PACM statement on the proposed deployment of Salone troops to Somalia
Posted By SEM Contributor On May 4, 2012 @ 12:04 am In Global News | No Comments
By: SEM Contributor [1] on May 4, 2012.
Freetown: 20th April, 2012 – The Pan-Afrikan Community Movement (PACM) is a newly
formed grassroots Pan-Africanist, community based movement of youths, students,
women, employed and unemployed workers in urban and rural Sierra Leone. We stand for
the self-emancipation and self determination of the oppressed and exploited Afrikan
masses at home and abroad. We are opposed to privatisation, racism, sexism,
neo-colonialism, and imperialist proxy wars in Africa. We are part of the worldwide
resistance to globalisation and the struggle for global social justice.
ON THE DEPLOYMENT OF SIERRA LEONE TROOPS IN SOMALIA
Few weeks ago the government of Ernest Bai Koroma, announced that it will send, 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.
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 wonders 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 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.
PACM wises to state that we equally oppose 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, 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, 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.
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