Somali Minister to AWP: Great Importance Attached to Justice, Constitution After Years of Havoc
(AWP) - Somalia’s Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs said that the current national interest government attaches great importance to issues concerning the constitution and the justice system.
“Somalia is still recovering, after years of havoc that undermined all government institutions,” said Hassan Moalim Mohamud in an interview with the Arab World Press (AWP) in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
“Somali society is made up of tribes, which practiced justice on their own after the collapse of the central government. In the meantime, other terrorist groups exploited the state of lawlessness, and caused many problems the government has been facing until now. The government seeks to liberate the homeland from these organizations, and spread justice nationwide,” the Minister explained.
Mohamud pointed out that the authorities had embarked on measures to merge norms and traditions into state laws, as well as to establish judicial institutions all over Somalia, including the areas over which the government has regained control from the Al-Shabaab Movement.
“The Somali people are Muslims. After the collapse of the Somali state, the people returned to the traditions of the Islamic faith in order to realize justice between themselves and the state that is recovering now. The procedures began from scratch so as to merge traditions, norms and state laws for the sake of building a popular judiciary that emanated from the people, and was not forced on them,” he said.
“The Ministry is working on consolidating norms and laws. This is one of the things the people lack, after entrenching state jurisdiction over the cities and villages—judicial institutions that meet their needs, which the government is now working on in the areas liberated from the grip of the Al-Shabaab Movement,” he added.
The Minister of Justice said that work was underway to complete the interim constitution of the country, which is located in the Horn of Africa, and stressed the “great” confidence between the population and the government at present.
“We are now completing the interim constitution, which is being amended and is responding to the various segments of society—the people, the scholars and the state. All of these aspects are being collected together in order to build judicial institutions. This is not an easy way, nor has it been previously known. This requires us to innovate and come up with new means,” Mohamud noted.
“Our society is showing great confidence in the government and in the justice system. The homeland had no complete and official constitution for a long time, even prior to the collapse of the central government, and for nearly 50 years prior. There has been no understanding or agreement between the people and the government,” he pointed out.
The Somali government recently escalated military operations to target fighters from the Al-Shabaab Movement, which it has been battling for more than a decade, and was able to regain control over several areas in central Somalia.