Somalia, Humanitarian Crisis, Terrorism

This AFP article details a very recent calamity, the nature of which caught my attention:

Yemen says 40 Somali migrants drown in Gulf of Aden

Yemen said on Saturday it had recovered the bodies of 40 Somalis who drowned after being forced overboard by traffickers in the Gulf of Aden.

The UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) estimates that more than 20,000 people have made the perilous crossing of the Gulf of Aden to Yemen this year, with at least 439 deaths and another 489 people missing.

Many of the migrants who attempt the journey are desperate to flee conflict and persecution in their home regions in Africa.

The CIA World Factbook Guide to Country Profiles has this to say about conflict in Somalia:

Ethiopian forces invaded southern Somalia and routed Islamist Courts from Mogadishu in January 2007; "Somaliland" secessionists provide port facilities in Berbera to landlocked Ethiopia and have established commercial ties with other regional states; "Puntland" and "Somaliland" "governments" seek international support in their secessionist aspirations and overlapping border claims...

Similar to where Iraq is heading politically by reforming into separate ethno-religious areas with autonomous control, Somalia is a country of traditional clans that hold political power over regions. Somaliland and Puntland are within Somalia but have politically separated from the larger political body. Think Kurds.

From the NY Times on June 3, 2007 - U.S. Strikes Inside Somalia, Bombing Suspected Militant Hide-Out

American forces struck inside Somalia on Friday, bombarding a mountainous area where suspected militants were hiding out, Somali officials said Saturday. It was the third known American strike on Somali soil this year.

...eight Islamist militants had been killed, including one who was an American citizen, according to documents found on his body.

“This is a global war on terror and the U.S. remains committed to reducing terrorist capabilities when and where we find them.”

This strike was intended to kill Al Qaeda suspects.

The Ethiopian forces within Somalia are ostensibly there to fight terrorists.

Last week, the EU called for an investigation into the excesses of force used by Ethiopian troops, with vague talk of possible war crimes charges.

However, there has been little movement toward an international investigation, because of the complexity of the conflict and the fact that some view the Ethiopian engagement in Somali as a necessary part of Washington's expanded war on terror. source

Ethiopia is militarily supported by the Bush administration:

U.S. support key to Ethiopia's invasion

The United States has quietly poured weapons and military advisers into Ethiopia, whose recent invasion of Somalia opened a new front in the Bush administration's war on terrorism.

Finally a little about the underlying issue of resource wars:

The "Demonization" of Muslims and the Battle for Oil

US sponsored "civil wars" have also been conducted in several other strategic oil and gas regions including Nigeria, the Sudan, Colombia, Somalia, Yemen, Angola, not to mention Chechnya and several republics of the former Soviet Union. Ongoing US sponsored "civil wars", which often include the channelling of covert support to paramilitary groups, have been triggered in the Darfur region of Sudan as well as in Somalia, Darfur possesses extensive oil reserves. In Somalia, lucrative concessions have already been granted to four Anglo-American oil giants.

"According to documents obtained by The Times, nearly two-thirds of Somalia was allocated to the American oil giants Conoco, Amoco [now part of BP], Chevron and Phillips in the final years before Somalia's pro-U.S. President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown and the nation plunged into chaos in January, 1991. Industry sources said the companies holding the rights to the most promising concessions are hoping that the Bush Administration's decision to send U.S. troops to safeguard aid shipments to Somalia will also help protect their multimillion-dollar investments there."

Recapping:
- There is a civilian crisis occurring in Somalia.
- The crisis is happening within Somalia and with Somalian refugees leaving the country.
- Somalia is a focal point on the Bush administration's war on terror.
- The Ethiopian military supported by Washington is ostensibly fighting to kill terrorists based in Somalia.
- The US military periodically bombs areas within Somalia seeking out "suspected Al Qaeda."
- Civilians are horribly suffering from the brunt of the fighting.
- Ethnic clans within Somalia are also fighting for autonomous control.
- Safely assume that a major underlying issue is control of energy resources.
- Chaos is the key word.
- Does this all sound familiar?