Oil, Not Terrorists, the Reason for US Attack on Somalia
Monday, 22 January 2007
By Wanjohi Kabukuru
01/22/07 Just why did the US attack Somalia two weeks ago? Of course,
the answer given for the US military intervention and the generally
accepted notion is the hunt for terrorists. But is it? Are terrorists
the only bone of contention the US has with Somalia? When the US
military devised "Operation Restore Hope" in 1993 which was
short-lived after they were whipsawed by rag-tag militia in and around
Mogadishu, were they fighting the 'war on terror'?
They couldn't have been because this war was to start much later, If
anything it is a post-Sept 11 phenomenon. So then why did the US bomb
ICU extremists in the name of Al Qaeda terrorists and not throughout
last year when they occupied Mogadishu?
Just why is Somalia so important to the US, and by extension the big
boys of Europe and some Gulf states? A UN Somalia Monitoring Group
report released in November 2005 reveals that a dozen countries, namely
Yemen, Djibouti, Libya, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia, Iran, Syria,
Eritrea, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Uganda were all poking their noses
into the Somalia pie.
What the UN Somalia Monitoring Group didn't reveal, however, is that
these were not the only countries which were interested in the country.
The little known yet well-heeled contact group, consisting of Norway,
the US, UK, France and Tanzania (just an appendage) are also deeply
enmeshed in Somalia.
While the terrorism theory holds some water, the reality of the factors
contributing to the mess in Somalia is pegged on natural resources. Oil
and gas are Somalia's Achilles heel. It is an open secret that four
US oil giants are sitting pretty on money-spinning concessions
expecting to reap huge windfalls from massive resources of both oil and
gas in Somalia.
The story of Somalia and oil goes back to the colonial period. British
and Italian geologists first identified oil deposits during that period
of imperialism. The first oil wells historically referred to as the
Daga Shabell series were dug in the 1960s. Tiny gas discoveries
adjacent to Socotra were also noted.
The race for these precious natural resources took a new turn in 1988,
when the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World
Bank, with the support of the governments of Britain, France and Canada
and backed by several Western oil companies financed a regional
hydrocarbon study of the countries bordering the Red Sea and the Gulf
of Eden.
The countries were Somalia, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was
later dropped, but not before it had been established that within the
study area, massive deposits of oil and gas existed. The results of the
findings were presented to a three-day American Association of
Petroleum Geologists, Eastern Hemisphere group conference, in London in
September, 1991. Is there oil in Somalia? Listen to the answer:
"It's there. There's no doubt there's oil there," said
geologist Thomas E. O'Connor, the World Bank's principal petroleum
engineer, who steered the in-depth, three-year study of oil prospects
in Somalia's Gulf of Eden in the northern coastal region.
The study was intended to encourage private investment in the petroleum
potential of eight African nations. The conclusions of their findings
are quite telling as the geologists put Somalia and Sudan at the top of
the list of prospective commercial oil producers.
While presenting their results during the conference, two geologists
involved in the study (an American and an Egyptian) reported that the
investigation of nine exploratory wells dug in Somalia pointed out that
the region was "situated within the oil window, and thus (is) highly
prospective for gas and oil."
Geologist, Z. R. Beydoun, who was involved in the survey, noted that
"the geological parameters conducive to the generation, expulsion and
trapping of significant amounts of oil and gas" were within the
offshore sites. Soon after a race for lucrative deals kicked off in
earnest.
Four US oil companies, namely Conoco, Chevron, Amoco and Philips have
concessions in nearly two thirds of Somalia. This quartet of oil
conglomerates was granted these contracts in the final days of
Somalia's deposed dictator, Siad Barre. The US first military
engagement in Somalia was fully supported by Conoco.
About the Author: Mr Kabukuru is a Nairobi-based freelance journalist.
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