http://allafrica.com/stories/200606090734.html US officials have privately acknowledged their support for the Somalia warlord factions that recently lost control of Mogadishu to Islamist militias, the Associated Press reported yesterday.
The AP story by a correspondent in Mogadishu follows Thursday's New York Times report that the warlord funding operation has been run from the CIA station in Nairobi.
Attributing that information to US officials "with direct knowledge" of the controversial policy, the Times added that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been channelled to the warlords over the past year.
The American effort of the last year has occasionally included trips to Somalia by Nairobi-based CIA case officers, who landed on warlord-controlled airstrips in Mogadishu with large amounts of money for distribution to Somali militias, the Times said, citing as its sources American officials involved in Africa policymaking and outside experts.