must forge an agreement among themselves before Canada can engage with any government there.

"Canada has always taken the position that it will not recognize any one group until Somalis themselves reach a national consensus on the governance structure and territorial boundaries of the state of Somalia," Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Marie Christine Lilkoff said.

"Although the Transitional National Government has assumed some international trappings of authority, its jurisdiction is limited to a very small geographic region."

There is a sliver of hope for Canada's wait-and-see approach.

On Jan. 29, Somali groups meeting in Kenya agreed on a transitional charter establishing a federal system under which the country would be ruled while a new constitution is written. But several days later, several of the warlords reneged on the agreement, putting the peace process in jeopardy yet again.

It is precisely in circumstances such as these that Canada and other countries can help, Mr. Hashi said. They could make the groups that disavowed the Jan. 29 accord accountable and could sponsor initiatives to disarm feuding clans.

But Ottawa has refused to get involved in the peace process beyond providing some funding to the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development facilitators and, so far, the Kenyan-based hosts have not asked. Canada is providing less than $3-million in humanitarian aid for Somalia in the current fiscal year.

Mr. Hashi and others in the 180,000-member Somali community in Canada are not the only ones who want Ottawa to become more engaged.

Liberal MP Roy Cullen, whose Etobicoke North riding is home to many Somali-Canadians, organized a conference last year to explore ways Canada could help "find a lasting peace and a durable stability in Somalia."

Among the recommendations were that Canada get actively involved in disarmament, appoint a special envoy and help brings Somali war criminals to justice. But entreaties to three Liberal foreign ministers have been ignored, he said.

Posted on Friday 20th February at 11:47:53