Somalia: Africa’s front line in the ‘war on terror’
Dohabo Isse of the Somalia Civil Rights Organisation in London gave the following briefing for Media Workers Against the War on June 7:
Somalia consists of five territories where people of the same language and religion live. During the colonial period it was partitioned into territories claimed by the British, French, Italians, Kenyans and Ethiopians.
In 1960 the former British and Italian territories were united to form the independent Somali Republic. The French territory of Djibouti won independence in 1977. Other territories remain under Ethiopian and Kenyan control.
In 1969, General Mohammed Siad Barre led a coup and created a military government. For 21 years Somalia was under a dictatorship. In 1991 President Barre was overthrown. The Hawiye clan led the uprising. But the opposing clans failed to agree and there was a power struggle for 16 years.
In 1993 the United Nations intervened. Actually it was US interventions with UN helmets on. They said they would confiscate the guns. But they clashed with the factional leader Aidid. It ended with 18 US servicemen being killed in a battle for Mogadishu, including the famous “Black Hawk down incident”. The US troops pulled out.
After that neither the US nor the UN cared about Somalia. The warlords ruled, and there was chaos. Some Somalis called for EU intervention, but no one was interested. Women were raped and children died. The situation grew worse.
Religion – Islam – began to unite people and overcome the factional infighting between the clans. People said: If the clan system is causing chaos, we should unite around our religion. The “Islamic Courts” that took power in 2006 stood for Islam – bringing people together and overcoming tribal loyalties – and for bringing killers to justice.
For a brief period there was relative peace. The warlords fled to Ethiopia. The Islamic Courts ensured that no one could carry a gun, no one could rape a woman. So the Islamic Courts spread.
US supported the invasion
That’s when the warlords turned to the CIA and accused the Islamic Courts of harbouring Islamic terrorists, including the people who planted bombs in the US embassy in Kenya in 1998, in which hundreds were killed.
The US backed the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in January 2007. Ethiopian forces killed thousands, raping women. US helicopters and C130 gunships bombarded the south.
They did not capture or kill anyone involved in the Kenyan embassy bombings. And in any case, why launch a hunt for these people now, 9 years after the bombings? For 16 years they weren’t bothered about catching the bombers. The Ethiopian ambassador to London himself says the invasion was about clan interests, not terrorists.
In March and April there were clashes between the occupying Ethiopians and the Hawiye. Ethiopian tanks shelled Mogadishu, a city of 2.5 million people. The UN says 1,380 people did in two days. The bodies were left to rot in the street. It was genocide. The Somali resistance say the Ethiopians have used chemical weapons.
The Red Cross said it was the worst situation in Somalia for 16 years. 400,000 have fled Mogadishu.
The occupying government and the warlords have closed Al-Jazeera and three radio stations. Women have no rights, they can’t take part in society. The government banned a women’s conference on June 13 called by the Italians, saying that Somalia is a Muslim country so women can’t take part!
Addis Ababa is now a new Guantanamo: anyone they aren’t happy with is taken there, imprisoned and tortured. People trying to flee to Kenya have been forced back.
We appeal to the UK government, to the media, to see what is happening, to broadcast what is happening. We need human and democratic rights. But no one is paying attention.
During the discussion part of the meeting, the following points were raised:
The US currently relies on Africa for 10% of its oil imports; by 2020 Africa will supply 25% of US oil.
The “war on terror” is active in Africa, and Somalia is the main front. Somalia reveals so clearly that the “war on terror” has nothing to do with fighting terrorism. The are no “terrorists” in Somalia, although the US-backed intervention could well attract Al-Qaeda, just as in Iraq. The US and its allies label any resistance “terrorist”.
During the Cold War the US and Russia fought proxy wars in Africa. The same thing is going to happen with the US and China as they battle for resources. Somalia is strategic. It is also the weakest country in Africa, and therefore the easiest to control.
The Ethiopian dictator Mengistu now lives on a luxury mansion in Zimbabwe. Yet we don’t hear about US demands for him to be extradited!
Every conflict in Africa has something to do with imperialist intervention.
