Rediscovering Somalia

Despite international demands that Ethiopian troops leave, the U.S. backed their continued presence. A popular insurgency rose up within months, and by November 2007, the U.N. had named the situation in Somalia the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa, with some 600,000=750,000 civilians displaced and living in extremely precarious conditions where aid can't reach them due to the security situation (IRIN, 1/10/08, UNHCR, 12/1/07); an estimated 6,500 civilians have been killed (Globe and Mail, 1/1/08).

International organizations have issued reports highlighting flagrant war crimes and human rights abuses committed by the Ethiopian troops, including arbitrary arrests, summary executions, looting, pillaging, collective punishment, targeting of hospitals and indiscriminate bombardment of populated neighborhoods (Human Rights Watch, 8/07; U.N. humanitarian office, 12/21/07).

The insurgency has vowed to continue fighting until the Ethiopian troops withdraw (Africa News, 1/18/08); "There is no solution to the humanitarian crisis with the presence of Ethiopian troops," emphasized the European Union's special envoy to Somalia (McClatchy, 12/4/07). But the U.S. has refused to pull its backing, and has incredibly feigned ignorance of crimes and human rights abuses committed by Ethiopian troops (Globe and Mail, 1/1/08).

And with rare exceptions--notably some reports from McClatchy and from the Washington Post's Stephanie McCrummen (e.g., 1/23/07)--U.S. journalists have done little more than describe scenes of war and misery and wring their hands, repeating official propaganda and failing to connect the dots between U.S. policy and Somali strife.

Some go so far as to call the conflict a "civil war" (e.g., CBS Evening News, 4/22/07; L.A. Times, 12/5/07; AP, 12/16/07), despite the fact that nearly all the fighting is between a Somali insurgency and Ethiopian troops; the official government, composed primarily of warlords allied with Ethiopia, has virtually no popular support and virtually no army, rendering it little more than a puppet in the conflict.

Despite initially publishing some critical reports, the New York Times frequently cloaked the U.S. hand in later pieces. In April (4/23/07), Gettleman explained the worsening conflict, its background and the important players involved, naming the Islamic Courts, Ethiopia, Al-Qaeda and the transitional government, but not once mentioning the United States. Two days later, he explained three factors in the chaos in Somalia: clan rivalry, Islamic fervor and profit. He granted that transitional government leaders "have made mistakes," but "they believe that there are some Somalis--actually, many Somalis--who will never go along with any program." Somali anarchists take the blame, while U.S.-backed Ethiopian troops and their abuses are largely invisible.

A Washington Post editorial (4/10/07) argued that some of the responsibility for Somalia's conflict "must go to outsiders," but the only culpability it managed to attribute to the U.S. was a "failure to use their leverage to get peacekeeping forces into Somalia or to pressure the transitional government into cutting deals with Somali groups that are not adequately represented in the government"; the invasion was seen as opening up "a slender opportunity…to stabilize Somalia," while the CIA's pre-invasion role merited no mention at all.

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