Kenya troops fight on beaches in assault on Somali rebel city
Fri Sep 28, 2012 5:10pm GMT
* Military spokesman says parts of Kismayu captured
* Residents say fighting going on outside city
* Loss of Kismayu would bruise, not knock out al Shabaab
* Militants seen resorting to al Qaeda-inspired tactics
By Abdi Sheikh
MOGADISHU, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Kenyan troops attacked the Somali port city
of Kismayu on Friday, seeking to drive al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants
from their last major stronghold and end a five-year rebellion.
The loss of the southern port would deal a huge blow to al Shabaab as it is
a lucrative source of revenue and a centre for operations over areas it has
controlled in Somalia since 2007, but by nightfall, it was not clear who was
in control.
Residents said shelling had subsided after earlier fighting near a beach
just outside Kismayu.
No Kenyan forces could be seen in the city centre, where shops and
businesses were closed and some preachers called on their followers to join
al Shabaab on the frontlines.
"Tension is high. It is getting dark and yet no group controls the town,"
resident Ali Gelle said by telephone. "People are afraid shells will be
fired and there's no hope of getting any food," he said.
Al Shabaab, which formally merged with al Qaeda in February, has been
steadily losing its footholds under sustained pressure from African Union
peacekeeping forces (AMISOM) and Somali government troops for the past year.
While Kismayu's recapture would go a long way towards stabilising Somalia,
which has been largely lawless for the past 20 years, it may embolden the
militants to resort to more guerrilla-style attacks.
Kenyan military spokesman Col. Cyrus Oguna said Kenyan soldiers and Somali
government troops had advanced on Kismayu from the north, south and from the
sea.
"We're moving towards the main city," Oguna told Reuters.
Residents reported fighting near the beach earlier on Friday, about 4 km
(2.5 miles) outside the city, as military helicopters hovered overhead.
Many streets were deserted. Some masked men looked on from windows and
balconies and the militants appeared to be in control of at least some
entrances into the city.
Rukia Jelle, a mother of five, said she could hear "deafening shells" and
jets flying overhead.
Residents said Kenyan and Somali troops had advanced to a university campus
just to the north of Kismayu and shells had rained down on the presidential
palace, an al Shabaab base.
"It's a hilltop palace and no houses surround it. The AU's ships have been
shelling in that direction," Gelle said. Oguna could not be immediately
reached to confirm that account.
Al Shabaab, which counts foreign al Qaeda-trained fighters among its ranks,
is seen as one of the biggest threats to stability in the east and Horn of
Africa. It has received advice from al Qaeda's leadership, counter-terrorism
experts say.
Western states have poured money into stabilising Somalia for years,
unnerved by a rising tide of Islamic militancy.
Those efforts seem to have paid dividends in the past year.
AMISOM has driven the militants out of key urban strongholds, an EU naval
force is clamping down on piracy, and a new president was elected in what
appeared to be a largely corrupt-free process earlier this month.
There have also been targeted drone strikes against senior militant
commanders. Kenya deployed troops inside Somalia last October, blaming the
militants for attacks on Kenyan soil.
KISMAYU "NOT A PIECE OF CAKE"
The Kenyan military spokesman predicted an easy takeover.
"For now, we're not everywhere. We've taken a large part of it without
resistance," he said.
Al Shabaab, however, said it would not surrender Kismayu.
"Going into Kismayu is not a piece of cake. For us, this is just the
beginning, our troops are spread everywhere," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al
Shabaab's spokesman for military operations, told Reuters on Friday.
Abdirashid Hashi, an analyst with the International Crisis Group said the
loss of Kisamyu would be a "huge psychological blow" and a "significant
loss" for the militants.
"The die-hard members will continue with their destabilisation strategy of
targeted killings, suicide bombings and IEDs (roadside bombs)," Hashi told
Reuters, while low-level footsoldiers will see them as "a losing
proposition".
He added the loss of funding from local taxes would hurt them less as the
group morphed into a guerrilla force.
Al Shabaab's radio station, Radio Andalus, was still airing live in Kismayu,
urging residents to take their guns and join the 'jihad', Ismail Suglow, a
Kismayu resident, said. The radio also reported al Shabaab fighters had
destroyed "enemy vehicles and chased away planes".
"The imam said mujahideen and civilians should go to the frontlines near the
beach to fight. Many nodded their heads in affirmation," said Yunis Osman,
who attended Friday prayers at Dabaqeyn mosque.
A woman named Halima said some residents who support the militants had
already joined them with guns at the frontline.
Hashi said the fighters, who have been in Kismayu for the last five years,
would have prepared for an assault they knew was coming after African troops
seized Mogadishu, Afmadow, Baidoa, Beledweyne, and Marka.
"I am sure they have some contingency plans and have sent supplies outside
the city," he said.
The fallout from Kismayu's eventual capture is far from clear. The city is
home to rival clans who will be jockeying for power, especially over control
of the port due to lucrative tax revenues.
The U.N. refugee agency said there had been a spike in residents fleeing the
city on Thursday. More than 13,000 people have fled Kismayu since the
beginning of September after Kenyan forces began targeting al Shabaab's
positions in the city.
Somalia, allies batter al Shabaab, but gains may be fragile
Fri Sep 28, 2012 3:06pm GMT
* Assault on Kismayu raises hopes for security advances
* Fears al Shabaab could retaliate with guerrilla strikes
* In Marka port, residents are happy militants have gone
* Questions whether AU, Somali troops can guarantee peace
By Yara Bayoumy
MARKA, Somalia, Sept 28 (Reuters) - "Paradise lies under the shade of
swords," reads the Arabic inscription on an arch leading into the Somali
port of Marka, abandoned last month by Islamist al Shabaab militants under
pressure from advancing African Union peacekeepers and government troops.
The inscription, along with a white column by the beach where al Shabaab
held public executions, is one of the reminders of the al Qaeda-allied
rebels' four-year occupation of the coastal town, 90 km (55 miles) south of
the capital Mogadishu.
A determined offensive by African Union (AMISOM) and Somali government
forces has made large strides over the last year to oust al Shabaab fighters
from their strongholds in south-central Somalia. On Friday, Kenyan troops
attacked Kismayu, the rebels' last major bastion.
For the first time since the early 1990s, there are hopes that the Horn of
Africa nation, long regarded as the ultimate 'failed state', could be
nearing the last stages of a vicious circle of violence.
But while the successes against al Shabaab are welcomed by Somalia's
government and its international backers, there are fears that even
Kismayu's capture may not deliver a knock-out blow to the combat-hardened
group. Some experts think it will redeploy and hit back with guerrilla raids
and urban bombings.
Marka's residents seem generally happy that al Shabaab has gone. But they
say night time grenade attacks still occur, indicating the militants, or at
least their supporters, are still there. Police have not yet arrived, though
masked special forces soldiers of the Somali army patrol some streets.
"The militants' strategic goal in the longer run could be very simple - to
exhaust AMISOM, have it stretched," a Western security official based in
Mogadishu told Reuters.
Somalia's newly elected president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has yet to name a
new prime minister and appoint top security aides, raising concerns that the
country's ever feuding militias and clans could take advantage of any power
vacuums.
In Marka, a picturesque port of two-storey houses with coloured shutters,
the recently installed district commissioner, Ahmed Moualim Abdi, recalled
how al Shabaab's presence changed the lives of the population in what was
once a peaceful, carefree fishing and farming community.
"The comfortable life turned into a dog's life. Al Shabaab implemented their
harsh rule of amputations, stoning to death, whipping, forcing Zakat
(Islamic tax) from businesses, harvests and livestock. Social gatherings
were outlawed," said Abdi, who fled the town during the militants'
occupation.
Now the narrow streets of Marka are packed with men dressed in shirts and
sarongs setting up makeshift stalls, where flies buzz incessantly over fish,
maize and vegetables.
BANS AND BEATINGS
Peter Omola, a colonel with the Ugandan AU contingent which secured Marka,
described how his forces were warmly greeted by locals after the rebels put
up minimal resistance.
"Civilians were so happy, waving and greeting," said Omola in the courtyard
of a house which he says al Shabaab had once used as a base.
Residents spoke with relief about restored freedoms.
"There's a big change in the city. When al Shabaab were here we couldn't
sell what we wanted. They would arrest us all the time, we couldn't sell
tobacco and cigarettes," said Abdirashid Adam.
"We couldn't listen to music or watch television," added Naima Mohamed, a
timid girl in a headscarf.
Ali Oban, a feisty 15-year-old, complained that the rebels, who roamed the
town in search of anyone who violated their austere interpretation of
Wahhabi Islam, forced him to shave his head.
"When I cut my hair the way I wanted, they beat me," he said, describing a
Mohawk hairstyle he had adopted.
"I hate them," he said.
But some locals were still too frightened to openly criticise the departed
militants, apparently fearing that some could still be hiding out in the
port in civilian clothes.
"If you know what they're capable of, you'd have to fear them," said one man
talking to Reuters at the beach near a lone, white column carrying the words
Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest), where al Shabaab used to execute offenders.
The group was not always so unpopular. In some areas of Somalia, locals said
it still enjoyed support, particularly because its members often restored a
semblance of order in places racked for years by chaos and violence.
In Kismayu on Friday, some residents said supporters of the al Shabaab
militants were the fighters on the battlefront against the attacking African
and Somali government forces.
Kismayu's rebel defenders were expected to melt away into surrounding
forests from where they could stage counter-attacks.
STRETCHED AMISOM FORCES
Marka's inhabitants said many foreign, non-Somali fighters with al Shabaab -
recognisable because of their lighter skins - fled the town to escape the
AMISOM assault.
"The light-skinned people were here. They had huge guns and walked with
Somalis to translate for them and collect tax from the shops," said Abu
Rahman Farah, an elderly man with a cane and a henna-dyed beard.
Local al Shabaab footsoldiers opted to defect.
Fadil Ahmed Ali, 19, said he was given a salary of $30 a month when he
joined al Shabaab four years ago, a payment gradually reduced to being just
given food with his comrades.
As it became clear the rebels were losing, he gave up. "When I defected, I
left my gun," he told reporters at a Ugandan military base outside the town.
While the rebels' arsenal is no match for AMISOM's heavy weaponry, there are
still fears the battle-tested militants could hit back with classic
guerrilla tactics - grenade attacks, suicide bombs and roadside blasts.
Stretched AMISOM forces are ill-equipped to maintain a robust presence on
routes that connect recently captured towns.
Some of their ageing 1970s South Africa-made Casspir armoured vehicles seem
to be showing signs of wear and tear - one had a rope tied to a hook to
secure its back door.
In Marka, Ugandan troops showed journalists a cache of weapons they said
they found at the home of a militant who had fled. The weapons included a
disassembled 14.5 mm anti-aircraft gun, AK-47 rifles and a pistol.
One-time academic and political newcomer Mohamud was overwhelmingly elected
Somalia's head of state on Sept. 10 under a United Nations-backed roadmap
that allowed the holding of the first presidential election in the country
in 45 years.
Expectations are high that he will be able to capitalise on AMISOM's
security successes against al Shabaab.
But the militants have shown he faces a very tough task: just two days into
his job, suicide bombers attacked a hotel where he was giving a news
conference, killing eight people. Mohamud and the visiting Kenyan foreign
minister escaped unhurt.
The last bomber burst into the hotel courtyard before guards shot him dead,
metres from the red carpet, in a pool of blood.
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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Received on Sat Sep 29 2012 - 06:23:17 EDT
