When he hosted the Somalia Salvation Summit last week British PM David Cameron was full of high-toned rhetoric about freedom and democracy and all the usual good stuff we in the righteous West like to lecture the rest of the world about.
Turns out that behind the scenes he was busy as can be lining up oil exploration deals for British companies. Yes, there's oil in that long benighted wasteland, and it's calling out to Britain to be freed!
British and American companies are hoping to cash in now that the Somalia "government" is willing to sign deals in return for perpetual propping up.
That's a bit of a problem. The "government" tends to meet in Kenya because there's no place in Somalia considered safe enough. That's because popular sentiment among the people of Somalia tends to favor Islamist groups like al Shabaab and the Union of Islamic Courts.
The only reason Somalia is not an Islamic Republic under Sharia law is because whenever the Islamist groups appear too close for (our) comfort to consolidating power, we send in Ethiopia or the Kenyans to impose our version of secular governace. These are the people with whom we are now making deals for Somalia's energy resources.
The al-Shabaab have already announced that all contracts entered into by the puppet will be considered null and void, and that the country's nascent oil infrastructure will be considered a legitimate target.
That would seem to set the stage for many years of blood for oil in the horn of Africa.
Their blood. Our oil.
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