Almost every aspect of the security in Somalia is outsourced to deeply entrenched, competing foreign interests of various shades. None of them are accountable to the Somali government, not even the legally mandated African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
Contrary to the noble services that it provided in its early years, AMISOM has become a serious liability to stabilization and also the main obstacle to Somalia’s sovereignty. Like the IGAD—the Intergovernmental Authority for Development in East Africa—AMISOM has morphed into a politico-security monster that does not honor its mandate.
AMISOM played an aggressive role in legally ushering in the Ethiopian Trojan Horse. Currently, AMISOM is Ethiopia, and Ethiopia is AMISOM. Along with Kenya, Ethiopia espouses a thinly disguised zero-sum objective. For the last decade, the Ethiopian military has been aggressively pursuing power and economic benefits for Ethiopia, passing the pursuit off as a fight against terrorism.
Today, Ethiopia is the de facto leader of the military campaign to fight al-Shabab. And this is a serious problem.
Firsthand Experience
In November 2013, right before the Ethiopian troops were accepted into AMISOM, I received a formal invitation from AMISOM’s political office to attend an event intended to solicit Somali diaspora support for the group. The event was to be held in a luxury venue in a third country, and it was to be attended by high level officials.
I thought to myself perhaps this would be a great opportunity to highlight why the inclusion of the Ethiopian army into AMISOM would be disastrous and, in the process, persuade the African Union leadership to turndown Ethiopia’s offer.
