Two days after the United States attacked southern Somalia, apparently killing a known Al-Qaeda suspect, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Somalis are claiming the US - anxious to avoid a repeat of the disastrous 1993 UNISOM mission - are using Ethiopian troops as cannon-fodder.
Ethiopian deaths won't register in US public opinion, the argument goes, and Ethiopia can be relied upon not to count its casualties.
However, a media blackout imposed by the Ethiopians makes it difficult to ascertain whether this is true; Somali journalists have been told not to report Ethiopian casualties, and even international news organisations have been constrained in reporting what their sources in Somalia have seen, for fear of reprisals.
What is known is that many civilians have died in the overthrow
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The ousted Islamists
have only melted into the crowd, reports david cairns from the Horn of Africa |
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of the ruling Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in Mogadishu and in the attacks around Kismayo in the south (left). And the fact that the US has admitted to at least one air attack - and the presence of three US Navy patrols anchored off the south Somali coast - make it clear that the Ethiopian military action in Somalia has been far from a 'rout'.
The situation is still not under control. It is true the Ethiopians have pushed the UIC leaders into the southern corner of the country. But a senior Somali journalist told The First Post he had no doubt the Islamists would be able to wage guerrilla war there indefinitely, speaking of a 'second Baghdad'.
As the Ethiopians took Mogadishu, many UIC fighters simply melted into the crowd - retaining their allegiance to the Islamists, and ready to fight for them again in the future. 
FIRST POSTED JANUARY 11, 2007 |
