Ethiopia Should Stop its State-Sponsored Terror Against the Somali People

January 25, 2003

The Pan-Somali Council for Peace and Democracy (Israaca, hereinafter the Council), the largest organization for Somali professionals and intellectuals whose primary goal is to search for peaceful mechanisms for ending the protracted Somali civil war in a negotiated settlement, would like to hereby register its moral revulsion against the demonization of the Somali people by the Ethiopian Prime Minister during his recent state visit to the United States. In fact, Premier Zenawi's attempt at making a monster out of the poor Somali nation in the eyes of the international community predates his most recent visit to Washington. His spiteful drive against the Somali nation could be traced to the early 1990swhen he embarked on his long running quest for the balkanization of Somalia.

Nonetheless, Prime Minister Zenawi and his regime have been busy since 9/11 to convince the world and particularly the government of the United States that Somalia is a haven for terrorist groups - both home-grown and outsiders. This unjustifiable vilification combined with Ethiopia's decade-long campaign of nurturing ruthless warlords in Somalia has caused unbearable economic and psychological suffering to the Somali people. In this regard, Prime Minister Zenawi's assertion that the perpetrators of the Mombassa attacks may have crossed the Kenyan border from Somalia is a baseless and malicious statement that says volumes about his warped attitude towards Somalia and the Somali people. Ironically, the investigation had not even fully started when he linked Somalia to the terrorist act in Mombassa.

The Pan-Somali Council for Peace and Democracy unreservedly denounces terrorism in all its forms as well as all acts of violence directed at civilians anywhere in the world. The Council equally denounces the exploitation of the current global panic around the war on terror for narrow national interests by unscrupulous leaders like Premier Zenawi of Ethiopia. The Council wishes to alert the international community to Ethiopia's anti-Somalia propaganda machine whose real objective is to perpetuate Somalia's instability and civil conflict. To this end, the Council calls upon the UN, the US government and its Congress as well as other democracies such as the EU and Canada to remain seized of Mr. Meles Zenawi's opportunistic and insidious bullying of a vulnerable member state of the United Nations. Ethiopia is projecting and positioning itself as a strategic ally of the US, for It realizes that the United States is wary of failed states such as Somalia which it fears could be a haven for criminal elements. Misdirecting US as well as international efforts and resources to combat international terrorism and causing the United States to chase phantom & quot; terrorist forces & quot; in Somalia should not be lost to anyone. This deceptive, self-serving and ill-fated Ethiopian scheme should be stopped and kept in check. Furthermore, the international community should not overlook that the Ethiopian propaganda subjects unnecessary intimidation as well as the economic pressure and emotional anxiety to the war-weary Somalis.

The Council urges Somalis of all political stripes to put aside their differences and address once and for all the relentless Ethiopian menace facing the sovereignty, territorial integrity and the political independence of the Somali Republic. Ethiopia's supplies of armaments, in stark contravention of the UN arms embargo on Somalia (Resolution 733 of 1992), is for the most part responsible for the ongoing bloodletting in many regions of Somalia including Bay, Mogadishu, Sool and the Jubba Valley. It also keeps creating clone-warlords to topple other warlords who turn out to be disobedient to her grand scheme. This should demonstrate to all that the real object of Ethiopian Somalia is simply to divide and rule.

Mr. Zenawi should stop his double-dealing approach to the Somali conflict: on the one hand, claiming to bean honest and an impartial broker between the warring groups and, on the other, using it to achieve domestic political ends as well as to score diplomatic points, especially in his relations with Washington, at the expense of the Somali people.

Lastly, the Council wishes to call attention to the following points: Left to its own devices, Somalia will inexorably degenerate further and may, at some point in the future, become vulnerable to shadowy extremist groups bent on deepening global instability through terrorist operations. It is therefore in the interest of both the international community and the Somali people that a sustainable and peaceful state structure be restored in Somalia. This will not happen unless the Ethiopian manipulation and malignant intrigues are neutralized, which in turn calls for a determined effort on the part of the international community, and in particular the United Nations, to take charge of the Somali peace-building process.

Not with standing the fact that the Council does not have evidence to prove otherwise, the allegation that the Mombassa attacks were carried out by groups operating from bases located in Somalia remains just an allegation. However, it is an indisputable fact that Somalia is a convenient scapegoat and a vulnerable target for terrorist groups and the International coalition against them. In the end, the real victims of this war are the hapless and stateless Somali people who are caught between a rock and a hard place.

Mr. Zenawi should substantiate his assertion that the Mombassa suicide bombers, a very un-Somali criminal act, came from Somalia or remorsefully apologize to the Somali people.

The Somali people have long lost the trust in Mr. Zenawi to mediate in their internal political conflict, as a result of his blatant subversion of past peacemaking efforts including the ones he hosted or sponsored. It is, therefore, important that he withdraws from the Somali peace-building process and remains outside of it.

The Pan-Somali Council for Peace and Democracy calls upon Somali organizations and individuals in North America, Europe and anywhere in the world to undertake a sustained campaign to free Somalia from the scourge of the state sponsored Ethiopian terrorism. To this end, we should contact our Senators, Congressmen/women, Members of Parliament(MPs) and peace lovers in the world over to inform them as well as enlist their assistance in order to put to an end to Ethiopia's terror against our people

In conclusion, enough is enough: Ethiopia should stop its terror against our nation.

The Board of Directors