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Woyanne officers linked to Somali arms trafficking

By Alain Lallemand, lemonde
(Translated from the French)

No less than 80 percent of weapons and munitions sold today in the Somali black markets are transported by commanders of the Ethiopian Woyanne Army and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), although the chiefs of staff of the former are interested in ceasing the traffic. The gun-running represents millions of dollars. More surrealist yet: while they purport to be there to stabilize the sub-continent, the Ugandan commanders of AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) engage with abandon in the small but lucrative suicidal business; instead of destroying them, they resell arms seized during raids against the Islamist militia known as Shabaab in the clandestine market. One recent transaction alone has fetched 20,000 dollars.

When the UN Security Council has taken note of the latest report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia, Le Soir has received leaks of some of those disclosures in the report to New York. One of the most disquieting elements in that report is the extent of compromise of principle that Ethiopian Woyanne forces have gone to; the level and volume of arms trafficking implies very high level involvement of the high command in the Ethiopian capital. In the first instance, Ethiopian Woyanne commanders sold –- instead of destroying -– weapons seized from their enemies: the Shabaab militia, the ex-Islamic Courts and the Classic National Resistance (“Muqawama”). Then, they sold weapons from their own arms arsenals (warehouses) to the bafflement of the general headquarters in Addis Ababa who did not understand where the large quantities of weapons and munitions had disappeared to. Lately, the situation has further deteriorated: containers laden with weapons and munitions have been spirited away from the arms depots of the regular army in Addis Ababa to be resold directly on the Somali back markets.

Such a level of massive interception of Ethiopian arms is not possible without complicity hatched within the armed forces high command, although the Ethiopian Woyanne Minister of Defense has not apparently been implicated.

And then officers of the regular Somali troops are not immune either. Arms belonging to their troops fallen on the battle field find their ways into the black markets within hours of skirmishes. The chief of national security of the transitional federal government himself is said to be one of the three big arms dealers in the black market.

This arms bazaar has taken such a looming twist in the last six months that it has developed not one but seven markets — six in Mogadishu and one in Afgoi. From the latter location, weapons find their way to neighboring Kenya for the purpose of not only cattle herding, but also to feed the growing insurrection there. Weapons so traded include AK 47 assault rifles, RPGs (rocket propelled grenades), PKMs (heavy Kalashnikovs mounted on tripods).

The collusion of these regular armed forces (Ethiopian Woyanne, Somali and AMISOM) in these criminal activities explains why arms circulating in Somalia have become more and more sophisticated. However, other forces are at work too. Eritrea continues to be the principal platform of arms supply to the Shabaab militia, and through them, to the ONLF (Ogaden National Liberation Front) of Ethiopia. This is why SA-7 and SA-18 surface-to-air missiles have been captured. One of these weapons bearing a Russian serial number has been acknowledged by Moscow to have been sold to Eritrea in 1995. At least one French Milan missile has equally been captured and Paris has confirmed without much ado that it had sold it to “a [Persian] Gulf nation”. The high point of this sophistication was attained when Shabaab fired an American TOW missile on Somali troops two weeks ago. It goes without saying that every time one of these missiles is fired in Somalia, there is behind it an insurgent who has inevitably been trained in operating it by a foreign army.

According to one of the UN regional specialists in the matter, the connections among the Somali, Iraqi and Afghan conflicts have become even more disturbingly close with the combatants moving from one theatre of operation to the other. Palestinian fighters continue to support Shabaab militants, as do the Yemenis and Sudanese — or even native Americans and Britons. In this context, the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia reaffirms its accusations contained in a previous report which implicates Iran and Hezbollah. Just like in south-east Iraq at the beginning of 2006, Somalia has become the scene of sophisticated explosives with the uncanny mark of Iran developing on its territory: the device is more and more compact; its fire is GSM remote-controlled; it is equipped with a homing device that can slam into armor plating of heavy duty equipment that was used with devastating effects in Iraq and, a few months later, in Afghanistan.

9 thoughts on “Woyanne officers linked to Somali arms trafficking

  1. Why do they care. Those who die with the guns Meles sells to the insurgents are cheap Ethiopian lives. I have also heard the TPLF is doing the chat and sugar business with insurgents while at the same time the children of Ethiopians are dying. Does anybody in his right mind think that Meles went to Somalia to protect us from Goat hearders who were about to invade Ethiopia. Stop fooling yourselves. The TPLF mafia ( not to be confused with Tigrean people) is doing all kinds of business in Ethiopia. Believe it or not some of human traficcing for the girdina business in Arab countries is operated by TPLF

  2. Weyanewu melese must sell the amry for somalia’s insurgents to keep the balance of the civil war in somalia , other wise how can melese cheat USA if there is no in somalia. melese sells the arms and tell the world that he is fighting with terrorists in somalia. Now things are clear and the world know very well TPLF is more terrorist than any other terrorists groups

  3. OMG! This is very weird, indeed. TPLF commanders make money out of a business from arms sale that may end up killing their own subordinate soldiers.

  4. it is crystal clear TPLF have done gun trafficking bussiness to more than 12 anjaa/rival groups to destablized somalia, sts as a gift too before transitional somali goverment and TPLF invades somali. now they are doning bussiness too. tplf solders dying with their bullel which they sold it befor.

  5. Every open minded Ethiopian knows that the woyane regime will do any thing that they can get money even if its selling their kids,they are slaves for money .

  6. What is new with news. this was going on since late 1990s. Melese was the main provider of weapons to warloards. He get his share from this lucarative business. He doesn’t care for the life of poor Ethiopian soliders who joined the army to keep their life alive.
    The paradox is not his envolvelment but the silence of USA and its underdog CIA. Their hand is full of blood too.
    Melese has to be charged against genocide, war crime, dictator, extra judical killing, and selling the soverignity of our country to stay in power.

  7. These robbers wouldn’t and couldn’t get satisfied with anything and everything they looted from citezens until they drive the global community into bankruptcy. They are so wealthy that their assets are now spilled over to overseas.

    Since it is the children of the peasants and the farmers are forcefully recruited and send to somalia to die in the street of moqadisho, why should they care about the lost lives while they use everything on their disposal to accumelate wealth.

    Obviously, these robbers are out of their mind which for sure it will lead them to their final and bitter fate.

  8. no ethiopian talks today about atrosity of ethnopian somalis today.
    so this peopel will fight till the end,because that is the only coise they have left.and the end result will be…..,and after that the AMHARAS Willbe left alone with out territoy or a country.who will bet with me about this.

  9. America, keep on giving arms paid with our tax money to the corrupt Weyane Army and their leaders, so that they can sell them at black market prices and get richer while the Ethiopian people are persecuted, tortured, killed and uprooted en masse from their home regions and forced to settle in arid areas far from their homes!
    Since the West have determined to give all support to the Weyane abusers and torturers of the Ethiopian people, we pray that God will be on side of the Ethiopian people!

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