Somalia Ought To Be Obama's Litmus Test
by Sadia Ali Aden
"Washington has secretly been involved with a third war
in addition to Iraq and Afghanistan."
The historic victory of President-elect Obama has indeed
created profound prospects of hope and change that have swept through America.
However, for millions across the world who have witnessed devastation,
insecurity and chaos resulting from an imprudent US foreign policy, reality is
a nightmare they cannot easily ignore. Here, Somalia comes to mind.
Though the fact mainly flies under the radar of public
scrutiny, Washington has secretly been involved with a third war in addition to
Iraq and Afghanistan. This one is fought by proxy on its behalf by Ethiopia
which invaded Somalia on Christmas Eve of 2006.
Salim Lone, a former spokesman for the UN mission in Iraq in
2003, and a columnist for The Daily Nation in Kenya, says this about the
United States' proxy war in the Horn of Africa. "The U.S. instigation of
war between Ethiopia and Somalia, two of world's poorest countries already
struggling with massive humanitarian disasters, is reckless in the
extreme."
Before launching its military joint venture with Ethiopia
two years ago, Washington secretly made a deal with some of Somalia's most
vicious warlords who styled themselves as a counter-terrorism coalition. Sean
McCormack of the State Department outlined Washington's official position, this
way: "...the United States would work with responsible individuals...in
fighting terror...terror taking root in the Horn of Africa." Never mind that
some of these so-called "responsible individuals" are the same
warlords who fought against US soldiers serving in Operation Restore Hope back
in 1993 that killed 18 Army Rangers during the infamous Black Hawk helicopter
downing in Mogadishu. Thousands of Somali civilians died in the operation.
"Washington secretly made a deal with some of Somalia's
most vicious warlords."
Washington's dependence on these abhorrent characters
empowered the criminals who claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of
innocent Somali civilians and created intense anti-Americanism in Somalia and
the region as a whole.
The invasion, aimed to crush the Islamic Courts Union (ICU),
brought to an end six months of relative peace under the courts' control of
Mogadishu. As many analysts warned, the assault triggered relentless violence
that rendered Somalia the "world's
worst humanitarian crisis." Yet, the world remains awfully callous and
silent.
The latest Amnesty International report on Somalia, entitled
"Fatal Insecurity," opens with a profound quote from a Somali human rights
defender in exile: "Even the short man can see the sky, when will the
international community see what is happening in Somalia?"
The simple answer might be: when the American and
international media turn their attention to the real issues - the political
paranoia that caused the Ethiopian occupation. And how both the US and Ethiopia
have been in partnership with the very warlords who have been fueling violence
since 1991. And lastly, how Washington's aforementioned partners have succeeded
in selling a fabricated intelligence that declared Somalia "a safe haven
for terrorists?"
"The US and Ethiopia have been in partnership with the
very warlords who have been fueling violence since 1991."
The State Department's top Africa official, Assistant
Secretary Jendayi Frazer, missed a golden opportunity as she haphazardly
pressed the designation of ICU as an entity that is "terrorists to the
core." This blanket condemnation, the equivalent of the infamous
de-Bathification in Iraq, has destroyed any and all opportunities to build on
the six-months peace established by the ICU in Somalia - a period that the
Chattan House, a world class think tank based in UK, called "the golden
era of peace seen by the Somalis since the start of the Somali civil war."
With the Ethiopian troops' indiscriminate shelling of
neighborhoods and committing what some consider war crimes violations, the
current US-sponsored occupation continues to create an environment conducive to
increased resentment toward America. And this, needless to say, is creating a
potential anti-US threat where none previously existed.
According to Amnesty International, Ethiopian troops are
killing civilians by slitting their throats and gang-raping women. Somali
civilians were, according to witnesses, "slaughtered like goats." In
the meantime, the world is mesmerized with piracy off the coast of Somalia - a
diversion from a more daunting story of over one million internally displaced
persons and nearly 3.5 million on the verge of starvation. And this is
overshadowed by the piracy news.
While the Somali pirates are by no means the Robin Hoods of
the sea, their presence has shed light on the inhumane crimes committed against
the Somali people and the destruction of the country's environment. Throughout
the civil strife, accusations have circulated of European and Asian countries
secretly dumping toxic radioactive waste along the Somali coast. But, it wasn't
till the 2005 Tsunami that waste-filled barrels and containers washed up on the
seashores.
"Ethiopian troops are killing civilians by slitting their
throats and gang-raping women."
Nick Nuttall, a spokesman for the United Nations Environment
Program (UNEP), recently told Voice of America that for the past
15 years or so, European companies and others have used Somalia as a dumping
ground for a wide array of nuclear and hazardous wastes. "There are
reports from villagers of a wide range of medical problems like mouth bleeds,
abdominal hemorrhages, unusual skin disorders and breathing difficulties,"
Nuttall said. Reiterating these vicious crimes by states and non-state
entities, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, UN envoy to Somalia, added: "I am
convinced there is dumping of solid waste, chemicals and probably nuclear
(waste)....There is no government (control) and there are few people with high
moral ground."
Fixing Somalia's multifaceted problem will take time and a
collective effort on the part of the international community. However, the most
critical step, according to many analysts, is to stop the hemorrhage - the
Ethiopian occupation. The second most critical step is immediate humanitarian
response; third is a UN Resolution that imposes sanctions on any country
caught dumping waste in the Somali coast. Equally important is to chart a
holistic, genuine and inclusive political solution to the Somali
calamity. All could be spearheaded by the new administration.
In his article, "Somali Piracy and Enchanting
Water Circus," Abukar
Arman arrives at a similar conclusion when he says "a starting point
for the soon-to-take-office new U.S. Administration is to put this issue on top
of its foreign policy priority and to develop a sound policy toward
Somalia."
Sadia Ali Aden is a peace activist and a writer whose work has appeared in
various publications.
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