When in December 2011 British Prime Minister David Cameron described Somalia as ‘a failed state that directly threatens British interests’ he was signalling Britain’s intention to secure its economic interests in the oil-rich and strategically important Horn of Africa. It has little to do with pirates, Islamists, terrorists or the famine in the country. The continent has become a battleground for imperialists scrambling to control energy sources. The oil in East Africa is historically underexplored. British firms BG Group, Tullow Oil, Premier Oil and Cove Energy, have acquired oil interests in Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania since 2010. Puntland in northern Somalia can yield 5-10bn barrels of oil, and drilling has begun there. With political instability in the Middle East, African oil has grown in strategic importance to the imperialist parasites. This is the reality behind the increasing military attacks and interventionist rhetoric against Somalia.
On 15 January, the Kenyan air force bombed the Jilib district of southern Somalia, killing 14 people including seven children, and injuring 37 others. The US has been bombing Somalia since 2006; in October 2011 France and Kenya, whose interests are closely allied to Britain’s, joined them in what is ostensibly part of the ‘war on terrorism’. But Kenya’s pursuit of the Islamic organisation Al Shabaab has failed to advance further than 70 kilometres inland and is costing £140m a month. In November, hundreds of Ethiopian troops also invaded Somalia – its fourth invasion of the country since 1993. Five African armies make up the African Union’s 10,600 troops in Somalia, funded by Britain and the US. 2,000 Somali troops are being trained in Puntland by CIA, private security firm Blackwater Worldwide and South African mercenary Saracen International, hired by the US and the United Arab Emirates. The EU, mainly France and Spain, has been training another 2,000 Somali troops in Uganda. Now Britain too is banging its war drum, keen that the RAF should get stuck in. Mohamed Farole, son of the president of oil-rich Puntland, made the point: ‘You cannot have oil exploration if there is insecurity. You have to eliminate the pirates and Al Shabaab’.
After 20 years of civil war, fomented by imperialism, Somalia is slowly breaking up into a number of autonomously governed regions, including secessionist Somaliland. The rest of central and southern Somalia is controlled by Islamic militants Al Shabaab, which formed in response to the Ethiopian invasion of 2006. A US and British-backed transitional federal government (TFG) control parts of the capital, Mogadishu; it is the fourth transitional government in the country since 2000. None of them have been willing or able to tackle any of Somalia’s chronic problems of poverty, underdevelopment, hunger or war. Instead they have helped themselves to millions of dollars in tax revenues from Somalia’s air and sea ports, whilst millions suffer and die. TFG-backed militias ‘run’ parts of Somalia with the support of splinter groups from Al Shabaab and regional warlords. Meanwhile up to 100,000 people have died due to a famine in East Africa predicted in August 2010 and denied by Kenya and Ethiopia. Hundreds of children have died of diseases and lack of medicine even in the refugee camps. 250,000 Somalis still face imminent starvation Nearly one million Somalis are refugees in neighbouring countries. Another 1.3m are internally displaced.
Somalia is just across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf of Aden and overlooks the daily passage of a quarter of the world’s oil production through the narrow Straits of the Bab Al Mandeb. In addition, Somalia is rich in uranium, iron, zinc, natural gas and vast unexploited oil reserves. Canada’s Horn Petroleum Corporation, a unit of Africa Oil, has begun drilling for oil in Puntland –the first new oil wells in Somalia for 20 years. Africa Oil is registered in British Columbia and has oil blocks in Somaliland, Ethiopia and Kenya. US ConocoPhillips is disputing Africa Oil’s interests.
Somalia is not a failed state but a deliberately destroyed state, with divisions created and exploited by imperialism, often via its proxies such as Kenya and Ethiopia. It is clear the imperialist countries feel direct intervention is necessary to safeguard their interests. Britain has set up a virtual embassy for Somalia – UK in Somalia – and will host a conference in February aimed at ‘pulling together international effort’. The website continues, ‘Despite the efforts of the African Union, the United Nations and the international community, international policy towards Somalia is not succeeding. After 20 years of sliding backwards, Somalia needs a step-change in effort – both from the international community, but also Somalia’s political leaders.’ Breathtaking hypocrisy indeed. Imperialism out of Somalia!
Charles Chinweizu
There will be a protest organized by Hands Off Somalia outside the London conference on 23 February. For further details contact [email protected] or http:/
