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31 July 2010 By Rick Rozoff
The 15th biennial African Union summit in Kampala,
Uganda ended on July 27 with mixed results regarding
support for U.S. and Western European plans to
escalate foreign military intervention in nearby
Somalia.
The 35 heads of state present at the three-day
meeting were reported to have authorized the
deployment of 2,000 more African troops to back up the
beleaguered Western-backed Transitional Federal
Government (TFG) in Mogadishu and to bring the full
complement of forces doing so to 8,000, but the new
contingent will probably consist solely of troops from
Uganda and Burundi, which supply the approximately
6,000 already serving with the African Union Mission
in Somalia (AMISOM). Reports of another 2,000
reinforcements from Djibouti and Guinea are
problematic and their deployment remains to be seen,
not that pressure will not be exerted on those two
nations and others from outside the continent.
AMISOM is the successor to the Intergovernmental
Authority on Development (IGAD) Peace Support Mission
in Somalia (IGASOM) set up in 2005 by the six-member
group which includes Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Somalia, Sudan and Uganda and which also was to have
provided 8,000 troops for deployment to Somalia. The
53 members of the African Union except for Uganda and
Burundi have been loath to commit military units to
intervene in fighting in Somalia, whether against the
Islamic Courts Union five years ago or against al-Shabaab
insurgents currently.
In late 2006 U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice met with Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa to
plan the earlier IGASOM operation and in January of
2007 Uganda pledged its first troops which, along with
those included in a reported offer by Nigeria, were to
total 8,000.
Three and a half years later, there are only 6,000
foreign troops in Somalia (now under AMISOM, the only
difference being the acronym now employed) and all of
those from Uganda and Burundi, both nations U.S.
military clients and surrogates.
The African Union (AU) initially approved AMISOM on
January 19, 2007 and granted it a six-month mandate.
In July of 2010 the real prime movers behind the
mission, the U.S. and its NATO allies in the European
Union, are pushing for an escalation of armed
intervention in Somalia with more Western-trained
Ugandan troops conducting open combat operations:
Changing the mandate from, to use the terms employed
to mask military aggression, peacekeeping to peace
enforcement.
The first attempt by the U.S. and its non-African
allies to enforce a compliant government in the Horn
of Africa nation, Ethiopia’s invasion in December of
2006, was assisted by the Pentagon’s Joint Special
Operations Command (headed up by now retired General
Stanley McChrystal until early in 2006), which
conducted military operations inside Somalia no later
than the beginning of the next year. At the time
Ethiopia was the second largest recipient of U.S.
military aid in Africa (another of the three countries
bordering Somalia, Djibouti, being the first) and
American military personnel were stationed in the
country. Logistical and other assistance was provided
by the Pentagon for the operation.
On the sidelines of the recently concluded African
Union summit U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for
Africa Johnnie Carson “gathered the presidents of
Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Djibouti and Uganda, along
with the prime minister of Ethiopia for a closed-door
session” to push for more aggressive military
operations in Somalia. The State Department official
was quoted as saying, “We came away even more united
and committed to work together strengthen the TFG, to
help strengthen AMISOM, to help strengthen the forces
for stability in Somalia and to help do as much as we
can to help beat al-Shabab. Al-Shabab represents a
foreign and a negative influence that cannot only be
destructive inside Somalia, but across the entire
region.” [1]
Note the opprobrium attached to the word foreign.
With what Carson called “a wake-up call not only for
the region but for Africa as a whole” [2] sounded by
deadly bombings in the Ugandan capital on July 11,
more foreign troops armed, trained, and airlifted by
great powers in North America and Europe are destined
for deployment to Somalia.
Officials from the European Union and from Britain
and France – the two main historical colonial masters
on the African continent – were present at the meeting
with Carson and America’s East African proxies. [3] A
Voice of America report on the closed-door meeting
reminded readers that “The European Union, the United
Nations and the United States are the main financial
contributors to the African Union’s AMISOM
peacekeeping force in Somalia.” [4]
The arm-twisting produced few results. Despite
claims by the chairman of the African Union
Commission, Gabon’s Jean Ping, that troops from
Djibouti and Guinea (Conakry) would join AMISOM/IGAD
forces from Uganda and Burundi, the additional troops
will almost surely come entirely from the last two
nations. Also, the nearly three dozen heads of state
at the AU summit rejected the Ugandan (and Western)
demand for a “peace enforcement” rules of engagement
mandate.
The current chairman of the AU, president of Malawi
Bingu wa Mutharika, told reporters, “There have been
calls for a change in the mandate to a more robust
approach to the insurgent attacks in Somalia by Uganda
and Burundi, to go beyond Mogadishu, (which is) their
current limit, but (we) did not decide on that.”
Ping, however, indicated that the U.S. and NATO
allies have not abandoned plans for intensified
military operations in Somalia, stating, “We need
equipment to match with the change in combat approach.
We need helicopters for that. The United States and
the U.K. are considering our request….” [5] He also
mentioned that France could provide additional
helicopters.
Even the Attorney General of the U.S., Eric Holder,
attended the AU summit as the Obama administration’s
representative and saw fit to impose his opinions on
the 53-nation organization. Before the summit began he
met with several of the continent’s heads of state and
in prepared remarks to the summit affirmed that “The
United States…recognizes that ending the threat of al-Shabaab
to the world will take more than just law enforcement.
That is why we are working closely with the AU to
support the African Union’s Mission in Somalia. The
United States applauds the heroic contributions that
are being made on a daily basis by Ugandan and
Burundian troops, and we pledge to maintain our
support for the AU and the AU Mission in Somalia.” [6]
Lightly-armed al-Shabaab militants have now been
elevated by Washington to the status of a threat to
the world, though Holder’s colleague Carson limited
his hyperbole to branding them a “negative
influence…across the entire region.” The dual bombings
in Kampala, incidentally, have been attributed to the
group as a warning sign to Uganda to remove (and
certainly not to increase) its troops in Somalia, but
in fact appear like a provocation designed to
accomplish the opposite result.
Four days before the AU summit commenced, the
defense chiefs of the six Intergovernmental Authority
on Development (IGAD) nations – Uganda, Djibouti,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan – met to discuss
boosting troop deployments to Somalia.
Weeks before IGAD had recommended that not the
earlier cited figure of 8,000 but fully 20,000 foreign
troops could be deployed to Somalia in yet another
attempt to salvage the Transitional Federal
Government, which doesn’t even control much of the
country’s capital despite 6,000 Ugandan and Burundian
troops serving as its army. 20,000 foreign troops
entering Somalia in the face of overwhelming popular
opposition is not a peacekeeping mission. It is an
invasion.
In mid-July Ugandan officials announced that their
nation’s neighbors in IGAD and in the Eastern Africa
Standby Brigade (EASBRIG) – Burundi, Comoros,
Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Seychelles,
Somalia and Uganda – had given “soft support” should
Uganda “go on the offensive in Somalia.”
“Ugandan officials now confirm that Kampala is
pursuing a two-track strategy that could see it follow
Al Shabaab into Somalia with or without UN Security
Council consent.” A news report disclosed that the
Yoweri Museveni administration is prepared to mobilize
the entirety of the 20,000 troops needed for a
full-scale invasion of Somalia and “military sources
say Uganda feels it has the capacity to go it alone in
Somalia and has been building up its military strength
for such an eventuality.” [7]
The nation’s air force has acquired “additions to
its arsenal in recent weeks” from its Western patrons
“in what observers see as a concerted push to increase
Uganda’s military capability.”
Last week a Defence Ministry spokesman stated, “We
are one of the most efficient armies in Africa. We can
defend our country from anywhere, even within
Somalia.” The spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Felix
Kulaigye, added, “Anybody who brings war to us, we
take back that war to them. We shall pursue Al Shabaab
from Somalia in line with the wishes of the
Transitional Federal Government.” [8]
During the last invasion and occupation of Somalia,
that of Ethiopia from December of 2006 to January of
2009, fighting between a similar invading force of
20,000 troops and Somali militias resulted in the
deaths of over 16,000 civilians and the displacement
of hundreds of thousands in the capital in 2007 alone
according to the Mogadishu-based Elman Peace and Human
Rights Organisation.
The AMISOM mandate (approved by the AU but, as seen
above, with no backing by member states except for
Uganda and Burundi) excludes the deployment of troops
from nations bordering Somalia – Djibouti, Ethiopia
and Kenya. Ugandan military forces and equipment have
to cross Kenya to reach the country; that is, to be
airlifted by United States Africa Command (AFRICOM)
and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization into parts
of the Somali capital not under the control of rebels.
The Ugandan government, largely rebuffed at the AU
summit, is pushing for the maiden deployment of the
10-nation Eastern Africa Standby Brigade (Eastern
African Standby Brigade Coordination Mechanism) to
Somalia, which would appreciably broaden the scope of
the conflict. In addition, it is planning to use
forums like the International Conference on the Great
Lakes Region (ICGLR) – whose members are Angola,
Burundi, the Central African Republic, the Republic of
Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya,
Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia – “which
already has provisions that offer some room for
intervention.”
“Somalia has already applied to be a member; once
that request is approved, Uganda will be able to work
together with the Transitional Federal Government and
fight Al Shabaab under the legal framework that
governs the organisation.” [9]
On July 20 the head of AFRICOM, General William
Ward, addressed the Center for Strategic and
International Studies in Washington, D.C. and pledged
that the U.S. will “provide more training,
transportation, and logistical aid to the AU mission,
known as AMISOM.” Also, “In a briefing to reporters
last week, a senior Obama administration official said
the U.S. wants to ‘build up the capabilities’ of
AMISOM and the [Somali transitional] government.” [10]
In late April Brigadier General Silver Kayemba, in
charge of training and operations for the Ugandan
People’s Defense Force (UPDF), was in the U.S. and
visited the headquarters of U.S. Army Africa, the
Pentagon, the National Defense University and a Marine
Corps base. Kayemba, who was also trained in the U.S.,
said, “This visit strengthens our relationship with
the U.S. Armed Forces, particularly with U.S. Army
Africa. We are looking forward to even closer
cooperation in the future.” [11]
Last month officers of the U.S. 17th Air Force, the
air component of AFRICOM (Air Forces Africa)
headquartered at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany,
traveled to Uganda for what was described as “a senior
leader engagement event….to discuss current and future
engagement activities between Ugandan People’s Defence
Force, Ugandan People’s Defence Air Force and Air
Forces Africa.”
The head of the U.S. delegation, Brigadier General
Michael Callan, toured the airfield and logistics
hangars at the Entebbe Air Force Base and “met with a
representative of the U.S. State Department-contracted
Dyncorp…which supports the UPDF [Ugandan People's
Defence Force] with aerial resupply and troop
movements of Ugandan, Burundian, and Somali forces in
and out of Mogadishu….” DynCorp International is a
private military company that receives almost all of
its $2 billion in annual contracts from the U.S.
federal government.
General Callan stated, “Uganda is one of only two
countries supporting the UN’s AMISOM mission
currently. Though the airlift is contracted, it is
good to have the understanding of those ground-based
missions and capabilities of the UPDF as we pursue
future air force and joint initiatives.”
The Defense and Army Attaché at the American
embassy in Kampala added, “We’ve been working with
their army forces for some time, providing great
training opportunities through the Department of
State-funded International Military Education and
Training, or IMET program and multi-national
peacekeeping operations. Now they would like for us to
do that with their air forces.” [12]
Both U.S. military officials stressed the
Pentagon’s role in upgrading Uganda’s air force for
future operations. “17th Air Force brings focus to
those much needed air force activities,” as military
attaché Army Lieutenant General Gregory Joachim
stated. [13]
In developing bilateral and regional collective
military partnerships with most every nation in Africa
through AFRICOM, the U.S. works closely with its
allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This
March “Senior figures from the US military’s Africa
Command were in Brussels…looking to build cooperation
with the European Union to boost training and reform
for African security forces….” [14]
The Pentagon has between 2,500-3,000 troops from
all four major branches of the military assigned to
the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa stationed
in Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, Somalia’s neighbor to
the north. France has its largest overseas military
base and 3,000 troops in the same small nation.
Several hundred troops from Britain, Germany, the
Netherlands and Spain have also been deployed there
under NATO auspices since the beginning of the decade.
The U.S. has used its airfield in Djibouti for attacks
in Somalia and Yemen.
Last year the Pentagon secured its second major
installation in the area, in the Indian Ocean nation
of Seychelles, where it has deployed over 130 troops,
Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and three P-3
Orion anti-submarine and maritime surveillance
aircraft.
In addition to the U.S.-led multinational Combined
Task Force 150 and Combined Task Force 151 naval
deployments off the shores of Somalia (with logistical
facilities in Djibouti), NATO and the European Union
are running complementary naval operations, Operation
Ocean Shield and European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR)
Somalia – Operation Atalanta, respectively. This March
NATO announced it was extending its deployment for
another – unprecedented – three years, until the end
of 2012. Last month the Netherlands “agreed to a NATO
request to deploy a submarine off the coast of
Somalia….” [15]
In June the EU followed NATO’s lead when its
foreign ministers agreed to prolong Operation Atalanta
until December of 2012. An EU press release at the
time revealed the broader Western strategy in the Horn
of Africa region, one by no means limited to
“combating piracy”: “The root causes of piracy in East
Africa lie on land. To address them, the current naval
operation is combined with the EU training mission for
Somalia (EUTM), which contributes to the strengthening
of the Somali security forces.” [16]
In fact the EU is training Somali soldiers in
Uganda for war in their homeland and NATO is
transporting Ugandan and Burundian troops for the same
purpose.
A NATO website feature disclosed in March that “the
USA has conducted airlift missions under the NATO
banner in support of…Ugandan troop rotations. The
airlift, which commenced on 5 Mar 2010 and was
completed on 16 Mar 2010, was undertaken by USA
contracted DynCorp International, transporting 1700
Ugandan troops from Uganda into Mogadishu and
re-deploying 850 Ugandan troops out of Mogadishu.
“Part of this policy is the NATO standing agreement
to provide strategic sealift and airlift support for
African Union Troop Contributing Countries willing to
deploy to Somalia, recently extended by NATO until 31
January 2011.” [17]
With the deployment of the NATO Response Force
Maritime Groups 1 and 2 off the coast of Somalia,
first with Operation Allied Provider and since last
August with Operation Ocean Shield, the Western
military bloc has extended its nearly nine-year-old
Operation Active Endeavor naval surveillance and
interdiction mission throughout the entire
Mediterranean Sea into the Gulf of Aden to the Arabian
Sea and the Persian Gulf.
The current commander of Ocean Shield, Dutch
Commodore Michiel Hijmans, held a meeting on board the
NATO mission’s flagship on July 12 with leaders of
Somalia’s semi-independent Puntland region, which has
become a land-based component of NATO operations in
the Horn of Africa. According to the bloc, “The
purpose of the talks was to build on the existing and
growing relationship that has developed between NATO
and the Puntland authorities.” [18]
Several days later the NATO flotilla docked in
Dubai in the United Arab Emirates where Commodore
Hijmans broached the subject of “chasing Somali
pirates” into the Red Sea, an area not yet covered by
the Ocean Shield mandate. NATO warships in the Red Sea
would place them off the coasts of Egypt, Sudan,
Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Djibouti, Jordan and
Israel and connect NATO naval operations through the
Suez Canal to Active Endeavor in the Mediterranean.
Early this month the French military attaché to
Somalia said that the “government of the Republic of
France has asked Uganda and other African nations to
send more troops to war torn Somalia,” and urged “more
African states to send troops to Somalia….” [19]
France will be instrumental in pressuring Djibouti and
Guinea to send troops to Somalia, as both countries
are former French colonies and Djibouti is a member of
the French Community.
France is among several EU states that have sent
troops to Uganda to train 2,000 Somali soldiers for
fighting at home. The others are Spain (which is in
charge), Britain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Hungary,
Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg, Sweden, Finland,
Ireland, Malta and Cyprus. A NATO operation in all but
name. German troops deployed in May are to “remain in
East Africa for a year.” [20]
According to the Christian Science Monitor, “Money
for logistical support is coming from the United
States, which has reportedly already pumped millions
of dollars into similar smaller training programs run
by local militaries in Uganda and Djibouti over the
past 18 months.
“The EU program to train an army to fight for
Somalia’s beleaguered transitional government involves
150 instructors from 14 EU countries at a cost of $6
million.”
The featured cited above also provided the
following background information:
“Since 2004, the US has poured huge resources into
initiatives such as Easbrig [Eastern Africa Standby
Brigade], using private contractors and military
advisers to train almost 60,000 African soldiers such
as…Rwandans….Africom has also trained Congolese
special forces to operate in the country’s
mineral-rich forests and reformed virtually the entire
Liberian national army. Easbrig is an example of what
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls ‘smart power’
– a mixture of military might and nation-building that
bears a resemblance to Rumsfeld’s concept of the ‘long
war’….Several critics have likened Africom to a Trojan
horse, using the cover of humanitarian aid to pursue
America’s real strategic interests.” [21]
EASBRIG is expected to grow to several thousand
troops from as many as 14 nations.
One of the main missions of AFRICOM is create,
train and deploy regional military forces to further
U.S. and general Western objectives in Africa, the
world’s second most populous continent. Somalia is the
first test case.
1) Voice of America News, July 26, 2010
2) CNN, July 27, 2010
3) Voice of America News, July 26, 2010
4) Ibid
5) CNN, July 27, 2010
6) United States Department of Justice, July 25, 2010
7) The East African, July 19, 2010
8) Ibid
9) Ibid
10) Voice of America News, July 20, 2010
11) United States Africa Command, April 30, 2010
12) U.S. Air Forces in Europe, June 2, 2010
13) Ibid
14) Europolitics, March 5, 2010
15) BBC News, June 22, 2010
16) Defense News, June 15, 2010
17) North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
March 18, 2010
18) North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
July 13, 2010
19) Uganda Government News, July 9, 2010
20) Associated Press, March 31, 2010
21) Christian Science Monitor, June 18, 2010
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