Who is to Blame for the Famine in Niger?

There is currently a famine in the African country of Niger that threatens to kill millions of people, but as attention now spotlights the mounting disaster the question still remains, who is to blame for the lack of leadership surrounding food security in Niger and the Sahel region in general?

For starters we can point the finger directly at a hand full of African political leaders that have spent millions of dollars in public resources (financial and technical) on military affairs as part of a NATO-led "war on terror" in the Sahel at the expense of people's needs. In recent years, the militarization of Africa has diverted attention away from the most important on going war in the continent, the war against poverty. For all of the propaganda about the threat of Al-Qaeda to civilian lives in Africa, there has never been and can never be another force more lethal than hunger. The failure of Africa's political leadership to provide for the most basic necessities of people in a continent rich in oil and mineral resources is absolutely criminal. In the 21st century, with all of the numerous technological and scientific advancements available to humanity, it is ridiculous that millions of people can die from a lack of something as fundamental as food.

What is even worse, is that the African Union can mobilize thousands of troops to fight a civil war in Somalia, indiscriminately killing civilians, but Niger is forced to look toward the West to send food aid to those on the verge of starvation. If ever there were a time for real progressive leadership in Africa, now is it.

African Union Reaches the Height of Stupidity in Somalia

How in the hell did the African Union get caught in a U.S. created quagmire in Somalia? Was this the conception of a united Africa that Kwame Nkrumah spoke about in the early days of the then Organization of African Unity? When will African leaders tire of endless war and bloodshed? Maybe when the U.S. money and guns stop flowing.

The civil war in Somalia is not a war of necessity or an existential battle between good and evil but is the indiscriminate killing of Somali people by outsiders and a government in Mogadishu seen as illegitimate by the majority of the Somali people. Following a shocking suicide bombing by a Somalia insurgent group in Uganda during the World Cup Finals game, Guinea in West Africa has promised to send some of its troops into this mess. Isn't this the same military responsible for conducting a coup then raping and killing innocent Guineans in 2009? A perfect fit for the daily murder and destruction being rained on the Somali people day after day.

The U.S. military claims that the war in Somalia is a defensive action against Al-Qaeda Islamists. And the African Union has taken the bait (plus billions of dollars in U.S. weapons and cash). But a researcher at the the Council on Foreign Relations did an assessment of U.S. intelligence in 2007, that Somalia was actually under no threat whatsoever from foreign jihadist movements or from foreign terrorist groups. According to the intelligence reports at the time, Al-Qaeda's experience recruiting in Somalia was so terrible that U.S. intelligence basically said, "There's no way they can operate there." So what happened?

In 2006, a coalition of Somali leaders defeated US-backed warlords and established peace in the capital of Mogadishu for the first time in decades. The United States however, had other plans and exaggerated the threat of Al-Qaeda in order to build public support for an orchestrated Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. Ethiopia and U.S. special forces led warlords in the violent removal of the moderate Islamist Somali government and worked to create civil war in Somalia. Thousands of of civilians including women and children were murdered sometimes targeted in their homes, schools and places of worship by the U.S.-instigated civil war. The violence of a newly installed regime of warlords in Somalia continued and eventually led to hardline factions with ties to other militias fighting in Afghanistan and Yemen resisting foreign occupation using terrorist tactics to fight back.

What the African Union fails to realize is that the most effective role that body can play in Somalia is as mediator between factions. Instead, the African Union has chosen to fight a war in defense of a government of mostly U.S.-backed warlords who have been the central impediment to peace in Somalia for several decades. The Wall Street Journal wrote a piece today documenting the problem African Union forces face as they shell civilians in Somalia and further feed the cynicism about external interference in the country. The African Union lead by Uganda has to be about the most gullible or greedy leaders on the planet.

Note: You can read a detailed breakdown here of how the bumbling idiots in the U.S. military created Islamic extremism in Somalia through its own interference and has facilitated a conflict that could send the whole region up in flames.

War and Famine, Peace and Milk: Avoiding Another Missed Opportunity in Somalia

The first half of the title of this post is a traditional Somali proverb, which I find particularly moving in the context of contemporary events in the eastern Horn of Africa. The longer the decades old conflict between various factions continues in Somalia, the more difficult a reversal of the tremendous human suffering, disease and hunger there becomes.

New ideas and fresh solutions are hard to come by, but it is crystal clear that endless war is not the answer to the devastating circumstances in which the Somali people now live. For advocates of peace and development, its time to let the US military know a middle-east style "war on terror" is unacceptable in east Africa.

The chain of events which led to this year's turmoil is long and can be difficult to untangle. BBC news has a fairly accurate time line of the major events in Somali history over the centuries. However, regardless as to how Somalia arrived at this point, the important thing now is turning the corner. So far, so bad.

Whatever their intentions for doing so, the US military's mobilization of new weapons armaments to send to the Somali government is a failed strategy---one that in the past has brought terrible consequences for the people. The US government's attempts to prevent a potential hot bed for future acts of extremism are doomed to fail when they involve further militarization of the conflict.

There has been a wealth of evidence that supporters of the rebel group Al-Shabaab (the youth) are motivated by a strong hatred of foreign intervention, and a desire for order and stability. Until now, the actions of the United States and other foreign actors has merely fed the flames, bringing more instability and chaos. Human Rights Watch and other international observers have accused Ethiopian, Somali and African Union forces of committing war crimes on innocent civilians since the chaos reignited in 2006.

Now, like a self-fulfilled prophecy, perhaps hundreds of foreign fighters under a proclaimed banner of Islam are entering Somalia to join Al-Shabaab. As the African Union prepares for its July summit in Libya, they should go fully aware of the long list of violent responses to Somalia's political crisis that have failed before. If by chance they decide to follow the example of the US military's recent actions, they risk any potential hope of lasting peace and development. Militarization of the conflict is not the answer.

Somali Pirates Strike Again

"Because I do it with one small ship, I am called a terrorist. You do it with a whole fleet and are called an emperor."
~A pirate, from St. Augustine's "City of God"

Everybody loves to root for the underdog---well, almost everybody. Today, the New York Times reported that Somali pirates commandeered a United States-flagged container ship with 20 American crew members off the coast of Somalia. The ship owners say the containers were carrying aid supplies to Kenya.

Today's takeover was the sixth commercial ship commandeered by pirates this week off the Horn of Africa. The failed attempts of technologically advanced foreign naval warships to destroy the pirates only deepen the mythology.

Somalia pirates are not altogether much different than other Somali people grappling with chronic poverty and violent conflict. The infamous pirates are comprised of bunch of 20-30 years olds looking for adventure, money, and goods they can bring back home.

Residents told the BBC, Somali pirates are received as rock stars back home.

"They wed the most beautiful girls; they are building big houses; they have new cars; new guns"

Sounds like something out of a rap song. Wait a minute...



In the final analysis, Somalia's pirates represent a resistance to foreign domination and will continue to gain widespread support among the people of Somalia and elsewhere.