The BBC and other media are reporting the “return of
Ethiopian troops to Somalia”.
How can they “return” when they never left? My sources, who served as advisors
to Abdulahi Yusuf, leader of the Eldoret formed Transitional National
Government of Somalia (TNG), tell me that Meles Zenawi’s forces never left Somalia. They
may have left Mogadishu but they certainly did
not leave Somalia.
The Ethiopian regime has lied abut its presence in Somalia from day one. After denying
its presence in Somalia in
2006, it was forced to admit that it had forces all over Somalia. Then
it came up with a convenient lie and claimed that it was there at the
invitation of Abdulahi Yusuf’s TNG. The media reported about the presence of
8000 Ethiopian troops. That too was a lie. There were over 25,000 Ethiopian
troops in Somalia.
It was on Christmas Eve 24
December 2006 that the US-backed minority regime in Ethiopia
invaded Somalia to oust the
Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) which was expanding its influence throughout Somalia. Sheikh
Sharif, who now heads the TNG, was “hunted down” by Meles Zenawi’s forces.
Vicki Huddleston and Jendayi E. Frazier called the UIC a threat to Ethiopia’s security and accused them of
harboring Al Qaeda operatives, including those who bombed the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and for “introducing
strict Islamic laws” and “banning khat”. The invasion brought chaos and
destruction to Somalia.
Over a million people were displaced, tens of thousands massacred in cold blood
and Somali’s infrastructures destroyed. The UN led international community
created another TNG in Djibouti,
forced the resignation of Abdulahi Yusuf, and Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was chosen as
the new President of Somalia.
Just as the Bush Administration
was leaving Washington, in January 2009, after
two years of pillage and destruction, Meles Zenawi claiming “victory”,
announced that his marauding forces would leave Somalia. Only the gullible believed
that unlikely story. If the Ethiopian troops were to leave Somalia, who then was going to “prop up” the new
TNG formed in Djibouti?
After all, it was not chosen by the people of Somalia. The west may have labeled
the new TNG “moderate”, but that is not going to bring it legitimacy in the
eyes of the Somali people. The people of Somalia must be given the chance to
choose their own leaders and set the criteria for themselves.
The people of Somalia had accepted Sheikh Sharif
and the UIC in 2006 in spite of the labels placed on them by Jendayi Frazier
and Meles Zenawi. They had accepted Sheikh Sharif Ahmed then because he was
borne out of their struggle against the Alliance
for the Restoration of Peace and Anti Terrorism-CIA sponsored warlords who had
prevented the Eldoret formed TNG from establishing itself in Somalia, forcing it to remain in Kenya for over
two years. Jendayi Frazer and Meles Zenawi planned and carried out the ouster
of the UIC and Sheikh Sharif Ahmed from Somalia in order to establish the
puppet regime of Abdulahi Yusuf and Ali Mohammed Ghedi, a regime that would be
amenable to Meles Zenawi and the West.
Sheikh Sharif was forced into
exile and so were his comrades. He took refuge in Eritrea
where the Alliance
for the Re-liberation and Reconstitution of Somalia (ARS) was formed by about
450 Somalis representing a cross section of the Somali people. They called for
the unconditional removal of Ethiopian and other foreign forces from Somalia. Jendai
Frazer and Meles Zenawi blacklisted Eritrea for not supporting the
puppet TNG led by Abdulahi Yusuf and Ali Mohammed Ghedi. The UN Security Council
decided that the TNG led by Abdulahi Yusuf was the only legitimate government
of Somalia.
Today, the UN is once again
telling us that the only legitimate government of Somalia is the one led by Sheikh
Sharif Ahmed, the same person that was “hunted down” by Meles Zenawi’s forces
in 2006 and 2007. The US led international community is once again insisting
that all nations accept the newly formed TNG. Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was brought
to Mogadishu,
but the violence and destructions continue. Today, we hear that Ethiopia is once again in Somalia. I
contend that they never left. How many forces did the Djibouti TNG have when it
came to Mogadishu?
Who took over when the Ehtiopians supposedly left in January? Did the African
Union forces have the capacity to take over?
How many troops were trained by Ethiopia and
UNDP? Did they remain to support the new TNG or did they leave with Abdulahi
Yusuf?
I doubt that even the UN has
answers to these questions. With all the lies being reported and repeated, it
can be very hard to discern the facts about Somalia, but you do not need to be
a rocket scientist to figure out this hoax.
Let us take a look at the UN
Monitoring Group’s Report of December 2008 to get a better understanding of the
forces in Somalia.
This is what the Report says about the TNG forces trained by Ethiopia:
·
“…The
Transitional Federal Government possesses a security establishment of fewer
than 20,000 personnel, including military, police and intelligence services.
Many of these, however, are believed to be “phantoms”, whose pay — when
disbursed — is diverted by senior commanders. Payment is irregular. Over the
course of the past six months, effective force levels have been further
depleted by attrition and defection…”
·
“…The
Government of Ethiopia
informed the Monitoring Group in October 2008 that it had trained 17,000 Somali
security personnel, but did not specify how many were police and how many
military. Of that total, Ethiopia
believes less than 3,000 may still be effective, suggesting an attrition rate
of over 80 per cent. Since most soldiers who desert or defect take their
weapons and uniforms with them, this represents some 14,000 new weapons
entering Somali territory…”
·
“…In
2008, Ethiopia began to
withdraw its forces from Somalia
and gradually transfer authority to the Transitional Federal Government. During
the course of this process, as many as 14,000 Ethiopian-trained troops are
believed to have deserted or defected, usually with their uniforms and weapons…”
·
“…On a
smaller scale, UNDP reported in January 2008 that 225 police officers whom it
had trained could not be traced, and estimated that 40 per cent of trainees had
deserted by November 2008. According to media reports and a senior Transitional
Federal Government source, at least several hundred such trainees have joined
armed opposition groups, often taking their arms, uniforms and vehicles with them…”
Here are some news reports about
the defection of TNG forces:
·
“…A group
of soldiers formerly loyal to the allied governments of Somalia and Ethiopia
have reportedly switched sides and "surrendered" over to militants
leading the insurgency…Abdirahim Isse Addow, a spokesman for the Islamic Courts
movement, said seven Somali soldiers and one Ethiopian military officer said the
Islamists would welcome the defecting soldiers…A soldier who
spoke for the defecting Somali troops said they were all trained in Ethiopia
and deployed at the ex-pasta factory, in north Mogadishu…” (Garowe online 7 September
2008)
·
“…During
this week's fighting, some government troops have defected to the insurgents,
although the government denies it. The local television station HornAfrik has
run video of Islamist fighters displaying 17 military vehicles with government
plates they said were brought over by defecting soldiers…” (Associated
Press 15 May 2009)
According to my sources, the
minority regime in Ethiopia,
master of gimmicks and deceptions, is at it again. In an elaborate scheme
designed to hoodwink the international community and fleece donors of more funds,
it seems the shameless regime in Ethiopia is passing off “Ethiopian
Somalis” as Somalis. It is the same gimmick it has used to present Tigrayans as
Eritreans. Farfetched you say? Well, considering the deceptive nature of the
regime and its past activities…
In December 2008, the UN
Monitoring Group on Somalia
reported the following:
“…At the end of
February 2008, the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a project
document and funding request to the British Government. The project envisaged a
six-month training course for 10,000 Somali police, but did not address their
subsequent integration into the Somali police force. The description of the
training curriculum is vague…Subsequent requests by donors and UNDP to inspect
the training course on location were rejected by the Ethiopian Government. They
were, however, invited to attend the graduation ceremony that took place on 5
July 2008…The Ethiopian Government provided all trainees with uniforms and
individual weapons in preparation for their deployment to Somalia. The military and police contingents
traveled in joint convoys from the Ethiopian border to Baidoa. The Ethiopian-trained
military contingent remained under Ethiopian Command…”
Why was the TPLF regime being so
secretive about its training program if it was on the up and up? According to
my sources, all the remaining TNG forces and the “Somali Ethiopians” are under
the command of a certain Ethiopia
General “Gere”. If they are Somalis, why are they not under TNG control? If
that is not bad enough, turns out, the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM) is
also under Ethiopian command. It should be recalled that Meles Zenawi heads the
African Union’s Peace and Security Council (AU-PSC) which created AMISOM in
2007. Leave it to the bigoted regime to come up with such a deceptive charade.
There is also news about the Sheikh
Sharif TNG “downplaying” Ethiopia’s
presence in Somalia.
That comes as no surprise. When the minority regime’s forces were hunting him
down in 2006 and when he took refuge in Eritrea, he was singing a different
tune. The UIC was calling for the unconditional removal of Ethiopian forces. Today,
he imagines that with the blessing of the UN and AU, he is now part of the
“bloc”. In a shameful and reckless
display of political immaturity, pandering to Meles Zenawi, he has also taken
to denouncing Gimbot 7 (Ethiopian opposition), he knows nothing about. He ought
to worry about the people of Somalia’s
opposition to his illegitimate TNG, then worry about Gimbot 7.
Instead of engaging in senseless
propaganda on behalf of Meles Zenawi and the “bloc”, Sheikh Sharif Ahmed ought
to be calling for the unconditional removal of all Ethiopia,
Burundi and Ugandan troops
from Somalia,
for that is what the Somali people want. He should also be calling on the
international community to stop exploiting the instability in Somalia and stop the illegal fishing off the
coast of Somalia;
stop the dumping of nuclear and other waste etc. The UN special envoy to Somalia ought
to be defending the rights of the Somali people. Johann Hari in an
Independent article posted on the 5 January 2009 wrote:
“...Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah,
the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material
here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury – you
name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and
factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to
"dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European
governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has
been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention."…At the same time,
other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest
resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation –
and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m-worth of tuna, shrimp, and
lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers. The local fishermen
are now starving…”
The sad thing about this whole
sordid criminal, almost mafia-like state of affairs in Somalia is the silence and the acquiescence of
the US led international
community and the duplicity of the UN Envoy as Somalia disintegrates further.
Instead of pointing their blood soaked fingers at Eritrea,
they ought to take a good look at the destruction and mayhem they have caused
in Somalia
as they advance their own interests at the expense (lives) of the Somali
people.
It was on 24 May 2007 that I saw
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed and his delegation at the Asmara stadium, sitting in a place reserved
for guests who come to participate in the Independence Day celebrations. The
Government and people of Eritrea
treated him with dignity and respect and as one of Eritrea’s friends. Today, as Eritrea celebrates the 18th
Independence Anniversary, he finds himself neither a friend of Eritrea, nor
wanted or accepted by the Somali people he purports to lead. Forgetting the
magnanimity of the Government and people of Eritrea, and has joined in the
anti-Eritrea chorus led by the very regimes that hunted him down in 2006.
Today, while other invited guests and dignitaries experience the hospitality
and friendship of the Eritrean people, Sheikh Sharif
Ahmed and the “bloc” led by Meles Zenawi will watch from a distance as Eritrea and her
people celebrate their hard earned independence.
