From: asianconflictreport <asianconflictreport@yahoo.co.uk>
To: afro-asiareport@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, 20 June, 2009 19:44:00
Subject: [afro-asiareport] ETHIOPIA: "Deceptive Campaign to White-wash International Crimes in Somalia"
Ethiopia – Deceptive Campaign to White-wash and Cover-up International Crimes in Somalia
By Sophia Tesfamariam
Jun 18, 2009, 08:37
http://www.shabait. com/staging/ publish/article_ 0010055.html
The minority mercenary regime in Ethiopia led by Meles Zenawi, the Bush Administration' s "staunch ally" in the "war on terror", finding itself in yet another self-created quagmire, has unleashed its loyal cadres, K-Street lobbyists and members of the Eritrean Quislings League to divert attention away from his lawlessness and belligerence, to white wash, downplay, and if possible, cover up its bloody tracks in Ethiopia and Somalia. Observers have described the childish and ignominious display by the regime's cadres in New York as "disgraceful and embarrassing" . It seems they made a total fool out of themselves at Turtle Bay last week. In Washington , the regime's lobbyists attempted to misinform US lawmakers, but they were summarily rejected by seasoned members who know the regime and its tactics only too well. US lawmakers are tired of cleaning up the blood and carnage left behind by the Bush Administration' s policies. They, like the American people, also want change.
The minority regime, which has no confidence in its own abilities and suffers from debilitating inferiority complex, always surrounds itself with individuals and groups it feels will give it clout. This time, it gambled wrong and its cadres brought along a decrepit band-wagon with some members of IGAD and AU on board, with the hopes that the "weight of their voices" would sway lawmakers in Washington and New York . The tantrums and frothing by the regime's cadres in New York last week is nothing new, and also came as no surprise for those who know the regime's tried and tired, transparent gimmick "Accusations in a mirror"-where the minority regime accuses others of crimes it has committed or is planning to commit. By sending its henchmen to Washington and New York , the regime was also testing the waters and the Obama Administration.
The regime is sparing no expense in its orchestrated propaganda campaign and no stone is being left unturned to advance it. In Washington, members of the Eritrean Quislings League, which includes the Eritrean Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group and a collection of runaway defectors, pedophiles and torturers posing as "human rights" and "democracy advocates", NED sponsored "intellectuals and professionals" and other bankrupt individuals, have been assigned to distribute the "facial masks" to be used in the rallies and other activities planned by the regime. By calling on the 80,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin that it inhumanly deported from Ethiopia during the 1998-2000 border citing "security threats", to return to Ethiopia and claim their billion dollar properties that it confiscated, the regime believes it can win the heart and mind of Eritreans and present itself as a humanitarian regime to the international community. What a joke! Anyway, these mercenary individuals and groups have been instructed to do whatever it takes to convince Washington and the Obama Administration to maintain the status quo in the Horn of Africa.
The desperate regime's cadres and mercenaries are in Washington and New York seeking the same grotesque patronage from the Obama Administration as the one it enjoyed under Bush's Washington and Kofi Annan's United Nations. What else can the desperate criminal regime in Ethiopia led by the deceptive Prime Minister Meles Zenawi do, except beg, blame, threaten and whine for its inadequacies and self created quagmires? The shameless minority regime expected the Security Council to take punitive actions against Eritrea based on "evidence" provided by the regime itself. It expected to be bailed out, absolved of its crimes, by having Eritrea penalized, even if it meant violating international law and the UN Charter and violating the sovereign rights of the Eritrean people. It wanted sanctions against Eritrea for not giving its blessings to the TNG in Somalia . This shameless act of hypocrisy comes as no surprise as it is the nature of the regime to distort the truth and the facts and then to cry foul when it is cornered.
The regime's cadres were heard preaching about international law and human rights. A repressive backward thugocracy that subjugates the Ethiopian people and is violating international law and the UN Charter by invading and occupying Somalia and is occupying sovereign Eritrean territories, including Badme, a regime that has committed genocides and numerous other human rights violations in Gambela, Ogaden and Oromia regions of Ethiopia, does not have the moral or legal authority, credibility or integrity to call for sanctions against Eritrea…or any other country for that matter. It ought to take a good look at itself first, before pointing its blood soaked fingers at others. Had it not been for Washington's policy of appeasement, the people of the Horn would have used their meager resources to develop their nations instead of fighting the regime and its mercenaries.
The shameless regime's cadres brought a laundry list of actions to be taken against Eritrea and were hoping that by accusing Eritrea of many violations, the Security Council would pick from the list and take actions against Eritrea . For the last 8 years, emboldened by the silence and inaction of the US-led international community, the diplomatic, financial, military and political shield and support it received from the UN under the corrupt former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and from the Bush Administration, specifically the Secretary of State and her protйg& #1081;, the incompetent and vindictive Jendayi E. Frazer the regime committed countless crimes against the people of Ethiopia and Somalia. By diverting attention away from itself and its crimes in Somalia , it is hoping the Obama Administration will not change course but follow the same destructive and dangerous policies for Africa .
Somalia's invasion and occupation, just like the invasion and occupation of Iraq , was based on a lie. Meles Zenawi's and incompetent and vindictive Jendayi E. Frazier, the former US Secretary of State for African Affairs orchestrated an elaborate and "tailored intelligence disinformation campaign" to invade and occupy Somalia in 2006 to oust the Union of Islamic Courts and "prop up" the illegitimate Transitional National Government of Somalia led by Abdulahi Yusuf and Ali Mohammed Ghedi. The US backed Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia did not produce the intended outcome; it did not produce the three terrorists who were responsible for the bombing of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, nor did it produce any Al Qaeda linked "terrorists" that Frazier and her Horn confidante Meles Zenawi, said were operating in Somalia.
After creating the greatest humanitarian disaster in the history of Somalia, killing over 17000 innocent Somalis, and after carrying out the extra-judicial murder of thousands more it labeled "extremists" , "Islamists", "fundamentalists" , "Taliban-like" etc. etc., destroying Somalia's schools, clinics, markets, ports, airports and other vital infrastructures, pulverizing Somali villages and farms and causing the displacement of over one million Somalis, the regime was hoping to white wash its "mistakes and miscalculations" in Somalia by pointing its bloody fingers at Eritrea. The mercenary regime's cadres were at the UN hoping to collect their brownie points and service pins for the destruction of Somalia . By pointing fingers at Eritrea and getting the Security Council to take punitive actions against Eritrea based on fabrications by "Ethiopian intelligence" , the minority regime was hoping it would be absolved of the international crimes that it committed in Somalia .
In order to understand the regime's warped thinking we need to go back to the events on last December and the shenanigans in Djibouti orchestrated by Jendayi E. Frazier and her criminal cohorts. At the 11th hour, just as the Bush Administration was leaving office, Meles Zenawi and his handlers hurriedly established yet another Transitional National Government (TNG) for Somalia , in Djibouti . Forcing Abdulahi Yusuf to step down (by paying him well), the Union of Islamic Court's Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, brought from Eritrea where he had taken refuge when Ethiopia invaded Somalia , was installed at the helm. Once again, instead of allowing the Somali people to come together and decide for themselves, Meles Zenawi and Jendayi Frazier handpicked the amenable "moderate Sheikh Sharif Ahmed" to lord over the Somali people. The illegitimate TNG is facing the same opposition, if not worse, that Abdulahi Yusuf's TNG faced. Meles and company thought it was a smart move to present the Obama Administration with a fait accompli in Somalia -we'll have to wait and see how this deceptive game plays out.
As for Ethiopia's violations of the UN arms embargo on Somalia , they are well documented and Ethiopia's interventions in Somalia , using several pretexts, precede the Eritrea Ethiopia border conflict. It was in violation of the UN charter, the African Union Charter and Security Council resolution 1724 that Ethiopia invaded and occupied of Somalia . It was also in violation of the Intergovernmental Agency for Development' s (IGAD) 2005 resolution that authorized the formation of IGAD Peace Support Mission to Somalia (IGASOM) and specifically called for non-interference by "neighboring states". The Ethiopian fabrications and claims about the presence of "2000 Eritrean troops fighting alongside the UIC" also turned out to be a blatant lie. As with all their unsubstantiated allegations and assertions at the time, it was a convenient diversion, a deceptive decoy, to camouflage the truth and justify the invasion and occupation of Somalia .
UN Reports dating back to 1997 show that Ethiopia, in violation of the UN embargo on Somalia, has been delivering "shipment of arms consisting primarily of ammunition, including AK-47s and PKMs; light weapons and mines" which was transported by road through the porous Somali/Ethiopian border. The reports also show a constant flow of arms from Ethiopia to Kenya and from Kenya to Somalia . Ethiopia has also invaded and occupied parts of Somalia in the past. It has used the pretext of hunting down members of the group Al-Ittihad- citing national security concerns, the groups tenuous links to Al Qaeda have been used as an excuse for the regime's interference and involvement in Somalia's internal affairs.
The UN reports say that shipment of arms to Somalia increased as the minority regime worked to undermine the Transitional National Government of Somalia that was established in Arta , Djibouti in 2001. The regime formed the group calling itself the Somalis Reconciliation and Restoration Council, made up of factions that were hostile to the TNG and its allies and provided it training, arms and ammunition. According to UN reports, Ethiopia has been a major source of weapons for a number of Somali groups since. In addition, in violation of the Arms Embargo on Somalia , the United States and Ethiopia financed and supported a coalition of warlords calling themselves the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT).
The ARPCT prevented the Abdulahi Yusuf's TNG from relocating from Kenya where it was established. Two years later, in 2006, it established itself in Somalia and even then, it was straddled between Baidoa and Jowhar, unable to establish itself in Mogadishu . When the UIC, led by Sheikh Sharif Ahmed kicked out the US and Ethiopia supported ARPCT from Mogadishu in 2006 and began to expand its influence all over Somalia , Jendayi E. Frazier and her Horn advisors decided to stop it. Ethiopia invaded Somalia and ousted the UIC and Sheikh Sharif and with Ethiopia's help, Abdulahi Yusuf entered Mogadishu . The rest is bloody history.
Not only has Ethiopia been meddling in Somalia's internal affairs, it is also the only party that has consistently disrupted and prevented the stabilization of Somalia . It is also the only party that has fueled the fighting by providing weapons to various warring factions vying for power. Here is a partial list of the weapons provided by Ethiopia in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and the UN embargo on Somalia as documented by the UN:
· "…On 30 October 1997, a C- 130 military transport aircraft arrived from Ethiopia with ammunition for small arms, rocket propelled grenades, machine guns, antipersonnel landmines and grenades..."
· "…April 2001:12 mortars, several M30 artillery pieces, M30 artillery ammunition, mortar bombs, landmines and other unspecified ammunition for militia opposed to TNG…"
· "…April 2001-Assault rifles, light machine guns, 4 heavy machine guns, 4 106mm caliber antitank guns, ammunition for the aforementioned items-for Abdulahi Yusuf…"
· "…7 June 2001- Nine heavy trucks containing anti-aircraft guns, assault rifles and mortars of different calibers along with ammunition for the aforementioned items …"
Steve Bloomfield reporting for the Independent in his 16 November 2006[1] report wrote:
"…Ethiopia, which is estimated to have some 6,000 troops already in Somalia, is also believed to have brought in tanks and surface-to-air missiles…"
Reuters in its 9 June 2009 report[2] said:
"…Weapons are captured, sold and recycled constantly between both sides, experts say. Many arms have come from Ethiopian soldiers who intervened in Somalia between 2006 and early 2009… Weapons are also said to pour across the porous borders of Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia, arriving by plane and through seas infested by pirates who are themselves armed to the teeth…"
On 9 July 2008 Hiiran online reported the following:
"…On July 9, Islamists seized a large shipment of Ethiopian arms and military vehicles from an armored convoy heading from Balidogle Airport to Baidoa meant for the TFG military…"
There is ample evidence to show that the regime in Ethiopia is training and arming the Islamist group Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama, various clan militias and warlords, including Bare Aden Shire ("Bare Hilale") the defense minister of the former TNG led by Abdulahi Yusuf and Ali Mohammed Ghedi. Bare Hilale is linked with the Juba Valley Alliance, a militia group.
On 24 May 2008 Reuters reported the following:
"…Dumisani Kumalo, chairman of the U.N. Security Council's Somalia sanctions committee and the South African envoy to the body, accuses "elements" of an AU peacekeeping force in Somalia and Ethiopian and Somali government troops of arms trafficking…The South African envoy said 80 percent of ammunition on sale in Somali markets come from Ethiopian and Somali troops…the presence of Ethiopian troops inside Somalia was itself a violation of the 16-year-old arms ban..."
The UN embargo on Somalia is not the only embargo that Ethiopia has violated, it should be recalled that there were reports citing Ethiopian violations of the UN embargo against North Korea also, but once again, with its friends at the State Department doing its lobbying, the Bush Administration decided to look the other way. Had it been any other country, the "ton of bricks" would have been thrown at it. Here is how Reuters explained Washington's duplicity and hypocrisy in its 7 April 2007 news report:
"…The Bush administration allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from North Korea in an apparent violation of a U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution passed months earlier over its nuclear test…the United States allowed the January arms delivery in part because Ethiopia was fighting Islamic militias in Somalia in an offensive that aided U.S. policies of combating religious extremists in the Horn of Africa…"
Today, by portraying Eritrea as the culprit for the ongoing violence in Somalia, the minority regime and its partners… in pecking order-IGAD, AU and the regime's multimillion dollar K-Street lobbyists probably believed that the fabricated accusations and coordinated deceptive ploys would work….they may have worked Bush's Washington, but not this time….as they say in Texas…that dog won't hunt!
No matter what comical and desperate gimmicks the regime cooks up at Menelik Palace , its days are numbered. The citizens of the Horn, Ethiopians, Eritreans and Somalis have had enough. The international community is also fed up with the regime that has refused to live up to its international obligations. Its carte blanches to do as it pleased in the Horn is about to be revoked permanently.
The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!
[1] http://www.independ ent.co.uk/ news/world/ politics/ iran-and- syria-supplied- somali-islamists -with-arms- says-un-424488. html
[2] http://www.reuters. com/article/ worldNews/ idUSTRE5582RR200 90609
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DISCLAIMER:
The views expressed in the commentary section of Shabait.com do not necessarily reflect those of the Ministry of Information of the State of Eritrea. The writer contributed this article and bears sole responsibility for its contents.
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