Why the Somalia nightmare continues

However, a recent historic visit of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdo?an seems to offer a glimmer of hope for the long suffering Somali people. Turkey as both a NATO member and an Islamic democracy might achieve the impossible: a rapprochement between the West and the long suffering Somali people for peace in their homeland.

The Somali conflict will always remain an internationally driven war whose initial rationale, objectives and outcomes have now become largely meaningless and utterly useless. This was evidently clear during the US-backed Ethiopian invasion and occupation of southern Somalia (2006-2008) and it is still the case today with the African Union Mission in Somalia’s (AMISOM) bloody crimes against humanity in Mogadishu.

Similar to the Ethiopian occupation, the current US-backed AMISOM Ugandan-Burundi occupation force is a complete failure. AMISOM occupiers have committed countless mass murders. They have cowardly gunned down unarmed Somali women, children, the elderly, the sick. AMISOM’s bloody record is undeniable. In Mogadishu, they have shown only a bloodthirsty desire to commit large-scale crimes against Somali civilians. Since 2007, AMISOM has been distinguished by an utter and wanton disregard for Somali life and property.

Somalia: Western double standards at their worst

The Western powers, namely the United States and the EU, deliberately ignore AMISOM’s crimes in Somalia. The Western powers who purport to support international law and condemn genocide nevertheless justify the failed policy of funding AMISOM’s occupation violence in Somalia. Their primary justification is the “al-Shabaab” criminal gang, and to a lesser extent “reforming” the bankrupted Transitional Federal Government (TFG) clique.

Without a question, the al-Qaeda-inspired foreign al-Shabaab criminals commit appalling atrocities and crimes against the Mogadishu people such as beheadings and torture. However, al-Shabaab crimes pale in great comparison to AMISOM’s daily bombardment and massacres of civilians in Mogadishu. Any Western diplomat knows the al-Shabaab gang is nothing more than a foreign-funded criminal group that operates in Somalia precisely due to the lack of law and order for the civilian population. Therefore, al-Shabaab criminals can be quickly and easily defeated by empowering the Somali civilian population in Mogadishu and throughout southern Somalia to re-build their homes, schools, roads and hospitals. In short, defeating the al-Shabaab is creating a humane environment which is conducive to law and order, which also necessitates formal governance and peace.

AMISOM’s crimes and bombardments against Somali civilians

Today, AMISOM single-handedly not only maintains insecurity and widespread violence in Mogadishu but also directly empowers the al-Shabaab gang to continue their own crimes. The overall reality is actually quite simple to comprehend in southern Somalia: AMISOM kills with impunity, al-Shabaab kills with impunity, yet the victims always remain to be Somali civilians. Surprisingly, the Western powers have shown no real desire to confront AMISOM’s crimes or to support the Somali people to establish governance.

Conclusion

One of the perversities of the Somalia nightmare is that the top al-Shabaab terrorist leader is none other than an American. The foreign leader of the al-Shabaab is a former drug addict born as Omar Shafik Hammami, also known as Abu Mansuur Al-Amriki (The American). What’s even more disgusting is the fact the Al-Amriki grew up in the peace and tranquility of the southern United States only to voluntarily choose to come and wage war on poor Somali Muslims in famine stricken southern Somalia. Al-Amriki who could be enjoying the nice resort towns of his hometown in Alabama has instead decided to enjoy the beheadings of innocent Somali civilians!

Likewise, many of the other top al-Shabaab criminals have also come to Mogadishu from the West such as Fuad Shangole and Abdi Godane, who possess EU and Western passports. The al-Shabaab gangsters as a whole seem to be able to move in and out of international airports. Within southern Somalia, the al-Shabaab leadership in Kismayo continues to be immune to the violence that is being wrought upon the people of Mogadishu daily. Therefore, the AMISOM occupiers and the al-Shabaab terrorists clearly form a parasitic nexus undermining the Somali people.

AMISOM and al-Shabaab reinforce one another completely in the Somalia conflict. Both AMISOM and al-Shabaab interact to destroy Somalia and forestall peace in Mogadishu. Consequently, until the AMISOM-Shabaab nexus is entirely broken either by the rule of international law, a mass Somali civilian mobilization, or through the concerted diplomatic efforts of a friendly nation such as Turkey, Somalia’s nightmare unfortunately looks set to continue in the foreseeable future.

Dr. M. Omar Hashi