A hopeless future
This New year bear a thought for the people of Somalia. Their capital, Mogadishu, is rent by fighting between the forces of the western-backed government and Islamic militants. This conflict does not observe any of the niceties of International Law or the Geneva Convention, and so the long harried people of the capital often find themselves caught up in the fatal crossfire. No wonder then that hundreds of thousands have left this battlefield for an uncertain life on the road, where they are prey to bandits and all manner of oppression, in search of shelter, food and medicine. Many no longer can see a future for themselves in the country and seek a better life as migrants in the Middle East and Europe. Once again they are fleeced; they have to pay huge amounts to couriers to organise their passage out of the country on flimsy, unseaworthy vessels. It is not unknown for their couriers and erstwhile protectors to push them off while in the middle of the sea so as to rescue their miserable craft. Last week an estimated 150 migrants drowned while making their crossing in an over-crowded vessel.
Many news reports on Somalia routinely end with a phrase similar to the following: “Somalia has lacked an effective government for the last sixteen years.” When we look at what passes for “effective” governance elsewhere in African, perhaps this is not a curse after all.
