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| Africa Horn | |||||
| Somalia: Time to Pay Attention | |||||
| 2008-07-19 | |||||
| While the world looks elsewhere, Somalia is in flames. The nation just topped a list of the world's most unstable countries by Foreign Policy magazine, and the United Nations has declared the humanitarian situation there "worse than Darfur." In the next three months the number of people requiring immediate food aid will reach 3.5 million. Over one million refugees have fled their homes. Due to a raging insurgency against the current transitional government -- which has support from both the West and Ethiopia -- Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, has earned the nickname, "Baghdad on the sea." In Somalia, there are no diplomatic superstars like Condoleezza Rice or Kofi Annan, who rushed to Kenya to settle its election crisis; there are no celebrities like Mia Farrow or Jim Carrey to urge international action and awareness as they did in Sudan and Burma. Instead, Somalia's crisis has elicited a collective yawn of indifference. Just mentioning the country's name is enough to cause even the most dedicated diplomat or aid worker to throw up their hands in desperation.
The Muslim world is not a monolith; there is an ongoing struggle among Muslims with differing interpretations of the religion. Somalia is a traditionally Sufi country -- the mystic, open form of Islam distinct from more conservative interpretations as those seen in places like Saudi Arabia. But in Somalia, a more conservative movement developed under the secular dictatorship of President Siad Barre and during the anarchy that followed his ouster in 1991. The resulting Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) implemented Shari'a law, and although its stricter tenants were opposed by many Somalis, the grassroots movement gained strength because people sought order and justice in a country marred by starvation, warlord violence, and tribal conflict. Despite internal differences in the interpretation of Islam, the UIC created a state of relative stability that led to the return of Somali businesses, united conflicting tribes and ended piracy off Somalia's perilous shores. But the ascension of the UIC worried the United States, which believed the group was sheltering Al-Qaeda members seeking a safe haven in Somalia. The United States intervened by backing secular warlords -- reportedly some of the same individuals it had fought during 1993's "Black Hawk Down" incident -- against the UIC, strengthening, rather than isolating, extremism in Somalia. Despite their ample firepower, the warlords were defeated by the UIC in mid-2006. In December 2006, UIC extremists threatened Somalia's traditional archrival Ethiopia, which they accused of intervening in Somali affairs. Already concerned the UIC would support a domestic ethnic Somali insurgency, Ethiopia invaded. The United States backed Ethiopia's invasion and its ensuing occupation with intelligence, air strikes, Special Forces, and rendition of terror suspects to Guantanamo Bay. An Iraq-style insurgency soon began inside Somalia, mainly drawn from UIC elements but also members of the Hawiye clan, the tribal base of the UIC. These tribesmen believe the United States and Ethiopians are attacking them by supporting the Somali transitional government, run largely by tribal rivals the Daarood. Because they are Muslim, they believe Islam is under attack and seek to defend it. Somalia faces many profound challenges, but a recent ceasefire -- which calls for an end to the insurgency ahead of an eventual Ethiopian troop withdrawal in favor of U.N. troops -- has brought some hope.
The United States should first pressure Ethiopia to withdraw and bring all Somali factions to the negotiating table.
Frankie Martin is Ibn Khaldun Chair Research Fellow at American University's School of International Service in Washington, DC. He did field work among Somalis in Kenya for the book Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization by Akbar Ahmed (Brookings, 2007). This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews). | |||||
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 Detroitistan |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-07-19 18:23 |
| #5 WoW! Who was the previous winner? My Guess Zimbabwe? |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2008-07-19 18:18 |
| #4 The nation just topped a list of the world's most unstable countries WoW! Who was the previous winner? Otherwise this is agenda driven trash. There is no mention of the 2 de facto functioning and largely peaceful states occupying twothirds of what used to be Somalia. This is a description of the south where the UN is f%%king things up per usual. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2008-07-19 18:06 |
| #3 Time to cut off aid. I think the USA provides 2/3 of the food aid for Somalia. By stealing a portion of that aid, that allows the support of a few hundred thousand gunmen. Cut off aid and the support those gunmen will evaporate. Let them use their bayonets and now idle time to turn the earth and raise their own food. |
| Posted by: ed 2008-07-19 16:16 |
| #2 I still think the best take on Somalia was done years ago in the Onion. |
| Posted by: Swamp Blondie in the Cornfields 2008-07-19 13:46 |
| #1 "its disasters in Iraq, " Hmm completely crushing Al Qaeda after drawing them in, inflicting massive casualties, demoralizing their organzition, and ultimately destroying their credibility.... Disaster? Maybe for AlQ. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-07-19 10:49 |