From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Thu Jul 16 2009 - 04:32:15 EDT
Why Ethiopia must be sanctioned for violations of the Somalia Arms Embargo.
Written by sophia Tesfamariam
Thursday, 16 July 2009
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The Somalia Arms Embargo was put in place to safeguard the lives of innocent
civilians and control the arms flow in Somalia. Unfortunately, despite the
embargo, individuals and groups in neighboring states funneled arms into
Somalia in support of the various warlords allied with them. The minority
regime in Ethiopia remains the main arms embargo violator in the region.
In violation of the Somali arms embargo, the minority regime in Ethiopia
managed to scuttle efforts made by all three Transitional National
Governments (TNG) in Somalia, and continues to arm various opposing factions
in the country. The facts and its record in Somalia are well known to
everyone in the international community, but for whatever reasons, they have
been reluctant to call a spade a spade and take punitive actions against the
belligerent regime. Ethiopia's numerous violations of the Somali Arms
Embargo are well documented. If the US-led international community really
wanted to put an end to the bloodshed in Somalia, it could do so very
easily. Unfortunately, it has decided to play realpolitik whilst the lives
of thousands lay on the line.
As the Security Council mulls over the situation in Somalia, allow me to
present, for the record, Ethiopia's decade long violations in Somalia.
According to the 3 July 2002 Report of the Team of Experts:
In 1997, the Ethiopian military also trained and armed more than 1200
members of the Somali National Front (SNF). According to the SNF Chairman,
Ethiopia also supplied his militia with an assortment of arms and
ammunitions.
In 1999, a brigade of Ethiopian troops, supported by tanks, several
batteries of artillery and attack helicopters, in conjunction with more than
a thousands RRA militia attacked the Somali National Alliance (Hussein
Aideed's) in Baidoa and took control of much of Southern Somalia.
It should be recalled that Ethiopia established, financed and armed the
Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) to oppose the
Transitional National Government of Somalia established in Arta, Djibouti,
in 2001. Ethiopia labeled the Abdul-Kassem Salad Hassan TNG as being a
"terrorist" government and fueled the conflict that eventually led to its
demise.
Ethiopia's violations are too numerous to list. The list of arms presented
by the Panel of Experts in their 25 March 2003 Report can serve as an
example. According to the Panel of Experts, on 16th March 2002, a shipment
of arms was delivered in four trucks escorted by three Ethiopian army
armored vehicles. The cargo included:
The Panel of Experts also reported that Ethiopia had played an "overt
military role in Somalia". The Group said that Ethiopia had also invaded and
occupied parts of Somalia and used various pretexts to meddle in Somalia's
internal affairs.
Emboldened by the financial, diplomatic, political and military support and
shield it received from the US-led international community, the minority
regime in Ethiopia, again in violation of the Somalia arms embargo, financed
and armed a coalition of warlords calling themselves the Alliance for the
Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT).
On 6 June 2006, the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) after a two month long
battle against the US and Ethiopian backed ARPCT, took control of Mogadishu,
the Somali capital. Mogadishu's air and seaports were re-opened for the
first time since 1995. The UIC expanded its control throughout Somalia and
restored peace and security in areas under its control.
Instead of welcoming the peace, stability and security in Somalia after 15
years of anarchy and chaos, refusing to engage the UIC in any meaningful
way, advancing a very negative defamation and vilification campaign against
it, with 25000 armed troops, ground and aerial artillery, armored vehicles,
tanks, helicopters and more, in a clear broad daylight violation of the arms
embargo in Somalia, and in violation of Security Council resolutions 1724
and 1744, the UN Charter and the African Union Charter, Meles Zenawi's
regime invaded and occupied Somalia in order to install and "prop up" the
Transitional National Government of Somalia with Abdulahi Yusuf at the helm.
Ethiopia's invasion and occupation of Somalia has resulted in the greatest
humanitarian disaster in Somali's history:
* Over 17,000 Somali civilians have been killed
* Villages and farms have been pulverized
* Somalia's infrastructures, schools, hospitals, markets and more have
been destroyed
* Over 2 million people have been displaced.
Despite its numerous violations of the arms embargo, undermining of Somali
reconciliation efforts, and its repeated violations of Somalia's sovereignty
and territorial integrity, the minority regime in Ethiopia, the Bush
Administration's "staunch ally" in the "war on terror", has yet to be
sanctioned for its belligerent acts. The decade long presence of Ethiopian
forces in Somalia continues to fuel the conflicts in Somalia. If anyone
should be sanctioned for violating the Somalia arms embargo and for
undermining all peace efforts for Somalia for the last 10 years, it should
be the lawless minority regime in Ethiopia led by the deceptive Meles
Zenawi.
The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!
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