President Xi Jinping of China. CCP is the source of this image.
Harun Maruf of Voice of America says that Somalia got a slew of military vehicles and equipment from China today. The weaponry was handed out to Somalia’s Defense Minister, Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur, by Chinese Ambassador Fei Shengchao.
It’s as if the Biden administration had signed the cheque. Somalia is one of the poorest and most corrupt countries on the planet. Foreign aid accounts for at least 20% of Somalia’s budget, and that figure is certain to rise now that former Ambassador Donald Yamamoto championed efforts to cancel Somalia’s debt, allowing it to borrow more from the Multi-Partner Fund, to which the US is now a big donor. Even while Somalia’s president, Mohamed Farmaajo, struck deals with China that may have benefited him, they came at the risk of Somalia’s economic future and the capacity of its own fisherman to make a livelihood.
Without a doubt, Biden’s staff is not alone in its disregard for Africa. Similarly, both Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump mostly disregarded Africa. What distinguishes Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken is their deliberate attempt to overlook China. For example, when Blinken visited Sub-Saharan Africa late last year, he delivered a speech in Abuja, Nigeria, outlining the Biden administration’s Africa agenda. It entirely disregarded China, despite the fact that China has caught several nations in debt traps and has surpassed practically every African country as a key trading partner. China was purposefully left out by Blinken. It was in keeping with his tendency of accepting policies influenced more by a desire to do the polar opposite of what his predecessor, Mike Pompeo, had done than by a desire to balance things out.
In Somalia, the situation is far worse. Farmaajo has often exploited foreign funds and military help to weaken political opponents rather than undertake counter-terrorism because he has concentrated more on cementing his own authority extra-constitutionally than furthering Somalia’s transformation. As a result, there is a direct correlation between the help supplied and the resurgence of al-Shabab during his presidency. Given both Farmaajo’s and Beijing’s animosity for Somaliland, China’s military assistance to Farmaajo makes the situation even more combustible. Farmaajo is enraged since the area reclaimed its independence and aided in the overthrow of his uncle, Siad Barre. China is attempting to destabilize democratic Somaliland as a result of the country’s decision to defy Beijing’s blackmail and align itself with Taiwan.
Biden and Blinken are concerned about American national security, but their indifference borders on strategic stupidity. Money is fungible, and the hundreds of millions of dollars supplied to Somalia under their watch now serve to bolster China’s military-industrial complex. The truth necessitates two important policy changes. First and foremost, it is past time for the United States to severely cease its military aid to Somalia. What money does come into the country should go straight to the country’s federal states rather than to the country’s compromised administration. Pouring money into a corrupt institution does not alleviate humanitarian issues; rather, it exacerbates them, promotes terror, and may lead to armed war. Second, the United States should not duplicate the mistakes it did in Ukraine across regimes in the Horn of Africa.
It’s time to provide democratic, pro-Taiwan Somaliland with the weapons it needs to defend itself against a Chinese-backed tyranny that wants to subjugate it.