Michel Chossudovsky: Somalia - The Real Causes of Famine

For the last twenty years, Somalia has been entangled in a "civil war" amidst the destruction of both its rural and urban economies. The country is now facing widespread famine. According to reports, tens of thousands of people have died from malnutrition in the last few months. The lives of several million people are threatened. The mainstream media casually attributes the famine to a severe drought without examining the broader causes. An atmosphere of lawlessness, gang warfare and anarchy is also upheld as one of the major causes behind the famine, but who is behind the lawlessness and armed gangs? Somalia is categorized as a "failed state", a country without a government, but how did it become a "failed state"? There is ample evidence of foreign intervention as well as covert support of armed militia groups. Triggering "failed states" is an integral part of US foreign policy. It is part of a military intelligence agenda. According to the UN, a situation of famine prevails in southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle, areas in part controlled by Al Shahab, a jihadist militia group affiliated with Al Qaeda. Both the UN and the Obama administration had accused Al Shahab of imposing a ban on foreign aid agencies in its territories in 2009. What the reports do not mention, however, is that Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (HSM) (Movement of Striving Youth) is funded by Saudi Arabia and supported covertly by Western intelligence agencies. The backing of Islamic militia by Western intelligence agencies is part of a broader historical pattern of covert support to Al Qaeda, affiliated in a number of countries, including more recently Libya and Syria. The broader question is: What outside forces triggered the destruction of the Somali State in the early 1990's?
Somalia remained self-sufficient in food until the late 1970's despite recurrent droughts. As of the early 1980's, its national economy was destabilized and food agriculture was destroyed. The process of economic dislocation preceded the onset of the civil war in 1991. Economic and social chaos resulting from IMF economic medicine was a precondition for the launching of a US sponsored civil war. An entire country with a rich history of commerce and economic development was transformed into a territory. In a bitter irony, this open territory encompasses significant oil wealth. Four US oil giants had already positioned themselves prior to the onset of the Somali civil war in 1991. According to The Times, nearly two-thirds of Somalia was allocated to the American oil giants Conoco, Amoco, Chevron and Phillips in the final years before Somalia's pro-US President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown and the nation plunged into chaos in January 1991.