Opinion
The US administration owes the Somali people apology
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May 19, 2008 - 9:24:44 AM

By Kenneth Oduor, Nairobi 

COMMENTARY | That the United States is the fiercest and the loudest proponent of democracy has never been doubt. I have no problem at all with the US’s democracy mantra. What I question is the manner in which the Bush administration goes about in trying to create ‘democratic’ states as it calls them. 

The United State’s foreign policy and especially its policy of dealing with Arab states have always been that of double standards. The world has witnessed the US government impose draconian and unpopular governments in many countries across the Asian and African continents in the name of trying to establish democratic governments. Those governments that have dared oppose them have always ended in their bad books in most instances being bundled together and referred to as the axis of evil. How evil this axis can be more than a foreign government that can dare cross into sovereign state and bring down a government without consulting the citizenry is baffling. The United States have mastered the art of creating friends, turning them into foes and going after them with the fury of a jilted lover. 

The Washington based administrations uncalled for interventions in numerous countries have failed miserably. Read Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq and the list is endless. The world is waiting to see when Washington will cease its Big Brother syndrome. But let me focus on Somalia for now. 

Somali degenerated in anarchy with the fall of former president Said Barre when the warlords who overthrew him failed to agree on how to run the country. It is this scenario  that have seen the east African country experience one of the most long running civil wars that have seen numerous killed and others rendered refugees. The Somali civil war has dragged on for close to two decades now. 

According to research and from sentiments of those common with Somali, the United States played a major even if not visible role in the current conflict that have engulfed Somalia. It is an open secrete that prior to his downfall, the Barre regime which was excessively oppressive had become unpopular with the Somali community and especially those who hailed from other clans within that country. Surprisingly though, despite Barre’s open undemocratic ideals, the US government then availed at his disposal mind boggling military aid to prop up his rule and administration. 

According to political pundits, had the US administration not given military aid to Barre’s oppressive regime, he would have stepped down to give way for fresh elections that would have secured a bright future for the Horn of Africa nation and its people, but this was never to be. 

In 2004, the Transitional Federal Government was formed and installed in Nairobi with the backing of the US and a host of other western governments. The formation of the TFG signaled hope for this war-wracked nation. In 2006, the TFG welcomed the Ethiopian Defense Forces to come into Somalia to help route out the Union of Islamic Courts militias who had taken control of numerous regions within the country. The US government fully backed the EDF intervention in Somalia. 

I would be right to state that the action of EDF spelled doom for the TFG. It has lost popular mandate with the people and militia groups are controlling more than third of the country even as you read this article. 

The current Bush administration is on record as threatening to target Somali in its bungled war against terrorism. It is important to remind united sates government that before they even think of attacking Somalia, it must reflect its role in the scenario the Somali people are now embroiled in. that of imposing draconian governments through military might in the name of upholding democracy. 

Former US Representative and former chairman for House Subcommittee on Africa Howard Wolpe could not have been more right in his statement about Washington’s role in the conflict in Somalia. “What you are seeing is a general indifference to a disaster that we played a role in creating”.