UN
investigators accuse the Somali government officials of selling weapons and
ammo to anyone who will pay, including al Shabaab. The most frequent customers were clan
militias of clans corrupt officials
belong to. In 2013 the UN eased the arms embargo on Somalia so the
government could arm newly trained troops. But like all other aid provided to
Somalia, there were always some Somalis in charge who would steal some, often a
lot, of that aid. Corruption remains the
biggest problem in Somalia, followed by tribalism and Islamic terrorism.
Currently
Uganda has some 8,000 peacekeepers in Somalia. This includes six battalions of
infantry plus support troops. The peacekeepers serve for a year and many troops
have been to Somalia more than once. But it is dangerous, with each unit
suffering up to ten percent casualties (dead and wounded) while in Somalia.
Because of that the army has had a hard time obtaining sufficient qualified
personnel each year. To obtain the required number of troops the army has been
recalling former and retired soldiers as well as the best men from local
defense militias (which protect villages against bandits and tribal raiding
parties). This year about a third of the peacekeepers will be from these
sources. These men are probably only to going to do this once, in part for the
adventure and in part for the money (over a thousand dollars a month, which is
a lot if you are already drawing a pension or living out in the bush). Uganda
has had peacekeepers in Somalia since 2007. While Uganda does not border
Somalia, it does Kenya and like Kenya is largely Christian with a Moslem
minority (12 percent of the population) that has been harboring Islamic
terrorists.
Since
2011 the number of people dependent on food aid has declined 80 percent to
about 800,000. Al Shabaab is no longer a
major factor in keeping aid out but the pervasive corruption continues to make
it difficult to get the food and other aid to those who need it most.
February
13, 2014: An al Shabaab car bomb went off when a UN convoy was passing, killing
seven and wounding 15. The car bomb was placed just outside the outer ring of
security keeping the Islamic terrorists out of the airport itself.
February
12, 2014: Kenya announced it was looking for a Somali man (Omar Khalid) who was
believed to be an al Shabaab leader in charge of planning terror attacks in
Uganda. Elsewhere in Kenya 70 men arrested during a February 2nd raid on a
Mombasa mosque were accused of belonging to al Shabaab. The courts released 21
other mosque suspects for being minors and 33 adults for lack of evidence.
February
10, 2014: Two al Shabaab bombs went off
in Mogadishu, killing one person and wounding several others. Some 300
kilometers north of Mogadishu an al Shabaab car bomb went off while it was
being fitted with explosives. This left eight of the Islamic terrorists dead
and at least five badly wounded. It was later discovered that the car bomb was
intended for an attack on the nearby town of Beledewyne, which is controlled by
government troops and peacekeepers.
Al
Shabaab gave Internet providers 15 days to shut down all landline Internet
service in the country. The Islamic terrorist group already banned Internet
access via cell phones in January. Most Internet providers have complied with
the cell phone Internet ban. This is extortion, with the Islamic terrorists
basically threatening to attack the Internet providers and their customers if
Internet access is not shut down. There are about 130,000 Internet users in
Somalia. High speed landline (including fiber optic) Internet service is
concentrated in Mogadishu, where it’s easier to block al Shabaab activities so
the new ban might not take.
Al
Shabaab attempts to expand their influence are being blocked. For example,
after four weeks of work Congolese soldiers found and captured, near the
Congo-Uganda border, the major base of an Islamic terrorist group the ADF-NALU
(Allied Democratic Forces-National Army for the Liberation of Uganda). The
Ugandan government thanked the Congolese government and explained that the
ADF-NALU was allied with al Shabaab and trying to work with the Somali Islamic
terrorists in making terror attacks inside Uganda.
February
9, 2014: An American UAV missile attack
on an al Shabaab gathering killed 30 of the Islamic terrorists, including four
known leaders. But the main target, supreme leader Abu Mukhtar al Zubayr (also
known as Ahmed Abdi Godane) departed the target area less than a minute before
the missiles struck. The U.S. is offering a $7 million reward for help that
gets Zubayr captured or killed. That brought in the tip that led to this
attack. A January 26th missile attack where Zubayr was also the main target
missed (by not much) him. In any event the $7 million reward is working in
Somalia because there are a lot of tips, many of them good, on Zubayr.
February
7, 2014: In the south (Hagar, a village near Kismayo) peacekeepers and
government troops made a surprise attack and killed seven of the al Shabaab men
in the village. Other Islamic terrorists fled and the village was no longer a
base for al Shabaab. Peace keepers have been sweeping through the countryside
regularly this year to find and eliminate al Shabaab presence in villages and
towns.
February
6, 2014: The largest provider in the country (Hormuud) relented after a month
of threats from al Shabaab and shut down Internet access for its cell phone
customers. January 24 was the deadline al Shabaab set for Somali cell phone
service providers to shut down Internet (and email) access. In southern Somalia
only one provider complied at first. Al Shabaab is checking people’s phones at
roadblocks and taking phones and sometimes detaining the owners of those whose
phones can still receive data. The government had asked the cell phone
providers not to comply. Al Shabaab said it was imposing the ban to limit
American spying on their members. For years al Shabaab condemned the use of
cell phones that could access the Internet because it was un-Islamic (access to
porn and the like) but never went this far to enforce the prohibition (mainly
because so many of their own members used the Internet, sometimes for Islamic
terrorism related matter). Al Shabaab had issued its order on the January 9th.
February
4, 2014: For the second day in a row al Shabaab mortar shells were fired at the
presidential palace and nearby government buildings in Mogadishu. All the
shells missed their intended target, but some caused casualties and at least
twelve civilians have been wounded. The government went to the area where the
firing apparently took place and arrested several dozen suspects.
February
3, 2014: A Kenyan court has accused four Somali men of carrying out the January
16th bombing of Nairobi airport (the largest in the country).
February
2, 2014: In Mombasa, Kenya police raided a mosque believed to be an al Shabaab
base and recruiting center and arrested 129 suspected Islamic terrorists.
Police found weapons and al Shabaab documents and literature. Some Somalis living in the largely Somali
neighborhood rioted for several days after the raid. The mosque that was raided
has long hosted Islamic radical preachers who approved of and encouraged
Islamic terrorism.
February
1, 2014: In Kismayo a clan militia, aided by al Shabaab gunmen, fought the
local government forces. At least five people were killed and many more wounded
before the attack was repulsed. Southern Somalia is now an autonomous region
called Juba and some of the clans are angry that they did not get as much power
in the new government as they thought they deserved.
January
27, 2014: In Mogadishu an explosion at an army base left five soldiers dead.
Source: strategypage.com
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