"Africa Salutes Rebirth of Somalia"

by Bernard Namunane
The Nation (Nairobi)

History was made as 11 heads of government witnessed the rebirth of the Republic of Somalia in Nairobi, yesterday - and declared it to be a triumph for Africa.

Host President Kibaki set the tone when he declared the swearing-in of the new Somalia president to be a day of victory for Somalia and for Africa.

"It is a great moment of joy for us," he added.

And the message for the newly elected president of a newly unified country, Mr Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, was the same from all the heads of state, the envoys, the dignitaries and the ordinary people who flocked to Kasarani to witness his inauguration:

Karibu, Mr President.

Somalia's victory for Africa was celebrated with heartfelt speeches, joy, dance and ululations as Mr Abdullahi took the oath of office from the Speaker of the new Parliament, Shariff Hassan Sheikh Aden, to mark the beginning of a new Somalia.

The president-elect was escorted to the podium in the centre of the international sports stadium at exactly 12.20pm to take the oath of office.

Swathed in blue and white - the colours of the new Somalia national flag - the podium was the centre of attention as President Abdullahi swore to rebuild his war-torn nation.

After taking the one-minute oath of office in Somali, a moment's hush fell over the crowd before the new President was given a 21-gun salute.

The country's new flag, a rich shade of blue with a white star in the centre, was then slowly raised as the national anthem was played.

A lengthy poem in praise of the new Somalia, of the countries including Kenya that helped to bring the peace talks to fruition and the international community for its financial support, was recited by a Somali woman.

And then seven heads of state from all over the continent gave their simple message: there is an African solution to African problems.

Present were the presidents of Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Yemen.

Their message was heard by foreign envoys - among them the United Kingdom's Edward Clay and Norway's Hilda Johnson - and representatives of international organisations, which included the special adviser to the United Nation's secretary-general Kofi Annan, Mr Mohamed Sahnoon, and the Arab League's secretary-general Amir Mussa.

Attempts to find peace in Somalia had been going on for 14 years, since the last central president, Said Barre, fell in 1991, and the peace talks themselves had been taking place in Kenya for the last two years.

President Kibaki declared the swearing-in of President Abdullahi - as he wishes to be known - to be "a day of victory for Somalia, the InterGovernmental Authority on Development and for Africa. It is a great moment of joy for us," he said. The chairman of Igad - the regional body that guided the peace talks - President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, said Africa had triumphed where America had failed in 1991.

He went on: "This is a demonstration that Africa can solve its own problems."

"The United States intervened in 1991 to solve the problem in Somalia, but in only messed it up," he added.

Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo toasted the rebirth of a country that has bled for 14 years.

"This day is a landmark in the history of Africa, not only for Somalia and the Somalis, but (also) for us, because we have provided an African solution to an African problem," he said.

Igad leaders, he said, stood up when the rest of the world watched helplessly as clans were led to unleash immeasurable violence against each other.

"I now stand before you feeling tall, knowing that you would not let a sister country disintegrate into the abyss," said President Obasanjo, the chairman of the African Union.

For Rwanda, President Paul Kagame, whose country lost nearly half a million people in the 1994 genocide as the West stood by and watched, announced: "This has proved that with determination, no African problems are insurmountable."

South Africa's vice-president Jacob Zuma, who represented President Thabo Mbeki, praised the occasion as a demonstration that Africa can stand to protect itself.

"This has shown that peace in Africa is an achievable goal. Let us rise up to break the vicious cycle of civil wars," he said.

Presidents Ali Abdallah Salleh (Yemen), Ismail Omar Guelleh (Djibouti) and Domitien Ndayizeye (Burundi) echoed the victory.

President Kibaki, widely praised for helping the peace talks take place, told clan leaders and losers in the presidential elections to support the new president.

Armed militias, he said, must put down their weapons and work with President Abdullahi to rebuild Somalia.

He listed the loss of 500,000 people, the displacement of a further 2 million, the destruction of 90 per cent of schools and a high level of poverty as the cost of the Somalia clan wars.

"There are no losers or winners in this. All Somalis have won and we shall stand by you as you restore peace," he said.

President Kibaki told President Abdullahi to sacrifice, consult widely and seek to rebuild Somalia following the new mandate.

President Museveni told two of the factional leaders - Gen Hirsi Morgan and Mr Mohamed Aideed - that no leader would be allowed to disrupt the peace.

The Horn of Africa country, he said, can survive without such leaders.

"Igad will not allow anyone to come and mess the Somali peace process. If you are not president or an MP now, wait for another chance," he said.

The time had come, said President Obasanjo, when African leaders should set aside their personal interests and act in the interest of their nation.

"The slogan should now be: Somalia first," he said.

Election losers in the continent, he said, were now joining the victors in building their economies.

The leaders asked the international community to help rebuild Somalia where more than 70 per cent of the population lived below the poverty level.

Funds were urgently needed to help to move the new president, for now based in Nairobi, to Somalia.

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