Somalia - are we doing enough?

So in reading my Saturday newspapers in bed this weekend, trying to stop my dog ripping The Times to shreds, I noticed a letter from the Prime Minister... (obviously not from Flash Gordon, the spelling seemed correct throughout) of Somalia:

"Sir, Clare Lockhart’s article (“At last. Obama’s vision offers hope for all sides”, Opinion, Dec
3) marks a sea change in international support to troubled countries. What is so
startling is that all the conclusions are as true about Somalia as they are
about Afghanistan.

We accept that after 20 years without government, the situation in Somalia
will appear beyond repair but the reality is very different. Piracy and the
growth of Islamic extremism are not the natural state of being. They are but
symptoms of an underlying malaise — the absence of government and hope.

Regional stability is increasingly at stake as Islamic extremism and the
piracy problem grows and my government is working hard with your Foreign and
Commonwealth Office to present and initiate our Somali lead strategy that will
help the Somali people themselves to bring Somalia back from the brink.

The help we need is first in the restoration of both effective government and
the training of national security forces required to secure peace and enforce
laws.

Second, in restoring and enforcing Somalia’s economic exclusion zone so that
Somalia can use its vast potential wealth in fish, oil and gas to fund its own
future. Our fishermen currently watch as other countries plunder our waters.
While we condemn it outright, it is no wonder these angry and desperate people
resort to “fishing” for ships instead.

And third, in launching a large- scale civil affairs programme to train our
young people and establish legitimate commercial livelihoods.

You have employed these same principles to great effect in other
conflict-ridden countries (that harbour terrorists threatening UK national
security) such as Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, so why not here too?
The irony is that it would cost only a quarter of what is being spent right now
on the warships trying to combat piracy, to fund our plan and actually solve the
problems rather than simply chasing them round the Indian Ocean.

Omar Sharmarke
Prime Minister, Transitional Federal Government of
Somalia"

So what is Mr O Sharmarke writing to The Times for? Has he lost Obama's email address? Has he accidentally deleted Gordon's mobile number? Or are the Saviour's of the Universe not listening to him? Seems likely. I mean, I don't think they even have oil.

Nobody's listening. Even when three members of the Somalian Government are killed in a suicide bomb attack in the countries capital (by an al-Qaeda related group). What makes this worse is that it was in an area of the country that was supposed to be "safe" for the government.

Governments do not listen because the public are uninformed, and the public remain oblivious until mainstream media deem it newsworthy. Crises are created mostly by the media. If Bob Geldof hadn't shed a tear at a TV report on Ethiopia would the world have worried so much at the famine there? So maybe Mr Sharmarke has the right idea, maybe he'll get the public's attention and our government will start listening.

In the end I took the dog for a walk and gave up on the newspaper. His constant jumping up and down got my attention. But so did the Prime Minister of Somalia. I just hope more people in the UK take notice to.