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Posted by Richard C. on 03/26/07 00:57
Will it be on DVD soon?
If not, quit cross-posting
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"Jas" <jasmin1@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:eu75cs$ek0$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...
> Somalia: An Oily Cliché March 25, 2007
>
> By David Barouski
>
> Today, it is a reflexive cliché to claim the United States (U.S.) is off
> on another oil-acquisition conquest anytime they invade an Arabic nation.
>
> In the case of Somalia, the cliché may neverless true. While undoubtedly,
> the U.S. and its Ethiopian proxy conqured Somalia and "liberated" it from
> the clutches of Al-Qaeda primarily for geostrategic reasons (possible
> launching point to attack Iran, more friendly territory close to Arabic
> Sudan, more ports under their control, a possible regional base for the
> AFRICOM command post, potential launching points to protect the Strait of
> Hormuz [the primary shipping point of Middle Eastern oil], etc), Somalia
> is awash in unspoken oil and provides a tantalizing business opportunity.
>
> Perhaps We Had Better Start From the Beginning?
>
> The story begins in 1990, just prior to the horrible famine of almost
> Biblical porportions that claimed thousands of innocent lives in Somalia.
> Mohamed Said Barre was in charge of the country. Barre signed of nearly
> two-thirds of his country to Conoco, Amoco, Chevron, and Phillips (this
> was prior to the Conoco-Phillips merger). Unfortunately for them, Barre
> was overthrown by Mohammed Farah Aideed of the rival Hebr Gedr clan in
> January 1991 and launched a civil war shortly thereafter.
>
> After Aideed started the civil war, the oil giants were unable to work
> their concessions for two reasons. One, the constant fighting, robbery,
> and pirating off the coast made it impossible. Second, it was technically
> illegal because Somalia did not have a recognized government. Since
> Somalia was run by a that it was illegal to do business with, the oil
> companies were out of luck. Either the U.S. had to legitimize Aideed in
> the eyes of the international community or remove him. Either way, the
> fighting had to stop.
>
> As one of his last acts as President, George H.W. Bush (who owned oil
> concessions across the Gulf of Aden in Marib, Yemen via Hunt Oil) sent the
> first wave of U.S. soldiers to Somalia to officially help deliver food to
> starving Somalis. Meanwhile, U.S. Special Envoy to Somalia Robert Oakley
> kept in daily contact with Aideed from December 1992 to May 1993. He was
> unsuccessful in his negotiations to end the fighting. President Bill
> Clinton then resorted to "Operation Restore Hope." Conoco's office in
> Mogadishu served as a de facto U.S. Embassy for the landing Marines after
> the original building was shelled and looted. Mr. Oakley and Marine
> General Frank Libutti wrote a letter of commendation to Conoco Somalia's
> General Manager Raymond Marchand thanking him for his service.
>
> After a series of unsuccessful assassination attempts by U.S. forces, the
> Somalis struck back during a U.S. raid in the infamous "Blackhawk Down"
> incident (the U.S. Army dubbed it the "Battle of the Black Sea" while the
> Somalis' called it "Maalinti Rangers" [Day of the Rangers]) on 3-4
> October, 1994 that claimed the lives of 18 Americans and one Malaysian
> soldier. President Clinton pulled out of Somalia and the place was left to
> its own devices while the U.S. cultivated relationships with Ethiopian
> Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Djibouti's President Hassan Gouled, and
> Eritrea's President Isaias Afewerki. Aideed was assassinated in 1996 by
> Osman Hassan Ali Atto.
>
> Somalia continued to be deeply fractured after the death of Aideed. The
> extreme northwest corner of Somalia, known as Somaliland, declared
> independence in 1991, but did not receive any diplomatic recognition. The
> adjacent region to the east, known as Puntland, followed suit in 1998
> under the leadership of presidency of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, but with one
> major difference. They only wanted to be a separate Somali state, not a
> country.
>
> Flash Forward?. Puntland had some lucrative oil concessions, but the
> turnover of governments left most of the contracts null and void. The
> companies also faced a legal problem. Since Puntland was not its own
> autonomous state, the companies had to deal with the central government in
> order to do business. The problem was?there was no central government
> entity. That needed to be changed.
>
> Somalia began toying with creating a government in 2001. Indeed, the
> French oil giant TotalElfFina signed an agreement with the Transitional
> Government for a concession in southern Somalia. After lots of jockying
> for power between the clans, the first government plan was signed in July
> 2003. Kenya was overseeing the process and the federal charter was signed
> in September 2003.
>
> Fighting broke out again in 2004, particularly in the south, and it
> reached Mogadishu by the end of May. As a result, the Somali Government
> was in exile in Nairobi. Despite the chaos, parliament members were sworn
> in during August 2004. They voted Abdullahi Yusuf (from the Darod clan,
> which is not liked in Mogadishu) president. Mr. Yusuf is a career soldier
> who served as Somalia's mlitary attaché to the Soviet Union. When the U.S.
> backed Barre's rise to power, Mr. Yusuf refused to turn on his Soviet
> Allies and was imprisoned. After he was released, he took part in a failed
> coup attempt on Said Barre. He fled to Kenya and befrended the Ethiopians.
> He later returned to northern Somalia and ran Puntland since its
> independence in 1998, making him a valuble ally to U.S. oil interests if
> he could shed his communist-supporting background.
>
> In December 2004, Ali Mohammed Gedi was appointed the Prime Minister. He
> hails from the Abgaal sub-clan of Mogadishu's Hawiye clan, one of the two
> largest clans in the country. The new government relocated to Mogadishu
> and by May 2005, Mohammed Qanyare Affrah, Osman Ali Atto, and Muse Sudi
> Yalahow united their militias as a de facto government army. By late 2005,
> the government's transition process was derailed.
>
> Some factions were not happy the largest clans possessed all the power
> positions. President Yusuf and Prime Minister Ghedi both survived
> assassination attempts and retreated back to Kenya. By October 2005, the
> Transitional Government was purchasing large amounts of arms from Yemen
> and arming allied clans to defend Mogadishu and Baidoa to the south.
> Ethiopia was also suppling the Transitional Government with weapons.
>
> Contemporary History
>
> From the beginning of 2006 until July, fierce fighting between rival clans
> and political movements occurred. It culminated with the Union of Islamic
> Courts (UIC) seizing control of Mogadishu, and in effect, the country,
> though most of the Transitional Government was still located in Baidoa.
> While Eritrea armed the UIC, the U.S. unsuccessfully backed the opposing
> forces, called the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and
> Counter-Terrorism (ARPC).
>
> The so-called warlords leading the ARPC, Mohamed Dheere, Bashir Raghe, and
> Mahamed Qanyare, had been spying for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
> years. A U.S. diplomat at the Nairobi Embassy was even fired for
> criticizing the CIA's policy.
>
> Once again, U.S. business interests were thwarted and the UIC's leader,
> Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, was already on the U.S.' official terrorist
> list for heading al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, a group supposedly linked to
> Al-Qaeda during the 1990s, making it illegal for them to do business with
> his regime.
>
> "Slick" Business Deals
>
> Beginning in 2005, Prime Minister Gedi demanded all business proposals go
> through the Transitional Government. He forbade anyone to approach the
> local administrations in Puntland, but he was willing to allow business
> there provided he approved of it. The Australian firm Range Resources
> Limited signed an agreement with the government of Puntland for exclusive
> rights to all their minerals, including oil, lead, zinc, copper, iron,
> manganese, tin, beryl, tantalum, niobium (columbium), uranium, coal, and
> gypsum.
>
> Range Resources obtained permission to exploit the land from Puntland
> President Mohamud Muse Hirse on 18 October, 2005, and from Prime Minister
> Gedi on 2 November 2005. They are also bidding to buy addition consessions
> from the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC). Range Resources is run by
> Non-Executive Chairman Sir Samuel Kwesi Jonah. S
>
> ir Jonah is a Board Member of: Lonmin, the Commonwealth African Investment
> Fund (Comafin), Transnet Limited, Anglo-American Platinum Corporation
> Limited, the Ashesi University Foundation, Equinox Minerals (Chairman),
> the uranium-producing nuclear power company UraMin Incorporated
> (Chairman), Anglo-American Corporation, Moto Goldmines Limited, Scharrig
> Mining (Chairman), Sierra Rutile Limited (Chairman), Sierra Resources
> Holding, Titanium Resources Group, Copper Resources Corporation (with
> George Arthur Forrest and George Andrew Forrest), Standard Bank Group of
> South Africa, Bayport Holding Limited, Transnet Limited, Equator
> Exploration Limited in Nigeria and São Tomé - Príncipe (with Baronness
> Chalker), and Mittal Steel (currently in the proverbial hot seat for a
> contract they signed with the government of Liberia).
>
> He is a Advisory Council member of the U.N. Secretary General's Global
> Compact, South African President Thabo Mbeki's International Investment
> Advisory Council, the African Regional Advisory Board of the London
> Business School, First Atlantic Merchant Bank, Defiance Mining, Ghanian
> President John Kufuor's Ghana Investors' Advisory Council, President
> Obasanjo Nigerian Investors' Advisory Council, and serves as a
> Presidential Advisor to President Mohamud Muse Hersi of the Somali state
> of Puntland. He also holds an honorary British knighthood, the Star of
> Ghana and several other international awards and titles.
>
> Meanwhile, Perth-based Ophir Energy seeks to drill in Somaliland. Ophir is
> led by Alan Stein and is 50%-owned by South Africa's Mvelaphanda Holdings.
> Mvelphanda is run by Tokyo Sexwale and its Board of Directors includes
> Michael Beckett (former Chairman of Ashanti Goldfields, a company
> prevously run by Sir Jonah), and Bernard Van Rooyen (former director of
> the Canadian firm Banro Resources). Ophir was reportedly introduced to
> Somalia by Mvelaphanda's partner Dr Andrew Chakravarty, who's wife is a
> well-connected Somali national. Mr. Chakravarty's Rova Energy Corporation
> acquired offshore concessions formerly belonging to Equitable Life
> Investment Company and its U.S. partner Somapetroleum. Ophir currently is
> a 75% shareholder of Rova.
>
> The Rest, as They Say, is History
>
> Somalia's Transitional Government desired to keep Puntland as a part of
> the larger Somalia. This fact, coupled with several nations' unwillingness
> to work with the UIC (who may or may not recognize the contracts) led to a
> need to restore the Transitional Government in Mogadishu and remove the
> UIC. This line of thinking was directly in line with the U.S., who wanted
> to control Somali for the aforementioned geostrategic reasons and also to
> prevent the nation from becoming a "terrorist safehaven." The U.S. backed
> Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia to stamp out the UIC once-and-for-all. They
> also supplied air support and Special Forces soldiers to aid in the
> mission. The UIC was run into Kenya, where many of its leaders were
> arrested. Others fled into hiding in southern Somalia.
>
> The U.S. officially continues to hunt Al-Qaeda in Somali. They are pushing
> for an African peacekeeping force to be deployed in the nation as soon as
> possible.
>
> Unsurprisingly, two nations with a history of acting as U.S. proxies in
> the region answered the call. The Ugandan People's Defense Force (UPDF)
> pledged two battalions to enforce the peace and train the Somali army. The
> U.S. has pledged to provide logistics support for Uganda,which likely will
> include airlift support.
>
> If the private military contractor Military Professional Resources
> Incorporated (MPRI) gets involved in the logistics like they have in
> Darfur, the context of U.S. involvement in Somalia could take on a whole
> new outlook, especially if counterinsurgency operations become the norm.
>
> MPRI offers a perfect opportunity to embed U.S. operatives to do the
> illicit bidding of the Pentagon the U.S. Armed Forces cannot. The Somali
> Government has been reinstalled in Mogadishu and though violence is
> constant in the city, the government has moved forward. Many of the
> cabinet members are dual citizens, with the majority coming from Canada.
> Others are former warlords.
>
> The Deputy Prime Minister is Hussein Farah Aideed, the son of the late
> warlord Mohammed Farah Aideed. In contrast to his father, Hussein is
> actually a naturalized American citizen and a former U.S. Marine who
> served in the Gulf War. He even served as a U.S. emissary during Operation
> Restore Hope, where he met with his father several times.
>
> With a central government in place, the corporations with concessions in
> the more peaceful northern region of the country can begin their work.
> ConocoPhillips has stated they are not interested in doing business in
> Somalia at this time. Will ChevronTexaco and other American oil giants
> take advantage of the opportunity to exploit Somalia? Only time will tell,
> but Ophir, Rova, and Range Resources are probably grateful to the U.S. and
> Ethiopia.
>
> 1. Madsen, Wayne. "Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa 1993-1999."
> Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales, United Kingdom: Edwin Mellen Press, Limited.
> 1999. pg. 31.
>
> 2. "The Oil Factor In Somalia," Mark Fineman. Los Angeles Times. 18
> January, 1993.
>
> 3. Bowden, Mark. "Blackhawk Down: A Story of Modern War." New York, New
> York: Penguin Putnam Incorporated. 1999.
>
> 4. "UN: Arms Pouring Into Somalia," Al-Jazeera. 8 October, 2006.
>
> 5. "U.S. Secretly Backing Warlords in Somalia," Karen DeYoung, Emily Wax.
> The Washington Post. 17 May, 2006. Note: A confidential U.N. Security
> Council report revealed several armed Islamic groups armed and fought with
> the UIC, including Hezbollah and fighters from several Islamic nations
> including Saudi Arabia.
>
> 6. "Somalia: Fighting in the Shadows." Jeffery Bartholet, Michael Hirsh.
> Newsweek. 5 June, 2006. Note: One of the planners for these types of
> intelligence operations was Steven Cambone's Deputy Undersecretary of
> Intelligence at the Pentagon, General William "Jerry" Boykin, who is known
> for his anti-Islamic comments. Boykin commanded the Delta Force team
> deployed in Mogadishu in 1993.
>
> 7. "Profile: Somalia's Islamist Leader," Joseph Winter. BBC News. 30 June,
> 2006.
>
> 8. Range Resources Limited. "Exclusive Rights to All Minerals in
> Puntland." Company Announcements Office. 5 October, 2005.
>
> 9. President Mohamud Muse Hirse. "Letter to Consort Private Limited and
> Mr. Tony Black." Office of the President. 18 October, 2005; Prime Minister
> Ali Mohammed Gedi. "Letter to Puntland State of Somali and Vice President
> Hassan Dahir Mohamud. Offic of the Prime Minister. OPM/251/05. 2 November
> 2006.
>
> 10. "Minnows See Oil Seeping Out From Fractured State," Eleanor Gillespie,
> Jon Marks. African Energy. Issue 100. 20 July, 2006.
>
> 11. Ibid.
>
> 12. State House of the Republic of Uganda. "'US to Provide UPDF Support to
> (sic) Somalia' - Frazier." Press Release. 29 January, 2007.
>
> 13. Confidential Source. 2007.
>
> 14. Kevin Sites. "Son of Aideed." Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone. Yahoo News.
> 29 September, 2005. http://hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/blogs1077.
>
> Appendix I: Documentation
>
> Letter from President Hirse to Consort Private Limited:
> http://www.zmag.org/racewatch/LetterHirse.pdf Letter from Prime Minister
> Gedi to the Government of Puntland:
> http://www.zmag.org/racewatch/LetterGedi.pdf
>
>
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