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In an opinion piece published on today’s Kenya “Daily Nation” newspaper, Ambrose Murunga urges the Kenya government to use force in order to stop the Somali Islamic Courts to complete their quest to free the Somali people from the tyranny of warlordism.

Ambrose Murunga writes:

Kenyan intelligence agencies should be advising the political leadership against allowing the collapse of Somalia’s transitional government. The BBC reports that 20 Cabinet ministers handed tendered in their resignations yesterday.

She concluded by saying:

The Islamic Courts Union is poised to take over, and a radical, theocratic government in our neighborhood is a definite ‘No Way’. It is in the interests of our national security to prevent any such development, by force, if need be.

I think this is at best a sick joke! And at worst it is a dangerous idea from a mind hallucinating with ignorance about the geo-politics and ethnic tensions in that part of the world. Ambrose Murunga and other Kenyans must know that one third of what is now called “Kenya” is a Somali territory under illegal Bantu (Kenyan) occupation. Hence, it is a very dangerous political gamesmanship to advocate ideas that could destabilize in an already volatile region. I understand that Kenyans are very afraid that Somali people under Kenyan occupation will rebel. However preaching hatred is not will fuel more hostilities towards the Kenyans.

Somalis under Kenyan occupation must be allowed to decide their political destiny!

Following is the full piece! (more…)

Alisha Ryu of the Voice of America sent a dispatch from Mogadishu and said:

Nineteen Cabinet ministers in Somalia’s fragile secular interim government in Baidoa resigned Thursday, possibly in an attempt to facilitate a power-sharing deal with rival Islamists. Meanwhile, the Islamists strengthened their grip on power, accepting the peaceful surrender of its last rival secular militia in Mogadishu. The list of those who resigned from Somalia’s U.N.-backed but powerless Transitional Federal Government includes seven ministers, seven assistant ministers, and four state ministers. In a joint letter, the ministers complained that the government lacked transparency and accountability and its leaders had failed to work toward national reconciliation and development since the interim body was formed 19 months ago.

If true this is a courageous act of patriotism. As I wrote before, no self respecting Somali parliamentarian should operation under Ethiopian colonial rule. The TFG must disband as soon as possible so that a care taker government can be installed.

Click here to view the full dispatch by the VOA.

Kuwaiti Times reports:

A mystery cargo plane that landed in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu yesterday has triggered accusations from the interim government that it was carrying weapons from Eritrea to support rival Islamists. In only the second arrival of a plane to Mogadishu’s old international airport since Islamists re-opened it days ago, residents reported seeing a medium-sized aircraft with no recognizable identity land and unload large boxes. “Eritrea has brought to Mogadishu by airplane weapons to support the Islamists,” Somalia’s deputy information minister Salad Ali Jelle told reporters from Baidoa, the provincial base of the fragile transitional government. Islamists blocked the area near the airport to stop residents from finding out about the plane, believed to be carrying guns and explosives, the official said, citing residents’ accounts as his evidence.

The last thing Somalia needs is more arms. We have enough of them!

Click here to view the full report.

Mohamed Sheikh Nor of the Associated Press writes:

A mysterious Russian-built cargo plane believed to be loaded with weapons landed in this capital Wednesday, setting off a fresh round of allegations that Somalia has become a proxy battleground for its neighbors Eritrea and Ethiopia. The United States and other Western powers have cautioned outsiders against meddling in Somalia, which has no single ruling authority and can be manipulated by anyone with money and guns. But there’s little sign the warning has been heeded. Somalia’s virtually powerless government charged on Wednesday that the Ilyushin-76, only the second flight to land at Mogadishu International Airport in a decade was packed with land mines, bombs and guns. It said the shipment had come from Eritrea, which supports the Islamic militia that has seized the capital along with most of southern Somalia.

It looks that, detrimental to the Somali people, that history is repeating it self. Somalia was a battle ground for ideologically based proxy wars during the Cold War era! And now what have we got? Somalia as a new frontline on the “War on Terror” and Ethiopian/Eritrean proxy wars? Can a country be so unlucky like Somalia?

Click here to view the full dispatch on the Houston Chronicle.

The Reuters’ AlertNet reports:

The United Nations warned of a looming food crisis in Somalia on Wednesday, brought on by patchy seasonal rains and rising military tensions. “Somalia is in deep crisis. Additional tension or conflict would be disastrous,” said Henri Josserand, a senior official at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

“We are watching the situation very closely.”

(more…)

According to the BBC News:

IGAD has agreed to send peacekeeping troops to Somalia - but only when it is safe to do so.

Perhaps IGAD officials are getting the message,after all! I have my doubts, let’s wait and see!

Click here to view the full dispatch.

Justin Raimondo of the Anti-War.com has an interested piece on “How we (Americans) messed up Somalia – and paved the way for Islamist domination.” The article has lots of links to references for further reading.

It is a good read..

Click here to view the full article on the Anti-War.Com.

Craig Timberg of the Washington Post writes:

The land was little more than a patch of scrub outside the city. But this being Somalia — lawless, fractured and armed to the teeth — it was a patch of scrub that two of the country’s most powerful families were prepared to fight over. The fighting, which began Jan. 13, quickly took on wider significance because of the presence, at an airstrip just three miles away, of a small team of U.S. intelligence officials, according to Somalis knowledgeable about the events of that day. The Americans were in Somalia because of concerns about terrorism, not land. But when the gunfire rang out, the sources said, the U.S. officials wrongly concluded that they were under attack by Islamic terrorists and abruptly fled. It was a provocation, U.S. officials later told Somalis, that demanded a muscular response. In the weeks that followed this little-known incident, which U.S. officials have refused to confirm or deny, the United States expanded its role in Somalia to levels not seen since it abandoned the country in 1994. The Americans helped organize a group of secular warlords into an “anti-terror coalition” and provided them with a large, steady diet of cash.

This is a very interesting revelation! It seems to me that the Bush administration is making things worse wherever they go. Now we have the Islamic Courts ruling Somalia, thanks to Bush’s misguided foreign policy initiatives.

Click here to view full article. Please note that the Post requires free registration for access.

Douglas Mpuga of the VOA’s Washington Bureau has complied the following dispatch.

The Islamic Courts militia, which now control Somalia’s capital, have named a cleric as the head of a new parliament. Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys was appointed Saturday at a meeting of Islamic authorities in Mogadishu. Some in Washington consider Sheik Hassan Dahir a terrorist with suspected ties to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network. However, the Islamic Courts have denied any links to terrorism or al-Qaida and say they are interested only in restoring law and order to Somalia.

Is this the end of the TFG’s short life? I wonder!

Click here to view the full dispatch on VOA.

Charles Onyango-Obbo of the Kenyan Daily Nation newspaper writes:

Everywhere you turn, you are either reading or hearing on TV or radio that the rout of the Somali warlords in Mogadishu by the Islamic Courts Union came as “a surprise”.
The warlords are now dispersed to the far corners of Somalia, leaving the American project of backing their Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism in tatters. There are many who are mourning the fact that the Islamic fundamentalists have won, saying that we are all in danger now. It’s not that simple. What we are witnessing is not the triumph of religious fundamentalism, but the crisis of secularism. Those of us who consider ourselves secularists, the fellows who believe in the separation of religion and state, bear the blame for letting the cause crumble in disgrace. Where secularists have risen to power in Africa and other parts of the Third World promising great change, many have ended up being maniacal butchers and thieves. We have let cherished freedoms degenerate into a bottomless pit of immorality and excess. Which is fine, except that we also don’t expect to pay a price for it.

Interesting perspective, however, what Mr Onyango-Obbo is depicting is, at best, a simplified version of the political realities on the ground in Somalia.

Click here to view the article column on the AllAfrica.com

Andrew McGregor writes:

As the insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq continue to dominate headlines, a new front in the war on terrorism has opened in Somalia. At a brutal cost to Mogadishu’s civilian population, once-discredited warlords have reinvented themselves as “counter-terrorists,” seeking and apparently gaining U.S. support by characterizing their Islamist opponents as agents of al-Qaeda. The warlords have grouped together as the Anti-Terrorism Alliance (ATA) and insist they are dedicated to expelling foreign al-Qaeda members they allege are sheltered by the Islamic Court Union (ICU). Although nearly all the ATA warlords are cabinet ministers in the new Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) located in Baidoa, they have abandoned the TFG to pursue an unauthorized war against their Islamist rivals in Mogadishu. Allegations of U.S. funding for the unpopular ATA leaders are undermining U.S. efforts to stabilize the region.

Click here to view the full report on the Jamestown Foundation (Global Terrorism Analysis)

The CNN International reports:

Members of militias fighting for control of the Somali capital could face war crimes charges for attempting to prevent the wounded and civilians from receiving assistance during the conflict, a U.N. official warned Monday.

Eric Laroche, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia was quoted as saying:

Increasingly worrying reports from Mogadishu describe indiscriminate shelling of civilian populations and the city’s medical facilities, with dozens dead in the last few days. (…) Due to the intensity of the recent fighting, an increased number of civilian casualties have been unable to reach medical facilities.

Mr. Laroche went on by saying that:

(…) Any deliberate attempt to prevent wounded or civilians receiving assistance and protection during fighting in the city may constitute elements of future war crimes.

This warning seems to be directed to Muuse Suudi Yalaxow who is currently using a Hospital in Mogadishu as a hidding ground and keeping its entire staff as hostages.  Mr. Laroche’s warning is certainly a step in the right direction. However, what Mr. Laroche failed to mention is the fact that the main reason why the warlords are keeping a whole nation as a hostage is a direct result of United Nations’ confused and incoherent policy towards the Somali conflict. The problem of warlordism would have ended long time ago if the UN allowed the Somali Transitional Federal Government to carry out its main political objective which is to secure the country and bring law and order by lifting the Arms Embargo. The UN has as much Somali blood on their hands as the Mogadishu warlords if not more! It is time for the UN to do the right thing and act sensibly. The continuation of the arms embargo serves no purpose other than empowering the warlords to murder more innocent Somalis. The UN’s failure in Rwanda should not be forgotten!

Click here to view the full dispatch on CNN International.

We hear that the sacked Central Intelligence Agency Director, Porter Goss, visited Somalia in February after a trip to Kenya. CIA staff certainly helped to organize the alliance of the antiterrorist. 

Africa Confidential, London-based Newsletter.

You may like to click here for recent Africa Confidential’s articles and analysis on Somalia

Dr. Michael A. Weinstein of the Power and Interest News Report (PINR) writes:   

At the root of Somali society is a dizzying array of clans and sub-clans that ally with and fall out with one another. The clan structure provides Somalis with protection and traditional means of dispute resolution through elders, but it also reinforces the country’s fragmentation and is a cause of conflict.   

Click here to view the full article on the PINR website. 

United States State Department has issued following “Public Announcement” Friday, May 5th 2006.  (more…)

The Famine Early Warring System (FEWS) says in its latest report that:

Despite the early gu rains in most of the drought-affected regions of Somalia, the food security situation facing 2.1 million drought-affected people remains precarious.  Prices of staple foods in most of the reference markets in the south are still much higher than normal for this time of year.  Humanitarian access problems coupled with impassable roads (due to rains) will likely hamper food aid deliveries during the coming weeks, thereby increasing vulnerability among food aid dependant drought-affected communities.  In the northeast and parts of the central region rains received so far are below-normal leading to serious water shortages.

Click here to view the full report on FEWS. The report is available as a PDF format.

President Kibaki of Kenya was quoted as saying:   

The transitional federal government of Somalia continues to require sustainable international assistance and support to enable it to carry out its mandate of post conflict reconstruction…..   

Mr. Kibaki went on by saying:. 

In the search for durable peace in the region, IGAD member states have urged the United Nations to lift the arms embargo on Somalia. Likewise, we have emphasized the importance of implementation of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration programs. 

Well, what Mr. Kibati failed to say is the fact that it was IGADs officials who ignorantly thought that the UN Arms Embargo on Somalia prohibits the deployment of peace-keeping forces from the Arab or African states into Somalia. Indeed, one could reasonably argue that the UN Security Council resolution (733) regarding the Arms Embargo justifies the deployment of the peace-keeping forces into Somalia! Indeed, the resolution states that it “Calls upon all States and international organizations to contribute to the efforts of humanitarian assistance to the population in Somalia”. It goes without saying that the intention of the peace-keepers is to “contribute to the efforts of humanitarian assistance to the population in Somalia”. In short, President Kibaki is either being mislead by his legal advisers or he is just walking in the dark. Either way, I do not believe the President knows what he is talking!

Click here for the full dispatch by the Chinese News Agency; Xinhuanet.

The Chinese News Agency; Xinhuanet reports:   

East African military chiefs began a three-day meeting here on Monday to review security progress in the region ravaged by conflicts, insecurity and poverty. The East African Chiefs of Defense Staff Meeting which drew military chiefs from 12 states called on regional governments to support the Eastern Africa Standby Brigade to deal with conflicts in Sudan, northern Uganda, Eritrea, Ethiopia and other trouble spots. In his opening remarks, Kenya’s Defense Minister Njenga Karume said the African Union (AU) is assembling a strong rapid response force to deal with conflicts and disasters on the continent. “The African Union has formed a standby force aimed at ensuring quick intervention in conflicts arising within the continent,” Karume told military chiefs from Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Rwanda, Mauritius, Madagascar, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania.   

Well, this is at best another way of wasting much needed resources! The fact is that almost all the countries in the above list are undemocratic and dysfunctional states that have deeply rooted internal conflicts with their own people. Not to mention the fact that majority of them are at war with each other. The question is: how can a country that cannot even protect its own borders help others to achieve peace and security? More importantly, Somalia has no business of forging military alliance with East African States. As I wrote many times before on this page and elsewhere, I do not see any reason why Somalia should be part of failed states club! We have our problems to deal with! Personally, I believe that Somalia should look north politically and economically. Indeed, I have argued that we should leave the African Union altogether. The notion behind the creation of the OAU and African Union is indeed racist! For instance, we have been told that “Europe” is not a geographical location but and idea based on common cultural and religious heritage. Yet, the overriding criterion for the creation of the African Union is indeed skin color. How can you explain Somalia and Ghana being in the same union? 

Click here to view the full article on Xinhuanet. 

David McGuffin; CBC’s Africa Correspondent writes:   

The day we arrived in Wajid, in southern Somalia, they executed a man on the edge of town. We heard the gunshots. He’d been involved in a scuffle over water at a distribution site the day before and shot another man. The town elders say rough, quick justice is the only way to prevent full-blown anarchy. This is how desperate the drought has made life in Somalia. On the edge of town, refugee camps have sprung out of nowhere. Stand in the middle of them and all you can see are sad, makeshift tents crammed together in a dry, dusty, windblown plain.

(more…)

Zlatan Milisic, Somalia-Country Director for the UN’s World Food Program was quoted as saying that: 

The humanitarian situation is getting worse…We have a major number of people who desperately need our assistance and we are struggling to move through and distribute to them the necessary assistance. It doesn’t help their society either when they are in a constant situation of attacks and unrest and problems. 

Somalia is in deep crisis, unfortunately no body seems to be listrening!

Click here to view a long dispatch by David McGuffin; CBC’s Africa correspondent, Mr. David McGuffin’s dispatches are also broadcasted on the National Public Radio in the US. 

According to OCHA report released earlier this week:   

In the last two weeks UNICEF and WHO reviewed their plans to implement key drought response activities including improving stocks of emergency drugs and supplies, strengthening surveillance and early warning, expanding of health care through mobile clinics, and reinforcing ongoing immunization activities. In support of the drought response, WHO is planning on implementing an intensive course on Communicable Disease Control and Emergency Response in Merka, Lower Shabelle and aimed at MOH, UN, Health coordinators, NGOs and Health Facility representatives and also the hiring of a nutritionist for a 2 month period to carry out specific drought related activities. As malaria is endemic in the south, a recent shipment of 60,000 Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN) will be distributed to vulnerable groups in drought stricken areas.   

Source: OCHA via Reliefweb 

According to OCHA report release this week:

The Gu planting season is under preparation. Major actors include ICRC and FAO covering respectively 23,000 and 24,600 households. With resources available, it is estimated that close to 50% of the estimated needy families will receive planting material (sorghum and cowpea seeds). FAO is procuring some 492 Mt of sorghum and cowpea from Wajid (21 Mt), Baidoa (255 Mt), Belet Weyne (71 Mt), Afmadow (11,6 Mt), Garbaharey (18,4 Mt), Bardheere (107 Mt) and Dolow (8 Mt). Distribution was concluded in Wajid (FAO/ACF). Seeds are being bagged in Belet Weyne for distribution in Belet Weyne (FAO/DRC) and Balcad (FAO/Agrosphere), while seed testing is on-going at both Nairobi and field level, for the samples received from the other locations. Livestock and pastoralist activities continue to focus on de-stocking, animal health and water trucking.   

Source: OCHA via Reliefweb

According to OCHA reports:

5,000 Mt of food is currently being distributed in Baidoa and Dinsor districts while WFP is currently planning their second round of drought relief food distribution. Since late February a total of 11,800 Mt of food have been distributed to 730,000 beneficiaries in south Somalia and a total of 1,700 Mt of food has been distributed in the north. WFP is proposing to do a rapid assessment in the north east - which has still received no rain - and where some districts are reportedly suffering from chronic drought conditions. CARE has recently completed food distributions in Gedo and has begun water trucking and borehole rehabilitation in affected areas of El Waq. Similar activities are in the pipeline for Dolow and Belet Hawa; the next food distribution in Gedo is scheduled to take place at the end of April.  ICRC interventions continue in Gedo, Lower Juba, Bakol, Lower Shabelle, Mudug and Galgadud involving food distributions (and the rehabilitation of strategic water-points, veterinary interventions and seed distributions).

This is too little too late and it will not do much to help ease the hunger and starvation that is ravaging the Somali people in Somalia, in Kenya and the Somali part of Ethiopia! 

Source: OCHA via Reliefweb  

UK’s Secretary of International Development; Rt. Hon. Hilary Benn, was quoted as saying:  

The majority of DFID funding is provided to three multilateral institutions, the UN system, the World Bank, and through the UK’s contribution to the EC, which includes the European Commission Humanitarian Office (ECHO). Support to the UN includes to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) for its Rule of Law Programme, the World Food Programme, the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and UN International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) for drought related activities, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) programme, UN-HABITAT for urban development work and to the United Nations Educational Scientific Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) for education work. With the World Bank, DFID is for example, supporting the joint needs assessment work they are co-leading with the UNDP to prepare a five-year reconstruction and development programme and a Community Development Programme. We also provide core funding to the African Development Bank that is providing support to the drought in the Horn of Africa.

Source: Proceedings of the British House of Commons

Barbara Stocking, Oxfam’s director was quoted as saying:

This crisis might be getting less attention than the tsunami did, but the number of people needing help is even greater. …The severity of this crisis means assistance is needed on a huge scale. ..This appeal isn’t designed to be just a sticking plaster…We want to help people across the region to recover and be in a better position when the next crisis hits. With the support of the public, we can work with people to build their futures as well as helping them through the terrible situation they face today.

Click here to view a long article on this on the Independent Newspaper in London. 

Lindsey Hilsum of Channel4 News writes:   

Channel 4 News reports on the worsening situation in Somalia where aid is difficult to get through. It’s a land where guns are the law: for 15 years - the world’s only state without a functioning government. It’s almost impossible for aid agencies to operate in Somalia - the UN has even banned delivering supplies by sea because of the risk of piracy. Just this week - three aid workers were shot dead trying to deliver aid in Somalia’s drought-stricken south. Two years of severe drought have left eight million people in need of emergency food aid across the Horn of Africa. Two million of the most needy are in Southern Somalia. The problems encountered in Mererey and Afmadow, show the difficulties of aid relief, in a country with no government.  

Click here to watch the full report on Channel4 News.

According to Islam online news service:  

Muslim aid organizations in Britain have stepped up assistance to East Africa and launched urgent donation campaigns as the region has been hit by the worst drought wave in living memory. Islamic Relief (IR) is providing emergency assistance in the Mandera region of Kenya in the north-east, the London-based Muslim aid group said in a press release on its website Saturday, April 8. “Emergency water distribution continues in Kabo and Kamor-Libaan in Lafey division where 2000 people receive 10,000lts of water daily,” it said. Water distributions to five more villages in the Lafey area are being organized. A Supplementary Feeding Program is providing food each week to almost 600 malnourished children, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and the elderly in Kamor-Libaan, Damasa, Libehiya and Kabo.

Click here to view the full article on Islam on Line. You may also like to click here to contribute to their online campaign for the drought devastated Somali people of Somalia, NFD and Western Somalia (Ogaden). 

According to USAID:   

The United States funded development programs in Somalia are aimed at increasing the number of self sustainable civil society organizations that contribute to good governance and peace building with cooperative, productive linkages with regional and local authorities. USAID supports community-based reconciliation efforts, assisting local community-based grassroots institutions and organizations to formulate civil society-oriented democracy and effective governance across Somalia. USAID also supports basic education with the aim of increasing girls’ enrollment rates and improving teacher education. Assistance includes building the capacity of teacher training institutes, training for primary teachers, rehabilitating classrooms, providing water and sanitation facilities at schools and mobilizing communities to promote girls’ education. USAID uses Development Assistance (DA), Economic Support Funds (ESF), International Disaster and Famine Account (IDFA), and food assistance to implement an Integrated Strategic Plan (ISP).   

Click here to learn more on United States “Economic Development” assistance to Somalia. You may also like to click here to view “2006 Congressional Budget Justification for Somalia”.  Here is also USAID’s Somalia page.

President George W. Bush announced that the United States is sending $92 million (A74.7 million) in aid to prevent widespread famine and alleviate the causes of hunger in the Horn of Africa, currently in the throes of severe drought. The U.S. aid he announced Thursday is in addition to more than $150 million (A121.8 million) in emergency humanitarian food and other assistance the United States already has provided to the region since October 2005. 

Click here to view the full report on the Sudan Tribune.