Ethiopia and Somalia
It's been awhile since I checked in on the situation in Somalia. Of course, part of that is because it doesn't get the kind of press coverage that places like Iraq or Afghanistan, or really anyplace outside Africa, gets. Of course, back when the Ethiopians invaded, that was supposed to be a good thing.
What we and the Israelis seem to lack right now, and which the Ethiopians apparently have, is the political will to win without worrying overmuch what the so-called internation[al] community thinks.
And nothing like a lack of press coverage to ensure that its real easy to ignore the international community. And you certainly can't say that the Ethiopians aren't doing their damnedest to win using tactics the international community doesn't much like.
Ethiopian commanders flouted international humanitarian law by firing "inherently indiscriminate" Katyusha rockets into civilian neighborhoods, the report found, and by "routinely and repeatedly" firing rockets, mortars and artillery in a manner that failed to distinguish between civilians and military targets.
The report found "strong evidence" that the indiscriminate bombardment was intentional, carried on day after day even after it was clear that scores of civilians were being killed.
In some areas, witnesses told the group, rockets and heavy artillery shells fell in a systematic pattern, as if the Ethiopians were attempting to level entire neighborhoods.
And you can add possible attempts to starve out Ethiopia's ethnic Somalis in the Ogaden region.
Oddly, this has made the US- and Ethiopian-backed Somali government increasingly unpopular, and the fighting has continued apace. As a result, the Ethiopians' plans to leave Somalia quickly and be replaced by troops from the African Union have stalled. Most AU members are no doubt reluctant to send their troops in to get shot at.
Of course, the Somali public hates the Ethiopians, and by extension, the new government has no legitimacy since they're seen as Ethiopian and American puppets. So, while the Ethiopians stay and use tactics that increasingly turn the people against them; they can't leave, or the government they installed will be overthrown.
There's something about all this that sounds familiar.
