Puppet regime ignores its own immense unpopularity and blames unrest on militants

[Castro]

Somali gov't blames unrest on militants

 

By SALAD DUHUL, Associated Press Writer Associated Press

 

January 27, 2007

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -

The spate of deadly violence in Somalia's capital in recent days is the work of an Islamic movement that was driven from Mogadishu and much of the country's south last month, a government spokesman said Saturday.

 

"They want to destabilize the country to show that there is no peace in Somalia," Abdirahman Dinari said.

 

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks and Dinari did not offer evidence to prove the Council of Islamic Courts was behind the violence. But the radical group has vowed to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla war.

 

The Somali government has been putting more troops on the streets this week as Ethiopian troops - whose military strength was crucial to helping drive out the Islamic militia - begin pulling out of the country.

 

The withdrawal of Ethiopia, which says it cannot afford to stay in Somalia, raises a sense of urgency for the arrival of a proposed African peacekeeping force. The African Union has approved a plan to send about 8,000 peacekeepers for a six-month mission that would eventually be taken over by the U.N.

 

South Africa dashed hopes Friday that it would contribute to a peacekeeping force in Somalia, with Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota saying the country's forces already were overstretched. Nigeria, Malawi and Uganda have said they want to contribute troops, but no firm plans are in place.

 

Meanwhile, the capital and other parts of the country are being wracked by violence. Gunmen launched mortars on an Ethiopian base on the outskirts of Mogadishu late Friday, prompting a brief firefight. It was not clear if there were casualties. Earlier Friday, gunfire and mortar attacks in Mogadishu killed five people and injured at least four.

 

Many Somalis resented the Ethiopian presence: their countries fought a war in 1977. But without Ethiopia's tanks and fighter jets, the Somali government could barely assert control outside one town and could not enter the capital, Mogadishu, which was ruled by the Council of Islamic Courts. The U.S. accused the group of having ties to al-Qaida.

 

Earlier this month, Ethiopian and U.S. forces were pursuing three top al-Qaida suspects but failed to capture or kill them in an AC-130 strike in the southern part of Somalia. A main target was Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, one of three senior al-Qaida members blamed for the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

 

The U.S. Navy also has had forces in waters off the Somali coast, where they have monitored maritime traffic, boarded suspicious ships and interrogated crews in an attempt to catch anyone escaping the Somali military operations.

AP Via Star Tribune

[Castro]

This puppet regime is something else walaahi. Wasn't it the chief puppet himself who, just yesterday, declared "no opposition exists in the country?"

 

So this resistance must be coming from the masses and not the so called militants. If so, why is Dinari, the spokesperson whose intelligence rivals that of a loaf of bread, allowed to talk this constant rubbish:

 

"They want to destabilize the country to show that there is no peace in Somalia," Abdirahman Dinari said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks and Dinari did not offer evidence to prove the Council of Islamic Courts was behind the violence.

[Taliban]

Originally posted by Castro:

The African Union has approved a plan to send about 8,000 peacekeepers for a six-month mission that would eventually be taken over by the U.N.

Seriously, how effective could those 8,000 peacekeepers be in stabilizing Somalia? Are they better than the Ethiopians (supposedly with the best military in Africa or East Africa)? Are they better than the Americans (and allies) who were there in the 90's and failed to stabilize Somalia? It wouldn't matter even if 80,000 Americans are sent to stabilize Somalia, because the Somali insurgency has widespread and grassroots support from Somalis.

[Castro]

Public sentiment is very important and at the moment, the public loathes and will resist this puppet regime and the Ethiopians whose tanks they seek protection from.

[Wisdom_Seeker]

They don’t know what they are saying more than half of the time.

 

They like their supporters dwell in unconfirmed reports, so they could feel like they have achieved something, when thus far they haven’t achieved a single goal which is constructive to the Somalis or Somalia

[-Nomadique-]

These dunces will spout idiocy at every conceivable oppurtunity.

At first I thought perhaps they were (patronisingly) underestimating the intelligence of the people but it soon became obvious these guys were unquestionably mentally deficient.

[AYOUB]

Somalia in danger of reverting to chaos -US military

Monday 29 January 2007 00:10. Printer-Friendly version

 

Jan 28, 2007 (DOHA, Qatar) — U.S. military officials here said Somalia could return to chaos in four months if international peacekeepers don’t quickly replace departing Ethiopian troops now propping up the country’s weak government.

 

A Somali government spokesman echoed the warning on Sunday, saying Islamic fighters were regrouping and the U.S.-backed transitional government lacked troops, training and weapons to deal with them.

 

"We need the support of the international community to deploy forces and assist us in securing the country," said Abdirahman Dinari by telephone from Mogadishu. Dinari said fighters from the deposed Council of Islamic Courts were counterattacking just as the invading Ethiopians have begun pulling out.

 

Islamic fighters "are coming back to Mogadishu," Dinari said. "They’re destabilizing sections of the city. They’re killing innocent civilians. They’re attacking police stations."

 

A pair of U.S. military officials interviewed in Qatar last week said a worrying power vacuum was developing in Somalia, with Ethiopian troops hastening their departure amid reports that the army that invaded in December is being debilitated by malaria.

 

Most troubling, one officer said, was that none of the 10 to 20 Council of Islamic Courts leaders or their al-Qaida allies are known to have been killed or captured, and most of the few-thousand-strong militia remains intact inside Somalia.

 

"They’re probably just lying low. They’re probably waiting for Ethiopia to leave," the U.S. officer said.

 

Heightening the pressure, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told The Associated Press Sunday that he would pull a third of his troops out of Somalia within the next two days. Meles was speaking on the eve of an African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

 

The African Union has approved a plan to send about 8,000 peacekeepers for a six-month mission that would eventually be taken over by the U.N. Nigeria, Malawi and Uganda have said they want to contribute troops, but no firm plans are in place. South Africa, meanwhile, says its forces are too stretched to contribute.

 

Ethiopian forces have been widely credited with a quick success in ousting the Islamic Courts militia from controlling most of Somalia and installing the weak, U.N.-recognized government in the capital, Mogadishu.

 

U.S. forces played a limited role in the campaign, training and supplying the Ethiopian army, mounting air raids on militia targets and stationing a U.S. Navy carrier battle group off the Somali coast.

 

But impoverished Ethiopia lacks funds and staying power to sustain an occupation of its chaotic neighbor. And the U.S. military has no plans to increase its role beyond backing its Ethiopian allies, the U.S. official said. When Ethiopia finishes its mission, the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and its accompanying ships will leave the Somali coast, he said.

 

(AP)

[Faarax-Brawn]

Dont they get it? They could bring 200K soldiers & as long as there is no political dialogue,Nothing will work. Bring the IUC back into the table yeah?

 

Nomadic Princess Said it best. These guys lack the wit & charisma to govern Somalia.