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ISSN : 1744-2532 (Print)
ISBN : 2516-5305 (Online)
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From the Editor/Publisher
Jideofor Adibe, PhD
We devoted the July/August 2006 issue of the journal exclusively to exploring the challenges and opportunities of healthcare delivery in Africa. The contributions raised significant questions on all aspects of healthcare delivery in Africa, and in many instances provided stimulating answers and recommendations for policymakers and healthcare practitioners in the continent to build on.
In this edition, we return to our usual format of having a lead theme and a number of unrelated articles. In the lead theme, we focus on Somalia, a failed state, posing a number of fundamental questions: why did Somalia fail as a state Should the failed state be reconstituted as one nation or should different nations be allowed to emerge from the ashes of the collapsed state What are the challenges facing the state reconstitution efforts And what are the implications of all these for the current democracy and development projects in Africa
Abdinur S. Mohamud, an education consultant with the Ohio Department of Education, Columbus, Ohio, USA, and Abdi M. Kusow, a lecturer in political sociology at Oakland University in Michigan, trace the history of the failure of the state in Somalia, arguing that the dissolution of the nation-state in Somalia had its roots in the conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia which started during the early years of Islam in the Horn. They further argue that this conflict, which extended to Kenya, was exacerbated by the colonial partition of Somalia into five colonial-administered regions, the conflicting motives of the colonialists, and Somalias internal political structure, including the clan system.
Mohamed H. Mukhtar, a Somali Professor of African and Middle Eastern History at Savannah State University Savannah, Georgia, U.S.A. discusses the various conferences to reconcile the various warring factions, clans and warlords in the Somali imbroglio, noting that most of the conferences adopted same modus operandi, with each starting with great expectations and hopes but eventually achieving very little, if anything at all. He argues that the conferences were doomed to fail because they lacked the basic ingredients that should ensure a successful outcome for their efforts.
Abdurahman Moallim Abdullahi (Badiyow), a peace activist, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Mogadishu University, discusses the role of the Islamic factor in recovering the Somali state, noting that although officially the Somali state collapsed on July 1 1991, scholars of Somalia disagree on what it was that really collapsed in Somalia in 1991, making the challenging of reconstituting the state even more arduous. He contends that Islamic moral values values that supersede and dilute clannish values of disunity and disintegration could be revived and invigorated in order to recover the Somali state.
Abdulkadir Osman Farah of the Centre for Development and International Relations, Aalborg University Denmark, discusses the political options for Somalia, noting that three main groups compete for political power in Somalia - an alliance of traditional pastoralists and Islamic groups, the merchants and the predatory political and military warlords. He favours an alliance of traditional pastoralists and Islamic components because they enjoy relatively high level of popular legitimacy as they are endogenously rooted and capable of organising Somalis through clan and religious lines.
Abdulahi A. Osman of the Department of International Affairs, University of Georgia, examines the role played by inequality, ethnicity and clanism in fuelling the Somali conflict and concludes that the conflicts in Africa in general, and Somalia in particular resulted primarily from inequality that began during colonial era and continues after colonialism. He believes that the domination of the Somali political economy by the Mudug and Majertinia clans has been clear between 1960 and 1990, and that this helped to sow the seeds of the conflicts that culminated in the collapse of the Somali state.
Gerrie Swart, Research Associate with the Unit for African Studies at the Centre for International Political Studies at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, argues that the conflict in Somalia has not really been effectively addressed, and that the peace process exists only in name. He contends that while Somalia continues to be characterized as a failed state, it remains a state nonetheless, and returning the country into the fold of nations at peace with the world is now more than ever crucial.
Issaka K. Souar, Contributing Editor to this Journal and a PhD candidate at Universit du Qubec Montral, Canada, revisits the United Nations interventions in Somalia in 1992-95 following the overthrow of the Siad Barre regime and the fratricidal war. He accuses African governments of being too quick to abandon their obligation for peacekeeping in African conflicts. For him, negotiating ceasefire agreements just to retreat to the background leaving the UN or the like of Operation Restore Hope (Somalia) or OprationTurquoise (Rwanda led by France) to take over, is not what Africa needs as this does not augur well for confidence-building between the AU, the African governments, and the African peoples.
Franco Henwood, a London-based independent human rights commentator and analyst, makes a case for the international recognition of Somaliland as a sovereign nation, arguing that while recognising the state poses its own set of risks, the idea of Somaliland is no longer the political platform of an armed faction in the conflict but a reflection of an incipient national identity.
Besides, the lead theme, we also brought together a number of very topical articles from Professor Ali Mazruis report of his recent visit to Uganda to Professor Kwesi Prahs vision of Afro-Arab geopolitical relations.
Next edition:
The lead theme in the November/December edition of African Renaissance is: African Philosophy and the Crises of Governance in Africa.
Be part of the debate. Send you contributions to: editor@adonis-abbey.com
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Dr Jideofor Adibe is the Editor of African Renaissance, and Publisher,
Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd, London.
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