U.S. War of Terror in the Horn of Africa: Mary Beaudoin, W A M M

But there was a mighty force behind the invasion. Barely creating a blip in our news media—and in January of this year, while peace activists were doing what they could to try to stop the war on Iraq and raise concerns about the rest of the Middle East, United States gunships fired from the sea into Somalia.Many innocent herdsman and their animals in the area were killed and people, including young children, were rounded up in a general sweep and sent to Kenya. Though some were released, other captives were held and tortured and Kenya refuses to take refugees.

The attack on Somalia opened up another active front in the U.S. War of Terror. The U.S. Combined Joint Task Force in the Horn of Africa is based on a former French Legion post, in the small country of Djibouti. As the public slowly becomes aware of U.S. involvement in Africa, J. Peter Pham of the World Defense Review (February 15, 2007) warned of the necessity of convincing them to support the operation: “If Africa Command (Africom) is to get down to doing its job of advancing U.S. interests abroad it must get the support to do it at home.”

On April 26 in the same publication, Pham further stated, while acknowledging that there are some humanitarian and diplomatic components to Africom, that, “What is being established is a combatant command, not a civilian interagency working group.” Pham is candid about the nature of U.S. military presence in the Horn of Africa. However, the State Department and Pentagon are less so. In fact, they refuse to comment on Somalia at all, according to press reports. Quoted in the New York Times, Defense Department spokesman Bryan Williams, had this to say, “The very nature of some of our operations, as well as the success of those operations, is often predicated on our ability to work quietly with our friends and allies.

Since the initial bombardment on the coast, the U.S. “quietly” orchestrated the removal of the popular Islamic Court, which had stabilized Somalia for its six-month reign. In addition to waging a proxy war through Ethiopia, U.S. military advisors and weaponry have been involved in the coup, according to international reports. In fact, during a peace vigil at the Minnesota Capitol, a woman from a small Minnesota town accompanying young students in an unrelated visit to the capitol, on encountering the vigil said sadly that her son had joined the U.S. military and had trained Ethiopian military two years ago.

Under the usual “War on Terror” guise, the U.S. employed its Africa Command to route out “Al Qaeda,” “Islamo-facism,” “Islamic extremists,” “terrorists,” “jihadists,” etc. Most Somalis in Minnesota had long denied that threats from these groups existed in Somalia and were relieved when the Islamic Court brought unity and stability to Mogdalishu. The Islamic Court, itself, was, in fact, said to have been comprised of men primarily concerned with business internal to Somalia. Through the Islamic Court, people had overcome the years of factional infighting between clans. Guns had been taken away. Warlords fled. Women felt safe. However, warlords worked with the CIA accusing the Islamic Court of harboring terrorists and propagandists did their best to conflate them with extremists.

In creating the coup against the Islamic Court, the U.S. and the Ethiopian military aligned themselves with the Transitional Federal Government. The newly-installed prime minister, Ali Mohamed Ghedia was a warlord so unpopular with the people of Somalia that he can only be guarded by Ethiopian military who came from outside Somalia and is said to live in a military tank.

In January of this year, the U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion destabilized Somalia and plunged the country into death, destruction and chaos. In March and April there were clashes between the occupying Ethiopian and the Hawiye, a Somali clan. Ethiopian tanks shelled Mogadishu, a city of 2.5 million. Initially, an estimated 1000 to as many as 3300 innocent civilians were killed, according to UN and international reports. Somalis report that there were many, many more deaths with whole towns elsewhere in Somalia, as well as entire sections of Mogadishu, devastated by bombs and vicious attacks. It is believed that chemical weapons have been used. It is said that weapons were purchased from North Korea!

A large percentage of Mogadishu fled the city. At least 400,000 individuals have been displaced, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Many Minnesota Somalis report several relatives missing or dead. The injured and starving were countless in and around the city of Mogadishu. Hospitals were overflowing and humanitarian aide couldn’t reach civilians because of continued fighting. Many died and are dying due to dehydration, starvation, and exposure. Cholera and other illnesses are also taking a toll. International NGOs describe the situation as worse than Darfur. There is no security for the people. More than 30 warlords rage across the country. Women and children are especially vulnerable and there are many reports of rape, kidnapping and killing. Somali is destabilized and conflict has moved beyond the city.

While the Somalis who live among us in the Twin Cities have friends and relatives dying and their country of origin is being destroyed, there has been indignation over Somali cab drivers who won’t ferry passengers from the Minneapolis airport returning from France or California with bottles of wine. Or cab drivers who refuse to take passengers with seeing-eye dogs for the blind (The latter was found not to be true.) The Metropolitan Airport Commission said it received numerous of complaints about the cab drivers’ reluctance to satisfy “customers,” though the Airport Commission failed to mention that the cabbies had challenged inadequate services provided and stiff fees charged by the Airport Commission.

Another focus of public attention on local Somalis has been the dispute over whether the stimulant khat is no more than caffeine or an illegal drug has reached the court system. At the same time, U.S. navy warships have continued bombardment of coastal areas of Somalia. How convenient to demonize Somalis as all immigrants are demonized at the time when the empire takes over their country of origin at the expense of their relatives. And, when a great crowd of Somalis turns out at several protests in Minneapolis and St. Paul to condemn U.S. attacks, the media does not pay attention, though Minnesota has the largest Somali population in the United States. But, then in Somalia, the new government and warlords have shut down Al-Jazeera and three radio stations in Somalia and cancelled a womens’conference. Truth is still the first casualty of war.

Somalis are generally well informed about the world—more so than the average, geography-challenged American. Women and men both hold advanced degrees and have sophisticated analyses. So many are hard working people who work two jobs to send money back to those in need in Somalia. Some are empowering women to work on women’s and children’s issues. Some are making humanitarian efforts to raise funds for relief for Somalis trapped in the chaos of war. There is a strong Somali peace and justice community asking for a cessation of violence, pleading for neutral, not one-sided, peacekeeping force to help create an environment favorable to authentic political negotiations. Somalis are appealing to the international community, to the media, to the peace community to see what is happening.

Nunu Kidane, Network Coordinator with Priority Africa Network, questioned why Somalia was not on the agenda of the peace movement and wonders if it isn’t because Americans lack the proper framework from which to understand events there and that they might see Somalia only as in a state of continual war. The Horn of Africa is complex; and requires study; the variety of clans confuse people and they are concerned about appearing to take sides with Somalis here, but one thing is not hard to understand—that bombs dropped and bullets shot and chemicals sprayed cause devastation; that women, children and all civilians are the most victimized in war and occupation. Nunu sees hope in the great benevolence of the world peace community coming to embrace Somalia, as well as the other countries that it is more familiar with.

She remarks on what motivates people, “Visions of the global peace movement cannot be limited to the interests and concerns for particular geographic areas and people. What drove hundreds of thousands out to the Washington, D.C. protest (last January) in the frigid, cold weather is beyond self-interest and is out of concern for all lives—Iraqis, American, Afghani and Somali…” Women Against Military Madness is forming a Horn of Africa Committee to study the issues.