Outcasts' land

Three Somalian ministers died and two were severely injured today in an explosion in a hotel in Mogadishu while attending a graduation ceremony. There is no better way to illustrate the degradation of the stability of the UN backed government than that. A government that is only capable of controlling a few packs of the capital, and thanks to the blue berets from the African Union.

A few months ago, when David Axe was reporting from Somalia, he saw a huge tank in the gate of one of the Government compounds. Intrigued, Axe asked one of the commanders of the African peacekeepers, captain Paddy Ankunda, what was the T-55 for. “Not for being used”, Ankunda replied, “but for let the people know we could use them”. Only a month after that they had to use it. And again, only a month after, nine peacekeepers were killed in a double suicide attack, including a Burundian top commander.

Piracy has attracted the attention to the region but it is just a result of the outlaw chaos that reigns in the country area. It wouldn’t exist if a strong government was in place. But the UN backed cabinet is too weak to even defend themselves, as stated today’s attack, not to mention to defend their coastline. A new Somalian Navy is under formation, mirroring the structure of the “Sons of Iraq”, but so far it’s only a few hundred ex-fishermen -and ex-pirates- on the UN payroll sailing on skiffs.

But in Somalia, pirates and the government aren’t the only ones fighting. The al-Sahbab Islamist group, linked to al-Qaeda, is trying to make of Somalia -and Yemen- a regional hub for Islamists. So far, unsuccessfully. Somalia is too remote, too isolated and too xenophobic to become a haven like Afghanistan was. But thanks to the lack of government of any kind, they aren’t disturbed but for occasional skirmishes from Ethiopian troops. And that’s why they are calling for reinforcements. One of al-Qaeda’s most prominent militants, Abu Mansour al-Amriki (the American), lives already there. At least, they don’t like pirates either.

The end of the piracy in the Gulf of Aden is not only in the ocean, but in comprehensive strategies that include also action to support the UN peacekeepers in Mogadishu and the rest of Somalia. The UN has already authorized missions on Somalian soil to pursuit pirates and the government itself has called for support from others countries. Some would say they even begged for an invasion. But with things as they are right now in A'stan, it's unlikely someone else but the African Union will engage the problem. And they are already almost overran.




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