CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti — The United States is using surrogate nations and financial aid in an effort to prevent Somalia from slipping further into chaos as militias battle in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital.
The United States has vowed to support an African Union peacekeeping force arriving in Somalia and has trained elements of the Ethiopian army, which toppled Somalia's anti-American Islamic government.
About 1,300 African Union peacekeepers, mostly Ugandans, have had problems getting established, however. Two cargo planes supplying the peacekeepers crashed, possibly because of enemy fire, in recent weeks.
"When you have two aircraft that get shot down that makes things tenuous," said U.S. Rear Adm. James Hart, commander of the Horn of Africa task force, which is based on a former French Foreign Legion base in this tiny country squeezed between Somalia and Ethiopia.
Somalia will test America's softer approach in the Horn of Africa, where diplomats and military leaders are attempting to use reconstruction and aid projects to build ties and prevent the region becoming a terrorist safe haven. The United States is also training militaries in the region.
The arms-length U.S. strategy in the Horn of Africa is a departure from the approach in 1992, when a U.S. contingent went into Somalia.
The operation ended in calamity the following year when militias battled with U.S. Army Rangers trapped in downtown Mogadishu. Eighteen Americans died in fierce street fights and the battle, portrayed in the book and movie Black Hawk Down, became a symbol of American military impotence in the face of Third World threats.
The new U.S. approach favors precision military strikes and an effort to build American support in the region through reconstruction, aid projects and helping friendly militaries.
"Somalis don't like our guys on the ground," U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said on a recent visit to Djibouti.
The latest episode in Somalia's chaotic history began in December when Ethiopian soldiers invaded Somalia and overthrew the anti-U.S. Islamic Courts government. A U.S.-supported transitional government was installed.
The latest fighting is the worst in Somalia since a 1991-92 civil war, said Ken Menkhaus, an expert on Somalia at Davidson College in Charlotte.
Ethiopian soldiers remain in Somalia attempting to shore up the transitional government.
Nearly 100,000 Somalis have fled the capital since the beginning of February, according to the United Nations.
The United States is backing the new transitional government in the hopes of establishing a friendly government in Somalia that will help pursue al-Qaeda militants inside the country.
A key part of U.S. strategy is its alliance with the Ethiopian military, which remains in Mogadishu. "I certainly don't think the Ethiopians would allow the Islamic Courts to reconstitute," said Theresa Whelan, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for African affairs. "The Ethiopians would act to ensure they don't reconstitute."
U.S. advisers have trained the Ethiopian army, and the Pentagon is considering doing more.
Hart said the Ethiopians have proved their abilities in pushing out Somalia's Islamic Courts government. "Their interest lies in more advanced training," he said. Ethiopia wants help in supporting a war college for officers.
The Bush administration saw Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia as an opportunity to attack an al-Qaeda stronghold, Menkhaus said.
The U.S. military said it killed eight to 10 al-Qaeda suspects in an airstrike in Somalia in January.
The United States, however, wants to avoid a large military operation in Somalia, where its options are limited, Whelan said.
The Horn of Africa task force has about 1,500 troops, most of them supporting reconstruction and civil affairs projects. They also provide military advisers to countries in the region.
Contributing: Barbara Slavin in Washington
Source: USA Today, April 04, 2007