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'U.S. Risking Another Fiasco in Somalia'
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Jun 06, 2006 12:27pm |
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| Category | Editorial |
| News Date | Tuesday, June 6, 2006 06:25:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The United States is now reportedly backing some of the same warlord factions that helped drive the US out of Somalia more than a decade ago.
But the switch in allegiances does not appear to be leading to a more favourable outcome for Washington.
The warlord alliance said to be receiving US funding for weapons purchases is losing control of Mogadishu to militias affiliated with sharia courts. Some policymakers in Washington view the prospect of Islamist dominance of Somalia's capital with alarm. They fear that the city could then become a staging area for al Qaeda militants believed to be hiding in Somalia.
Some US officials are arguing, however, that siding with Somali warlords in the widening war in and around Mogadishu will have the effect of actually increasing popular support for the Islamists.
That was apparently the position taken by Michael Zorick, who was recently transferred from the post of Somalia political officer in the US embassy in Nairobi. Newsweek and other media outlets reported last week that Zorick had been reassigned to Chad after writing a memo critical of the Bush administration's alignment with the warlord faction that claims to be defending Mogadishu against a terrorist takeover. |
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