Somalia: AU Forces bring more death and destruction
Sophia Tesfamariam
March 10, 2007 — On 9 March 2007, Somali men and women demonstrated outside the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, DC as part of a worldwide effort to bring international attention to the grave and deteriorating situation in Somalia. They carried banners and placards in protest of the US-backed Ethiopian war of aggression, invasion and occupation of Somalia. They chanted “No to Ethiopian Intervention in Somalia”, “Stop Dictator Zenawi”, “Stop the Ethiopian Aggression”, “No more Destruction”, “End Ethiopian Occupation”, “Stop Supporting Dictators”, and more. They reflected the Somali people’s outrage and anger with Ethiopia’s flagrant violation of Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the violence and mayhem that ensued.
The presence of Ethiopian forces in Somalia was and remains the casus belli for the conflict in Somalia. Unfortunately the Islam phobic US State Department of Shame continues to deny the people of Somalia their right to self determination and is now attempting to legitimize and consolidate the invasion and occupation of Somalia by shoving the ill-advised “African Union Stabilization Force” into Somalia to “prop up” the puppet TNG led by Abdulahi Yusuf and Ali Mohammed Ghedi. Despite the US State Department of Shame’s misinformation and deceptive pronouncements about the situation in Somalia, recent headlines paint a gloomy prospect for peace, security and stability in Somalia.
Today, the US and the UN are pressing ahead with their misguided, ill-advised legitimization and consolidation of Somalia’s occupation. The arrival of about 1500 Ugandan soldiers is the first batch in the ill advised 4000 strong African Union force destined for Somalia. The “stabilization force” is supposed to “prop up” the illegitimate puppet TNG installed in Mogadishu by US-backed Ethiopian forces in December 2006, but is already coming under attack. The US and Ethiopian desires to “prop up” the illegitimate puppet TNG cannot trump the Somali people’s rights to self determination. Undoubtedly, this mission will bring more suffering and chaos to Somalia.
For the Somali people, the incoming peacekeepers are a real threat. They have been victims of so called “peacekeepers” in the not so distant past and are suspicious of their motives, and rightfully so. The rape and abuse by Ethiopian forces in Somalia has been deliberately downplayed by Washington, but facts are stubborn and they will not be permanently suppressed.
Syndicated columnist Joseph Farah has documented some of the crimes committed by “peacekeepers” in Somalia in the past; here are some of the worst:
· “…A Belgian soldier was accused of forcing a young Somali to eat pork, drink salt water and then eat his own vomit…”
· “…Another sergeant is suspected of having murdered a Somali whom he was photographed urinating upon…”
· “…A child, accused of stealing food from the paratroopers’ base, died after being locked in a storage container for 48 hours. Fifteen other members of the same regiment were investigated in 1995 for “acts of sadism and torture” against Somali civilians…”
· “…In 1995, a group of Canadian paratroopers were investigated for torturing a Somali to death and killing three others…”
· “…In June 1995 gruesome photos were published in a Milan magazine of Italian soldiers torturing a Somali youth and abusing and raping a Somali girl. Paratroopers claim they were specifically trained in methods of torture to aid interrogation. According to one witness, Italian soldiers tied a young Somali girl to the front of an armored personnel carrier and raped her while officers looked on…”
· “…The South China Morning Post published an AFP report about an Italian battalion commander who sexually abused and strangled a 13-year-old Somali boy. There are also allegations that, in 1993, Italian soldiers beat seven suspected Somali thieves, killing one; that they beat to death a 14-year-old boy who sold a false medal and beat a couple in a car…the Italian paratrooper was quoted as saying: “What’s the big deal? They are just niggers anyway…”
· “…In 1997, the London Telegraph, in a combined dispatch with AFP, reported that Belgian troops roasted a Somali boy. Roasted him! And what was the sentence for this peace crime committed during an operation dubbed ironically “Restore Hope”? A military court sentenced two paratroopers to a month in jail and a fine of 200 pounds…”
UN peacekeepers have also committed atrocities in other war torn African nations. Here are but a few of their many crimes:
· “…A French U.N. logistics expert in the Congo shot pornographic videos in his home, in which he had converted his bedroom into a photo studio for videotaping his sexual abuse of young girls. When police raided his home, the man was allegedly about to rape a 12-year-old girl sent to him in a law enforcement sting operation. As the Times reported, a senior Congolese police officer confirmed the bed was surrounded by large mirrors on three sides, with a remote control camera on the fourth side…”
· “…Two Russian pilots paid young girls with jars of mayonnaise and jam to have sex with them…”
· “…U.N. “peacekeepers” from Morocco based in Kisangani – a secluded town on the Congo River – are notorious for impregnating local women and girls. In March, an international group probing the scandal found 82 women and girls had been made pregnant by Moroccan U.N. staffers and 59 others by Uruguayan staffers. One U.N. soldier accused of rape was apparently hidden in the barracks for a year…”
As if the rapes and abuse by Ethiopian forces in Somalia was not enough, now we are told that Ugandan Forces will only make things worse. Black Star News (BSN), the New York-based African-American newspaper reported the following on 5 March 2007:
“…the World Court ruled in favor of Democratic Republic of Congo after the Kinshasa government accused Uganda of war crimes — pillage of property and resources, destructions, rapes, and massacres — when its army occupied eastern Congo. The Court ordered Uganda to pay $10 billion to the Kinshasa government—Washington and London know this…So Uganda contributing troops to Somalia is tantamount to the Mafia guarding a bank’s vaults…It’s purely a desperate PR maneuver by a regime facing difficulties from multiple frontlines…”
Meles Zenawi and Yoweri Musevini, Washington’s “staunch allies” and Jendayi E. Frazier’s favorite mercenaries seem to have a lot in common. Whilst Meles Zenawi’s dismal human rights record and violations of international law, vote rigging, genocide and detentions of over 40,000 Ethiopians for voting his minority regime out of office in the May 2005 elections is widely known and reported, Musevini’s less publicized record is just as dismal.
On 27 February 2007, in an Editorial entitled “Bush: Don’t Send Uganda to Somalia”, BSN wrote:
“…President Yoweri Museveni’s legitimacy in power is under a serious cloud. Last year’s Presidential election was compromised with serious allegations that Museveni stole the elections … Museveni had used a rubber stamp Parliament to remove constitutionally imposed term limit in order to run… Uganda’s army has failed to bring peace and stability to a large part of the country—northern Uganda. War with the vicious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has lasted 20 years, and nearly 2 million civilians languish under deplorable conditions in camps… Uganda’s army has failed to bring peace and stability to a large part of the country—northern Uganda. War with the vicious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has lasted 20 years, and nearly 2 million civilians languish under deplorable conditions in camps… as much as 60% of children report being sexually abused. Soldiers have also been pointed as culprits…”
Calling on the US Congress to stop US financing and support for the ill advised, ill fated mission to Somalia, BSN added:
“… the primary reason why Uganda is not a suitable member for a Somali intervention force is the army’s history in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR). Uganda’s army invaded Congo under the pretence of pursuing anti-Uganda rebels. DRC’s government and international human rights organizations accused Ugandan soldiers and officers of conducting massacres in the DRC and of widespread destruction and plunder…”
According to the US State Department of Shame, as long as an “Islamic Government” or “Islamic Caliphate”, as they are now phrasing it, is not formed in Somalia, everything else goes. Rapists, human rights abusers, liars, opportunists and especially mercenary regimes are welcome, but an “Islamic Government” which will ban khat, institute law and order, educate and teach Somali children about their own cultures, traditions and religion, stabilize and secure Mogadishu and other Somali territories, open up the ports and airports, create a safe environment for Somali women and children, is not.
Exposing her callousness and disdain for the Somali people, on 12 February 2007, taking advantage of the renewed Voice of America (VoA) broadcasts to Somalia, reaching out to the Somali people, whose sovereignty and territorial integrity she violated, whose right to self determination she personally quashed, adding insult to injury and attempting to sway Somali public opinion, to win the hearts and minds of the Somali people via remote control, callously ignoring the pain and suffering she personally caused, the duplicitous and hypocritical Jendayi E. Frazier said:
“…I especially appeal to the Somali women, who are extremely strong, and I say to them: reach out to your husbands, to your sons, and to your brothers. And tell them to put down their weapons. Now is a time for discussion and dialogue, not for the types of mortar attacks and shootings to take place in Somalia. Now is the time for peace and for dialogue…”
Jendayi E. Frazier does not have the moral authority to talk about peace and dialogue! She is personally responsible for the deaths of the thousands of Somalis she labeled as “extremists”, “fundamentalists” and “jihadists” without ever providing any evidence in order to effectuate Washington’s incoherent Islam phobic policy for Somalia. These are the “husbands”, “sons” and “brothers” of the women she and Meles Zenawi decided to “hunt down and kill”. What audacity and arrogance!
After terrorizing the people of Somalia with bombs, killing their children and razing their lands, Jendayi E. Frazier ought to shut up and leave the people of Somalia alone and stop adding insult to their injuries. Reaching out to the women of Somalia is a cheap shot. They neither need her condescending platitudes, nor do they need her self serving advice. The women of Somalia will stand by their husbands, sons and brothers to defend Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The women of Somalia are not defeatists or turncoats; they will stand by their sons, brothers, husbands and fathers to defend Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the dignity of their daughters, sisters, wives and mothers!
Jendayi E. Frazier and her Islam phobic cohorts must know that there is no force on earth that can extinguish the dreams and aspirations of a united people, it may delay their achievements, but their victory is certain!
The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!
* The author is based in the US . She can be reached at [email protected]