Andrew Clem home
Andrew Clem banner

Blog post


Monthly archives
(all categories)


December 29, 2006 [LINK / comment]

Ethiopia liberates (?) Somalia

Tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia had been rising for several months before war finally broke out last week. The "Islamic Courts Movement" that took control of Somalia had begun to promote separatism in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, where ethnic Somalis predominate. It has proclaimed friendship with Al Qaeda, a virtual invitation to be attacked. Earlier this week Ethiopian warplanes bombed the main airport outside Mogadishu, and its troops moved across the border in support of the provisional Somali government that had taken refuge in the town of Baidoa. Today Ethiopian troops entered the capital city of Mogadishu, the very same place where the ugly ambush portrayed in Black Hawk Down took place. See Washington Post. The big question is, To what extent did the U.S. government encourage or support the Ethiopian invasion? The government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is authoritarian, and not always friendly to U.S. interests. For the time being, it would appear that the Islamic terrorist movement has been turned back in a strategic location. The Somali people are more likely to come together in building a coalition government. The country has been in chaos, run by a loose grouping of warlords every since the failed U.S. intervention of 1992-1993. What happens next is impossible to say.

Posted (or last updated or commented upon): 30 Dec 2006, 12: 08 AM

(unformatted URL)
      .



This post is over a week old, so comments are closed.


© Andrew G. Clem. All rights reserved. Your use of this material signifies your acceptance of the Terms of use.


Hits on this page (single blog post) since July 2, 2007:

Category archives:
(all years)



This (or that) year's
blog highlights

Blog highlights have been compiled for the years 2010-2012 thus far, and eventually will be compiled for earlier years, back to 2002.


Explanation

The "home made" blog organization system that I created was instituted on November 1, 2004, followed by several functional enhancements in subsequent years. I make no more than one blog post per day on any one category, so some posts may cover multiple news items or issues. Blog posts appear in the following (reverse alphabetical) order, which may differ from the chronological order in which the posts were originally made:

  1. Wild birds (LAST)
  2. War
  3. Science & Technology
  4. Politics
  5. Latin America
  6. Culture & Travel
  7. Canaries ("Home birds")
  8. Baseball (FIRST)