Another Gaza in the making in southern Somalia: - Ethiopia is back in Mogadishu with vengeance

By Abdikarim H. Abdi Buh
June 07 , 2009
Somalia’s membership of IGAD had ceased soon after the fall of General Mohamed Siyad’s Government in 1991. I wonder how IGAD can justify Somali’s continued membership of the intergovernmental organisation when Somalia has no functioning central government for the last two decades. IGAD as I understand has no mandate what so ever to interfere in the political affairs of Somalia (failed state) in any capacity unless Ethiopia is authorized by the international community to represent it by proxy. The call from Addis for total blockade of Somalia shows how insensitive the Ethiopian government, the sole proprietor of IGAD, is towards the plight of the starving people of Somalia who are in excess of 5 million according to the most recent UNHCR estimates or me I say, how eager and sincere Ethiopia is to end the cycle of Somalis killing each other senselessly.
IGAG head of states


The pretext for this controversial blanket blockade looks to some as feeble excuse that is akin to the fable stories found in children’s books - to stop the opposition that controls most of central and southern Somalia from rearming and from receiving international brotherhood fighters. Regrettably the negative economic and social impact this will inflict on the already deprived people is not taken in to account by the international community. This cruel call if enforced will not affect the rearming of the opposition as the Ethiopian armed clan militias will soon turn in to a new market for cheaper and more readily available weapons.

The TFG minister for Marine Transport Mr. Haabsade (Mr. snatch all) spoke to Reuter’s reporter from the back of his AMISOM tank and brazenly uttered this statement ” We are warning Somali traders against chartering ships to the opposition groups' strongholds, because they have sanctions imposed on them." The Reporter asked him if Mogadishu is included as it is considered as the major stronghold of the opposition. The Minister immediately switched on, his two way secure AMISOM radio link, to the prime minister’s office for consultation and only then said “the prime minister is not sure at all and so are the parliamentarians whether Mogadishu is included because H.E. Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, turned up unexpectedly last Monday with two KG of paper work and asked the sharif to sign along a dotted line”. The colonial Minister Mr. Ahmedou was in hurry and left within 40 minutes but by the look of the size of the document a week seems too small to finish had he chosen the government and the parliament to deliberate about the issue. Details often bother not our Shar (devil) – Sharif so he promptly deciphered, digested and signed with pride in two minutes. I assume his lack of command of English language lends him a helping hand – I couldn’t find any intelligence in his brain but I would be grateful to gladly insult it if I find a trace was the concluding remarks of the PM as relayed by Mr. Snatch all.

Ethiopian second coming - Quotes from Meles Zenawi’s speech at the Ethiopian nationalities studies institute.
Professor Takale summarized the current impasse in Somalia in this short question” your Excellency when the Derge regime was defeated by TPLF if you take Mengistu’s seat and ask your mates to recognise you as the new president would you expect them to accept that invitation?” Mele responded “ not at all because it is deplorable betrayal and the world has yet to see a regime change of that sort but the Somalis are different- nomads whose culture is based on clan loyalty and thus has no sense of nationalism. I am sure their interest will be best served if we take them back once more and consider Somalia as an additional state to the existing larger Ethiopian federal regional states.”



Ethiopian intervention was and is the only apparent active hand that is consistently stirring up Somalia’s political setting time and again. It is the major supplier of arms to the clan militias in the south and runs an established military training schools – Godey and Dollow to name but a few - in the Somali regional state in Ethiopian. The direct reoccupation of Kalabydh – Hiiraan’s most strategic point - by the Ethiopian army is to cut the central regions off from the rest of the South to give their warlords, Ahlu – Sunna wal Jamaca, a competitive advantage in their fight against the opposition Islamists in the central regions by disrupting the logistics lines of the opposition.

The security Minister of the TFG Mr. Omer Hashi crossed recently the border from Ethiopia leading a militia of 1,700 men armed, APC and tanks, by Ethiopia to start a war of re taking first in and around Hiiraan region and latter to march towards the middle Shabeele region. The minister and some Ethiopian intelligence officers are holding round the clock meeting with clan elders at Hotel Madina in Baladweyne. Another group of 400 clan militia men are said to have completed a two month crash military training in the central regions under the supervision of Col. Hassan Mohamed. The latter group are assigned by their Ethiopian handlers to wage devastating war in the central regions in the name of flushing out the opposition Islamists.



The third Militia of around 900 well armed men under the leadership of warlord Col. Bare Hiiraale are expected to enter Somalia in the coming days from Dollow to destabilize the southern regions to tactically lure Islamists forces away from the ever burning Mogadishu. The notorious warlord Sh. Yusuf Indhacade is preparing to retake the Lower Shabeele region as soon as the Ethiopian arms shipment is distributed to his militia - he confiscated the local farms from the local peasants and converted their farms into drug plantations during his previous reign and God knows what his intention is this time.

In stark contrast to the realities on the ground, the colonial minister is running around like a headless chicken disseminating all sorts of disinformation. I would like to quote from the UN News centre - “Mr. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the colonial minister, yesterday told a news conference in New York that When asked about reports of Ethiopian troops returning to Somalia, the official said they had all withdrawn and that there were no Ethiopian troops in Somalia. Instead of evoking an alibi of the alleged presence of Ethiopian troops, he said they should “assume responsibility” for what is going on in their country.”- Isn’t this a clear insult to the intelligence of the Somalis irrespective of one’s political affiliation? This guy I believe is putting under the spot light what ever is left of credibility of the already tarnished image of the UN. By delegating this crazy guy as special representative, I think the UN is for the first time becoming an active enthusiastic accessory to the annihilation of millions of Somalis through starvation.



Surprisingly the AU and UN media is focused on 200 Muslim expatriates armed with no more than an AK47 and Eritrea which even the above mentioned security minister reiterated time and again that they refused to supply them weapons when they were fighting against the Ethiopian occupation. Eritrea never had any link with neither Al-Shaba nor Husbi Islam and this Al-Qaida thing is just an invention of the CIA . Its geographic location and economy rules out that it could militarily turn the tide in favour of the opposition – the opposition is home grown so whether the international community loves or loathes the opposition are is here to stay and will ultimately enjoy the last laugh. It is an open secret that Ethiopia is given the green light to mould Somalia in to a desirable candidate for the planned near future confederation with Ethiopia which is deemed by the US as the most viable alternative to tame Somalia once and for all. Ethiopia’s craving for swallowing Somalia is affirmed by the international community as the paramount goal and hence supersedes all other stake holders’ needs and wants.

The second Genocide: the culpable role of the government of 37 foreign passport holders Ministers.

We all know that the two no - fly zones over Iraq was imposed unilaterally by the US and Britain after the gulf war in the excuse of protecting the northern Kurds and Southern Shiites from the late Sadam Hussein’s army. The no –fly zones were not authorised by the UN and they were not specifically sanctioned by any Security Council resolution but the only justification at the time was that an acute humanitarian crisis made it necessary to infringe the sovereignty of Iraq in this way. Russia, China, France and most of the third world were against it because the Anglo Saxon plot was seen as it is – an utter invasion of sovereign nation. George Galloway, UK labour Mp, summed the policy in this short quote “it is the most pitiful excuse for attacking somebody’s country that I have heard in my life time. If the policy is so good, how come only Britain and the US are doing it?”

It is interesting to note that contrary to the Iraqi one the intend of the current resolution, rubber stamped by 37 western cabinet ministers, is a novel genocide instrument intended to collectively punish the already starving Somalis and to create a humanitarian disaster bordering to ethnic cleansing. I think what we are witnessing now is the fulfilment of the first stage of the demand of the tanker’s association, whose members own 2,900 or 75% of the world fleet of tankers, to blockade Somalia’s ports as a cheaper alternative to patrolling the international waters – the UN should hit pirates with Somalia blockade.

The supposedly imposed embargo is days old yet the news, although denied by the opposition and confirmed by the independent media, that foreign ships blocked a commercial cargo vessel from docking in the port of Kismayo - the only gateway for over 40% of the Somali population – quickly altered the local economic transactions. Reliable sources from the city are confirming that the cost of the basic foods and other essentials gained quick hike in prices and that some traders instantly capitalised on this barbaric act and resorted to hording the essentials such as baby milk, human /animal medicine, seeds, fertilizers, agricultural machinery, spare parts, fuel and all sorts of foods. This embargo will effectively induce famine with in weeks as the people are already weakened by the twenty years of war and as such have no tolerance for a minimal disruption in their improvised economic mechanism.

The Shar – Sharif’s Ethiopian led army is fighting a self defeating war with no end in sight, because no one can turn back the clock of history. We are witnessing at present the recreation of pre 2006 scenario of warlordism and this is bound to fail in the face of the indigenous opposition who are gaining strength by day. The longer this Ethiopian sponsored peace spoiling program creeps the more people will find themselves displaced and ultimately perish through starvation and malnutrition let alone the rampant opportunistic water born diseases and malaria. The Shar – Sharif and his foreign cabinet ministers will bear the responsibility for the carnage they enacted on the Somali people and will be remembered as the custodians of the largest grave yard in the world -war crimes and Crimes against Humanity.

The next phase of this strangulation policy is to blockade Puntland and Somaliland ports, because the wording of the resolution explicitly states that blockage should be imposed on ports not directly controlled by the TFG. That very clause according to UN and AU interpretation is enough to extend the rolling blanket of embargo on Somaliland and Puntland when ever they opt the time is right at their end. The far-flung self rule entities can’t afford to isolate themselves from the fall outs of the muddy politics of the South any more because their guarantor, Ethiopia, set its sight on taking Somalia as a whole back to its mother – the golden reign of Menelik II, 1889 - 1913s when Ethiopia was the only country in the horn . Now is the time to choose sides as the centre platform is shelved – either you are with the Shar - Sharif or against the Shar – Sharif.

Abdikarim H. Abdi Buh
Email: Abdikarimbuh@yahoo.Com
WardheerNews contributor