The Leonard Lopate Show
Underreported: Crisis in Mogadishu
Violence in Somalia’s war-torn capital, Mogadishu, has worsened in the last week, leaving dozens of people dead after fighting between Ethiopian forces and Islamist fighters. We’ll find out more about what’s happening and how it could further destabilize the Horn of Africa. David Shinn is former US ambassador to Ethiopia and currently adjunct professor with George Washington University's Elliot School of International Affairs.
It seems like Somalia was a failing state with different militias etc. in their fiefdoms. Then the Islamic group, the Islamic Courts Union, rose up and took control of Mogadishu. Some semblance of order was restored. But because of their "Islamic radicalism", the US decided they had to go and Ethiopia was given the green light to invade. That created a great vacuum similar to Iraq and now there is just chaos and lawlessness and resentment of the foreign occupying forces.
The US has also bombed Somalia at least twice over the last several years in targeted assassination attempts against suspected terrorists.
I appreciate your informative guest. It seems like a fact-based, non-ideological discussion.
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