African Union Special Representative to Somalia, along with the UN Special Representative and IGAD Facilitator for Somalia, have threatened sanctions on a peaceful democratic Somali movement [REUTERS] Minneapolis, MN - On May 1, 2012, the UN Special Representative (SR), The African Union Special Representative (AUSR), and IGAD Facilitator for Somalia (IGADF) distributed a press release threatening [...]
White House Defends Drones Despite Civilian Deaths ‘Sometimes You Have to Take Life to Save Lives’ by Jason Ditz, April 29, 2012 Print This | Share This It’s no real secret that the Obama Administration’s ever escalating drone war has killed a massive lot [...]
U.S. at War in Over 100 Nations, But Very Specially, Using Special Operations Forces SECRECY NEWS from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/ SPECIAL OPS FORCES CREATE “VISIBLE AND DRAMATIC EFFECTS” U.S. special operations forces are engaged in “more than 100 countries worldwide,” said Adm. William H. McRaven, commander of [...]
New From The American Empire Project We Meant Well How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People by Peter Van Buren From a State Department insider, the first book recounting our misguided efforts to rebuild Iraq—a shocking and rollicking true-life cross between Catch-22 and The Ugly American Read [...]
Engineers and visitors tour an exploratory well in Somalia‘s semi-autonomous Puntland region. Photograph: Reuters Britain is involved in a secret high-stakes dash for oil in Somalia, with the government offering humanitarian aid and security assistance in the hope of a stake in the beleaguered country’s future energy industry. Riven by two decades of conflict that have seen the [...]
Saving Somalia: A wasted effort? We ask how serious world leaders at the London conference are in tackling problems facing the war-torn African state. An international conference on Somalia has taken place in London on Thursday, with representatives from 40 countries attending. “We cannot exclude any kind of an attempt at [...]
Although, on the information supplied, this article dos not contain the direct admission in the title it seems a logical conclusion to what has in fact been said. Perhaps more amazing is the fact the Obama could even contemplate making the statement he did when he is occupying centre stage as the [...]
Thirteen votes in favour and two abstentions saw the UN Security Council toughen sanctions on Eritrea The UN Security Council has passed a resolution toughening sanctions against Eritrea after East African governments accused the state of plotting terrorist attacks and supporting rebel groups. The action, adopted on Monday, with 13 votes in favour [...]
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford Africa Lies Naked to Euro-American Military Offensive Wed, 11/30/2011 – 14:27 — Glen Ford Printer-friendly version As the U.S. and its NATO allies move southward to further consolidate their grip on Africa, following the seizure of Libya and its vast oil fields, most of the continent’s leadership seems to [...]
Powerful human actors are responsible for the famine in Somalia [GALLO/GETTY] Minneapolis, Minnesota – Several months ago, I wrote an essay entitled “Genocidal Politics and the Somali Famine”. It appears that the coordinator of the UN’s Monitoring Committee for Somalia agrees with the essay’s proposition that nature is not to blame and that powerful human [...]
US, France Blame One Another for Bombing Southern Somalia Missiles Pounded Afgoye, But Attackers Remain a Mystery by Jason Ditz, November 16, 2011 | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum On Sunday night the southern Somali town of Afgoye, densely populated with refugees since the famine broke out, was pounded with a [...]
Libya Victory Portends Endless Intervention by Ivan Eland, November 02, 2011 | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum NATO’s “victory” in Libya has sown many seeds of possible future calamity. But none is fraught with as much danger as providing a new “war on the cheap” model for Western nations that have fallen on hard economic [...]
. Al-Shabab has been accused of a spate of kidnappings and cross border attacks over the past few months [EPA] At least two people have been killed in an attack on a church in an eastern Kenyan town, amid a spate of violence and and cross-border attacks, police have said. Leo Nyongesa, the country’s police chief, said on [...]
This article needs careful attention. Unless of course looking after people is good in the West and a corrupt practice when done by others, particularly those said to be Al qa’ida. Or is it just more fodder to launch attacks being planted in people’s minds. Consider the evidence, because your opinion is [...]
History Repeats Itself With Somalia Invasion by Francis Njubi Nesbitt, November 02, 2011 | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum Kenya’s ill-advised incursion into Somalia on Oct. 16 after a rash of kidnappings in the tourist paradise of Lamu will most likely lead to a long and expensive quagmire. The escalation will further destabilize [...]
Kenya’s army chief said his troops will withdraw when Kenyans ‘feel that they are safe enough from al-Shabab‘ [AFP] A Kenyan air strike on a camp packed with displaced women and children has killed at least five and wounded 45, mostly women and children, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), an aid agency, said. “I can confirm five dead and [...]
Drone warfare headqyarters New US Drone Base in Ethiopia is Operational by John Glaser, October 27, 2011 | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum The United States has been secretly flying armed Reaper drones on bombing missions from a remote civilian airport in southern Ethiopia as part of a rapidly expanding proxy war against [...]
A standard drone New Drone Can Be Stored in Soldiers’ Backpacks Drone technology is advancing and their use is proliferating exponentially, as the public and the law lag behind by John Glaser, October 19, 2011 | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum Drone technology is advancing faster than the public or the legal system has time [...]
New War of Choice in Uganda Follows Familiar Foreign Police Doctrine Sending 100 combat troops to Uganda, Obama is fighting a routine fight: unnecessary war, support for dictatorship, and blowback as an afterthought by John Glaser, October 15, 2011 | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum President Obama’s deployment of 100 US combat forces to Uganda and [...]
Families fleeing fighting in Libya often face long and perilous journeys before aid agencies can help them [Reuters] Multiplying crises create 43 million refugees With multiple natural disasters and conflicts unfolding, how can the growing tide of those displaced be dealt with? In this article the obvious increases in refugee numbers is dealt with. Still [...]
Somalis have lived for 20 years without a functioning government and the services it would supply [GALLO/GETTY] Al-Shabab and Somalia‘s ‘far enemy’ Al-Shabab has withdrawn from Mogadishu, but the country is shattered from years of civil war and US military actions. Abdullahi walks slowly past makeshift stalls in a crowded Mogadishu [...]
Refugee Rape: The Hidden Side of the Famine Crisis Photo Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS Somali famine refugees are at risk of rape on their way to Kenya as well as in the camps there, according to experts. October 5, 2011 | When Aisha Diis* and her five children fled their home in Somalia seeking aid from [...]
Engelhardt, Washington’s Field of Screams Posted by Tom Engelhardt at 9:31am, September 29, 2011. [Note for TomDispatch Readers: Just to let you know, a little memoir of my growing-up years, “Movies Saved My Life, A Young New Yorker Meets Foreigners in Film,” is in the October Harper’s Magazine and on your local newsstands now. Check [...]
Cognitive Dissonance in Somalia Brian Beyer, September 28, 2011 Print This | Share This | Comment | Antiwar Forum As in many other places around the globe, the United States has a bad track record of propping up leaders and groups in Somalia, only to watch them crumble months or years later. Siad Barre, the ruthless military dictator [...]
AU: 3,000 More Troops Headed to Somalia Troops Expected to Come From Djibouti, Sierra Leone by Jason Ditz, September 27, 2011 | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum According to Lt. Col. Ankunda, the spokesman for African Union (AU) troops in Somalia, an additional 3,000 troops are expected to be dispatched to the [...]
Failure in Libya The War Party strikes out by Justin Raimondo, September 28, 2011 | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum Libya represents the failure of the interventionist project envisioned by the Obama administration: as rebel gangs run wild, attacking rival tribesmen – and “traitors,” like their former commander-in-chief – the country threatens to become what the more [...]
‘A Constellation of Secret Drone Bases’ and the American License to Kill John Glaser, September 21, 2011 Print This | Share This | Comment | Antiwar Forum Yesterday’s Washington Post: The Obama administration is assembling a constellation of secret drone bases for counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as part of a newly aggressive [...]
Drone warfare was always going to be a major source of the continuation of the endless imperial project wars of the US. Here in Australia we were so incredibly stupid to allow Garrett to give out uranium to the Atomics Corporation. It was an act of political and social stupidity from which we and [...]
Legality of Drones Are Questionable, Dangerous Peter W. Singer, senior fellow at Brookings, warns of the ubiquitous use of drones in the military, and now domestic police units by John Glaser, September 22, 2011 | Print This | Share This | Antiwar Forum The military’s widespread use of unmanned aerial vehicles to attack and surveil various war zones from [...]
Peace Prize-Winner Obama Savages Somalia by Sheldon Richman, September 20, 2011 A human catastrophe is taking place in Somalia, the result of drought, famine — and the savage war conducted by the Obama administration, complete with a CIA training facility and prison. According to the Guardian, 150,000 desperate Somalis, mostly women and children, have walked more [...]
U.S. assembling secret drone bases in Africa, Arabian Peninsula, officials say By Craig Whitlock and Greg Miller, Published: September 21 The Obama administration is assembling a constellation of secret drone bases for counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula as part of a newly aggressive campaign to attack al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Yemen, U.S. [...]
none of what follows should surprise anyone that the US wants to be able to annihilate anyone it can say is an enemy terrorist, or supporter, or follower. What the hell what we say goes, you get in the way you die. George Ikners ikners.com Obama Team Split Over Use of Lethal Force The expansive [...]
Hamas donates $140,000 to Somalia Published yesterday (updated) 13/09/2011 14:13 A boy sits looking over the Seyidka settlement for the famine stricken internally displaced people in Berkulan near Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, September 6. Famine has spread to six out of eight regions in southern Somalia, with 750,000 people facing imminent starvation, the United Nations [...]
Every day an estimated 1,300 children are dying from the famine in East Africa, says an aid activist [Reuters] As the UN and international aid agencies battle to operate out of Mogadishu, the civil war-torn Somali capital, smaller aid agencies have been quietly bringing medical teams, delivering aid and negotiating a move into al-Shabab territory as [...]
Media consumers become interested in events in the Third World when they are provided context by journalists who examine issues like climate change, foreign intervention and economic trends [AFP] Reports of famine vary wildly in their impact. Sometimes images of emaciated children in relief camps provoke an outpouring of charitable giving. The music and entertainment industry [...]
JUAN GONZALEZ: The United Nations has called an emergency meeting to discuss the Horn of Africa drought, which it says has already claimed tens of thousands of lives. Famine was declared in two regions of Somalia on Wednesday, where 3.7 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Another eight million people need food assistance [...]
Displaced people and Somali Transitional Government forces in Dhobley, Somalia, July 2011 © 2010 AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam Somalia: End War Crimes to Help Tackle Famine Abuses by All Sides Contribute to Current Crisis AUGUST 14, 2011 RELATED MATERIALS: “You Don’t Know Who to Blame” MORE COVERAGE: Guardian: Somalia’s humanitarian crisis worsened by violations of [...]
Britain’s development secretary, Andrew Mitchell, steps down from an African Union armoured vehicle in Mogadishu. Photograph: Pool/Reuters Britain’s international development secretary on Wednesday warned that up to 400,000 children could die through starvation if urgent action is not taken to help Somalia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa. Andrew Mitchell’s grim warning came as he saw [...]
A Somali government spokesperson denied HRW’s accusations that all parties are guilty in the Somalia conflict Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said all the parties in Somalia’s conflict have violated the rules of war and are guilty of causing civilian casualties in the fight for territorial control that is contributing to the humanitarian catastrophe there. The New York-based group said al-Shabab, [...]
JUAN GONZALEZ: The United Nations has called an emergency meeting to discuss the Horn of Africa drought, which it says has already claimed tens of thousands of lives. Famine was declared in two regions of Somalia on Wednesday, where 3.7 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Another eight million people need food assistance [...]
A malnourished and dehydrated child lies on a bed in Banadir hospital in Mogadishu. Photograph: Ho/Reuters Outbreaks of measles and cholera are striking down Somali children already weakened by hunger, resulting in dozens of new fatalities. News of the fast-spreading diseases has caused alarm among aid workers, who are struggling to deal with the humanitarian crisis [...]
Aid Agencies Saw Drought Coming in East Africa, So Why Couldn’t They Help Prevent Famine? Forced from their homes by drought, these refugees are seeking aid at the Dadaab camp. (Photo courtesy UNHCR) LIKE THIS ARTICLE ? Join our mailing list: Sign up to stay up to date on the latest headlines via email. [...]
Gaza. Somalia. Humanity Lives on Kids in Gaza. (Zoriah.net) By Ramzy Baroud I remember how exhilarated I felt when I was told I was old enough to fast for the month of Ramadan. My feelings had little to do with abstention from food and drink between dawn and sunset each day. For a child, there [...]
Somali forces have reinforced their hold on Mogadishu, but al-Shabab called its retreat a “tactical move” [AFP] Somalia‘s government has offered an open amnesty to al-Shabab fighters after the rebels made a surprise withdrawal from the capital, Mogadishu, over the weekend. “We offer an amnesty – put down your weapons and your guns, and come and [...]
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) The famine in the Horn of Africa is spreading and may soon engulf as many as six more regions of the lawless nation of Somalia, the U.N. humanitarian aid chief said Monday. Some “12.4 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti are in dire need of help and the situation is [...]
You can watch the video at: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/countingthecost/2011/07/201173010323514396.html George Ikners ikners.com It is perhaps the worst drought and famine in East Africa in 60 years, taking in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. Three million Somalis are at risk of starvation, with thousands of them leaving their homes for Mogadishu, Ethiopia or Kenya. The United Nations says it [...]
Somali militia, as well as other armed forces active in the region, have played a major role in creating the conditions for the current famine in Somalia [EPA] Droughts are common in the Somali peninsula, but only an exceptional one produces famine. For instance, the Horn of Africa drought of 1984 did not produce famine [...]
A Somali government spokesman has said the famine response from aid agencies ‘is too slow’ [Reuters] An appeal for more famine relief by Somalia‘s president has been echoed by US President Barack Obama who has called for an “international response” to the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa. President Sharif Sheik Ahmed said on Friday [...]
ASPEN, Colorado — Ground the U.S. drone war in Pakistan. Rethink the idea of spending billions of dollars to pursue al-Qaida. Forget chasing terrorists in Yemen and Somalia, unless the local governments are willing to join in the hunt. Those aren’t the words of some human rights activist, or some far-left Congressman. They’re from retired [...]
World Food Bank Programme director Josette Sheeran says that many of the children arriving at refugee camps are already in Stage four malnutrition, meaning they have a less than 40 per cent chance of surviving [EPA] In Somalia, where civil war has ravaged the country, where conflict continues to claim victims, a new hardship is [...]
