a roll of the dice

The US has established “Africa Command” on the Horn of Africa - a military group with a mission including fighting Islamist militants and, it seems, getting involved in local conflicts in the process.

Some relevant details:

• the US now has two-dozen ‘forts’ established in the region
• operations include supporting the “xenophobic to the core” Ethiopian regime in hostile incursions into Somalia
• ‘foreign fighters’ under US control have been covertly fighting alongside Ethiopian and Kenyan troops

In keeping with recent US efforts abroad, a plan to push Islamist fighters out of Somalia with Ethiopian and Kenyan support has fallen apart, leading to a shambolic situation where the (UN backed) government in Somalia is disintegrating and the warlords are resurgent:

The return of the foreign fighters to Mogadishu’s nasty mix, along with Ethiopia’s fit of pique, quickly sent the situation in Somalia spiraling downward. The transitional Somali government, backed by the United Nations, is faltering, and in scenes reminiscent of America’s last misadventures in Mog, both Ethiopian troops and African Union peacekeepers are taking fire from 360 degrees’ worth of pissed-off Somali clans determined to - once again - drive off the invading infidels. Osama bin Laden himself couldn’t have written a better ending.

Meanwhile China is in bed with the very nasty regimes in Sudan and Zimbabwe, Africa is being recognised as (finally) being of strategic importance, and Africa Command is being developed as a post-Iraq model of US foreign intervention. Read the article to inform yourself about the wars you’ll be reading about in ten years’ time.