USAID head afraid to leave Mogadishu airport, calls Somalia a ‘model’
USAID head Rajiv Shah visited Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia, Feb. 21. There he met with the Western-backed president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Despite U.S. claims of victory over the Islamist resistance group al-Shabaab, Shah never left the airport complex due to security concerns.
At the airport, Shah made a strange statement, in which he called Somali a ‘model.’
Shah also stated, “Since 2007, the U.S. has supported Somalia and its neighbors, first Uganda and Burundi, then Kenya and Djibouti, as Somali and AMISOM [African Union Mission in Somalia] forces' efforts to drive al-Shabaab out of Somalia’s cities and towns.”
Significantly, he failed to mention the U.S-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia.
The U.S. also provided air support to Ethiopian troops in Somalia, has repeatedly launched drone attacks on resistance forces, and at times has used food as a weapon.