Problems including corrupt officials and a lack of supplies have delayed Somalia’s military offensive against Islamic insurgents, but even before the first shot has been fired new warnings have emerged that blood may be spilled for little or no gain.
In signs the offensive is approaching, close to 1,000 additional troops arrived from Uganda last week to support the African Union’s (AU) forces in Mogadishu and the Islamists have been digging trenches across the capital’s streets to impede AU armored cars. The AU backs the beleaguered Somali government and has more than 5,000 troops stationed in the country.
But Somalia’s government, whose forces are weak and poorly trained and equipped, has not described how it would consolidate any gains made in the offensive or win the support of the people, who are splintered into hundreds of clans.
Experts say the government does not appear to have a political plan ready to deploy after the end of the fighting, which is likely to kill scores of civilians.
Foreshadowing a struggle just to take ground from al-Shabab, an Islamic militia loosely linked with al-Qaeda, a UN report this month said Somali security forces lack resources, organization and a functional chain of command, and blamed the problems on a lack of commitment by the country’s leaders.
The Somali government, for its part, says it is committed, but needs more international support, even though more than US$180 million has been poured into the country by the US alone in the last three years.
As the commander in chief, Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed would order the start of the offensive. Ahmed said efforts were under way to professionalize and better equip the security forces, but the government lacks money to pay the soldiers, many of whom have been trained in neighboring Djibouti by the AU.
US officials in Washington say they have given money to help pay for Somali soldiers, but declined to discuss how the money was delivered, to whom, or how they could be sure it reached the fighters. A UN report said the government’s ability to pay soldiers is hindered by deep corruption.
The UN Monitoring Group of Somalia found that the Somali military is dominated by a command structure based on clan loyalties and noted that corruption has deprived soldiers of pay and meals and is so bad that Somali commanders and troops often sell their arms and ammunition to militants.
“The consequences of these deficiencies include an inability of the security forces of the Transitional Federal Government to take and hold ground,” the UN monitoring group said in its scathing analysis. “As a result, they have made few durable military gains during the course of the mandate, and the front line has remained, in at least one location, only 500 meters from the presidency.”
The offensive, which has been repeatedly delayed over the past few months, is meant to push back insurgents who operate within just a few blocks of the presidential palace and widen the government’s small slice of Mogadishu.
US officials say Washington is not planning the offensive and won’t be coordinating or directing it. US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson said last week that the US has only “provided limited military support” to Somali government.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS