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| Africa Horn |
| Somalia: Al-Shabab's Pyrrhic Victory? |
| 2009-05-21 |
| Nairobi — Somalia's Al-Shabab militia have recently captured several strategic towns near Mogadishu, but the group has yet to gain popularity among locals, observers said. The onslaught has sent thousands of displaced civilians on the run again and crippled aid operations in the southern regions. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimates that 40,000 people have been displaced since fighting intensified on 7 May. Other aid workers say at least 150 people have been killed and more than 400 injured. "The capture of Jowhar goes to the heart of the problem in Somalia and demonstrates that indeed the government in Mogadishu is by and large extremely weak," Timothy Othieno, an analyst at the London-based Overseas Development Institute, told IRIN. "The government needs to engage with the people who matter, including hardliners, who include Al-Shabab." Al-Shabab has continued to expand its control of southern and central Somalia and captured Jowhar, 90km north of Mogadishu, on 17 May. According to a political observer in the capital, however, the capture of Jowhar may be a sign that Al-Shabab has peaked. "In my opinion this is as far they will reach," he said. "They have entered hostile territory, where they are less popular than even the Ethiopians [troops] were." The Ethiopian soldiers were invited by the Transitional Federal Government in December 2006 to help oust the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). Pointing to the recent defection of prominent opposition figure Sheikh Yusuf "Indha Cadde" to the government side, which he described as a boost, the observer said Mogadishu's apparent weakness "may in fact work to the benefit of the government by galvanising supporters to take the offensive". Separately, a regional analyst, who requested anonymity, said: "The fall of Jowhar is less a sign of Al-Shabab's strength than the government's apparent disarray and paralysis. Either the opposition will maintain the initiative, fatally eroding the government's authority and cohesion; or the crisis will provoke a determined and unified reaction from the government." The current fighting has had a devastating impact on the population and the fall of Jowhar will make it even more difficult to access those needing assistance, aid workers said. "For those who depend on them [aid workers] it means no help for now," one Somali civil society leader said. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 I'll bet Freeport McMoran is relieved to have someone other than themselves to be kicked around by the natives and their Greenpeace enablers. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2009-05-21 10:35 |
| #1 ION AFRICA REDDIT > POVERTY-STRICKEN ARMED SOMALI TROOPS DESERT TO JOIN PIRATES; + SUDAN WARNS IT WILL DESTROY ANY CHADIAN FORCES WHICH ENTER ITS TERRITORY. * MARIANAS VARIETY > CHINA ASKS PAPUA NEW GUINEA TO PROTECT CHINESE CITIZENS [Mine labor clashes-looting]. Many Chin migrated and had been established in PNG since 1946. Local indigenous angry over lack of work, low standard of living, and Chin-blamed unscrupulous business-labor, etc. practices. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-05-21 01:29 |