Gates: U.S. Reassessing Relationship With Somalia

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 3, 2007; 2:44 PM

CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti, Dec. 3–The escalating conflict in Somalia is generating debate inside the Bush administration over whether the United States should continue to back the shaky transition government in Mogadishu or shift support to the less volatile region of Somaliland, which declared independence in 1991, U.S. defense and military officials said.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates discussed regional issues during a visit to Djibouti on Monday, including Somalia and the presence there of about 8,000 Ethiopian troops, the officials said. Ethiopian forces intervened a year ago to install the fledgling government in Mogadishu and continue to fight Islamic militants there, some of whom U.S. officials say are affiliated with al-Qaeda.

"My biggest concern about Somalia is the potential for al-Qaeda to be active there," Gates said on his first visit to the Horn of Africa as defense secretary. Asked about allegations of human rights abuses by Ethiopian troops in Somalia, Gates said: "We’re obviously very interested in helping the African Union and Ugandans to try and exercise some constructive influence on the Ethiopians."

U.S. military officials say Somalia is the greatest source of instability in the Horn of Africa, leading them to seek new ways to keep the violence from spreading.

One approach, Pentagon officials say, would be to forge ties with Somaliland as the U.S. military has with Kenya and other countries bordering Somalia. A breakaway region along Somalia’s northwestern coast, Somaliland has about 2 million people and an elected president, and offers greater potential for U.S. military assistance to bolster security, even though it lacks international recognition, they say.

"Somaliland is an entity that works," said a senior defense official. "We’re caught between a rock and a hard place because they’re not a recognized state." The Pentagon’s view is that "Somaliland should be independent," said another defense official. "We should build up the parts that are functional and box in" Somalia’s unstable regions, particularly around Mogadishu.

In contrast, "the State Department wants to fix the broken part first–that’s been a failed policy," the official said.

The State Department and official U.S. government position is that the United States should withhold recognition from Somaliland because the African Union has yet to decide whether to recognize it. "We do not want to get ahead of the continental organization on an issue of such importance," said Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi E. Frazer in an e-mailed response to questions.

The issue is diplomatically sensitive because recognizing Somaliland could set a precedent for succession movements seeking to change colonial-era borders, opening a Pandora’s box in the region.

In Djibouti, U.S. military officials say they are eager to engage Somaliland. "We’d love to, we’re just waiting for State to give us the okay," said Navy Capt. Bob Wright, head of strategic communication for the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. The task force is composed of about 1,800 U.S. troops who conduct military training and reconstruction projects, such as digging wells and building schools in 1countries in the region.

Meanwhile, the United States continues to back the weak Transitional Federal Government (TFG) set up in late 2004 with support from international organizations and the African Union.

Lawlessness in Somalia, where a political vacuum since the government’s collapse in 1991 has been filled by rival warlords and militia, is a major concern for the U.S. military because the country has provided sanctuary for terrorists and has fostered conservative Islamic groups that seek to impose strict Islamic rules known as Sharia law.

In late 2006, Ethiopia dispatched thousands of troops to Somalia in an effort to unseat an Islamic fundamentalist group know as the Council of Islamic Courts, which the U.S. military says is affiliated with al-Qaeda.

That incursion also created an opportunity for the U.S. military to take direct action in Somalia in the form of counterterrorism raids by small teams of Special Operations Forces. Together with the CIA, they are attempting to eliminate members of what is known as the East Africa al-Qaeda cell, believed responsible for the U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, according to defense officials.

"They are precise, laser-like focused, small, a handful of guys who go in and out," said defense official. "Some things the agency [CIA] does, some things they allow us to do," the defense official said, adding that the counterterrorism operations are ongoing.

In Somalia, the U.S. military has also staged in the past year at least two AC-130 gunship strikes and a naval strike targeting suspected al-Qaeda operatives.