But nothing much got accomplished. Sure she urged, she sought and she pushed, but to what end?
Sec. Rice went to Addis Ababa and talked about Somalia:
She said the US appreciated the deployment of an advance Ugandan force but they “frankly need to be joined soon by other forces”.
The US is offering to help African states who send troops to Somalia.
(snip — link to a report on the extremely competent Ugandan forces)
Ms Rice said she and Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had “emphasized the need for a ceasefire” between the Somali government and “non-extremist opposition groups”.
(My emphasis)
In a meeting about DR Congo, Rice met with reps from that country, Burundi, Uganda, and Rwanda:
They included the “rapid strengthening” of security forces in Congo, reiteration of a commitment not to “harbour negative forces” and a recommitment to previous agreements. But there appeared to be no concrete or new ideas on the table.
Also in the meeting with the Ethiopian PM:
“I also urged the prime minister to avoid any acts that might heighten friction between Eritrea and Ethiopia and to take concrete steps to lessen tensions on the border,” she said.
Ethiopia remains in a tense stand-off with its arch-enemy Eritrea, following the dissolution last week of a commission tasked with brokering an agreement on the neighbours’ disputed common border.
“There must not be a resumption of hostilities initiated by either side,” she added.
There was supposed to be some talk about Darfur, but the Sudanese government rep. skipped the meeting.
For current info on Sudan and Darfur: UNMIS
3 responses so far ↓
S.G.E.W. // December 7, 2007 at 10:32 pm |
Having Sec. Rice tell African nations to send more peacekeeping forces into Somalia is beyond irony; it’s beyond a bad joke.
“Oops! We seem to have toppled the only stable governing force in recent Somali history by supporting/orchestrating the poorly-planned Ethiopian ’surge’ into Mogadishu! Well, um . . . go fix it, guys! See ya later, good luck!”
Seriously. Can’t the current administration keep their nation-destroying tendencies confined to the Eurasian land mass? What’s next? How about Indonesia? (There are Muslims there, I hear.) What about Australia,;we’ve lost our “key ally” there . . . maybe we can have someone invade them too! Where does it end?
Oh yeah, I forgot. We’re going to Mars! And if there is any life there, I’m sure we can mess up their day too.
michelle // December 7, 2007 at 10:41 pm |
Where does it end?
Nothing Rice has done helps to end the worst humanitarian crisis.
michelle // December 7, 2007 at 10:50 pm |
There is such selfishness involved with the U.S.’ involvement in Africa.