Workers League - Behind the US invasion of Somalia - Mehring Books

anything about either Somalia's history or the background to its
present crisis. In the Somali invasion, they are following the same
pattern established in Panama and Iraq. Fundamental questions are
concealed so that the latest target of military aggression — whether
the "drug-running" Noriega, the "Iraqi dictator" Hussein or the "war
lords" of Somalia — can be demonized.
History shows that the present famine in Somalia is the end result
of more than a century of colonial oppression and imperialist intervention,
in which the United States has played a major role. The
Somali people, like the people of all of Africa, are suffering from the
bitter legacy of the colonial carveup of the continent by the European
powers.
In the post-World War II period, the US played the major role
among the imperialist powers in fomenting civil wars, backing
mercenary armies and promoting conditions of economic collapse
and famine in line with its Cold War struggle against Soviet influence
on the continent. For example, the US supported the infamous
mercenary forces of RENAMO in Mozambique and UNITA in
Angola, contributing in this way to the famine which now stalks
southern Africa.
In Somalia, the US backed the dictator Siad Barre from the mid-
1970s, pouring in hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid and
maintaining a military base in the northern port city of Berbera.
Under conditions of the disintegration of the USSR, the US had no
more use for Siad Barre. Washington withdrew its aid and the regime
collapsed in January 1991, giving rise to civil war conditions.
From the onset of the invasion, the politicians and the media have
incessantly claimed that the US has "no strategic interests" in
Somalia. If this is the case, why have the imperialists been struggling
for more than a century for control of the country? In reality, Somalia
occupies part of the Horn of Africa, one of the most critical geopolitical
positions in the world.
US imperialism bears responsibility for hunger not only in Somalia,
but throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America. US-dominated
agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World
Bank have imposed draconian austerity program in country after
country, condemning literally billions of human beings to poverty
and hunger.
In the Somali operation, the US and the United Nations are
claiming the mantle of humanitarianism. Supposedly, they are operating
on the purest motives, i.e., alleviating hunger and human
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