Somalia

The Federal Reserve brought down the lending rate to 4.5%. The price of oil went up to over $4 a barrel. This is something that every American will feel. There is also a housing crisis. The most severe interest cut situation is in Las Vegas, where 30,000 houses on the market are unsold. This rate cut means that bankers can pass along lower rates to small business owners that hurt by this. There is an ongoing fear that this housing crisis could send the US into recession. Other viewpoints state that it is the rising cost of oil and food, combined with the weakening dollar that is seen as equally worrisome. The death penalty was suspended to hold off on lethal injection because they are curious as to whether the sequence of the three chemicals used cause intense pain and could be considered unconstitutional. Hillary Clinton was examined and her views on giving drivers licenses to illegal aliens. Tropical storm Noel left 60 people dead in the Caribbean and is headed to the Bahamas next. There was a report on how lifestyle can affect chances of cancer. Smoking and obesity were the two main factors. The stocks plunged because of the ominous signs out there for some big financial firms. The DOW fell 362.14, NASDAQ fell 64.29, and S&P fell 40.94. The economy is looking down as energy prices are surging, and housing prices are falling; American consumers are at risk. The car industry is also discussed because they are facing large job-cuts. Chrysler is one example and has laid off 10,000 workers, meaning that 1 out of 3 will lose their jobs. There was also a topic dealing with the fight over the president’s attorney general nominee, judge Mukasey. His stance was looking up until he hedged an answer on torture, which put his nomination in doubt. Hillary Clinton describes fighting in an “all boys club” and is accused for playing the “female card”. Obama is trying to build his foreign policy platform by saying he will meet with Iran’s leaders and offer them a bargain of a non-aggression pact. There was also coverage on a story about a survivor of a steam pipe explosion.
Somalia was, unfortunately, not covered in the news that I viewed. I think that the news could have omitted certain topics in order to cover my topic. I think that the story about the survivor of the pipe-explosion is unnecessary because it is not something that Americans need to really know about. It is not educational information of what is going around in the world, and it has already happened. I also think that the health news about how smoking is a huge cause of cancer is unnecessary because my guess is that even the most mass-minded American knows about that. I think that they could have cut some of these topics and maybe talked about how the Prime Minister of Somalia resigned. They could also have touched on the general topic of how war-torn Somalia is in general, because I think that a lot of Americans don’t know what is really going on there, and I know I had no idea until I researched this topic.

There was interesting news from the London, "Daily Telegraph", which discussed that the Horn of Africa is a main haven for al-Qa'eda members and followers to launch their attacks. This report went on to inform that of the two attempted bomb attacks on London in 2005, all of the convicted participants were from the Horn, and two were from Somalia. According to this article the American embassy based in Somalia warned that the Islamists may be planning an attack on Kenya. The reasoning behind this was that many tourists and embassies inhabit Kenya, and their main target is Westerners. It was also stated that over the past several months Somali was basically become a magnet to different terrorist groups around the world. The Ethiopian minister made the frightening statement that "Al-Qa'eda was there and all sorts of international jihadists were flocking to Somalia. There were terrorists who came from many different parts of the world.'' (I found this to be extremely interesting as a whole because, if you don't mind me inserting my naive opinions, I really didn't know alot about the conflict in Somalia before reading about it. I assumed that the conflict was pretty secluded and between one country and another. Maybe this is due to the lack of information that our country provides to us, or maybe it is due to my own failure to submerse myself in the issue. The fact that Somalia is a heavy base to the Al-Qa'eda, however makes me realize that this is VERY much an international problem because the US itself has been effected by a devastating terrorist attack that had ties with the same group.)
In further news, the harassment of journalists continues and the TFG has been failing to protect their courageous rights, says an article by Africa News on October 24. The killing of eight journalists was not properly investigated and media houses have been shut down recently. Both of these occurrences have stunted the independent news reporting in Somalia. Somali minister of information Madobe Nuunow Mohamed responded with defense saying that these difficulties were faced by all Somalis and were caused by general insecurities. He stated, "We fully support a free and vibrant private media," the minister told IRIN on 24 October. "There is no policy of harassment of the media. Our charter [interim constitution] guarantees free media and freedom of expression."
Also, according to LA Times on October 24th the U.N. Food Aid official Idris Osman was released on Tuesday, however, the WFP has been facing piracy off the Somali coast. Earlier this week, the WFP came under attack by two speedboats off the Somali port of Brava. The WFP ships were unharmed, and unloaded 7,000 tons of food, however the WFP remains extremely concerned according to Africa News.  

Throughout the past week Somalia has faced even more unstable hardships. One of the heaviest battles of the past couple of months took place in Bakara Bazaar in Mogadishu on Friday the 19th. The fighting was so intense that businesses were shut down for the day. The number of casualties is not known at the moment.
Perhaps the heaviest news of the week was that on Wednesday, dozens of armed governmental officials raided UN headquarters and arrested the World Food Program's top representative. The WFD shut down food distribution as a result of this occurrence. According to ABC Premium News in Australia, there has been a considerable amount of rising tension between the Somalia government and the UN, and the governmental forces are attempting to take hold of the UN's food distribution. As quoted by WFP spokesman in Nairobi, Marcus Prior, "It's an action which violates international law and international law also bars authorities from entering UN premises without prior UN permission which was not given in this case," he said.
"So we are doing everything we can to try and ascertain exactly why our staff member has been detained and to work for his speedy release."
The situation is becoming increasingly severe for the civilians in Somalia as well. According to our own Chicago Tribune on October 18th starvation is a huge issue recently as the price of rice in Mogadishu has just doubled. Residents are being threatened by false phone calls, in which the shooters hide outside of their house waiting to assassinate them. Most people do not answer unknown phone calls out of fear of this occurring. This article also stated issues of journalists being prosecuted for political reasons, which several other articles mentioned in the past week. BBC News reported today that a news broadcaster for Shabeele News in Somalia was shot dead, and Africa News state that three journalists for Radio Garowe in Puntlant were just arrested although the reason is unknown as of now.
As for US involvement, it was stated by The Monitor on October 16th that President Bush has invited President Yoweri Museveni of the Republic of Uganda to the Whitehouse on October 30th to discuss several issues, one of them being the Uganda-led peace mission to Somalia.
The conflict between Somaliland and Puntland administrations continue, as reported in BBC, and many are left injured and wounded including a Somaliland senior army officer.

Violence continues in Somalia, according to Africa News posted on Sunday, October 7. Rebel forces have killed at least 10 individuals, one being of the army and two government officials in the latest attacks in Mogadishu. There are also reports of two women being killed for having relations with Ethiopian forces.
The north is also becoming unsteady grounds when a fight broke out between Somaliland and Puntlant. Somalia as a whole is becoming more unstable, according to an article from The Economist.
According to BBC Monitoring Africa-Political Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring, on October, the speaker on parliament of the TFG warned that it is dangerous to take sides in the division of the TFG president and prime minister. He believes that a lot of the reason Somalia is facing destruction and falling behind in the world is the refusal to obey laws and or not taking them seriously.
As of October 5, according to Africa News, the TFG carried out the suggestions on “political inclusion” given to them by the National Reconciliation Congress. This action is thought to be a positive one according to UN Special Representative Ahmedou Ould-Abdalla. He stated that the move “should pave the way for greater inclusion of Somalia from a larger political spectrum”. He is encouraging the TFG to advance this decision as much as possible because he feels it will open doors for Somalis to discuss their crucial situation in and out of the country.
Africa News stated that Uganda has sent 1,500 troops to Somalia to assist in negotiating peace between TFG and Islamists. Uganda, however, is very disappointed by the lack of support from other countries and has considered withdrawing its troops.
On October 7, according to Africa News, an attack was made on Ugandan peacekeepers in Mogadishu. No one was killed or injured in the double bomb explosion. The TFG took precautions to guard the safety of the peacekeepers and urged them to not be alarmed because these attacks were expected. It is unknown who the attackers are at this point in time, however, they are most likely the same groups who have been planting explosives in the capitol.

In the battle of Jowhar, Islamists gained control of all of Southern Somalia with the exception of Baidoa, which holds the weak transitional government.
Peace keepers from Uganda and Sudan were planning to confront Islamic militia, however, the Islamists continued to reject foreign troops.
It is feared that Somalia as a country would suffer under strict Islamic rule because they are only accustomed to it in a moderate degree. Omar Jamal, director of the Somali Justice and Advocacy Center in St. Paul, a center for refugee Somalis, fears that they will attempt to develop a Tabliban-style government, lacking in freedoms of press, voting, and a justifiable legal system.
In response to whether or not the US entered, I found in my readings that US military forces became apparent when a gunship attacked the Islamic Extremists in Hayi ( located in southern Somalia) in January. The US was particularly concerned in capturing three possible extremists who were involved in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. This is not to say that these are the only individuals that the US is after because there is concern that extremists from the middle east have also entered Somalia.

 

As of April 22, the crisis in Somalia became so severe that 320,000 civilians fled Mogadishu as a result of severe fighting that broke out in February. Because Somalia has lacked a central government for 16 years, the UN believes they are headed downhill into their worst crisis ever. The death toll of civilians within the past month that this article was written soared past 1,000. Most of these victims are caught between the shelling of rebel forces and government troops. Because of the severity of this warfare, countless victims are unable to be brought to the hospitals. Just recently, Eritrea pulled out of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (an organization which included Kenya, Uganda, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea, and aimed to negotiate peace in Somalia), which caused a stir amongst Ethiopian forces because they had previously suspected ties between Eritrea and the Islamists. Also, Eritrea and Ethiopia, as I explained in previous entries, have been rivals and have fought a border war in the past. It is feared that Somalia will host the rivalry of the two countries in which Ethiopia will support the weak transitional government, and Eritrea will back the insurgents. Somalia is said, by transitional Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, to continue fighting until the terrorist forces of the Al Qaeda. According to Gedi, the war is two-sided. He stated, “''The battle is clearly between terrorists linked to Al Qaeda and the government supported by Ethiopian and A.U. troops.'' Some disagree with this statement and believe that the insurgency has many sides. Witnesses describe some of the attackers to be Somali nationalists who profit off of the lack of government, and radical Islamists.

August 31, the US sent troops to Somalia. It was thought by the UN that Somalia could achieve peace if it had international support within it affairs. The US also stated the importance of other African peacekeepers to be present in Somalia in order for Ethiopian troops to withdraw.

The creation of Somalia occured in the year 1960 when British and Italian colonies fused. In 1977, Siad Barre( former socialist leader) who had formed close relations with the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) attempted to take hold of an Ethiopian boundary called Ogaden, however he failed due to the Soviet and Cuban support of Ethiopia. After the war over Ogaden, Somalia turned to U.S. for support and discarded their Socialist attitude. Two years later the U.S. was given a military base in Berbera (northwest Somalia, and assisted Somalia when it was invaded by Ethiopian forces in 1982. Siad Barre was overthrown by conflicting regions in 1991. There was disagreement on who would become the new leader, and as a result, violent warfare began.
An attempt to settle the combat, Abdulkassim Salat Hassan was assigned the transitional government president in 2000. This resulted in very little improvement. Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed was named president in 2004 for a five year contract. The Transitional Government aims to establish an undeviating government following the elections of 2009. 

The severe situation of conflict in present day Somalia began after the downfall of leader, Siad Barre and his repressive regime. After his loss of power, there was an effort to reinstate him to his former position. An internal, violent, crisis began. Somalia divided into several independent accumulations as a result of the governmental crisis. These divisions consisted of: Puntland, Somaliland, Jubaland, and Galmudug. The UN intervened in 1992 and formed UNITAF to aid with famine, and to assist with peace in Somalia. They pulled out in 1995 due to high casualty rates after the battles in Mogadishu. There has been scrutiny directed to the reason why the Bush Administration decided to get involved. Some believe that it was not a pure act of humanitarianism, but rather to advance in access to oil reserves.
The Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism was formed in 2006, and supported by the U.S. C.I.A., which caused controversy in the Somali capitol. The alliance was aimed against the increasing power of the Islamic Courts Union. The ICU captured Mogadishu in the second battle, and gain power over the ARPCT. Warfare between the ICU and the divisions of Somalia, also including the TFG(transitional federal government) began. The ICU also formed an alliance with Ethiopia's greatest rival, Eritrea.
Ethiopia intervened when the ICU attempted to drive them out of Somalia, however, the ICU failed and withdrew to Mogadishu. Leaders of the ICU abandoned their title after the battle of Jowhar on December 27.
The U.S. intervened yet again in attempt to capture Al Qaeda members amongst the ICU. 

Dr. Weinstein,
Hi my name is Jill Olchawa, my topic of discussion is Somalia.  My E-mail address is jolchawa@students.depaul.edu