In Summary
The military forces of an illegally installed
government killed hundreds of protesters in what can only be described
as a massacre. Yet the United States of America, the “leader of the free
world”, continues to provide the same military with $1.3 billion a
year.
There have been no sanctions against Egypt, nor
any signs that US military assistance to the country will cease. This
makes the United States complicit in the crimes against civilians being
committed by the Egyptian military and the leaders it is supporting.
However, this is not the first time that the
United States has had a direct hand in escalating or even causing
insecurity around the world. Everywhere the US intervenes, it leaves
devastation in its wake.
When the United States and Britain invaded Iraq in
2003, they ignited sectarianism and provided a fertile ground for Al
Qaeda to take root. Iraq is still reeling from the havoc caused by that
invasion, and continues to suffer from violence, including suicide
bombings.
In Pakistan, the US has for decades been providing
aid to military-style dictatorships that failed to improve the lot of
ordinary Pakistanis, especially women.
In the 1980s, this beacon of democracy financed
the Mujahideen, which morphed into the dreaded Taliban, which grew into a
global terrorist organisation known as Al Qaeda.
In Somalia, it backed Ethiopian forces to oust the
Islamic Courts Union, which brought a semblance of law and order in
this war-torn country. Ousted members of the ICU formed Al Shabaab,
another terrorist outfit that has been oppressing the Somali people for
the last seven years.
My fear is that if the Muslim Brotherhood is
similarly suppressed in Egypt, it might get radicalised and take up arms
against the government. Egypt could go the Syria way, which would be a
catastrophe of unimaginable proportions.
The United States’ misguided foreign policy has
tended to radicalise groups that may be simply seeking law and order or
social justice. The world thought that President Barack Obama may bring
about some sanity in American foreign policy but his administration has
not only continued with the murderous, short-sighted ways of his
predecessors, but has actually made things a lot worse.
The US government’s foreign policy under Obama has
become more lethal and more militarised. It is also inconsistent. The
United States claims to be a defender of human rights but fails to bring
a regime to book if this action would impact its oil or security
interests.
Oil-producing monarchies in the Arabian peninsula
that have failed to advance women’s rights or freedom of expression are
tolerated, but when an African government refuses to recognise gay
rights, it is called intolerant.
It is quick to support the International Criminal
Tribunal when it suits it, but refuses to see the crimes against
humanity it is also committing.
I recently saw a film by Mira Nair called The Reluctant
Fundamentalist that shows how even the most pro-American individual can
become radicalised in the face of these contradictions. I urge Obama and
his advisors to watch it.
Meanwhile, I was disheartened to learn that
Médecins San Frontières (MSF) is pulling out of Somalia due to
increasing attacks against its workers. MSF decided to take this action
after it discovered that some Somali authorities were supporting or
condoning the recent lethal attacks on its staff. The convicted killer
of two MSF workers, for instance, was freed after serving only three
months of a 30-year sentence.
This is unfortunate, because of all the
international NGOs, MSF stood out as one that had a real impact on the
ground. MSF stayed in Somali even at the height of the civil war when
international humanitarian organisations were re-locating to Nairobi.
MSF stayed in Somalia throughout its twenty-year civil war and its more
than 1,500 medical staff has treated hundreds of thousands of patients
in that country who have no access to medical facilities. If MSF is not
safe in Somalia, then what hope is there for investors?
The Somali authorities need to woo MSF back, especially now that there is a possibility of a polio outbreak in Somalia.
Rasna Warah is an analyst and commentator based in Nairobi. rasna. warah@gmail.com
source: The citizen
source: The citizen
