IT
IS little more than a dusty track now, lined by a few breeze blocks and
huts with corrugated roofs. Pieces of the twisted mass of metal and rotors
remain, but the bullets and carnage are long gone.
It is difficult to imagine that this was the place where, in 1993,
American foreign policy was irrevocably changed.
Thanks to Hollywood, however, this corner of Mogadishu, one of the
world’s most godforsaken capitals, is back on the map. Black Hawk Down,
which opened in Britain last week, tells how the world’s greatest
superpower lost a high-tech helicopter to a ragtag bunch of rebels in this
dilapidated maze of poverty-stricken streets.
Another crashed two miles away as elite Rangers botched an operation to
arrest the henchmen of Mohamed Farah Aideed, the Somali warlord who dared
take on America’s might. In the ensuing battle, 19 American soldiers and
more than 500 Somalis died.
The film has brought back bitter memories just as the Bush
administration prepares for vengeance in the Horn of Africa. It is seeking
to avenge not only the lost soldiers but also the 224 people who died in
the bombing of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998 and those
killed in the September 11 attacks on America.
As long as a decade ago intelligence experts were linking Islamic
radicalism in the region with the influence of Osama Bin Laden. The CIA
now believes it has enough evidence — much of it provided by Aideed’s son
— to justify a possible return mission to Somalia.
Most of any action would probably be taken by a proxy force, probably
the Ethiopians. They are implacably opposed to the transitional government
in Somalia which is said to retain links with groups linked to Bin Laden’s
Al-Qaeda network.
“I am pretty sure there will be some sort of intervention — maybe a
snatch, maybe air support of an Ethiopian-led ground offensive — within
the next few weeks,” said one senior diplomatic source.
The sense of anticipation has intensified as American and British
warships patrol off Somalia’s coast, searching for Al-Qaeda fugitives. The
CIA has beefed up its presence in the region, and the SAS has carried out
reconnaissance.
The US intervention in 1993 was intended to shore up a United Nations
peacekeeping effort that was struggling to keep food aid out of the hands
of Aideed and rival clan factions. On October 3 Black Hawks swooped into
the middle of Mogadishu in an operation to seize two senior lieutenants of
Aideed at a large house where they were meeting.
The mission was meant to take one hour; instead the Americans were
surrounded by thousands of Somalis and took 15 hours to extricate
themselves. The bodies of dead Rangers were dragged joyously through the
streets.
Intelligence reports claim Bin Laden called Somalia his “greatest
victory”, saying: “It is true my associates fought with Farah Aideed’s
forces against the US forces.”
CIA agents have increasingly turned their attention to the group
Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (Unity of Islam), thought to be responsible for a
string of attacks on aid workers during the 1990s.
The agents have found themselves indebted to Hussein Aideed, whose
father was killed in a clan battle in 1996. The son studied at Fort
Lauderdale military academy and served as an American marine. He is now
based in Ethiopia and, according to diplomatic sources, recently handed
over his father’s files to Washington.
Two of Bin Laden’s senior operatives — Mohamed Atef, killed in
Afghanistan, and Mohamed Sadeek Odeh, recently jailed for life for the
embassy bombings, are known to have visited Al-Itihaad training camps in
Somalia in the early 1990s.
The Somali government claims the camps have long been destroyed, but
intelligence sources said two of the group’s big players could still be in
the country: Hassan Dahir Aweys, one of its former military leaders, and
Abdi Hassan Turki, wanted in connection with the embassy bombings. Either
would be a tempting target for the Americans.
The latest developments in both Hollywood and Washington are being
closely watched by the local warlords. One of the elder Aideed’s closest
associates, Ali Hassan Osman Ato, said he wanted a “cut” from the profits
of the film, in which he is depicted as the former leader’s financier.
Far from the heroes portrayed in Black Hawk Down, many of the Americans
were distinctly cowed. One television tape circulating recently showed
Rangers taking refuge from the fighting in a Koranic school. Terrified
children and teachers tried to take cover, but several were caught in
crossfire while the troops trampled over their wooden writing boards.
It is thought most unlikely in Mogadishu that American soldiers will be
seen again in the deadly labyrinth of back streets, or that westerners
will be welcome in the foreseeable future. Somalis are too proud to see
any commercial potential in the film. “Go away,” shouted one man whose
home was destroyed in 1993. “We don’t want you
here.”
