Melez Zenawi the Ethiopian Prime Minister made it clear to everyone that he wants Somalia annexed by forces.
Mr. Zenawi was quoted as saying that:
Our patience was considered as weakness and we were forced to go to war and the alternative left to us is to speedily bring the war to a successful and victorious end in the shortest time possible.
Well, this sounds like a twisted logic! Somalia did not invade Ethiopia.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports:
The aerial and ground assault was the first open admission by Ethiopia’s Christian-led government of its military operations in Somalia, where it has been supporting a weak interim government threatened by forces loyal to the Islamic clerics who control the capital, Mogadishu, and much of the rest of the country.
Click here to view the full report.
Kassa Ayalew; the chairperson of Ethiopian American Civic Advocacy writes:
The undemocratic Ethiopian parliament declared war against Eritrea under the pretext that Ethiopia must “stop Eritrean aggression and punish the terrorist invaders†not long a ago. As result of that declaration, about 100,000 innocent soldiers were killed in battlefields and ten of thousands of families and individuals faced tragic deportations and dire humanitarian consequences. The same parliament that has not yet learnt from its past blunder echoed again the readiness and preparation to invade the eastern neighbor Somalia in the name of protecting Ethiopians and the rest of the world from terrorists’ threat.
Mr. Ayalew continued by saying:
The truth of the matter in waging this war against Somalia is the regime’s desperation to stop the uprising resistance movement within and outside Ethiopia which has been intensifying since the May 2005 election. The elaborate scheme (fighting the terrorists’ threat) by the dictatorial regime that attempts to justify war against Somalia may play out different this time given the fact that the Ethiopian rulers’ trustworthiness credential has been shattered and their decade’s long democratic pretension has hatched for worse.
Interesting perspective to look at Zenawi’s desperate attempt to deflect attention from the political and economic crisis at home.
Click here to view the full article on the Sudan Times.
Islamic Courts Union spokesman Abdi-Rahiin Ali Mudey was quoted as saying:
Ethiopia has recently asked us to start talks with them so the deadline was basically meant to tell the Ethiopians to withdraw from Somalia, then talks they offered would be possible.
Does this mean that the threat of all out war is receding? I am not so sure but I hope that is case. We must give peace a chance.
In a statement released on Saturday, Louis Michel, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid said:
I call upon all parties to refrain from engaging in a war that cannot be won by anyone. The spoilers and warmongers of all sorts that seek conflict in order to prevail militarily are fooling themselves as well as the Somali people.
Mr. Michel went on by saying:
A new war in Somalia will have tragic consequences not just for the people of Somalia but for the whole region and beyond. We simply cannot afford to see what is going to happen.
Click here to view the full by the Chinese news agency-Xinhua.
Click here to view a full transcript of interview with Melez Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister.
Terrence Lyons of the Center for Preventive Action wrote a report titled: “Avoiding Conflict in the Horn of Africa: U.S. Policy toward Ethiopia and Eritreaâ€.
The entire report (PFD format) can be downloaded free of charge by clicking here.
According to the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations the Bush Administration is worried about Somalia becoming a “Terrorist Havenâ€:
Because Somalia is a chaotic, poor, battle-weary Muslim country with no central government. As former Secretary of State Colin Powell has said, “terrorist activity might find some fertile ground there, and we don’t want that to happen.†Moreover, U.S. government officials say that Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terrorist network supported Somali radical Islamists, organized training camps in Somalia, and threatened American troops in Somalia who were there on a U.N. humanitarian mission in the early 1990s.
Click here to view the full “backgrounder†on the CFR.
You may also like to click here to view Eben Kaplan’s note on “Somalia’s Terrorist Infestation†notes.
The International Herald Tribune writes:
Somalia’s president (Col. Cabdullahi Yuusuf ) said Friday that peace talks with the country’s Islamic movement are no longer an option because the group’s leaders have declared war on his government
The paper writes that Col. Cabdullahi Yuusuf of the TFG was quoted as saying:
They are the ones who effectively closed the door to peace talks and they are the ones who are waging the war.
The Colonel continued by saying:
The fighting can happen at any time now.
War should not be the first option. Somali political leaders must make peace and they should not threaten to wage war that could certainly cause the death of thousands of innocent Somalis.
Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed Siad “Inda’adeâ€; the defense chief of the Somali Islamic Nationalists issued an ultimatum and asked Ethiopian troops to leave all Somali territories that they currently occupy within a week or face an all-out war.
Personally, I do not believe that war should be rushed to as it only brings misery and bloodshed. In addition, the TFG is so weak and powerless that it is only a matter of time before it collapses under its own weight. Hence, toppling it by forces will only create more chaos.
Peace must be given a chance!
Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed Siad “Inda’adeâ€; (on the right).
Copy Right: Shabelle Media/Reuters News Agency.
The Irish Breaking News network reports:
Thousands of Islamic militants today surrounded the only town Somalia’s government controls, the prime minister said. It came as a top Islamic official promised to attack within a week unless troops from neighboring Ethiopia leave the country. The surrounded town of Baidoa was today teeming with soldiers patrolling the city and manning checkpoints. Ethiopian troops are believed to be based around Baidoa.
I think the Somali Islamic Nationalists should not attack Baydhabo; the provincial seat of the failed TFG. However, I do believe that Somalia’s territorial integrity must be respected. More importantly, I do believe that Somalis must have, like everyone else, the right to self defense and they must be allowed to push back Ethiopia’s aggressive attempt to annex Somalia by military force.
I also believe that the TFG must disband and choose honorable exit. Otherwise, they will be forced to go away. Hopefully, that will happen through the ballot box rather than the barrel of the gun.
Click here to view the full article.
Liam Bailey of Desicritics writes:
The 15 Member United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1725 Dec. 6 2006. The U.S led resolution authorizes a regional force from the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union (AU) to establish a protection and training mission in Somalia. And the lifting of the UN arms embargo in relation to supplying the peacekeeping force. The previous UN mission in the country, started similarly but ended in a bloody battle and the death of 18 Marines attempting to disarm rival factions. The current resolution states its intention to consider taking measures against those that seek to prevent or block a peaceful dialogue process, overthrow the Transitional Federal Institutions by force, or take action that further threatens regional stability. Suggesting that, like its predecessor it could become far more than a protection and training mission, which may well have an adverse effect regional stability.
I agree entirely with Liam. The UN resolution is just a farce!
Click here to view the full article on Desicritics.org
The Spero News reports:
A large deployment of forces is underway along the border between Kenya and Somalia. The Kenyan armed forces were widely deployed along the border with the Gedo region (extreme south of Somalia) and particularly at the El-Wakh border pass. “Military troops, police and armoured vehicles are massed at the El-Wakh village in Kenyaâ€, said this morning a local correspondent of a top Mogadishu radio. Residents of villages of the Gedo region along the border confirmed the troop movements on the other side of the border, specifying that the first reinforcements began arriving in the zone shortly after the militants of the Islamic Courts on September 25 seized the city of Kismaayo.
It looks like that Somalia is under attack from many fronts!
Click here to view the full article on Spero News
The Economist Magazine reports:
Eyewitness reports on Monday October 9th suggested that “several hundred†Ethiopian soldiers, perhaps three battalions, had entered the small town of Burhakaba, well inside Somali territory. There have long been reports of Ethiopian troops at the town of Baidoa, 65km to the north, where a UN-recognised (but not widely Somali-recognised) transitional government sits. And there have been regular and credible reports of Ethiopian military planes landing on dirt strips up and down the country. Ethiopia has claimed, not very convincingly, that it has no soldiers inside Somalia. In fact it seems that the soldiers were sent in as a response to an approach by Islamist forces, soldiers under the control of a de facto government in Mogadishu, known as the Islamic courts, to within 20km of Baidoa late last week. There has been no fighting, yet. The Islamists were undermanned in the town and retreated without a shot being fired. But such calm is unlikely to last. Burhakaba is a strategically useful forward base for any attack on Mogadishu. Islamist leaders have vowed to take back the town; some unconfirmed accounts say they already have.
Click here to view the full article.
Copy Right: The Economist
The Malaysian News Agency (Bernama) reports:
Somalia’s powerful Islamist movement declared “holy war” against neighboring Ethiopia after a Muslim-held town near the seat of the weak government fell to Ethiopian and Somali troops. A day after warning of a regional war if Addis Ababa does not withdraw from Somali territory, the Islamists escalated their rhetoric, vowing to repel Ethiopian soldiers in a tacit warning to the transitional government. “From today, I am declaring jihad against Ethiopia, which has invaded our country and taken parts of our homeland,” said Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, chair of the executive committee of the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS). “The jihad is on from now (and) application of that will be directed by the supreme council,” he said in Mogadishu, which the Islamists seized in June and have used as a base to expand through most of south and central Somalia.
War is not the solution to Somalia’s tragic political conflict. However, Ethiopian invasion of Somalia must not be allowed to happen at any cost! Somalia must be allowed to exist as a free nation. Hence, Ethiopia must respect Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Click here for the full article
The Economist magazine writes:
Although Somalia’s Islamists say that their aim is nothing more threatening than to remake the country as a peaceful and tolerant Islamic state, Somalia’s internationally recognised (but dreadfully weak) transitional government insists that they are an “al-Qaeda networkâ€. A recent suicide bombing which narrowly missed the transitional president, Abdullahi Yusuf, and the killing of an elderly Italian nun working at a Mogadishu hospital, probably in retaliation for Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks on violence and Islam, confirmed the worst fears of some, including the United States. The Kenyan coast already has direct experience of al-Qaeda’s brand of violence—in 2002 it bombed a hotel full of Israelis in Mombasa, killing 16, and tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner—and the Nairobi-based intelligence community expects more. So people are nervous.
The paper went on by saying:
Kenya’s Muslims feel disenfranchised. They have had little access to national power, in contrast to neighbouring Tanzania, where Islamist rhetoric has been blunted by socialism and Muslims have held most of the high offices of state (see article). So far, however, Muslims on the Kenyan coast have usually been repulsed by jihadist rhetoric. But a revival of Arabic and access to Arab satellite television, linking local backwaters to a sometimes inflammatory message of Islam under siege, could change that.
The Economist is right to say that one of the reasons the Kenyans are nervous is the fact that “Kenya’s Muslims feel disenfranchisedâ€. However, there is another reason which is far more important than anything else: Kenya occupies a large portion of Somali territory! And the Somali islamic nationalists want that territory to be FREE from Kenyan oppression.
Click here to view the full article on the Economist magazine.
The online “Peace Peporter†writes:
The moment feared so much may have arrived. Monday morning, following the conquest of the center of Buur Hakaba on the part of joint Somali and Ethiopian forces, the Islamic courts have declared a holy war against Ethiopia, accused of having invaded the country and of being the party responsible for Somali instability.
Click here to view the full article.
The Houston Chronicles quoted a resident of the Somali port town of Kismaayo as saying “We welcome the Islamic courtsâ€. The paper also reported Hirale’s deputy, Yusuf Mire Mohamud, as saying “the Juba Valley Alliance has collapsed today.â€.
Could Bosaaso and Berbera be next? It is unbelievable to see the speed of political and military advancement of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU)!
Click here to view the article.
Sunguta West writing for the “Global Terrorism Analysis†of the James Town Foundation says:
The ICU remains under the leadership of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who observers say is a moderate Islamist responsible for steering the courts in a convincing political direction and establishing a sense of law and order in Mogadishu and the southern parts of the country. Yet within this period, one of his moderate deputies, Sheikh Abdulkadir Ali Omar, has appeared to bloom, speaking frequently and outlining ICU policy on issues including the training of its militia, peace talks and sometimes defending the courts when they make unpopular or extremist decisions. With the courts enjoying success after wrestling Somalia’s formal capital from a faction of warlords, Sheikh Omar defended the courts against accusations that the Islamists were harboring wanted terrorists in Mogadishu. Sheikh Omar, who is one of the vice chairmen of the executive council of the ICU, had on behalf of the courts said that such claims were not true. “If you can find a terrorist, let us know,” he told journalists in June. “If we find one we are very much prepared to hand him over. There are no foreign terrorists in Mogadishu” (Islam-Online.net, June 18).
I am not sure political significance of what Sunguta West is talking about.
Be the judge and read the full article by clicking here.
Dr. Michael A. Weinstein of The Power and Interest News Report (PINR):
Far from ameliorating the polarized power configuration pitting the I.C.C. against Ethiopia, which is determined to defend the T.F.G. and prevent the emergence of an Islamic state in Somalia, the second round of the Khartoum process — brokered by the Arab League (A.L.) — intensified the confrontation and spawned new conflicts. With all the players under severe duress, all of Somalia came into play, regional actors polarized as Western powers watched from the sidelines, and cracks appeared within Somalia’s society as local and clan conflicts surfaced, portending the possibility of civil war and a return to the extreme political fragmentation that had characterized the country before the I.C.C.’s surge through its southern and central regions in early June, after the Courts movement had expelled the ruling warlord coalition from Somalia’s official capital Mogadishu.
Interesting analysis! However, I just got the article from PINR through email few minutes ago and I will need to read it properly. Hopefully, I will be able to make a comment about this later this week.
In the meantime, you may like to click here to view the full article on the PINR.
The BBC News reports:
The African Union has approved plans to send 8,000 peacekeepers to Somalia to support the interim government. An alliance of Islamic courts which controls the capital and much of central and southern Somalia says it will oppose any deployment by force. A meeting at AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, agreed that the first soldiers should be in place by the end of the month. But obstacles remain as the AU does not have the funds to pay for the troops. The approval for the force by the African Union Peace and Security Council also appears to fly in the face of a shaky agreement between Somalia’s interim government and the Islamic courts not to allow any foreign intervention.
This is a big political mistake that could potentially ignite new armed confrontation between Somali Army on one side and Col. Cabdullahi Yuusuf and his tribal militia with Ethiopian army on the other side. As I wrote before, Col. Cabdullahi Yuusuf and the failed TFG must understand that the political legitimacy cannot be achieved through the barrel of the gun. It must be earned through popular support!
The Somali people must defend their country against the looming threat of foreign invasion!
Click here to view then full dispatch by the BBC.
To date contributors to WFP’s Somalia programme in 2006 are:
United States: US$26.2 million
UK Department for International Development: US$9.64 million
The Netherlands: US$5.3 million
Saudi Arabia: US$3 million
Canada: US$1.3 million
Ireland: US$1.2 million
Italy: US$1.17 million
Sweden: US$1.16 million
United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund: US$851,000
Australia: US$752,000
Belgium: US$643,000
Finland: US$605,000
African Development Bank: US$500,000
Switzerland: US$379,000
Turkey: US$300,000
Norway: US$206,000
US Friends of WFP: US$74,000
Private donations: US$55,000
WFP needs a total of US$37 million to assist 1.1 million people in Somalia until July 2007.
Click here for more on this. You may also click here to learn more about WFP.
Mogadishu is once again a key entry point for getting food stocks into the country. The reopening of the port makes it easier for us to reach more than one million people across the country who rely on our assistance.
Leo van der Velden
Somalia Acting Country Director
UN World Food Program (WFP)
The Kenya Broadcasting Corporation reports:
An Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has reaffirmed support for the ongoing initiatives to promote dialogue for sustainable peace in Somalia. However the meeting at State House Nairobi today under the chairmanship of President Mwai Kibaki, the noted that the prevailing situation posed a threat to peace and gravely undermined the ability of the Transitional Federal Institutions in Somalia to consolidate the gains made so far to achieve long-term stability. The meeting, attended by President Abdulahi Yusuf of Somalia and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia re-affirmed support for the Transitional Federal Charter and Federal Transitional Institutions as an embodiment of the common will of the Somali people. In a communiqué issued at the end of the consultation, the IGAD forum expressed support for the ongoing dialogue between the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and encouraged both parties to strive to overcome any differences by actively pursuing genuine reconciliation. The forum further reiterated that any dialogue must be based on the will of the Somalia people and preserve the sanctity of the Transitional Federal Charter and Federal Institutions which provide a solid political framework to achieve a lasting solution to the Somali problems. They endorsed the revised Igad Mission to Somalia (IGASOM) deployment plan as approved by the African Union (AU) peace and security council and further called on the AU to provide the requisite funds to enable the implementation of the first phase of the plan.
IGAD is a dysfunctional organisation run by depots, dictators and the enemy of the Somali Nation (Ethiopia and Kenya). Hence, no one should be surprised by this act! They want the tragic Somali conflict to continue!
Click here to view the full article.
Wangui Kanina of the Reuters news agency writes:
East African leaders pushed ahead on Tuesday with a contested plan to send peacekeepers to Somalia, despite a separate military deal between the country’s rival powers that appeared to block foreign intervention. The regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which led talks that produced Somalia’s interim government in 2004, urged the African Union to speed approval of the proposed peacekeeping mission, release funds and help raise more money to support the deployment of troops. IGAD also called on the U.N. Security Council to meet “urgently” to consider lifting its arms embargo on Somalia, torn apart by factions fighting for control of the Horn of Africa nation since warlords ousted Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Late on Monday, Islamist and government delegates meeting in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, agreed in principle to join their military forces if they could agree on sharing political power. The pact stressed that neither side would accept military interference inside Somalia by neighboring countries and seemed to set up yet another possible conflict between the government and the Islamists.
The TFG must put screeching halt on this ill-thought and counter-productive plan. Col. Cabdullaahi Yuusuf and Cali Geedi cannot say we want to negotiate peace while at the same time they keeping fueling the conflict by pushing for African troop deployment in Somalia.
Somali peace talks need more honest peace brokers from the Arab and Islamic countries. As the saying goes “ Baadida ninbaa kula daydayi, daalna kaa badin, aan doonahayn inaad heshana daaying abidkaaâ€. Both Ethiopa and Kenya are working tirelessly for permanent break up of Somalia and further fragmentation of the Somali Nation.
We cannot and we must not allow Somalia’s enemies to sit on the driver’s seat as we did in the past!
Click here to view the full article onn Reuters.
The International Heard Tribune reports:
Sudan Negotiators for Somalia’s transitional government and its Islamist rivals met face to face behind closed doors Sunday for key talks in the Sudanese capital on political, security and economic issues. The talks — aimed at steering Somalia away from anarchic violence and toward peace and stability — revolve around a June agreement to discuss political, security, social and economic issues as well as reconstruction, according to a copy of the agenda obtained by The Associated Press. Somali parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden was seen leading delegates from the U.N.-backed Somali government into the talks with Islamic courts representatives led by Ibrahim Hassan Adow, the group’s foreign affairs chief.
Negotiators have said they hope to discuss Cabinet positions for the Islamists and seats in Parliament as well as the transitional charter in talks that are expected to last several days.
The paper went on by saying:
Aden and Adow made no statements Sunday before going into the meeting but reaffirmed Saturday that they are committed to peace. Adow warned, however, that foreign interference in Somalia would be “a recipe for the renewal of civil war,” alluding to reports that Ethiopian troops had taken up position in three Somali towns.
As I have argued endless times in the past, I do not really understand the point of wasting time talking with the failed TFG and its Ethiopian Viceroy; Col. Cabdullahi Yuusuf Axmed! Now, what will Col. Cabdullahi Yuusuf offer to the ICU or to the Somali people in return for allowing him to continuing as a head of state? The answer to the question is simply NOTHING! Yes, I am aware of the fact that the Colonel has threatened to help full Ethiopian invasion of Somalia if he is asked to leave power and go home to Addis Abba. However, I do not think that there is anyone in Somalia today who is taking that threat very seriously other than the Colonel himself!
Having said that, I think, it is wise of the ICU leaders to show that they mean peace and that they are willing to talk to anyone in order to end the tragic political conflict in our beloved country. Nonetheless, no one should be under any illusion about the outcome of the inane talks in Sudan. It is just a farce!
Rupert Murdoch’s FOX News reports:
Top African military officials are studying a proposal to send a 3,500-strong peace force by October to Somalia, where an internationally recognized government appears increasingly weak in comparison to and its fundamentalist Islamic rivals. Officials said Thursday that four battalions, made up of Ugandan and Sudanese troops, will be trained in Kenya before being deployed in an initial phase to the conflict-ridden country, African military experts told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media.
I think it is a huge political mistake to bring unwelcome African foreign troops into Somalia. Indeed, it will do more harm than good. Col. Cabdullaahi Yuusuf and the TFG cannot and should not be forced into the throats of the Somali people. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of the Somalia people refused to accept the legitimacy of the failed TFG.
Many people including myself have argued endlessly in the past that the TFG could function as a transitional government that could potentially pave the way for a more permanent political settlement for Somalia. Well, we were wrong and as it turned out the people of Somalia knew what is good for them better than any one else!
Now, let me tell you why I believe the deployment of foreign troops into Somalia is very bad idea. First, neither Kenya nor Ethiopia is an honest peace broker that cares about the well being of the Somali people and Somalia. On the contrary, the fact is that neither Kenya nor Ethiopia want emergence of strong and united Somalia. They want fragmented, weak, and disintegrated Somalia surrounded by strong Christian countries with Western political, economic and military support. The reason is that both countries annexed Somali regions illegally and they are afraid that strong future Somali government will revive Somali Nationalism and the noble idea of Greater Somalia including NFD and Western Somalia (Ogaden). I do believe that one of the reasons why the Somali peace process has failed thus far is the fact that both Kenya and Ethiopian were on the driver’s seat. In my opinion, the Somali political conflict need more honest peace brokers, preferably from the Arab and Islamic countries!
Second, the TFG is no more as it collapsed under its weight with cabinet ministers and federal MP’s deserting everyday by their dozens. The question is why would any body care to protect disgraced bunch of warlords, murderers and tribal chiefs with myopic political agenda that are doing nothing other than continuing endless political bickering among themselves? Democracy dictates the supremacy of the political will of the people. And the political will of the Somali people seems to be somewhere else at the moment!
Third, the Somali people will not like Ethiopian or Kenyan troops patrolling their towns and villages imposing illegitimate rulers that are protecting foreign interests that are detrimental to the well being of Somali Nation as a whole. Needless to say, any troops from those countries will most likely aggravate current political conflict in Somalia. As result, the security situation in the country will worsen!
Why put more gasoline on flaming fire?
Bottom-line: there is no rational argument for deploying foreign troops from Africa into Somalia!
The Irin News reported yesterday that:
After initially refusing to take part in peace negotiations, Somalia’s transitional government and the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which controls the capital Mogadishu, have agreed to resume talks in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, officials said. “We have decided to participate in the talks in the interest of the people,” Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the UIC chairman, said on Tuesday. The two sides announced their participation after meeting a Kenyan delegation to the country, led by Assistant Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula, on Monday.
Personally, I do not understand what difference a “talk†between the collapsed TFG and the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) will make? I mean, the ICU control the most strategic parts of the country including Mogadishu and they seem to be advancing politically and militarily with an amazing speed. Meanwhile, the powerless TFG is disintegrating everyday with a serious and widening political gap between Cali Geedi and Col. Cabdullahi Yusuf Axmed. More importantly, neither Cali Geedi nor Col. Cabdullahi Yusuf Axmed has done anything tangible for the Somali people since they came to power almost two years ago. The fact is that Col. Cabdullahi Yusuf Axmed was busy building tribal government of his own appointing former taxi drivers and waiters as ministers while Cali Geedi was unable to understand what his role as a prime Minister was really all about!
In this scenario, there is no political incentive for the ICU to even contemplate talking with the failed TFG. Without a doubt, they are the victorious party in this political and military chess game. Hence, they do not need the TFG at all. However, some have argued that the “Western†powers could isolate them if they succeed to take over the entire country and as a result incapacitate any future government by ICU. Therefore, the ICU should try to talk to the TFG in order to reach power sharing agreement that could potentially pave the way for a coalition government.
I do not believe that this is an argument worth any consideration at all. There are several reasons for my out right rejection of this line of argument. First, neither Cali Geedi nor Col. Cabdullaahi Yuusuf is popular with the West. Second, as I argued before, The ICU made several important political signals indicating that they were willing to address U.S. security concerns in Somalia. Indeed, the initial U.S. policy regarding the ICU did not seem hostile at all. However, the fact that Sheikh Dahir Aways is appointed to very prominent and politically powerful position complicates the matter somewhat. Third, the overwhelming majority of the Somali people are at the moment with the ICU politically and militarily if need be.
In short, the ICU is increasing looking like the legitimate power in Somalia while the TFG is seen by the fast majority of the Somali people as bunch of murderers, warlords and tribal chiefs bickering endlessly among themselves with NO one around to listen them.
Can any sane person tell me why the ICU would waste time talking with those folks? They must push on and liberate the rest of the country including the northern and eastern regions!
Click here to view the full dispatch on Irin News.