US refrains from full dip in S

The United States is providing Somali authorities with some degree of support in a bid to prevent the re-emergence of a government bent on Jihad but is refraining from an all-out maneuver for fear that it might become another Battle of Mogadishu.

"The US has no desire to have a sequel of 'Black Hawk Down' coming out in theaters," said Bayless Parsley, Africa analyst at Stratfor, a global intelligence company.

The analyst was referring to a movie depicting the 1993 US operation in Mogadishu, where 18 American soldiers were killed and some of their bodies were dragged through the streets.

"I think the Obama administration would rather that Somalia just went away," said Bronwyn Bruton, author of a report on Somalia for the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank.

"If you contrast the amount of money being spent in Somalia with the amount that is spent in Afghanistan and Iraq, it looks like a pittance," she added.

While the Obama administration is trying not to get entrenched in the ongoing conflict in Mogadishu, the US public still perceives Somalia as a potential haven for terrorists, although that may be exaggerated, Bruton said.

Still, the administration cannot afford to ignore the embattled country, she added.

But while the terror threat is higher now than in the past, Somalia is ultimately hostile to foreign militant groups, the analyst said.

Al-Qaeda made inroads into Somalia during the United Nations buildup in the early 1990s, but later collided with the country's clan system and ultimately floundered there, Bruton explained.

For its part, Washington is adamant that US support for Somalia's government forces will remain limited.

On Friday US officials said Washington had no intention of Americanizing the war in Somalia, a response to a recent New York Times report that said the United States is helping Somalia's transitional government in an upcoming offensive aimed at taking back the capital by providing training and support.

The newspaper also cited unnamed US officials as saying Washington may deploy special forces or launch air attacks.

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson billed the New York Times report as inaccurate, saying Washington does not plan to provide direct support for military operations.

"The United States does not plan, does not direct, and it does not coordinate the military operations of the TFG (Somali Transitional Federal Government), and we have not and will not be providing direct support for any potential military offensives. Further, we are not providing nor paying for military advisors for the TFG. There is no desire to Americanize the conflict in Somalia," Carson said.

The official said Washington has provided limited military support to the TFG through the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

He estimated that US support for AMISOM over the past 18 or 19 months has been "in the neighborhood of 185 million (US dollars)," with around 12 million dollars going directly to the TFG last year. He added that those funds are relatively small.

In spite of those meager sums -- compared to the multi-billion dollar wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- Washington still wants to see Somalia's government succeed.

That sentiment is in line with the US strategy of helping to bolster the capacity of government forces in unstable countries in a bid to prevent fragile states from falling to militants who might target the United States.

The TFG, which controls the coastal strip of Mogadishu and is

protected by around 4,300 African Union peacekeepers, has the goal of reclaiming control of the entire city, which some experts said is not guaranteed.

The United States wants to prevent another Afghanistan, where the Taliban gave sanctuary to Al-Qaeda.

"It's hard to say whether or not they'll be able to do that. I don't think it's impossible, but I'm not going to sit here and say it's on the verge of happening either," Parsley said.

Other analysts said that Washington should follow a different route than supporting the transitional government in Mogadishu.

Bruton argued in her report that the current US policy of supporting the TFG is proving ineffective and costly.

The TFG is unable to improve security, deliver basic services, or move toward an agreement with Somalia's clans and opposition groups that would provide a stronger basis for governance.

The report pushed for a strategy of "constructive disengagement," which calls for the United States to signal that it will accept an Islamist authority in Somalia -- including the Shabaab, which Western governments suspect is linked to Al-Qaeda -- as long as it does not interfere with international humanitarian activities and refrains from both regional aggression and support for the international Jihad.