As a Soldier, one is obliged to enforce the law of
the land and defend country’s sovereignty, dignity and the freedom of its
citizens. Soldiers are trained to believe, live and breathe what is known as “The
Seven Core Army Values” every day, which are loyalty, duty, respect, selfless
service, honor, integrity and personal courage. Back in the days, the Somali
army were the backbone and the most cherished assets Somalia had who served the
nation with the outmost commitment; on the other hand, the citizens maintained their
fair share of respect and admiration for them.
However, when Somali government collapsed in 1991,
clan-based armed opposition groups eventually managed to control the country
with no discipline on the ground which ruined all the protocols in the country.
For the last ten years, thousands of Somali citizens joined and trained to be
the Somali defense forces. Deep inside their hearts, many had initially joined
to the army to uphold the rule of law, rejuvenate country’s bride and lost
glory. While the realities on the ground echoes differently, Somali National
Army doesn’t get necessary tools and capable leaders who direct their energies
and resources in better use. Unfortunately, sometimes they are used for clan
and politically motivated violence. In addition to that, they are under-paid
and struggling to make ends meets.
Despite extensive allocation of resources to
training, the SNA itself remains a hodgepodge of local clan forces and lack of
to put aside the regional leader’s differences to end conflicts and build
professional, national security forces. Instead, they prioritize securing their
own local power bases, fending off opponents, and benefitting economically from
running states.
Soldier’s
dream before joining the SNA
Most of the young and capable youth joining the
Somali National Army have beautiful dreams for their country inside their hearts.
Based on my observations, striving for the betterment of the lives of their
people are the main mission of joining the army. They had an optimistic mind
that would contribute SNA reform to defend the country’s constitution, protect from
external and internal traitors.
Since the country is moving forward in many fronts,
some of the emerging mostly escaping from the epidemic unemployment in the
country are making their ways to the frontlines to at least defend Somalia
against its enemy instead of living stressful life.
Realities on the ground
When the soldier is trained and graduates from the
military academy, they meet a lot of terrible distresses. Soldiers are not offered all basic needs in an
army life such as healthcare, persistent salary and promotion based on
performance assessment. if the aforementioned necessities are not considered as
essential in a soldier’s life or misappropriated then they may carry bad
repercussions on the citizens because the soldiers will engage in illicit
activities to fulfill their demands or will not function as supposed.
High school graduates joining the SNA face
difficulties in adapting such an environment where by khat-consumers, majority
of the government army are either drop out, losers or remnant of warlords’
militiamen and those who previously destroyed the country are supposed to work
together side by side. It tends that they are influenced by the senior
colleagues who are more experienced than them. This cuts short their professionalism
and dreams for strong Somalia with strong national army. Further, the soldiers
believe that most citizens are their front traitors those snubbed to be in good
way of living. Thus, this created big gap between the civilian and the army in
terms of cooperation and communication. This is due to the fact.
On the other hand, they constantly face severe
hazards against the enemy. The new comers witness some of their colleagues severely
injured in battle fields who are not getting better health care and no one is
taking care of their children. This discourages them to continue serving the
country with commitment and courage, because they don’t see a reason to risk
themselves for nothing. Most of the SNA soldiers were not well educated or
learning during the training. This negatively reflected to perform assigned
tasks in professional way and clearly indicates that most new and current SNA soldiers
can not differentiate suspected and loyal people in the country. Similarly, salary
and wages of the SNA is very low which isn’t paid constantly as well as based
on the army structure. Without pay to the army in reliable system created
illegal check points that put the civilian in danger position, turnover of the
work increased and ended up dis-moral as well as disobeyed the orders from the
commanders during operations.
Furthermore, the mother of all these challenges is
lack of central army command which has mandate to achieve and oversees army
divisions across the country. If the soldier doesn’t aware of the obligation to
follow, it will make them confused what to do. In addition to that, there is a lack
of main and trusted army compounds across Somalia that have space to provide
training courses as well as place to sleep. This raised turn over and and droppresence
huge military vehicles in the main towns and roads.
If a soldier kill or mistakenly harm a civilian or
other soldier, there is no reliable court that fulfils but suspected soldier’s
clan will pay the damage he/she committed. This undermines that soldiers to
carry out operations because of fear inappropriate mistake that will pay them. The
further technique that create dis-moral, SNA commanders don’t treat same with
army divisions across the country. Some divisions are well treated and
supported while some not. This makes disappointment and put a positions loyal
to their clans rather than SNA.
The other irony is that some of the highest army
titles are awarded to laymen Somalis as a form of political or clan dispute
resettlement mechanism, this culture of appointing army heads in a way contrary
to merit based promotions is causing more harm than good and dismantles the
hope and aspirations of young capable SNA to rise ranks while serving their
country with outmost commitment.
All these obstacles coupled with the volatile
political environment in Somalia causes frustration in the hearts of potential
and ambitious Somali soldiers, thus causing to loose hope and leave the
national army which eventually undermines the state and army building efforts
being invested so heavily by Somali government and its development partners.
Support and Services
from Citizens and Government - Citizens should trust and be confident in their
soldiers. They should provide moral and material support with the soldiers in
order to avoid any mistrust between soldiers and the citizens. Citizens should
contribute small amount monthly or yearly to the SNA but this needs trusted
army commanders that ensure this money to be used in the right way to defend
the country.
In Addition to that, Somali government must
establish well equipped hospitals that can handle serious injuries from the
combat operations and other illnesses suffered during operations. A concrete
and reliable legal system to be implemented inside SNA.
Recruitment and Army
Structure. SNA commanders should recruit university
graduates that have ambition, high moral and ready to uphold the army protocols
and standards as well as government should build central army command that
shows the structure of the SNA and ensure to uphold the rule of the army and
can hold everyone accountable.
Build Discipline and
Communication of the Army. SNA must initiate independent communication
channels that facilitate to perform their duties daily. At same time, army
discipline and protocols must be in place and implemented without hesitation
such as standardized uniform and body structure. Mobile phones, chewing Khat, any
use of drugs, supporting political leaders, media communication must be banned
at all from the soldiers. The valid point is that the army should avoid at all
to be affiliated any political party of functions. They should remain just all
the time.
Salary Payment- Salary of the
soldiers must be standardized and increased based on the army hierarchy and it
should be paid through reliable system that can be administered.
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