IGAD: Somali Gov’ Must Build Its Army
A communiqué issued by IGAD foreigner Ministers after meeting with the Somali Transitional Federal Government in Jowhar states among other things:
Somalia has a legitimate government, and in line with the Transitional Federal Charter, has a solemn right to establish, train and equip its law enforcement.
Hurrah! What else can I say?
It seems to me that IGAD’s Foreigner Ministers are coming to their senses by realizing now what I have been saying for months, namely; Somalia has, for the first time in many years, a legitimate government with a wider popular representation than any other previous government in Somalia’s political history. Hence, the notion of telling the elected Somali government to be like a sitting duck under the mercy of destructive Mogadishu warlords was, to put it politely, an idiotic and ill thought political proposition.
The Somali transitional federal government must, just like any other, assemble its security forces so that law and order can be brought back to the country. Period!
Click here to view the full dispatch by Reuters’ AlertNet.