MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th April, 2023) Russia should be present in Somalia to end the ongoing conflict in the African country and serve as a counterweight to Western influence in Africa as a whole, Siad Abdi Nur, a representative of the Somalian opposition, told Sputnik.
Abdi Nur, who also used to serve as an adviser to former Somalian President Mohamed Abdullahi, also known as "Farmaajo," is currently visiting Russia. A career officer in the Somalian army, Abdi Nur fought in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu against US troops, during which the US military suffered heavy casualties and had to withdraw from an international contingent present in the African country. He later took the helm of a 7,000-strong counterterrorist brigade.
"Russia can even participate in Somalian politics and can win, and Somalia would be at peace, because we have got a solution where Russia can win without the West. The West does not want my country to be in peace; they create chaos, people kill each other, continue this war," Abdi Nur said.
The politician argued that the West's end game in Somalia was to maintain the status quo, thereby crippling the country and allowing for a takeover of its natural resources.
"You know, when they are giving you chaos and chaos and chaos, people would become paralyzed and 'totally zero,' while during that time the West is benefiting: they want to take the resources ... We have uranium, minerals, (fossil) fuels, natural gas, and agriculture around two big rivers with which we can feed the whole of Africa if properly implemented," Abdi Nur added.
Somalia has been embroiled in a series of bloody civil conflicts since the early 1990s, with the African country witnessing the deployment of a series of UN and African Union peacekeeping missions, in addition to stringent restrictions on the import of weapons under an international arms embargo.
