From: SirakB (sirakb@bahlbi.com)
Date: Tue Jan 26 2010 - 21:49:25 EST
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/86040
"To the north, Eritrea's border dispute with Ethiopia rumbles on. The
fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia had already cost 100,000 lives when it
was referred to the International Court of Arbitration, which found in
Eritrea's favour. Ethiopia's refusal to accept its verdict will likely cause
further bloodshed and killing.
Despite this, the UN security council has imposed mandatory sanctions on
arms, finance and travel on Eritrea to isolate the country and ratchet up
the tension in the region."
There was a House of Commons debate on Tuesday on the situation in the Horn
of Africa introduced by Tory MP Mark Pritchard.
In his speech the MP levelled many accusations at countries including Iran
for promoting instability in Somalia and Eritrea.
To me Pritchard seemed to be encouraging yet another front in that so-called
"war on terror."
It is undeniable that there is massive instability, violence and loss of
life in Somalia, particularly in the south around Mogadishu. And instability
leads to insecurity and human rights abuses, as a recent Amnesty
International report highlighted.
But it's essential to understand the colonial legacies that lie behind such
conflicts.
Only Ethiopia escaped the ravages of late-19th century colonisation in the
Horn of Africa, maintaining its independence during the scramble by European
powers desperate for a slice of the continent - although an Italian invasion
in 1936 saw Mussolini's fascist forces occupy the entire country.
Somalia, Sudan, Kenya and Uganda were all colonised and sliced up during the
arbitrary line-drawing on maps at the 1884 Congress of Berlin. Later they
became the subject of horse trading by the imperial powers at the Versailles
conference at the end of WWI. The process was repeated at the end of WWII
after the Axis powers were defeated.
Following independence, the cold war was played out in this part of Africa.
Vast quantities of armaments were shipped in by the Soviet Union and the
United States during the conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia.
In a sense the current instability in Somalia and Eritrea, which gained
independence from Ethiopia, stems directly from this period.
Somalia's crisis has forced tens of thousands of people to flee. Today over
100,000 refugees live in camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, while others make the
perilous and risky crossing of the Red Sea into Yemen or take their chance
with people traffickers in a desperate bid to reach Europe.
The transitional government in Somalia in reality only controls a small part
of the country around Mogadishu and it is waging a bloody conflict with
al-Shabaab and other groups which Western intelligence agencies claim are
linked to al-Qaida.
Washington has now decided to increase its support to the transitional
government, creating mounting fears over human rights in the country -
particularly in an Amnesty report published this week.
It quite rightly points out that the conflict poses a threat to the safety,
rights and livelihood of Somali civilians. It also asserts that all sides in
the conflict have committed serious violations of international law and
human rights abuses.
The UN imposed an arms embargo on Somalia in 1992 but this has not had any
appreciable effect in reducing access to military equipment, mainly because
of broad exemptions covering weapons designated for the African Union
mission in Somalia and technical assistance to the transitional government.
Amnesty recommends that all supplies of weapons be ended, including military
and security equipment and financial assistance for the purpose of weapons
to the transitional government until it's in a position to protect the human
rights of Somalians.
Amnesty's approach is markedly different from that of the West, which latter
appears to be encouraging military activity in Somalia as part of a proxy
war against alleged "allies" of al-Qaida. There are, however, cooler heads
which are calling for an approach that involves supporters of the Islamic
forces.
In an Independent on Sunday article last September Africa expert Daniel
Howden pointed out that 1.5 million people have been displaced by the
conflict, making it the worst humanitarian crisis in the world with half of
the population in need of assistance.
Howden also noted that after the US-supported military intervention by
Ethiopia in 2006 the Islamic Courts Union, which had received mass support
from the people, was dissipated and replaced by the more fundamentalist
al-Shabaab grouping.
He depicted al-Shabaab as essentially a nationalist movement fighting for
control of Somalia and he argued that any long-term peace must involve them.
To the north, Eritrea's border dispute with Ethiopia rumbles on. The
fighting between Eritrea and Ethiopia had already cost 100,000 lives when it
was referred to the International Court of Arbitration, which found in
Eritrea's favour. Ethiopia's refusal to accept its verdict will likely cause
further bloodshed and killing.
Despite this, the UN security council has imposed mandatory sanctions on
arms, finance and travel on Eritrea to isolate the country and ratchet up
the tension in the region.
The continuing crisis in the Horn of Africa and Yemen is in part a product
of the absurd, obsessive "war on terror" fought since 2001.
It's time for a serious reassessment of the whole Western strategy - before
the horrors of Iraq and Afghanistan are visited on yet more people.
corbynj@parliament.uk
Jeremy Corbyn is Labour MP for Islington North.
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----