Outsourcing the Somali war to a Tigrean warlord

[Oromia]

Outsourcing the Somali war to a Tigrean warlord

 

Haile Kassahun

 

Ethiopian Americans for Justice

 

Nov 25, 2006

 

 

War in the Horn of Africa appears imminent. If large-scale violence breaks out, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and the Bush administration will bear major responsibility for the ensuing chaos and human suffering.

 

 

Zenawi, who already has at least 8,000 troops in Somalia, just declared his readiness to widen the war.

 

 

There is a marriage of convenience between Ethiopia's Prime Minister and the Bush Administration. Zenawi is desperate to divert attention from his internal troubles and human rights abuses. An over-extended Bush administration finds it cost-effective and expedient to outsource the Somali war to an eager, yet repugnant local tyrant.

 

 

Zenawi is a polished Tigrian warlord in an Armani suit. He is an Albanian-style Marxist turned Christian crusader, a ruthless megalomaniac perfectly willing to burn down the neighborhood to stay in power.

 

 

Ethiopia's ruling Tigrai Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) has devised a grand internal and external strategy to stay in power. Creating Christian-Moslem conflict is the weapon to be used on the domestic front. This is designed to create a wedge between regime opponents who have united without regard to religion or ethnicity.

 

 

The recent religious violence that took the lives of some 19 people in the South West of the country appears to be the work of regime agents.

 

 

There is an active domestic propaganda campaign about the danger of jihadists and Islamic extremists. The campaign aims to confuse the issues, to hoodwink the country's Christian population and to garner its support. Such a situation will create a Christian-Moslem rift, virtually assuring the continuing rule of the ruling minority group. Sadly, such poison is being introduced to a population that has had unprecedented religious tolerance.

 

 

The bond between Christians and Moslems goes back to the beginnings of Islam. The prophet Mohammed sent his followers to Ethiopia when they fled persecution in Arabia. Ethiopia's Christian king received Mohammed's followers as honored guests and treated them with civility.

 

 

Although there were periods of contention, the early history of tolerance created a precedent for mutual respect and coexistence. It will therefore be an unforgivable crime to introduce religious conflict to an otherwise harmonious society.

 

 

Zenawi's external survival strategy depends on currying favor with the United States. Towards that end, he continues to fabricate intelligence reports about the danger Somali Islamists pose to Ethiopia and the United States.

 

 

Ethiopia's Prime Minister says the Somali Islamic Courts Union (ICU) is a terrorist organization that has to be stopped in its tracks. He provides no proof beyond accusations and name calling.

 

 

"I think the U.S. government panicked. They saw Islamic group; they said, 'Taliban is coming," said Herman Cohen, former Under Secretary of State for African Affairs, in a recent interview with Margaret Warner of PBS.

 

 

Cohen continued, "also, there are friends in the region, like the Ethiopians, who probably are feeding false intelligence about terrorists being hidden and that sort of thing…. So they want to keep the Islamists out of power, and they will bring the U.S. into it, if they can."

 

 

Ironically, this same grandstanding Zenawi and his organization were classified as terrorists by the United States not long ago. (See, for example, US Homeland Security's database of terrorist organizations. See also.)

 

 

Somalia's Islamic Courts Council poses a "clear and present danger," Ethiopia's strong man said during a recent, carefully-orchestrated speech to his rubber-stamp parliament. Again, he provided no proof.

 

 

Many Ethiopians would beg to disagree. What poses a "clear and present danger" is a homegrown rogue minority regime that refuses to respect election results, shoots opponents at will, throws tens of thousands in jail without respect for due process of law. The "clear and present danger" comes from the ruling Tigray People's Liberation Front that runs away from solving domestic post-election problems, pimps the country for political gain, and starts an unprovoked war with a neighboring country.

 

 

No matter how much one disagrees with the religious bent of the Islamic Courts Union, they have brought a modicum of stability to Mogadishu and other areas they control.

 

 

This is in contrast to the incompetence of the so-called Transitional Government of Somalia which has failed to show any popular support. President Abdullahi Yusuf has little credibility with his own people, spending most of his time in Ethiopia. It is reported that he has been in the service of Ethiopian security forces going at least as far back as a decade. Even his kidney operation a few years ago was paid for by Ethiopia.

 

 

A Bush administration preoccupied with Iraq appears to have decided to let Ethiopians do the fighting. US policy in Ethiopia and Somalia has been relegated to low-level, inexperienced officials.

 

 

It's the same folks who lent American support to unsavory Somali warlords, leading to an embarrassing foreign policy debacle in June. The public face of this rookie team is Jendayi Frazer, US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs. Frazer is reportedly close to the Zenawi regime and relies heavily on the EPRDF's self-serving intelligence feed.

 

 

Incidentally, some of the pro-US warlords may be among those responsible for the killing of US rangers during the "Blackhawk" incident.

 

 

According to a Washington Post dispatch of May 17, 2006, some of the warlords "reportedly fought against the United States in 1993 during street battles that culminated in an attack that downed two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters and left 18 Army Rangers dead."

 

 

These warlords continue to spend a great deal of time in Addis Ababa, chewing the narcotic Khat, driving expensive cars, guzzling top-shelf whiskey and frequenting whorehouses -- all courtesy of the American tax-payer.

 

 

Zenawi is eager to keep the focus away from his domestic troubles at all costs. In the past, he had no qualms sacrificing at least 50,000 Ethiopian troops during the Ethio-Ertrean war of 1998 -2000. The war was allegedly fought over a barren border area called Badme. Incomprehensibly, he was quick to give up Badme--land over which so much blood was shed. When ceding territory became domestically unpopular, he began backtracking and flip flopping, making border demarcation a permanent thorny issue that continues to this day.

 

 

Zenawi also had no problem giving orders for the shooting of civilians protesting the stealing of the 2005 elections. Over 193 civilians were murdered in broad daylight and upwards of 30,000 jailed in a post-election reign of terror, according to a commission established by the regime. Among those arrested are almost all elected leaders of the opposition party, including the mayor of Addis Ababa, human rights advocates, journalists and civic society leaders.

 

 

There is no rule of law or an independent judiciary to dispense justice. Prisoners are guilty until proven innocent. Even when the court releases prisoners the security forces rearrest them. Long imprisonment without any evidence--sometime lasting as long as 10 or 15 years-–is common.

 

 

Beyond imprisonment, the autocrat's 15-year rule has been marred by a systemic pattern of human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings.

 

 

A few additional examples of the regime's violent rule include the following:

 

 

At least 30 helpless prisoners in Kaliti were shot dead last year;

 

424 ethnic Anuaks war massacred by the Ethiopian army in 2003 to make way for oil exploration by a Malaysian company;

 

66 protesters were gunned down in Awassa and Addis Ababa in 2002;

 

40 students were murdered in 2001;

 

and another group of 19 students were killed in Addis Ababa in 1993.

 

 

Widespread killings and mass arrests have been common in regions inhabitted by the majority Oromos. Some 15,000 to 20,000 people have been killed in the Oromia region alone, according to a former judge who recently defected to the West. This disturbing information was revealed in a recent interview the judge, Teshale Abera, gave to the Mail and Guardian newspaper. According to the judge, Ethiopia's current regime is as bad as the Mengistu regime it replaced.

 

 

Ethiopia is also gripped by an economic crisis, contrary to the government's Orwellian propaganda. Regime cadres are increasingly squeezing peasants. Urban unemployment is still upwards of 50 percent. The cost of living has skyrocketed, making life unbearable for the ordinary person.

 

 

Upwards of four million Ethiopians need ongoing international food handouts. Over three million are infected with HIV/AIDS. (The only sector doing well is party-owned businesses and the few parasites that benefit from ethnic patronage.) Add to that mass arrests and the continuing intimidation of all opponents. A state of fear pervades the country. All is not well behind the façade of a few high rises that have cropped up on Bole Road.

 

 

The Bush administration has made a Faustian bargain with the Zenawi regime. It has downplayed widespread killings and egregious human rights violations in exchange for Zenawi's services in the war against terror.

 

 

The same administration that has refused to speak up against the massacre of Ethiopians wants Ethiopia to sacrifice its sons and daughters fighting Somalis in pursuit of a big power's muddled, questionable strategic goal.

 

 

U.S. troops stationed in Djibout and Camp Hurso in Ethiopia appear to be directly involved in the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. The US has also been actively spreading disinformation that demonizes the Islamic Council while creating sympathy for the Ethiopian invasion. For example, the dubious document recently leaked to the media and purportedly prepared by UN experts has all the markings of a US disinformation campaign to justify a war against the Islamic Courts.

 

 

Ethiopia and Somalia are among the poorest countries in the world. Both people have experienced tremendous suffering in the last thirty years.

 

 

Where's the morality in pitting one poor African country against another? Where is justice? Where is the morality in coddling a tyrant once labeled terrorist by the United States? Why is it acceptable for the United States to ally with a murderous regime that has massacred at least 193 civilians and arrested over 30,000 in secret concentration camps? Why is such immorality being perpetrated in the name of the war against terror?

 

 

Congressman Donald Payne said the following during a recent briefing on the situation in Ethiopia: "…During the Cold War, United States supported dictators like Mobutu and never really condemned South Africa's apartheid government because they were anti-communists, and we were fighting the communists in the U.S. And so we're not going to repeat those mistakes," Payne said.

 

 

Thousands will die, tens of thousands will be maimed and millions will be made refugees. Just as in Iraq, when the mess gets to be too much to handle, the US will walk away under one pretext or another, leaving the local people holding the bag. There will be so much suffering that no amount of international handout will make a dent.

 

 

The Islamic Council has invited the US to come to Mogadishu, to engage in dialogue and observe first hand the situation on the ground. This is a good gesture that the United States and Ethiopia should take advantage of. The parties need to resolve all issues through dialogue. The misery and mayhem a new war brings, nor matter what the pretext, is not worth the cost to the people on the receiving end.

 

It's still not too late to stop this madness.

 

 

The author can be reached at ethiojustice@gmail.com

 

http://www.ethrev.com/forum.html

[Oromia]

I think it is up on us all Somalis and Oromos to let our friends in the Horn and all over the world know what is being hatched for Soamlia and the Horn of Africa in Addis Ababa and the White House.

[Jabhad]

Historic and religious factors, and US backing, shaping Ethiopia's aggression in Somalia

by Mahmoud Ahmed Shaikh

(Friday November 24 2006)

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

"There is no doubt whatsoever that the Ethiopian regime is corrupt and oppressive. But despite this the US government, which claims to be working for the entrenchment of democratic rule in the African continent, is a strong ally of Addis Ababa and of Zenawi."

 

 

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The current conflicts in the Horn of Africa have not merely turned up on the contemporary world stage out of nowhere. Muslims and Christians in Ethiopia and neighbouring regions were engaged in confrontation (armed and otherwise) with each other long before the arrival of the Western colonial powers and the establishment of British, Italian and French protectorates and colonies. Muslims in the subsequent Italian Somali, British Somaliland and the French Somali colony (Djibouti) were, naturally, also involved in the religious friction in Christian Ethiopia. Semitic immigration from Arabia at about the time of Christ had also strongly affected the local culture, and Coptic Christianity was introduced in the fourth century. Two centuries later the growing empire reached its height under the Azum rulers but was checked by Islamic expansion from the East. The independent kingdom of Abyssinia came into being in the eleventh century; modern Ethiopia dates from 1855, when the state finally brought under its control the various tribes in the territory now known as Ethiopia.

 

 

As a result Christian Ethiopians pride themselves on never having been colonised. It was in 1896 that Italy tried to invade their country, only to be repulsed. But Italy returned in 1936 and was able this time to conquer Abyssinia and occupy it until its liberation and the return of the Emperor, Haile Selassie, in 1941. This pride of never having been colonised, while admirable in itself, is compromised by the parallel pride felt by many Ethiopians that their country was a colonial power, and was treated as such by the European colonisers in the Horn of Africa. That successive Ethiopian governments have treated the Somali areas and other regions that they conquered in the past as colonies, and their inhabitants as subjects, is not in doubt.

 

 

Yet Ethiopia does not allow those colonies the right to self-determination and independence and goes to war with any country that dares to help their struggle for independence. It went to war with Somalia over the ****** in 1977 and with Eritrea over their disputed border. Ethiopia was federated with Eritrea in 1952 and annexed the area in 1962. And when the federation came to an end and the issue of shared borders came to a head, Ethiopia rejected the ruling of an independent international commission and chose to go to war with Eritrea.

 

 

That Ethiopia is still "at war" with Somalia, though the latter is broken up into its two constituent parts (Somalia, the former Italian colony, and Somaliland, the former British Somaliland), is very clear. Somaliland declared its independence in 1991, after the overthrow of Siyad Barre. Ethiopia was ecstatic over the break-up and resolved to oppose any restoration of a united Somali state - preferring to see Somaliland remain a separate entity, though without diplomatic recognition, and Somalia a failed state mired in internal conflict. Addis Ababa feels that if this state of affairs continues the ****** region will be safe in its own hands and the Somali resistance, not getting any external assistance, will have no option but to give up its struggle for independence.

 

 

Ethiopia knows that Somalia is riven by tensions between clans, without hope of re-emerging as an independent functioning state if these divisions are not mended. It also knows that the only way to heal these divisions, which have traditionally caused great problems for Somalis, is to invoke their shared Islamic identity. Hence its full support for the transitional government led by Abdullahi Yusuf, a warlord who has participated in the clan warfare waged in Somalia for the past 15 years and helped to made it a failed state. Yusuf was also a strong ally of Ethiopia, and continues to be so. Moreover, Ethiopia is waging a full-scale war against the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). Apart from its historical hatred of Islamic leaders and organisations, Addis Ababa realises that the ICU is more likely to unite Somalis than are clan-based groups and programmes.

 

 

In fact, the ICU has managed to take control of most areas of Somalia since taking control of the capital in June and forcing the interim government to take refuge in the remote town of Baidoa. The fact that the ICU has no large army or substantial budget, yet has achieved so much despite the backing of the interim government by Ethiopia, the US and the UN, shows that the Somali people are fully behind the Islamic movement. Most Somalis are no doubt angered by the undisguised religious prejudice against a movement backed by most of the inhabitants of a Muslim country. Their conviction is confirmed by the obvious Christian-based alliance between the US government and Addis Ababa. The wider international war against Islam waged by the US government has also given credence to that conviction.

 

 

Both Ethiopia and the US initially underplayed their military presence or cooperation in Somalia in support of the interim government. But they are now increasingly being forced to admit their backing for the interim government, which has no army of its own and cannot engage in battle, having also lost the support of its clan militias. This clearly means that foreign troops have to be present in Somalia to do its fighting for it. Ethiopian troops have frequently crossed into the country in past months to bolster it, and even US troops have crossed the border on one occasion from neighbouring Djibouti, where the US has a naval base. Ethiopia insists that the "military personnel it has in Somalia are there to advise the government, not fight the ICU."

 

 

The US admitted its military cooperation with Ethiopia inside Somalia on October 11, when it dispatched to Addis Ababa a military delegation led by the deputy assistant secretary of defence. The talks centred on the military cooperation between the US and Addis Ababa and their alliance against 'terrorism' in the region. An Ethiopian source who had taken part in the talks was quoted in reports on October 12 as saying that the situation in Somalia was discussed and that prime minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia had confirmed to the US delegation that his country had nothing to do with the crisis in Somalia. The head of the US delegation said after the meeting that the military cooperation between the two countries was very strong. She added that the Ethiopian army was cooperating closely with US troops in Djibouti.

 

 

But despite their somewhat indirect acknowledgement of their military involvement in Somalia, the Americans continue to proclaim that they will use military might to end terrorist organisations in the region - including the ICU. To justify their claim that the ICU is a terrorist organisation, which is set to invade Ethiopia on a "jihadist programme", they accuse several countries, as diverse as Pakistan, Eritrea and Indonesia, of giving the ICU both military and financial aid.

 

 

A senior US official, for instance, accused Eritrea on October 19 of opening a "second front" in its struggle with Ethiopia by supplying arms to the ICU. Jendayi Frazer, the US assistant secretary of state for Africa, said: "I think Ethiopia is quite clearly attacking Ethiopia on another front. We have pretty clear evidence that that is a fact and they are shipping arms into Somalia." Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a border war from 1998 to 2000 and continue to be locked in a boundary dispute, which Frazer called the "first front".

 

 

Meles Zenawi, on the other hand, accused gunmen from Pakistan, Indonesia and the Arab world of backing the ICU to the extent that they are now able to march to the common border in a clear move to invade his country. He told his parliament on October 19 that the "jihadists were massing their forces near our borders," and vowed to fight them if they chose to invade. "If this activity continues, and is found to threaten our national security, then our forces will have the right and obligation to defend the country," he said. "However, that does not mean that we will declare war."

 

 

But the members of the parliament he was addressing know that it is in fact their country that invaded Somalia in the first place and has well-armed troops there to protect the interim government, headed by Abdullahi Yusuf, whom they know to be an Ethiopian agent. Foreign journalists and analysts say that there are Ethiopian troops there that number between 6,000 and 8,000. The activities of those troops hit the headlines on October 22, when they attacked the ICU in the town of Bur Hakaba, near Baidoa, where the weak and nominal interim government is based.

 

 

Apart from the alleged need to 'defend' his country and fight 'terrorism' in the region, prime minister Zenawi has good reason to continue his aggressive confrontation with Somalia. He has to deflect attention from the poverty, mismanagement and oppressive rule his regime is responsible for. In fact, there is a high degree of instability in Ethiopia as many people, unhappy with the regime's failures, protest widely and loudly, and the regime responds by killing, injuring and arresting. In March 2002, for example, violence erupted in the Tepi region between rival ethnic groups and the security forces, after widespread public protests against the results of local elections held in December 2001. Officially 128 people were killed by the security forces, but opposition forces sources put the number dead at about 1,000. Larger numbers were killed in subsequent events, to the extent that the EU threatened to suspend the economic aid Ethiopia receives from it.

 

 

There is no doubt whatsoever that the Ethiopian regime is corrupt and oppressive. But despite this the US government, which claims to be working for the entrenchment of democratic rule in the African continent, is a strong ally of Addis Ababa and of Zenawi. This is not at all surprising, as Washington also treats some Arab dictators as allies, despite its claim that it wants to introduce democratic rule into the Middle East. The world's "single superpower" finds such allies and its faked "war against international terrorism" as a useful tool for imposing its will worldwide. Somalis (and other Muslims) will remain vulnerable to manipulation until they stop letting the wool be pulled over their eyes, and work out viable strategies to deal with these demonic agendas.

[Captain Xalane]

Duuliye,let the Ethiopian man be,he has every right to believe in what is good for his pple and if destroying me and my nation is good for him,then he has the right to destroy me and i have the right to defend myself and what is mine.No Ethiopian came to our cities and destroyed them,its was all done and orchestrated by somalis,in the name of freedom and tribal loyalty.I don't care what Ethiopia's problems,goods and bads are,and the same applies to every somalian,for we already have enough on our plates.Pointing fingers won't help,and raising dead claims sure won't help.Let them be.

[General Duke]

Nothing wrong with outsourcing..Its a 21 centuty strategy.

[Captain Xalane]

Duke ,outsourcing only is effective when correctly used but in this case its nothing but a dead claim.

[Oromia]

"Xajaa'ibaa!" my people say when they realize 'general duke' is a somali, SubxanAllaax !

[General Duke]

^^^Your people are not Somali thus irrelevent in this dispute. The Oromo in Somalia will be seen as enemies of the state so long as they are fighting for forces against the TFG.

 

Also tell your people Gen Duke supports their struggle but not in his back back yard..

[Oromia]

My answer would be a prayer to Allah(swt)to spare the Somali people from the insanely blood-thirsty Ethiopian forces.

 

About your support to my people's struggle I just want to say they sure don't need your support.

[General Duke]

^^^Oromo lad, you just need to stay out of Somalia, our internal dispute is our own so long as you do that, there will be no problems. I am not bothered with your war with Tigray or Amhara or Afar or anyone else.

 

But anyone who sides with the Clan Courts will be an enemy of the Somali state, simple.

[Jabhad]

Duuliye,let the Ethiopian man be,he has every right to believe in what is good for his pple

What is good for the Tigre[his people] is not good for the Oromo, the Amhara, the Somali people and the list continuees...

 

then he has the right to destroy me and i have the right to defend myself and what is mine.

Remember 1977.. we were on the offesive to free our people from occupation.

 

No Ethiopian came to our cities and destroyed them,its was all done and orchestrated by somalis,in the name of freedom and tribal loyalty

True..But you must report, Ethiopia was supporting militarily and financially groups such as SSDF, SNM,USC and their fight to oust former dictator. And same goes to Somali's support to TPLF[Tigree/Melez tribe] and the Eritrea's struggle..

 

Pointing fingers won't help,and raising dead claims sure won't help.Let them be.

So thats your conclusion.. Either your knowledge of Ethiopia is very limited or you are blinded by the dream and hope of seeing Yeey becoming the undisputed dictator/warlord of Somalia.

[Jabhad]

But anyone who sides with the Clan Courts will be an enemy of the Somali state, simple.

 

This is what comical Ali of Iraq once said..:

 

"The Iraqi troops and the Iraqi fighters are in control of all the places, as we have witnessed. No big change in that. We are fighting against them."

[General Duke]

^^^They still are fighting my brother, hence the insurgency of Iraq...

 

Those who side with the clan courts are, enemies of the state..

[Wiilo]

[Somali_Friend]

Oromia,

Why is this not a Somalia problem and being handled by Somalis?

Why does Tigray with its 5 or 6 million be the brains for 40 million Oromos, 6 million somalis in ethiopia and now you are giveing them Somalia as well. You always accuse them of having djibuti in their back pocket and kenya in their other back pocket. Where was this Tigray through the centuries?kkkkkkkkkkk

It all smells fakery and lies. The only reason SSICU talks insesantly about ethiopia is thats the only and only way they can get some support.

 

When they lose, they can say they lost to ethiopia and somalis didn't help them and if they take over even a village they can multiply it by saying ethiopia was there.

 

These are the only group in the whole world that can lie outright and yet claim to be religious.

The Taliban always told reality win or lose, Iran Ayatollahs told reality win or lose in their war against Iraq, In lebanon Hizballah told their loses or wins and everybody trusts their numbers.

 

These Mugadishu shiekies are an exception. They capture and decapitate a colonel or they bring for show a few technicals under thir control and parade them as captured....its quite a fakery.

 

Oromia,

Please think of uniting your own people in supporting you. If you cannot win the support of the Oromo, don't you think there is something wrong with you and not the Oromo people?

The people of somalia can help you but don't expect them to come to oromia and fight against the rest of ethiopians including the oromo for you.

 

Ethiopia has neither the need nor the interest to go into clan fights in somalia. We are poor and backward country, but if we can we help if we can't we keep our border safe which is our duty to ourselves.

 

Tigray this Tigray that will not hide that the problems of somalia are now in less than a 1/3 of the country. If another state is established and starts running like Puntland you can count the days of mugadishu, just like that of addis ababa in the 90s.