By Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post - June 25, 2009 –The United States has sent a shipment of weapons and ammunition to the government of Somalia, according to a U.S. official who said the move signals the Obama administration’s desire to thwart a takeover of the Horn of Africa nation by Islamist rebels with alleged ties to al-Qaeda.
The shipment arrived in the capital, Mogadishu, this month, according to the official, who is helping craft a new U.S. policy on Somalia and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
“A decision was made at the highest level to ensure the government does not fall and that everything is done to strengthen government security forces to counter the rebels,” the official said.
Still, the situation in the volatile nation continues to deteriorate. Somalia’s government issued an urgent plea last weekend for foreign troops as the heaviest fighting in months has engulfed the capital and other regions, killing more than 200 people, including the minister for internal security and the police chief. Fighting since early May has displaced more than 120,000 people, with scores of legislators also fleeing the country, paralyzing parliament.
“We ask for and welcome any troops that can save this country from international terrorists,” said Nur Ali Adan, the government’s minister of religious affairs, echoing an appeal from the parliament speaker for Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Yemen to send troops.
The government has also tried to rally other foreign support, especially from the United States, which has long worried that Somalia could become a base for al-Qaeda to launch terrorist attacks such as the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
U.S. and Somali officials say that possibly hundreds of fighters from Afghanistan, Pakistan and other nations are fighting alongside the Islamist rebel group known as al-Shabab, which the United States has designated a terrorist group. U.S. officials have accused Eritrea of sending weapons to the rebels, who have taken over much of Mogadishu and southern Somalia.
Besides sending weapons, the United States recently committed $10 million to help revive the Somali army and the police, who in the 1970s were one of the best-trained forces on the continent but collapsed when the last central government fell in 1991. The United States has been sharing intelligence with the government, according to the U.S. official, and a group of Somali political leaders from various regions of the country have been invited to Washington to develop a strategy for fighting the rebels.
“U.S. support is very, very firm,” said the Somali foreign minister, Mohamed Omaar, speaking by telephone during a recent visit to Washington. “They are very clear that they are in support of this government politically, financially, diplomatically.”
The Obama administration’s approach is different in many respects from that of the Bush administration, which focused almost exclusively on targeting several suspects in the embassy bombings and other rebel leaders with alleged al-Qaeda ties.
The Bush administration paid a group of notorious Somali warlords to hunt terrorism suspects. But the policy backfired, giving rise to a diverse Islamist movement, including al-Shabab, which gained popularity by defeating the hated warlords. The Bush administration then tried backing an Ethiopian invasion in 2006 to overthrow the Islamists and install a transitional government, a move that triggered the al-Shabab rebellion that continues today. The Bush administration conducted airstrikes targeting al-Qaeda suspects, but only one of those targeted was ever confirmed killed.
Meanwhile, the rebels continued to advance across southern Somalia and eventually helped force the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops this year.
To cut off the rebels’ weapons and supplies, the United States has stepped up pressure on Eritrea, and foreign warships patrolling Somali waters to combat piracy have begun blocking cargo ships heading to the rebel-held port of Kismaayo in southern Somalia.
African diplomats have also proposed a no-fly zone over Somalia to prevent weapons from being flown in from Eritrea to the rebels, but it is unclear whether that idea will gather necessary support at the United Nations.
A special correspondent in Mogadishu contributed to this report.
Source: Washingtonpost
June 25th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
That is one form of responding to the plight of the Somalia government.
Bravo Obama:::::
June 25th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
ETHIOPIA IS = THE BLACK HOLOCAUST OF AFRICA
Millions of Oromos,Tigreans and Eritreans were systematically ethnocleansed and massgenocided by AMHARA DOMINATED GOVERNMENTS for the last 70+ years, starting from the amhara king (menilike) all the way to 1991.
June 25th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Melese should attack Djibuti and others in somalia to get the weapon aid from us. This will force ths US to work with him.
Melese is the only one US can work with in Africa.
June 25th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
I am sure woyane has enough AK-47 to fight peaceful civilians and hot metals to fry penis.
June 25th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
we, ethiopian will come after him after agazzi baby killer.
Tenkir,xy, Hammer, Lettamo agazzi baby killer
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/10174
June 25th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
ወያኔው Lattamo
አንተ /// ከጠፋህበት ምን ይዘህ ብቅ አልክ: አሁንም /// በሚያቃዥህና በሚያባንንህ አማራ ላይ ነው: አይቀርልህ /// ቀኑ እየገሰገሰ ነው: በበላህበት አፍህ /// ቀን ሊጨልምብህ መሆኑን ገና አልገባህም: ዛሬ የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ጠላቱንና በንዳውን ለይቶ የሚያውቅ ስለሆነ አትድከም ስድብ የሽንፈትና የፍርሃት ምልክት ነው: የበላኸው የሰው ስጋና የጠጣኸው የህዝብ ደም እንዴት አርፎ ያስቀምጥሃል?
ስለዚህ ብትሳደብ የሚፈርድብህም ሆነ አንተን የሚሰማበት ወቅት የለውም::
June 25th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Advice to all ETHIOPIAN
Did not never respond to Lattamo, I have seen him all the time he have an idea of destruction to change the direction of the article.
June 26th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Money or other form of force cann’t buy the public will.
June 26th, 2009 at 6:55 am
lettamo (woyanew) you are suffering of mental disorder you does not have peace of mind may be your hand is soaked with ethiopians blood the time is near to bring you to kebele court
June 26th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Meles(TPLF)!!! Do not wag your tail. You are running here and there to get green light from US to intervene in Somalia and mess up. Rest assured no more money from US gov. Let the Somali people solve their problems.
June 26th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
http://www.eastafro.com/Post/2008/10/20/amharic-music#
June 26th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
የተከበራችሁ EMF
በመጀመሪያ ላደረጋችሁልኝ እርምት ከልብ አመሰግናለሁ: እንደምታዩትና እንደምትሰሙት ሁሉ የሚደረገው መጠን ያለፈና ህሊናን የሚያስት ውርጅብኝ እየሰማሁ ዝም ለማለት ትዕግስቱን ስለአጣሁ መሆኑን እንድትረዱልኝ በትህትና እጠይቃለሁ:
በቸር ይግጠመን
June 27th, 2009 at 11:02 am
This shows how US is not for peace and stablty. I have no idea where the US Gove gets its information about the situations in AFRICA. In Ethiopia they are willing to work with TPLF, and in Somalia lame duck Gov is with out representation of the people and lacks authority and support to govern a single town. Even the separated regions called Putland doesn’t recognize the current Gov,new TFG. The New TFG has lost its support after it calls for help from international community. So why send weapons to the Gov with narrow agenda. They have no idea what kind of chaos they are creating, may be they do and are aware of the consequence of US weapon. May be it is the way they like it. when Ethiopia were there insurgency spread like wild fire to the new level and now this. Why not allow all groups to sit and talk with out favouring one another. US is sick Gov.
Cheers!!!
June 28th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
we, ethiopian will come after you soon
all ethiopian must unite against weyane TPLF.
G7 & OLF good start.
we are comming after you.
http://www.eppfonline.org/
http://www.ginbot7.org/
Many things can be done; one important thing we can do is exposing Woyane’s cadres where ever we live. They are criminals in their own right. The cadres must be exposed for the world to see, we have to follow them to their grave until they pay for their crime.
In our town we know two who we are following, in due time their picture will be posted all over with the list of their activities. Others we heard who amassed stole money in another city we are working with another group to follow them
June 28th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Lettamo is weyane tigray. we will come after you soon.
http://www.eppfonline.org/
June 29th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Teckola the Adowa, weyane & tigray. we will come after you soon.
http://www.eppfonline.org/
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/10213
June 30th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
zero woyannes understans message
Yes, if we join Eritreans, Woyannes have no where to hide! We will squeese them from every corner and grab them!
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/10213
http://www.eastafro.com/Post/2008/10/20/amharic-music
June 30th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
June 30th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
The Way forward for Ethiopia and Eritrea, if we join Eritreans, Woyannes have no where to hide! We will squeese them from every corner and grab them!
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/10213
http://www.eastafro.com/Amharic/