Found at: https://peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint/Somalia_continues_to_suffer_under_occupation.html
Somalia continues to suffer under occupation
(The following article is from the July 1-31, 2007 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St. Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)
By Stephen Von Sychowski
On December 24, 2006, Ethiopia launched an unprovoked military assault on Somalia, with full U.S. backing. Ethiopian troops were largely used as cannon fodder and as a cover to make a much bigger imperialist occupation of Somalia look like a smaller conflict between two African nations. The occupation has been largely ignored by all corporate media outlets, obviously on purpose. So what is going on in Somalia?
The goal of the attack and occupation was to topple the popular Islamic Courts Union (ICU). The ICU had brought the Somali people the first taste of national identity, independence and legitimate government, based on the widespread support of the people that they had seen since the overthrow of Mohamed Siad Barre over 15 years ago. An end to over a decade and a half of war, chaos, violence, economic insecurity, poverty, and rule by warlords and interference by imperialism seemed possible. This is why the majority of Somali people rallied around the ICU.
But this was not acceptable to U.S. imperialism, who saw the ICU as a threat to their interests in the region. Why? It could be the large reserves of natural resources such as iron ore, copper, salt and more. It could be the 3,025 km long coastline which links the Red Sea, African Ocean and Suez Canal. But more than likely, its oil... again. The World Bank listed Somalia as one of the most promising areas in the region for oil development in 1992. The very warlords who were puppeteered by U.S. imperialism were suddenly driven out by the ICU, whose leader, Sheik Sharif Shaykh Ahmed had stated that the ICU "was established to ensure that Somali people suffering for 15 years would gain peace and full justice and freedom from the anarchic rule of warlords."
It's no wonder that the U.S. imperialists were shaken, but they could do nothing to reverse the changes peacefully. The ICU was an objectively anti-imperialist force. They now constituted the new governing force of Somalia; the only answer for the empire was invasion and occupation.
Their pretext would be to back up the "Transitional Government" set up two years ago through a UN sponsored conference. This government was made up of pro-U.S. warlords led by Abdullahi Yusuf and based in the town of Baidoa. It lacked all real authority, legitimacy and power. To most Somalis, it didn't exist. The ICU, meanwhile, would be painted falsely by their enemies as "Al Qaeda linked" and "terrorists," often the fate recently of those who oppose imperialism.
The ICU, despite its control of most of Somalia and its widespread support, was no match for the might of the U.S. military and its Ethiopian allies. As a result, the ICU was rapidly forced from power and made to withdraw from the frontlines to wage a protracted guerilla war against the invaders.
Meanwhile all traces of progress have been wiped out. Like their Iraqi, Afghan and Haitian counterparts, Somalis are far worse off now than before the invasion of their country. The occupation government has carried out a campaign of violence, censorship and Islamophobia. For example, a ban on the wearing of the Hijab has been implemented and enforced in Somalia, a predominately Islamic country. Unknown numbers of people have perished in the ongoing fighting and in massacres by occupation forces. Somali radio and media have been censored and forbidden to report on the violence and conflict.
Currently, the occupation force does not include Canadian troops. The people of Canada should beware of any attempt by the reactionary Harper Tories to change this.
For now, however, the U.S. seems to be happy with their own troops and those of some of their puppet governments. But it should be noted that other than Ethiopia, only Uganda seems prepared to fulfill its part of the African Union's pledge to send an 8,000 troop force to Somalia. Leaders of other countries are reluctant to send troops to take part in this debacle, despite American and European pressure.
Progressive and democratic people must cast aside the racist myth carried on by the imperialists and their hangers-on, that Africans and other "Third World" peoples are incapable of governing themselves. This myth is only a cover for imperialist intervention each time that a government interferes in the interests of imperialism, and especially in cases where these governments and peoples begin to go down a path of social justice, national liberation, independence, and their biggest fear... socialism. In such cases, imperialism sees fit to declare that the government represents a "failed state" or "terrorists," and implements regime change. The overthrow of governments like that of Lavalas in Haiti and the ICU in Somalia, and the attempted coup in Venezuela, are recent proofs of this.
The ICU, of course, has never been a socialist organization. But despite this, it has constituted a force for national liberation and against the U.S. Empire. They represent a people struggling for self determination, just as the people of Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia, the Philippines, and so on. We must demand that U.S., Ethiopian and all foreign forces leave Somalia immediately, so that the Somali people may settle their internal affairs independently and choose their own government without interference. This is the right of all nations.
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