From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun Jun 27 2010 - 14:48:34 EDT
US urged to cut lifeline to Somalia's struggling TFG
By KEVIN J KELLY
Bottom of Form
Posted Monday, June 28 2010 at 00:00
Opinion among American experts on Somalia appears to have turned decisively
against continued US support for the Transitional Federal Government (TFG).
As an alternative, some analysts are urging the Obama administration to
initiate dialogue with Al-Shabaab, the Islamist insurgency that controls
much of Somalia.
But key US policymakers still regard such a move as anathema because of
Shabaab's links to Osama bin Laden's Al Qa'ida network, which is blamed for
the attack on the United States in 2001.
And despite their own frustrations with the TFG, the White House and the
State Department do not seem ready to abandon the entity they regard as the
only potentially viable US partner in Somalia.
The United States has made a considerable investment in the TFG in the form
of tonnes of weaponry, millions of dollars of aid, and help in training its
army and police.
Influential figures in the US Congress who have supported the TFG are
meanwhile expressing dismay over reports that it has recruited thousands of
child soldiers.
The lawmakers note that the United States may in effect be supporting this
practice through the assistance it has provided to the TFG's military units.
At the same time, there is little enthusiasm in Washington for Kenya's call
for the upgrading and expansion of the African Union military unit in
Somalia (Amisom).
A source in the US Congress says it is unlikely that either the Obama
administration or the United Nations will consent to the proposal to
transform Amisom into a larger UN-administered force.
This source says the US has not been able to coax African states into
supplying the 8,000 troops envisioned for Amisom, which currently consists
of about 5,000 soldiers from Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti.
And countries outside the continent have shown no interest in volunteering
troops for UN military deployment in Somalia.
Disdain for the TFG's performance was sharply expressed at a recent session
of the US House of Representatives' Africa subcommittee.
Ken Menkhaus, regarded as one of the foremost Somalia scholars in the United
States, told the panel that continued support for the TFG will undermine US
security.
Backing for the TFG has had "the effect of prolonging political conditions
within which a radical Islamist insurgency has thrived," Prof Menkhaus said.
There is a greater danger of terrorist attacks by Somalia-based militants
today than in 2004 when the TFG was formed, he added.
"It is very possible that at some point an Al-Shabaab cell could opt to
launch a terrorist attack in Kenya or elsewhere," Prof Menkhaus warned.
Calling the TFG "a government on paper only," he said it has "utterly
failed" to broaden its ranks and to extend its writ beyond a few
neighbourhoods in Mogadishu.
"It has done nothing to improve the security of its citizens or provide them
access to basic services," Prof Menkhaus continued.
"And it has not proven to be a useful partner for external states seeking to
monitor and reduce the security threats emanating from Somalia."
Most of the thousands of TFG troops trained and armed through US assistance
have deserted or defected to Al-Shabaab, he added.
"The uncontrolled, predatory behaviour of the TFG's police force against the
civilian population has driven some Somalis to support Al-Shabaab out of
fear and anger," Prof Menkhaus said.
"The corruption and extortion TFG officials have engaged in have deeply
alienated the Somali business community, a potentially important source of
political moderation and pragmatism in the country," he said.
Prof Menkhaus' comments follow a report in March for the Council on Foreign
Relations, an influential Washington-based NGO, that called for
"constructive disengagement" from the TFG.
The report's author, Bronwyn Bruton, suggested that the Obama administration
should accept Al-Shabaab rule in Somalia in exchange for guarantees that it
will refrain from "both regional aggression and support for international
jihad.
Ted Dagne, a Somalia expert with the US Congressional Research Service, has
suggested that the international community should consider engagement with
Al-Shabaab.
Prof Menkhaus took the same position at the recent Africa subcommittee
hearing, saying "the US and other donor states should actively pursue a
policy of diversification in Somalia, working pragmatically with whatever
local authorities they identify on the ground who are relatively legitimate,
powerful and accountable to their communities."
Many Islamist fighters could be weaned from the movement "if the US
government is flexible and pragmatic enough to engage parts of Al-Shabaab in
quiet dialogue," Prof Menkhaus declared.
The need for a more pragmatic US approach was also emphasised by Prof J
Peter Pham, another Somalia expert who serves as senior vice-president of
the National Committee on American Foreign Policy.
"If you want to engage the forces capable of co-operating, you will need to
deal with Somaliland, Puntland and any other entity which emerged from the
wreckage of the failed Somali state," Prof Pham told The EastAfrican.
Somali government soldiers run during a drill directed by European
Union and Ugandan soldiers in the western Ugandan Army base of Bihanga on
May 26, 2010. Photo/AFP
Somali government soldiers run during a drill directed by European Union and
Ugandan soldiers in the western Ugandan Army base of Bihanga on May 26,
2010. Photo/AFP
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