Recent developments in Somalia have been a source of anxiety and pain to all Somalis, wherever they may be. Our future is uncertain and bleak. As an independent nation we have collectively failed to establish a political system which could have guaranteed the fundamental right to existence. We have miserably failed to fulfil the basic needs of our people. Perhaps, we devoted too much of our attention and resources to overcoming the disabilities, problems and disputes which we inherited from our colonial masters and which, naturally, led us to involvement in external struggle, giving us no time to consolidate the gains of our national freedom by creating and development the institutions without which no nation in modern times can survive.
The civil war which is now raging in the country should open our eyes. If we are to learn anything from this event—which has been appropriately described as “a human disaster of the first magnitude”—it must be that we sink our differences and start afresh. If necessary, we should not shy away from accepting advice and the good offices of the United Nations, the O.A.U. (Organization of African Unity), the Arab League, and friendly countries, to put an end to the genocidal conflict which we have been waging upon
ourselves.
The world is aghast at the macabre dance being played out in Somalia. Our friends are worried about our continued ability to survive as a nation. But we still seem to be oblivious to the threat.
Mohamed Osman Omar
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