The latest report out of conflict-ridden Somalia:
Somali government forces have repulsed an al-Shabab attack on a key military base in the southern Lower Shabelle region.
Hundreds of militants attacked government forces in the key town of Awdhegle on the bank of the Shabelle River early Sunday, officials said.
The attack sparked heavy fighting between al-Shabab fighters and government forces who have been controlling the town since August 2019 when they removed the militants.
The Somali government’s win in this round comes as the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (Atmis) has begun a withdrawal process, set to be completed by 2024. The withdrawal of African Union troops is feared to give “battlefield and propaganda advantage” to al-Shabaab. But Batulo Ahmed, chair of the Somali Women Association, states that not much has changed since their arrival in 2007:
Though we appreciate AU force’s efforts, back then when they were deployed, we were hopeful that they would bring stability across the country since civilians, especially the women and children, have mostly suffered the conflict, but unfortunately, nothing much has changed.
Many hope that the outcome of the most recent attack is an early signal of what is to come; Somali government forces managed to push back an onslaught by hundreds of al-Shabab jihadis “on a key military base in the southern Lower Shabelle region.” The heavy fighting resulted in a win for the government, which retained this pivotal base.
Awdhegle is a strategic town where government forces protect a key bridge that officials say is key to preventing the smuggling of al-Shabab vehicles carrying explosives into the capital, Mogadishu.
Back in June, during a shooting spree at a popular restaurant in Mogadishu, al-Shabaab jihadists murdered nine people and wounded twenty others. Also to be considered: al-Shabaab has “increased the rate and severity of its attacks in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, and more recently in northeastern Kenya, conducting 19 attacks in June 2023.”
The jihad threat in Somalia, as well as across Africa, the Middle East, and into Asia, mainly emanates from groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State; their aim is, of course, expansion and a global caliphate. Although reports focus on regional occurrences, their ultimate aim is ignored in the West, as Islam is presented as a “religion of peace.” One also needs to keep in mind that the Somali government ascribes to the Sharia, as does al-Shabaab, but to a different degree. The provisional federal constitution “prohibits the propagation of any religion other than Islam, and stipulates all laws must comply with the general principles of sharia.” Al-Shabaab is much more aggressive, but both are subject to the Sharia, which is expansionary. This is roughly comparable to the differences and similarities between the Taliban and Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan admitted that “Turkey has nothing that contradicts Taliban beliefs.” The West makes an error in automatically separating Islamic countries from jihad groups. They often work in tandem with respect to the ultimate goal of a global caliphate.
As the violent foot soldiers of Islam, primarily al-Shabaab (an affiliate of al-Qaeda) and the Islamic State, proliferate in Somalia, as well as across Africa:
The focus on expanding in the Muslim world has not replaced aspirations to strike the West….Those groups that once demonstrated or sought to develop transnational attack capabilities still seek to target the United States and Europe, creating an ongoing requirement for counterterrorism activities.
The Somali Islamic State branch also connects “Afghan, African, and Yemeni branches to the Islamic State senior leadership cadre in Iraq and Syria.” Although the occurrences of Somalia (and more broadly Africa and the Middle East) are far away from America, the ever-present threat to national security from infiltration via open-door immigration is growing.
Ray Jarman says
When are these governments going to learn to simply fortify their positions is never going to win. Had Europe decided to counter Germany during WWI and WWII and had America decided to only defend or maybe chase off the Japanese during WWII, the world would be much different than today. I do not understand why governments do not protect their people by actually destroying their enemy. No government should even contemplate permitting these thugs to exist at any level. With the number of military personnel in these Sub-Saharan nations, every member of these mass murdering gangs should have been completely wiped off the face of the earth with everyone who gives aid to them.