From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Jun 25 2009 - 05:24:00 EDT
U.S. Sends Weapons to Help Somali Government Repel Rebels Tied to Al-Qaeda
By Stephanie McCrummen
<http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/articles/stephanie+mccrummen/>
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The United States has sent a shipment of weapons and ammunition to the
government of Somalia, according to a U.S. official who said the move
signals the Obama administration's desire to thwart a takeover of the Horn
of Africa nation by Islamist rebels with alleged ties to al-Qaeda.
The shipment arrived in the capital, Mogadishu, this month, according to the
official, who is helping craft a new U.S. policy on Somalia and spoke on the
condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
"A decision was made at the highest level to ensure the government does not
fall and that everything is done to strengthen government security forces to
counter the rebels," the official said.
Still, the situation in the volatile nation continues to deteriorate.
Somalia's government issued an urgent plea last weekend for foreign troops
as the heaviest fighting in months has engulfed the capital and other
regions, killing more than 200 people, including the minister for internal
security and the police chief. Fighting since early May has displaced more
than 120,000 people, with scores of legislators also fleeing the country,
paralyzing parliament.
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"We ask for and welcome any troops that can save this country from
international terrorists," said Nur Ali Adan, the government's minister of
religious affairs, echoing an appeal from the parliament speaker for Kenya,
Djibouti, Ethiopia and Yemen to send troops.
The government has also tried to rally other foreign support, especially
from the United States, which has long worried that Somalia could become a
base for al-Qaeda to launch terrorist attacks such as the 1998 bombings of
the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
U.S. and Somali officials say that possibly hundreds of fighters from
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l> Afghanistan,
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Pakistan and other nations are fighting alongside the Islamist rebel group
known as al-Shabab, which the United States has designated a terrorist
group. U.S. officials have accused Eritrea of sending weapons to the rebels,
who have taken over much of Mogadishu and southern Somalia.
Besides sending weapons, the United States recently committed $10 million to
help revive the Somali army and the police, who in the 1970s were one of the
best-trained forces on the continent but collapsed when the last central
government fell in 1991. The United States has been sharing intelligence
with the government, according to the U.S. official, and a group of Somali
political leaders from various regions of the country have been invited to
Washington to develop a strategy for fighting the rebels.
"U.S. support is very, very firm," said the Somali foreign minister, Mohamed
Omaar, speaking by telephone during a recent visit to Washington. "They are
very clear that they are in support of this government politically,
financially, diplomatically."
The Obama administration's approach is different in many respects from that
of the Bush administration, which focused almost exclusively on targeting
several suspects in the embassy bombings and other rebel leaders with
alleged al-Qaeda ties.
The Bush administration paid a group of notorious Somali warlords to hunt
terrorism suspects. But the policy backfired, giving rise to a diverse
Islamist movement, including al-Shabab, which gained popularity by defeating
the hated warlords. The Bush administration then tried backing an Ethiopian
invasion in 2006 to overthrow the Islamists and install a transitional
government, a move that triggered the al-Shabab rebellion that continues
today. The Bush administration conducted airstrikes targeting al-Qaeda
suspects, but only one of those targeted was ever confirmed killed.
Meanwhile, the rebels continued to advance across southern Somalia and
eventually helped force the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops this year.
To cut off the rebels' weapons and supplies, the United States has stepped
up pressure on Eritrea, and foreign warships patrolling Somali waters to
combat piracy have begun blocking cargo ships heading to the rebel-held port
of Kismaayo in southern Somalia.
African diplomats have also proposed a no-fly zone over Somalia to prevent
weapons from being flown in from Eritrea to the rebels, but it is unclear
whether that idea will gather necessary support at the United Nations.
A special correspondent in Mogadishu contributed to this report.
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