[Bloquez l'empire!] Protesters Denounce Illegal Occupation of Somalia

[Dru Oja Jay]

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http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/950

Coalition of Concerned Somali Canadians calls for immediate  
withdrawal of Ethiopian troops

by Isabel Macdonald, the Dominion

On January 20, several hundred people protested in front of the US  
consulate in Toronto to demand the immediate withdrawal of Ethiopian  
troops from Somalia. “Somalia should not be a theatre of proxy wars  
and the hidden agenda of Ethiopia and its American allies”, said  
Shukria Dini, an organizer with the Coalition of Concerned Somali  
Canadians (CCSC), the group that organized the demonstration. The  
CCSC emphasizes the illegality of the occupation, which violates the  
principle of state sovereignty enshrined in the UN Charter, as well  
as UN Resolution 1725, which forbids neighbouring states from  
deploying troops to Somalia. The occupation is also a violation of  
the African Union Charter. Dini emphasizes the gendered impact of the  
occupation, citing reports of Ethiopian soldiers raping women in  
Somali towns and villages.

CCSC demands an immediate end to US diplomatic and military support  
for the occupation, and a halt to US bombing of Somalia. The  
coalition also demands that the Canadian government join the  
international community in denouncing this illegal aggression against  
Somalia.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has not made any official statements  
about Ethiopia's occupation of Somalia.

The rally included speakers from the Trade Unions Against the War,  
the Canadian Arab Federation, the Coalition Against Israeli  
Apartheid, the Canadian Peace Alliance and the Toronto Coalition to  
Stop the War, as well as an anti-occupation coalition of people from  
one of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic groups, Oromos Against the Ethiopian  
Invasion of Somalia.

Acting with US support and funding, Ethiopia invaded Somalia in the  
last days of 2006, replacing the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) with a  
government led by US-backed warlords. The ICU, which took power in  
Somalia six months before the Ethiopian invasion, were credited with  
restoring stability for the first time since civil war tore the  
country apart in the early 1990s. The ICU had been criticized for  
imposing unpopular religious rules in the country, but remained  
popular for its stabilizing effect; during its brief reign, the  
Mogadishu airport had been opened for the first time in over a decade.

Former CNN and BBC producer Tim Lister reported that "When the  
Islamic Courts were expelled, some residents of the capital were  
relieved that strict Sharia law, which had forbidden movies and  
televised soccer and the chewing of the narcotic qat leaf, was gone.  
But for most, apprehension was the dominant sentiment."

Last week, the Washington Post reported that US special forces had  
participated in the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia.

Immediately following the invasion, US-backed warlords staged a  
crackdown on media outlets, including one founded by Somali refugees  
who lived in Canada but who returned in 1999.

US planes bombed Somalia several times, claiming to target Islamic  
terrorists. A reported 70 people were killed by the air strikes, with  
hundreds reported injured. Hundreds of families have fled the area of  
the bombings, fearing more attacks.

"The answer to terrorism is stable, democratic states, not rule by  
army warlords," Africa Action director Nii Akuetteh told the New York  
radio and television show Democracy Now! "Some of these people that  
the US has armed are actually terrorists, so even if the US is trying  
to protect its interests in the region, it is going about it in a  
terrible way... It seems to me it will make the situation much worse."

Speaking on the same program, Salim Lone, former spokesperson for the  
UN mission in Iraq, said that "The US has been trying for many months  
now to try to undermine the Islamic Courts Union. They have been  
violating the existing UN resolutions since 1992, which forbid any  
armed assistance to Somalia... the US has been violating the arms  
embargo, over the UN and using private contractors to funnel arms to  
the warlords."

In 1993, Canadian troops operating in Somalia tortured and killed  
Shidane Arone, a 16-year-old Somali, and tortured several other  
Somalis, many of them children. The ensuing scandal was known as the  
Somalia Affair, but a commission charged with investigating the  
incidents was shut down before it finished its work. No one was ever  
officially held responsible.

It is estimated that 100,000 Somalis now live in Canada.