Word: somalia
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...lightning advance, Ethiopian troops have fought Somalia's Islamist militias to within 50 miles of the Somali capital Mogadishu and declared they are preparing for a final attack on the city. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said 1,000 people have been killed and 3,000 wounded. The United Nations says 35,000 refugees have crossed into Kenya to escape the fighting and has suspended aid to 2 million Somalis. It has warned of a bloodbath should Ethiopia try to occupy the capital, and humanitarian agencies have called for a ceasefire. But the U.S. has signaled its tacit support...
...Islamists' takeover is a parable of the unintended consequences of the U.S.'s war on terrorism. After Sept. 11, the U.S. intelligence community, acting on concerns that Somalia's lawlessness could be exploited by al-Qaeda, initiated the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counterterrorism, a covert program that funneled aid to warlords in return for their assistance in capturing suspected terrorists. One of those warlords approached by U.S. operatives was Osman Hassan Ali Atto. Once a top financier of warlord Aidid--Atto was captured just a week before the downing of the Black Hawks...
...other warlords were. Payments totaling several hundred thousand dollars were funneled to various militia groups, according to U.N. sources. The program was an open secret in Somalia and among the African diplomatic corps, but its only success was to bolster support for the Islamic Courts among a population weary of anarchy and opposed to foreign meddling. "It was a spectacular disaster," says John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group. "Not only were the militia leaders routed, but the U.S. and CIA support for these militias led to strengthened support for the Islamic Courts...
...ready to be colonized again by any sort of troops in the world." Without those peacekeepers, however, the two sides seem destined to clash. A face-off would surely drag Ethiopia and Eritrea into a proxy--if not outright--war. The Islamists' stated aim to unite all of Somalia is believed to include the secular breakaway territories of Puntland and Somaliland, as well as portions of Kenya and Ethiopia. Once fighting has begun, there's little to prevent Somalia from becoming a conflict that could engulf the Horn of Africa, cause horrific loss of life and create the continent...
...Turkey, Egypt, Russia, Syria, Kosovo, Bosnia and Uzbekistan, wrote that "jihad ... means struggle, and specifically struggle in the way of God. This struggle may take many forms, including the use of force." The signers delicately criticized some acts of Muslim terrorism, such as the killing of a nun in Somalia, but failed to address the relationship between religion and politics in Islam, or whether the "maintenance of sovereignty" includes, as radical jihadists claim, the violent reconquest of Western lands that were once Muslim. Whether out of conviction or fear of being targeted by terrorists, the 38 did not frontally reject...