By FRED OLUOCH
Insufficient troops and the growing divergence in the interests by regional countries are posing a major challenge to plans by the government of Somalia and African peacekeepers to launch a major offensive against Al Shabaab.
Investigations reveal that differences in perspectives among the troop contributing countries of Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia continue to widen stalling forward movement in the past six months, even as the peacekeepers maintain that the territory controlled by the militants is reducing drastically.
In addition, the 22,126 combined troops of the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) are not sufficient to police the vast territory of Somalia and to sustain the final push against Al Shabaab.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, announced in Washington on Tuesday that “Operation Indian Ocean” by Amisom and the Somali National Army is set to begin in a few days.
However, Eloi Yao, the Senior public information officer and Amisom spokesperson doubted whether any major operations could be launched in days because a high level UN delegation is scheduled to visit Mogadishu next week to discuss issues of Amisom progress, security and political developments following the recent formation of three semi-autonomous regions.
Mr Yao hinted that the operation was initially scheduled for September but it will depend on the factors on the ground.
The differing interests of Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda have seen a resurgent Al Shabaab kill five Somali MPs since the beginning of the year and Amisom not taking any new territory for lack of consensus on how to handle captured territories.
The Kenyan forces in Amisom now have the challenge of quelling attacks from Gedo region on their own because Ethiopia and Uganda, which were supposed to take over the region under Amisom are resisting doing so for different reasons.
Recent Al Shabaab attacks in Mandera are emanating from Gedo region, but Uganda is arguing that it is difficult to support their forces in the region from Mogadishu.
Ethiopia, on the other hand, argues that Gedo is Kenya’s responsibility because it is sitting right on top of Jubbaland where Kenya has influence.
The EastAfrican has established that Kenya’s moves to create a buffer zone in the form of Jubbaland are not only a source of bitter differences with Mogadishu, but are far removed from the national objectives of Uganda and Ethiopia.
After having lost Eritrea to secession, Ethiopia is not keen on Kenya’s approach of pushing for semi-autonomous regions in Somalia because it would embolden the Ogden region in the east, the Afar in the north and Oromo in the south of the country.
Also unhappy is President Mohamud, who is yet to accept the fact that Kenya took over Kismayu without involving Mogadishu. According to the President Mohamud’s administration, the taxes from the port and airport of Kismayu, as well its the natural resources, should have benefited the central government.
The other challenge facing Amisom is that the Federal Government of Somalia does not have the capacity to establish local administrations in all the liberated areas, forcing the African force to limit its advances.
Mr Yao clarified that it would be an effort in futility for Amisom to move quickly to capture new areas before consolidating the areas already under their control.
“There is no lull in Amisom operations but our focus is for regional countries to agree on how to form local administration in the liberated areas because we don’t want to leave a vacuum for Al Shabaab to move back into,” said Mr Yao.
Kenya and Uganda have been at the forefront of training the Somalia national Army and the police. Kenya has been training the Somalia security forces under its budget while Uganda has trained over 3,000 soldiers under the European Union military mission to contribute to the training of Somali security forces.
However, the government of Somalia received a major boost from the America during the US-African Summit in Washington.
Tom Kelly, the Assistant US Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, noted that the Al Shabaab is on the run courtesy of the efforts of Amisom and the Somali National Army,
“Somalia presents in general a good-news story. Recent terror activity in Kenya and Djibouti is a reflection of weakness, not strength. The US Special Forces have been operating in Somalia for a number of years and their objective, is to enhance the capability of Somali national forces so they can take the fight directly to Al Shabaab,” said Mr Kelly.
Additional reporting by Kevin Kelley in Washington
source: East African
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