World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis in Somalia: U.S. Sends in the Marines and More Drones

[Nur]

“ Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world that we mean business .”

 

Richard Perle's associate, Michael Ledeen. 2003

 

 

 

 

By Glen Ford

 

July 16, 2011 "BAR" -- Even as U.S. militarization of the Horn of Africa has contributed massively to the threatened starvation of millions, the Americans have announced an escalation of drone attacks against Somalia and the establishment of a Marine task force for the region. A United Nations spokesman describes the food and refugee emergency in Somalia as the “worst humanitarian crisis in the world,” with millions at immediate risk. Not coincidentally, the epicenter of the disaster is the area where Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia meet – which is also a focus of U.S. Special Forces, surveillance and logistics activity.

 

The Americans blame the al-Shabab resistance for exacerbating the drought emergency, but for at least two years the Americans have used food as a weapon of war in Somalia, in an effort to starve out those who might be supporting the Shabab. The U.S. has armed an array of militias operating near the Ethiopian and Kenyan borders, making normal agricultural pursuits all but impossible, and the current world-class catastrophe, inevitable.

 

Whenever the U.S. rachets up its armed interventions in Somalia, disaster follows. Four years ago, after the Americans instigated an Ethiopian invasion of Somalia to overthrow an Islamist government that had brought a semblance of peace to the region, it set off what the United Nations then called “the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa – worse than Darfur.” Today, many of those same refugees are confronted with the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet – once again, largely courtesy of the United States.

 

“The Obama administration has upgraded Somalia and Yemen as hotspots in its endless war-making.”

 

The original crime – the one from which all the other horrors flow – was the theft of Somalia’s government, and the crushing of its people’s dreams for peace. The American proxy aggression, largely conducted through Ethiopia and now Kenya, and much of it directed from Djibouti, the actual headquarters of the U.S. Africa Command, AFRICOM – is the root cause of the social disintegration of Somalia, which has pushed much of the population to the edge of extinction. These are the crimes against humanity that international courts should be prosecuting. Instead, the International Criminal Court has become a tool of the aggressor, and even proposes to deploy the U.S. military as its deputies, to enforce its warrants: justice turned upside down.

 

The newly activated Marine task force will augment America’s stepped up drone attacks against the Shabab, an escalation of Obama’s second shooting war in Africa, and war number 6, globally.

 

In addition to the Marines and the drones, the U.S. recently committed $45 million to equipment and training for the Ugandan and Burundian soldiers that are all that props up the puppet Somali government in Mogadishu, the capital.

 

The Obama administration has upgraded Somalia and Yemen as hotspots in its endless war-making, claiming al-Qaida operatives in the region are even more dangerous to the U.S. than their counterparts in Afghanistan and Pakistan – which essentially tells us that al-Qaida isn't really all that relevant to why American is spreading war and misery all over the planet. What is clear, is that the world's greatest humanitarian threat lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

 

For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com.

[genius pauper.]

give and take policy. shall give you the meals, only to soil it up at the second bite. this is what the somali secular elite don't understand in clarity.

thanks for sharing nur

[Nur]

U.S. and Ethiopia Kill Somalis With Food Weapon

 

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

 

“The Ethiopian government has blocked the International Red Cross and other aid agencies from carrying out relief work in the region.”

 

At least 10 million people are in danger of starvation in Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Somalia, under the worst drought conditions in 60 years. This should be taken as fact. But when it comes to which humans are to blame for relief supplies being unavailable to the victims, don’t believe a word that the United States government says. Washington is not only the greatest purveyor of violence in the world, it is also the biggest liar on the planet, none of whose words can be taken at face value.

 

The Americans claim the Shabab Islamist fighters made the drought crisis worse by preventing international aid agencies from distributing food relief. But only last year, in February 2010, the New York Times was running a headline, “UN Officials Assail U.S. for Withholding Somali Aid [8].” We explored that story [9] in Black Agenda Report. Back then, United Nations officials charged the U.S. with imposing conditions that made it “impossible” to deliver tens of millions in food aid to hungry Somalis. The Americans refused to allow food to be transferred from warehouses in Kenya, claiming it might enrich the coffers of the Shabab, who controlled about half of Somalia. The U.S. finally let some food pass through, but only on the condition that aid workers not pay any fees at Shabab checkpoints around the country. Aid workers on the ground said that following U.S. orders would make them “look like spies.” Apparently, they were right.

 

It was a clear case of the United States using food as a weapon of war, starving the people of Somalia in order to destroy the social base for the resistance to U.S. proxy rule over the country. We do know that the relationship between the Shabab and international aid agencies fell apart, at that point, so one could conclude that Washington succeeded in its mission. Starving people are now paying the price.

 

“A look at the map of the drought-stricken areas shows that the Western Ethiopian-Occupied Somali Region is a center of the crisis.”

 

The U.S.-backed puppet government in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, waited until this week to declare a drought emergency in Somalia. Kenya, another American puppet, refused to allow Somalis to enter a brand new – and empty – refugee camp. Ethiopia may be the worst case. Not only did it bring on what was then Africa's “worst humanitarian crisis,” according to the UN, by invading the country in late 2006, at the instigation of the United States – Ethiopia has virtually sealed off its vast Western Ethiopian-Occupied Somali Region to outside observers, and a look at the map of the drought-stricken areas shows that the Western Ethiopian-Occupied Somali Region is a center of the crisis!

 

The Western Ethiopian-Occupied Somali Region is populated by ethnic Somalis who have been fighting their own guerilla war against the Ethiopian dictatorship, whom they charge with using food as a weapon of war [10]. Of the 10 million people at risk of starvation, a huge portion live – or are now dying – in the Western Ethiopian-Occupied Somali Region. As the dependable Thomas C. Mountain reports [11] from nearby Eritrea, the Ethiopian government has blocked the International Red Cross and other aid agencies from carrying out relief work in the region. The Obama administration, which now gives the Ethiopian dictatorship more money than any regime in Africa, could force the doors to the Western Ethiopian-Occupied Somali Region open with one phone call. But it won't, because Ethiopia and the U.S. are on the same mission, and there is nothing humanitarian about it.

 

For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to www.BlackAgendaReport.com [12].

[Alderman]

Say what you want to say about the US but they have commited over 500 million dollars in food aid to Somalis.

[Nabad_dadaye]

mareykan xitaa haduu soomaali wax u diro waa inaan ka shakinaa sababta ,maadaama dhib iyo hoog ma ahane uusan wanaagba uheynin shacabka . isagaa shalay Ethiopia qarashka ugu badan eey soomali ku weerarta bixinayay , waana kii diiday in goobaha alshabab eey hey'ada gargaarka tagaan .