"Somalia must not fall into the hands of the Shebabs" - Interview with Bruno Fanucchi
“He may be the next President of Somalia. Two months before the presidential election scheduled for February 8 in this Horn of Africa country, Abshir Aden Ferro, president of the “Alliance du Futur”, passing through Paris, answers exclusively to our questions, news, and launch this cry of alarm to the international community.”
On February 8, the Somali electorate (made up of parliamentarians and tribal leaders) will appoint a new President of the Republic for a four-year term. Why are you a candidate?
Abshir Aden Ferro:
I ran as a candidate because, in this country which is the object of all covetousness and has become the playground for clashes and rivalries between the great powers, everything has to be rebuilt. Security, stability and the rule of law must be restored as quickly as possible to allow the economy to restart and investors to return. My country, so badly managed for several decades, needs a real leader.
Let's do some geopolitics. Everyone is interested today in Africa and particularly in this strategic area that represents the Horn of Africa: the Turks, the Qatari supported by the Iranians, but also the Emirati, the Egyptians, the Saudis, the Israelis. The Chinese are trying to settle there and the Russians are trying to come back while the Americans are still very present in the region. But Somalis must take their destiny into their own hands because Somalia must not fall into the hands of the Shebabs. Since this summer, I have issued several warnings as this momentous deadline approaches.
Can you tell us more?
If we are not careful, "the Shebabs are in the process of taking control of the legislative and presidential elections in Somalia" , I publicly denounced as of October 5 in a press release which explicitly said: "By wanting to impose a censal vote requiring that each deputy candidate who will have to elect the President, pay $ 20,000 to run, Somali President Formaajo opens the door to the Shebabs, to endemic corruption and blackmail in our country ”.
Today I strongly reaffirm that the international community and the members of the United Nations Security Council can no longer ignore this vital risk of seeing terrorism take hold at the head of the country. Nations that want peace and normalization must now shoulder their responsibilities in rejecting this electoral hold-up.
The Federal President and the presidents of the various regions of the country finally agreed to drop their promise to organize a poll according to the “one man, one vote” rule. And no one really knows how it's going to turn out anymore. It is a real political souk.
Because the outgoing President is looking for only one thing: to stay in power for at least two more years. But the opposition does not want to hear about it. We are therefore entering a period of great unknown and uncertainty.
But don't you present yourself today as a recourse, a possible alternation for Somalia?
My country is calling me and I will do my duty. I have lived for 30 years in London, where part of my family was forced into exile to escape the civil war and where I founded a company specializing in Security and Economic Development, but I am regularly in Somalia on field. For more than 20 years I have been working behind the scenes to restore my country to peace, stability and prosperity. I have thus invested myself on a daily basis with the large Somali diaspora as I have often been at the maneuver in international summits - such as the Elysée Summit dedicated to Peace and Security in Africa in December 2013 - to discretely and effectively defend Somalia's interests and prepare for its return to the international stage.
When we embark on a political fight, we must first give ourselves the means to achieve our ambition.
In 2019, I therefore created a political movement - “the Alliance for the future” - to bring together and federate the energies useful for change. Last June, I decided to go for it and run for president to shake things up because I want to be "Somalia's Clean Mister". Didn't President John Fitzgerald Kennedy say, "Rather than asking your country what it can do for you, ask yourself what you can do for it" ? This is my whole philosophy and the meaning of my political commitment.
A commitment for which you are even willing to risk your life?
I say it bluntly in the book I have just written, a book with an evocative title that says what it means: "My life for Somalia" (*). The risk of the supreme sacrifice, I am well aware of it. Every day I think about it, but I am ready to sacrifice my life for the rebirth of my beloved country, Somalia. It is necessary that a strong man stand up to defend the people against the widespread corruption of power and the terror of the Shebabs.
This document, which is both an autobiographical work to make me better known and a summary of my political program, is moreover the first book ever written by a politician candidate for the presidential election of this country with a strong oral tradition. I'm proud of it. This is a first in Somalia and Africa. I thus put my skin at the end of my ideas.
"Americans can go,
no one will regret them ”
Because terrorism still strikes cruelly in Somalia?
This misfortune does not end! The danger is there and it grows every day because no one listened to our alerts ... On Friday November 27, a new attack bloodied the center of Mogadishu and I lost that day several relatives and acquaintances. Eight young people from the neighborhood who, after playing football, were having tea on a terrace where a man aged between 70 and 75 years old blew himself up in their midst! I knew three of them very well who were brilliant, intelligent and courageous and I see again every night the image of their excruciatingly shredded bodies. I do not understand the objective of Al Shabab, which immediately claimed responsibility for this attack, thus attacking our own people. On August 16,
And now I ask myself another essential question: are these terrorists real Somalis? Today I think not: they are certainly people like us - with the same color of skin - but they are not children of Somalia because no man destroys his own wealth and his future.
President Donald Trump has just announced the withdrawal of US forces from Somalia. What's your first reaction?
They can leave immediately and it will be no regrets! That's about 700 boy's, and if you add the staff and security of the massive US Embassy in Mogadishu, that makes about 900 Americans. No one will regret them.
The Americans - as I am often reminded - were traumatized by their intervention in Somalia which was a bitter failure and ended in a dramatic way in October 1993 with the tragic episode of which Ridley Scott made a successful film "The Fall of black falcon ” . But in a war there are always at least two adversaries and the trauma suffered by the Somalis, by my people, has been cruelly forgotten or ignored. That's why I'm going to send Donald Trump a postcard to congratulate him on his departure and say thank you! The geopolitical vision of Joe Biden, who will succeed him on January 20, will of course be different. Wait and see!
Somalia no longer needs to beg for help from anyone. It is an independent country which must be respected as an important and indispensable partner for stability and economic development in the Horn of Africa. My priority is to defend Somalia, its people and its well-understood interests on the international stage, where we have a role to play in this strategic region.
You also have a hard tooth against the United Nations and their representative in Somalia. Do you think this mission failed?
The United Nations has in fact failed in Somalia to restore peace and calmly organize and supervise democratic elections. It is undoubtedly one of the greatest and most shameful failures in the history of the United Nations. As President of the Alliance for the Future and declared candidate for the next presidential election, on October 6, I contacted James Swan, official representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Somalia, to send him a message on warning against the possible and worrying excesses of this very poorly prepared election, but he did not even deign to acknowledge receipt of this email.
Does the war, which has been going on for several months in Ethiopia, on the borders of Somalia, have consequences and repercussions on your country?
It is an internal problem, on which I do not have to comment, but obviously this war between the central power of Addis Ababa and the region of Tigray affects us and already has painful consequences for the whole region, from Sudan to Somalia. Our economies are indeed interdependent and it is therefore urgent to better understand the situation and find a solution to restore peace. Our Ethiopian neighbors should have learned and learned the lessons of what has happened at home and in Sudan for thirty years. And not to be so naive. But I don't want to interfere in the internal affairs of Ethiopia.
(*) "My life for Somalia", published by AfricaPresse. Paris, 208 pages, 18