Above: Ethiopian soldiers on a truck following a farewell
ceremony which took place in the presidential palace,
Mogadishu, Somalia, Tuesday. (Farah Abdi Warsameh / AP)
After Ethiopia Exit, What Next for Somalia?
TIME
By Alex Perry
Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009
The withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from Somalia is a gamble not unlike America’s planned drawdown from Iraq.
The Ethiopians, with U.S. assistance, invaded to topple an Islamist movement that controlled Mogadishu, and had been sheltering a handful of al-Qaeda operatives. Osama bin Laden’s movement killed more than 200 people when they attacked two U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and several small groups of U.S. special operations soldiers accompanied the Ethiopians in the hope that the invasion would flush local operatives out into the open. The Ethiopians drove out the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), but quickly became the target of the Islamist Shabaab insurgency that has raged ever since. Having gone in to provide a solution, the Ethiopian presence quickly became a new problem — and a coalition of clan warlords the Ethiopians were meant to install as a government is in disarray. By ending their occupation, the Ethiopians are hoping to deprive the insurgency of one of the grievances around which it rallies support, but it’s uncertain who will wield power in their wake. (See pictures of Ethiopia’s harvest of hunger.) Read More at TIME.com
The Ethiopians left Somalia not because they are unable to stabilize but because they are defeated and humiliated by the Somali people. Second the Ethiopians left Somalia because the coming US administration will stop supporting them and Ethiopia will be primarily responsible for the crime committed by its military forces in Somalia. Therefore the Ethiopian and US G.Bush administration failed to stabilize Somalia. Both the US and Ethiopian forces are defeated by strong Somalian opposition.
After 18 years of anarchy, it should have been clear to anyone that a stable Somali government (even an imperfect one)would have been better than chaos. And it would have been better to try to gradually bring about a “more perfect union” that fairly addresses the desires and needs of all Somalis. Ethiopia’s intervention (no matter how it came about (invited/uninvited)seemed to have created a stable state — albeit for a very short time. However, Somalia thus far has not been fortunate enough to find citizens that are concerned about the longer-term and mutual betterment of all its citizen. Instead, we seem to hear loudly from radical militants (of all sorts) and their self-aggrandizing “allies” (or should we call them misfits?) that are only happy in chaos. Anyone can claim that the Somalis defeated the Americans in the early nineties — just because the Americans left Somalia. But if we truly see what happened since then, was that really a win? Why are we always blinded by unbridled ambitions, extreme hate, and “disillusioned realities”?
I completely agree with the above post by “Observer” but would like to add that I truly hope that Somalia becomes a stable and democratic country ruled by saliently cogent laws and wise leaders for the betterment of all Somalis. As for those people of “Hagos” (as above) likeness: I think that if their red-eyed blind hatred comes into focus they will see that it is without amelioration to either raise a fist or wave goodbye at Ethiopia if you care about the future East Africa and Somalia in particular.
I bless both Ethiopia and Somalia without diminution of either.