Shabait.com (Asmara)
26 December 2007
column
Asmara — It has been one year since the TPLF regime launched an invasion against Somalia. According to rough estimates given by hospitals in Mogadishu, more that 7,000 people, including women, children and the elderly, have been killed by TPLF troops. Countless others, not included in this figure, have also either died or sustained heavy injuries as a result of the bombardment of civilian areas. As a recent UN report indicates, the number of Somalis displaced from their homes has now reached to over one million. More than 70% of Mogadishu residents have been left without shelter and more than 3 million Somalis have been forced to flee their country and take refuge in other countries.
Such brutality is not only unprecedented but also a blatant act of war crime. In keeping with their double standards, the international community and the world media has given less than due attention to the crisis. Recently, a well-known Somali cartoonist had aptly depicted the situation in Somalia and the international community's attitude towards it. The cartoon shows a group of journalists aiming their cameras at an apparently starving child who was sitting among the debris of dead bodies of women and children; the child, in turn, tells the journalists: "Do not waste your attention on me but if you can, tell the world about those who have been brutally slaughtered." Indeed, journalists visiting Somalia from the western world seem only intent on taking shots of Somalis waiting for much delayed aid and entreating aid agencies to respond quickly, while ignoring the crimes that were committed and are still being committed by the TPLF regime. The international community has also refrained from taking a firm stance against the atrocities being committed in Somalia.
The United Nations and other international bodies have chosen to ignore the situation in Somalia while the TPLF regime thwarts optimistic development towards peace and stability in that country and has viciously burnt the country and its people for a whole year. These international bodies are now crying over spilt milk and shedding crocodile tears while calling for an immediate solution to "a humanitarian crisis worse than that of Darfur."
However, making feeble statements at this late hour will not be sufficient; the UN and other international bodies should admit their mistakes in disregarding their own basic principles and in remaining passive while a sovereign nation was being invaded. In supporting the TPLF regime's invasion of Somalia, the US Administration is primarily responsible for the present humanitarian crisis in that country. Nonetheless, all the international organizations claiming to be advocates of international law and human rights will equally be held accountable.
The prevailing situation in Somalia is nothing more than a direct outcome of the TPLF regime's illegal invasion. Hence, the basic solution could only be found in the immediate withdrawal of the invading troops. The people of Somalia, just as other sovereign nationals of the world, are capable of tackling their affairs on their own. And if the international community truly has the interest of the Somali people at heart, its role should not be limited to addressing the resulting problems but should rather be to create the ground for the immediate withdrawal of the invading forces.
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