An old woman with a Somali flag wrapped around her takes a swing at a member of parliament. Groups of men sit around playing cards or chewing narcotic khat leaves. A warlord with a shaved head, sunglasses and a foot-long grey beard tells the press peace is at hand.
It's just another day at the Somali peace talks.
One year after negotiations aimed at ending Somalia's civil war began amid great optimism, the talks have little tangible to show for the effort -- or for the price tag, estimated at more than US$2 million.
If Somalia's situation weren't so tragic, the ballooning list of delegates, disputes with hotel owners and fisticuffs that marred the early phase of the talks could have been considered comical.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/10/19/2003072515US interests in Somalia
Officially, the Administration and the State Department insist that the U.S. military mission in Somalia is strictly humanitarian. Oil industry spokesmen dismissed as "absurd" and "nonsense" allegations by aid experts, veteran East Africa analysts and several prominent Somalis that President Bush, a former Texas oilman, was moved to act in Somalia, at least in part, by the U.S. corporate oil stake.
But corporate and scientific documents disclosed that the American companies are well positioned to pursue Somalia's most promising potential oil reserves the moment the nation is pacified. And the State Department and U.S. military officials acknowledge that one of those oil companies has done more than simply sit back and hope for pece.
http://www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/15
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