Somalia: Amisom failures show that Godane's death is no quick fix
* Simon Allison
* 09 Sep 2014 12:19 (South Africa)
The death by drone of Al Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was "a delightful
victory" for Somalia's struggling transitional government, and a major boost
for a new anti-Al Shabaab military offensive. But as African Union troops
push further in south-central Somalia, Human Rights Watch has reported
horrific sexual abuse and exploitation at the Amisom base in Mogadishu. So
much for the moral high ground. By SIMON ALLISON.
So the Americans got him after all. On Saturday, Al Shabaab
<
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/06/al-shabaab-leadership-ahmad-um
ar-air-strike-somalia> confirmed that leader Ahmed Abdi Godane had been
killed in a US drone strike earlier last week. With a $7 million bounty on
his head, and tight control over one of Africa's most feared terrorist
organizations, Godane's scalp is one of the most significant in the Global
War on Terror since the assassination of Osama Bin Laden.
A US spokesperson said it was a "major symbolic and operational loss" for
the Somali militant group. Somalia's national security minister was blunter,
describing it as "a delightful victory".
The government wasted no time in taking advantage of the sudden instability
within the ranks of its main enemy, striking an unusually conciliatory note
as it appealed to Al Shabaab fighters to lay down their arms. "While an
extreme hardcore may fight over the leadership of Al-Shabaab, this is a
chance for the majority of members to change course and reject Godane's
decision to make them the pawns of an international terror campaign," said
President Hassan Sheikh Mahamud. He added that he was "willing to offer
amnesty to Al-Shabaab members who reject violence and renounce their links
to Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda - but for the next 45 days only."
It's a bold gambit, but possibly more PR stunt than genuine pardon - the
President had made the
<
http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v7/wn/newsworld.php?id=1065720> same
offer, with the same 45-day deadline, a few days earlier. Still, it's an
important concession; a recognition that most Al Shabaab members are not
monsters but pawns in a conflict not of their own making, and that some
might welcome the chance for a fresh start.
But Al Shabaab weren't wasting any time either. The group immediately named
a new leader, the little known Ahmad Umar, in what it claimed was a
unanimous decision. This puts to bed, for now, predictions (including in
this
<
http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2014-09-08-somalia-amisom-indiscreti
ons-show-that-godanes-death-is-no-quick-fix/#.VA1ek_ldXwg> publication) that
Al Shabaab would be riven by infighting in the wake of Godane's death. Al
Shabaab also reaffirmed its commitment to Al Qaeda, and vowed revenge. "By
the permission of Allah, you will surely taste the bitter consequences of
your actions," it warned in a statement directed at the Somali government,
regional armies in Somalia and the Americans with their deadly drones.
Godane's death comes as the longstanding conflict in Somalia enters a new
phase. 'Operation Indian Ocean' began earlier this month, and is the latest
joint offensive from government troops and the African Union Mission in
Somalia (Amisom). It is designed to retake territory from Al Shabaab and to
allow humanitarian access to civilians in Al Shabaab-controlled areas.
Doubtless participating troops will be encouraged by Al Shabaab's perceived
weakness, and hopeful that finally their efforts might achieve more than
just keeping in power the largely ineffectual interim government in
Mogadishu - and, vitally, perhaps alleviate the impact of the drought which
is devastating so much of Somalia's farmland this year.
But if those troops really do want to make an impact then they should make
sure their own house is in order first. On Monday, Human Rights Watch
released a <
http://www.hrw.org/node/128407> report into sexual abuse and
sexual exploitation committed by Amisom soldiers against Somali women at
Amisom bases in Mogadishu. The report details ten instances of sexual
assault (i.e. rape) and 14 instances of sexual exploitation (i.e.
prostitution), but warns that this is just the tip of what could prove to be
a very damaging iceberg.
"Members of African Union forces, making use of Somali intermediaries, have
employed a range of tactics to get private access to Somali women and then
abuse them," it says. "Some Amisom soldiers have used humanitarian
assistance, provided by the mission, to coerce vulnerable women and girls
into sexual activity. A number of the women and girls interviewed for this
report said that they were initially approached for sex in return for money
or raped while seeking medical assistance and water on the Amisom bases,
particularly the Burundian contingent's base. Others were enticed directly
from internally displaced persons (IDP) camps to start working on the Amisom
base camp by female friends and neighbors, some of whom were already working
on the base. Some of the women who were raped said that the soldiers gave
them food or money afterwards in an apparent attempt to frame the assault as
transactional sex or discourage them from filing a complaint or seeking
redress."
Of course, rape and pillage have been the soldier's prerogative for many
thousands of years, but things are supposed to be different now. Amisom is
bound by international law which explicitly forbids such activity, and
should be doing everything in its power to rein in its troops' illegal
behaviour. But if a legal argument doesn't force the top brass into action,
then a strategic one should: mistreating civilians - the very people Amisom
is supposed to be protecting - is simply bad for the business of
peace-building. It makes the supposedly good guys look bad, it gives Al
Shabaab a highly effective recruiting tool and it will likely keep Amisom in
dangerous action in Somalia for even longer.
As the last two decades have shown us, peace in Somalia cannot be achieved
by force of arms alone. Amisom may have the biggest guns, but until it and
the transitional government can also occupy the moral high ground they will
struggle to combat the potent ideological appeal of Al Shabaab and groups
like it. This is one problem that even American drones can't solve. DM
Received on Tue Sep 09 2014 - 17:29:32 EDT