The new US war against Somalia
11. March 2010
“Somalia’s president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh announced that the British government has pledged to support his fragile government in the fight against the powerful insurgents. He told British reporters at a press conference in London on Tuesday that the government-planned offensives against insurgents would be launched in the coming weeks and that African Union troops would provide ground support while US forces would help in the air”, Garowe Online wrote March 9.
“Within coming weeks, we will attack positions held by anti-government forces to retain the control of the country and make it peacefully,” he told reporters at London’s Al-Talah Hotel.
What sort of peace?
Coming from the mouth of a Somali president who rules a government consisting of some of the worst war criminals in the world, with militias that are notorious to plunder their own people and who very often fight internaly about the goods they steal – peace is a strange word to use.
As late as on March 9 Shabelle wrote:
“At least three people have been killed and 4 others were wounded after government soldiers exchanged fun fire at Mekka Al-mukarama street in Mogadishu, witnesses told Shabelle radio on Tuesday.
“Reports say that the fighting was between the marine and police forces of the transitional government of Somalia and started between Km4 and 3-biano building, killing 3 people who were around the area.
“Witnesses said that the clash started as the marine forces attempted to disrupt the passengers of a public traffic on the road which caused the police forces to intervene and fight with them.”
Why the fighting?
Because the soldiers are not paid. If they are very lucky some of them can get two meals a day – but not enough food they complain. Similar conditions exist for the so-called peacekeepers as papers in Uganda tell. The overwhelming part of the undoubted lots of money paid from different countries in the international society disappear in different pockets of corruption.
The only solution for the soldiers is to rob the civilians if they want to exist.
The marines seem to have found a good way of living.
On March 9 Somaliweyn tells that the fishermen complains about the robberies at the sea. A spokesman, Bashir, said “that each fishing boat which goes into the sea for fishing is supposed to pay 100 Somali shillings which is equivalent to something to do with $3.5, and if you come back with fish he said you will be charged again.
”Not only that we face constant threats from the Marine Force, and sometimes torture, and the government is yet looking at the matter with wide open eyes which means nothing to us” added Mr. Bashir.”
The beginning of the confrontations?
On March 10 the Anti-War website wrote:
“Reports continue to come in since the weekend that US surveillance drones have been flying overhead in the Somali capital city of Mogadishu, providing intelligence to the self-proclaimed government that soon hopes to launch a major attack across the city.
“The “Transitional Federal Government,” which got its start as the “Transitional National Government” has been in Somalia since late 2005, trying unsuccessfully to consolidate its power on the back of massive US aid and a failed US-backed Ethiopian invasion on its behalf. At this point it survives in only a few scant city blocks around Mogadishu’s presidential palace, and there only to the extent that the African Union troops are willing to prop them up.”
Other reports tell that fighter jets have been seen over the third biggest town in Somalia, the port town Kismayo, 500 km. south of Mogadishu. Kismayo is controlled by the insurgents group Al Shabab.
Maybe the promised offensive has already started. Or rather: the insurgents want to anticipate it.
43 Somalis killed in capital after 2 days of fighting between the Islamists and the government
Under this headline Associated Press reported on March 11:
“Heavy fighting between Somali insurgents and pro-government troops has killed at least 43 people over two days, as African Union peacekeepers used tanks to help the beleaguered government beat back an insurgent attack, officials said Thursday.
“Militants attacking from the north on Wednesday reached to within a mile (2 kilometres) of the presidential place in the heart of the capital, Mogadishu, before African Union peacekeepers in tanks reinforced government troops, residents said.
“Ali Muse, the head of Mogadishu’s ambulance service, said he saw 40 bodies lying in the streets over the two days of fighting Wednesday and Thursday. Nearly 150 were wounded, mostly civilians, he said.
“The fighting was heavier than that of yesterday,” said Muse. “Our ambulances are sometimes caught in the crossfire. Our ambulance crews use dangerous streets and they have to dodge mortars and bullets. Sometimes it takes us hours to reach injured civilians and because of that they bleed to death.”
“Three of the wounded brought in Wednesday died overnight, said Abdi Mahad, a doctor at Medina Hospital.
“A mortar shell has just fallen into the house next to me. We can hear neighbours crying and can see smoke over their building, but I do not know if there is a casualty,” Sahra Haji Abdulle said by phone from her home in northern Mogadishu. “We could hardly sleep last night. The sky was lit up by shelling all night. We have nowhere to escape.”
A risky undertaking
In our opinion the US and Ethiopia share a common interest in making as much problems and splits in Somalia as possible in order to avoid a strong Somalia to emerge.
We agree with most of what the Ethiopian analyst Mohamed Hassan writes in his article – published also on our website under the title:
Somalia: How Colonial Powers drove a Country into Chaos
The purpose of the new offensive is to create even more problems in Somalia but the generals seem to forget they are facing guerrilla forces.
The government cannot without big consequences give up the defence of the presidential palace, the port and the airport in Mogadishu but the guerrillas have in principle no areas worth to defend.
As we have seen many times the guerrillas just vanish if they face to hard resistance when attacked by AMISOM tanks – just to reappear as soon as the tanks are withdrawn to protect the most vital areas for the govenment.
Besides the planned offensive risk to be a boomerang for the US, the Ethiopians, the Ahlu Sunna Waljame militias and the government. It will be much easier for the insurgents to claim that all of them are foreign interests.
When the air strikes start for real it will be even easier to show who defends Somali interests and who defend foreign interests.
Warnings from Somali experts in the US have already been published what we will describe very soon.
US seems ready to return to Somalia where it wants to be directly involved in an offensive against the rebels Kosova: The trail against Albin Kurti