"This is a crisis, the U.S. is using C-130 gun ships to fire on Somalis who are resisting U.S. HEGEMONY in Africa. THIS IS AS IMPORTANT AN ISSUE AS THE MIDDLE EAST. " Out Now Coalition
The Pentagon confirmed Jan. 12 that U.S. Forces began an " on-going operation of air strikes in Somalia Jan 8, and the attacks are continuing, according to Citizen Journal Nepal.
Hundreds of families fled their home to Jubba provinces, in southern Somalia and dozens of innocent nomadic herdsman and their livestock were killed by the American and Ethiopian air strikes, according to British aid agency Oxfam.
U.S. forces entered Somalia last December 24 when Ethiopia launched attack against the Somalia Islamic Courts Movement, that toppled unpopular lwarlord Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
" I think the policy is wrong. i think that to go in and bomb that country with no authority is wrong" Rep. Donald Payne, chair of the powerful Africa Subcommitee of the House International Relations Committee
Hundreds of Canadians demostrated against American invasion in Somalia Jan. 20 at the U.S. consulate in Toronto. ( anyone here of this?)
The new Somalia gov is now working with neo-consevative policy analysts in Washington,according to OneWorld.net.
Shortly after the christian transitional gov overthrew the Union of Islamic Courts, the Bush adm. quietly gave initial payment of $40mil for the new christian gov.
Malcom, you're supporting the Islamist insurgency in Somalia then? Good to know. Might want to let the Department of Homeland Security who's side you're on.
MOGADISHU (AFP) - The commander of African Union forces in Somalia pleaded on Tuesday for reinforcements as the AU's security chief paid a flying visit to volatile Mogadishu.
Ugandan Major General Levy Karuhanga called for more troops after meeting with AU security chief Said Djinnit, who was in the coastal capital for a one-day visit under high security.
Karuhanga, who currently has some 1,500 Ugandan peacekeeping troops under his command spoke as gunmen set off a roadside bomb and attacked a United Nations convoy heading for Mogadishu.
Two UN staff escaped the explosion unhurt, but gunmen immediately opened fire and wounded three policemen who were protecting the convoy, a police official told AFP.
"After we saw smoke and dust and then followed machine gun fire, we immediately sped off to avoid being caught," Abdi Shidane, a driver on the same road, told AFP.
Karuhanga told journalists at his Mogadishu airport base that more troops were needed to help patrol Somalia, where deadly insurgent attacks have in recent weeks plagued the capital and the southern port town of Kismayo.
"We haven't been able to fully get the full troops for AMISOM (the AU force) to be deployed so we are pleading for the member states of the AU to provide more troops," Karuhanga said.
The AU aims to deploy some 8,000 soldiers with a six-month mandate to help Somali forces take control of the country. The first Ugandan troops began deploying on March 6.
Burundi has offered 1,700 troops but has said it lacks equipment for the mission. Nigeria has offered 850 troops but has not given details of their deployment schedule.
Malawi and Ghana are also expected to contribute but the AU is still far from reaching the proposed 8,000 figure.
Djinnit on Tuesday held talks in Mogadishu's presidential palace, Villa Somalia, with interim President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi.
"We paid tribute to the Ugandans who have shown great commitment in deploying the first batch of the stabilisation force," he said at a press conference, declining to give details of further deployments.
"This visit is also to give moral support to our forces on the ground. We are confident that the people of Somalia will understand the AU mission is the friend of Somalia," Djinnit said.
Military hardware and the final deployment of Uganda's AU troops docked Monday at Mogadishu port, as nearby mortar attacks killed at least three and injured 12.
Insurgents have vowed to attack the peacekeepers and have already targeted the Ugandans since their arrival on March 6. Two peacekeepers have been injured and flown back to Kampala.
The Somali two-year-old interim government is hoping the peacekeepers will help stabilize Mogadishu ahead of a planned national reconciliation conference next month.
Dozens of people have died since January when joint Somali-Ethiopian forces ousted an Islamist movement from south and central Somalia, including the capital, but suspected Islamist insurgents and allied factions have responded with deadly guerrilla warfare.
The AU force aims to enable Ethiopian troops to leave and Somali forces to take over.
It is the first international peacekeeping venture since United States troops led an ill-fated, UN-backed peace operation in the early 1990s.
Factional bloodletting has wracked Somalia since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, creating a platform for a civil war that has defied more than 14 peace-making attempts.
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Islamist leader defends Mogadishu insurgency as troops burned
MOGADISHU (AFP) - Angry crowds burned the bodies of two dead soldiers in Mogadishu on Wednesday, where fighting claimed some 14 lives, while the Somali Islamist leader defended the capital's bloody insurgency.
Exchanges of heavy weapons fire across southern Mogadishu killed six uniformed soldiers and eight civilians, after insurgents attacked a former defence ministry headquarters housing Ethiopian troops backing the Somali government.
Residents burned the bodies of two soldiers and dragged another through the streets, in a grim echo of the treatment meted out to US troops in a failed UN-backed peace operation in Somalia in the early 1990s.
Hundreds of angry civilians celebrated in the Baruwa neighbourhood as they set the corpses of the two soldiers ablaze, shouting: "You and Ethiopians will die," "Down, Down with Somali troops," and "We will burn you alive."
Nearby, a woman carrying a machete shouted obscenities against Ethiopian and Somali troops while stepping on the body of another dead soldier being dragged by a rope tied to his foot, an AFP correspondent said. It was unclear if the soldiers were Somali or Ethiopian.
Meanwhile the leader of Somalia's Islamist movement, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, defended the insurgency.
His powerful Islamic Courts Union was ousted from much of south and central Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu, in January by joint Somali-Ethiopian forces, but his supporters have since vowed to wage guerrilla attacks.
"If all foreign troops leave Somalia, we will settle our differences and everybody knows that," Aweys told the BBC Somali service.
"The people who are fighting in Mogadishu are defending themselves and nobody will question that right," he said from an undisclosed location in Somalia.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia denied that its troops had been killed in the fighting.
"We are against any sort of speculation that Ethiopian troops were killed today in Mogadishu," Fisseha Shawel, the Ethiopian embassy's Charge d'Affaires in Mogadishu told AFP.
Civilians were caught in the stray gunfire and shelling after Ethiopian and Somali government troops responded to the morning attack, according to witnesses and an AFP correspondent.
Residents in various neighbourhoods of southern Mogadishu reported that 11 people had died, including three other soldiers.
"We have so far received more than 60 wounded people. We are in a very difficult situation," said Dahir Dheere, the head administrator of the capital's largest Medina hospital.
The United States, which backed Ethiopian forces during the war with the Islamists, condemned the violence.
"It is an horrendous act. We condemn that in the strongest terms," US ambassador to Kenya Michael E. Ranneberger said of the bodies being burned, in a press briefing in Nairobi.
The Somali ambassador to Kenya, Mohamed Ali Nur, said that Wednesday's fighting was sparked by a government crackdown on suspected Islamist insurgents.
A planned 8,000-strong African Union force is trying to help Somali government troops regain control, but a spokesman for the 1,500 Ugandan AU troops already deployed said that they had not been involved in Wednesday's violence.
Meanwhile, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders Wednesday called on the Somali interim government to respect press freedom after it reported that a Somali reporter from Radio Shabelle and his driver were arrested and beaten up.
It called for their release in a statement and condemned "the mistreatment of journalists who were just doing their job."
The AU mission is the first international peacekeeping venture since US troops led the ill-fated UN peace operation more than 10 years ago.
Factional bloodletting has wracked Somalia since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, creating a platform for a civil war that has defied more than 14 peace-making attempts.
Despite the violence, Nur said Somali's two-year-old government had on Tuesday officially completed a move from the south central town of Baidoa to Mogadishu.
Well Malcolm's right there is a crisis in Somalia a crisis created by Islamic terror groups. This government was overthrown and popular opinion suggest that the Christian based government is more popular and fair.
Malcom have you coondured this scenario by anychance. The US governemnt finds out locations of Islamic terror cells in Somalia, they approach the Somalian government and explain the situation, the Somalinn government realising that these terror groups could pose athreat to thier leadership agree to the US carrying out strike action against the trerroists, the US does it and in the course of action some innocents get killed. Are you saying there is no chance that might have happend.
There is ione thing about your atory ( no source of course ) but it says that many people were killedin Jubba maybe it' s a big area but nomadic people? the whole point of being nomdaic is they stay away from the cities unless they are selling at a amrket and there is no way any government would allow an aiurstrike on market day.
Also nice to see how concerned you are this happend two months and you were so outraged then you had to say something now right.
HECK! said this in post #2 : Malcom, you're supporting the Islamist insurgency in Somalia then? Good to know. Might want to let the Department of Homeland Security who's side you're on.
-HECK!
I support Rep. Donald Payne(D-NJ) , chairman of the Subcommitte on Africa Global Human Rights and International Operations, but you have right not to support your gov.
Rep. Payne's Foreign Troops Must Leave Somalia press release:
The invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia forces, despite claims of invitation by the weak Baidoa-based Transitional Federal Government, only leads to more suffering and instability in the Horn of Africa region. United Nations Security Council resoulution 1725 clearly stated that "all Member States, in particular those in the region, should refrain from any action in contravention of the arms embargo and related measures."
Using military force instead of negotiations is a deliberate and ill-advised measure that will futher destabalize and increase the suffering of the Somali people. I STRONGLY CONDEMN this agrresion and call for the immediate withdrawal of Ethiopian and all foreign forces(U.S.) from Somalia.
The African Union and the Arab League have called for Ethiopian and all foreign troops (US) to IMMEDIATELY LEAVE Somalia. Unfortunately, the inaction by the United Nations Security Council has once again failed the helpless people of Somalia...
. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia accuses the Union of Islamic Courts as Jihadists and extremists. He also justifies his action against Somalia because of the threats he claims the Courts pose against Ethiopia. The FACT of the matter is Ethiopian forces are in Somalia and not the other way around. Besides, how is it possible for a non-coventional force to pose a threat against the largest armed forces in Sub-Saharan Africa?Ethiopia's military adventure.. confirms the suspicion of Somalis that THE THE TFG IS A PROXY OF ETHIOPIA.
It is important to remember what the COURTS have done. THEY BROUGHT ABOUT RELATIVE PEACE AND STABILITY IN THE AREA THEY CONTROLLED AND ENDED THE BRUTALITY OF THE SO-CALLED WARLORDS. We must never forget the innocent Somali civilians who have endured over a decade of hardship and untold suffering. A generation of Somalis are growing up surrounded by VIOLENCE and POVERTY....
lodgebo said this in post #5 : Well Malcolm's right there is a crisis in Somalia a crisis created by Islamic terror groups. This government was overthrown and popular opinion suggest that the Christian based government is more popular and fair.
Malcom have you coondured this scenario by anychance. The US governemnt finds out locations of Islamic terror cells in Somalia, they approach the Somalian government and explain the situation, the Somalinn government realising that these terror groups could pose athreat to thier leadership agree to the US carrying out strike action against the trerroists, the US does it and in the course of action some innocents get killed. Are you saying there is no chance that might have happend.
There is ione thing about your atory ( no source of course ) but it says that many people were killedin Jubba maybe it' s a big area but nomadic people? the whole point of being nomdaic is they stay away from the cities unless they are selling at a amrket and there is no way any government would allow an aiurstrike on market day.
Also nice to see how concerned you are this happend two months and you were so outraged then you had to say something now right.
Conservative media in this country doesn't cover news report news from Africa. The conservative media in this country report most news that comes from Hollywood.
While US was invading Somalia , media was reporting Anna Nicole Smith's soap opera. It will probably be 2 months before we here of US invasion of Iran.
Just as well the Europena media covers Africa then I guess. See whjile you and Sen Payne ar having a go at the Ethiopians tou forget why they are there to protect a government that is popular with the people but is threatend by an Islamic group thaty is backlward and wants to restriuvt the rights of Somalians. Also if you had bothered to even do some reserach you wopuld would that had the Islamic group leaders ( who BTW are mostly tied to Al Quedia) taken thier head out of thier own asses tyey would have realsie they were not wanted by the majority of Somalis.
Also despite what you want to belive the US is not carrying out operations in Africa against Somaians. There ere two attacks in January that is well known and and accepted but what people may not have told you malcolm is that these were the first raids since 1994 so 13 years have gone by since that last time US guns were fired in anger in Somalia and secondly the attack was ot on Somalins per se but on Al Quieda leadership who were being sheltred by Somali insurgents now granted the actions of the Ugandan army in sealing off the town was probably an ill advised move BUT because of people like your freidns Sen Payne they can't touch the insurgents or the AL Queida members unless they are attacked first.
Also have you heard os Abdullahi Yusuf? of course you have because Somali is your area of expertese this month. Well you will also know that he backed the Us raids.
PS I agree with Javier Solana the AU has proved itself unable to control anything in Afirca maybe it's time to deploy some better trained forces in Africa.
lodgebo said this in post #8 : Just as well the Europena media covers Africa then I guess. See whjile you and Sen Payne ar having a go at the Ethiopians tou forget why they are there to protect a government that is popular with the people but is threatend by an Islamic group thaty is backlward and wants to restriuvt the rights of Somalians. Also if you had bothered to even do some reserach you wopuld would that had the Islamic group leaders ( who BTW are mostly tied to Al Quedia) taken thier head out of thier own asses tyey would have realsie they were not wanted by the majority of Somalis.
Also despite what you want to belive the US is not carrying out operations in Africa against Somaians. There ere two attacks in January that is well known and and accepted but what people may not have told you malcolm is that these were the first raids since 1994 so 13 years have gone by since that last time US guns were fired in anger in Somalia and secondly the attack was ot on Somalins per se but on Al Quieda leadership who were being sheltred by Somali insurgents now granted the actions of the Ugandan army in sealing off the town was probably an ill advised move BUT because of people like your freidns Sen Payne they can't touch the insurgents or the AL Queida members unless they are attacked first.
Also have you heard os Abdullahi Yusuf? of course you have because Somali is your area of expertese this month. Well you will also know that he backed the Us raids.
PS I agree with Javier Solana the AU has proved itself unable to control anything in Afirca maybe it's time to deploy some better trained forces in Africa.
Not surprise you will give these statements parroting Bush adm.
UK is lapdog country for Bush. We thought Blaiir losing job would break the dog chain Bush has around UK's neck.
It's sp pathetic Malcolm. Someone posts arguements that taer your rantings apart and instead of trying to launch a decent counter arguemnt you post crap like that, I assume your reason to not give a decent arguement is because you can't mount one.
And what you have posted anyway proves your ignorance about simple facts. Firstly let me congratulate you for being the first person to accuse the BBC of parroting the Bush admin. Hell if anything the BBC is accused of being anti - Bush.
You can say the UK is lapdog country for Bush but what that has to do with Mr Yussuf backing the raids is beyond my comprehension. And finally BLair is resigning of his own free will he is not losing his job he is giving it up.
Face it malcolm you came up with this totally pathetic argument which BTW is kind of off topic ( something which you have moaned about before so practice what you preach) because you can't coem up with a decent arguement can you.
Well that should not shock anyone we sit all the time. How many foriegners have been caught fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan, anytime you get some kind of Muslim uprising you get foriegners coming to help
lodgebo said this in post #12 : Well that should not shock anyone we sit all the time. How many foriegners have been caught fighting for the Taliban in Afghanistan, anytime you get some kind of Muslim uprising you get foriegners coming to help
I agree. Americans are foriegners in the countries they have invaded. How can people who live and were born in there country be a foriegner or INSURGENTS. Anyone with common sense and who are objectictive can see the America military is the true INSURGENTS.
Malcolm do you even know what insurgent means? it menas rebel so when we call the ex government and supporters of the ex government insurgents that is the correct term they are rebels trying to bring down the legitimate government of Somlia.
Also America is not invading Somalia the plane involved in the airstrike did not fly from a base in Somali because there is not one it flew from a warship carrying out anti terror operations in the region and once again the raid had the blessing of the Soamli and because of the location Kenyan governments. So how do you get the word invasion from that action? because I thought an invasion meant actually going into the country without approval the US has not done that.
Also I cannot understand how somebody who is meant to be all for a better Africa sees a bad side to this.
What Somalia had:
A repressive Islamic based governemnt with no rights for women and many groups facing persecution for relgious beliefs. A country on the verge of being removed from the AU, a country that had aid cut by the EU, a country that was in a civil war.
What Somali has now:
A forward looking albiet Christian based government
Womens rights are on the up
Relgious persecution al bit vanished
a country that is back in the AU and has seen a return of aid from the EU
A civil war that is all bit over and only Eithopian and Ugandan troops present to protect the government.
How is that bad for Somali or even for Africa. Somalia still has problems no denying it but things are getting better and if the insurgents stopped what they were doing the AU troops would like the NATO and US troops all bit leave and Somalia government could get on with making positive changes for it's people. How can you be aginst that.
PS I notice that you once are quick to have a go at America but no anger toward Eihiopia who have hundreds of tanks and planes and couple of thousand troops in Somali and no anger toward the 1000 Ugandan troops why is that?
Do you know what the Chinese are doing in Africa or is your lopsided opinion on the doings of the powerful just another onesided expression of one who has little power if any?
03-22-2007 12:12 AM
