The Center for Strategic International Studies Conference on Somalia
Sophia Tesfamariam
January 23, 2007
“…A government which needs foreign support to enforce obedience from its own citizens is one which ought not to exist; and the assistance given to it by foreigners is hardly ever anything but the sympathy of one despotism with another…”
John Stuart Mill
A month since Meles Zenawi’s deceptive, genocidal, vote rigging minority regime in Ethiopia launched its US backed war of aggression and invasion against Somalia and the killings continue. The US backed invasion of sovereign Somali territories to wipe out the Union of Islamic Courts militia and their supporters and install the puppet Transitional National Government of Somalia is a violation of the UN Charter, Security Council Resolution 1725, and international law. After weeks of bloodshed in Somalia, the peace, security and stability established by the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) during its short 6 months reign has been replaced by violence and terror by way of US and Ethiopian aerial bombardments. The people of Somalia are now exposed to death and destruction, rape and torture by Ethiopian occupation forces, return of the warlords, and more chaos and instability. Somalia under the control of the Transitional National Government (TNG) is now under a State of Emergency and brutal Ethiopian occupation.
In continuation of Washington’s diplomatic and political support for Meles Zenawi, Washington’s lead mercenary in the Horn of Africa, the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS), hosted a conference titled "Securing Somalia's Future: Options for Diplomacy, Assistance, and Security Engagement" on 17 January 2007, in which high level Administration officials audaciously and arrogantly attempted to glorify and legitimize Ethiopia’s war of aggression and invasion against Somalia. It was amazing to me that US legislatures, exposing their duplicity and hypocrisy, not to mention their racist and religious bias, would talk about the invasion of Somalia and their role in advising and encouraging Meles Zenawi’s illegal intervention so publicly and shamelessly. What arrogance, what audacity!
The room was filled to capacity and the speakers were addressing a rather friendly crowd of Ethiopian Embassy representatives, members of the Transitional National Government of Somalia, like minded US policy makers and legislatures, members of Washington’s NGO community, Administration’s spin doctors, multi million dollar K-Street Ethiopian lobbyists, members of the Somali Diaspora and other interested stakeholders. I would divide those present at the CSIS event into four interest groups:
1. Self appointed “analysts”, and “experts” etc. that see in these developments a niche for their particular areas of interest. Basically, it was a gathering of Washington’s “crisis management” groups summoned to discuss the “Made in Washington Somali crisis”.
2. The Ethiopian officials and their coteries who were there to claim and present Meles Zenawi’s invading forces as “liberators” of the Somali people from “extremists”, “jihadists”, “Islamic fundamentalists” etc. etc.
3. A mixture of Somalis. There were the entrepreneurs who rightfully sought recognition and wanted to play an active role in Somalia’s future.
4. Members of the Transitional National Government of Somalia who, begging bowl in hand, were seeking further support from the “international community” to consolidate and sustain their power in Somalia.
It was not hard to decipher the real intentions behind this staged affair. The “experts”, “analysts”, and others who planned and executed the end of year war of aggression and invasion against Somalia were gathered to “capitalize” on their “success”. This public event was a diversionary effort designed to give credence to the US backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia and rally support for the clean up effort (self serving crisis management). Washington was scurrying to find an exit strategy for its ally and mercenary Meles Zenawi and prove that its ill advised scheme to oust the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), albeit a violation of international law, was actually a success and good for the people of Somalia. Those gathered were marketing it as a “righteous act”, and one that needs to be supported.
Jendayi E. Frazier, Secretary of State for African Affairs presented what she called “US Policy and engagement in Somalia”, another incoherent and racist policy, seemingly constructed on the fly, in the last few months. Ms. Jendayi went to great lengths to prove “international consensus” for US policy in Somalia, which she said centered on three priorities.
Mobilizing international support for (“prop up”) the TNG
Support African stabilization (no longer called peacekeeping) force for Somalia
Support an all inclusive (can’t be “extremist”, “fundamentalist”) political dialogue in Somalia
I suppose we will wait and see if the US and its partners achieve their three objectives. I for one am not holding my breath. This will turn out to be yet another in a series of US strategic blunders in the Horn of Africa and will expose it for what it is, consequence of its racist and incoherent policy for Africa and the Middle East.
Ethiopia’s war of aggression and invasion in Somalia cannot be justified. The US backing of this egregious violation of the UN Charter and international law exposes its racist and incoherent policy for Africa and its contempt for the lives of Africans. No amount of humanitarian dollars can compensate the people of Somalia’s for their right to self determination, which was violently and forcefully taken from them. No amount of post invasion rhetoric of “support” for Somalia can undo the carnage and destructions in today’s occupied Somalia. No self respecting nation will send its sons and daughters into an illegal war to prop up an illegitimate regime to advance illicit western agendas in the Horn of Africa.
Despite the very public and vocal vilification campaign against the UIC, neither the US State Department, nor Meles Zenawi, its mercenary in the Horn, have provided any evidence that would link the Union of Islamic Courts to “terror acts” in Ethiopia or Somalia, or of its said links to Al Qaeda. Ethiopia has yet to prove the “real” and “imminent” threat posed by the UIC to Ethiopia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the pretext for its end of year war of aggression and invasion of Somalia.
Ms. Jendayi, who wants to offer her own play by play version (from Menelik Palace) of events that transpired in the last 6 months, presented a distortion of the facts as we all know them. Deliberately distorting the facts, she shamelessly told the audience on 17 January 2007 at the CSIS conference:
The Council of Islamic Courts repeatedly attempted to provoke Ethiopia into a broader conflict, beginning with the probe towards Baidoa on July 19th, and again from November through December, until the fateful end of December 22nd when there were repeated clashes between the CIC and Ethiopian forces…These were decisive moments. Ultimately, the CIC miscalculated in its decision to pursue a military agenda and refuse to join in the governance process and the transitional federal institutions through a peaceful dialog. When Ethiopia launched a counteroffensive against the CIC in December, the CIC structure disappeared faster than anyone here had anticipated, driven in large part by the withdrawal of support from the Somali population…”
Ms. Jendayi must know that the UIC never ventured outside sovereign Somali territories. It was Meles Zenawi’s forces that entered Somali territories (8000 in number) using the pretext “to train TNG police forces”. The UIC consistently called for the removal of Ethiopian forces from Somalia while simultaneously calling for constructive dialogue with the TNG. It was the leaders of the TNG, Abdulahi Yusuf and Ali Mohammed Ghedi and Meles Zenawi’s minority regime that deliberately scuttled the talks and opted for a military solution to oust the UIC and install the puppet TNG in Mogadishu.
Ms. Jendayi must know that the Somali people may be Islamic, but they are not stupid or suicidal and they certainly did not “withdraw” their support for the UIC, for they were never given that choice. The UIC chose not to confront the heavily equipped Ethiopian and US forces and chose instead to save the lives of the Somali youth who came from all over the world to defend their nations’ sovereignty and territorial integrity, and wait for an opportune time and place to confront the invaders. The very fact that they have been absorbed into the population is proof enough of their popular support.
Ms. Jendayi presented the aggression and invasion of Somalia as Ethiopia’s “counteroffensive”. When was Ethiopia attacked? What sovereign Ethiopian territory was violated by the UIC? She must know that the presence of Ethiopian forces in Somalia was in fact the casus belli for the conflict between the UIC and the TNG. Instead of asking Meles Zenawi to withdraw his forces from sovereign Somali territories, Washington attempted to give credence and legitimacy for Ethiopia’s belligerence and ill advised adventure into Somalia by pushing for the diversionary Resolution 1725, suppressing media reports on the invasion, misrepresenting and distorting the fact etc. etc.
Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI), Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa was more forthcoming about Ethiopia’s invasion. Acknowledging US prior knowledge and approval for Meles Zenawi’s illegal actions, he told the audience:
I met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in early December in Addis Ababa, a few weeks before he launched the military incursion. I cautioned him against taking these steps. At the time, he expressed his concern about timing and how his country’s military could sustain operations and expressed to me that it would be a brief incursion…”
Brief indeed…all the way to Mogadishu!
Belying Washington’s desire for “an all inclusive dialogue in Somalia” and exposing the increasingly Islam phobic US Foreign policy, without rationale, in violation of the Somali people’s right to self determination and blatant interference in the internal affairs Somalia, Ms. Jendayi told the audience:
the United States believes that the Courts must not be reconstituted as a political entity...”
This must be the fatal warning from the one who pays the piper. Ms. Jendayi must know that it is not what the US believes that matters but rather what the people of Somalia want. In any case, forming political entities is not at the top of Somalia’s immediate priorities. Securing and stabilizing their country by expelling Meles Zenawi’s invading forces ranks amongst the top.
Manifesting her disdain and disrespect for the Somali people and their right to self determination, acting like an old colonial master, Ms. Jendayi told the audience:
while the transitional federal government and the transitional federal institutions are not yet ready to stand entirely on their own, they offer a promising vehicle forward for Somalia…”
Washington, which encouraged Meles Zenawi’s minority regime defiance of international law and its war of aggression and invasion of sovereign Somali territories, and supported the violent ouster of the Union of Islamic Courts, and kill its supporters without ever bringing them to justice or proving that they were indeed “terrorist” does not have the legal or moral authority to dictate what is good for Somalia or the people of Somalia. There is nothing promising about a puppet regime that can neither defend itself or it people from invasion. There is nothing promising in a puppet regime that calls for violation of Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. If the TNG is the only “vehicle forward for Somalia”, seems to me the Somali people have been given a lemon!
Presenting themselves as the saviors of the downtrodden heathens, Ms. Frazier also said that United States made an initial down payment of $40 million in revitalization assistance for Somalia. About $16 million was earmarked for humanitarian assistance, $14 million to fund the “stabilization” force and $10 million in development aid. That is a drop in the bucket compared to the billions of dollars worth of Somali assets which have been “confiscated”, “frozen” and “black listed” by the US government. That is a serious topic for another day, and one that must not be left shoved under the rug, but suffices it to mention that none of the Somali individuals or groups on the US/UN list has been found guilty of “funding terror” to date, nor have they been found to have links to Al Qaeda.
Much like the unsubstantiated erroneous allegations made against the UIC, and its links to Al Qaeda, the US actions against Somali business owners was based on allegations brought by self serving individuals in the TNG and Meles Zenawi’s minority regime in Ethiopia. In majority of the cases that have been brought to US Courts, and many have not yet been charged, they have been charged with minor charges of non-compliance with licensing laws etc. but not for “funding terror”. Today, once again, it was Ethiopian and TNG “intelligence” that led to the US bombing of Somalia which killed innocent herdsmen and served as Meles Zenawi’s pretext for invading Somalia. The deceptive minority regime in Ethiopia and the TNG seems to have found “the war on terror” lucrative and think they can ride that bandwagon forever….NOT!
Washington’s continued support for Meles Zenawi’s minority regime as it massacred its own people in cold blood, detained thousands for voting it out of office, imprisoned all opposition leaders on trumped up charges of treason and genocide, committed genocide in the Gambela region of Ethiopia, and today as it attacked the poor, defenseless people of Somalia, killed innocent civilians and raped defenseless women undermines American reputation and credibility in the Horn of Africa. It is not Meles Zenawi that is the US’ ally in the global war on terrorism; rather, it is the United States that is allied with Meles Zenawi’s deceptive, genocidal, repressive, vote rigging regime in its reign of terror in Ethiopia and the Horn.
The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle.
John Stuart Mill
A month since Meles Zenawi’s deceptive, genocidal, vote rigging minority regime in Ethiopia launched its US backed war of aggression and invasion against Somalia and the killings continue. The US backed invasion of sovereign Somali territories to wipe out the Union of Islamic Courts militia and their supporters and install the puppet Transitional National Government of Somalia is a violation of the UN Charter, Security Council Resolution 1725, and international law. After weeks of bloodshed in Somalia, the peace, security and stability established by the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) during its short 6 months reign has been replaced by violence and terror by way of US and Ethiopian aerial bombardments. The people of Somalia are now exposed to death and destruction, rape and torture by Ethiopian occupation forces, return of the warlords, and more chaos and instability. Somalia under the control of the Transitional National Government (TNG) is now under a State of Emergency and brutal Ethiopian occupation.
In continuation of Washington’s diplomatic and political support for Meles Zenawi, Washington’s lead mercenary in the Horn of Africa, the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS), hosted a conference titled "Securing Somalia's Future: Options for Diplomacy, Assistance, and Security Engagement" on 17 January 2007, in which high level Administration officials audaciously and arrogantly attempted to glorify and legitimize Ethiopia’s war of aggression and invasion against Somalia. It was amazing to me that US legislatures, exposing their duplicity and hypocrisy, not to mention their racist and religious bias, would talk about the invasion of Somalia and their role in advising and encouraging Meles Zenawi’s illegal intervention so publicly and shamelessly. What arrogance, what audacity!
The room was filled to capacity and the speakers were addressing a rather friendly crowd of Ethiopian Embassy representatives, members of the Transitional National Government of Somalia, like minded US policy makers and legislatures, members of Washington’s NGO community, Administration’s spin doctors, multi million dollar K-Street Ethiopian lobbyists, members of the Somali Diaspora and other interested stakeholders. I would divide those present at the CSIS event into four interest groups:
1. Self appointed “analysts”, and “experts” etc. that see in these developments a niche for their particular areas of interest. Basically, it was a gathering of Washington’s “crisis management” groups summoned to discuss the “Made in Washington Somali crisis”.
2. The Ethiopian officials and their coteries who were there to claim and present Meles Zenawi’s invading forces as “liberators” of the Somali people from “extremists”, “jihadists”, “Islamic fundamentalists” etc. etc.
3. A mixture of Somalis. There were the entrepreneurs who rightfully sought recognition and wanted to play an active role in Somalia’s future.
4. Members of the Transitional National Government of Somalia who, begging bowl in hand, were seeking further support from the “international community” to consolidate and sustain their power in Somalia.
It was not hard to decipher the real intentions behind this staged affair. The “experts”, “analysts”, and others who planned and executed the end of year war of aggression and invasion against Somalia were gathered to “capitalize” on their “success”. This public event was a diversionary effort designed to give credence to the US backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia and rally support for the clean up effort (self serving crisis management). Washington was scurrying to find an exit strategy for its ally and mercenary Meles Zenawi and prove that its ill advised scheme to oust the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), albeit a violation of international law, was actually a success and good for the people of Somalia. Those gathered were marketing it as a “righteous act”, and one that needs to be supported.
Jendayi E. Frazier, Secretary of State for African Affairs presented what she called “US Policy and engagement in Somalia”, another incoherent and racist policy, seemingly constructed on the fly, in the last few months. Ms. Jendayi went to great lengths to prove “international consensus” for US policy in Somalia, which she said centered on three priorities.
Mobilizing international support for (“prop up”) the TNG
Support African stabilization (no longer called peacekeeping) force for Somalia
Support an all inclusive (can’t be “extremist”, “fundamentalist”) political dialogue in Somalia
I suppose we will wait and see if the US and its partners achieve their three objectives. I for one am not holding my breath. This will turn out to be yet another in a series of US strategic blunders in the Horn of Africa and will expose it for what it is, consequence of its racist and incoherent policy for Africa and the Middle East.
Ethiopia’s war of aggression and invasion in Somalia cannot be justified. The US backing of this egregious violation of the UN Charter and international law exposes its racist and incoherent policy for Africa and its contempt for the lives of Africans. No amount of humanitarian dollars can compensate the people of Somalia’s for their right to self determination, which was violently and forcefully taken from them. No amount of post invasion rhetoric of “support” for Somalia can undo the carnage and destructions in today’s occupied Somalia. No self respecting nation will send its sons and daughters into an illegal war to prop up an illegitimate regime to advance illicit western agendas in the Horn of Africa.
Despite the very public and vocal vilification campaign against the UIC, neither the US State Department, nor Meles Zenawi, its mercenary in the Horn, have provided any evidence that would link the Union of Islamic Courts to “terror acts” in Ethiopia or Somalia, or of its said links to Al Qaeda. Ethiopia has yet to prove the “real” and “imminent” threat posed by the UIC to Ethiopia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the pretext for its end of year war of aggression and invasion of Somalia.
Ms. Jendayi, who wants to offer her own play by play version (from Menelik Palace) of events that transpired in the last 6 months, presented a distortion of the facts as we all know them. Deliberately distorting the facts, she shamelessly told the audience on 17 January 2007 at the CSIS conference:
The Council of Islamic Courts repeatedly attempted to provoke Ethiopia into a broader conflict, beginning with the probe towards Baidoa on July 19th, and again from November through December, until the fateful end of December 22nd when there were repeated clashes between the CIC and Ethiopian forces…These were decisive moments. Ultimately, the CIC miscalculated in its decision to pursue a military agenda and refuse to join in the governance process and the transitional federal institutions through a peaceful dialog. When Ethiopia launched a counteroffensive against the CIC in December, the CIC structure disappeared faster than anyone here had anticipated, driven in large part by the withdrawal of support from the Somali population…”
Ms. Jendayi must know that the UIC never ventured outside sovereign Somali territories. It was Meles Zenawi’s forces that entered Somali territories (8000 in number) using the pretext “to train TNG police forces”. The UIC consistently called for the removal of Ethiopian forces from Somalia while simultaneously calling for constructive dialogue with the TNG. It was the leaders of the TNG, Abdulahi Yusuf and Ali Mohammed Ghedi and Meles Zenawi’s minority regime that deliberately scuttled the talks and opted for a military solution to oust the UIC and install the puppet TNG in Mogadishu.
Ms. Jendayi must know that the Somali people may be Islamic, but they are not stupid or suicidal and they certainly did not “withdraw” their support for the UIC, for they were never given that choice. The UIC chose not to confront the heavily equipped Ethiopian and US forces and chose instead to save the lives of the Somali youth who came from all over the world to defend their nations’ sovereignty and territorial integrity, and wait for an opportune time and place to confront the invaders. The very fact that they have been absorbed into the population is proof enough of their popular support.
Ms. Jendayi presented the aggression and invasion of Somalia as Ethiopia’s “counteroffensive”. When was Ethiopia attacked? What sovereign Ethiopian territory was violated by the UIC? She must know that the presence of Ethiopian forces in Somalia was in fact the casus belli for the conflict between the UIC and the TNG. Instead of asking Meles Zenawi to withdraw his forces from sovereign Somali territories, Washington attempted to give credence and legitimacy for Ethiopia’s belligerence and ill advised adventure into Somalia by pushing for the diversionary Resolution 1725, suppressing media reports on the invasion, misrepresenting and distorting the fact etc. etc.
Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI), Chairman, Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa was more forthcoming about Ethiopia’s invasion. Acknowledging US prior knowledge and approval for Meles Zenawi’s illegal actions, he told the audience:
I met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in early December in Addis Ababa, a few weeks before he launched the military incursion. I cautioned him against taking these steps. At the time, he expressed his concern about timing and how his country’s military could sustain operations and expressed to me that it would be a brief incursion…”
Brief indeed…all the way to Mogadishu!
Belying Washington’s desire for “an all inclusive dialogue in Somalia” and exposing the increasingly Islam phobic US Foreign policy, without rationale, in violation of the Somali people’s right to self determination and blatant interference in the internal affairs Somalia, Ms. Jendayi told the audience:
the United States believes that the Courts must not be reconstituted as a political entity...”
This must be the fatal warning from the one who pays the piper. Ms. Jendayi must know that it is not what the US believes that matters but rather what the people of Somalia want. In any case, forming political entities is not at the top of Somalia’s immediate priorities. Securing and stabilizing their country by expelling Meles Zenawi’s invading forces ranks amongst the top.
Manifesting her disdain and disrespect for the Somali people and their right to self determination, acting like an old colonial master, Ms. Jendayi told the audience:
while the transitional federal government and the transitional federal institutions are not yet ready to stand entirely on their own, they offer a promising vehicle forward for Somalia…”
Washington, which encouraged Meles Zenawi’s minority regime defiance of international law and its war of aggression and invasion of sovereign Somali territories, and supported the violent ouster of the Union of Islamic Courts, and kill its supporters without ever bringing them to justice or proving that they were indeed “terrorist” does not have the legal or moral authority to dictate what is good for Somalia or the people of Somalia. There is nothing promising about a puppet regime that can neither defend itself or it people from invasion. There is nothing promising in a puppet regime that calls for violation of Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. If the TNG is the only “vehicle forward for Somalia”, seems to me the Somali people have been given a lemon!
Presenting themselves as the saviors of the downtrodden heathens, Ms. Frazier also said that United States made an initial down payment of $40 million in revitalization assistance for Somalia. About $16 million was earmarked for humanitarian assistance, $14 million to fund the “stabilization” force and $10 million in development aid. That is a drop in the bucket compared to the billions of dollars worth of Somali assets which have been “confiscated”, “frozen” and “black listed” by the US government. That is a serious topic for another day, and one that must not be left shoved under the rug, but suffices it to mention that none of the Somali individuals or groups on the US/UN list has been found guilty of “funding terror” to date, nor have they been found to have links to Al Qaeda.
Much like the unsubstantiated erroneous allegations made against the UIC, and its links to Al Qaeda, the US actions against Somali business owners was based on allegations brought by self serving individuals in the TNG and Meles Zenawi’s minority regime in Ethiopia. In majority of the cases that have been brought to US Courts, and many have not yet been charged, they have been charged with minor charges of non-compliance with licensing laws etc. but not for “funding terror”. Today, once again, it was Ethiopian and TNG “intelligence” that led to the US bombing of Somalia which killed innocent herdsmen and served as Meles Zenawi’s pretext for invading Somalia. The deceptive minority regime in Ethiopia and the TNG seems to have found “the war on terror” lucrative and think they can ride that bandwagon forever….NOT!
Washington’s continued support for Meles Zenawi’s minority regime as it massacred its own people in cold blood, detained thousands for voting it out of office, imprisoned all opposition leaders on trumped up charges of treason and genocide, committed genocide in the Gambela region of Ethiopia, and today as it attacked the poor, defenseless people of Somalia, killed innocent civilians and raped defenseless women undermines American reputation and credibility in the Horn of Africa. It is not Meles Zenawi that is the US’ ally in the global war on terrorism; rather, it is the United States that is allied with Meles Zenawi’s deceptive, genocidal, repressive, vote rigging regime in its reign of terror in Ethiopia and the Horn.
The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle.
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