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A Talk With Somalia’s President Thursday 17 Sep 2009 SMC President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed stands inside his office within the Villa Somalia walls. Following are edited excerpts from a transcript of Jeffrey Gettleman’s recent interview with Somalia’s president, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, at Villa Somalia, the presidential palace, in Mogadishu, the nation’s capital. The answers were translated from the Somali by a Somali interpreter: In Somalia, a Leader Is Raising Hopes for Stability (September 17, 2009) Q. Let’s start with your enemy. You know these guys. You used to work with them. Like Hassan Dahir Aweys and Abu Monsoor [two well-known insurgent leaders]. Why can’t you make peace with them? Why is it so difficult to bring them on board? A. It’s true. It’s an important question. It would be my preference that since we worked together in the I.C.U. [Islamic Courts Union] we would work together now. People go through stages and sometimes they take the wrong turn. When they didn’t join the peace process that took them far out and now they can’t get out of that corner. Q. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said it was crucial to reach out and bring in these opposition groups. What are you doing about that? A. We have been busy with that. An important part of Hizbul Islam has already joined the government and some from the Shabab. Q. How do you try to persuade them? A. There are people in government that reach out to these people, and other Somalis. The government’s door is open and there is always an option to review their position. Q. When was the last time you spoke to Aweys? A. I don’t remember. It’s been a while. Q. Can you call him? A. I don’t have a problem with it in principle. But I don’t believe the time is right yet and that a telephone call would make a difference. Q. What’s your vision to bring peace? What are some specifics? A. The government wished to bring in as many groups as possible through the reconciliation. The government is working to earn the trust of the people. Helping us are the ways of Hizbul Islam and Shabab. Their path is a dark one. Q. What has the government done since you became president in February? A. This government faced obstacles that were unparalleled. We had to deal with international terrorist groups creating havoc elsewhere. Their plan was to topple the government soon after it arrived. The government proved it could last. The vision of the government is becoming clear to the Somali people and the international community. We are working on the security front a lot. We are doing reconstruction. We are doing humanitarian work. We have done things on good governance. You must remember that to accomplish a lot needs resources. Q. If you don’t get the help you need, what’s going to happen? A. We won’t be able to accomplish a lot. Not much will work. The government is dealing with a lot. We’re trying to set up administrations. We’re trying to reclaim parts of the country currently controlled by extremists. We are working on reconciliation. We have a lot of pressure from the fighting. Q. How urgent is it? Will this government not survive unless it gets more support? A. The problem with international aid is that it often comes late and is limited. There’s no doubt that an established government that doesn’t get the right resources will not stand. Why not Somalia? Q. Why has Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama [a moderate Islamist group, led by Sufi Muslim clerics] been able to defeat the Shabab outside Mogadishu and you haven’t? A. There is a difference between the cities and the regions. Only the I.C.U. was able to control Mogadishu. Of course, we need to do more. But the opposition is busy attacking the government in Mogadishu, which makes it easier to liberate the regions. Q. You are not a military man, which many people say is a good thing. How much time do you spend on military matters? A. We spend a great deal of time on security-related issues. Q. What percentage of your time? A. About 75 percent. Q. Have you gotten better at military strategy? A. [laughing] I can’t say that. Q. Are you worried about Ahlu Sunnah getting too powerful? A. the Sufi sects don’t usually go to war. They don’t usually shed blood. The elders of the Sufis in the past used to manage them through spiritual connections. My fear is that if they continue on the path of fighting, they will shift from these tenets and principles. Q. How close are you to them? I went to Dusa Marreb [a town in central Somalia] and it didn’t seem like Ahlu Sunnah and the government were working together at all. A. Most Somalis subscribe to the Sufi sect. Ahlu Sunnah particularly suffered at the hand of Al Shabab. They have the right to defend themselves. Going beyond that defense would be questionable or illegal. Q. So what does that mean? They are going beyond self-defense. They are seizing new territory. A. We see that as part of self-defense. Q. Let’s talk about Shariah [Islamic law]. The Parliament has agreed to use Shariah as a guiding principle. But what form? A. Shariah itself doesn’t change. What changes are the people who are interpreting it. The emphasis here has to be what is the best interest of the people, for this life and the life hereafter. Q. But can you please provide some specifics. Will girls go to school with boys and be educated equally? A. That’s one area where we don’t have a problem in Somalia. In Somali tradition, we had elderly women who were in charge of educating people. Q. What about the veil? Will a Somali woman be allowed to walk around in public without a veil? A. The interpretation of the veil is an item itself. In general, Islam ordains that a woman covers her body. The purpose of that is to prevent temptation and other problems. Q. But is this something you are prepared to make a law? In Turkey, they don’t make women wear veils. In Saudi Arabia, they do. Where will Somalia come in on the veil issue? A. The purpose is to get people to the point where they do this from conviction, say up to 80 percent of the people. The government would help the rest. The tradition of our prophet, peace be upon him, is not to give instructions or orders without first preparing the people. Skip to next paragraph Related In Somalia, a Leader Is Raising Hopes for Stability (September 17, 2009) Q. But today in Somalia what does that mean? Will the law say that women have to wear a hijab [a head scarf] or not? A. If you look at the situation in Somalia today, this becomes a moot point. Hijab is the norm. And considering the difficulties we have in front of us, this does not become a major issue. We’re working on how to save people’s lives, which is much more of a priority than this subject. Q. What do you think about Al Qaeda and its influence here? A. We believe that there is a strong relationship between Al Qaeda and some people here, the people leading the fighting. The relationship with Al Qaeda is well known. Al Qaeda has said it. And the local fighters have said it. If you go to places the opposition controls, you will see foreign fighters. Their symbols and flags are also abundantly available. Q. When you were part of the I.C.U. in 2006, did you see this creeping in? A. There were many well-wishers in Somalia at the time of the Islamic Courts. There was no way to tell that this was the beginnings of Al Qaeda or anything like that, at the time. Q. But even back then, the U.S. government was asking your help to hand over Fazul Abdullah Mohamed and other suspected Al Qaeda terrorists. You didn’t and that was one reason the U.S. backed Ethiopia to invade. Do you look back and see anything you could have done to stop that? A. No, there was nothing we could have done to stop that. Q. Why? A. There was limited information about these people. We needed time. Q. What’s been your biggest mistake as president? A. We just started. We haven’t had any time to reflect. Q. Looking back at 2006, is there anything you would have done differently? A. I’m sure there was. But one would also have to consider the situation at the time and what was the right thing to do. Whether that could have been accomplished, that’s another question. Q. Some people think there should be more emphasis in Somalia on a bottom-up form of government that prioritizes local government. I’ve been to the regions recently and I haven’t seen any evidence of the central government. What do you think about this approach? A. Part of the government’s plan is to build administrations in the regions. Q. But what does that mean? Schools, hospitals, military help — where are you going to begin? A. To build a full administration. Q. Where are you going to start? A. We don’t want to expand. Q. What’s it like to go from being on the outside of power the last couple years to now being president? You don’t even have to open up your car door any more; someone else does it for you. A. I think whether I open the door or someone else does is of little consequence. What is important is that we took an oath to work for the nation. Q. What’s it like to be now working with the Americans, who helped the Ethiopians get rid of you? A. I would put the question differently. What we were fighting for was a peaceful Somalia that can deal with the rest of the world. Q. How old are you? A. I forgot my age since I was involved in all these wars. Q. Really? A. I was born in 1966. Q. How many children do you have? A. We have an expression in southern Somalia that when people ask you how many children you have, we say, “We’re good.” I hope that may be enough. Q. Are you 42 or 43 years old? What month were you born? A. What’s in this question? Why is it so important? Q. In the newspaper I work for, we don’t put “1966” as an age. We put the exact age, in years. A. O.K. I was born in January 1966. Source: New York Times Somaliweyn Media Center “SMC”
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