Mogadishu Is Burning, Islamists’ attack dims hopes of stability in Somalia

August 25, 2010: StrategyPage.In Mogadishu, fighting over the last three days has left several hundred dead or wounded. Al Shabaab has declared this their latest offensive, but Ugandan peacekeepers, enraged over the al Shabaab terrorist attacks in the Ugandan capital last month, are increasingly aggressive in their attacks on the Islamic terrorists. Al Shabaab is energized by foreign Islamic terrorists, and recruits and cash from expatriate Somalis who want peace at any price in their homeland. Al Shabaab promises peace in the form of a religious dictatorship and a harsh Islamic conservative lifestyle, imposed by force. Al Shabaab has accepted the fact that it cannot defeat trained soldiers, like the AU (African Union) peacekeepers. So the Islamic terrorists are depending on suicide bombers, mortar attacks and roadside bombs to wear the troops down. In the last few weeks, the angry Ugandan troops have pushed al Shabaab out of many areas, so the Islamic terrorists are trying to push back any way they can. On the Kenyan border, al Shabaab gunmen are increasingly active on the Kenyan border, attempting to intimidate Kenyan border guards, police and soldiers, to stop blocking al Shabaab movement across the border. Al Shabaab also has a network of radical mosques in areas of Nairobi (the Kenyan capital), where young Somalis are taught to admire al Shabaab, it's goals (religious dictatorship) and methods (terrorism). Most Somali refugees want nothing to do with al Shabaab, but Kenyan police are too corrupt to shut down the pro-al Shabaab mosques and schools.
August 24, 2010: Several al Shabaab suicide bombers and gunmen, disguised as Transitional Government soldiers to get past security, shot their way into a well guarded Mogadishu hotel, killing about three dozen people. This included six members of the Transitional Government parliament.
August 22, 2010: About three in the morning, in an area of Mogadishu controlled by the Transitional Government forces, a man working by the side of the road exploded. He was apparently placing a roadside bomb. Later in the day, in a part of the city controlled by al Shabaab, a building used by al Qaeda members exploded. This killed at least ten Islamic terrorists, several of them foreigners (three Pakistanis, two Indians, an Afghan and an Algerian). Apparently a bomb was being built, and mistakes were made.
August 21, 2010: Kenyan police arrested twelve suspected Islamic terrorists on Lemu island, near the coast of Somalia. Three of those arrested were from Somalia, and bomb making equipment was seized as well.
August 20, 2010: Al Shabaab has seized about 200 tons of food aid, and publicly destroyed about ten percent of it, claiming that it was expired. The rest of the stolen food was apparently sold to merchants, or used to feed al Shabaab members and their families. The UN insisted that no expired food was brought to Somalia. Al Shabaab wants foreign aid groups out of the country, as the Islamic terror group sees these NGOs (non-governmental organizations, like the Red Cross) as rivals for the loyalty of Somalis. About a third of the Somali population is dependent on the foreign food aid, and it's unclear what al Shabaab will do when these people begin to die from starvation in large numbers. Most likely, al Shabaab will insure that the foreign media does not see it. That's another reason for getting rid of the NGOs, no foreign witnesses to whatever al Shabaab is doing.
Islamists’ attack dims hopes of stability in Somalia