The deployment of Sierra Leonean soldiers in Somalia is wrong. – PACM
Story by Mohamed Koroma, May 4, 2012
The Pan-Afrikan Community Movement (PACM), a community based movement of youths, students, women, employed and unemployed workers in urban and rural Sierra Leone, have called upon the government of the President Ernest Bai Koroma with a blunt message: the deployment of Sierra Leonean soldiers in Somalia is wrong. PACM maintains that “imperialist forces are behind the deployment of African soldiers in Somalia. In this respect, we oppose the use of Africans fighting Africans, an old imperialist strategy in Africa.”
According to a statement issued by the group, this follows an announcement by Seirra Leonean government that it will sending, as promised late last year, a contingent of nearly 1,000 troops to join Rwanda and Uganda “under the guise of AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) to fight Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia.”
Apart from Rwanda and Ugandan, Kenya and Ethiopia have also sent troops in Somalia, to fight the Al- Shabaab. The PACM, explained their opposition to Seirra Leonean participation by declaring,
“PACM holds the view that the deployment of Sierra Leonean soldiers in Somalia is wrong. We believe that the problem in Somalia cannot be resolved by military action. The deployment of Sierra Leonean forces there will only be seen by the people of Somalia as an attempt by the rulers of Sierra Leone to be part of the greater conspiracy, sponsored by western imperialist forces to dominate and further the long suffering of the people of Somalia and deepen the conflict. The deployment might also endanger Sierra Leonean citizens, as Al-Shabaab has already threatened to do.
We do not oppose the involvement of Sierra Leonean soldiers in other African problems, but we believe that, in this case, the “solution” is driven by outside forces. It is no coincidence, that over US$ 50 million have been provided so far by US for the procurement of military equipment of the Sierra Leonean military for what will only be a war of Africans killing other Africans.”
PACM also wondered how “Sierra Leonean soldiers can use military force to bring peace in Somalia where US forces have failed in 1993, Ethiopian troops and now Kenyan forces are failing since their invasion into Somalia, at the behest of US and imperialist forces earlier this year.”
PACM also condemned the use of violence by all sides in the conflict expressing its equal opposition to “all forms of violence including Al-Shabaab’s use of terrorist tactics of killing innocent people in their so-called war to institute sharia law in Somalia.”
“The war in Somalia is a PROXY WAR,” the statement went on, “with the US and other imperialist forces behind it. The objective is to ensure control of the horn of Africa for military, economic and political gains. This is also the reason for establishment of AFRICOM – The US military’s Africa Command. This militarisation of Africa is not unconnected with the discovery of oil and the rise of China as a major economic power in Africa. In short, the militarisation of Africa is part of the grand plan to control African mineral (including oil) resources.”
“Consequently,” the statement concluded, “PACM holds the view that the attempt to send Salone troops to Somalia under the guise of AMISOM, is not to help the people of Somalia, but to support Imperialist Proxy-wars in Africa. In that respect, PACM wish to join the progressive chorus of African peace campaigners, to oppose the new vigour of imperialism in Africa and call on the Government of Sierra Leone, led by Ernest Bai Koroma, a seemingly willing puppet of Western imperialism and neo-colonialism, to reverse the decision of sending troops to Somalia. Instead we call on the government, to pursue a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Somalia which can only be addressed by the Somali people themselves.”
Source: Mohamed Koroma; +232 (0) 88 878 273
Email: pacm1898@yahoo.com
