NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #30/NN_1992_30.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9444

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-21 | 7.5 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Hank Roth)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Subject: AK47s & M16s
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Date: 18 Dec 92 20:22:38 GMT
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{From SOCIALIST WORKER, December 1992}
"HALF THE 12-YEAR-OLDS HAVE AK-47S AND THE OTHERS
HAVE M-16S"

THE TRAGEDY unfolding in Somalia is not one of
natural causes like draught.

Somalia has escaped the extreme draught that
affects other areas of Africa.

Last year, Somalia grew enough food to feed its
people. Even now, some food is being exported to
Kenya and Mozambique by various armed factions.

Behind the unequal food distribution stands a
barbaric war which has its origins in superpower
intervention.

SOMALIA, LIKE ITS NEIGHBOR, THIOPIA, HAS BEEN A
POLITICAL FOOTBALL---KICKED AROUND BY THE
SUPERPOWERS AS THEY MANUEVERED FOR ADVANTAGE IN
THE COLD WAR.

As a colonial plundering ground for Italy and
Britain prior to independence in 1960,
Somaliland, was left ill-prepared to compete in a
world dominated by the market.

Furthermore, the system of government that the
colonial powers forced on their colonies in this
region was designed to serve colonial rule and
not independence. Divisions between tribes and
regions were encouraged by the colonial
exploiters.

For nearly a decade after independence, Somalia
was governed by a corrupt regime.

In 1969, Gen. Mohammed Siad Barre overthrew this
regime and immediately began looking for backers
among the world's economic powers.

Because the economy was so devastated, Barre had
little time to waste. The U.S. had already cut
off aid because Somali registered ships were
delivering goods to North Vietnam during that
country's war against the U.S.

Barre declared Somalia to be a "Marxist state"
and applied for recognition and aid from the
USSR.

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE

The strategic importance of Somalia brought
immediate attention from a Soviet Union eager to
establish a base of influence in this part of the
world.

Located between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean,
Somalia's strategic value to the USSR could not
be ignored. A base here would counter the U.S.'s
influence in neighboring Ethiopia.

In exchange for access to the port of Berbera in
the northern part of the country, the USSR helped
Barre build a large, well-armed military. Such
aid in the midst of poverty helped Barre hold
power for 21 years.

In the twists and turns of the Cold War,
alliances shifted.

In 1977, the U.S. abandoned Ethiopia as civil war
drove the regime there toward the USSR in its
search for arms.

Ethiopia's new alliance required the USSR to
abandon the Somalis, who opposed the expansionist
aims of the Addis Ababa regime.

WHEN THE USSR QUIT, THE U.S. RUSHED TO TAKE ITS
PLACE. BY THE END OF 1980 A MILITARY BASE WAS
ESTABLISHED AT BERBERA SUPPORTING BOMBERS AND
NUCLEAR SUBMARINES.

The fact that the regime of Gen. Barre remained
with all its repressive brutality did not bother
either superpower. Barre's army controlled the
country through terror.

His regime killed 12 percent of the population
and drove another 1.5 million epople into exile.

Under Barre's self-proclaimed "scientific
socialism" and then again under "free market
capitalism" and then again under "free market
capitalism" strikes were illegal.

Once the Cold War ended, Somalia's strategic
importance became secondary to other U.S.
interests. Maintaining the Barre regime was no
longer considered a priority for U.S.
policymakers.

  ABANDONED THE COUNTRY

As the internal oposition to Barre increased, the
U.S. abandoned the country. Somalia became
trapped in a cycle of civil war and poverty.

The regime fell in January 1991, but all the
problems still remained. The situation was
characterized by poverty, tribal divisions and
bands of young men armed to the teeth by years of
superpower meddling.

HALF THE 12-YEAR-OLDS WHO SHOOT EACH OTHER IN
MOGADISHU HAVE RUSSIAN AK-47S. tHE OTHER HALF
HAVE U.S. M-16S.

The legacy of colonialism and big power
maneuvering has produced a situation today that
threatens 4.5 million people with death through
war or starvation.

That is why the solution being proposed by the
big powers who sit under the umbrella of the UN
makes no sense. To pour more arms into a country
already devastated by war and hunger, only serves
interests outside Somalia.

Even if UN intervention were a solution, the
delay in implementing its plan must be viewed as
criminal. For 10 months the UN did nothing to
distribute food.

It is still debating the best way to accomplish
what it agreed to do months ago.

The U.S. pledged 146,000 tons of food. By
October, it had only sent 300 tons. The
government officials in charge of distribution
attributed the delay to bookkeeping problems that
would disappear once the new fiscal year began.

In other words, people starve to keep the ledgers
in order.

SLOW FOOD DISTRIBUTION

Another excuse for the slow food distribution is
the lack of ships and other transport.

Compare that to the speedy assembly of the armada
that prepared for the Gulf War slaughter. Only a
fraction of that effort would be needed to feed
the starving Somalis.

Somalia needs food, food that is available in the
warehouses of the rich nations. The faster it can
flow into the country the better.

With food so scarce, it has replaced currency as
a barter mechanism for other needs. The more free
food available the less it can be used as a
weapon against innocent people.

WHILE WESTERN GOVERNMENTS MANUEVER, SET UP
BLOCKADES AND PREPARE FOR MILITARY ACTIN IN
BOSNIA, THEIR EFFORTS IN SOMALIA ARE LESS THAN
PITIFUL. THEIR SOLUTION OF ARMED INTERVENTION
WILL ONLY PROLONG THE TRAGEDY.

As a banner carried by protesters in Somalia last
August argued, "FOREIGN ARMY NO, FOOD YES."

Aid workers warn that an unwanted show of force
could make a bad situation worse by united armed
factions.

What is now an internal fight for survival by
controlling the food supply could turn into a
wider shooting war with outside armies.

Somalia does not need more guns. It should be
given all the food its ports can handle.
Eliminating scarcity would stop the desperate
fight for survival which fuels the civil war.

A fraction of the billion dollars a day spent in
the Gulf War could put a stop to the horror in
this plundered country.

---------------------------------------------
P_news is a conference for progressive news,
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