Bottom Line Up Front
Several years ago I had been flown to the Horn of Africa as an analyst focused on Somalia. I said it then, have said it for the years since, and will say it continually: The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and al-Shabaab conflict together are the grandest and most successfull money making scheme in the history of mankind. Any perceived gains by the TFG are most assuredly orchestrated to "prove" their stability and be used as collateral for more money. Whether or not the TFG can attain the milestones set by the UN it will bilk donors. Should they not be able to actually accomplish the security goals, the tfg will undoubtedly fall back on its tried and true method of guilting money from international donors. Look for statements like "the world has turned its back on the people of Somalia" and "If we are to succeed, as a global community, other nations MUST show their commitment to us" also "Since we are muslim you are now discriminating against us". The UN will certainly add Somalia to its ever growing list of failed operations.
Several years ago I had been flown to the Horn of Africa as an analyst focused on Somalia. I said it then, have said it for the years since, and will say it continually: The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and al-Shabaab conflict together are the grandest and most successfull money making scheme in the history of mankind. Any perceived gains by the TFG are most assuredly orchestrated to "prove" their stability and be used as collateral for more money. Whether or not the TFG can attain the milestones set by the UN it will bilk donors. Should they not be able to actually accomplish the security goals, the tfg will undoubtedly fall back on its tried and true method of guilting money from international donors. Look for statements like "the world has turned its back on the people of Somalia" and "If we are to succeed, as a global community, other nations MUST show their commitment to us" also "Since we are muslim you are now discriminating against us". The UN will certainly add Somalia to its ever growing list of failed operations.
Somalia pleads for extra troops to UN
(AFP) – 17 hours ago
UNITED NATIONS — Somalia's prime minister on Wednesday pleaded with the UN Security Council to send more peacekeepers to help his beleaguered government fight Islamist militants.
Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, the UN envoy to Somalia and top African envoys all called for extra military resources to secure the capital Mogadishu, where hundreds of thousands of people have sought refuge from a devastating drought that has already killed tens of thousands.
Never mind the thousands killed by decades of fighting on religious, ideologic, and personal differences.
About 9,000 troops from Burundi and Uganda make up an African Union force that protects the transitional government against Shebab insurgents, who recently abandoned positions in Mogadishu.
Under its UN mandate the force can be up to 12,000 troops and the African Union has stepped up calls for the extra soldiers to be found and for the mandate to allow up to 20,000 troops in Somalia.
The extra 3,000 troops are "urgently needed to prevent a security vacuum in the areas of Mogadishu vacated by Shebab," the prime minister told a Security Council debate on Somalia.
A security vacuum, really? How is it that an internationally recognized terrorist group was any source of security in Mogadishu? Who was it that al-Shabaab was security against? I would say the TFG and the warlords, like Inde Ahde.
A similar message was given by UN envoy to Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, who warned that Somali warlords are ready to take over areas left by Shebab.
"The extremists are likely to resort to terrorist tactics in Mogadishu and elsewhere," he said. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for a special guard force to be deployed in Mogadishu to protect UN officials and civilian workers for the international force.
South Africa's UN envoy, Baso Sangqu, highlighted African Union demands for greater UN support for the military force "to prevent any reversal of the security gains."
These are not security gains, it is simply one criminal organization that stepped into areas abandoned by another violent criminal organation
The weak transitional government has been given another 12 months, until August 2012, to meet targets for establishing an administration and setting up national political talks.
Britain's UN ambassador, Mark Lyall Grant, said that Security Council support for the Somali authorities had to be conditional on the transitional government meeting the targets.
"We expect the transitional federal institutions to demonstrate improved accountability and transparency -- in particular around the allocation and management of resources and to remain united and to refrain from any further internal disputes," said Lyall Grant.
"They should be in no doubt that the UN Security Council will stick to its commitment to make future support contingent on progress against the roadmap," added the envoy, whose country has taken a lead role in giving international help to Somalia.
Let there be no doubt now that the TFG and al-Shabaab are together the largest money making scheme in modern history. Bernie Madoff could not have come up with a better way to bilk, guilt, extort, and steal money from international aid agencies, security organizations, humanitarian organizations, governments, and both public and private donors globally. The “loss of ground” suffered by al-Shabaab is likely a well coordinated and timely conducted move to ensure another year of the TFG hanging on past its charter and to see more money and aid coming in. Note that as soon as the UN stepped up its aid accountability with milestones that must be proven in order to receive more aid al-Shabaab “lost ground” in Mogadishu.
