The "War on Terror" and Africa's Worst Humanitarian Crisis
by
Sadia Ali Aden
This article originally appeared in WorldPress.org.
"There
is a dirtiness to this war."
Approximately three months ago, Somalia's Transitional
Federal Government (TFG), pressured out Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi.
Surprisingly, this political re-arrangement of deckchairs generated much noisy
headlines.
Meanwhile the real story - the great unfolding humanitarian
disaster - continued unnoticed.
For the Somali people, the Ethiopian invasion of December of
2006 could not have started at a worse time. Defeating the Union of Islamic
Courts (UIC) and propping up the TFG; this was Ethiopia's immediate rationale
for violating Somalia. The larger goal? Forging a partnership between
Washington and Addis Ababa in order to execute "war on terror."
A year later, this mission has not been accomplished.
Instead, the "war on terror" has become the terror of war being
visited on the Somali people.
Admittedly a handful of Somalis have benefited from the
invasion, specifically the dozens of warlords previously driven out of
Mogadishu by the UIC. These warlords, the instigators of Somalia's
current civil conflict, were reinstalled in their fiefdoms riding on the backs
of Ethiopia's invading tanks. As a result, the reviled check points and
road blocks used to bully cash out of unarmed civilians were reintroduced in
Southern Somalia, particularly Mogadishu.
"Warlords were reinstalled in their fiefdoms riding on the
backs of Ethiopia's invading tanks."
To keep the invasion and Africa's worst humanitarian
catastrophe going, heavy and modern weapons, including airplanes were used. One
was a U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship that attacked and killed Somali villagers
and countless livestock in the hunt for three foreign men suspected for the
bombing of 1998 American embassies in Africa, who yet remain at large.
Among those caught in the chaos were visiting Somalis from
the Diaspora. In the period between June and December 2006, Somali
technocrats returned to their native country to partake in the rebuilding
during the six month period of peace and stability that was established under
the rule of the UIC. The Diaspora arrived with the intention to give back to
the land and the people they left behind and contribute to rebuilding their
lives.
Unfortunately, "extraordinary rendition" programs were the
gratitude they received. The TFG, Kenya, Ethiopia and US are all
implicated. Males as young as 12 were seized from their homes in the dead
of the night, blindfolded and taken to unknown destinations. 
Fleeing refugees met a similar fate. Unfortunately, these
refugees had nowhere to escape, as Kenya decided to close its borders and deny
them entry. This paved the way for the current nightmare scenario: one million
internally displaced persons (IDPs,) mostly children and women, without any
provision or protection from the UN or other humanitarian agencies or
NGOs.
In order to create a safe haven for the displaced refugees,
the international community must demand that neighboring countries open their
borders. All too often, the casualties of war are those that are unmentioned:
the innocent men, women and children, caught in the middle, left with no way out.
"One million internally
displaced persons (IDPs,) mostly children and women, without any provision or
protection."
The UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres,
said border security measures should not impair the ability of deserving Somali
civilians to enter Kenya to seek safety and protection as
refugees. The neighboring nations have a humanitarian responsibility
to safeguard these refugees.
On October 30, 2007, 40 international NGOs released a joint
statement warning of the looming humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia, while
Ethiopian forces and militias loyal to the Transitional Federal Government
callously prevent delivery of life-saving aid.
Ethiopian forces continue their shelling of Mogadishu
neighborhoods. According to Elman Human Rights group, 7000 civilians - mostly
women, children, and elderly - were killed between January and November of
2007.
Human Rights Watch's August 2007 report on Somalia, titled "Shell-Shocked: Civilians Under
Siege in Mogadishu," documented "many of the most serious patterns of
abuse by Ethiopian troops, such as indiscriminate attacks on civilians, summary
executions and repeated targeting of hospitals," wrote the organization's
Washington Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch, Tom Malinowski, in an open
letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
However, the international media by and large remain morally
selective in what they show to the world.
"Eight Somali journalists were killed for having simply
dared report the reality on the streets of Mogadishu."
Somali caricaturist, Amin Amir (AminArts.com) depicts this
moral selectivity on his December 12, 2007
cartoon. The powerful imagery shows a representative of the international
media zooming his camera on a severely malnourished child standing in the
middle of a killing field littered with bodies while Ethiopian jets fly
overhead firing missiles. The child declares: "I don't need your coverage; it
is these atrocities" - pointing to the dead - "that you need to be telling the
world."
The current Somali nightmare was exacerbated by the
systematic assassination of Somali independent media groups. And the silence of
the international community on this matter is deeply disturbing and sadly
deafening. This year alone, eight Somali journalists were killed for
having simply dared report the reality on the streets of Mogadishu. The
TFG and Ethiopian forces have created an environment of terror and coercion.
According to the United
Nations Children's Fund, one-quarter of the refugees around Afgooye are
younger than age of five. Sick children and pregnant women often are turned
away at checkpoints, and trucks carrying food and other humanitarian aid are
routinely charged $500 each for passing through.
"Things are now getting absolutely worse," said
Christian Balslev-Olesen, the UNICEF representative for Somalia. "There is
a dirtiness to this war. Children are a real target."
Sadia Ali Aden is a mother, writer, and voice
for justice and equality who lives in Virginia. She can be contacted at sadiaaden@gmail.com.
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