Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Mogadishu (Agenzia Fides)- “Prudence should guide all human activity. All the more in a country such as Somalia. This action could add fuel to an explosive situation” this was how Bishop Giorgio Bertin of Djibouti, who is also Apostolic Administrator of Mogadishu, expressed his concern to Fides after a US January 8 air strike targeting Islamist fighters on the village of Badel, in southern Somalia. “I doubt the air strike will increase the support of the people for the fragile interim government and Ethiopia” the Bishop continued.
Reportedly a terrorist killed in the attack was involved in the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and other terrorists are said to be present in the region including those responsible for the murder of the Italian Catholic doctor Annalena Tonelli, in 2003 (see Fides 6 and 9 October 2003). “For years I have been saying that the people behind the murder of Annalena Tonelli and other western aid workers should be sought in Mogadishu, where many Islamic fighters leaders of a hatred campaign against everything connected with the West are hiding” said Bishop Bertin. “However this does not exempt us from saying that there can and must be other ways of stopping extremism. Sowing death and destruction, apart from the moral aspects, is counter-productive also for the fight against terrorism”.
Somalia’s interim president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed arrived yesterday 8 January in Mogadishu for the first time since his election in October 2004. He said US army has the right to attack Al Qaida terrorists wherever they are in the world and that the air strikes in Somalia were part of this plan.
The President faces the difficult task of stabilising the country which has been without a government since 1991 when it plunged into anarchy and civil war. After ridding Mogadishu of the Union of Islamic Courts militia with the help of the Ethiopian army, the Somali government intends to stabilise the situation with the intervention of an African peacekeeping force. “The international community must build a framework in which Somalia can outline a policy to restore peace in the country” said Bishop Bertin. “A Somali proverb says: “Only the hunchback knows the right position for sleeping”. The same goes for the Somalis. They alone know what steps must be taken to bring stability to their country. On the condition that the international community backs their efforts and does not exploit Somali divisions for other ends” the Bishop concluded. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 9/1/2007 righe 36 parole 464)
