Keeping good friends

Finally, the US displays its legendary mediation skills in the heart of Africa:

Having failed to defeat Islamist factions in Somalia through covert action – yet unwilling to see the lawless country on the Horn of Africa become a haven for Islamist extremists, including Al Qaeda – the US is preparing for a more diplomatic kind of intervention.

On Thursday, the US will initiate a “Somalia contact group” of interested countries and organizations to begin deliberating on how the international community can help stabilize what experts consider to be a “failed state.”

The US had been funnelling support – arms and as much as $100,000 a month, according to some reports – to warlords opposing the Islamists.

Just in case the US plan isn’t clear, a spokesman clarifies the intention:

“It sounds like Plan A didn’t work, so we’d better try Plan B,” says Jim Bishop, who was the last US ambassador to Somalia, before the US evacuated its embassy there in 1991.

“It’s disturbing when you see what appears to be the US government funneling supplies, including arms, to one group that has spent the last 15 years killing innocent civilians,” he adds.… 

It’s “disturbing” when you realise the US has been complicit in the murder of civilians? That’s one word for it. How about war crimes?

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