Millions Face Disaster Due to U.S. Ethiopian Occupation of Somalia

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by
Glen Ford

“Obama,
the Speaker of the House and the top Democrat in the Senate are all
mum on U.S. crimes against the Somali people.”

George
Bush, who has violated every international law known to man, still
believes he has the moral authority to “law down the law” to
Robert Mugabe, in Zimbabwe. Bush took his anti-Mugabe
hysteria
to Japan, this weekend, for the yearly meeting of the world’s eight
most powerful industrial nations, the G-8. Seven African nations were
there as well, constituting the “African Outreach Group.” They
served notice on Bush, the Brits and other rich countries that they
continue to oppose sanctions against Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, the United States is
directly complicit in what the United Nations has called the “worst
humanitarian disaster” in Africa. The Ethiopian invasion of
Somalia, launched in late 2006 with massive air, naval and logistical
support from the Americans, has resulted in the displacement of 3.5
million people, 700,000 from the
capital city of Mogadishu, alone. More than two-and-a-half million
Somalis face starvation – a figure that could rise to
three-and-a-half million by the end of this year. A recent Amnesty
International report on human rights violations in Somalia, said
Ethiopian soldiers have begun “slaughtering Somalis like goats” –
meaning, killing them by cutting their throats. Amnesty
International’s Deputy Africa Director put it this way: “'The
people of Somalia are being killed, raped, tortured; looting is
widespread and entire neighborhoods are being destroyed.”

“Ethiopian
soldiers have begun ‘slaughtering Somalis like goats’ –
meaning, killing them by cutting their throats.”

The
U.S. has made Ethiopia its hit man in the Horn of Africa, a decision
that is guaranteed to destabilize the entire region. That’s part of
the American modus operandi: to create chaos – always resulting in
mass deaths among the poor – in order to declare Africans unfit to
run their own affairs. This is a theme that plays well among U.S.
corporate media, who have dutifully pushed the Bush line on Zimbabwe,
but go months without even mentioning the American-made crisis in
Somalia. Democratic Party leadership is no better, including
presidential nominee-to-be Barack Obama, whose father was born in
Kenya, Somalia’s neighbor. Obama, the Speaker of the House and the
top Democrat in the Senate are all mum on U.S. crimes against the
Somali people.

Before
the Americans instigated the Ethiopians to invade Somalia, something
resembling peace had settle over the country. Islamist groups had
succeeded in defeating the warlords that were bankrolled by the
United States. Virtually all reports indicated that Somalis had cause
to hope for a better future for the first time since the country
descended into chaos in 1992. But peace was unacceptable to the
United States, which is determined to militarize the entire continent
of Africa, in order to secure its oil resources. Already, the Somali
puppet government installed by the Ethiopians and their American
backers is inviting international energy companies to exploit their
virgin oil reserves. This lust for oil has already cost Somalia its
national sovereignty. It may also cost millions of lives.

For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford
can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

For a downloadable MP3 copy of this commentary, visit the Black Agenda Radio archive page.

More Stories