This has been a bad year for Somalia and a bad year for the Somalia front in the War on Terrorism. It is not a glorious account for the United States, the European Union or our supposed friends in the United Nations. A Voice of America report tells a good deal of the sad story.
But the background is even worse that what appears up frront. The Ethiopians sent troops to Somalia (partly at our request) in the expectation that we would back them up with financial support for the U.N. approved transitional government, as well at the Ethiopians themselves. If there has been support, it has been too little. Now the Ethiopians are going home, assuming that they can fight their way out of the country.
The long internecine political strife between President Yusuf and his prime ministers is partly tribal, but also partly the consequence of inadequate funds with which to pay bureaucrats and the military, let alone provide help for the general population. Don't be surprised if allies break up internally when stressed out. Mr. Yusuf's return to relatively calm Puntland is not a sign of peace ahead, but a sign of general political and military failure.
Somalia is in a critical location in the Middle East. It has oil. It is close to shipping lanes, as the pirates have shown us. It has attracted Bin Laden supporters. There are Somalis in the United States--Minneapolis, Seattle, Cleveland, etc.--raising money for BIn Laden (I am told) and Somali young men who have resided in the U. S. who have returned to Somalia to fight on the terrorists' side.
There has been very little, if any, MSM coverage of all this (except for the attacks of the pirates), even though Somalia has the markings of a prospective debacle for the United States and our allies in the months ahead. We are so preoccupied with the economy, the Israel/Palestine conflict, Iraq and Afghanistan that we seem unwilling to face the facts in Somalia. They are facts, nonetheless. They could determine a foreign policy catastrophe for the Obama Administration in 2009.
