Wars by proxy, the fiercest battles in decades and humanitarian catastrophes dogged the Horn of Africa Consider the abiding images from Somalia in 2007: the desperate, the dying and the disreputable. The year has been most unkind to Somalis, writes Gamal Nkrumah. The country has never seen a worse year since the fall of the Siad Barre regime in 1991. Somalia, and not Sudan, has now been declared the world's worst disaster zone. Flooding, like in Sudan, has had a disastrous impact on the country in 2007. The UN's World Food Programme food deliveries were escorted by the French Navy because of the political chaos and piracy which had reached pandemic proportions in 2007. That in itself was a fraught task. Despite the fact that Somalia's violence tends to migrate from place to place like the traditionally nomadic people of the land, in 2007, the violence was centred on the Somali capital Mogadishu. Insurgents and their militias were lying low in districts where the Ethiopian troops were deployed in full force, stepping up attacks where the Ethiopians and their Somali allies are less visible. However, wanton destruction and war permeated all areas. More than 600,000 have fled the Somali capital and are camped in refugee centres with extremely poor sanitation, health and medical facilities. It was the war in Somalia that stole the limelight, but Eritrea and Ethiopia, too, fought wars by proxy in Somalia. Yet, at a glance, Ethiopia and Eritrea must rise above their differences if peace is to prevail in Somalia. Fighting peaked in April and October, after a lull during the rainy season in between, when flooding was at its worst. Eritrea emerged as a key regional player in 2007. In a country of so many secrets, none provoked so much speculation as the precise nature of the relationship between Somalia's militant Islamists and the Eritrean regime of President Isaias Afeworki. At one point, Washington threatened to include Eritrea on its list of states sponsoring terrorism. Bloody score-settling wars were rife in the Horn of African throughout 2007. The militias supporting the Union of Islamic Courts lost the key strategic port city of Kismayo in 2007. Kismayo was their last stronghold and, ever since, the Ethiopian troops and the Transitional Federal Government and allied militias took control of all major cities in the country, including the capital Mogadishu. The year also started with the United States bombing suspected militant Islamist targets in southern Somalia, in which scores of innocent civilians lost their lives. The devastating air raids were a turning point in the fight against the Islamists. Washington insists that Somali Islamist insurgents gave shelter to Al-Qaeda operatives who bombed the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar Al-Salam in 1998. They were apparently aiming to assassinate or capture Fazul Abdallah Mohamed, Saleh Ali Saleh Abhan and Abu Taha Al-Sudani, three suspected leading Al-Qaeda members who ostensibly masterminded the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. "There is a dirtiness to this war. Children are the real targets," warned UNICEF chief representative in Somalia, Christian Balslev-Olesen. Government troops and allied militiamen demand payment at checkpoints that have become increasingly prevalent in the south and central parts of the country. Sherif Sheikh Ahmed, chairman of the Islamic Courts, issued a rallying war cry to Islamists across Somalia to fight the Ethiopians: "I call on the Islamic Courts fighters, supporters and every true Muslim to start an insurgency against Ethiopian troops in Somalia," he said, launching the jihad. Soon after, the highest-ranking Islamic Courts leader, Farah Moalim Mahmoud, was captured by the Ethiopians but later released in an amnesty for leaders of the Islamic Courts who surrender to the government. The Somali President triumphantly entered Mogadishu in January, the first time since he assumed office in 2004. The National Reconciliation Conference convened in Mogadishu in July ended in disaster when the venue was subjected to a mortar attack. Islamist leaders stayed away and the then Somali prime minister, Mohamed Gedi, announced martial rule. American interference played a part in Somalia. In June, US warships shelled suspected Al-Qaeda targets in Puntland. Indeed, for the first time in decades, the US stepped up military attacks on Somalia, the first since the late warlord, Mohamed Farah Aidid, who, in 1993, masterminded America's most disastrous fire-fight loss since the Vietnam War. A few more worrisome events hung over Somalia this year. For one, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's landmark visit to Mogadishu in June. In November, the Somali TFG shut down Radio Shabelle, Radio Simba and Radio Banadir. In November, the Somali TFG shut down Radio Shabelle, Radio Simba and Radio Banadir. The Red Cross declared violence in Somalia in 2007 to be the worst in 15 years. Somali opposition groups met in Asmara in September and established a rival government and parliament that is not recognised by the international community. Meanwhile, political tensions escalated in the country as Somalis openly defied the Ethiopian military presence in the country. In October, Ethiopian troops opened fire on demonstrators in the Somali capital, prompting the heaviest fighting in Somalia since April. The triple catastrophes of insecurity, displacement and destitution continue to dog Somalis. Hunger stalks the land. Somalia suffered its worst cereal harvest in 13 years. Given the scale and savagery of the violence in Somalia, agreeing to start talks might not sound promising. The ailing Somali president languishes in a hospital in London, his absence hinting at the political chaos in the country. Nour Hassan Hussein, sworn in as Somalia's new Prime Minister in November, and considered by most Horn of Africa analysts to be the president's close confidante, seems to be at a loss. Some are wondering whether Somalia's new prime minister might consider a move of his own.
