Somalia Leader Thinks U.S. Funds Warlords

[Judi Lynn]

Somalia Leader Thinks U.S. Funds Warlords

By MATTIAS KAREN
Associated Press Writer

May 3, 2006, 3:03 PM EDT

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- The leader of a U.N.-backed transitional government that is trying to assert control over Somalia said Wednesday he believes the United States is funding an alliance of warlords fighting radical Islamic militias in his country and should be working directly with his administration instead.

The United States has said only that American officials have met with a wide variety of Somali leaders to try to fight international terrorists in the country. Rumors of U.S. support for the warlord alliance, which includes members of the interim Cabinet and armed businessmen, have run rampant in Somalia.

State Department officials declined to comment.

"We think it is true, they are supporting the warlords," Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed said during a two-day visit to Stockholm.
(snip/...)

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-somalia-us-warlords,0,3298040.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[Selatius]

1. How can you say you support democracy when you support...

blood-soaked warlords who want to become dictators and who don't give a damn about what people think?

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" philosophy has only created more problems, not solved them.

[WhiteTara]

2. Kenny Boy Lay said it best this week

You need rules, but you can't be a slave to them. I think this says it all.

[KansDem]

8. Bush is full of contradictory statements...

Like, why would he bitch and moan and wring his hands about Iran pursuing nuclear weapons when he exposed a convert CIA operation charged with tracking WMDs in the mid-East, notably Iran?

Just full of contradictory statements...:shrug:

[Robbien]

3. No reason to think US foreign policy is different in Somalia

Of course we are funding warlords.

[laylah]

5. Hell,

this country is run by warlords...birds of a feather and all.

[Xithras]

4. Pick your devil.

Somalia was wracked by war between the warlords for a long time, and we can all agree that's evil. The problem is that some parts of Somalia have now been taken over by the Islamic militants who are imposing Sharia on everyone. It's basically Afghanistan all over again...a nation destroyed by war which is embracing the first stabilizing influence it can find: Radical Conservative Islam. Anyone who thinks this is a good thing should refer back to yesterdays piece on the 16 year old killing his fathers murderer...that's the life being imposed on these people.

So who do you support? The drug dealing warlord thugs? Or the child murder supporting religious thugs?

[Robbien]

6. Alternatively we could pick a radical approach & try cleaning up the mess

A US dollar still buys alot in Africa.

But I guess supporting one or the other of the two fighting factions keep the asset flow to corporate coffers safer.

[Xithras]

9. Clinton tried that.

I seem to recall that the result was a bunch of dead American soldiers and an intensification of their civil war. Bill Clinton realized, slightly belatedly, that you can't have a happy ending in situations like Somalia unless the people will support whatever government is eventually created. Since the nation has been effectively tribalized, it's practically impossible to develop a government that the existing factions will all support.

[jwcomer]

11. That would be a mistake

The Western world has consistently failed to rehabilitate Somalia. As a matter of fact, this transitional government is largely the product of the Western powers leaving the region alone and allowing Somalia's neighbors to assist in a limited fashion. If you look to the northern areas of Somalia you'll find the former British colony Somaliland. Somaliland is not officially recognized by any country (mostly b/c of a desire to discourage the balkanization of other African countries.) Nevertheless, for the last 14 years Somaliland has had a democratic government that has had several peaceful transitions between elected heads of state. An argument could be made that Somaliland's success is partially due the utter lack of involvement of the rest of the world in its politics.

Now as to the transitional government, the situation is considerably more complicated than is being portrayed by this little bit of PR on the part of Yusef Ahmed. I happen to know quite well one of the leaders of the Mogadishu branch of the government and I used to very closely follow Somali politics. A full explanation of the situation would require a treatise on the Somali culture, recent history and relationships with its neighbors (Ethiopia in particular.) The important thing is that the situation in Somalia has stabilized considerably over the last few years and real improvements are being made in security both within Mogadishu and in the rest of the country. Also, the word 'warlord' is loaded, and makes the characters involved one dimensional... but they are not. For example, the 'warlords' in Mogadishu laid down their arms and their individual gangs and created a unified police force which was set up outside of Mogadishu, effectively removing the source of much of the city's violence. These young 'soldiers' were sent outside the city where they train and are paid salary now rather then their previous spoils of extortion. These same kids are often responsible for much of their families income, so it was important to give them pay. Ok, look the situation is vastly complicated; this just gives you a flavor of it. Progress is happening but it is unrealistic to expect a perfect world overnight (same goes for Iraq and Afghanistan.)

As for Yusef Ahmed, he is deeply distrusted in Mogadishu (this is due to his association right or wrong with Ethiopia as well as clan politics, he is of a different clan than most of Mogadishu.) Hence he did not feel safe putting the seat of government in Mogadishu; this didn't sit well with the rest of the transitional government and the government essentially split in two. Now as for Ahmed's statement about the US, my understanding is that the CIA has many a paid man in Somalia, probably on both sides of the government. That is not the same thing as supporting warlords. The CIA is in fact looking for Al Qaeda, although they are probably wasting their time looking in Somalia.

[Vidar]

7. Pretty safe bet.

[Terran1212]

10. Most likely it is true

The US funds different elements all over the world secretly.

[cal04]

12. Somalia blames US for funding Mogadishu warlords

The United States is funding a coalition of Somali warlords fighting hardline Islamic militia in the capital Mogadishu as part of Washington's declared war on terrorism, a Somali government spokesman said on Thursday. Some 90 people were killed in March in battles between fighters linked to the influential Islamic courts and those tied to a self-styled anti-terrorism coalition in Mogadishu, comprising most of the capital's powerful warlords.

It was the worst violence in Somalia in years. "The U.S. government funded the warlords in the recent battle in Mogadishu, there is no doubt about that," spokesman Abdirahman Dinari told Reuters by telephone from Baidoa, a provincial town where the interim Somali government is based. "The warlords, through U.S support, have caused so many deaths of innocent civilians in the recent fighting in Mogadishu," he said. "This co-operation ... only fuels further civil war." U.S. officials have declined comment on the persistent reports from foreign and local sources in Somalia that Washington has funnelled large sums of money to the alliance since the start of the year.

"RUMOURS EVERYWHERE"
Washington has long viewed Somalia, a mainly Muslim nation, as a potential haven for Islamic militants because it lacks central authority. Warlords overthrew military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and have carved up territory between them since. The United States has been rumored to have paid the coalition of Mogadishu warlords in exchange for help tracking down al Qaeda militants.

The coalition's full name is the "Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism." Dinari urged the United States to respect Somalia's sovereignty by working closely with President Abdullahi Yusuf's fledgling government to prevent militant cells from forming in the Horn of Africa nation of 10 million.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-05-04T113107Z_01_L04376897_RTRUKOC_0_US-SOMALIA.xml