AfriCom chief does Ethiopia; proxy war escalates in Somalia
The Pentagon has, astutely, chosen an African American as first chief of the new Africa Command, Gen. William "Kip" Ward—and his first official visit to the continent was, of course, to chief US ally Ethiopia. Meeting with African Union leaders in Addis Ababa Nov. 8, Ward explicitly addressed widespread fears of the US establishing a permanent military presence on the continent. "Any notion of a militarization of the continent because of this? Absolutely false; not the case," said Gen. Ward. "Africa Command is not here to build garrisons and military bases." (BBC, Reuters, Nov. 8)
That same day, Somali insurgents dragged the bodies of dead Ethiopian soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu, amid fighting that killed at least 20 and sparked a further exodus from the city. (Reuters, Nov. 8) "It is our belief that every individual in Somalia has to participate in the resistance and the defeat of the Ethiopian occupation," Somali opposition leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed told AFP from Eritrea. (AFP, Nov. 8)
Given that the specter of foreign soldiers being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu is obviously redolent of the similar incident involving US troops there in 1993 (as CNN recalls), Washington is wise to be using proxies this time around...
See our last posts on the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, and the Africa Command.
Ethiopia invaded Somalia
Ethiopia invaded Somalia and the people of somalia are fighting the people who just invaded them.
Ethiopia REJECTED the final and binding border ruling it willingly signed and now it prepares to invade Eritrea, with US military support (like the BUSH Amin. did in Somalia and other US governments did in wars past with Eritrea)
Ethiopian government is commiting a genocide in the Ogaden, where it battles rebel groups who in the last 5 weeks have killed 645 Ethiopian government troops.
Ethiopian government killed 200 protestors in the november elections and most of the killed were shot in the head by snipers.
One has to see at where the source of the problem is, I'm sorry bush thinks he's the messiah, lord save us all, he's killing innocent people because Bush read the Bible wrong.
I think this is good
I think this is good for Africa. Recently, Africa has attracted interest from various forces, including dark ones. Ethiopia is on the path of Democracy but there are extremists group out there determined to spoil the process.
These groups have support of countries such as Eritrea (a country US has threatened to put on its list of Sates that sponsor terrorism).
Over the past few years there has been a determined effort by these forces to discredit the US War on Terror and its allies.
The presence of US forces will stop if not eradicate the spread of these shady forces who are using the law and rights afforded by Democracy to advance their anti-democratic agenda.