After its misadventures in 1993. when American marines were driven out of Somalia by skinny gunmen, America has used a long spoon in supping with Somalia’s warlords. This. tike so much else, changed on September 11th. (41)
Clandestine. up to a point: within hours of the arrival in Baidoa of nine closely cropped Americans sporting matching satellite phones and shades, their activities were broadcast. After meeting various warlords, the group inspected a compound that had apparently been offered to them as their future base. They also saw an old military depot. Neither can have been encouraging: the compound has been taken over by war-displaced families, and the depot by thorn-scrub.
America was already convinced of al-Qaeda’s presence in Somalia. It had listed a Somali Islamic group, al-ltihaad al-Islamiya (Islamic Unity), as a terrorist organisation. (42) . It fears that lawless Somalia could become a haven for escapes from Afghanistan.
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