Archive for Somalia

The Narrow Survival of a Thin Dream

Posted by: Ion | June 3rd, 2007 · 6:57 PM

Islamist insurgents have mounted a bold suicide bomb attack on Somali Prime Minister,Ali Mohamed Gedi’s home. Gedi, a soft-spoken veterinarian, is popular in Somalia and has thus been the target of countless assassination attempts by the insurgency and warlords. Islamist militias see him as the key enabler of the US-backed Ethiopian and African Union military presence in the country and have placed all their efforts into eliminating him.

But characteristically, in their zeal to kill Gedi, the insurgents managed only to inflict further violence on their own people, by destroying a nearby madrasah, while Gedi escaped the attack unharmed. The damage to the area looks to be extensive:

(image: CNN)

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Ethiopia Preparing to Withdraw From Somalia

Posted by: Ion | May 13th, 2007 · 9:08 PM

According to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia will completely withdraw its military from Somalia following the expected African Union peacekeeping deployment. Expected, but interesting. The ability of the AU to suppress the continued insurrection remains a dubious proposition however:

“Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu will withdraw when the African Union peacekeepers arrive to support Ugandan forces which are already there,” Meles was quoted by the state-run Kuwait News Agency KUNA as saying.”
(AfricanPath)

Meanwhile the AU can’t seem to get its financing together for the current Ugandan mission.

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God’s Hand: Returning to a Broader Christian Message

Posted by: Jason | April 17th, 2007 · 1:45 AM

(image: source)

I try to make an effort of promoting my Christian faith whenever I can. Not for any attention or shock value, though that statement is sad but true these days, but as a signal to others in case they’re ever in need of comfort in some way. It’s amazing what the common man can do to persuade lives with a simple message of truth behind him.

Like many people I suppose, I’ve had times in my life where I’ve put my faith on the back shelf. Other activities we’d consider more entertaining often edge out faith in our lives, sending us on mini-vacations from what’s really important. After all, it’s hard work to constantly ponder faith and the meaning of life.

God is indeed interesting concerning His relationship to us. He has a knack for pulling us back into His grasp at the most unexpected time. I’ve recently given a lot of reflection to my thoughts on faith. It’s as if I can feel God pulling at me for some higher purpose. I’ve had that feeling a lot lately.

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Ethiopia (maybe) Reinforces

Posted by: Ion | April 7th, 2007 · 4:00 PM

(photo: Stars and Stripes)

Following the war in Somalia is a tricky hobby. Reports are so frequently erroneous, fragmentary, misleading or so broken by a dozen conflicting loyalties that it’s hard to ever craft a credible post on the struggle. Somalia is truly a region at the extreme edge of the world’s connectivity. Yet despite the difficulty, it’s hard to avert one’s eyes, given the gravity of the implications for Africa and the world.

For instance, today I’ve read this AFP report. Ethiopia may be using the tenuous ceasefire in the Somali capital, to strengthen their positions…or perhaps not:

On Monday Mogadishu residents said hundreds of Ethiopian forces had entered the city. Ethiopia said it was strengthening its positions, but only with existing troops.

[…]

“This is not true. There are no additional troops to Somalia,” a spokesman from the Ethiopian information ministry, Zemedkum Tekle, told AFP by telephone from Addis Ababa.“It is getting calmer and calmer and there is no need to do that. We have pulled out almost two-thirds of our troops from Somalia and there is no need for further deployments.”
(Gulf Times)

One thing that’s not in dispute, is that the residents of Mogadishu remain in exile from the city. The inability of the surrounding countryside to support them, is generating a humanitarian crisis. Allied troops are experiencing difficulties managing both the war with the insurgency, the distribution of aid, local security and reconstruction efforts. It’s a reminder of the extensive level of mayhem the salafist revolution can achieve through the use of even limited terror in societies they’ve infiltrated:

Captain Paddy Ankunda, spokesman for the Ugandans, called for help in distributing aid so that the troops could carry out their peacekeeping duties.

“It will continue as long as our resources are available, but we’re calling on the humanitarian groups to come in because we cannot continue this forever. We can only provide security to these people,” he said by telephone.
(Gulf Times)

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Ethiopia reacts to NYTimes claims

Posted by: Ion | February 23rd, 2007 · 7:52 PM

Today’s fascinating NYTimes scoop on covert US operations allegedly launched from Ethiopia into Southern Somalia, has garnered a fierce (if particular) denial by Ethiopian officials. The US had previously acknowledged launching airstrikes from the Republic of Djibouti. special adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Bereket Simon said:

“The U.S. has not used any airfields in Ethiopia to mount the air strikes. This seems to be a pure and simple fabrication,” he said. “If any of the U.S. officials has said this, it must be a person, who has no knowledge of the reality on the ground.” (source)

US relations with regionally predominant Ethiopia are warm and intimate, representing the strategic keystone of US plans for preventing Al Qaeda infiltration into the Horn of Africa and ultimately thereby, into the perilous religious fault line of the central interior. Toward this end, Ethiopia is presently waging a bloody ground war against recalcitrant Islamist radicals in Somalia.

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