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bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
=== News Update ===
War Criminal :
Oil, Not Terrorists, the Reason for US Attack on Somalia
By Wanjohi Kabukuru
01/22/07 "<http://www.ichblog.eu>ICHBlog" -- -- Just why did the US attack
Somalia two weeks ago? Of course, the answer given for the US military
intervention and the generally accepted notion is the hunt for terrorists.
But is it? Are terrorists the only bone of contention the US has with
Somalia? When the US military devised "Operation Restore Hope" in 1993
which was short-lived after they were whipsawed by rag-tag militia in and
around Mogadishu, were they fighting the 'war on terror'?
They couldn't have been because this war was to start much later, If
anything it is a post-Sept 11 phenomenon. So then why did the US bomb ICU
extremists in the name of Al Qaeda terrorists and not throughout last year
when they occupied Mogadishu?
Just why is Somalia so important to the US, and by extension the big boys
of Europe and some Gulf states? A UN Somalia Monitoring Group report
released in November 2005 reveals that a dozen countries, namely Yemen,
Djibouti, Libya, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia, Iran, Syria, Eritrea,
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Uganda were all poking their noses into the
Somalia pie.
What the UN Somalia Monitoring Group didn't reveal, however, is that these
were not the only countries which were interested in the country. The
little known yet well-heeled contact group, consisting of Norway, the US,
UK, France and Tanzania (just an appendage) are also deeply enmeshed in
Somalia.
While the terrorism theory holds some water, the reality of the factors
contributing to the mess in Somalia is pegged on natural resources. Oil and
gas are Somalia's Achilles heel. It is an open secret that four US oil
giants are sitting pretty on money-spinning concessions expecting to reap
huge windfalls from massive resources of both oil and gas in Somalia.
The story of Somalia and oil goes back to the colonial period. British and
Italian geologists first identified oil deposits during that period of
imperialism. The first oil wells historically referred to as the Daga
Shabell series were dug in the 1960s. Tiny gas discoveries adjacent to
Socotra were also noted.
The race for these precious natural resources took a new turn in 1988, when
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank, with
the support of the governments of Britain, France and Canada and backed by
several Western oil companies financed a regional hydrocarbon study of the
countries bordering the Red Sea and the Gulf of Eden.
The countries were Somalia, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was
later dropped, but not before it had been established that within the study
area, massive deposits of oil and gas existed. The results of the findings
were presented to a three-day American Association of Petroleum Geologists,
Eastern Hemisphere group conference, in London in September, 1991. Is there
oil in Somalia? Listen to the answer:
"It's there. There's no doubt there's oil there," said geologist Thomas E.
O'Connor, the World Bank's principal petroleum engineer, who steered the
in-depth, three-year study of oil prospects in Somalia's Gulf of Eden in
the northern coastal region.
The study was intended to encourage private investment in the petroleum
potential of eight African nations. The conclusions of their findings are
quite telling as the geologists put Somalia and Sudan at the top of the
list of prospective commercial oil producers.
While presenting their results during the conference, two geologists
involved in the study (an American and an Egyptian) reported that the
investigation of nine exploratory wells dug in Somalia pointed out that the
region was "situated within the oil window, and thus (is) highly
prospective for gas and oil."
Geologist, Z. R. Beydoun, who was involved in the survey, noted that "the
geological parameters conducive to the generation, expulsion and trapping
of significant amounts of oil and gas" were within the offshore sites. Soon
after a race for lucrative deals kicked off in earnest.
Four US oil companies, namely Conoco, Chevron, Amoco and Philips have
concessions in nearly two thirds of Somalia. This quartet of oil
conglomerates was granted these contracts in the final days of Somalia's
deposed dictator, Siad Barre. The US first military engagement in Somalia
was fully supported by Conoco.
About the Author: Mr Kabukuru is a Nairobi-based freelance journalist.
This article first appeared in the Daily Nation
source:
http://www.ichblog.eu/content/view/61/1/
===
-muslim voice-
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