Latest Editions

US support for Somalia

Audio: Play | Download

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged new US support today for Somalia’s fragile government. The World’s Katy Clark has the story.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

LISA MULLINS: I’m Lisa Mullins and this is the world. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with the president of Somalia’s transitional government today. The two met in Nairobi, Kenya, that’s the first stop on Clinton’s 11-day tour of Africa. The secretary pledged to expand and extend support for Somalia’s shaky government. And she issued a warning to Eritrea to stop supporting militants in Somalia. The World’s Katy Clark reports.

KATY CLARK: Secretary Clinton said today that Washington plans boost military supplies and other aid to the Interim Somali government, as well as to an African peace-keeping force supporting it. She left little room for doubt as to why America wants to deepen its commitment to a country that hasn’t had an effective government since 1991. Speaking to reporters following a meeting with Somalia’s new president, Clinton mentioned al-shabab, the Islamist extremist group threatens to over-throw the government in Mogadishu.

HILARY CLINTON: If al-shabab were to obtain a haven in Somalia, which could then attract al Qaeda and other terrorist actors, it would be a threat to United States.

KATY CLARK: Still, Clinton didn’t say anything about the Obama administration committing US troops to stabilizing Somalia.

HILARY CLINTON: We want to be supportive, but again this is an African-led mission, and we want to applaud that, and we want to support the African intervention into Somalia.

KATY CLARK: An al-shabab spokesman has said that any US assistance to the Interim Somali government would lead to a repeat of the 1993 Black Hawk Down incident. That’s when 18 US soldiers were killed in a battle in the streets of Mogadishu. Clinton didn’t elaborate on what this new US assistance will entail. The United States has already sent 40-tons of weapons and ammunition to Somalia in recent years. There’s speculation the administration may double that supply. Salime Lone is a former UN spokesman. He’s now a newspaper columnist in his native Kenya. Lone says, what Somalia needs more than weapons is a political solution to its problems.

SALIME LONE: You must find a way to bring large sections of Somali people together. And I do believe they’re ready for it. They have been suffering, they’re ready for it. Include part of al shabab in new administration, we must find a different track.

KATY CLARK: Others wonder whether the Obama administration is betting on a losing horse by trying to prop up the interim leadership in Somalia.

AHMED SAMATAR: I think the question is really what’s the alternative? There is no alternative.

KATY CLARK: Ahmed Samatar is dean of the Institute for Global Citizenship, at McAlester College.

AHMED SAMATAR: On one side are the militant Islamists, who are hell bent on trying to conquer the country violence means. On other side is this weak, corrupt government that really have very little legitimacy even inside the county. So what does one do then? There’s really very little choice, so the US government then is trying to perhaps bank on this government, this transitional government. Which barely controls three or four streets in Mogadishu. So it’s a question, really, of choice, Hobson’s choice almost.

KATY CLARK: But Somalia’s foreign minister used a different term today. Muhammad Abdullahi Omar says American support for his fragile government is a golden situation for his country to start a new chapter.

MUHAMMAD ABDULLAHI OMAR: The golden situation now is that the major global power in the world is today engaged, seriously engaged, in helping the government of Somalia to establish stability and peace in the country, and to achieve that is very substantial.

KATY CLARK: But what the current Somali government does with this opportunity is anybody’s guess. Still, Hillary Clinton called this government the best hope we’ve had for some time.   For The World, this is Katy Clark.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.