Horn of Africa not safer without Somalia's Islamic militia

[Hiiraan boy]

Horn of Africa not safer without Somalia's Islamic militia, Djibouti president says

DJIBOUTI: The Horn of Africa is not safer now that a radical Islamic militia accused of having ties to al-Qaida has been driven from power in Somalia, the president of neighboring Djibouti said Monday.

"As far as we are concerned, we think it (security in the Horn of Africa) is as it was before because of the misery and lack of basic needs of the population," President Ismael Omar Guelleh told The Associated Press in a rare interview. He spoke at the presidential palace in this tiny Red Sea state.

"People lack basic needs. There is no medicine, no water or services, nothing. They are easily used for criminal activities. That threat still remains," he said.

More than 90 million people live in the Horn of Africa countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. Most live on less than US$1 (76 euro cents) a day. The region — particularly Somalia, which is emerging from years of anarchy — has been cited as a possible haven for terrorists since the Sept. 11, 2001 al-Qaida terror attacks on the United States.

Djibouti is the base for a U.S.-led anti-terrorism task force in the Horn of Africa. More than 1,800 U.S. troops are based at Camp Lemonier, the task force headquarters.

Guelleh told The Associated Press that no al-Qaida terrorists or sophisticated weapons had been found. Somalia's government had linked the Islamic group to al-Qaida. The government, backed by Ethiopian troops, ousted the Islamic movement in December.

Djibouti, a former French colony neighboring Somalia and Ethiopia, played a key role in establishing a Somali transitional government in 2000 that eventually collapsed. The administration was replaced after lengthy negotiations by the current administration, set up in 2004 with U.N. backing.

Guelleh, who was returned to power in 2005 elections where he was the only candidate, said foreign peacekeepers can help offer security in the country but not lasting peace.

"The stabilization force will help but they cannot play the role of government, or parliament or clan or religious leaders ...," he said.

"There was a possible justification (for the ousting of the Islamic group), but we have not seen the evidence yet," the president added.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

Guelleh is missing the point. Maybe he's being deliberately obtuse. Nobody cares if Somalia is safer. The ICU is not going to be permitted to gain traction. Ditto any other Islamic movement. If it is anti-west, anti-Ethiopia, it's going down. If that means Somalia lives in anarchy and economic disaster, that's what it means.

[biko]

wouldnt it be funny if this islamic movement you are fighting starts from america? imajin that?

the next mahdi coming from the belly of the beast itself.

[James Dahl]

Mac, the whole point was to prevent Somalia from becoming a haven for terrorists. If the country is completely lawless then it's just as much a haven for terrorists than if it was run by a pro-jihadist government. In fact a completely lawless country is worse than a merely pro-jihadist government, since it is both a haven AND a supplier of terrorists.

The shoot first and ask questions later mentality is not only rude and blunt but also rather stupid, ineffectual and weak. We've run around the world with this mentality that we can just bludgeon the islamic world into doing what we in the west want them to do, and we have accomplished nothing.

Taliban? Still there, making a comeback. We managed to set them back 5 years, ooh scary.
Iraq? Complete and utter clusterfuck. We should just hang our heads in shame and leave.
Southeast Asia? Going nowhere. We barely know what's going on, and are basically reacting to events as they happen.
Africa? Our proxy governments almost lost to a movement that had no heavy weapons or armor, pathetic. Sudanese genocides continue as we sit there on our hands.

Complete and utter impotence and failure. The only thing we've succeeded in doing is mobilizing a movement and giving them a common purpose that used to be totally disorganized and plagued with infighting. Way to go.