21 Nov 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- Ethiopian troops said to enter Somalia opening new front against militants (Source:New York Times)
- Al Shabaab ambushes Kenyan-TFG convoy (Source: Radio Shabelle Bar-kulan Somalia Report Kulmiye)
- Somali Interior minister calls aid agencies to help people in Dhobley (Source: Radio Mogadishu)
- Ethiopian troops reached Guriel city central Somalia last night (Source: Mareeg Online BBC Somali Service)
- Reports detail past CIA operations in Somalia (the East African)
- 4 killed as al Shabaab and residents clash in Somalia (Source: Shabelle Radio Risaala Radio Mogadishu)
- Somali pirates jailed for 10 years in Yemen (Source: SONNA)
- President Kibaki seeks support from Arab world (Source: the Standard)
- Al Qaeda camp hit by Kenya jets and ships (Source: Daily Nation)
- Ethiopian official denies report that its army crossed border into Somalia (Source:Coastweek Xinhua)
- Somali Islamists laud reported Ethiopian incursion (Source: Reuters)
SOMALI MEDIA
Somali Interior minister calls aid agencies to help people in Dhobley
21 Nov – Source: Radio Mogadishu – 95 words
The TFG’s Interior Minister, Abdisamad Mo’allim Mohamud has called for humanitarian agencies to bring emergency aid to the poor people in Dhobley district of lower Jubba region, southern Somalia.
Minister of Home Affairs of Somali Government, Abdisamad Mo’allim Mohamud who is visiting the Dhobley district of lower Jubba region, southern Somalia has called humanitarians and welfare agencies to help the poor.
Mr. Abdisamad praised the Somali national army operating there and fighting with al Shabaab, calling them patriots.
Al Shabaab ambushes Kenyan-TFG convoy
21 Nov – Source: Radio Shabelle, Bar-kulan, Somalia Report, Kulmiye – 143 words
Al Shabaab militants attacked a convoy carrying forces from the TFG and Kenyan troops in Haawina village between Taabta and Dhobley in Somalia’s Lower Juba region as the convoy was making its way to Dhobley at noon, according to a TFG official.
Six people were yesterday evening killed and nine more injured in a fight that erupted between al Shabaab militants and TFG forces in Hawina area in the lower Jubba region of Somalia.
According to the reports from Hawina, the war erupted after al Shabaab militants attacked a convoy of TFG vehicles that left the Qoqani area heading to Dobley district to escort vehicles carrying supplies for both TFG and Kenyan soldiers in Somalia.
The dead and injured soldiers were said to be from both sides of the warring parties. However, there was no briefing from TFG on the war that erupted in Hawina.
Ethiopian troops reached Guriel town, central Somalia
20 Nov – Source: Mareeg Online, BBC Somali Service – 85 words
Ethiopian forces yesterday evening reached Guri’el district of Galgudud region, central Somalia and immediately made military bases on the city’s outskirts, eyewitness said.
Residents in Guri’l district of Galgudud region have said they saw a large number of Ethiopan soldiers walking in the city yesterday evening.
The Ethiopian government denied that its forces got into Somali territory while officials of somali transitional federal government said they were not aware of Ethiopian soldiers’ presence and arrival of Guri’el in the country.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Somaliland: Vice President welcomes UN Humanitarian Coordinator Mr. Mark Bowden
20 Nov – Source: Somaliland Press – 387 words
Somaliland Vice president Mr. Abdirahman Abdilahi Ismail ‘Saylici’ met with a delegation headed by UN Humanitarian Coordinator to Somalia and Somaliland Mr. Mark Bowden yesterday in the presidential palace.
The two sides discussed major issues concerning humanitarian assistance that the United Nations provided to Somaliland this year at the height of the drought that hit the country. Somaliland Vice President Mr. Abdirahman Abdilahi Ismail put forward to the delegation that his government remains ready to accept the humanitarian assistance that UN allotted to the people of Somaliland.
On the other hand, UN Humanitarian Coordinator to Somalia and Somaliland Mr. Mark Bowden supervised the ongoing projects that UNIDO is in-charge of implementing in Somaliland which has close working relations with Havoyoco a local organization. UNIDO and Havoyoco officials together welcomed the UN delegation headed by Mr. Mark Bowden to Havoyoco’s headquarters in Hargeisa.
Al Shabaab militias switch-off ban on Miraa in Baidoa
21 Nov – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 146 words
Al Shabaab militias have permitted miraa vendors to sell their supplies inside Baidoa market after they previously put a blanket ban on the stimulant product.
Second top brass of al Shabaab militants, Muktar Robow Abu Mansoor held a meeting with the miraaa sellers and elders of Baidabo where they agreed to bring to an end the ban on miraa trade.
Abu Mansoor urged members of al Shabaab militias not to interfere with miraa vendors and consumers in Baidoa. Miraa businesspeople have welcomed the move, saying that allowing them to sell the product will reduce their risks in winning their daily bread.
The militias have previously banned the sell of the stimulant in all parts of Somalia where they are staying put but the reason behind freeing the sell of the product is yet to be established.
Consultative meeting on child trafficking held for Somali diaspora in Yemen
20 Nov – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 98 words
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Yemen has arranged a consultative meeting for the Somali diaspora in Yemen in a bid to reduce child trafficking.
The Somali consular in Yemen, Hussein Haji Ahmed told radio Bar-Kulan that the number of child trafficking cases are increasing in what he quoted from a research carried out by UNHCR on child trafficking.
Some of the Somali elders who convened in the meeting in A’dan called Somali civil society organizations to work together to reduce child trafficking. Thousands of Somali people enter Saudi Arabia every year, including children.
4 killed as al Shabaab and residents clash in Somalia
21 Nov – Source: Shabelle, Radio Risaala, Radio Mogadishu – 195 words
At least four people are reported to have been killed in an armed clashes between the Al-Qaeda allied group, al Shabaab and locals in a village few kilometers away from Jowhar district, the provincial capital of Lower Shabelel region of southern Somalia, reports said today.
Three civilians and one al Shabaab fighter, who has been killed by the local residents, according to eyewitnesses were killed in the clashes between residents and al Shabaab in a village near Jowhar town
Locals told Shabelle media station in Mogadishu on Monday that the clashes came after some al Shabaab fighters had beaten a woman, who was said to have refused to go to the mosque for unknown reasons.
Reports said the situation in the area is now calm after al Shabaab fighters conducted a security operation to disperse the people, who have come out in the streets to show their anger against al Shabaab’s mistreatment of the woman.
http://www.shabelle.net/
Somali pirates jailed for 10 years in Yemen
21 Nov- Source: Somali National Agency SONNA- 74 words
A Yemeni criminal court has sentenced 10 Somalis to 10 years in prison after convicting them of piracy in Yemen’s territorial waters, the state-run Saba news agency reported.
The court based in Mukalla, the provincial capital city in Yemen’s southeast province of Hadramout, said that the convicts were arrested while they were targeting Yemeni and foreign ships in the Yemeni territorial waters in the Gulf of Aden as their boat was equipped with rifles.
UNFPA holds meeting in Borame to expand hospital activities
21 Nov- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 110 words
A meeting was convened in Borame in a bid to expand the hospitals activities on treatment of fistula.
The meeting, which was spearheaded by UNFPA, welcomed professionals from the Ministry of Health, medical doctors and Non-governmental organizations working on health issues.
Head of Borame hospital, Dr. Ibrahim Said Qaws said that they are planning to expand women services in the hospital and thanked Borame residents for taking part in the new proposal.
Fistula is an abnormal connection between two epithelium-lined organs that normally do not connect.
Dr. Qaws said that the hospital offers Borame people free services.
REGIONAL MEDIA
President Kibaki seeks support from Arab world
21 Nov – Source: the Standard – 1305 words
President Kibaki is wooing Arab support for Operation Linda Nchi against Al Shabaab, but is also expected to ask for more humanitarian aid for areas liberated by Kenyan and Somali forces.
Kibaki will be adding his voice to that of Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula who has been on a diplomatic offensive in the Middle East.
The President flew out on Sunday for a four-day official visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is seen as crucial in the Arab world.
Even though a statement from State House said Kibaki would hold bilateral talks with the President of UAE who is also the ruler of Abu Dhabi, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed, insiders said he is also there to seek their support for the ongoing offensive.
The President will later hold talks with the Prime Minister of UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Makhtoum and later meet the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, His Highness General Sheikh Mohamed.
He will open Kenya’s Consulate General in Dubai and conclude his tour with an address to the Kenyan Diaspora in UAE.
On Saturday, Mr Lindsay Kiptiness, the Deputy Director, Horn of Africa Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Kenya had rallied the international community behind the military operation and that a crucial statement will come from the Arab world this week.
“Expect something to come from the Arab world before the end of the week,” said Kiptiness.
Top Government officials among them Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka have also been in the Middle East to lobby support from the international community in containing the militants.
Al Qaeda camp hit by Kenya jets and ships
20 Nov – Source: Daily Nation – 371 words
Kenya Defence Forces jets supported by warships on Sunday destroyed a training camp for the Somali militant group Al-Shabaab as efforts to rout the Al-Qaeda-linked militia that is fighting the Somali Transitional Federal Government intensified.
Military spokesman, Major Emmanuel Chirchir, said the targeted Al-Shabaab training facility that is also used by Al-Qaeda to train fighters is based in Hola Wajeer in Badade District, Lower Juba.
“Today 20 November at around 12hrs, KDF jets supported by naval fire destroyed two Al-Shabaab/Al-Qaeda key training facilities in Hola Wajeer,” he said in statement. In Mogadishu, reports said Al-Shabaab on Sunday ambushed KDF and TFG soldiers in Lower Juba region in southern Somalia.
One Somali official, who said he witnessed the fighting but did not wish to be identified, said a convoy of Somali and Kenyan troops travelling between Tabto town and the border town of Dobley were ambushed by Al-Shabaab fighters around midday yesterday at a place called Hawina, between Tabto and Dobley.
“We were in a convoy of army vehicles when we were attacked,” said the official. “We were travelling to Dobley coming from Tabto (about 80km in between),” he added. The official said that the TFG forces lost one man and a number were injured. He did not report any deaths on the Kenyan side.
Reports detail past CIA operations in Somalia
20 Nov – Source: the East African – 440 words
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US military special operations teams carried out frequent espionage and counter-terrorism missions inside Somalia starting in 2003, according to a recent series of articles in a newspaper focused on the US Army.
Secret operatives who flew or swam to Somalia planted cameras and phone-tapping devices and paid local warlords to help hunt for key figures in Al Qaeda’s East African network, the reports in Army Times reveal. Sean Naylor, a reporter for the privately owned Virginia-based newspaper, attributes the disclosures mostly to anonymous sources currently or formerly affiliated with US military or intelligence services. For example, he quotes “an intelligence source with long experience in the Horn” indicating that although Al Qaeda’s “centre of gravity” was in Mogadishu, “there was a huge support cell split between Nairobi and Mombasa.”
Some of the clandestine missions inside Somalia yielded important results, Army Times reports. In late 2003, CIA agents persuaded warlord Mohammed Farah Aideed to sell them about 40 surface-to-air missiles, each capable of shooting down a civilian jet liner, the newspaper recounts. It was a weapon of this type that was fired at, but missed, an Israeli aircraft taking off from the Moi International Airport in Mombasa in 2002.
The CIA paid about $360,000 for the missiles — a sum described by a US intelligence source as “peanuts.”
They were taken initially to the US military base in Djibouti and later flown out, Army Times writes. American agents were flown into Somalia from Kenya on civilian turboprop planes loaded with miraa, the newspaper says.
“The safest flight you can be on in Somalia is the miraa flight,” a source is quoted as explaining. The planes are said to have landed at the K50 airport, about 50 kilometres southwest of Mogadishu. From there, CIA case officers and “shooters” from a US special operations force travelled to Mogadishu in small convoys escorted by militants loyal to one or another warlord, Naylor reports.
Khartoum, Somalia to dominate summit
20 Nov- Source: The East African- 502 words
The forthcoming summit of the East African Community Heads of State in Bujumbura, Burundi has its plate full of complex issues that will determine the fate of the integration process.
The 13th Ordinary Summit slated for November 30 under its chairman, President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, will be attended by all the regional presidents, officials confirmed. President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya will take over as the next chairman.
Among the issues on the agenda are the admission of Sudan to the EAC and the ongoing war against the Al Shabaab militia in Somalia. Other issues that need the guidance of the Summit are the concerns and challenges of the Political Federation.
The EAC heads of state, will look into the issue of sanctions against warmongering Somali politicians. Analysts say the sanctions against Somalia are inevitable taking into consideration the recent Al Shaabab terror activity in Kenya.
Citing the continued lack of security in Somalia as a threat to peace and security, the EAC Sectoral Council on Co-operation in Defence recently proposed sanctions against all Somali politicians.
“Lack of engagement in the Somalia crisis could lead to instability in the whole East African region. Accordingly there is urgent need to galvanize solidarity and more resources for this cause,” the Sectoral Council report reads.
Israeli offer causes cracks in Kenya’s diplomatic offensive
19 Nov – Source: Daily Nation – 581 words
The Kenyan government is staring at a diplomatic crisis over the war against Al-Shabaab with top officials taking contradicting positions on whether Kenya should accept Israeli help.
The divisions came to the open on Friday when Defence Minister Yusuf Haji contradicted Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s move to look for help from Israel for Kenya’s onslaught against the Al-Shabaab militants.
Mr Haji suggested that the position expressed by Mr Odinga when he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “probably personal” and did not fall in with the wider strategy to seek international support.
The Defence Minister spoke a day after Mr Odinga returned home after his visit to Israel. “We have not dealt with any individual state and neither have we asked for any assistance. As Minister for Defence in charge of the operation, I can tell you that there is no time when the Kenya Government has decided to contact any country except through Igad, AU, EU and the UN,” Mr Haji said.
But on Saturday, the Prime Minister’s office sought to clarify that the nature of help he asked for during his visit to Israel was about homeland security and not the external pursuit of Al-Shabaab militants.
The PM’s spokesman, Mr Dennis Onyango, said Mr Odinga’s discussions in Israel had nothing to do with defence, which focuses on external threats to the nation.
Ethiopian official denies report that its army crossed border into Somalia
10 Nov – Source: Coastweek, Xinhua – 254 words
Spokesman with the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Xinhua on Sunday that the country’s troops did not enter Somalia, denying an earlier report.
Earlier reports claimed that Ethiopian troops in a convoy of more than 20 military vehicles had crossed over into neighboring Somalia, joining the war against Al-Shabaab in the Horn of Africa country.
Asked about the reports, Dina Mufti, Spokesperson of the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Ethiopian troops did not enter Somalia.
He said that the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Heads of State would meet in the coming week to deliberate on current issues in Somalia here in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia.
The Somali ambassador in Ethiopia could not be immediately reached.
The latest development came as the joint military operations are being undertaken by Kenyan and Somali troops against the rebel militants in the southern provinces after the two countries accused the Al -Shabaab of being behind a wave of abductions of foreigners.
Ethiopian troops withdrawn from Somalia in 2009 after two years of presence during which they fought with insurgency led by the radical Islamist group of Al-Shabaab.
http://www.coastweek.com/3446_
Saudi Arabia expresses concern over phenomenon of maritime piracy
20 Nov- Source: Saudi Press Agency- 259 words
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expressed its growing concern about the phenomenon of maritime piracy, its negative impacts on the international maritime navigation, and its implications on maritime security, including the movement of goods between continents and international trade.
Addressing the 10th meeting of International Contact Group for Combating Maritime Piracy Off Somalia’s Coast at United Nations in New York yesterday with the participation of delegations from more than 100 countries and international organizations, the Head of Saudi Arabia’s Delegation to the meeting and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al-Aqeel confirmed the Kingdom’s vision in supporting the political process in Somalia to achieve security and stability which is the best way for the international community to eliminate this phenomenon and other phenomena being witnessed by Somalia.
He said that the elimination of piracy is considered an international affair so that countries should combine their efforts to combat it and regional and international powers should cooperate among themselves to take joint and effective actions for its elimination in the light of the resolutions issued by the United Nations Security Council, which is the international reference to combat piracy, with respect to the principle of sovereignty of States over their territorial waters.
The Minister Plenipotentiary added that in this framework, all international and regional initiatives to combat piracy must be made in response to the resolutions of the UN Security Council, including the establishment of United Nations Trust Fund to support the legal process to combat the phenomenon, which requires international support for its success.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Ethiopian troops said to enter Somalia, opening new front against militants
20 Nov – Source: New York Times – 870 words
Witnesses along the drought-stricken Ethiopia-Somalia border reported Sunday that hundreds of Ethiopian troops had crossed into Somalia with armored personnel carriers, heavy artillery and tanks, opening a new front in an intensifying international offensive against the Shabab militant group.
The Islamist insurgents of the Shabab are already battling Kenyan forces in southern Somalia and African Union peacekeepers in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. So far the reaction among Somalis, though, has been the polar opposite of what happened a few years ago, when Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia in 2006 and occupied the country for about two years, turning the population against them and fueling the rise of the Shabab. This time, many Somalis say they welcome anyone who can get the Shabab out, even their historic enemy, the Ethiopians.
“What we need right now is only peace, and we don’t care about the identity of the peacemakers,” said Abdulle Ismail, a resident in the town of Guriel.
The Shabab have been terrorizing much of Somalia for years, instituting a harsh form of Islamic law in the territory they control and blocking Western aid groups from working in their areas during a time of famine. But the Shabab are now stretched very thin, with three of their major strongholds in the cross hairs of opposing forces.
Somalia’s al Shabaab vow to defeat Ethiopian forces
20 Nov – Source: AFP – 664 words
Somalia’s Shebab rebels warned Ethiopia on Sunday they would “break the necks” of its troops, a day after reports that Addis Ababa sent hundreds of soldiers into the war-torn country. “Soldiers of our enemy, the black colonialists of Ethiopia, made some movements into our region on Saturday, but they do not scare us,” said Sheikh Yusuf Ali Ugas, the insurgent group’s commander for the Hiran region.
“We will break the necks of the invaders … Our troops are ready for anything, if the Ethiopian enemy tries to attack us,” Ugas added, speaking on the Al-Qaeda-linked group’s radio Al Andalus.
Convoys of Ethiopian troops in lorries and armoured vehicles entered southern and central Somali regions, local elders said Saturday, although Addis Ababa has denied all reports.
“We shall defeat them and fight them any way we can,” Ugas said. “The Ethiopian attack is a plan to oppose the implementation of Sharia law in Somalia by the enemies of our Muslim nation.” Hardline Shebab insurgents control much of southern Somalia, but are also battling both the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and Kenyan troops in the far south, who crossed the border last month to attack rebel strongholds.
Kenya said Sunday that its “jets supported by naval fire” had destroyed two Shebab bases in the southern Lower Juba region, army spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir said in a statement. Local observers south of the rebel-held port of Kismayo said that Somali gunmen had attacked a Kenyan navy boat early Sunday morning, but Chirchir dismissed the reports, claiming no “warship was sunk or engaged.”
Ethiopian troop convoys were also reported have entered the south of Somalia after crossing through Kenya, which shares borders with both nations.
Kenyan military advance benefits from humanitarian plan
21 Nov – Source: Xinhua – 925 words
The military advance on the towns of Kolbio, a major Al-Shabaab stronghold, and Busar, after fierce battles in southern Somalia in which two Kenyan soldiers were killed, might have been results of a humanitarian strategy.
“Those engagements and successive successes may not have come through if we did not have an answer to Al-Shabaab’s tactics,” said Colonel Cyrus Oguna involved in Operations (Kenya Defense Forces) in Somalia.
Kenya’s military strategy against Al-Shabaab emphasizes denying the militia force of its sources of revenue. The troops also blocked the escape routes for the fighters both at sea and over land through border patrols.
The military raid on a place called Sinai, in which five militiamen were killed, paving the way for the takeover of Kolbio, was of strategic importance to the Kenyan troops.
Apart from proving to the Kenyan troops that intelligence provided by the locals was actionable, the operation sealed off the strategic border confluence shared by Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia. This is crucial to the overall objective of the entire operation.
Analysts say the focus on the humanitarian aspects at the battlefront is a critical trade-off for the success of the operation. “The means to win is to win the minds. The dynamics of war involves the people,” Oguna said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Somali Islamists laud reported Ethiopian incursion
21 Nov- Source: Reuters- 239 words
Al Shabaab militants on Sunday welcomed a reported incursion by hundreds of troops from neighbouring Ethiopia as a sign that Kenya’s offensive against the Islamist rebels was failing.
The Kenyan military said warplanes backed by salvoes from warships off Somalia’s coast destroyed an al Shabaab training camp in the Hola Wajerer/Lacta area of the Babade district.
An al Shabaab spokesman told Reuters the air strikes had landed in empty bush where they now had no bases.
The Kenyan assault on al Shabaab appeared to have slowed this week before the move by Ethiopia with Kenya blaming heavy rains and mud. Al Shabaab says guerrilla-style attacks have halted the advance.
Scores of Ethiopian military vehicles, ferrying troops and weapons, pushed at least 80 km (50 miles) into Somalia on Saturday, according to local residents and elders, crossing into the centre of the near-lawless country from Ethiopia and travelling through Kenya to reach its south.
Ethiopia on Sunday continued to publicly deny that any of its forces had entered its Horn of Africa neighbour.
Residents and elders witnessed the convoys and identified them to Reuters as Ethiopian. Al Shabaab also reported the presence of Ethiopian forces in several towns.
An Ethiopian Foreign Ministry spokesman said no decision had yet been made on whether to support the Kenyan army, which entered Somalia five weeks ago vowing to wipe out al Shabaab, who it blames for kidnapping and attacking tourists on its soil.
http://af.reuters.com/article/
OIC Secretary General urges for the respect of the sovereignty of Somalia
21 Nov- Source: ISRIA- 120 words
The Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Prof Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has appealed to all neighboring countries and other partners of Somalia to respect its sovereignty.
Prof Ihsanoglu stated that with the reported incursion of foreign forces into Somalia to confront the insurgency in parts of the country, it has become imperative that all genuine friends of Somalia act to contribute more troops in order to reinforce AMISOM and to improve its effectiveness. In this regard, he appealed to all those OIC Member States who had pledged troops to the AMISOM operations to redeem their pledges.
The Secretary General also commended the sacrifices of AMISOM troop contributing countries in their endeavors to return durable peace to Somalia.
http://www.isria.com/pages/21_
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS
Watch out lest clan interests replace Al-Shabaab hegemony in Jubaland
20 Nov – Source: Daily Nation – 396 words
As Kenya proceeds to “liberate” Jubaland, also known as Azania, from the clutches of Al-Shabaab, it may wish to consider the long-term implications of this move and what it will mean to the nation called Somalia.
The creation of Azania will no doubt lead to further balkanisation of the Somali state, which is already fragmented along regional and clan lines.
Azania is being framed along the lines of Somaliland and Puntland, regional entities that are not recognised internationally and which are significantly weakened by a politically unviable and economically unsustainable base.
Somaliland may be the most peaceful region in Somalia but it is hardly an economic powerhouse. As for Puntland, it is known more for its pirates than for its ability to govern itself. Similarly, Azania is in a part of the country that has few assets – apart from the port city of Kismayu.
Let’s say Azania does achieve some kind of governance structure acceptable to the majority of Somalis, the question still arises: what legitimacy will this structure have in the eyes of the international community?
Will Azania be accepted as a member of the United Nations or the East African Community?
Will it be a regional entity beholden to neighbouring Kenya, and by extension, to external powers, such as the US, that have geo-political interests in the Horn of Africa? Will the scramble for Azania result in its destruction by outside forces, whose economic and political interests may supersede those of the Somali people?
Many observers are of the opinion that a Somalia with independent regional entities is preferable to a rogue state without a strong central government.
There is some merit to this argument, which is fuelled by the fact that for 20 years, Somalia has been unable to form a government that has the clout and resources to bring about stability.
Mogadishu remains a capital city without basic infrastructure – civil war destroyed almost everything in what was once one of the most modern and cosmopolitan cities in Africa. Meanwhile, the rest of Somalia is torn apart by clan interests, and now more recently, Al-Shabaab.
Why isit that Somalis – who share a common language and religion – are unable to unite under one flag?
I have been asking myself this question in recent months, particularly since I began examining the detrimental effects of food aid and other forms of assistance to the country.
http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/
Redefine roles in Somali war
20 Nov – Source: Daily Monitor – 345 words
President Museveni was in Nairobi a few days ago meeting with his Kenyan and Somali counterparts as the campaign against the al-Shabaab militants in Somalia takes a new approach. The three countries called for enhanced co-ordination between the AMISOM peace-keepers, of whom Uganda contributes the bulk, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, and the Kenyan Army.
It is good that the heat is being turned on the militants. They have misgoverned their country, exported terror, and destabilised the region. It is in the interest of the three countries represented at that tripartite summit, and others across the region, that al-Shabaab is contained.
However, there is potential for mixing up roles and mandates. Kenya went into Somalia last month in reaction to persistent raids on its territory by al-Shabaab terrorists, who have abducted, and even murdered, foreign tourists. Uganda, on the other hand, is there as part of an African Union peace-keeping effort.
The two roles are, therefore, different – one is mandated to be aggressive and the other is defensive (only fights when fired upon). The defensive one is, in theory, non-aligned while the aggressive one pretty much defines out their operation.
AMISOM has done very well, evicting the militia group from the capital, and making possible the distribution of relief in many areas that need it direly in the face of a big famine. But it could also be that the eviction from the capital has led to the export of terror abroad, which broke Kenya’s patience. It therefore makes sense to change the approaches to contain the scourge.
It is good that other countries, including Nigeria and Sierra Leone, together with Djibouti, which neighbours Somalia, have offered troops to join the African Union contingent. Their mandate is fairly clear, and we hope that there will be sufficient funding for the expedition to be successful.
It is critical that the roles and the latitude to which they can take them be kept clear so that what is otherwise a very noble effort is not undermined. Who is mandated to do what? That is the question.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/