"Why Civil War is About to Erupt in Somalia" Topic

"The "Black Hawk Down" episode and the piracy depicted in the film "Captain Phillips" continue to shape the American image of Somalia. For years, such perceptions have been unfair. Between 2010 and 2014, there were more than 350 pirate attacks or attempted attacks; over the next five years, there were eight; most piracy today occurs in the Gulf of Guinea, where 90 percent of kidnappings at sea now occur. Garowe, the capital of the Puntland state that I had the opportunity to visit last month, is secure. Business flourishes. Construction is constant. Locals and visitors both walk around the city or take advantage of its coffee shops and restaurants without security. Under the presidency of Sheikh Ahmed Madobe, Kismayo, the commercial capital of the Jubaland state, is also reportedly booming, even if its countryside is less secure than Puntland's.

The national capital Mogadishu, however, remains a mess. Somalis, of course, bear ultimate responsibility for Mogadishu's insecurity and decline, but much blame also rests on the international community and the tendency both in Washington and at the United Nations to confuse money spent with effectiveness. Since 1991, the international community has invested more than $50 USD billion in Somalia. Most of that money was wasted. This should never have been a surprise John Drysdale, who spent much of his career in Somalia, was fluent in Somali, advised several Somali prime ministers, warned in his history of the region, "Opportunism, being the ancient key to Somali survival in savannah conditions, could be readily turned by recent generations of urban dweller to the exploitation of alien moneybags." The theory was reality. Transparency International has consistently ranked Somalia to be the world's most corrupt country. While U.S. Ambassador Donald Yamamoto and James Swan, a former U.S. diplomat who now heads up the local UN mission, have lobbied both for aid and debt relief in order to build patronage for and empower the central government, the problem is that such a strategy has never worked in Somalia. Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, whom Yamamoto and Swan have extra-constitutionally sought to empower, has used the resources provided to him to punish political competitors rather than fight terrorists or build the country…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Once again, at the expense of being DH'ed, I am going to wisely keep my mouth shut about Somalia.

I didn't know it ended. At least I have a lot of minis for it.

It's like A'stan … they will always find reasons to kill each other. Why bother to try stopping them ? In either failed state …

The place is a crap hole, I spent over 4 months there, they are too tribal to live peacefully with each other, and it's easier to kill and destroy then build.

I thought they were ALREADY in a civil war.

I mean did any of the fighting from the 1992/3 era ever end?

More tribalism from a (sounds like third but references bodily byproduct) world country.

At least the Chinese and US can sell them weapons, if you are looking for the silver lining.

To paraphrase The Lion in Winter:

"Of course he has a gun, he always has a gun, we all have guns! It's 2021 and we're all barbarians!"

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

You mean they will actually be able to tell a difference?

@Waco Joe

They always used to show that flick around Christmas. I dont remember Peter O'Toole ever saying that???

Think he was paraphrasing ?

Is it Monday again?

Africa is a hot mess, and has been for a very, very long time.

With no end in sight …