U.S. war planes and helicopters have attacked towns and villages in southern Somalia over the past three days. AC 130 gunships have strafed and fired missiles at numerous Somali villages.
The assault began in the middle of the night on Jan. 8. In the attacks, over 60 civilians were killed. Numerous sources
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Ethiopian troops, fighter jets and helicopters have also participated in the offensive in southern Somalia.
The Pentagon has justified the attack, claiming it is part of the so-called war on terror. It says that the U.S. military is hunting Al-Qaeda in Somalia. This is simply imperialist double-speak and an excuse for its aggression against the Somali people. The bombing is an expansion of the U.S. war for global domination. Its target now includes East Africa.
The attacks follow a Dec. 20 U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia. Ethiopian forces now occupy the capitol of Somalia, Mogadishu. The invasion’s target was the Union of Islamic Courts.
At the time of the Ethiopian invasion, the UIC was the functioning government for most of southern Somalia. The UIC, with wide popular support, was on the verge of uniting the country. Somalia has had no central government since 1991.
The majority of Somalis see in the UIC the chance to restore national unity. Somalis joined the ranks of UIC fighters in order to fight feudal clan leaders and the U.N.-organized, U.S.-backed Transitional Federal Government.
Funded by business people desperate for some semblance of order, the UIC gained widespread popularity because they offered stability and clamped down on criminal gangs and lawlessness.
Ethiopian forces—diplomatically and financially supported by the U.S. government—invaded to save and prop-up the TFG. The TFG has no popular support. It rode into Mogadishu on the back of Ethiopian tanks. Now, the TFG is working overtime to provide cover for U.S. military intervention.
TFG president Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed held a press conference on Jan. 9 fully endorsing the U.S. bombing of Somalia. “America has the right to hunt down and air bombard wherever those who were responsible for bombing its embassies in East Africa are staying or hiding,” he stressed.
The UIC has vowed to continue the fight against Ethiopian forces. Protests continue to mount against the U.S.-Ethiopian war.
U.S. threatens Somalia with occupation
Before the U.S. bombings, a U.N. occupation was being organized with troops from compliant African countries, including Uganda.
On Jan. 3, U.S. State Department spokesman Scott McCormack said that U.S. warships were preparing to deliver “humanitarian” aid to Somalia. This was a thinly veiled pretext to land U.S. troops in Somalia to occupy the country.
In 1992, the U.S. invaded the country under the pretext of a humanitarian mission. U.S. forces suffered significant losses at the hands of Somali fighters and withdrew from the country in defeat.
Now, U.S. and allied forces have completely surrounded the country, and the U.S. Navy’s fifth fleet is patrolling Somalia’s coast.
Ethiopia borders the country to the east. In the south, U.S. ally Kenya has rushed troops to the border and sealed it off.
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TFG deputy prime minister and former U.S. Marine Hussein Aided said on Jan. 10 that U.S. special forces were needed on the ground to fight the “terrorists.”
“The only way we are going to kill or capture the surviving Al-Qaeda terrorists is for U.S. special forces to go in on the ground,” said Aided. “They have the know-how and the right equipment to capture these people.”
“As far as we are aware they are not on the ground yet, but it is only a matter of time,” Aided said.
Other reports state that U.S. troops are already in the country. The AP reported on Jan. 10 that, according to a senior TFG official, a small U.S. military team has been providing military advice to Ethiopian and TFG forces on the ground.
Dominating trade routes, recolonizing Africa
Securing U.S. economic and military dominance in Africa is a strategic goal for the imperialists. Billions of dollars are being funneled to African countries in order to secure their compliance.
The U.S. military is currently in the process of forming an Africa Command. It is likely to be centered somewhere in East Africa. Since 2001, the U.S. has greatly increased the number of troops stationed in Africa. Bases have been established in Uganda, Djibouti, Senegal, and São Tomé and Príncipe.
Djibouti is headquarters for a military task force organized in 2002 to exert greater control over the Horn of Africa. The Horn of Africa lies just across from Saudi Arabia at the opening to the Red Sea. Countries in it include Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, Sudan, Kenya and Somalia.
For the United States, Somalia—one of the poorest countries in the world—is of key geo-political importance. It lies at a commercial crossroads between the Middle East and Asia. A large portion of the world’s oil tankers pass along its coast, particularly European and Chinese.
East Africa has traded with Asia and Europe for thousands of years.
The U.S. fears China’s growing economic partnerships with countries in Africa. Defeating competitors for access to newly discovered oil in Africa is a primary objective of U.S. imperialism. The U.S. currently gets 10 percent of its oil from Africa. This percentage is expected to expand in the coming years.
Control of world trade, especially oil, provides the main impetus for U.S. strategy in Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and the entire Middle East and East Africa.
Any country or force that maintains even the slightest independence from U.S. plans in the larger region remains a target. In Somalia, as elsewhere, the U.S. fears political movements that rally the people on the basis of genuine national unity and independent development.
