Compiled by: Abdikarim
It is a noose tightening on the Somalia’s Islamist rebels as second round of Ethiopia’s troops enters Somalia. It was December 2006 when thousands of Ethiopian troops invaded neighbouring Somalia and helped overturn a fundamentalist Islamic government.
Somalia became the region's sole concern for the U.S. government when in early 1990s. U.S. troops, sent to Somalia as part of a peacekeeping and humanitarian mission, withdrew in 1994 after a failed attempt to capture a clan leader led to the deaths of 18 U.S. soldiers in 1993. The incident was later amplified and exaggerated in the book and movie Black Hawk Down.
Somalis are notoriously xenophobic as far as outside interference in their own affairs is concerned, and Somalis view Ethiopia as a historical arch nemesis. Ethiopia’s entering of Somalia in 2006 was a unifying factor for all Somali sects. They all took up arms and rose against Ethiopia.
Cost of the war
The cost of the war was colossal and huge numbers of Somalis were displaced and Ethiopia had to go through the trouble of giving them shelter. By late 2008, the total number of refugees in Ethiopia needing humanitarian support was 1.4 million, with 600,000 in the Ogaden.
Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia equally has been marked by high civilian deaths. Ethiopian forces pushed through Somalia entirely unrivalled as the Islamists who had taken over nearly the whole country rushed to take cover. Ethiopian forces, aided by government forces, quickly took over control of Mogadishu and Baidoa, the major cities.
Although the Ethiopian troops were able to dislodge the Islamist from Mogadishu and triumphantly returned Abdullahi Yussuf to Mogadishu for the first time, there was a lot for them in the offing. It was not long before the Islamist regrouped and they rebelliously vowed they would never surrender and began to carry out attacks on the Ethiopian forces, including head-on suicide attacks.
The Islamists resorted to attacks on key areas in Mogadishu like the markets. They planted roadside bombs that claimed several civilian lives. As the resistance grew tougher, Ethiopian forces became equally haphazard in their attacks.
In April 2007, Mogadishu residents suffered a nine day long heavy bombardment. Many numbers of civilians in hundreds were reportedly killed, as a result of the indiscriminate shelling. Shops and homes were destroyed; thousands fled the city as the violence spread to adjacent peaceful areas.
Brunt of the war
When the Ethiopian troops saw they were bearing the brunt of the fighting in Somalia, they turned their anger and vendetta on the innocent Somalis living in their country, the Ogaden region. Reprisals and hostility attacks was the outcome.
Civilians in Ogaden region were subjects of execution, torture and rape. In other words, an atrocious counterinsurgency campaign was what Ethiopia was carrying out.
According to Human Rights Watch, villages were burnt down. In addition to that, nightly beatings with gun barrel, public executions and the burning of entire villages were widespread. Local militia forces were forcibly recruited without any training and sent to battle fields culminating in heavy casualty rates. Similar accounts of violence were also reported by other aid agencies like Medicines Sans Frontiers, MSF.
Ethiopia’s invasion has brought about other ills which has become endemic in the Somali society. Somalis started to flee and migrate to neighbouring countries like Yemen. Many have died in these dangerous journeys using derelict and insecure boats.
The piracy issue
There was a rapid growth of piracy in the horn of Africa region. This has resulted from the escalation of violence owing to the Ethiopia’s invasion in Somalia. Pirates business flourished and they started to demand huge ransom from international shippers after capturing shipping vessels off the coast of Somalia. The pirates use speedboats with powerful outboard motors. In this lawless nation, piracy has become profitable with a reported total ransom figure of $50 million in 2008 (“Somali Pirates”, 2008).
It appeared then that Ethiopia has learnt the bitterness of invading another country but it hasn’t. Ethiopia has its own problems of deplorable human rights and living conditions, which its government is trying to cover up. Muzzling of the press is one such act that is tolerable in Ethiopia
Crowds gathered and jubilantly cheered as the Ethiopian troops pulled out of their position in 2008. Ethiopia bruised itself without having won the war. Meddling in troubled Somalia’s affair apparently happened too dangerous for Ethiopia. Long after Ethiopians were gone, Somalia still remained fractious and humanitarian situations worsened.
The withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops from Somalia in 2009, after a two-year sojourn, paved the way for the election of Sheikh Sharif Ahmed.
Somalia may need peace urgently but Ethiopia’s invasion may always push the prospect of peace further by providing a common ground for the Somali militias and factions.
Second round
The second round of Ethiopia’s invasion was not perceived as the one in 2006. Al-shabab posed as nationalist and waged the war under the banner of fighting the Ethiopian crusaders, thereby receiving approval and support of clan elders who in turn helped them to recruit fighters. The picture has become different and tables have turned. Al-shabab became veracious in their interpretation of the Sharia and their hunger for power and greed surfaced. Somalis now welcome anyone regardless of their identity as long as they will help them remove Al-shabab from Somalia.
Despites the want of the Somali people to flush out Al-shabab who is ruling with iron fist, there are concerns that clan feud may return after Al-shabab’s exit. Ethiopians may bring with them the issues of clan fiefdoms and puppets who only do as the Ethiopians tell them.
Somalis got a glimpse of the Al-shabab menace when they denied and banned humanitarian agencies from accessing their areas in the face of the world’s worse famine in Somalia. Drought was hit worst in areas controlled by Al-shabab in which over 2 million Somalis were affected mostly in the Southern part of the country. The government of Somalia with the overwhelming support of the African peacekeeping forces in have secured many parts of the country mostly Mogadishu. People are moving in large numbers to the areas controlled by the government to get the much needed aid.
Al-shabab’s barbarism has reached to the extent that they dig out graves of the most respected Suffi saints. In addition to banning the listening of Music and dancing, they have closed down and confiscated equipments from FM radio and TV stations. They are eroding the Somali tradition, in the words of a 42 year old Guled Barre who fled from Baidoa.
They have imposed and interpret a very strict Sharia law which commands women to wear heavy hijaab, although recommended by Islam, but not as imposed by Al-shabab. Women are lashed if found wearing light clothes in public places.
Blood-sucking the people evident in their heavy taxation of the businessmen and in controls are just but a few of their vandalism.
These, coupled with many harsh treatment that is full of Unislamic practices, has made the Somali public to turn against Al-shabab and want them removed from Somalia. Ethiopia may well be resented but they are the lesser of the two evils.
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