Etiopien tycks vara redo att avsluta sin nästan två års ockupation av Somalia. Men kommer USA, som anstiftat invasionen, tillåta somalier att återuppbygga sitt land "på ett sätt som de själva väljer?
George Bush och hans allierade i Etiopien al-Zenawi har förvandlat Somalia till ett helvete. Somalia är idag ett humanitärt katastrofland - men orsaken till katastrofen kan snart vara över – åtminstone delvis får vi hoppas. Det rapporteras att Etiopien förbereder sig för att upphöra med sin blodiga ockupation av sin grannland, som inleddes med invasionen av december 2006, på initiativ av USA – och de lämnar en katastrof bakom sig. Hälften av befolkningen har fördrivits, i vad FN har kallat "den värsta humanitära krisen i Afrika." Huvudstaden Mogadishu, en gång hemvist för tre miljoner människor, är tom av civila. Den marionettregeringen som installeras av Etiopien sägs "kontrollera bara tre små områden i Mogadishu och några gator i Baidoa, som är sätet för parlamentet ” enligt Sunday Herald. Tidningen skriver vidare "Om etiopierna återkalla den så kallade "övergångsregering" kommer sannolikt inte att överleva.
Till och med USA:s egna Voice of America rapporterar att alla Etiopiens oppositionspartier kräver nu att regimen ska ta trupperna hem. Samtidigt vill Bushadministrationen att etiopierna ska stanna kvar i Somalia, som USA:s företrädare. Deras avgång kan vidare leda till ett snabbt uttåg av Afrikanska Unionens så kallade "fredsbevarande" trupper som mestadels består av Ugandier.
På mindre än två år, har George Bush och hans etiopiska militära allierade reducerat Somalia till en ödemark. USA är i stort - och med rätta - föraktad av somalier. Somalier vet mycket väl att Etiopien inte skulle ha invaderat landet utan massiv amerikansk militärt och ekonomiskt stöd, inklusive amerikansk bombflyg understöd.
De islamistiska krafter som hade tagit en kort period av relativ fred och stabilitet i Somalia - och som Washington hävdade var knutna till Al Qaida - kan snart vara i stånd att militärt segra mot ockupationsmakten och deras amerikanska tillskyndare. VOA skriver "Etiopiska politiker oroar sig att Etiopiens anseende i världen kommer att drabbas." och citerar en etiopiska politiker och lagstiftare som säger:
"Ingen somalier skulle betrakta Etiopien som en räddare...De är besluten att bekämpa oss, och de fortstter kämpa, och enligt min mening håller de på att vinna."
Tidpunkten verkar göra det klart att Bushs fullmaktskrig mot Somalia kommer att behöva omprövas av nästa amerikanska administration. Barack Obama har inte sagt något - inte ett ord om det Somaliska folkets lidande, eller om hur hans politik kommer att vara på Somalia – ett granland av sin fars land, Kenya. Kenya är också hem till en stor etniskt somaliska befolkning, och platsen för en jätte flyktingläger där en fjärdedel miljoner fördrivna somalier tynar bort.
Obama skulle ha till sitt förfogande den nyligen lanserade US Africa Command, Africom, och en gigantisk amerikansk militärbas i Djibouti. Med utgående etiopisk ockupation kommer nästa amerikanska president att behöva välja: Kommer han att fortsätta George Bushs mordiska angrepp på Somaliasfolk eller ge dem möjlighet att återuppbygga sin nation på ett sätt som de själva väljer? Vågar vi hoppas?
torsdag 16 oktober 2008
fredag 3 oktober 2008
Afrikas Guantanamo och tystnaden i svensk media
Vilken tur att vi inte längre förlitar oss på svenska tidningar som DN, SVD och svensk media för att få läsa om vad som händer i omvärlden. Speciellt från de delar av världen där direkt svenskt ekonomiskt intresse saknas. Dessa tidningar har förvisso välbetalda korrespondenter. Brukar ni undra vad de gör året runt, stationerad på ett ställe som Sydafrika? Det är sällan de skriver om händelser i deras geografiska arbetsområden om inte storföretagen har ekonomiskt intresse i frågan. Dramatiska händelser saknas inte direkt i det område som jag speciellt fokuserar på – Afrikas horn. Senaste dagarna har det skrivits en heldel i svenskmedia om pirater utanför Somaliaskust – de hotar ju ekonomin och sjötrafiken :-) EU inklusive Sveriges försvarsmakter planerar tom insatser mot pirater för att skydda och eskortera transporter…står det att läsa i nästan alla tidningar i landet igår. Men när såg ni senast dessa korrespondenter skriva om övergreppet som begås av terroriregimen i Etiopien mot folket i Ogaden och Somalia.
Som sagts, som tur behöver man bara googla för källor utanför Sverige för att varje dag läsa tiotals artiklar om helvetet på Afrikas horn. Den 1 oktober skriver Jennifer Daskal i Salon.com om Ishmael, ett offer för Etiopiens variant av ”war on terror”. Finansierat av USA och andra biståndsgivare som Sverige - läs gärna Sveriges Afrika krig.
"Ishmael, en 37-årig herde från Ogaden-regionen i Etiopien, tittade på mig med tårar i ögonen. Etiopiska styrkor - som redan hade dödat hans mor, far, bröder och systrar - mördade sin fru dagar efter det att de var gifta. Därefter slaktade hans getter, slog honom medvetslös, och skurits ner hans axlar ända in till skelettet.”
Det finns hundratals sådana offer som Ishmael som sitter i Afrikas ”Guantanamo”. Terrorregimen i Addis Abeba har varit tillmötesgående mot sina biståndsgivare som Sverige och släppt de med svenskt medborgarskap som befann sig på semester i Somalia när landet invaderades av Etiopien 2006. Två eritreanska TV journalister som bevakade området sitter fortfarande där - tagna som ”terrorister” liksom många andra fångar med utländska nationaliteter (inkl. kvinnor och barn) som befann sig på fel plats på fel tid.
I ett annat reportage från BBC:Investigating "Africa's Guantanamo" också den 1 oktober, har en av fångarna Salim Awadh från Kenya lyckats komma åt en mobiltelefon (mutat en vakt) och vittnar om helvetet på Afrikas ”Guantanamo” i Addis Abeba.
"Villkoren är riktigt dålig: vi har inte tillräckligt med mat, vi har inte tillräckligt med tillgång till medicin. Cellen är våt …Vi sover på golvet i stället för genomdränkt madrasser. En av de andra fångarna blev slagen så illa att han fick benet brutet."
BBC journalisten Robert Walker skriver ”I flera veckor har jag försökt att ta reda på information om honom och andra fångar i det som har kallats "Afrikas Guantanamo". Det är en historia de berörda regeringarna inte vill prata om: Den första mass-överlämnade av misstänkta terrorister i Afrikas ”Guantanamo” i Addis Abeba.”
Walker har också talat med Salim Awadhs hustru Fatma Chande från Tanzania. Hon råkade befinna sig med sin man i Somalia och flydde till Kenya när etiopiska invasionsstyrkor ockuperade Somalia. Hon vittnar:
"Jag hölls i en cell med andra kvinnor. Sedan den kenyanska antiterrorpolisstyrka ifrågasatte mig - de frågade mig varför vi åkte till Somalia. Jag sa till dem att min man har ett jobb att reparera mobiltelefoner i Somalia. Men de försökte tvinga mig att erkänna att min man var en terrorist. De sa att jag var tvungen att säga dem sanningen eller att de skulle strypa mig...Det var en lördag, polisen kallade oss i mitt i natten... Vi hade våra händer bundna bakom ryggen på oss med plast manschetter. Det fanns män, kvinnor, barn. Vi hade ögonbindel. Folk grät. Polisen berättade för dem att hålla tyst.”
De skulle sedan ha fraktats på ett flyg åter till Somalia och därefter vidare till Afrikas ”Guantanamo” i Addis Abeba. Det hela är en operation styrd av USA med ett gott samarbete med regeringarna i Kenya och Etiopien. Människorättsorganisationer i området säger Etiopien är: "...den mest naturliga platsen för att ta någon som letar efter en plats att tortera för att tvinga bekännelser. Etiopien tillåter tortyr av fångar…” Och det är förutsättningen för denna operation".
Som afrikan skäms jag att i artikeln ovan läsa:
"Vissa mycket frustrerad högre tjänstemän berättade utan tvivel: det är inte vår verksamhet, gå och be amerikanerna, ring den amerikanska ambassaden. Vi såg amerikanerna ta fångar och ta dem ur polisstationer i Nairobi ”.
Som svensk skattebetalare blir jag förbannad att hundratals miljoner pumpas in i form av bistånd och budgetstöd för att upprätthålla terrorregimen i Etiopien. Vad säger riksdagsmän/kvinna som Birgitta Ohlsson Och Cecilia Malmström vår EU-minister?
Som sagts, som tur behöver man bara googla för källor utanför Sverige för att varje dag läsa tiotals artiklar om helvetet på Afrikas horn. Den 1 oktober skriver Jennifer Daskal i Salon.com om Ishmael, ett offer för Etiopiens variant av ”war on terror”. Finansierat av USA och andra biståndsgivare som Sverige - läs gärna Sveriges Afrika krig.
"Ishmael, en 37-årig herde från Ogaden-regionen i Etiopien, tittade på mig med tårar i ögonen. Etiopiska styrkor - som redan hade dödat hans mor, far, bröder och systrar - mördade sin fru dagar efter det att de var gifta. Därefter slaktade hans getter, slog honom medvetslös, och skurits ner hans axlar ända in till skelettet.”
Det finns hundratals sådana offer som Ishmael som sitter i Afrikas ”Guantanamo”. Terrorregimen i Addis Abeba har varit tillmötesgående mot sina biståndsgivare som Sverige och släppt de med svenskt medborgarskap som befann sig på semester i Somalia när landet invaderades av Etiopien 2006. Två eritreanska TV journalister som bevakade området sitter fortfarande där - tagna som ”terrorister” liksom många andra fångar med utländska nationaliteter (inkl. kvinnor och barn) som befann sig på fel plats på fel tid.
I ett annat reportage från BBC:Investigating "Africa's Guantanamo" också den 1 oktober, har en av fångarna Salim Awadh från Kenya lyckats komma åt en mobiltelefon (mutat en vakt) och vittnar om helvetet på Afrikas ”Guantanamo” i Addis Abeba.
"Villkoren är riktigt dålig: vi har inte tillräckligt med mat, vi har inte tillräckligt med tillgång till medicin. Cellen är våt …Vi sover på golvet i stället för genomdränkt madrasser. En av de andra fångarna blev slagen så illa att han fick benet brutet."
BBC journalisten Robert Walker skriver ”I flera veckor har jag försökt att ta reda på information om honom och andra fångar i det som har kallats "Afrikas Guantanamo". Det är en historia de berörda regeringarna inte vill prata om: Den första mass-överlämnade av misstänkta terrorister i Afrikas ”Guantanamo” i Addis Abeba.”
Walker har också talat med Salim Awadhs hustru Fatma Chande från Tanzania. Hon råkade befinna sig med sin man i Somalia och flydde till Kenya när etiopiska invasionsstyrkor ockuperade Somalia. Hon vittnar:
"Jag hölls i en cell med andra kvinnor. Sedan den kenyanska antiterrorpolisstyrka ifrågasatte mig - de frågade mig varför vi åkte till Somalia. Jag sa till dem att min man har ett jobb att reparera mobiltelefoner i Somalia. Men de försökte tvinga mig att erkänna att min man var en terrorist. De sa att jag var tvungen att säga dem sanningen eller att de skulle strypa mig...Det var en lördag, polisen kallade oss i mitt i natten... Vi hade våra händer bundna bakom ryggen på oss med plast manschetter. Det fanns män, kvinnor, barn. Vi hade ögonbindel. Folk grät. Polisen berättade för dem att hålla tyst.”
De skulle sedan ha fraktats på ett flyg åter till Somalia och därefter vidare till Afrikas ”Guantanamo” i Addis Abeba. Det hela är en operation styrd av USA med ett gott samarbete med regeringarna i Kenya och Etiopien. Människorättsorganisationer i området säger Etiopien är: "...den mest naturliga platsen för att ta någon som letar efter en plats att tortera för att tvinga bekännelser. Etiopien tillåter tortyr av fångar…” Och det är förutsättningen för denna operation".
Som afrikan skäms jag att i artikeln ovan läsa:
"Vissa mycket frustrerad högre tjänstemän berättade utan tvivel: det är inte vår verksamhet, gå och be amerikanerna, ring den amerikanska ambassaden. Vi såg amerikanerna ta fångar och ta dem ur polisstationer i Nairobi ”.
Som svensk skattebetalare blir jag förbannad att hundratals miljoner pumpas in i form av bistånd och budgetstöd för att upprätthålla terrorregimen i Etiopien. Vad säger riksdagsmän/kvinna som Birgitta Ohlsson Och Cecilia Malmström vår EU-minister?
fredag 26 september 2008
Hur mycket av 34 miljarder kronor har det krävts tillbaka av Sida i år?
Så har försvarkriget börjat så som jag förvarnade er i inlägget under. Chefen för Sida svarar på kritiken och på ifrågasättandet av svenskt bistånd till bland andra krigsherrar, al-Zenawi i Etiopien. Sidas generaldirektör Anders Nordström, resonerar i DN Debatt, 080926, som om han leder ett företag, företaget Sida går in i länder med "kalkylerade risker". Finns det några aktieägare därute som frågar efter bokslutet. Svaret ser vi det varje dag runt om vartenda land som företaget Sida investerat med "kalkylerade risker". Över 34 miljarder kronor av skattebetalarnaspengar spenderar Anders Nordström & Co varje år. Han skriver "vi tvingas ibland att avbryta samarbeten, stoppa utbetalning och kräva tillbaka pengar." Hur mycket av dessa 34 miljarder kronor har det krävts tillbaka av Sida?
Hålla där...har vi några Riksdagsmän som kan kräva svar på detta?
Hålla där...har vi några Riksdagsmän som kan kräva svar på detta?
fredag 19 september 2008
Birgitta Ohlsson skicka lite liberala BRÖD till Ogaden
Ett FOLKMORD pågår i Etiopien. När regimen i Addis Abeba och terroristen al-Zenawi inte lyckades knäcka folket i Ogaden, har han återfunnit sina föregångares metod att försöka utrota ett folk - SVÄLTA UT DEM! Just utrotning har det varit terroristen al-Zenawis politik det senaste året utan att de så kallade demokratiska länder i omvärlden reagerat ett knyst. Tvärtom skickas det mer och mer "bistånd" för att hålla al-Zenawi vid makten.
Han har militärt blockerat området, kastat ut enskilda organisationer som Läkare Utan Gränser, för förhindra ögonvittnen, bränt ner byar som bedömdes föda motståndet, bombat ner vattenkällor.
Som vanligt är det inte al-Zenawi själv som står för ”kalaset”. Hur kan ett fattigt Etiopien ha råd att ständigt föra krig mot sitt eget folk och mot sina grannländer?Det är länder som USA, Storbritannien och Sverige som alltid står redo att finansiera folkmordet. Ja, i Sverige kallas det för bistånd, utvecklingsstöd, budgetstöd. Du och jag som skattebetalare står alltså för terroristen al-Zenawi budgetering av utrotning av sitt eget folk.
Folket i Ogaden har tyvärr inga Hollywood stjärnor och liberala politiker som vi ofta hör skrika högt mot folkmordet i Darfur, mot Mugabes politik i Zimbabwe, etc. vid sin sida. Har ni någonsin hört riksdagskvinna och Folkpartiets taleskvinna i biståndsfrågor, Birgitta Ohlsson ifrågasätta svensk bistånd till terror regimen i Addis Abeba. Birgitta ta en kort paus från festandet och FRA snacket. Skänk lite liberala bröd till folket i Ogaden.
Läs gärna Reuters rapportering av läget i Ogaden idag.
By Daniel Wallis
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Ethiopia's Ogaden rebels demanded on Friday that the U.N. Security Council secure an aid corridor to their homeland where they said people were starving behind a military blockade.
Since June last year the Ethiopian military has been waging an offensive against separatist guerrillas that has cut off access for most aid workers and journalists to the ethnically Somali region.
"The situation is getting out of hand. Women and children and the elderly are dying from thirst and hunger," Abdirahman Mahdi, a founding member of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said in a telephone interview.
"The U.N. Security Council must set up and enforce an aid corridor immediately, with international monitors, because the army is using relief supplies to fuel its campaign."
Ethiopia's government, an important U.S. ally in the region, routinely rejects ONLF claims that its forces withhold aid from desperate communities in the drought-stricken east.
The ONLF was formed in 1984 in the ethnically Somali region on Ethiopia's border with Somalia. Its aims have varied between full-scale independence to joining a "Greater Somalia" to more autonomy within Ethiopia for a region it says is neglected.
Addis Ababa says the rebels are terrorists supported by Horn of Africa rival Eritrea, and points to an ONLF attack on a Chinese-run oil field in April 2007 that killed 74 people.
It says criticism of its tactics in the rocky, arid region is just defamation by "anti-peace" forces.
Mahdi said international officials who had visited Ogaden recently, including U.N. aid chief John Holmes, had underestimated the crisis.
"People are eating roots and grass, animals are dying," he said. "And at the same time the military campaign is going on. Soldiers are shooting people, beating people, harassing them."
Holmes said earlier this month special attention should be paid to the region and food deliveries should be speeded up.
In June, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said donors who gave the government more than $2 billion a year in aid needed to speak out against what the group called widespread and systematic atrocities by Ethiopian troops.
HRW accused Western nations including the United States and Britain of maintaining a conspiracy of silence. Addis Ababa said the report was fabricated.
In July, regional government officials in Ogaden accused a Swiss medical charity of spreading hearsay after it stopped work there complaining of repeated obstructions, intimidation and arrests.
Han har militärt blockerat området, kastat ut enskilda organisationer som Läkare Utan Gränser, för förhindra ögonvittnen, bränt ner byar som bedömdes föda motståndet, bombat ner vattenkällor.
Som vanligt är det inte al-Zenawi själv som står för ”kalaset”. Hur kan ett fattigt Etiopien ha råd att ständigt föra krig mot sitt eget folk och mot sina grannländer?Det är länder som USA, Storbritannien och Sverige som alltid står redo att finansiera folkmordet. Ja, i Sverige kallas det för bistånd, utvecklingsstöd, budgetstöd. Du och jag som skattebetalare står alltså för terroristen al-Zenawi budgetering av utrotning av sitt eget folk.
Folket i Ogaden har tyvärr inga Hollywood stjärnor och liberala politiker som vi ofta hör skrika högt mot folkmordet i Darfur, mot Mugabes politik i Zimbabwe, etc. vid sin sida. Har ni någonsin hört riksdagskvinna och Folkpartiets taleskvinna i biståndsfrågor, Birgitta Ohlsson ifrågasätta svensk bistånd till terror regimen i Addis Abeba. Birgitta ta en kort paus från festandet och FRA snacket. Skänk lite liberala bröd till folket i Ogaden.
Läs gärna Reuters rapportering av läget i Ogaden idag.
By Daniel Wallis
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Ethiopia's Ogaden rebels demanded on Friday that the U.N. Security Council secure an aid corridor to their homeland where they said people were starving behind a military blockade.
Since June last year the Ethiopian military has been waging an offensive against separatist guerrillas that has cut off access for most aid workers and journalists to the ethnically Somali region.
"The situation is getting out of hand. Women and children and the elderly are dying from thirst and hunger," Abdirahman Mahdi, a founding member of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said in a telephone interview.
"The U.N. Security Council must set up and enforce an aid corridor immediately, with international monitors, because the army is using relief supplies to fuel its campaign."
Ethiopia's government, an important U.S. ally in the region, routinely rejects ONLF claims that its forces withhold aid from desperate communities in the drought-stricken east.
The ONLF was formed in 1984 in the ethnically Somali region on Ethiopia's border with Somalia. Its aims have varied between full-scale independence to joining a "Greater Somalia" to more autonomy within Ethiopia for a region it says is neglected.
Addis Ababa says the rebels are terrorists supported by Horn of Africa rival Eritrea, and points to an ONLF attack on a Chinese-run oil field in April 2007 that killed 74 people.
It says criticism of its tactics in the rocky, arid region is just defamation by "anti-peace" forces.
Mahdi said international officials who had visited Ogaden recently, including U.N. aid chief John Holmes, had underestimated the crisis.
"People are eating roots and grass, animals are dying," he said. "And at the same time the military campaign is going on. Soldiers are shooting people, beating people, harassing them."
Holmes said earlier this month special attention should be paid to the region and food deliveries should be speeded up.
In June, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said donors who gave the government more than $2 billion a year in aid needed to speak out against what the group called widespread and systematic atrocities by Ethiopian troops.
HRW accused Western nations including the United States and Britain of maintaining a conspiracy of silence. Addis Ababa said the report was fabricated.
In July, regional government officials in Ogaden accused a Swiss medical charity of spreading hearsay after it stopped work there complaining of repeated obstructions, intimidation and arrests.
lördag 13 september 2008
Vänner Adulis är tillbaka. Åter till fantastiska Sverige efter månader av äventyr -oftast utan tillgång till Internet och andra skit som över-konsumtion samhället erbjuder.
Går igenom min rutin för att se om det har hänt något exceptionellt i moder Svea, speciellt inom de områden jag är intresserad av. Som bekant är: Afrika, bistånd och den sk ”fria media:s” ständiga lögner, bland de ämnen som intresserar mig.
En av landets största hycklar-tidning, DN hade den 5:e sept, en artikel om Bengt Nilssons kommande bok. Rubriken var riktigt saftigt: "Svenskt bistånd finansierar krig".Och fortsätter ”Sveriges bistånd till Afrika finansierar krig och stödjer diktaturer. Det hävdar Afrikakännaren Bengt Nilsson i en ny bok där biståndsorganet Sida anklagas för att vilseleda de politiker som beslutar om biståndet.”
Jag liksom många andra som har direkt och indirekt varit offer för svenskt bistånd, ser verkligen fram mot att läsa boken. Främst för att se hur långt denne ”afrikakännaren” kan driva sin sak innan någon klipper hans försörjningskälla för gott :-). Samtidigt håller tusentals av så kallade biståndsarbetare, experter, konsulter som är helt beroende av fortsatt bistånd för sitt levebröd på att smida sina vapen för att gå till motattack. För dessa och biståndindustrin är saken på liv och död. Håll öron och ögon öppna närmaste veckorna, men akta er for korselden.
Det är ingen nyhet för oss att svenskt bistånd finansierat krig i Afrika. Det har det gjort i mer än 30-år. Fallet Etiopien – ett av Sveriges bortskämda barn – är det absolut mest tydliga exemplet. Sveriges årliga bistånd till Etiopien (ända sedan 1960-talet) har igenomsnitt varit ca 500 miljoner kronor. De olika etiopiska regimers krig mot sitt eget folk och mot sina grannländer har inte kunnat fortsätta år efter år utan svenskt bistånd. Det som är nytt idag är, en svensk ”Afrikakännare” skriver om det. Mina och era insändare om att sätta villkor för svenskt bistånd har i åratal hamnat i papperskorgen av just den ”fria media”
Etiopiens invasion och fortsatt ockupation av Somalia kan inte genomföras utan svenskt bistånd i form av budgetstöd till terrorregimen i Addis. Regimen får inte bara ekonomiskt stöd av Sverige utan även politiskt. Vet ni att Sverige är bland de länder som kallas för International Somalia Contact Group. Gruppen styrs av USA och Jendayi Frazer. Bland de brott som denna grupp begått mot Somalias folk är att ge Etiopien sitt fulla stöd att invadera och ockupera Somalia. USA skulle sköta den militära delen av stödet medan länder som Sverige ta hand om den ekonomiska bördan – BISTÅND.
Går igenom min rutin för att se om det har hänt något exceptionellt i moder Svea, speciellt inom de områden jag är intresserad av. Som bekant är: Afrika, bistånd och den sk ”fria media:s” ständiga lögner, bland de ämnen som intresserar mig.
En av landets största hycklar-tidning, DN hade den 5:e sept, en artikel om Bengt Nilssons kommande bok. Rubriken var riktigt saftigt: "Svenskt bistånd finansierar krig".Och fortsätter ”Sveriges bistånd till Afrika finansierar krig och stödjer diktaturer. Det hävdar Afrikakännaren Bengt Nilsson i en ny bok där biståndsorganet Sida anklagas för att vilseleda de politiker som beslutar om biståndet.”
Jag liksom många andra som har direkt och indirekt varit offer för svenskt bistånd, ser verkligen fram mot att läsa boken. Främst för att se hur långt denne ”afrikakännaren” kan driva sin sak innan någon klipper hans försörjningskälla för gott :-). Samtidigt håller tusentals av så kallade biståndsarbetare, experter, konsulter som är helt beroende av fortsatt bistånd för sitt levebröd på att smida sina vapen för att gå till motattack. För dessa och biståndindustrin är saken på liv och död. Håll öron och ögon öppna närmaste veckorna, men akta er for korselden.
Det är ingen nyhet för oss att svenskt bistånd finansierat krig i Afrika. Det har det gjort i mer än 30-år. Fallet Etiopien – ett av Sveriges bortskämda barn – är det absolut mest tydliga exemplet. Sveriges årliga bistånd till Etiopien (ända sedan 1960-talet) har igenomsnitt varit ca 500 miljoner kronor. De olika etiopiska regimers krig mot sitt eget folk och mot sina grannländer har inte kunnat fortsätta år efter år utan svenskt bistånd. Det som är nytt idag är, en svensk ”Afrikakännare” skriver om det. Mina och era insändare om att sätta villkor för svenskt bistånd har i åratal hamnat i papperskorgen av just den ”fria media”
Etiopiens invasion och fortsatt ockupation av Somalia kan inte genomföras utan svenskt bistånd i form av budgetstöd till terrorregimen i Addis. Regimen får inte bara ekonomiskt stöd av Sverige utan även politiskt. Vet ni att Sverige är bland de länder som kallas för International Somalia Contact Group. Gruppen styrs av USA och Jendayi Frazer. Bland de brott som denna grupp begått mot Somalias folk är att ge Etiopien sitt fulla stöd att invadera och ockupera Somalia. USA skulle sköta den militära delen av stödet medan länder som Sverige ta hand om den ekonomiska bördan – BISTÅND.
onsdag 19 december 2007
The "war on terror" and the Worst Humanitarian Crisis in Africa
by Sadia Ali Aden
Source: Media Monitors http://world.mediamonitors.net/
"The current Somali nightmare was exacerbated by the systematic assassination of Somali independent media groups who are not pro TFG and the Ethiopian occupation. And the silence of the international community on this matter is deeply disturbing and sadly deafening."
Approximately three months ago, Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), pressured out Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi. Surprisingly, this political re-arrangement of deckchairs generated much noisy headlines.
Meanwhile, the real story--the great unfolding humanitarian disaster--continued unnoticed.
For the Somali people, the Ethiopian invasion of December of 2006 could not have started at a worse time. Defeating the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and propping up the TFG; this was Ethiopia's immediate rationale for violating Somalia. The larger goal? Forging a partnership between Washington and Addis Ababa in order to execute "war on terror"…
A year later, this mission has not been accomplished. Instead, the "war on terror" has become the terror of war being visited on the Somali people.
Admittedly a handful of Somalis have benefited from the invasion, specifically the dozens of warlords previously driven out of Mogadishu by the UIC. These warlords, the instigators of Somalia's current civil conflict, were reinstalled in their fiefdoms riding on the backs of Ethiopia's invading tanks. As a result, the reviled check points and road blocks used to bully cash out of unarmed civilians were reintroduced in Southern Somalia, particularly Mogadishu.
To keep the invasion and Africa's worst humanitarian catastrophe going, heavy and modern weapons, including airplanes were used. One was a U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship that attacked and killed Somali villagers and countless livestock in the hunt for three foreign men suspected for the bombing of 1998 American embassies in Africa, who yet remain at large.
Among those caught in the chaos were visiting Somalis from the Diaspora. In the period between June and December 2006, Somali technocrats returned to their native country to partake the rebuilding in the six month period of peace and stability that was established under the rule of the UIC. The Diaspora arrived with the intention to give back to the land and the people they left behind and contribute to rebuilding their lives.
Unfortunately, an extraordinary rendition programs were the gratitude they received; in that, the TFG, Kenya, Ethiopia and US all being implicated. Young men as young as 12 years of age were taken out of their homes in the dead of the night, blindfolded and taken into unknown destinations.
Fleeing refugees of mostly women and children did meet a similar fate. Unfortunately, these refugees had no where to escape, as Kenya decided to close its borders and deny them entry. This paved the way to the current nightmare scenario: 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs,) mostly children and women, without any provision or protection from the UN or other humanitarian agencies or NGOs.
In order to create a safe haven for the displaced refugees, the international community must demand the neighboring countries to open their borders. It is all too often that the casualties of war are those that are unmentioned. The innocent men, women and children, caught in the middle, left with no way out.
The UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, said border security measures should not impair the ability of deserving Somali civilians to enter Kenya to seek safety and protection as refugees. The neighboring Nations have humanitarian responsibility to safeguard these refugees.
On October 30, 2007, 40 international NGOs have released a joint statement ominously warning against a gathering cloud of humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia urging the international community to respond to this man-made calamity as the Ethiopian forces and militias loyal to the (TFG) callously prevent the delivery, and bluntly stating that "there is an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in South Central Somalia".
Meanwhile, Ethiopian forces continue their shelling of Mogadishu neighborhoods and killing, according to Elman Human Rights group, 7000 civilians mostly women, children, and elderly between January and November of 2007.
"In Shell-Shocked, Human Rights Watch's August 2007 report of our investigation of the March-April hostilities, we documented many of the most serious patterns of abuse by Ethiopian troops, such as indiscriminate attacks on civilians, summary executions and repeated targeting of hospitals," wrote Tom Malinowski, Washington Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch, in an open letter to Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates.
However, the international media by and large remain morally selective in what they show to the world.
Somali caricaturist, Amin Amir (AminArts.com,) depicts this morally selectivity on his December 12, 2007 cartoon. The powerful imagery shows a representative of the international media zooming his camera on a severely malnourished child standing in the middle of a killing field where many bodies are on the ground and Ethiopian fighter jets are flying overhead and dropping missiles. The child retorts: I don't need your coverage; it is these atrocities – pointing to the dead-- that you need to be telling the world.
The current Somali nightmare was exacerbated by the systematic assassination of Somali independent media groups who are not pro TFG and the Ethiopian occupation. And the silence of the international community on this matter is deeply disturbing and sadly deafening.
This year alone, eight Somali journalists were killed- their crimes being to have simply dared reporting the reality on the grounds of Mogadishu. The TFG & Ethiopian forces are terrorizing Somali reporters creating an uncomfortable environment of terror and coercion.
According to the United Nations Children's Fund, one-quarter of the refugees around Afgooye are younger than age of five. Sick children and pregnant women often are turned away at checkpoints, and trucks carrying food and other humanitarian aid are routinely charged $500 each for passing through.
"Things are now getting absolutely worse," said Christian Balslev-Olesen, the UNICEF representative for Somalia. "There is a dirtiness to this war. Children are a real target."
Source: Media Monitors http://world.mediamonitors.net/
"The current Somali nightmare was exacerbated by the systematic assassination of Somali independent media groups who are not pro TFG and the Ethiopian occupation. And the silence of the international community on this matter is deeply disturbing and sadly deafening."
Approximately three months ago, Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), pressured out Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi. Surprisingly, this political re-arrangement of deckchairs generated much noisy headlines.
Meanwhile, the real story--the great unfolding humanitarian disaster--continued unnoticed.
For the Somali people, the Ethiopian invasion of December of 2006 could not have started at a worse time. Defeating the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) and propping up the TFG; this was Ethiopia's immediate rationale for violating Somalia. The larger goal? Forging a partnership between Washington and Addis Ababa in order to execute "war on terror"…
A year later, this mission has not been accomplished. Instead, the "war on terror" has become the terror of war being visited on the Somali people.
Admittedly a handful of Somalis have benefited from the invasion, specifically the dozens of warlords previously driven out of Mogadishu by the UIC. These warlords, the instigators of Somalia's current civil conflict, were reinstalled in their fiefdoms riding on the backs of Ethiopia's invading tanks. As a result, the reviled check points and road blocks used to bully cash out of unarmed civilians were reintroduced in Southern Somalia, particularly Mogadishu.
To keep the invasion and Africa's worst humanitarian catastrophe going, heavy and modern weapons, including airplanes were used. One was a U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship that attacked and killed Somali villagers and countless livestock in the hunt for three foreign men suspected for the bombing of 1998 American embassies in Africa, who yet remain at large.
Among those caught in the chaos were visiting Somalis from the Diaspora. In the period between June and December 2006, Somali technocrats returned to their native country to partake the rebuilding in the six month period of peace and stability that was established under the rule of the UIC. The Diaspora arrived with the intention to give back to the land and the people they left behind and contribute to rebuilding their lives.
Unfortunately, an extraordinary rendition programs were the gratitude they received; in that, the TFG, Kenya, Ethiopia and US all being implicated. Young men as young as 12 years of age were taken out of their homes in the dead of the night, blindfolded and taken into unknown destinations.
Fleeing refugees of mostly women and children did meet a similar fate. Unfortunately, these refugees had no where to escape, as Kenya decided to close its borders and deny them entry. This paved the way to the current nightmare scenario: 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs,) mostly children and women, without any provision or protection from the UN or other humanitarian agencies or NGOs.
In order to create a safe haven for the displaced refugees, the international community must demand the neighboring countries to open their borders. It is all too often that the casualties of war are those that are unmentioned. The innocent men, women and children, caught in the middle, left with no way out.
The UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, said border security measures should not impair the ability of deserving Somali civilians to enter Kenya to seek safety and protection as refugees. The neighboring Nations have humanitarian responsibility to safeguard these refugees.
On October 30, 2007, 40 international NGOs have released a joint statement ominously warning against a gathering cloud of humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia urging the international community to respond to this man-made calamity as the Ethiopian forces and militias loyal to the (TFG) callously prevent the delivery, and bluntly stating that "there is an unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in South Central Somalia".
Meanwhile, Ethiopian forces continue their shelling of Mogadishu neighborhoods and killing, according to Elman Human Rights group, 7000 civilians mostly women, children, and elderly between January and November of 2007.
"In Shell-Shocked, Human Rights Watch's August 2007 report of our investigation of the March-April hostilities, we documented many of the most serious patterns of abuse by Ethiopian troops, such as indiscriminate attacks on civilians, summary executions and repeated targeting of hospitals," wrote Tom Malinowski, Washington Advocacy Director for Human Rights Watch, in an open letter to Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates.
However, the international media by and large remain morally selective in what they show to the world.
Somali caricaturist, Amin Amir (AminArts.com,) depicts this morally selectivity on his December 12, 2007 cartoon. The powerful imagery shows a representative of the international media zooming his camera on a severely malnourished child standing in the middle of a killing field where many bodies are on the ground and Ethiopian fighter jets are flying overhead and dropping missiles. The child retorts: I don't need your coverage; it is these atrocities – pointing to the dead-- that you need to be telling the world.
The current Somali nightmare was exacerbated by the systematic assassination of Somali independent media groups who are not pro TFG and the Ethiopian occupation. And the silence of the international community on this matter is deeply disturbing and sadly deafening.
This year alone, eight Somali journalists were killed- their crimes being to have simply dared reporting the reality on the grounds of Mogadishu. The TFG & Ethiopian forces are terrorizing Somali reporters creating an uncomfortable environment of terror and coercion.
According to the United Nations Children's Fund, one-quarter of the refugees around Afgooye are younger than age of five. Sick children and pregnant women often are turned away at checkpoints, and trucks carrying food and other humanitarian aid are routinely charged $500 each for passing through.
"Things are now getting absolutely worse," said Christian Balslev-Olesen, the UNICEF representative for Somalia. "There is a dirtiness to this war. Children are a real target."
söndag 25 november 2007
War Crimes Investigation in Somalia: America's global war on terror a catalyst for human rights violation in Somalia
By Abdirizak Omar Mohamed
On November 13, 2007 a United Nations envoy said Somali war crimes suspects should be prosecuted at the international Criminal Court in order to end impunity in the lawless African nation as published on hiiraan on Line and many other international media and on November 16, 2007 the European Parliament called for war crimes probe in Somalia, though, it is too little too late for many victims and their families Somalis around the globe welcome both calls and see this as the first acknowledgement by the International Community that war crimes were committed by Ethiopians and the TFG militias. In fact the European parliament firmly stated for the first time that Ethiopia is the major impediment to peace in Somalia and called for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.
Nevertheless, unless the USA alters its foreign policy on Somalia and unless Jendayi Frazer, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs acknowledges and admits she is wrong in her defense for the presence of Ethiopian troops in somalia in general and her firm support for the Ethiopian dictator Meles zenawi in particular, thousands more will suffer unabated at the hands of Ethiopians and the misinformed American policy of indiference, policies based on the myth of global war on terror. How many more human life is this American foreign policy based on myth worth?
It is well known fact that American foreign policy has historically been guided by economic and strategic factors rather than by humanitarian considerations, therefore the underlying principle that shapes in any of its foreign policy is first to take into consideration the net positive impact such policy would have on America's economic and national security interest, irrespective of its net negative impact on other countries. Particularly, this mantra became more common and widespread in post 911, as more of their policies subsequently violated other nation's sovereignty, Territorial integrity and peoples human rights as unequivocally evidenced in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. In the context of protecting its economic interest, the Bush administration has unilaterally invaded Iraq in a false pretence that Sadam possessed WMD. In his new book The Age of Turbulence former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan argues, "as long as the United States is beholden to potentially unfriendly sources of oil and gas, we are vulnerable to economic crises over which we have little control." This is the product, he states of an overriding fact of today's global economy: "[W]orld growth over the next quarter century at rates commensurate with the past quarter century will require between one-fourth and two-fifths more oil than we use today".
While Greenspan's new revelation and his articulations of linking America's long-term energy squeeze with past assassination and invasions of other countries may have triggered a political firestorm in the Bush administration, Somalia is another country that has become a victim of America's economic and national security policy such as the war on terror. However, the mediocre displayed by the International Community of being either indifferent or opting to take an spectator's seat that kept them dormant for the past 16 years has also failed the Somali people, because the International Community failed to react promptly and respond to the atrocities committed against innocent civilians by the Ethiopians, the TFG and the USA.
In the case of Somalia, before the civil war broke out in 1991, the military regime of Siad Barre gave exploration rights in the Northeastern region (Puntland) to giant American companies such as Conoco and Chevron; nevertheless, these oil companies left the country due to security reasons during the civil war. Somalia remained chaos for the next 16 years as powerful tribal warlords who controlled and benefited from the spoils of the war economy ran the country. These warlords who later became members of the transitional Federal Government that was established in Kenya in 2004, even challenged and prevented the TFG to relocate to the capital city of Mogadishu
In June 2006, the Union of Islamic Courts defeated the warlords and created peace and security in almost more than 70% of the country and gained the popular support of majority of Somalis, they succeeded in opening up the Mogadishu airport and seaport for the first time in more than 15 years, schools reopened and children started going to schools, the Union of Islamic courts have finally gained the unconditional support of all Somalis and to illustrate few of their success story they have started formulating policies with respect to land and property disputes and only six gun related deaths were reported for the six months they governed south and central Somalia, where as the number of people killed each day in Mogadishu alone is estimated 10-15 before the union of Islamic courts came to power .
While the US government has followed an ambiguous course in Somalia since the outbreak of the civil war and remained passive on the many peace conferences to reconcile the conflicting parties, this ambiguity of "do nothing" policy the US pursued during the civil war was consistent with its national interest policy on Somalia. However, as always the pattern is the US changes its foreign policies when it fits its national interest to the extent the current administration calls dictators and rogues states its staunchest allies and bad guys become the good guys as Justine Raimondo points out in an op-ed titled why the US supports warlords, in this he states that "in the new millennium, we have tossed aside humanitarian concerns in favor of the ruthless pursuit of "terrorists," real or imagined. The former "warlords" hunted by U.S. troops and blamed for Somalia's shocking degeneration into pure chaos are now aided and abetted by the Americans and their Ethiopian cohorts".
In analyzing the USA's ever-changing policies the Washington post in a very metaphorical yet convincing explains how the US portrays the bad guys as the good guys when it fits its own policy as illustrated by its support for the warlords and demonizing the Union of Islamic Courts, in this excerpt the Post demonstrates how American policy makers deviated from the truth and what was morally right and sided with criminals like bashir raghe and I quote " Abukar Omar Adan was a devoutly Islamic and heavily armed clan elder with ties to the strict neighborhood religious courts that had brought a semblance of order to a city without a government. His rival, Bashir Raghe, was a brash, younger man who had been a waste contractor with the U.S. military forces in Mogadishu before the United States pulled out."
Guess, who is the U.S. proxy No, it's not the bourgeois businessman and city father whose stature in the community as a force for order advertises him as the natural and only logical choice - it's Raghe, the street punk and gang leader, who, together with his fellow killers, has reduced Somalia to a kind of living hell.
It is regrettable Ms. Jendayi Frazer continues supporting warlords and Ethiopians and holds this imaginary reasoning in her mind that ignores logic and contradicts to what experts on conflict resolution are saying, as well as published literature at her disposal- that Ethiopia is major stumbling block to peace in Somalia, and that the Somali Re-liberation alliance is the only true and people's choice that can bring about durable peace in Somalia and not the current TFG that is made up of criminal warlords.
In an interview she gave the voice of America Somali service on November 6, 2007 she presented a view that contradicts to an opinion presented earlier in the same week by the U.S. Special Envoy for Somalia Mr. John Yates who was quoted as saying that the United States underestimated the magnitude of hatred the Somali people have for the Ethiopian troops. While many concur with Mr. yate's view due to the fact of historical enmity and border disputes between the two countries. Ms.Jendayi Frazer thinks otherwise and firmly believes as stated in that interview that "the Ethiopians are playing a critical role in trying to stabilize the country". Ethiopians are de-establising force stupid!!! And Mr. Yates is right in his view that we behold in our inner soul that Ethiopia is our enemy as long as they keep oppressing our brothers and sisters in the Ogaden region.
DIIDNAYE OGOW DALKAYAGA
NINKII DOONAHAYAYOW
INUU DUUDSIYA RABOW
ANNAGU DIIDNAYE OGOW
It is the view of Somalis every where that it is in the best interest of the International community as well as the USA to take a different approach to the Somali conflict than the current rigid approach that is consistent and only reflects on the interest of America's foreign policy. It is high time that America embraces a paradigm shift in its policy on Somalia for the interest of both countries and force Ethiopia to immediately withdraw it troops from Somalia and start engaging with the Somali Re-liberation Alliance in Asmar as it is the only viable alternative that can end the current crises in Somalia.
The question is will the European parliament press their call for war crimes investigation or will they be pressured to keep quite? As was the case when the Europeans Union called for war crimes investigation in April 2007 when Ethiopians and the TFG militias killed thousands of innocent Somalis and displaced half a million of Mogadishu population.
-------------------
Abdirizak O. Mohamed
is an independent researcher and a member of Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance. He holds a master's Degree in Environmental Studies focusing on post-conflict development from York University, Toronto Canada. and can be reached at E-mail abdirizakom@gmail.com
On November 13, 2007 a United Nations envoy said Somali war crimes suspects should be prosecuted at the international Criminal Court in order to end impunity in the lawless African nation as published on hiiraan on Line and many other international media and on November 16, 2007 the European Parliament called for war crimes probe in Somalia, though, it is too little too late for many victims and their families Somalis around the globe welcome both calls and see this as the first acknowledgement by the International Community that war crimes were committed by Ethiopians and the TFG militias. In fact the European parliament firmly stated for the first time that Ethiopia is the major impediment to peace in Somalia and called for the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops.
Nevertheless, unless the USA alters its foreign policy on Somalia and unless Jendayi Frazer, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs acknowledges and admits she is wrong in her defense for the presence of Ethiopian troops in somalia in general and her firm support for the Ethiopian dictator Meles zenawi in particular, thousands more will suffer unabated at the hands of Ethiopians and the misinformed American policy of indiference, policies based on the myth of global war on terror. How many more human life is this American foreign policy based on myth worth?
It is well known fact that American foreign policy has historically been guided by economic and strategic factors rather than by humanitarian considerations, therefore the underlying principle that shapes in any of its foreign policy is first to take into consideration the net positive impact such policy would have on America's economic and national security interest, irrespective of its net negative impact on other countries. Particularly, this mantra became more common and widespread in post 911, as more of their policies subsequently violated other nation's sovereignty, Territorial integrity and peoples human rights as unequivocally evidenced in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq. In the context of protecting its economic interest, the Bush administration has unilaterally invaded Iraq in a false pretence that Sadam possessed WMD. In his new book The Age of Turbulence former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan argues, "as long as the United States is beholden to potentially unfriendly sources of oil and gas, we are vulnerable to economic crises over which we have little control." This is the product, he states of an overriding fact of today's global economy: "[W]orld growth over the next quarter century at rates commensurate with the past quarter century will require between one-fourth and two-fifths more oil than we use today".
While Greenspan's new revelation and his articulations of linking America's long-term energy squeeze with past assassination and invasions of other countries may have triggered a political firestorm in the Bush administration, Somalia is another country that has become a victim of America's economic and national security policy such as the war on terror. However, the mediocre displayed by the International Community of being either indifferent or opting to take an spectator's seat that kept them dormant for the past 16 years has also failed the Somali people, because the International Community failed to react promptly and respond to the atrocities committed against innocent civilians by the Ethiopians, the TFG and the USA.
In the case of Somalia, before the civil war broke out in 1991, the military regime of Siad Barre gave exploration rights in the Northeastern region (Puntland) to giant American companies such as Conoco and Chevron; nevertheless, these oil companies left the country due to security reasons during the civil war. Somalia remained chaos for the next 16 years as powerful tribal warlords who controlled and benefited from the spoils of the war economy ran the country. These warlords who later became members of the transitional Federal Government that was established in Kenya in 2004, even challenged and prevented the TFG to relocate to the capital city of Mogadishu
In June 2006, the Union of Islamic Courts defeated the warlords and created peace and security in almost more than 70% of the country and gained the popular support of majority of Somalis, they succeeded in opening up the Mogadishu airport and seaport for the first time in more than 15 years, schools reopened and children started going to schools, the Union of Islamic courts have finally gained the unconditional support of all Somalis and to illustrate few of their success story they have started formulating policies with respect to land and property disputes and only six gun related deaths were reported for the six months they governed south and central Somalia, where as the number of people killed each day in Mogadishu alone is estimated 10-15 before the union of Islamic courts came to power .
While the US government has followed an ambiguous course in Somalia since the outbreak of the civil war and remained passive on the many peace conferences to reconcile the conflicting parties, this ambiguity of "do nothing" policy the US pursued during the civil war was consistent with its national interest policy on Somalia. However, as always the pattern is the US changes its foreign policies when it fits its national interest to the extent the current administration calls dictators and rogues states its staunchest allies and bad guys become the good guys as Justine Raimondo points out in an op-ed titled why the US supports warlords, in this he states that "in the new millennium, we have tossed aside humanitarian concerns in favor of the ruthless pursuit of "terrorists," real or imagined. The former "warlords" hunted by U.S. troops and blamed for Somalia's shocking degeneration into pure chaos are now aided and abetted by the Americans and their Ethiopian cohorts".
In analyzing the USA's ever-changing policies the Washington post in a very metaphorical yet convincing explains how the US portrays the bad guys as the good guys when it fits its own policy as illustrated by its support for the warlords and demonizing the Union of Islamic Courts, in this excerpt the Post demonstrates how American policy makers deviated from the truth and what was morally right and sided with criminals like bashir raghe and I quote " Abukar Omar Adan was a devoutly Islamic and heavily armed clan elder with ties to the strict neighborhood religious courts that had brought a semblance of order to a city without a government. His rival, Bashir Raghe, was a brash, younger man who had been a waste contractor with the U.S. military forces in Mogadishu before the United States pulled out."
Guess, who is the U.S. proxy No, it's not the bourgeois businessman and city father whose stature in the community as a force for order advertises him as the natural and only logical choice - it's Raghe, the street punk and gang leader, who, together with his fellow killers, has reduced Somalia to a kind of living hell.
It is regrettable Ms. Jendayi Frazer continues supporting warlords and Ethiopians and holds this imaginary reasoning in her mind that ignores logic and contradicts to what experts on conflict resolution are saying, as well as published literature at her disposal- that Ethiopia is major stumbling block to peace in Somalia, and that the Somali Re-liberation alliance is the only true and people's choice that can bring about durable peace in Somalia and not the current TFG that is made up of criminal warlords.
In an interview she gave the voice of America Somali service on November 6, 2007 she presented a view that contradicts to an opinion presented earlier in the same week by the U.S. Special Envoy for Somalia Mr. John Yates who was quoted as saying that the United States underestimated the magnitude of hatred the Somali people have for the Ethiopian troops. While many concur with Mr. yate's view due to the fact of historical enmity and border disputes between the two countries. Ms.Jendayi Frazer thinks otherwise and firmly believes as stated in that interview that "the Ethiopians are playing a critical role in trying to stabilize the country". Ethiopians are de-establising force stupid!!! And Mr. Yates is right in his view that we behold in our inner soul that Ethiopia is our enemy as long as they keep oppressing our brothers and sisters in the Ogaden region.
DIIDNAYE OGOW DALKAYAGA
NINKII DOONAHAYAYOW
INUU DUUDSIYA RABOW
ANNAGU DIIDNAYE OGOW
It is the view of Somalis every where that it is in the best interest of the International community as well as the USA to take a different approach to the Somali conflict than the current rigid approach that is consistent and only reflects on the interest of America's foreign policy. It is high time that America embraces a paradigm shift in its policy on Somalia for the interest of both countries and force Ethiopia to immediately withdraw it troops from Somalia and start engaging with the Somali Re-liberation Alliance in Asmar as it is the only viable alternative that can end the current crises in Somalia.
The question is will the European parliament press their call for war crimes investigation or will they be pressured to keep quite? As was the case when the Europeans Union called for war crimes investigation in April 2007 when Ethiopians and the TFG militias killed thousands of innocent Somalis and displaced half a million of Mogadishu population.
-------------------
Abdirizak O. Mohamed
is an independent researcher and a member of Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance. He holds a master's Degree in Environmental Studies focusing on post-conflict development from York University, Toronto Canada. and can be reached at E-mail abdirizakom@gmail.com
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