Somalia is a priority for the U.S. State Department, which is engaged in "quiet diplomacy" to help buttress its fragile transitional government, a key state department leader said Wednesday night at the University of Minnesota.
Somalia is strategic to the U.S. war on terror, Jendayi Frazer, assistant secretary for African Affairs, told more than 500 Minnesota Somalis.
And the department is urging Somalia's government leaders to work out their differences through dialogue -- as opposed to armed conflict -- so stability can return.
Frazer, who is new to her post, told the crowd: "I'm eager to hear from you."
Frazer was among several high-ranking officials, including Somalia's representative to the United Nations, who spoke at the sold-out forum organized by the Minnesota International Center to explore Somalia's political climate and the implications for Minnesota's Somali population-- believed to be the largest concentration of Somalis in the United States.
Somalia hasn't had a central government since 1991, when civil war erupted.
Since then, there have been 14 attempts at national reconciliation, the U.S. State Department said. Most recently, in 2004, a transitional federal parliament was created, and it elected a transitional president.
Initially there was hope this government could stabilize the country, speakers said.
"All the warlords were in Parliament or the Cabinet, so there was hope they'd all be rowing in the same direction," said Ali Galaydh, former prime minister of Somalia and faculty member at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs.
But that unity was fleeting. The president now operates out of the city of Jowhar, about 55 miles north of the nation's capital of Mogadishu, while the majority of parliament is based in Mogadishu.
And the president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, has closer ties to Ethiopia than some Somalis are comfortable with, Galaydh said.
The two government factions are at an impasse, speakers said. And while speakers disagreed on the severity of the impasse and the source of it, they all agreed that the major players -- in Somalia and the United States -- must step up to the plate to try to bring stability to the country.
"We think there is light at the end of the tunnel," said Elmi Ahmed Duale, Somali ambassador to the United Nations.
Duale added that the United States can play a "vital role" in making that happen.
Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., told the crowd that he is drafting a resolution to confirm the United States' commitment to Somalia. That resolution could state, for example, that the United States is a partner in achieving stability in Somalia, he said. Or it could include a provision to appoint an emissary to serve as a liaison between the governments.
"I welcome your input in such a measure," Coleman told the crowd.
Coleman, like the other speakers, urged Minnesota's Somali community to play a constructive role during this difficult phase of government.
"I feel we have to be strong enough to support the peace process" without focusing exclusively on personalities," Galaydh said.
The forum is expected to be broadcast on Somali cable access television this weekend.

By Jean Hopfensperger
Source: Star Tribune