SOMALI WOMEN AND POLITICS - TOTAL REVOLUTION!

Asha Hagi Elmi

Asha is one of those unique women who decided that she could not wait for the rest of the world to come help stabilize her country of Somalia.

Somalia has suffered through years of conflict between clans, lawlessness, failed peace talks and a current transitional government fighting for control.  However, through it all, Asha Elmi maintains that Somalis must take responsibility and the first steps to invest in their future.  

Her mission is restoring order and creating a stable government in Somalia.  She is a member of Somalia's transitional parliament and heads the first and only clan made up of women. It is considered the sixth clan since there are five major clans in Somalia.

The uniqueness of her clan is that the women are from the different Somali clans that fight for dominance. It crossed the clan lines. Asha understood the effects of conflict between clans because like many Somalis she married outside her clan. Neither her birth or married clan accepted her. She says she realized that the only full identity she had, was her womanhood identity. The road to peace has been long and dangerous of this mother of four.

Voiceless women need to be heard

In 1992 Asha Hagi and her husband founded Save Somali Women and Children (SSWC) while living in Nairobi, Kenya. The purpose of the organization was to advocate for equal rights for women in politics. This was and continues to be a difficult endeavor considering Somalia is a muslim country and in particular women are considered second class citizens.

In 2000 the Sixth Clan secured 25 assembly seats (10% of the Transitional National Government). For the first time in Somali history women officially had a voice. Asha Hagi called it a "total revolution". 

After several more peace talks and a reconciliation retreat, Asha made history by being the first woman to sign a peace accord in Somali on January 29, 2004. The women also made another significant gain as their role in government increased to 12 percent of parliament's seats.

In 2005, Asha's name was included in the list of "1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize". Unfortunately her name also topped the warlords' hit list. She has refused to let this terrifying designation deter her. She continues to fight for a restored and stable Somalia.

SOMALI WOMEN

Women in Somalia are coping with very serious trauma each day of their lives. The Somali society has been deeply affected by decades of war.  This is evidenced frequently in the emotional nature of their discussions concerning their country.

However, this has not incapacitated the women who are very much involved in the humanitarian sphere. The Somali Women's Agenda (SWA) represents nearly 200,000 women in Somalia and the diaspora. A core group meets regularly, traveling from the USA, Canada and Europe to join members living in East Africa. They tread carefully around political issues in Somalia to protect members still living in the country. Although the group does not engage with Shabaab (a terrorist group) or other extremists, the women find themselves with unique advantages of being able to reach perpetrators of violence and ideologues through their influential roles as mothers and wives.

The aim of SWA is to promote the role of women in politics and peace processes. A few of their members have managed to secure elected positions in the local and federal government. The group strongly advocated for women to be represented in the commission reviewing Somalia's new draft constitution and succeed in getting seven women on the 30-male dominated commission. Two of the women were members of SWA.

It has had to take women standing up in conflict areas to demand a seat on the peace-commissions, draft-constitution commissions and even peace discussion, in order to get things done.  In Liberia the women forced the men to finalize and complete a peace treaty negotiation by locking them in the meeting room. They then spearheaded the election of the first woman president in Liberia.

We see the same demands for a voice from women in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Somalia is no exception even though there is no immediate sight of peace or stability in that country. The women are rallying together to have a voice in the political forums and assemblies.

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Terror-Loving, Ex-Somali PM sued in Virginia, USA

Mohamed Ali Samantar

Finally General Samantar will have to answer for his contribution to the terror regime of military dictator Siyaad Barre who ruled Somalia from 1969 to 1991. Samantar was the Defense Minister from 1980 to 1986 and Prime Minister from February 1, 1987 to September 3, 1990.  Siyaad Barre's regime is well known for its senseless murders and cruelty.

Samantar is a "prominent" member of the Somali Community in the Diaspora living in Virginia, USA. In a civil law suit seeking financial damages for commanding his troops to detain, torture and kill Somali citizens of the Isaaq clan, Samantar will now have answer to the charges against him.

The original lawsuit in 2004, filed by Somalis living in the US under the 1991's Torture Victim Protection Act, was unsuccessful. A federal judge ruled that Samantar was entitled to diplomatic immunity, however, last year the US Supreme Court reinstated the case and US District Judge Leonie Brinkema has denied Samantar's request (via his lawyer) to dismiss the case.

Samantar, in his arrogance, must have thought that after more than 20 years no one can bring a case against him, let alone common men and women he once terrorized and considered scum.  He probably did not realize that courts in the US can hold him accountable for his atrocities under international law. That is the purpose of international laws - they are border-less.

You will reap what you have sown, Samantar! 60+ years after the holocaust, Nazi murderers are still being indicted for their crimes against humanity - what makes you think you can get away with your nazi-like atrocities against your own people?