Not for the first time - and probably not for the last - the US has launched a missile strike inside Somalia aimed at a "known al-Qa'ida terrorist". Not for the first time - and probably not for the last - they missed. This time they killed three cows and a calf.
America's emphasis on the "war on terror" inside Somalia is stoking up a lot of anti-US sentiment. This anger is then being milked pretty effectively by the very people the US is trying to attack.
Somalia watchers worry that the more militant opposition groups inside the country are gaining support at the expense of the moderates. It is likely to get worse. The US is planning to designate Al Shabbab, the main jihadist insurgent group in Somalia, a terrorist organisation.
On paper, analysts would agree that Shabbab deserve the "award". Its leader, Adan Ayro, is believed to be the head of al-Qa'ida's East Africa operations. But in practice it could be disastrous. Diplomats are cautiously optimistic that peace talks between the transitional government and the opposition Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia (a mixed bag of former parliamentarians, Hawiye businessmen and former Islamic Courts leaders) could take place soon.
At a meeting in Cairo last month between European diplomats and the opposition, including Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, some progress was made. The opposition dropped their demand that Ethiopian troops leave Somalia before talks start. Were Al Shabbab to be placed on the US's terror list it would completely derail negotiations, one diplomat told me.
The Shabbab (standing up to the West) would be strengthened, the Alliance (trying to negotiate with the West) would be weakened. If this sounds familiar, it's because it is.
After the Islamic Courts took control of Mogadishu in June 2006 European diplomats pushed for negotiations, arguing there were enough moderates in the Courts to find a peaceful solution. The US refused, arguing that the Courts were run by al-Qa'ida. The stronger the US rhetoric, the stronger the hardliners became. Calling the Courts al-Qa'ida became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Once again the US appears to be struggling to differentiate between the moderates and the hardliners. In the increasingly bizarre world of Jendayi Frazer, America's top diplomat for Africa, they are all terrorists. When asked in a recent Newsweek interview why the US-backed government had so little popular support she managed to cram the word "terrorists" into her answer three times.
Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation inside Somalia has deteriorated even further in the past six months. Two million of Somalia's 10m-strong population are now in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN. Chronic insecurity has made it all but impossible for aid groups to deliver proper help.
Well said, excellent points. The US administration (Read - Frazier) needs to understand that not everyone in Somalia who carries a weapon is al-Shabaab. There is no denying Ayrow's actions in southern Somalia; however, it is mind boggling why anyone could see any benefit in labeling a CROSS CLAN, fractured organization a "terrorist group."
Posted by: Dano | Monday, 10 March 2008 at 01:24 PM
Three cows and a calf?? Nice shooting, Elmer Fudd!!
Still, it makes a change to the Yanks mass-slaughtering women and children, which is what they usually do when looking for "tewwowists".
Or, indeed, throwing puppies off cliffs.
Frazer is unfortunately typical of the yankee overlord abroad - a wretchedly clueless extreme-right PNAC appointment. She is a close colleague of Condoleeza Rice - indeed they taught together at the same university. However, she's proved insufficiently aggressive for John Bolton - and if, as is widely expected, he returns to the fore of policy-making in a McCain administration, it's likely Frazer will be replaced by someone even more right-wing.
Posted by: Neil McGowan | Monday, 10 March 2008 at 01:30 PM
A great article by Steve Bloomfield illustrating, the realities in the Horn of African nation.
As a somali i really hope everything backfires in the united states for the horror that they hve unleashed against the somalis in the last 18 months.
If it means that fighting to liberate ones own country against the brutal ethiopian invaders is a terrorist act than frantically all us somalis are terrorist.
Posted by: Abdi from somalia | Monday, 10 March 2008 at 03:06 PM
Bloomfield they are not three cows they are three people died and three wounded, we don't know whether according the independent Somalis become cows.
Posted by: Mohamad | Monday, 10 March 2008 at 03:33 PM
When the US spacelab fell down to earth part of the structure hit and killed a cow in australia. It is the only known casualty of space debree. The US is now officially the holder of the most accurate and deadly cow killing technology in the world. f3@r us!
Posted by: Bubba | Monday, 10 March 2008 at 04:15 PM
The U.S. is not only responsible for the killing of over 10 thousand Somalis through its support of the Ethiopia's occupation in Somalia, it is also responsible for the mass internal displacements of people from the Capital, who were estimated to be over one million, by the United Nations' humanitarian agencies.
The question of terrorism can best be summed up in the recent behavior of the U.S. government by the sheer bombardments it has unleashed upon a known civilian populated residence in the middle of the night, without any regard to the human life. This must be condemned and should be seen as a source of terrorism that spreads terrorism in the actions of its highly detrimental targetting of innocent people.
After killing and causing huge plunder on the lives of Somalis across Somalia, the U.S. administration is ever so intent on embarking another ethnic cleansing in the Horn of Africa against one of the poorest nations on our planet. That is defined a cowardly act of aggression, indeed.
Posted by: Ibros | Tuesday, 11 March 2008 at 01:07 AM
As you mention in your piece, the humanitarian situation has deteriorated in Somalia since the start of 2007. I would say it's turned into a catastrophe. Somalia is now picking up the dubious honor of many 'worst in world' awards. The UN call the crisis the worst in Africa, the makeshift camps spreading out of Mogadishu (home to over 200,000 people) make up, according to the UN ,the biggest IDP camp anywhere in the world. Somalia is now the worst place in the world for children according to UNICEF (they say 90,000 could die in the next few months if they don't get immediate help). I could go on and on...
Worst of all, even with the worst humanitarian indicators in the world, Somalia is still not getting the kind of responsible engagement from the international community. Instead, is looked at, like you say, through the GWOT lens which only makes matters indescribably worse.
Posted by: Lucy | Tuesday, 11 March 2008 at 06:32 AM
To the ordinary Somalis, the US packed Ethiopian troops that massacre them, insurgency that kills them when doubt of their loyalty, the TFG militia that assassinate, rape and raps are all the same, tyrants and their like minded terror friends
Posted by: Ibrahim | Monday, 24 March 2008 at 05:42 AM