News: The Somalia Syndrome

A "must read" to understand the role of the US in East Africa (and hey, why not, in most developing countries, and hey, why not, the role of the West in most Third World countries), is the "The Somalia Syndrome". This article was written by Noam Chomsky, an emeritus professor of linguistics and philosophy at MIT.

Some interesting passages:

After that [the US' retreat from Somalia in the 90's], the United States — and much of the rest of the world — basically turned its back on Somalia. (..) But in the summer of 2006, the world started paying attention again after a grass-roots Islamist movement emerged from the clan chaos and seized control of much of the country", leaving only an enclave adjoining Ethiopia in the hands of the Western-recognised Transitional Federal Government.

and

The Ethiopian invasion, with US backing and direct participation, took place immediately after the U.N. Security Council, at U.S. initiative, passed Resolution 1725 for Somalia, which called upon all states "to refrain from action that could provoke or perpetuate violence and violations of human rights, contribute to unnecessary tension and mistrust, endanger the ceasefire and political process, or further damage the humanitarian situation. The invasion by Somalia's historical enemy, Christian Ethiopia, soon elicited a bitter resistance, leading to the present crisis. The official reason for US participation in Ethiopia's overthrow of the Islamist regime is the "war on terror" — which itself has engendered terror, quite apart from its own atrocities. Furthermore, the roots of the Islamic fundamentalist regime trace back to earlier stages of the "war on terror".

For humanitarian news, see The Other World News. Picture courtesy Emergency.com