Word: somalia
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...military's division of labor, may be headed by Gen. William "Kip" Ward, a respected officer who is the Army's only four-star African-American general. Ward has boots-on-the-ground experience in Africa: he was a commander during the U.S.'s ill-fated mission in Somalia in 1993 and also served as a military representative in Egypt in 1998. Ward is currently the deputy commander at European Command, and as such oversees U.S. military relations with 43 African countries...
When Islamic clerics captured Somalia?s capital Mogadishu last month, it seemed to offer some hope for peace in the war-torn Horn of Africa country. Somalia has had no central government for 15 years, and the country was a patchwork of fiefdoms run by murderous warlords. The rise of the Islamic Courts Union worried the U.S., which says the group has ties to Al-Qaeda and harbors known terrorists, but others saw opportunity: perhaps the Islamists could finally end the bloodshed and bring a functioning government to Somalia...
...wouldn?t be the first time the Ethiopians have taken on Somali Islamists. In late 1996, Ethiopian troops crossed the border into Somalia to take out a group called al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI), which had connections to Al-Qaeda and aimed to remake the lawless Horn of Africa country as a hardline Islamic state. At that stage, though, the group had only a few hundred fighters, and Ethiopia, which claimed AIAI operatives had tried to kill Ethiopia?s transport minister and had attacked hotels in Addis Ababa, crushed the Islamic group within months. But the Islamists regrouped and adopted...
...Ethiopia fears that a powerful Islamic regime in Somalia (or any powerful regime in Somalia for that matter) will threaten its borders and may link up with anti-Addis Islamic groups in the Ethiopian area of Ogaden. With its superior troop numbers and military hardware (including a small number of planes), Ethiopia is likely to win any battle between the two forces. But war could leave Somalia even more broken than it already is. John Prendergast, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group and an Africa specialist in the Clinton administration, says a conflict would likely end the transitional...
...There is still hope that the Islamists and transitional government will meet and come to some accommodation. ?The place to deal with differences is at the negotiating table,? Kofi Annan?s Special Representative for Somalia, Fran?ois Lons?ny Fall, said last week. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer told journalists by video-conference that the U.S. has told Ethiopia ?not to get drawn into this provocation.? She said the U.S. hopes that moderates within the Islamic Courts Union will pull back the Islamic militias and return to talks. ?If there was a significant engagement from the region...