The people of Somalia are enduring yet another round of suffering as Ethiopian forces wreck havoc in the capital, Mogadishu. Apparently in response to an attack on one of its units, and the dragging of a soldier’s mutilated body through the city’s streets, an Ethiopian mortar reportedly exploded in Mogadishu’s Bakara market on November 9, killing eight civilians. A number of Somalis were also found dead the following day, some believed to have been rounded up by Ethiopian forces the night before.
Nearly 50 civilians have reportedly been killed and 100 wounded in the two-day fighting spree between fighters loyal to the Union of Islamic Courts and government forces and their Ethiopian allies. A report, issued by Human Rights Watch, chastised both Ethiopian troops and ‘insurgents’ for the bloodletting. Peter Takirambudde, the watchdog’s Africa director, was quoted as saying, "The international community should condemn these attacks and hold combatants accountable for violations of humanitarian law - including mutilating captured combatants and executing detainees."
Of course, one cannot realistically expect the international community to take on a constructive involvement in the conflict. Various members of this ‘community’ have already played a most destructive role in Somalia’s 16-year-old civil war, which fragmented a nation that had long struggled to achieve a sense of sovereignty and national cohesion.
To dismiss the war in Somalia as yet another protracted conflict between warlords and insurgents would indeed be unjust because the country’s history has consistently been marred by colonial greed and unwarranted foreign interventions. These gave rise to various proxy governments, militias and local middlemen, working in the interests of those obsessed with the geopolitical importance of the Horn of Africa.
Colonial powers came to appreciate the strategic location of Somalia after the Berlin Conference, which initiated the ‘Scramble for Africa’. The arrival of Britain, France and Italy into Somali lands began in the late 19th century and quickly the area disintegrated into British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland. Both countries sought expand their control, enlisting locals to fight the very wars aimed at their own subjugation.
World War II brought immense devastation to the Somali people, who, out of desperation, coercion or promises of post-war independence, fought on behalf of the warring European powers. Somalia was mandated by the UN as an Italian protectorate in 1949 and achieved independence a decade later in 1960. However, the colonial powers never fully conceded their interests in the country and the Cold War actually invited new players to the scene, including the United States, the Soviet Union and Cuba.
One residue of the colonial legacy involved the Ogaden
province of Somalia, which the British empire had granted to the
Ethiopian government. The region became the stage of two major wars
between Ethiopia and Somalia between 1964 and 1977. Many Somalis still
regard Ethiopia as an occupying power and view the policies of Addis
Ababa as a continuation of the country’s history of foreign
intervention.
The civil war of 1991, largely a result of
foreign intervention, clan and tribal loyalties, and lack of internal
cohesion, further disfigured Somalia. As stranded civilians became
deprived of aid, Somalia was hit by a devastating famine that yielded a
humanitarian disaster. The famine served as a pretext for foreign
intervention, this time as part of international ‘humanitarian’
missions, starting in December 1992, which also included US troops. The
endeavour came to a tragic end in October 1993, when more than 1,000
Somalis and 18 US troops were killed in Mogadishu. Following a hurried
US withdrawal, the mainstream media rationalized that the West could
not help those who refuse to help themselves; another disfiguration of
the fact that the interest of the Somali people was hardly ever a
concern for these colonial philanthropists. Since then, the importance
of Somalia was relegated in international news media into just another
mindless conflict, with no rational context and no end in sight. The
truth, however, is that colonial interest in the Horn of Africa has
never waned.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001
provided an impetus for US involvement in the strategic region; only
one month after the attacks, Paul Wolfowitz met with various power
players in Ethiopia and Somalia, alleging that al-Qaeda terrorists
might be using Ras Kamboni and other Somali territories as escape
routes. A year later, the US established the Combined Joint Task Force
– Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) to ‘monitor’ developments and to train
local militaries in ‘counterterrorism’.
The US contingent was
hardly neutral in the ongoing conflict. Reportedly, US troops were
involved in aiding Ethiopian forces that entered Somalia in December
2006, citing efforts to track down al-Qaeda suspects. The Ethiopian
occupation was justified as a response to a call by Somalia’s
Transitional Federal Government (TFG), whose legitimacy is questioned.
TGF, seen largely as a pro-Ethiopian entity, had been rapidly losing
its control over parts of Somalia to the Islamic Courts Union (ICU)
which came to prominence in January 2006, taking over the capital and
eventually bringing long-sought stability to much of the country. Their
attempts engage the US and other Western powers in dialogue failed,
however, as a US-backed Ethiopia moved into Somalia in December 2006.
On January 7, 2007, the US directly entered the conflict, launching
airstrikes using AC-130 gunship. Civilian causalities were reported,
but the US refused to accept responsibility for them.
The last
intervention devastated the country’s chances of unity. It now stands
divided between the transitional government, Ethiopia (both backed by
the UN, the US and the African Union) and the Islamic courts (allegedly
backed by Eritrea and some Arab Gulf governments). Recently, the UN
ruled out any chances for an international peacekeeping force, and the
few African countries who promised troops are yet to deliver (with the
exception of Uganda).
This situation leaves Somalia once more
under the mercy of foreign powers and self-serving internal forces,
foreshadowing yet more bloodshed. Our informed support is essential now
because the Somali people have suffered enough. Their plight is urgent
and it deserves a much deeper understanding, alongside immediate
attention.
-Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an author
and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in
many newspapers and journals worldwide. His latest book is The Second
Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press,
London).
Writings 
The people of Somalia are enduring yet another round of suffering as Ethiopian forces wreck havoc in the capital, Mogadishu. Apparently in response to an attack on one of its units, and the dragging of a soldier’s mutilated body through the city’s streets, an Ethiopian mortar reportedly exploded in Mogadishu’s Bakara market on November 9, killing eight civilians. A number of Somalis were also found dead the following day, some believed to have been rounded up by Ethiopian forces the night before. 
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