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Somalia
Ought To Be Obama's Litmus Test.
(Virginia, December 09, 2008 Ceegaag Online)
Indeed
the historic victory of President-elect Obama has
created profound prospect of hope and change that 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
this mainly flies under the radar of public scrutiny,
Washington has secretly been involved with the 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 has
argued in his article entitled of a reckless U.S.
proxy war "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
spearheading this proxy war, Washington has secretly
made a deal with some of the most vicious warlords who
styled themselves as a counter terrorism coalition.
Stating Washington's position, Sean McCormack of the
State Department had the following to say, "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 downing in Mogadishu and thousands
of Somali civilians.
Washington's dependence on these abhorred characters has
not only empowered the criminals who claimed the lives
of hundreds of thousands of innocent Somali civilians,
but it has consequently created the worst
anti-Americanism in Somalia and the region as a whole.
The
invasion, aimed to crush the Islamic Courts Union (ICU)
brought to an end a six months of peace under the
courts' control of Mogadishu and, as many analysts
warned, 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
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 wholesale
condemnation, the equivalent of the infamous de-Bathification
in Iraq, has destroyed any and all opportunities to
build on a 6 months peace established by the ICU in
Somalia- an era 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 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 mean time,
the world is mesmerized with piracy off the coast of
Somalia- a diversion of a more daunting story of over 1
million internally displaced and nearly 3.5 million
being on the verge of starvation. And this is
overshadowed by the piracy news.
And
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 its environment. Throughout the civil
strife, accusations of the European and Asian countries
secretly dumping toxic radioactive waste along the
Somali coast have been circulated. But, it wasn't till
the 2005 Tsunami when waste-filled barrels and
containers were found in the seashores.
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
sadiaaden@gmail.com
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Sadia Ali
Aden is
a peace activist and a writer whose work has appeared in
various publications
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