Vickie Remoe Institute of Digital Communications

Local NGo says Sierra Leone’s involvement in Somalia is wrong

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Pan-African CommUnity Movement (PACM), a grassroots organisation in Sierra Leone has criticised the government for sending soldiers from the national army as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (African Union Mission in Somalia). PACM is a newly formed grassroots organisation committed to “self-emancipation and self determination of the oppressed and exploited Afrikan masses at home and abroad”. This is the first local public denouncement of Sierra Leone’s involvement in AMISOM.

PACM PRESS RELEASE 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.

Freetown: April 2012The 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.

For more information or media Interviews, please call: Mohamed Koroma = 232 (0) 88 878 273 Email: pacm1898@yahoo.com

3 comments

  1. ole Nkarei 6 May, 2012 at 04:38 Reply

    I am a KDF Soldier, and am utterly shocked at the outright lies and dearth of facts in the ludicrous assertions contained in this article and attributed to PACM on the situation in Somalia and the Horn of Africa. Were the subject matter not of such critical importance to East Africa and the Horn of African Countries and peoples, I would not pay one bit of attention to this ludicrous article. A bit of research, a studious attention to the history and demographics of the entire Horn and East Africa would have served to educate both the authors of this article as well as the editors of this blog that carried it. And as is typical of such propaganda-value pieces, shallow facts is interwoven with fiction and outright lies. For the record, the Senegalese Soldiers are not deployed in Somalia to ”rescue the Ethiopians and Kenyans Forces” but simply because it gives this necessary intervention and African Face when forces beyond the borders of somalia are engaged – that is a central pillar of the AU Policy of Military Interventions. And while-as it is not improbable that the Americans are driven by their own interests in this matter, it would be entirely simplistic to expect them to rend Africa a hand in this African problem on altruism alone – we need to endeavor to ensure that our interests as Africans in this undertaking are not shunted aside. I wish to entreat that due diligence in discussion of this magnitude from all parties.

  2. PHILIP AWITTA 8 June, 2012 at 08:37 Reply

    The writer of this article is suffering from knowledge defeciency. I’m from Kenya and very soon we are taking over Kismayu. The last Alshabaab stronghold!

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