Like the Israelites after the fall of the first Temple (recorded in the book of Lamentations), Somalia’s people suffer innumerable woes. With residents fleeing in the hundreds of thousands, their Jerusalem lies deserted and destroyed (Mogadishu), and many believe that their enemy, Ethiopia, has become their occupying master, just as the Babylonians conquered the Jews. But as scarcity abounds and insurgency forces attempt to scuttle peace talks in Somalia, little attention has been paid to a recent deal of the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) with CNOOC, the Chinese oil corporation.