US/UN out of Somalia!
The United Nations/United States "peacekeeping" mission in Somalia stands exposed for the grisly farce it is.
In a joint statement addressed last week to the UN Secretary General, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, 26 international aid organisations formally registered their concern that Operation Restore Hope (the name given to the UN mission) wasn't doing anything of the kind. The signatories criticised the UN's "peacekeeping" forces for causing unnecessary casualties — in particular its attacks on southern Mogadishu — and making relief aid impossible to carry out. The military intervention has already cost 10 times more money than has been spent on humanitarian aid.
The statement was released following similar concerns raised by the German and Italian governments, and comes in the wake of several attacks by UN soldiers on Somali citizens. The latest of these came as revenge for the death of four US troops killed when their vehicle hit a landmine (later described by US officials as "command detonated") on August 8. The US immediately blamed General Mohammed Aideed for the incident and vowed not to let it go "unpunished". The punishment came on August 13 when three US army vehicles drove through and fired on a peaceful demonstration in Mogadishu killing at least three Somalis. Witnesses say some protesters had thrown stones at the vehicles.
To date, 39 UN soldiers have been killed in Somalia. No-one knows how many Somalis have died in a war which the UN/US forces are still trying to pass off as a "humanitarian mission". This lie, however, is wearing thin.
The US administration — which effectively commands the UN operation — is primarily interested in Somalia, situated in the Horn of Africa, for its own strategic reasons. Washington knows that if it's to achieve its aim of establishing a long-term protectorate over this region, it will have to weaken or eliminate General Aideed's forces.
Aideed heads the largest of the rival Somali factions. He has managed to bring an alliance of smaller factions together in the United Somali Congress. Undoubtedly Aideed, once supported by the US, has his own mercenary motives. Nevertheless, since the USC has emerged as the strongest nationalist opposition to the US/UN takeover of Somalia, the Western media has transformed Aideed into the Somali equivalent of Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
In line with their real goals in Somalia, US officials have announced the "Clinton Doctrine" — special responsibility for the US to be the military enforcer on behalf of the UN when its "peacekeeping" operations go wrong. Indeed, since the August 8 incident, the Clinton administration is considering sending in a 1000-strong contingent of "special forces" to help track down Aideed. This is in addition to the 35,000 UN troops already stationed there. David Shin, a senior US state department official, indicated recently that the US will not be pulling out of Somalia before 1994, perhaps 1995. It has become abundantly clear that the UN/US occupation of Somalia is not aimed at providing humanitarian aid, but imposing a government that will do Washington's bidding. The Somali people should be allowed to determine select their political leaders without outside interference. The UN/US troops should leave Somalia immediately.