Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, US warlordism & AU shame

The United States-sponsored Security Council resolution 1725 to lift UN arms sanctions on Somalia and allow the military forces of the Intergovernmental Agency on Development (IGAD) member States to intervene in that country, ratified on 6 December 2006, became a prelude to the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. America’s pretext for pushing this resolution through the Security Council was that the ‘internationally legitimate’ government of Somalia needed international military support since it was in danger of being overtaken by radical Muslims. The Islamic leaders, supported by the population, who drove out the warlords and restored peace to the capital and surrounding areas, were branded as (friends of) terrorists. This essay narrates the pathway to the creation of the Transitional National Government (TFG), the Ethiopian role in its establishment, US-supported warlords, the rise of the Islamic courts and the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. It also assesses the implications of the Ethiopian illegal occupation for the future of Somalia. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]