So why control the horn of Africa? Is it because it would provide a strategic position to control the flow of oil from the middle east? Or control a monopoly of opium from Afghanistan. No, it's so we can have a Silicon Valley in the East. Well those other things too.

Djibouti's main economic asset is its strategic location. The city of Djibouti, capital and home to nearly two-thirds of the country's population, is a major transshipment port and bunkering facility. Good transportation infrastructure with the country and links to neighboring African states earns Djibouti much-needed transit taxes and harbor fees. Trade through Djibouti increased significantly during the Ethiopian-Eritrean war when Djibouti became the only significant port for landlocked Ethiopia.

Djibouti is working to significantly expand the capacity of its ports by building a new oil jetty to accommodate oil products, LPG, edible oils, and bitumen on vessels up to 120,000 deadweight tons (DWT) and have the capacity to handle 100,000 cubic meters of petroleum products. This first phase of port expansion will begin in September 2003, with operations beginning a year later. The second phase of the project adds a $300 million, 2,000 meter long, mega container port. The new additions to Djibouti's ports, supported by Emirates National Oil and Dubai Ports International, will enable the port of Djibouti to meet growing cargo requirements over the next 20 years.

The Mandab is a narrow waterway situated between Eritrea, Djibouti and Yemen that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. In 2000, it was estimated that around 3.2-3.3 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of oil flowed through the Bab el-Mandeb. Disruptions or closure of the Bab el-Mandeb could keep tankers from the Persian Gulf from reaching the Suez Canal/Sumed complex, diverting them around the southern tip of Africa (the Cape of Good Hope). This would add greatly to transit time and cost, and effectively tie up spare tanker capacity. The Bab el-Mandeb could be bypassed (for northbound oil traffic) by utilizing the East-West oil pipeline, which traverses Saudi Arabia and has a capacity of about 4.8 million bbl/d. However, southbound oil traffic would still be blocked. In addition, closure of the Bab el-Mandeb would effectively block non-oil shipping from using the Suez Canal, except for limited trade within the Red Sea region. Full

After we destabilized Somalia and were sent packing in 1993. we decided to disrupt the currency by strategically flooding their markets with foreign direct investment, deflating the Somali Shilling relative to the dollar further destabilizing the region.

Currency fluctuations in Somalia have been erratic since 1993, though broadly speaking depreciations in the Somali Shilling against the US dollar can be traced to fresh currency inflows in the large markets of Mogadishu, via transactions by a handful of local businessmen. The total amount of money introduced into Somalia in this way in 2001 has been estimated at between $30m and $50m. It is uncertain whether this amount was directly related to the introduction of newly-minted currency or to the re-injection of other money (for instance laundered cash); probably a combination of the two. For practical purposes, it can be considered as an inflow of new money relative to the local market. In comparison, remittances reaching Somalia through the Al Barakaat money-transfer service until its closure in November 2001 were estimated at $250m to $300m yearly. Remarkably, although remittances were so much larger than fresh currency inflows, they accounted for virtually no devaluation in the Shilling against the dollar on local foreign-exchange markets. currency inflows channelled by businessmen reach the money market in bulk. There is no gradual diffusion process, and monies are tied not to a multitude of small markets, but to one or a few large ones. This means that this inflow is much more disruptive, hence the observed depreciation of the Somali Shilling against the dollar. Full

Now a puppet government is moving to privatize the country and its assets setting it up for foreign take over. Prompting Somalis to rebel against the Riyale regime.

Despite of Somaliland three political parties’ differences, Somaliland people are in strong agreement that the Somaliland constitution rights and values we hold most dear have been placed at serious risk by the unprecedented actions of the Riyale administration to a truly breathtaking expansion of executive power. Full

After years of devastation and war Islamic Sharia courts established a system of government that created an atmosphere in which the Somali people could live without fear of terrorism by US backed militias.

Six months ago an Islamic fundamentalist movement gained control of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, after defeating an alliance of local warlords backed by the United States. Since then the Islamic Courts Union, as the alliance is called, has expanded its control over much of southern Somalia, including the port city of Kismaayo. It has alternatively negotiated and skirmished with a rival, internationally backed government that clings to a base in the western town of Baidoa. It has come to the brink of war with neighboring Ethiopia, which reportedly has sent troops into Somalia, and has won the support of Ethiopia's hostile neighbor, Eritrea. Full

 

The US Backed (excuse me internationally backed) government that persists in privatizing the Somali nation so that the West can have a Silicon Valley in the East is destroying one of the oldest living cultures on the world. Creating a wave of refugees that will ripple through put Asia and Europe in years to come.

War or no war with Somalia, Mulunesh Abebayhu wants out. Out of her teaching job, where Ethiopian security forces constantly harass her because of her political views. Out of this city, where hundreds of protesters were killed by police bullets after disputed elections last year. And, if she can manage, out of this country that she believes has plunged into the abyss of dictatorship at the hands of its prime minister, Meles Zenawi, a staunch ally of the United States in the vulnerable Horn of Africa. Full