Somalia's refugee camps
September 18, 2009 12:16 AM Subscribe
Inside Somalia. Mike Thomson of the BBC makes a rare visit to the refugee camps in one of the most dangerous places on earth.
Love that NYT piece:
"Much of the world is counting on Sheik Sharif to tackle piracy and beat back the spread of militant Islam, two Somali problems that have flared into major geopolitical ones."
"Somali" problems are they? I thought the Somalians were doing fairly well out out of this whole piracy arrangement. "Much of the world" you reckon? Yeah, sure.
posted by pompomtom at 2:35 AM on September 18, 2009
"Much of the world is counting on Sheik Sharif to tackle piracy and beat back the spread of militant Islam, two Somali problems that have flared into major geopolitical ones."
"Somali" problems are they? I thought the Somalians were doing fairly well out out of this whole piracy arrangement. "Much of the world" you reckon? Yeah, sure.
posted by pompomtom at 2:35 AM on September 18, 2009
Reporter does actual reporting! Fantastic! More of this please, journalists. Less PR fluff pieces and parroting of government press releases. KTHNXBAI
posted by asok at 3:47 AM on September 18, 2009
posted by asok at 3:47 AM on September 18, 2009
A rare visit? Thousands of people live in those camps and are there every day. Hooray for the white man?
posted by msittig at 7:13 AM on September 18, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by msittig at 7:13 AM on September 18, 2009 [1 favorite]
Virtually alone - to the best of my knowledge - among leftist bloggers in having given a shit about Somalia, Chris Floyd provides the context that The Grey Lady tactfully omits:
Somalia is the invisible third front of the Terror War, an American-backed "regime change" operation launched by the invading army of Ethiopia and local warlords in December 2006. In addition to helping arm, fund and train the army of the Ethiopian dictatorship, the United States has intervened directly into the conflict, carrying out bombing raids on fleeing refugees and nomads, firing missiles into villages, sending in death squads to clean up after covert operations, and, as we reported here long ago, assisting in the "rendition" of refugees, including American citizens, into the hands of Ethiopia's notorious torturers.
Together, the American Terror Warriors, the Ethiopians and the warlords (some of them directly in the pay of the CIA) have created the worst humanitarian disaster on earth. Thousands have been killed in the fighting. Hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes...
And in recent developments:
So what do we see from the administration of "hope and change"? We see -- wait for it -- a new "surge" of direct American involvement in the war, with Obama's most ferocious war hawk -- sorry, his top diplomat -- Hillary "The Obliterator" Clinton leading the charge. As Jason Ditz at Antiwar.com reports, Clinton has pledged to double the recently announced supply of American weapons to Somalia's "transitional government" -- a weak reed cobbled together by Western interests from various CIA-paid warlords and other factions, and now headed, ironically, by the former leader of the aforementioned fledgling state overthrown by Washington.
The results are everything we've come to expect from American foreign intervention:
The weapons that the US government donated to the Somalia's Transitional Federal Government is being sold in the market...
Traders at Cirtoogte market told Garowe Online that the new weapons on sale at the market are from the presidential palace.
posted by Joe Beese at 7:33 AM on September 18, 2009 [2 favorites]
Somalia is the invisible third front of the Terror War, an American-backed "regime change" operation launched by the invading army of Ethiopia and local warlords in December 2006. In addition to helping arm, fund and train the army of the Ethiopian dictatorship, the United States has intervened directly into the conflict, carrying out bombing raids on fleeing refugees and nomads, firing missiles into villages, sending in death squads to clean up after covert operations, and, as we reported here long ago, assisting in the "rendition" of refugees, including American citizens, into the hands of Ethiopia's notorious torturers.
Together, the American Terror Warriors, the Ethiopians and the warlords (some of them directly in the pay of the CIA) have created the worst humanitarian disaster on earth. Thousands have been killed in the fighting. Hundreds of thousands have been driven from their homes...
And in recent developments:
So what do we see from the administration of "hope and change"? We see -- wait for it -- a new "surge" of direct American involvement in the war, with Obama's most ferocious war hawk -- sorry, his top diplomat -- Hillary "The Obliterator" Clinton leading the charge. As Jason Ditz at Antiwar.com reports, Clinton has pledged to double the recently announced supply of American weapons to Somalia's "transitional government" -- a weak reed cobbled together by Western interests from various CIA-paid warlords and other factions, and now headed, ironically, by the former leader of the aforementioned fledgling state overthrown by Washington.
The results are everything we've come to expect from American foreign intervention:
The weapons that the US government donated to the Somalia's Transitional Federal Government is being sold in the market...
Traders at Cirtoogte market told Garowe Online that the new weapons on sale at the market are from the presidential palace.
posted by Joe Beese at 7:33 AM on September 18, 2009 [2 favorites]
Great post, man that is pretty sad stuff. I feel terrible for people living in refugee camps
posted by luckycharmz336 at 7:40 AM on September 18, 2009
posted by luckycharmz336 at 7:40 AM on September 18, 2009
"Somali" problems are they? I thought the Somalians were doing fairly well out out of this whole piracy arrangement.
no. not really.
posted by Think_Long at 8:46 AM on September 18, 2009 [1 favorite]
no. not really.
posted by Think_Long at 8:46 AM on September 18, 2009 [1 favorite]
>> I thought the Somalians were doing fairly well out out of this whole piracy arrangement.
Seriously?
And they're not "Somalians." Somalis.
posted by Brosef K at 10:03 AM on September 18, 2009
Seriously?
And they're not "Somalians." Somalis.
posted by Brosef K at 10:03 AM on September 18, 2009
Most Americans do not know that American troops are and have been conducting operations in Ethiopia for years. Ethiopia is a client state of the US and we're using them to secure the world's largest deposits of uranium and petroleum in the Ogaden (the area between Ethiopia and Somalia). Our interest there (and that of the British) is not remotely related to humanitarian issues.
Eastern Africa is a CRUCIAL piece in the US/British process of controlling the Red Sea and Middle Eastern petroleum.
Darfur, and America's sudden interest in the crisis there, also factors into this as it is estimated that petroleum deposits there may well exceed those of Saudi Arabia.
posted by Brosef K at 10:11 AM on September 18, 2009 [2 favorites]
Eastern Africa is a CRUCIAL piece in the US/British process of controlling the Red Sea and Middle Eastern petroleum.
Darfur, and America's sudden interest in the crisis there, also factors into this as it is estimated that petroleum deposits there may well exceed those of Saudi Arabia.
posted by Brosef K at 10:11 AM on September 18, 2009 [2 favorites]
Brosef K: "Darfur, and America's sudden interest in the crisis there, also factors into this as it is estimated that petroleum deposits there may well exceed those of Saudi Arabia."
Might be time to bring them the light of democracy.
posted by Joe Beese at 11:29 AM on September 18, 2009
Might be time to bring them the light of democracy.
posted by Joe Beese at 11:29 AM on September 18, 2009
And they're not "Somalians." Somalis.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there is an established norm just yet. I have heard Somalis call themselves both. I think I usually say "Somalian" as the adjective, ie 'Somalian Food', but it varies.
Check out Abdi Roble's book for some nice pictures tracing the path from Rural to Camp to the Midwest
posted by Think_Long at 12:51 PM on September 18, 2009
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think there is an established norm just yet. I have heard Somalis call themselves both. I think I usually say "Somalian" as the adjective, ie 'Somalian Food', but it varies.
Check out Abdi Roble's book for some nice pictures tracing the path from Rural to Camp to the Midwest
posted by Think_Long at 12:51 PM on September 18, 2009
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posted by IvoShandor at 12:50 AM on September 18, 2009