J.T
08-02-2011, 12:36 PM
Bad news in America’s five-year-old proxy war (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/06/power-struggle-threatens-u-s-outsourced-somalia-war/) against al-Qaida-allied Somali insurgents. Half of the U.S.-supplied weaponry (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/06/new-bird-of-prey-hunts-somali-terrorists-raven-drones/) that enables cash-strapped Ugandan and Burundian troops to fight Somalia’s al-Shabab terror group is winding up in al-Shabab’s hands.
The kicker: it’s the cash-strapped Ugandans who are selling the weapons to the insurgents.
...
The problem is, the Ugandan army withholds most of the peacekeepers’ $550 monthly paychecks, keeping the money in bank accounts in Uganda accessible only by the troops’ families. Considering “limited shopping opportunities for embattled AMISOM troops, you would think that makes sense to keep their money at home,” Pelton wrote. “Except that the AMISOM payment debacle leaves thousands of troops surrounded by tons of weapons with no way to buy even ’small small’ things like personal items, sweets or mobile phone recharges to call home.”
So the Ugandans sell their excess weaponry to intermediaries who then sell it on to al-Shabab. And to keep up their racket, the peacekeepers make sure to shoot at every opportunity, burning through “an extraordinary amount of ordnance” to justify continued arms shipments from Washington.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/08/u-s-weapons-now-in-somali-terrorists-hands
And nobody foresaw any problems with this?
The kicker: it’s the cash-strapped Ugandans who are selling the weapons to the insurgents.
...
The problem is, the Ugandan army withholds most of the peacekeepers’ $550 monthly paychecks, keeping the money in bank accounts in Uganda accessible only by the troops’ families. Considering “limited shopping opportunities for embattled AMISOM troops, you would think that makes sense to keep their money at home,” Pelton wrote. “Except that the AMISOM payment debacle leaves thousands of troops surrounded by tons of weapons with no way to buy even ’small small’ things like personal items, sweets or mobile phone recharges to call home.”
So the Ugandans sell their excess weaponry to intermediaries who then sell it on to al-Shabab. And to keep up their racket, the peacekeepers make sure to shoot at every opportunity, burning through “an extraordinary amount of ordnance” to justify continued arms shipments from Washington.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/08/u-s-weapons-now-in-somali-terrorists-hands
And nobody foresaw any problems with this?