Hiiraan Online

Ethiopia is one of the poorest nations in the world if not “the poorest”.  Its population is severely fragmented and often prosecuted by their dictator regime. Without any foreign help, Males Zenawi’s oppressive regime can not keep the country together, let alone meddling with Somalia. The UN, EU, AFRICAN UNION, IGAD are all sided with Ethiopia in various capacities; They pass resolutions, hold conferences, while financing all the atrocities committed throughout Somalia and Ogaden.

I am calling for all Somalis NOT to fall for the artificial reconciliation conferences held by these organizations. The UN is sided with Somalia’s Enemy, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah is very skilled diplomat, he understands exactly what is wrong with the Somali situation, but he has to work within the framework of the UN, and that means he has to look out for the presumed US interest in the region, which is also intertwined with that of Ethiopia. That is why you don’t see him mentioning the US air strikes, or condemning the Ethiopian invasion, or saying anything against all the violations of the International law taking place in Somalia.

In early December of 2006, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton in his last days at the UN, pushed for a draft of a resolution 1725 to lift the Somali arms embargo, which paved the way for an Ethiopian invasion in Somalia.

Bolton pushed the resolution through the Security Council by adding specifications that there will be IGAD Deployment plan, which will not include those States that border Somalia (i.e. Ethiopia, Kenya) ironically Ethiopian troops were already present at the time of the proposal and only strengthen its presence after the resolution was passed.

On April 10, 2007: A US State Department spokesman acknowledged that it knew Ethiopia received a shipment of military equipment from North Korea. The shipment arrived in January. The shipment included spare parts for Ethiopian tanks. All of these are happening despite The North Korea is under sanctions that prevent it from selling certain weapons and is under the US radar for arm proliferations. Again, the UN was silent about it.

Innocent Somalis can not wait any longer; they are sick and tired of the genocide committed by the foreign occupiers. The last thing they need is a flash back of last year’s dishonest and illegitimate  "national reconciliation accord" , which has been sponsored jointly by the United States, EU and the Saudis, but its result remained irrelevant, considering that none of the opposition groups or resistance factions were invited. The results highlighted that the casualties of Mogadishu grew dramatically. On Nov 15, 07,  The EU had passed a resolution where European deputies called for an independent probe into war crimes and rights violations in the Somali capital, where the government was battling rebels, . The resolution also called for "the cessation of all foreign military intervention in Somalia," referring to thousands of Ethiopian forces. Almost a year has passed since, and things only changed from worse to worst.

On early October, 2007, the US House of Representatives passed HR 2003, the Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007. The bill, called on the Ethiopian government to foster accountability, respect the rule of law, and release all political prisoners.

HR 2003 was supposed put an end to these kinds of abuses and irresponsible acts by the Ethiopian government but was it likewise ignored by Ethiopian dictator given the fact that he is in bed with the US officials in the region.

“The government can no longer hide behind the ‘ally in the war on terrorism’ cloak,” US congressman Payne who sponsored the bill asserted in the October 2^nd hearing. “It cannot champion the rights of others while disrespecting those same rights of its own people. What type of government chokes off humanitarian aid to its citizens as a retaliatory tactic?” Payne commented after the passage of the bill. Several months after the bill was passed, the Ethiopian troops are massacring civilians and torturing detainees by the thousands; why shouldn’t they? They are immune to International criticism. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, or any other body can criticize all they want, and nothing will change  —Everyone else who is receiving US military subsidies does exactly the same, (i.e. Israel) Under the guise of fighting terrorism everything is possible.

The Somali people need to understand the historic rivalry between us and Ethiopia; we can be peaceful neighbors as long as they are willing to leave us alone. We can blame each other but nothing will change until we change ourselves, and do whatever it takes to expel all foreign troops outside of our borders, and only after we liberate our land, defend our country against all enemies foreign and domestic, we can hold genuine reconciliation conferences and heal our wounds. Somalis have always fought with each other and reconciled under a tree. Let’s pray for our devastated people and all the oppressed innocents’ civilians across the world. Sooner or later, peace and justice will prevail.

International Affairs/Political Science

University of Maine

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