RedSea Posted July 20, 2008 Somalia: U.N Arms Embargo—A Comedy Show Without Audiences. The U.N—which is virtually run by the U.S. and its allies is as powerless as its predecessor—the League of Nations established at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, at the end of WWI. And nowhere else in the world has the U.N failed more than it has Somalia—the U.N’s guinea pig. Especially, the so-called U.N arms embargo against Somalia has won the reputation as: a comedy show without audiences. To begin with, the U.N recognized Somali Transitional Government TFG consists of a group of ruthless warlords who have always enjoyed receiving weapons from Ethiopia. And the U.N knew that fact. What was even more bizarre about the failed arms embargo on Somalia was that U.N neither protested against nor condemned the invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia, in December 2006. And remember, Ethiopia is the same country that the U.N repeatedly revealed that it [Ethiopia] broke the arms embargo imposed on Somalia. This is odd! Furthermore, rather than take action against Ethiopia, the U.N treated the occupying Ethiopia troops as peacekeepers— part of the “African Union Mission to Somalia” AMISOM forces. Amazingly, the worst human rights abusers: Ethiopia, Uganda and Burundi—AMISOM forces—hope to keep peace that they couldn’t keep in their own countries, in Somalia. DUH! Worse still, how an invading Ethiopian army that has been caught red-handed, time and time again, breaking the arms embargo became a peacekeeping force overnight is anyone’s guess. This is a dray joke, isn’t it? Meanwhile, with respect to Somalia’s invasion, Ethiopia knew that as long as it has the United States’ blessings, U.N was irrelevant. And that clearly explained why Ethiopia didn’t need U.N’s permission to invade Somalia, in 2006. Additionally, how Ethiopia which has one of the largest starving populations in the world could afford to wage a costly war in Somalia is: one of the seven wonders of Africa. http://tinyurl.com/4brawx However, as soon as the invasion began, the Ethiopian troops wasted not time. They savagely slaughtered nearly 10, 000 Somalis, displaced over one million civilians, raped countless girls and women, abducted and imprisoned hundreds of Somalis in the Ethiopian torture chambers in Ethiopia—the Guantanamo Bay of Africa. And the U.N apart from spitting out the useless reports which are sprinkled with the overused statements such as, “killing civilians is not acceptable; warring factions must respect human rights; the U.N condemns the killing of unarmed people….blah, blah…” it did nothing to stop the suffering of the Somali people. In fact, the U.N clearly endorses and supports the same foreign-imposed Somali regime that inflicts an abhorrent crime against Somali people, in the first place—of course, with the help of the Ethiopian killing machines. The Ethiopian brutality against the Somali people doesn’t spare anyone. As human rights report, even Somali children are targeted by the Ethiopian troops. A report states, “a young child’s throat was slit by Ethiopian soldiers in front of the child’s mother,” http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7385078.stm In addition, the Ethiopians troops'—“the entrusted peacekeepers” in Somalia—savage brutality which has the tacit approval of the U.N, Europeans, and United State is also widely reported in the Somali region of Ethiopia—******. http://tinyurl.com/653mbt And to add insult to injury, now the U.N justifies the Ethiopian brutal and barbaric occupation, in Somalia. The U.N states, “Ethiopian pullout will create a security vacuum in Somalia." In other words: the enemy troops must continue occupying the Somali people. Indeed, “vacuum” is the 21st century four-letter word to justify occupying a severing nation, like Somalia. Hypocritically, what the U.N conveniently avoids is: that itself, Ethiopia and United States have—in fact—created the worst security vacuum in Africa. Now rather than patch-up the damage, they justify the misery and brutality that the Somali people experience daily in their awn native country. Undoubtedly, the U.N recognized TFG and its foreign invaders—the Ethiopians—have also created the worst humanitarian crisis in Somalia in decades. From stability and economic growth—which was accomplished by the Islamic Court Union I.C.U—to catastrophe as the result of a foreign enemy—Ethiopia—pouring into Somalia soil, so one wonders what “security vacuum” is the U.N blabbing about! See this report: http://tinyurl.com/6s96gj Even worse, now Somalia’s crises surpass that of Dafur. Mark Bowden, the UN's humanitarian co-coordinator, states, “Somalia faces a worse situation than Darfur”. http://tinyurl.com/5f7mrw So you may ask: why Somalia is not getting the same attention as Darfur, in Sudan? Simply, unlike Sudan, Somali doesn’t have proven oil fields, hence; Somalia’s turmoil belongs to the backburner for now. And Ethiopia gets the green light to continue slaughtering the Somali people. But, Ethiopia is not the only invader that violated Somalia’s sovereignty. Under false pretences of uprooting imagined terrorists, U.S. has barbarically bombed Somali villages and leveled forests to the ground. U.S. bombings may have killed more people than anyone would ever find out. The U.N neither condemned, nor spoke out against the illegal invasion of Somalia by the U.S. Attacking Somalia without U.N’s approval clearly violates International law, as well as U.N arms embargo imposed on Somalia. Additionally, in fact, the U.S. has directly and indirectly violated the so-called arms embargo imposed on Somalia. In the past, the U.S. provided money to Somali warlords to uproot the Islamic Court Union. The warlords bought heavy weapons with the money provided by the U.S. Moreover, now the U.S. trains and arms the Ethiopian and the Ugandan troops. And according to the U.N, both Ethiopia and Uganda have been supplying weapons to the TFG and to different factions. Aren’t the Ethiopian and Ugandan troops supposed be the highly publicized “peacekeepers” in Somalia? So much for peacekeeping! Disguising occupying forces as “peacekeepers” is yet another joke. http://tinyurl.com/3m5l5s Similarly, even France joined the nations that not only violated International law but also kidnapped Somali nationals from Somali soil. Recently, France, just like the U.S., attacked Somali villages, along the Red Sea. And after killing a number of unarmed civilians, the French Special forces abducted six Somali pirates who have earlier hijacked a tourist ship and its thirty French passengers near Somali water. Eventually, the pirates released all passengers. But since Somalia and France don’t have any extradition treaties, France has no right to charge Somali nationals at a court in Paris. Again, this was a flagrant violation of the International law. And as one Somali put it, “if pirates violated International law, France didn’t have to break the law.” Of course, pirates should be charged for their crime, but they should not be charged in France. And again, the French attack on Somalia too broke the U.N arms embargo. And as usual, the U.N remained silent about the French military adventure. Worse yet, truly, having white men kidnapping African nationals on the coast of Africa was a chilling reminder of how millions of Africans were abducted from their land, centuries ago. And it was also a nerve-wrecking reminder of how easily the colonial regimes and the salve-owners of yesterday could still kidnap African nationals from Africa’s soil, at any time, for different reasons. For the Somali villagers to witness their family members abducted—must have been a horrifying experience. They must have felt as hopeless as the other African villagers felt few centuries ago when voracious European vultures—slave-drivers—swamped Africa. And again the U.N didn’t even remind France that it has no legal rights to charge the Somali pirates in France, much less demand their release to Somali authority. Additionally, British taxpayers’ money is also used by the TFG regime to buy weapons. The TFG’s police forces are responsible for killing, looting, and displacing civilians. Thanks to Great Britain. Much of the money received from Britain is used to terrorize the Somali civilians. (Isn’t that what the war on “terror” is all about?) This is yet another indirect—but not clever enough—way of violating the arms embargo imposed on Somalia. See this documentary: “Warlords Next Door” http://blip.tv/play/63u6sE0A On a positive note: of course, the million plus Somali refugees displaced by the cruel Ethiopian troops are thankful to the U.N for its efforts to feed them. And above all, let’s not forget to salute, the dedicated men and women of the U.N who would bend backwards to help the Somali people. Some aid workers even risk their lives to respond to the plight of the Somali people. But also, let’s not forget, as much as the Somali refugees are thankful to the U.N, they are equally upset with the U.N because it failed to protect them, in the first place, from barbaric foreign invaders. Had the U.N blocked the Ethiopian invasion, none of these people would have been displaced; tens of thousands would not have been murdered, raped and tortured; and Mogadishu—the capital of Somalia—would not have been raised to ground. In short, while the U.N helped the Somali people, it also failed to protect them from the blood-soaked imperialist regimes such as, the U.S., and its client regime—Ethiopia. Furthermore, it is ridiculous and insult to our intelligence for the U.N to point out Ethiopia is violating the arms embargo against Somalia—when the U.N knew all along that Ethiopia has been the epicenter of Somalia's earthquake. Also masquerading occupying forces as peacekeepers, and justifying the occupation as a precautionary step to avoid creating “a security vacuum” adds insult to injury. Peacekeepers are needed when there is peace to keep—when both warring parties show readiness for the deployment of genuine peacekeepers. However, treating the Ethiopian army—which caused the worst catastrophe in Somalia—as peacekeepers doesn’t entertain children much less amuse adults. The Ethiopian troops destroyed the only peace that Somalia has had in decades—the short period that the Islamic Courts ruled the country. Therefore, this backward policy of destroying peace to keep peace is beyond any imaginable idiocy. The Ethiopian troops must leave Somalia—peacefully or forcefully. And as long as uninvited foreign troops are in Somalia, and the unholy Ethiopia—U.S. coalition forces continue their barbaric brutality against the Somali people, then the so-called U.N arms embargo imposed on Somalia will be meaningless—an old joke. And without a doubt, Somalis around the globe will continue arming themselves to liberate their land from savage foreign invaders backed by the League of Nations—the U.N. Dalmar Kaahin dalmar_k@yahoo.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hassan6734 Posted July 20, 2008 The UN is a complete Joke, with its china man puppet Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Peace Action Posted July 21, 2008 Hassan The UN Chief is from South Korea. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites