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Allgedo News, October 5, 2008 |
| Why Kenya and Ethiopia ought to annex and divide Somalia |
  by DONALD KIPKORIR, dkipkorir@ktk.co.ke Friday, October 03, 2008 |
Last month, Lehmans Brothers and
Merrill Lynch, the world’s
foremost investment banks, went
bankrupt and we witnessed the
financial chaos in the western
capitals.
In the fog of international
headlines on finding a financial
bail-out in Washington, a
rag-tag army of 50 semi-naked
men on rickety boats captured a
ship carrying 33 T-72 tanks,
rocket-propelled grenades and
anti-aircraft guns off the coast
of Somalia. The capture of
mv Faina and the stalemated
talks amid the surrounding
American and Russian warships
made me think that maybe this is
the time to find a final
solution to the Somali problem.
Since 1960, the country has been
a lawless state that is a haven
for terrorists and pirates. The
pirates have told us the
destination of the captured
weaponry causing tension and
panic in Washington, Nairobi and
Khartoum.
If it is true that the final
consignee was the government of
Southern Sudan, as they allege,
I will be on the same page with
the Kibaki government for the
first time.
I am a fervent supporter of a
strategic foreign policy even if
it attracts us enemies of such
malevolent and despotic regimes
as that of Khartoum.
Supporting the Southern Sudan
government is in our long-term
strategic interest and we should
not shy from it. The truth of
the matter is that as a Western
ally, Kenya is an existential
enemy of Arab countries, Sudan
included.
Annexing Somalia is thus in our
strategic interest and we must
do it now as the financial
meltdown continues to take away
the attention of the world.
Somalia as a state exists only
in world maps. It is a classic
case of a failed state. It is a
state dismembered into as many
independent units as there are
sub-clans. Its 90-strong cabinet
is emblematic of the actual
number of units.
The Horn of Africa country has
no functioning government. The
so-called transitional federal
government, led by Abdullahi
Yusuf Ahmed, is confined to a
shell-shocked presidential
compound.
There is no standing or even
sitting army or judicial
systems. By all accounts,
Somalia is a black hole in
international law. Together with
Afghanistan and Pakistan they
are known as the training
grounds and refuge for
international terrorism.
Kenya has been a victim of such
terrorism, leading to
near-destruction of its tourism
industry. We cannot afford
another such attack. We have the
potential to develop our tourism
to compete with, if not outpace,
Egypt and South Africa. But we
cannot do so if Somalia
continues to be a non-state.
Somalia neighbours Kenya,
Ethiopia and Djibouti. Of these,
it is only Ethiopia and Kenya
that have strategic interest in
Somalia. Djibouti is a primitive
entrepot that can’t even supply
water to its 600,000 people, who
are forced to drink that
imported from France or Coca
Cola. Therefore, Djibouti is out
in the quest for the final
solution to the Somali puzzle.
Kenya and Ethiopia must and
ought to dismember Somalia and
divide it between themselves
along the 4 degrees latitude,
each taking all the land below
and above the line.
The division will make both
countries extend their
territories by roughly 300,000sq
km and additional populations of
about five million. Once
Kenya and Ethiopia have sent
their combined army to Somalia
and declared the annexation, we
will present to the world a fait
accompli.
In 1845, America annexed Texas
from Mexico and forced the Texan
legislature to pass a specific
legislation stating that it
accepted the annexation. The
annexation has stood to date
and, for good measure, President
George W. Bush is a proud
American Texan. For Kenya
and Ethiopia, having the Somali
legislature to endorse the
annexation will be cake-walk. At
any given time, most, if not
all, Somali legislators are in
Nairobi.
We will have them
convene in one of our hotels and to
pass the appropriate statutes
dividing their country. When the
allied forces liberated Germany from
Fuhrer Adolf Hitler, they sent the
bill to Berlin.
Our cost of annexing
Somalia will be settled by
Mogadishu. Somalia is known to have
huge deposits of oil, natural gas,
uranium and iron ore. Immediately
after the annexation, we will invite
our strategic foreign friends (not
China please) to come and exploit
the resources for us.
Kenyans ought to know
that although Somalia is a failed
state, its positive statistics are
impressive. Without a structured
economy, its gross national income
per capita is US$600 (Sh40,000),
when ours is $550 (Sh36,800). Of its
universities that operate without
budgets and with armed militia
guarding them, three are in Africa’s
top 100.
International law
forbids the use of force by states
against the territorial integrity
and political independence of
others. Somalia doesn’t have either.
But the law also
recognises irreversible processes
like the extinction of states such
as in the USSR, emergence of new
states from former USSR and
Yugoslavia, and annexations like
that of Texas. International order
hates reversing completed processes,
more so if the world is a better
place.
If we do not annex
Somalia and now, we will be a victim
of its failed status and pulled down
by it. We will not be able to
achieve our strategic foreign policy
in the region, or attain the Vision
2030 goal.
The time to annex and
dismember Somalia is now; Washington
and Moscow will be grateful.
Allgedo News Media Network
allgedo@allgedo.com
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