NAIROBI, Kenya — The U.S. is facing growing criticism that it is secretly aiding one side behind the deadly clashes raging in Mogadishu, thwarting Somalia's attempts to restore peace and order.
Gun battles on the streets of Somalia's capital have killed nearly 140 people over the last two weeks. Eighty died in two fights in February and March, started when an alliance of Mogadishu warlords linked to the U.S. began battling Islamic leaders attempting to assert their authority in the capital.
Somalia plunged into anarchy in 1991 after the fall of the Mohamed Siad Barre regime. After the deaths of 18 American servicemen in Mogadishu in the 1993 "Black Hawk Down" fiasco, the U.S. withdrew its troops from the Horn of Africa country and has shied away from a hands-on diplomatic role.
Now leaders of a transitional government are blaming the U.S. for sparking what has become the deadliest outbreak of violence in years. Somalian government officials accuse U.S. intelligence agencies of secretly funding the Mogadishu warlords as part of anti-terrorism efforts.
"The warlords in Mogadishu are telling us that they were encouraged by the U.S. to fight the Islamists," said Asha Ahmed Abdalla, a parliament member representing the north.
Transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf and transitional Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi are calling upon the U.S. to stop supporting the warlords and instead work with the official government, which was chosen by a transitional parliament meeting in Kenya in 2004.
"The U.S. strategy on terror is to use its own channels," Gedi said. "But it's only through the [transitional] government that we can address the issue of terrorism."
John Prendergast, senior advisor at the International Crisis Group, an independent policy organization based in Washington, said the U.S. policy was focused too heavily on covert military intervention, rather than attempting to restore Somalia's economic and political infrastructure.
"This is Cold War-style diplomacy at its worst," Prendergast said. "It just ends up throwing gasoline on the fire."
U.S. officials refused to confirm or deny any role in supporting the warlords, but reaffirmed the Bush administration's commitment to forging ties with "responsible" partners willing to assist in combating terrorism in Somalia.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday that the U.S. was "working across a spectrum of Somalis to make sure that Somalia isn't a safe haven for terrorism. We have a real interest in counter-terrorism efforts in Somalia."
