Egypt’s Subversive Role In The Horn

EDITORIAL

The highly controversial allegation that 720 Somali Islamists were recruited to fight in Lebanon last summer along Hezbollah in battles against the Israeli army seems to be the only surprise that came up in the UN panel’s report listing the countries that have been sending arms to Somalia’s main two rival factions – the Transitional Federal Government and the Islamic Courts Union.

There is of course no evidence to support the panel’s conclusion that ICU militia men actually fought for Hezbollah following the outbreak of hostilities earlier this year between the Shi’ite party of God and the Israeli military.

Besides, the whole idea of Hezbollah turning to the ICU for troops defies all logic. But the controversy stirred by this particular allegation shouldn’t necessarily mean that the credibility of the rest of the information contained in the UN report on violators of the arms embargo against Somalia is also questionable.

For example it is true that Iran and Syria have been providing arms and logistical support to the ICU. It wouldn’t be difficult to verify this assertion since one can see in Mogadishu weapons, ammunition, food stuff and medicine bearing Syrian or Iranian marks.

Due to their common rivalry to the US, the two Muslim countries have apparently found a new ally in the ICU which Washington accuses of harboring terrorists. So Iran’s and Syria’s motive in assisting the ICU has been to demonstrate that they can spoil things for the Americans not only in the Middle East but in the Horn of Africa as well.

While one can understand what drives the Syrian and Iranian regimes to act mischievely toward the Americans, isn’t it reprehensible that a country like Egypt which gets 2 billion US dollars annually should come to the aid of the ICU as well?

Egypt has since time immemorial been obsessive about the source of 2/3 of its water – Ethiopia’s Blue Nile. Always worried about the prospect of their water supplies declining as a result of an expanded Ethiopian utilization of the Blue Nile waters for ambitious agricultural or hydro-electric based development projects, Egyptian leaders sought to make life difficult for Ethiopia. The reason why Egypt has been meddling in Somali affairs for the 16 years was to ensure that any government installed for Somalia was one that would protect Egyptian interests: the uninterrupted and undiminished flow the Blue Nile waters.

Egypt opposes Somaliland’s recognition because it thinks that an independent and democratic Somaliland that is friendly with Ethiopia, will weaken its traditional leverage vis-à-vis Addis Ababa. Cairo has also instigated Saudi Arabia to impose a decade-long ban on the entry of Somaliland livestock into the kingdom

Blinded by its Nile policy Egypt has now allied itself with Hassan Dahir Aweys and his terrorists. It is up to President Bush’s government to decide whether the Egyptian regime may still continue to receive billions of dollars in direct and indirect US aid while at the same endangering America’s national security interests.

Source: Somaliland Times

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