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News > World

UK Joins Western-Backed Intervention in Somalia

  • Afghan children watch a U.S. soldier as he takes position in Mush Kahel village, Ghazni province, Afghanistan, July 23, 2012.

    Afghan children watch a U.S. soldier as he takes position in Mush Kahel village, Ghazni province, Afghanistan, July 23, 2012. | Photo: U.S. Defense Department

Published 2 May 2016
Opinion

The new force will join a U.N. and African Union mission fighting the extremist al-Shabab group in Somalia.

A group of British soldiers have been deployed in Somalia in what the United Kingdom government says is part of its efforts to counter  terrorism, a justification that Western governments have repeatedly used to launch interventions in the region, The Guardian and the BBC reported Monday.

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British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon said the force, which is sent to combat the al-Shabaab extremist group, was a demonstration of his government’s “commitment to targeting terrorism around the world. “his deployment is another demonstration of the flexibility and global reach of our armed forces.”

The recent move highlights how over the past several decades Western governments have successfully used the “war on terrorism” to launch interventions in several countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Instead of curbing terror, many of those states have become a breeding hubs for extremism such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

Somalia, which was under British colonial rule for more than 60 years ending in late 1960s, is one of the largest targets for Washington’s drone program that has been accused of killing civilians and having very loose guidelines on collateral damage.

Also the U.K. and the U.S. and several of their allies have turned Libya into a failed state following the 2011 NATO intervention to oust late strongman Muammar Gadhafi.

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The new force will join an African Union mission in Somalia that is targeting al-Shabab. “Alongside our efforts in Iraq, Syria and Nigeria, it shows our determination to tackle terrorism wherever it rears its head.”

The deployment of the British troops was announced by the Prime Minister David Cameron who said at the time that “all the right force protection arrangements” would be put in place to minimise the risk of harm.

He had also announced the deployment of troops to South Sudan, where the country has been in an inter-tribal turmoil since its creation few years ago leaving many killed and millions displaced.

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