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bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
=== News Update ===
Destabilizing The Horn
By Salim Lone
0108/07 "<http://informationclearinghouse.info/>Information Clearing House"
--- - The stability that emerged in southern Somalia after sixteen years of
utter lawlessness is gone, the defeat of the ruling Islamic Courts Union
now ushering in looting, martial law and the prospect of another major
anti-Western insurgency. Clan warlords, who terrorized Somalia until they
were driven out by the Islamists, and who were put back in power by the
U.S.-backed and -trained Ethiopian army, have begun carving up the country
once again.
With these developments, the Bush administration, undeterred by the horrors
and setbacks in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, has opened another
battlefront in this volatile quarter of the Muslim world. As with Iraq, it
casts this illegal war as a way to curtail terrorism, but its real goal
appears to be to obtain a direct foothold in a highly strategic area of the
world through a client regime. The results could destabilize the whole region.
The Horn of Africa, at whose core Somalia lies, is newly oil-rich. It is
also just miles across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia and Yemen, overlooking
the daily passage of large numbers of oil tankers and warships through that
waterway. The United States has a huge military base in neighboring
Djibouti that is being enlarged substantially and will become the
headquarters of a new U.S. military command being created specifically for
Africa. As evidence of the area's importance, Gen. John Abizaid, the
military commander of the region, visited Ethiopia recently to discuss
Somalia, while Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Horn countries a few
months ago in search of oil and trade agreements.
The current series of events began with the rise of the Islamic Courts more
than a year ago. The Islamists avoided large-scale violence in defeating
the warlords, who had held sway in Somalia ever since they drove out U.N.
peacekeepers by killing eighteen American soldiers in 1993, by rallying
people to their side through establishing law and order. Washington was
wary, fearing their possible support for terrorists. While they have denied
any such intentions, some Islamists do have terrorist ties, but these have
been vastly overstated in the West.
Washington, however, chose to view the situation only through the prism of
its "war on terror." The Bush administration supported the warlordsin
violation of a U.N. arms embargo it helped impose on Somalia many years
agoindirectly funneling them arms and suitcases filled with dollars.
Many of these warlords were part of the Western-supported transitional
"government" that had been organized in Kenya in 2004. But the "government"
was so devoid of internal support that even after two years it was unable
to move beyond the small western town of Baidoa, where it had settled. In
the end, it was forced to turn to Somalia's archenemy Ethiopia for
assistance in holding on even to Baidoa. Again in violation of the U.N.
arms embargo, Ethiopia sent 15,000 troops to Somalia. Their arrival eroded
whatever domestic credibility the government might have had.
The United States, whose troops have been sighted by Kenyan journalists in
the region bordering Somalia, next turned to the U.N. Security Council. In
another craven act resembling its post-facto legalization of the U.S.
occupation of Iraq, the Council bowed to U.S. pressure and authorized a
regional peacekeeping force to enter Somalia to protect the government and
"restore peace and stability." This despite the fact that the U.N. has no
right under its charter to intervene on behalf of one of the parties
struggling for political supremacy, and that peace and stability had
already been restored by the Islamists.
The war came soon after the U.N. resolution, its outcome a foregone
conclusion thanks to the highly trained and war-seasoned Ethiopian army.
The African Union called for the Ethiopians to end the invasion, but the
U.N. Security Council made no such call. Ban Ki-moon, the incoming
secretary-general, is being urged to treat the enormously complex situation
in Darfur as his political challenge, but Somalia, while less complex, is
more immediate. He has an opportunity to establish his credentials as an
unbiased upholder of the U.N. Charter by seeking Ethiopia's withdrawal.
The Ethiopian military presence in Somalia is inflammatory and will
destabilize this region and threaten Kenya, a U.S. ally and the only island
of stability in this corner of Africa. Ethiopia is at even greater risk, as
a dictatorship with little popular support and beset by two large internal
revolts by Ogadenis and Oromos. It is also mired in a military stalemate
with Eritrea, which has denied it secure access to seaports. It now seeks
such access in Somalia.
The best antidote to terrorism in Somalia is stability. Instead of engaging
with the Islamists to secure peace, the United States has plunged a poor
country into greater misery in its misguided determination to dominate the
world.
source:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16109.htm
===
-muslim voice-
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