Thursday, November 20, 2008

the plot thickens

So the weapons ship that Somali pirates grabbed a few weeks ago was bound for Kenya, but now it appears from Kenya it was bound for South Sudan.

So, just to clarify: The ongoing conflict in Darfur, spilling over into Chad and Central African Republic, is tied to the frozen conflict with South Sudan, which is in danger of reigniting. Both sides are arming with weapons procured from Eastern Europe and Russia. The Kenyans are backing the South Sudanese, in the hopes of establishing a good relationship with the possibly-soon-to-be-independent South government. So Kenya is getting arms from Ukraine to send to South Sudan, but Somali pirates are preying on the ships. Somalia's piracy problem is in turn exacerbated by actions by Somali political leaders, who themselves are tied up on a proxy war between Ethiopia (and ally Uganda) and Eritrea (and various allies in the Middle East). Finally, Uganda is also continuing its battle with the Lord's Resistance Army, which has ties to the Khartoum government in Sudan and also hides out in Democratic Republic of Congo, which is also overrun by Hutu genocidaires from the Rwanda genocide of '94, Rwanda-backed tutsi militias, renegade generals, and of course Congolese soldiers loyal (sort of) to Kinshasa, who were trained in Angola, which backs Kinshasa. Trying and largely failing to keep the peace are assorted UN missions in Congo, Chad/Central African Republic and South Sudan, an AU mission in Somalia, and a UN/AU hybrid mission in Darfur.

Did we miss any countries here?

No comments: