UN to Mogadishu: help "neither realistic nor feasible"

Per The Austratralian News, corpses litter the streets of Mogadishu in the wake of Islamic jihadists battling the government and Ethiopian troops... dragged thru the streets in actions reminiscent of Blackhawk Down days.

And where is the UN? Our beloved int'l community that preaches daily about their significance in the world?

"Somalia is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in years and coping mechanisms of the population are stretched to the limit," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement released in Nairobi.

It condemned the dragging of corpses through the streets of Mogadishu this week: "These gross violations of humanitarian law as well as barbaric and inhuman acts have triggered new panic and movements of population."

And UN OCHA also warned that 10,000 severely malnourished children in Lower Shabelle were "at risk of death" without "desperately needed massive intervention."

In a bid to stem the violence, the African Union agreed this year to deploy 8000 troops to replace the Ethiopians in Somalia. But so far only 1600 Ugandan soldiers have arrived.

snip

In a move likely to dismay the interim government as it and its Ethiopian allies battle the rebels, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that sending UN peacekeepers to Somalia was neither realistic nor viable.

Insecurity had prevented the world body from even sending a technical assessment team, he said.

Okay.... they've identified a problem. Now what? Yet the UN is wise enough to know not to tread in areas where they've proven to be ineffectual decade after decade. Might have something to do with their laughable "rules of engagement" for peacekeepers. And add to that, NATO members are known for not honoring their troop committments, as we find in Afghanistan. Yet when the US holds up everyone's bargain for them, we are slaughtered in the media. Where is the logic?

Somalia has long called for UN troops to help it stamp its authority on the Horn of Africa country. It is the 14th attempt to forge central rule in Somalia, which has been in chaos since 1991 when warlords ousted a dictator.

"We accuse human rights organisations and the United Nations of keeping silent about the massacres the Ethiopians are committing," Hawiye elder Mohammed Hassan Haad said.

"We are unhappy with their decision not to send troops to Somalia, just when our country needs them most."

Well, depend on the UN, and unhappy you'll have to stay. Like Sudan/Darfur, it looks like you're on your own. Because you can bet your arse that a Dem controlled Congress won't be lifting a finger to help. Genocide and so called "civil wars" waged between governments and Caliphate jihadists are nary a blip on the progressive elitists radar.

US intervention aside, the true burning question is... of what value is the UN at all anymore but to posture and preach, and yet do nothing? Need some budget cuts? I'd say hold back the UN funds.

Dog day afternoons of Blackhawk Down return...

It was just over 14 years ago that al Qaeda trained and equipped Islamic terrorists to attack US forces in Mogadishu, bringing down multiple Blackhawks, and the lives of 18 soldiers in the First Battle of Mogadishu. CIC Clinton pulled US troops out of Somalia, abandoning the UN peacekeepers until they left a few years later.

It was part of a sequence of events made less fuzzy by documentation found in 2003 in post-Saddam Iraq - most specifically an order by Saddam to his IIS to "hunt the Americans" in Somalia using Islamist militants.

Saif writes that on the 20th of January, 1993 he and his men were ordered to drop everything (marriage plans, travel) and report to a man named Abu Hafs in Peshawar, Pakistan. This deployment to Somalia heralded a major escalation of al Qaeda activities in Africa. Abu Hafs is also known as Mohammed Atef. Mohammed Atef was the number two man in the EIJ under Ayman al Zawahiri and also part of Usama bin Laden's inner circle. He was included in the 1998 indictment for attacking US forces in Somalia and was considered the number three man in al Qaeda. He was killed by US forces shortly after 9/11.

Saif describes how he and his men were ordered by Atef to go Somalia and set up training camps. The fighters they trained would ultimately grab power in Somalia, only to be driven out by Ethiopian and American Special Forces action last year.

snip

Saddam Hussein ordered his intelligence service to "hunt the Americans" in Somalia via Afghan mujahideen proxies including the EIJ on January 18th, 1993 just two days before EIJ leader Atef ordered his best men to Somalia. The CNS memoranda also show that Saddam's intelligence service was meeting with the leader of the EIJ (almost certainly Ayman al Zawahiri) to give him the assignment.

The event was, as AQ's Zawahiri reminded us in January of this year, a proud victory for the terrorists.

snip

"The United Nations, which divided Palestine and provided a legal cover for invading Iraq and Afghanistan, is offering today a new service to the Crusader alliance led by America against the Islamic and mujahid Somalia.

"My Muslim brothers in Somalia: Do not be terrified by America's power as you have defeated it before, thanks to God and His grace.

snip

Again, a surrender first American moment comes back to haunt us.

Today, Zawahiri's 2007 call to jihad against the west and the Ethiopians in Mogadishu brings us vivid memories of Blackhawk down - once again bodies are being dragged thru the streets.

Somali insurgents have dragged the bodies of two dead Ethiopian soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu after a day of heavy battles. Residents say hundreds of people trailed after them, pelting the corpses with stones, chanting "God is Great".

The battles started when the Ethiopians went out to patrol, and were met with terrorist resistance. And the UN is unable to provide humanitarian aid... just as 14 years ago resulted in the murders of peacekeepers and trigged the Ranger and Delta forces being sent in.

Aid workers in Mogadishu itself say the fighting has become so bad that civilians who are wounded are unable to get help and frequently bleed to death.

The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Eric Laroche, told parliament in Baidoa that 1.5 million Somalis were in need of emergency aid, the Reuters news agency reports.

"We have to be able to help them - and we have a problem reaching them," Mr Laroche was reported as saying.

deja vu... but for one point. They don't have the US military to kick around this time. And should the US intervene (with light action as early this year)... which I have my doubts... this is one CIC that won't take that task and mission lightly.