The US proxy war in East Africa

December 28th, 2006 at 15:11 Björn Hallberg

Ethiopia declares war, invades Somalia and marches on Mogadishu, while the world looks on and the US is seen cheerleading the effort. In fact, the US is also bankrolling the war effort and has itself stepped up arms sales to the region and helped Ethiopia in particular, where the ENDF has been professionalized to act as a de facto Sepoy force under a new unified military command structure to rule the entire continent. Isn’t that something. About the only good news is that Sepoys usually revolt against former masters and that a militarized Africa, when allegiances shift, could in time make the continent off limits to US profiteers.

Ethiopian modern history could be summed up as follows: The US got Ethiopia hooked on weapons after World War 2 only to be be outdone by the Soviet Union as allegiances shifted. Since the 1990s, Ethiopia is back where it all began, cooperating with the US. And Meles Zenawi, being in a difficult position, dodging various allegations and a violent past needs all the foreign backing he can get and would go to any lengths to remain in power and salvage his good name. So obviously, the Zenawi government is using talking points that seem to have been xeroxed from US blueprints. And true to form, the US is believing everything it is fed on Somalia and various doomsday scenarios that Zenawi is dreaming up and fomenting to the best of his abilities.

The US aid to Ethiopia is considerable, and while not directly earmarked for weapons it does allow the country to free up assets for other more sinister purposes.

With the downfall of the Mengistu regime, U.S.-Ethiopian relations improved dramatically. Legislative restrictions on assistance to Ethiopia other than humanitarian assistance were lifted. Diplomatic relations were upgraded to the ambassadorial level in 1992. Total U.S. government assistance, including food aid, between 1991 and 2003 was $2.3 billion. During the severe drought year of FY 2003, the U.S. provided a record $553.1 million in assistance, of which $471.7 million was food aid. U.S. development assistance to Ethiopia is focused on reducing famine vulnerability, hunger, and poverty and emphasizes economic, governance, and social sector policy reforms. Some military training funds, including training in such issues as the laws of war and observance of human rights, also are provided.

The “policy reforms” in question are no doubt the neoliberal scourge that has enabled transnationals to cut up Ethiopia piece by piece and misrepresented GDP growth to validate a new round of imperialism.

Then the US goes on to paralyze the UN Security Council and blame Qatar (ostensibly another puppet state) and a reasonable wording for the lack of results.
Ethiopia claims to act on their own accord and in self defense, but no one believes that obviously. Especially since Ethiopia is the regional super power (everything is relative) and is also the regional ally in the “war on terror”. If Ethiopia wanted better relations with its neighbour it could stop taking cues from the US, stop harbouring actual terrorists (”war lords” funded by the US) and stop supporting the defunct puppet government in Baidoa that the UN was deceived by Ethiopia and the US to set up. Once again, Somalia is the victim of foreign aggressors, fellow traveller and fifth columnists. The baseless accusation of “al Qaeda” allegiance doesn’t hold up to serious scrutiny and falls apart as just another piece of US disinformation. For a state that allegedly has nothing of value and little strategic importance, and is said to be forgotten by the world, Somalia sure is getting a lot of attention. Is that Kissinger and his domino theory that I hear being murmured? Or just the “expanding markets concept” of imperialism neoliberalism. Talk about ghosts of Christmas past.

From the United States’ perspective it’s all good. Even if the Ethiopian proxy campaign accomplishes nothing in the long run, at least no Americans will have been dragged through the streets of Mogadishu (those were good times indeed). And if everything goes according to plan, and the war theater expands, America will have a booming weapons industry in the region, the possibility of regime change all across the board, the backdrop for a US military command structure in the region, new economic dependencies (debts) and a few million less black people to compete with (’cause they’ll be dead). Isn’t that right?

Or is it just that the US can’t risk a stable Somalia, because it doesn’t want to be the only country not having ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It sure boggles the mind.

So in summary, the sun never sets on the American Empire (or its interests, real or imaginary), nor does the blood dry. Meanwhile, war, neoliberalism and geopolitics continue to go hand in hand.

Entry 669 filed under: Africa. This entry was posted 1 year, 7 months ago. RSS feed for comments on this post.