Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 12:45:58 +0200
Somalia: Victories over al-Shabab are not bringing peace
. Date 11.10.2014
. Author Maximilian Borowski / gu
African Union and Somali soldiers are continuing to drive back the Islamist
militia al-Shabab. Nevertheless, a durable peace is still not in sight in
this country torn apart by decades of civil war.
the other. On Wednesday (08.10.2014) the commanders announced that Kenyan
and Somali government soldiers had "liberated" the southern Somali city of
Bula-Gaduud. Only four days earlier, they had taken the port city of Barawe,
thereby depriving the Islamist militia al-Shabab of its last base on the
coast.
Al-Shabab militants, who only two years ago controlled a broad swathe of
Somalia, have been retreating from more than 20,000 advancing AMISOM troops
as well as Somali government soldiers, whom the German army is helping to
train. In early September a US drone killed al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi
Godane.
Al-Shabab's supply line cut off
The recent setbacks may have dealt the militia a decisive blow, the Somali
journalist and analyst Mohamed Omar told DW. Although al-Shabab still had
other places of refuge in the interior of the country, the loss of Barawe
deprived the militants of their most important source of revenue, Omar
explained.
The city was a commercial hub which brought the Islamists considerable tax
revenue. The export of locally produced charcoal via Barawe's small port was
deemed to be an especially lucrative source of income. Moreover, al-Shabab
used the port to obtain arms, ammunition and food.
Situation improves for civilian population
According to Omar, the civilian population welcomes the soldiers' advance,
because the Islamist militia imposed a very strict and therefore unpopular
religious regime on the areas under its control.
For the population, the situation had improved noticeably, the German-Somali
political scientist and author Abdirizak Sheikh confirmed. This was
particularly true for the capital, Mogadishu.
"But the security situation remains precarious," he warned. The military
victories against al-Shabab, Sheikh said, glossed over the fact that the
violence in Somalia was not simply going to disappear along with the
Islamist organization.
This was because al-Shabab did not consist of foreign jihadists, but of
members of various domestic clans. These clans, which included some very
powerful families, make up the basic structure of Somali society.
Even if al-Shabab was to fall apart as an organization, the clans would by
no means lay down their arms, Sheikh stressed. Instead, they would continue
to use force to fight for their particular interests. "As long as the large
clans are not disarmed, there will be no peace in Somalia," he said.
German army involuntarily trains militiamen
Sheikh criticized that neither the Somali army nor foreign troops were
currently disarming people. "These clans with their militias are even
represented in the government and in parliament," Sheikh said.
Therefore, the government was often not acting in the interest of all
Somalis but in that of the large clans.
As evidence of the influence exerted by the heads of these clans, some of
whom are allied to al-Shabab, Sheikh cites the case of Hassan Dahir Aweys.
The former spiritual leader of al-Shabab was arrested over a year ago. But
to this day, he is staying at a hotel in Mogadishu. His influential family
is preventing him from being put on trial.
Without meaning to, Western supporters of Somali security forces were even
arming various militias in the country, Sheikh said. The government was
paying its soldiers very little, and irregularly, too. So many of the
soldiers trained by the European training mission, EUTM, defected straight
to their respective clan's militia - and some to al-Shabab - taking all
their freshly acquired skills with them.
<http://www.dw.de/somalia-victories-over-al-shabab-are-not-bringing-peace/a-
17986912> al-Shabab fighters holding weapons and flags perform military
exercises. Photo: AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh
Al-Shabab has been weakened, but not defeated
(image/jpeg attachment: image002.jpg)