EDITOR’S NOTE: As if terrorizing and starving millions of Ethiopians is not enough, the regime of Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne) – supported by the U.S. State Department and the World Bank – has invaded Somalia and turned it into a hell on earth, as the following story by a French magazine LaDepeche shows.
Somalia: The worst state in the world
Throughout the last week, the news has once again centred on Somalia, as a series of attacks on ships sailing through coastal waters has revealed just how much trouble Somalia is in. Pirating is a profitable business in the failed Eastern African state, as ransoms can lead to a way out of the country,and for some a new life. Last week, pirates hijacked a Ukrainian ship, some 300 miles off the coast, containing 20 Russian tanks bound for South Africa. The ransom was set at €15 million, and for once governments and private corporations are struggling to find ways to pay for it. This is the 20th attack this year, so supplying ransoms for hijacked ships encourages pirates more, rather than deters them. But how, most importantly, has Somalia become and remains the world’s most failed state?
Somalia, throughout history, is known for its rich soil, bountiful fish stocks and poetry. Some of the best poets on the continent, historically speaking, hail from Somalia. But since 1991, the country has been driven into chaos, as a lack of centralized government and a series of poorly planned interventions from the outside world has sunk the country deeper into hell every year. Famines and warring clan factions haven’t helped either. Now, since 1991, the once beautiful Mogadishu, the coastal capital of the country, has lost nearly ¾ of its population, and millions more around the country have fled, mostly to neighbouring Kenya or Ethiopia.
Two years ago, an Islamist government swept into power through violence and intimidation and finally brought order and stability to the country. It came at a cost though. Sharia law became the preferred penal code and women were stripped of rights, let alone dignity. But order came. Crime fell sharply, the airport briefly opened up and trade slowly trickled in, as the Islamists, despite all their flaws, tried to rebuild the country to shape their desires – conservative, religious, patriarchal, harsh and hopefully, stable.
But the Americans, with the help of the Ethiopian Woyanne military, refused to allow Islamists to run a country famous for harbouring terrorists, so they invaded and defeated them. Since, a poorly organized transitional government has done nothing, making it easier for pirates to operate on the coastal waters. Unemployment nears 90%, infrastructure is dismal and the country is too dangerous for international aid organizations, so piracy, crime and drug smuggling provide jobs and money, something the government and international community can’t. So as of now, Somalia remains failed, impoverished and drowning in a sea of problems; it’s good this piracy has become salient in the news. Too bad the state of country hasn’t. Everyone is praying for the hostages aboard the hijacked Ukrainian ship. But no one seems to pray for Somalia anymore.
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