Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you for having me here today. I'm going to speak in a little more general terms about some of the issues that have been raised by Professor Menkhaus. Somalia is an extreme, extreme example of the problems faced by many, if not all African countries: multiple political tr

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  That is a terrific question, and it's almost impossible to answer. There are major clan families, and depending on how you call them, you could say there are four or five. However, each one of those clans is divided into an almost infinite number of clans and sub-clans. If you we

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm trying to think of who's the best person to answer this question.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  The first thing I will say is that, historically, Somalia has had a profound sense of identity. I tell my students that the Somali flag is a five-pointed star. It has five points for Somalis in all the regions of the Horn of Africa: the two colonial states that now make up Somali

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I don't in terms of specific individuals, but you should definitely note that Canadian Somalis are a significant portion of the diaspora that goes back. Many of them are doing fabulous work. They're going back and playing very positive roles in Somalia. I want to underscore that.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think that's one Ken should address.

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I would not want to be a journalist in Somalia, so to ask if that is unrealistic, yes, it's pretty close. It's probably something that has to be handled by Somalis themselves, to some extent. The problem is that al Shabaab is likely to take you down if you are saying anything tha

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  If you'll allow me, I'll add just one more thing, one interesting dimension about this. Professor Menkhaus has talked about Somaliland, the self-declared “Republic of Somaliland”, which in a comparative sense is much better than Somalia—or at least to the south. There's a lot of

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm probably more cynical than most. What I am acknowledging is what others have said, that there have been errors. To be more cynical than most, I would say that I'm not sure. A lot of the time with issues of conflict and conflict resolution, the way forward is always doing what

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm not sure. I would maybe reverse what you just said. I think with fragmentation, inevitably there is going to be conflict. Political theorists have talked about this for a long time. In an anarchic situation, it's difficult to trust anybody. I would maybe rephrase it, though

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I would start by asking why it is so important to have a centralized government. Of course, there has to be government on some level, but I do worry that part of the problem is the idea that there has to be a strong central government. I think that creates lots of problems. Mayb

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  Thank you very much for this opportunity to speak to you about the current crisis in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. In recent days, the situation in Ethiopia may have reached a turning point as Tigray becomes subject to an assault from two, possibly three armies: one, the Ethio

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I think that's a terrific question. I'm not sure that it is possible. An issue that we deal with in any kind of ethnic or national conflict is that the belligerents will often see themselves as representatives of their respective peoples. Particularly in the case of the TPLF, b

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  This is a very good question again. It is not clear to me that there's an obvious solution. I'm reluctant to put it in those terms. The Derg was the Marxist regime that was overthrown in May 1991. Since that time, there has been some progress. Governments and their regional lead

Subcommittee on International Human Rights committee  I'm not sure I'm the best person to answer this question, because I don't think they've been able to deal with this. Twenty-five years ago, I met with one of your colleagues, John Bosley, in Addis Ababa, and he told me that there was very little that Canada could do—maybe I can