Somali violence downs helicopter
 
FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 2007
 
An Ethiopian helicopter has been shot down in Mogadishu, as fighting continued for a second day in the streets of the Somali capital. One Mogadishu resident was reported on Friday as saying the helicopter was still burning after it went down in a residential area near the airport.  Gunfire has also been reported near the presidential palace.
 
"The helicopter looked like a ball of smoke and fire before crashing," said Ruqiya Shafi Muhyadin, another resident who saw the helicopter roll over in the sky before crashing.

The helicopter crash comes after Ethiopian troops supporting the interim Somali government launched air attacks on armed groups for the first time since the start of the year.
 
Helicopter attacks
One resident, Qoje Omar Gesey, said of Thursday's aerial assault: "Two helicopters flew over us. One was making a surveillance and the other one was dropping several bombs."
He said the bombs fell near a former market in the northern part of the capital. Earlier on Friday morning, a mortar shell struck a residential area in the south of Mogadishu, the capital, residents said. Faisal Jamah, a resident who witnessed the attack, said: "There are a lot of wounded, but there is no way to take them to the hospitals due to the fighting on the roads."

Ban Ki-Moon, the UN secretary-general, has expressed concern over the use of helicopters to attack positions inside the city.
Ban is "particularly concerned about the use of air strikes and the introduction of tanks and heavy artillery into densely populated parts of the city, further increasing the security threat to large numbers of civilians," Farhan Haq, a UN associate spokesman, said in New York. Ban called for an immediate halt to the fighting. "The secretary general emphasises once again that sustainable peace in Somalia can only be attained through an inclusive dialogue leading to a political solution and national reconciliation," Haq said. Dozens of people were killed on Thursday, at least 11 of them civilians, and many more were wounded.
 
Dragged through the streets
Seven Ethiopian soldiers were said to have been killed, with witnesses in the southern district of Shirkole reporting the bodies of Ethiopian troops were dragged through the streets.
Loudspeakers transmitted calls for residents to come out and fight the Ethiopian troops. The scenes echoed violence last week, when crowds burned the bodies of two dead Somali soldiers. The fighting on Thursday brought an end to a ceasefire agreement in place since the weekend.  But Mohamed Mohamud Husein, a spokesman for the Somali president, said
the fighting marked the beginning of a three-day push to restore order in Mogadishu, as Ethiopian troops, who helped the Somali government oust Islamic Courts fighters last year, withdraw from the capital.

In Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's prime minister, said that more than two-thirds of his forces had returned home, but gave no figures. In a speech to his country's parliament, he said "extremists" in Somalia were no longer a "clear and present danger" to Ethiopia. "After breaking the backbone of extremist forces, our defence forces have started to withdraw," Zenawi said, adding that his government would continue to train Somali security forces. But continued heavy fighting in Mogadishu is causing many residents to flee. The UN's refugee agency estimates 57,000 people have fled the Somali capital since the beginning of February, including more than 10,000 people who left in the past week.

·        Ethiopian Military Says it Has Killed 200 Somalis

 

·        Somali Government Blames Helicopter Shoot Down on al-Qaida

 

The International Committee of the Red Cross said dozens of people have been killed since Thursday and more than 220 injured, most of them civilians with bullet, grenade and other shrapnel wounds. The death toll is likely to be far worse, however - the fighting was so severe and widespread that bodies were not being picked up or even tallied.

Ethiopia says its forces have killed more than 200 insurgents since the assault started.

Somali presidential spokesman Hussein Mohamoud Hussein blamed the violence on foreign terrorists, saying al-Qaida has sent fighters here to battle government and allied troops. "These elements were behind the downing of the helicopter yesterday," he
said…….

by Mohamed Olad Hassan

 

Message Pertinent to You, the Black Universe

It is energy resources that drive the agenda of America and Western Europe.  To “PhD Bo Bo”, don’t run and buy stock in energy companies!!  Put that stock in yourself, your own private investor club.  This means PhD Bo Bo would have to learn to work effectively within his own ethnic circles which are contrary to the thinking of the assimilationist.  These are African owned resources where Africa is now in a key position to determine its destiny and that of the African Diaspora people.  The Investor Class’s desire is to keep conflict going in Africa and focus away from maximizing African strength.  The African Diaspora is in the position to determine the destiny of Africa.  This requires a refocusing of what is of strategic importance and what are distractions.  Throughout the continent of Africa, capital investment is needed from Black people.  This investment capital is needed for the following reasons:

  • To extract the raw resources
  • To produce finished goods from those raw resources
  • To package and ship the finished goods
  • To distribute and sell those finished goods

 

Now on to the distractions and predatory game……

 

No Terrorists but Now Terrorists

People have and will always resist occupation of that which they know to be their own.  This is what we see in Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine.  The people of Vietnam resisted European and then American occupation at the cost of more than one million Vietnamese lives!  Iraq has resisted at that cost.  Somalia is resisting.

 

image001.jpg

Ethiopian troops killed

image002.jpg

Ethiopian helicopters

 

We have observed as troops fighting in the interest of the transitional Somali government have been killed, dragged through the streets, stoned by Somali women, and then set afire.  Today, we hear of the Ethiopian helicopter being shot down after it took part in bombing commercial and residential areas of Mogadishu.  This attack was preceded by two suicide car bombs targeting the compound and area where Ethiopian troops are stationed, likely causing death and injuries to many of those troops.  While all of this is happening, Ethiopian Prime Minister Zenawi is addressing the Ethiopian Parliament, indicating that two thirds of Ethiopian troops have been withdrawn from Somalia and that those remaining would be returning home when the African Union peacekeepers are fully in place.  The AU peacekeepers will never be fully in place.  Ugandan troops are being paid $500 each month by the Bush Administration and the other African nations realize the conditions in Somalia are not conducive for peacekeepers.  Uganda lost troops upon their first arrival into Somalia when the transport plane was struck by mortar fire, setting fire to the plane.  Another plane was sent with repairs for the damaged plane and it was shot down, killing all aboard, as it was leaving Somalia.  All of this indicates the Ethiopian troops are in a quagmire, they are stuck with a problem they cannot and could not ever solve but will slaughter thousands of Somalis.  This will ultimately demoralize Ethiopia as this adventure in Somalia continues.  Just like Iraq?  Yes, it certainly is.  This includes raw resources and geopolitical location.  Somalia has lots of oil and gas that has not been drilled.  Somalia has perfect location to the sea.

 

image001.jpgAfrican Union peacekeeper troops from Uganda

image002.jpgSmoke from fighting in Mogadishu

 

America cries “terrorists” and that has given it a green light to conduct the actions of a belligerent and, in fact, a “terrorist”.  Unfortunately, the Zenawi Administration has found benefits in doing the same.  When there were no “terrorists” in Iraq, America invaded, while claiming there are “terrorists” in Iraq.  For more than a year, the Bush Administration refused to call those Iraqis who fought against American, British and the smaller “vultures”, insurgents.  Instead, they insisted on calling them “terrorists”.  The British once called the Americans terrorists because the American colonists blew up ships docked in the harbor with British tea and other goods. 

 

Somali Leaders Lack Credibility

In the midst of this carnage between African people, the Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi is stating that the security in Mogadishu has been strengthened.  He claims that the mass media is spreading incorrect information about the massive violence taking place in Mogadishu.  This is made clear in his statement, "This is what the mass media is spreading, but the reality is different."  The American mass media tend to only report the absolute most dramatic events in Somalia and, often, not even that.  Prime Minister Gedi is safe in Saudi Arabia attending a meeting there.  In fact, there has been quite a bit of being outside of Somalia while speaking about what’s happening inside of Somalia.  When he denies the obvious, it further destroys any credibility and integrity the transitional Somali government desires to have in the minds of the Somali people.  It is probably impossible to gain that credibility because the government of President Abdullahi Yusuf has prostituted itself to the Bush Administration and the Zenawi Administration of Ethiopia and now accompanied with growing bloodshed in the streets and homes of Mogadishu.  Whether one is Ethiopian, Somalian, or of one clan or the other, this must not have anything to do with ones flag, patriotism, culture, etc.  This must be about right and wrong, the truth vs the lie. 

 

Right and Wrong, Truth and Lies

It was stated by the Bush Administration and the Ethiopian government that certain members of al Qaida were in Somalia.  This was the “WMD story” styled for Somalia and pretext for invading.  However, to gain stronger commitment from Prime Minister Zenawi, the Bush Administration had to do what former and now deceased president of South Africa, P.W. Botha, stated.  The Bush Administration had to offer money and it did.  Less than two months prior to the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, the Bush Administration gave the Ethiopian government $90 million.

 

The invasion was executed.  The Union of Islamic Courts’ leaders left Mogadishu, saying that they would not fight in Mogadishu and subject so many people to death.  America also attacked in Kismayu with its air force, killing at least 70 Somalis but not one “terrorist” was captured or killed. 

 

Downing of Ethiopian Helicopter

"Smoke billowed from the cabin and it turned toward the ocean," said Swiss journalist Eugen Sorg, who watched from a nearby roof. "It crashed at the south end of airport runway."……

Mobs dragged dead Ethiopian soldiers through the streets on Thursday, and wild-eyed gunmen posed with the corpses. ……

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

 

Could it be that they were never present?  In a past CART Analysis, I mentioned the situation where America claimed that Iraq had a new al Qaida leader, following the killing of the Jordanian born leader by a U.S. bomb.  The picture of this “new leader” of al Qaida in Iraq was plastered throughout the news media, so as to keep the hype going and keep Americans and the “vulture” nations excited about America’s adventure and stamping out “terrorism” all around the world.  This was Superman coming to save Lois.  It was Underdog coming to save his lover.  This was Popeye the Sailor Man coming to save his Sweetpea.  This was “freedom on the march”.  This so-called new leader of al-Qaida was sitting in prison in Egypt tickled silly as he watched his picture being used to deceive the innocent and not so innocent.  The Bush Administration told the American people and the world that, “the world has changed” following 9/11.  The world had not changed it was simply time for the Investor Class to implement a plan that had been drawn up in the 1970s to militarily takeover key oilfields.  The contingency plan was Africa’s oil and gas.  America’s military has failed the mission in takeover of Middle East oilfields in Iraq and/or Iran while making it a mortal enemy in the eyes of most in the Middle East.  Therefore, we recently heard the King of Saudi Arabia state that America’s occupation of Iraq is illegal.  Certainly Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wanted clarification for the king’s remarks. 

 

U.S. role in Iraq is called illegal by Saudi king

By Hassan M. Fattah

Published: March 29, 2007

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia told Arab leaders on Wednesday that the American occupation of Iraq was illegal and warned that unless Arab governments settled their differences, foreign powers like the United States would continue to dictate the region's politics.

The king's speech, at the opening of the Arab League meeting here, underscored growing differences between Saudi Arabia and the Bush administration as the Saudis take on a greater leadership role in the Middle East, partly at American urging.

The Saudis seem to be emphasizing that they will not be beholden to the policies of their longtime ally…….

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/29/africa/web-0329saudi.php

 

As all of this is happening, the American appointed and backed government of Iraq is decreasing the size of the Green Zone in Iraq.  This is making it easier for rockets and other mortar fire to strike within the Green Zone, killing more and more people who use it as a “secure” zone, including Americans.  We can look at this as constriction, as when a prey is within the grips of a python snake.  The longer this goes on the more united the Arab people are going to become and the more difficult it will be for American troops to retreat from Iraq under their terms.

 

Ethiopia’s leaders must open their eyes to see what Saudi’s king is finally seeing, a divided people cannot stand but will be exploited.