A RESPONSE TO JON SNOW’S RECENT BLOG ON SOMALIA

When I posted the previous blog on Somalia, I was thinking that I’d probably add another couple of posts to give a bit of historical perspective and how it relates to the current crisis. Jon Snow of Channel 4 news has done an excellent job of that already so there is no point in replicating that.
The link to that post is given below:
http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/somalias-famine-agony-historic-part/15838 Somalia’s famine: their agony and our historic part in it

As one of the main aims of this blog is ensuring that the voices of the voiceless is heard, I am now quoting one of the comments to Jon Snow’s posting written by a Somali. It is insightful to say the least and I’ll like to know what you make of his comments. No amount of empathy, sympathy, disdain, irritation or any other emotions on our parts can change the fact that the respecting the human rights of every Somali person is crucial. There will be various arguments and schools of thought on how this can be achieved (most of them seriously flawed I might add) but the Somalis themselves need to be given the opportunity to express their own views and try to come up with solutions that will work for them.
“There are less than 9 million people in Somalia, our problems are not to due to lack of birth control or condoms. We need the West to stop interfering in our internal conflicts, to stop arming militias for their own gains, stop dumping your industrial toxins into our oceans killing our fish and our livelihood. The lack of rain is something Somalis themselves cannot control and Somalis in the West have since early May of this year been fundraising for their fellow countrymen before the issue was even picked up by the mainstream media, so they DO love them very much indeed. This “sympathy” is embarrassing both to us and to you. The greatest problem Somalia has is the West, we never had this many problems until you decided to colonise us. When are you going to realise that the world is for everybody and everyone has a right to rule their own country themselves and are capable of doing so? I would like thank Jon Snow for putting this on his blog and highlighting the issue. Finally, either help us honestly without hidden agendas or leave us alone.” Comment posted by Nimco Mohammed


I know that most people are of the opinion that right now, starving people need food and supplies not dialogue and I do agree in part. The truth of the matter though is that if the underlying problems are not addressed, this cycle will repeat itself within the next 5-10 years. Like it or not, the development ideology of the past 60-70 years is no longer fit for purpose. The global financial situation over the last couple of years has shown that no institution has a bottomless pit of funds. It therefore stands to reason that future initiatives would benefit from constructive indigenous input. I do agree that it is easier said than done; but that’s where we all come in. Ideas, skills and expertise needs to pulled together. Let the conversation begin here.
Until next time.............