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Zmeselo
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US ambassador wasted $1B in Somalia and is now funding a coup

Post by Zmeselo » 08 Feb 2020, 08:58



OPINION

US ambassador wasted $1B in Somalia and is now funding a coup

by Michael Rubin

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opin ... ing-a-coup

February 07, 2020

Somalia descended into state failure in 1991, and famine quickly followed as warlords fought over the remnants of the country’s infrastructure. Television photos of starving children motivated the George H.W. Bush administration to provide aid and assistance. However, rather than rescue Somalis, humanitarian intervention ended up encouraging both warlords and venal politicians to fight over the assistance or to use it to bolster patronage or deny food and assistance to their political rivals.

While the Clinton administration abandoned Somalia after the "Black Hawk Down" episode, the United States has reengaged Somalia over the past decade. John Kerry became the first secretary of state in decades to visit Mogadishu when, in 2015, he landed and held meetings https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/06/worl ... malia.html at the international airport, which serves as Somalia’s “green zone.”

The international community has doubled down on a plan to rebuild a Somali government, creating a timeline to one-man, one-vote popular elections that are set to occur this year, https://apnews.com/c12b5710dcd24e78bb05a525f3bffd0b the first time Somalia would have such elections in more than a half-century.

Enter U.S. Ambassador to Somalia Donald Yamamoto, https://so.usembassy.gov/our-relationsh ... mbassador/ a longtime State Department Africa specialist who was previously ambassador to Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Eritrea, as well as acting assistant secretary of state for African affairs. Yamamoto crafted a strategy for the Horn of Africa which prioritized regional integration and Somali state-building.

These are all noble goals, but Yamamoto has apparently become so invested in this strategy that he is unwilling to assess its success honestly.

While regional integration is on the upswing, efforts to stabilize Somalia are failing. Yamamoto has effectively become a gambler who believes if he can just play one more round, he can recoup his losses. Unfortunately for American taxpayers, those losses now amount to well over $1 billion — and that total is growing every day.

Recent successful moves to wipe Somalia’s debt clean https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opin ... -taxpayers (and to enable Somalia then to receive new loans) have doubled U.S. taxpayer liability during Yamamoto’s Somalia tenure. The sad irony is that the ambassador, and more broadly the State Department, do not recognize that aid and budgetary support given to Somalia are the problem. Their efforts are incentivizing not lasting solutions, but rather, democratic backsliding and a revival of terror.

Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, also known as Farmajo, won election in 2017 in a poll in which less than 350 people took part. Prior to his election, he paid lip service to talk of democracy, but once in power, Farmajo utilized U.S. aid money and international assistance in order to reward cronies and undercut political opponents.

Because Farmajo prioritized power and wealth over democracy, development, and stability, he has been more interested in fighting rivals than countering the terrorist group al Shabab and, indeed, has even flirted with leveraging https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opin ... -terrorism the group against neighboring countries. The al Qaeda-affiliated extremist group has now undertaken a revival unimaginable just a few years ago. It now strikes deep into Mogadishu regularly.

Somali parliamentarians, Somali intelligence officials, and former members of Farmajo’s own Cabinet confirm that Somalis use the al Shabab courts because they consider the Somali state courts to be both too slow and too corrupt. Indeed, Somalis increasingly pay taxes and protection money to al Shabab and buy licenses for construction and businesses. That they do so with international and U.S. aid money is a scandal that only goes ignored due to congressional distraction and State Department apathy.

The latest scandal in Somalia involves Galmudug, https://twitter.com/gaimudug?lang=en one of Somalia’s federal states which lies between Mogadishu and the northern Puntland state. On Feb. 2, Galmudug held elections. The elections were no easy feat, but rather took months of preparation https://amisom-au.org/2020/02/amisom-co ... n-efforts/ in order to provide the necessary security to organize the polls and allow residents to feel secure enough to cast their votes. Somalis and outside observers looked at the Galmudug elections as a dry run for Somalia’s forthcoming national elections.

Alas, Farmajo used the cash provided by the international community to try to undermine the election, in which it looks like his chosen candidate lost.

Rather than address credible reports of bribery and fraud, however, Yamamoto issued a press statement https://so.usembassy.gov/galmudug-elections/ declaring,
Today’s election is a beginning to a broad-based political reconciliation process, and the United States calls on everyone to commit to participating in a peaceful dialogue that jointly addresses the challenges facing the region and the country.
It then declared Ahmed Abdi Kariye (Qoor-Qoor), the Farmajo ally who was the subject of Farmajo’s machinations, to be the victor, even though most Somalis and independent observers believe he lost. Not surprisingly, Somalis have reacted with outrage https://www.somaliaffairs.com/news/haaf ... -galmudug/ at what is essentially a U.S.-backed coup in support of Farmajo. Six political parties and two former Somali presidents condemned https://www.thesstar.com/us-congratulat ... -quarters/ Yamamoto’s press release and issued a statement blasting the ambassador.
He surrendered his privilege as an honest and impartial diplomat who leverages his weight to foster dialogue among Somalis,
they wrote.
The position taken by the Amb. Yamamoto contradicts with the core principles of good governance and promotion of democracy that are pillars of U.S. foreign policy.
They are right. Yamamoto’s desperation for success has led him not only to enable a president in Mogadishu who is both undemocratic and ineffective, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opin ... visits-d-c but also to double down on an obvious fraud in a way that undermines U.S. credibility with Somalis at a time when it is needed most.

Some diplomats achieve greatness, but others do permanent damage to U.S. diplomacy. By placing a billion-dollar bet on an undemocratic and corrupt leader, ignoring his strategy’s contribution to the al Shabab resurgence, and most recently blessing a fraudulent election, Yamamoto has gravely undercut U.S. interests in Somalia and across the Horn of Africa. It is time to bring him home.

Michael Rubin (@mrubin1971) is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog.

Temt
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Re: US ambassador wasted $1B in Somalia and is now funding a coup

Post by Temt » 08 Feb 2020, 09:12

An interesting article. Thanks for posting it Zmeselo buddy.

Somaliman
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Re: US ambassador wasted $1B in Somalia and is now funding a coup

Post by Somaliman » 08 Feb 2020, 10:31

Michael Rubin has been having beef not only with Farmajo's government for having kicked him out of Somalia and banned him from coming to Somalia, but also with Ambassador Yamamoto for not saying anything about his expulsion from Somalia.

This lowlife, who is talking out of his arse, is intentionally trying to mislead people! He's claiming that Yamamoto has wasted $1 billion on Somalia! This is absolutely false - and I believe you all know that I've no sympathy for Farmajo!

Ambassador Yamamoto hasn't given anything to Somalia, leave alone wasting $1billion on Somalia! The $1billion this bastar.d is referring to is nothing else other than the $1.1billion debt relief that the US granted to Somalia last Dec., cancelling the debt Somalia owed to the US! And this was beyond the powers of Yamamoto, as it was passed and approved by the Congress, and then signed by president Trump!

But, who is Michael Rubin:

He is a hardline-Zionist mercenary with a pen who works for Israel lobby's inhouse think-tank, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute.

He was involved in AIPAC Spying Case - for spying on Iran and pushing anti-Iran policy!

He basically works for anyone who shows him the money. For instance, he's also a known lobbyist for the mindless northern enclave of Somalia, also known as Somaliland, officially receiving $50k a month!

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Re: US ambassador wasted $1B in Somalia and is now funding a coup

Post by Temt » 08 Feb 2020, 10:46

Somaliman wrote:
08 Feb 2020, 10:31
Michael Rubin has been having beef not only with Farmajo's government for having kicked him out of Somalia and banned him from coming to Somalia, but also with Ambassador Yamamoto for not saying anything about his expulsion from Somalia.

This lowlife, who is talking out of his arse, is intentionally trying to mislead people! He's claiming that Yamamoto has wasted $1 billion on Somalia! This is absolutely false - and I believe you all know that I've no sympathy for Farmajo!

Ambassador Yamamoto hasn't given anything to Somalia, leave alone wasting $1billion on Somalia! The $1billion this bastar.d is referring to is nothing else other than the $1.1billion debt relief that the US granted to Somalia last Dec., cancelling the debt Somalia owed to the US! And this was beyond the powers of Yamamoto, as it was passed and approved by the Congress, and then signed by president Trump!

But, who is Michael Rubin:

He is a hardline-Zionist mercenary with a pen who works for Israel lobby's inhouse think-tank, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute.

He was involved in AIPAC Spying Case - for spying on Iran and pushing anti-Iran policy!

He basically works for anyone who shows him the money. For instance, he's also a known lobbyist for the mindless northern enclave of Somalia, also known as Somaliland, officially receiving $50k a month!
Thanks, Somaliman
Nobody knows more about the history of Somalia more than you people.

Zmeselo
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Re: US ambassador wasted $1B in Somalia and is now funding a coup

Post by Zmeselo » 08 Feb 2020, 10:51

Somaliman wrote:
08 Feb 2020, 10:31
Michael Rubin has been having beef not only with Farmajo's government for having kicked him out of Somalia and banned him from coming to Somalia, but also with Ambassador Yamamoto for not saying anything about his expulsion from Somalia.

This lowlife, who is talking out of his arse, is intentionally trying to mislead people! He's claiming that Yamamoto has wasted $1 billion on Somalia! This is absolutely false - and I believe you all know that I've no sympathy for Farmajo!

Ambassador Yamamoto hasn't given anything to Somalia, leave alone wasting $1billion on Somalia! The $1billion this bastar.d is referring to is nothing else other than the $1.1billion debt relief that the US granted to Somalia last Dec., cancelling the debt Somalia owed to the US! And this was beyond the powers of Yamamoto, as it was passed and approved by the Congress, and then signed by president Trump!

But, who is Michael Rubin:

He is a hardline-Zionist mercenary with a pen who works for Israel lobby's inhouse think-tank, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute.

He was involved in AIPAC Spying Case - for spying on Iran and pushing anti-Iran policy!

He basically works for anyone who shows him the money. For instance, he's also a known lobbyist for the mindless northern enclave of Somalia, also known as Somaliland, officially receiving $50k a month!
He's a "Matt Bryden" type, then. Works for Somaliland, while supposedly an envoy to Somalia.

Honestly brother I suspected as much, since the article starts by praising GHW Bush as a kind of humanitarian; which is laughable. I posted the article, because it gives the impression that Yamamoto is in trouble.

Somaliman
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Re: US ambassador wasted $1B in Somalia and is now funding a coup

Post by Somaliman » 08 Feb 2020, 15:55

My Eritrean brothers,

This guy has nothing new to tell to the extent that he's filling in his so-called article with very distance events in the past that's known to everybody, as if he was writing a history book on Somalia - and not an article!

Farmajo utilized U.S. aid money and international assistance in order to reward cronies and undercut political opponents.
How can Farmajo utilize money he has no access to! The US hasn't given a penny to any Somali government since the collapse of Siad barre's government. The aid money we often hear/read is handed to western NGOs, and anyone who has read the famous book of Graham Hancock, "The Lords of Poverty" knows its fate.

Because Farmajo prioritized power and wealth over democracy, development, and stability
Farmajo has neither power nor wealth, and to the eyes of everyone he's not doing anything to gain them.

Somalis increasingly pay taxes and protection money to al Shabab and buy licenses for construction and businesses. That they do so with international and U.S. aid money is a scandal that only goes ignored due to congressional distraction and State Department apathy.

False! Al Shabab is only present in remote villages and nowhere else - leave alone in towns or cities and selling construction and business licenses. How can Somalis buy such licenses that he's misleadingly asserting with aid money that they have no access to? It's a pure dishonesty to claim that Somalis buy construction and business licenses from Al Shabab, and with aid money!! It's a fact that Al Shabab imposes taxes on villagers but that's about it. It's also true that Al Shabab still carries out suicide bombings in cities, but that doesn't mean they're operating within the cities, or even towns. Their operation has been reduced to hide, hit, get killed, and die.

Farmajo used the cash provided by the international community to try to undermine the election
Again, how can Farmajo use cash that he doesn't see? The only two countries that provide Somalia with a very limited cash are Turkey and Qatar to build up and sustain the army. No other country, including the US, gives any cash to Somalia.


Ambassador Yamamoto endorses Farmajo's government, and he's endorsed by his American administration, so Yamamoto is not in trouble at all.

Michael Rubin is poised to keep scribbling trying to find fault with Somalia to keep receiving his $50k a month from Somaliland.


Yep, you got it bro! He's another Matt Bryden!

A few years ago, Matt Bryden was working for CARE in north Somalia, where I think the bastar.d married his Somali wife, but suddenly he became an expert of East Africa, of course through favouritism and corruption !! White man is the father of all corruption, yet they want to lecture us on how to fight corruption when they're fueling it day in, day out!


Matt Bryden also was banned from operating in Somalia!

https://www.garoweonline.com/en/news/so ... he-country

Temt
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Re: US ambassador wasted $1B in Somalia and is now funding a coup

Post by Temt » 08 Feb 2020, 16:03

I know exactly where you coming, bro. We have been and we still are on that path. The mercenary "journalists" have done no stones unturned to place Eritrea in the negative limelight. But they never stopped us from defending our country for nobody could. So keep fighting my Somalianbrother for 'fighting back' is the only language these mercenaries understand!

Somaliman
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Re: US ambassador wasted $1B in Somalia and is now funding a coup

Post by Somaliman » 08 Feb 2020, 16:36

Temt wrote:
08 Feb 2020, 16:03
I know exactly where you coming, bro. We have been and we still are on that path. The mercenary "journalists" have done no stones unturned to place Eritrea in the negative limelight. But they never stopped us from defending our country for nobody could. So keep fighting my Somalianbrother for 'fighting back' is the only language these mercenaries understand!


I recall very well when the mercenary "journalists"used to write all over the place that Eritrea was arming Al Shabab and supplying them with regular arms and ammunition shipments by air, when no a single Somali believed such false allegation fabricated by Meles (May he rot in hell). The US knew the fraudulent nature of such allegation, but they pretended to believe it as it was supporting the marketing strategy of their misleading money making business - "War on terror"! Truth always prevails!

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