To us it looked like a Christmas War, with the irony of soldiers from Ethiopia—whose Christian church predates those of most European countries—initiating military attacks in late December, when Christians we know commemorate the birth of the Prince of Peace. But to Ethiopians it was a Pre-Christmas War, since their Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas in January.

No matter. January, along with Orthodox Christmas, has come and gone and the Ethiopian soldiers remain in Somalia, putting down sporadically erupting armed resistance. Although Ethiopia’s initial mission has been accomplished—helping Somalia’s transitional government drive out the Islamic Courts, other Somalis attack Ethiopian soldiers, whom they see as invaders.

Peace did seem to prevail immediately after Ethiopia and the Somali transitional government swept the Islamic Courts out of Somalia’s capital city, Mogadishu and crunched them into Somalia’s southernmost rain forested tip, bordering Kenya. Then American military forces bombed that tip, claiming that perpetrators of the bombing of the U.S. embassy in East Africa were hiding among the cornered Islamic Court activists.

The bombs killed many Somalis. Why do the Bush regime and its allies so often use bombs when seeking to kill one person or a few persons? It is like a drive-by shooting, with no concern for the bystanders who are murdered along with the target or instead of the target. American street thugs call such innocent victims “mushrooms.”

After these bombings, violent rebellion against Ethiopians erupted elsewhere in Somalia. Was the President George W. Bush regime’s intent to spark disruptive chaos, thereby sabotaging the example of Africans resolving an African so-called problem without European or American direction? Or was there American direction? How did Ethiopia, a country so poor it is eligible for international debt relief, finance a war in Somalia? Did the United States fund it? Was U.S. pressure applied? Were strings attached?

Bush did not mention the U.S. bombing of Somalia in his January speech on the U.S. troop-build up in Iraq or in the State of the Union address. Is killing black folks unimportant in the United States, the land of racial profiling rooted historically in slave-hunting and lynching?

Violent secrecy looks like current American policy in Somalia. The Bush regime never acknowledged its earlier 2006 manipulation of selected Somali warlords’ failed attempt to oust the Islamic Courts. Let us urge elected officials to curtail secret U.S wars in Africa, lest colonialism re-emerge with an oppressive American face.

At the time of its Somalia victory, Ethiopia said it would withdraw its troops within weeks. Good idea. Since Somalis view the Ethiopians as an invasion force, the longer Ethiopians stay the more violent Somali resistance will become. Ethiopia should avoid a quagmire like those of the U.S. in Iraq and Vietnam.

Yet, Somalia’s transitional government cannot likely maintain control without outside military assistance. An all-African peacekeeping force would be the best solution since the African Union established the transitional government and foolishly continued to support it even when it proved incapable of governing.

Somalia’s prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi told his transitional parliament in late January that peacekeeping troops from Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, and other African countries would arrive by early February. Let us pray so. Yet, as of this writing in late January, only Uganda had publicly committed to send troops: a 1,500-soldier contribution to a larger force.

In theory, Ethiopia implemented the African Union’s will by assisting the Somali transitional government. But Ethiopia’s aggressiveness reflects its perception of its own national interest. Over the centuries, Christian Ethiopia has been threatened repeatedly by Muslim military takeover, and has consistently repelled its attackers, sometimes by going on the offensive. In 2006, radical elements within the Somali Islamic Courts reportedly threatened jihad against Ethiopia. Ethiopia’s effectively violent response is consistent with its history.

But the Islamic Courts served Somalia well. They brought order to Somalia after more than a decade of chaos. To push out the Courts and restore chaos is not in the interests of the Somali people. It is immoral. It is not doing unto others as you would have them do unto you. Therefore the transitional government —with help from the Ethiopians until they swiftly depart – should replicate the systems and order that the Islamic Courts established. That should contribute to peace. Blessed are the peacemakers. If they want to deliver those benefits with different Somali personnel, so be it. But to remove what is good for somebody else because it is not in your interest is to sew seeds of conflict.

Africans need less conflict.