The negative policies of the United States and the West towards Somalia may have unprecedented consequences globally. World leaders need to act quickly before deaths start to rise rapidly.
The negative policies of the United States and the West towards Somalia may have unprecedented consequences globally. World leaders need to act quickly before deaths start to rise rapidly.
It was US President George HW Bush who sent US soldiers to Somalia, making the decision in December 1992 in his final days in the Oval Office. But it was Bill Clinton who later pulled them off, in large part due to the violent reaction of the American public after the publication of a painful picture of the intestines of the corpse of an American soldier being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu.
Later Osama bin Laden famously said that the United States could not stand the setbacks: "One American was dragged through the streets of Mogadishu (and) you left; the extent of your helplessness and vulnerability became very clear." Years later, George W. Bush told aides that he believed the Black Hawk Down moment - made famous by the 2001 blockbuster Hollywood movie of the same name - had actually inspired terrorists to attack and bring down the Twin Towers.
Back in 1993, the Clinton administration was waging a ridiculous campaign to hunt down General Farah Aideed, who was considered essentially the source of all of Somalia's problems. Until then the focus on US UN forces in Somalia had been on allowing vital food aid to reach all corners of the country, as convoys were often blocked and robbed by gunmen working for warlords. For some, the US intervention in Somalia, contrary to popular opinion, has been largely successful, some believe it saved up to a million lives, while others believe the opposite.
But the failure of Operation Black Hawk Down, which killed 18 Americans, was crystallized by a Canadian photographer's candid shot of Aideed's supporters chanting as the sergeant was tortured. Dragging William David Cleveland's body through the streets of Mogadishu has left the world drugged.
Everything changed, even the enthusiasm of the United Nations to intervene in civil wars and genocide in Africa such as Rwanda. America showed the world that despite having the capabilities and military equipment, it did not have the courage to do anything, and the ongoing war in Ukraine is a case in point. The list of subsequent failures of the United Nations on the continent is shameful because it is extensive. The list of failed US interventions has become Internet memes, which must have embarrassed most Americans.
Clinton did not really understand what was happening in Somalia, and how the fall of the Siad Barre regime would plunge the Horn of Africa into chaos. Barre, who initially fled to Kenya despite being one of Africa's ruthless tyrants, successfully prevented clans from fighting during the United States' war against the Soviets. The latter was grooming him, at times, to be a great African leader rather than the monster he had become after the atrocities he committed at the end of his rule.
The Americans finally withdrew in 1995, leaving Somalia as a failed state. Then came the events of 9/11, which produced a new group of al-Qaeda extremists - teens - with their radical ideology toward governance. Today, it is this group that is repeating history and producing a hell on earth scenario for Joe Biden to contemplate, as these young people prevent food aid shipments from getting into the country.
History literally repeats itself, and we go back to 1992 when I, a young reporter, was one of the first to enter Mogadishu, the capital, when anything built by a ground regime was destroyed by a thousand AK-47s, even the post office.
Somalia today is facing yet another famine and another civil war that may be worse than the one in which sarcasm plays a cruel role. Aideed and his clans - as the opposition - were replaced by al-Shabab, born from the moment of the rise of al-Qaeda, and which George W. Bush and others believe was accelerated by the US operation Black Hawk Down in Somalia.
Biden recently sent 500 US troops to Somalia that Trump had previously withdrawn, and also promised $500 million in food aid. In fact, the United Nations estimates that Somalia needs approximately $1.5 billion, but there are no clear indications that Western donors will seek to secure these sums.
The US's 500 million band-aid on an open wound of 50 caliber, and if the West does not act quickly, Somalia will erupt again as a volcano that will cover us all in toxic ash.
The country has all the ingredients for a civil war that is rapidly spreading across the entire region. The implication of this is that the famine will give al-Shabab more power, as they will work to control the entire infrastructure in the country, which is still officially in the hands of the government.
Other clans may separate and also fight for land, food, or to settle old scores. Food policy will determine a lot. Who eats and who goes hungry? Currently, 1 million people have been displaced in one of the worst droughts in decades, leaving 5 million people at risk of starvation.
What Somalia needs now is an initiative, a bold initiative that we saw with the leaders of the European Union, who acted quickly in response to Putin in Ukraine. Somalia needs this vitality from world leaders who need to act quickly before deaths start rising quickly. Some countries in the region understand the repercussions of Somalia's failure once again, such as the UAE, which recently sent food aid, and Turkey, which has sent nearly $1 billion in humanitarian and development aid in the past ten years.
But a lot has to come from the richest countries in the region. The United Nations needs to garner support and attention from Biden and EU leaders to move quickly to avoid starvation, the implications are clear.
It is worth noting that since May of this year, Somalia has appointed Hassan Mohamud as its new president.
Mahmoud was previously known for his ability to bring the fighting clans to the negotiating table and unify Mogadishu in 1997. The "Green Line" dividing its north and south was broadly removed, ending years of Aideed's control in the south and UN-appointed president Ali Mahdi in the north. Capital.
Long after that, he emerged as a prominent player who would establish his own political movement before winning a landslide election at the polls this year. Mahmoud now needs to reach out to the hierarchy of the United Nations and the Europeans for help. We should help Somalia and neighboring Somaliland because the situation there now cannot be compared to the early 1990s. Climate change deals the most brutal and loud blow to the people of these regions, who in turn played no role whatsoever in its occurrence.
But given Europe's collapsed economies due to the war in Ukraine, will they respond, or will Somalia be the latest victim of Western vulnerabilities and Putin's obsession?
Can President Biden "bear the losses" if he had the courage to fix what he retreated from in 1993? What we need are actions, not words. In fact, a Somali proverb says, "A sweet hand is better than a sweet mouth."
(MartinRJay
An award-winning British journalist. He has worked with international organizations such as CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, Sunday Times, Daily Mail, TRT)