Friday, December 30, 2011
Kenya Defence Forces now control most of
the strategic Gedo region in Somalia after Al Shabaab militia fled,
according to Kenyan and Transitional Federal Government officials in the
northern sector.
"All Shabaab is now on the run," TFG’s military commander in Gedo, Abbas Ibrahim Gure told The Standard.
This
follows the ouster of the militia group from Burhache town. The Kenya
Defence Forces (KDF) and Transitional Federal Government (TFG) troops
are carrying out operations as far as Bardheere, more than 100
kilometres inside Somalia.
Abbas described Al Shabaab as "hyenas that will never change" and must be ousted by the use of force.
Despite providing some of the initial
rationale for the Kenyan operation in the form of constant shelling of
Kenyan towns, detonation of landmines and improvised explosive devices
(IEDs) like roadside bombs, and abduction of foreigners and Kenyan
security forces, operations in the northern sector of Operation Linda
Nchi are the least documented.
Geographically
the sector extends from Gerille town below Wajir district in Kenya up
to Mandera in the North, making it the largest sector that includes such
important Somali towns as Bulla Hawa (or Beled Hawa as it is called),
Damasa, Burhache, Busar, Garbaharey, Bardheere (an ancient Islamic
studies town), Luuq, Dolo, Catamu and Busar among others.
The
northern parts of the sector are mountainous with deep valleys within
the Juba Valley river system while the Southern parts are drier plains
with lighter population.
Ethnically,
the region it is populated by ethnic Marehan and the late despot
Muhamed Siad Barre is buried in Garbaharey. Some accounts state that
Barre was born there, although other authorities suspect he was born in
Ethiopia1s Ogaden region, but grew up in Garbaharey.
Historically
Gedo and Puntland have been the source of Islamist militancy, including
the rise in the 1990s of the defunct Al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI), the
ideological predecessor of the former Islamic Courts Union and Al
Shabaab, especially in the towns of Luuq and Dolo.
Smugglers,
human traffickers and other transnational criminals who terrorise Kenya
and Ethiopia had found a save haven in Gedo’s un-policed towns and
hinterland.
From Bula-Hawa,
militants and other criminals have shelled Mandera and El Wak towns
since the collapse of Somalia’s central government in 1991.
Many of these attacks went unreported. Last
Month,
infiltrators from Bula Hawa blew up a truck and killed four Ministry of
Education officials in El Wak, and also tried to attack the local
police station.
Police and
military sources indicate that all the IEDs and land mines that have
struck Mandera during the ongoing operation and before have come from
the northern sector.
Since 2007
and this year, several Kenyan security and government officials,
civilians and foreign workers have been abducted from El Wak and Mandera
into Bula-Hawa and other towns in Gedo.
The
most egregious attack was on June 10 when two policemen, were snatched
from a foot patrol by suspected smugglers or militants.
It is believed they were initially taken to Garbaharey, but their current whereabouts remain unknown.
In
1997, Kenya shut down the operations of a Saudi agency, Al Haramain
Islamic Foundation, after one of its Algerian managers in Garissa, was
alleged to have recruited about 300 Kenyan youth into AIAI, after
visiting Luuq and Dolo, that had just been overrun by Ethiopian forces,
scattering the forerunners of Al Shabaab into central and southern
Somalia.
Kenya Defence Forces
have deployed in the northern sector that largely covers the troubled
Gedo region towards Baidoa in Somalia1s
Bay region.
Kenyan
aircraft have hit several Al Shabaab targets in Bardheere in Gedo. The
militants claimed the planes struck a relief camp although aid agencies
said it had been evacuated before the strikes.
TFG officials say the claims are "classic Al Shabaab propaganda".
Yesterday,
TFG officials said an air strike on one of the militants’ pick-up
trucks known as "technicals" full of Al Shabaab fighters in a small town
called Yaqle in Gedo region was aborted because the militants forced
civilians onto the vehicle to deter missile strikes from the air.
It
is not easy to determine the nature and scope of KDF’s operations in
Gedo, but occasional details emerge, including an encounter with
Al Shabaab militants in Busar town, 50 kilometres from the Kenyan border.
Lose border towns
And
beyond the air strikes, the Kenyans provide aerial and electronic
reconnaissance missions, training in and outside Somalia, joint searches
and patrols and special operations to strengthen the TFG in liberated
areas.
Until early this year
the terrorists held sway in most of the towns in Gedo. Burhache was
taken by the TFG in March and the Al Shabaab ousted from most towns like
Damasa, Luuq, Dolo at the start of the Kenyan operation.
The
TFG spokesman for the region, Colonel Warfa Sheikh Aden, claims their
troops and KDF have liberated 80 per cent of Gedo and adds that "the
only town that has not been liberated is Bardheere" although reliable
reports indicate Garbaharey, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama1a, a moderate Islamist
militia allied to the TFG, controls the official capital of the region.
KDF and TFG military strategists believe forcing Al Shabaab out of Gedo region is a strategic objective of the two governments.
Besides
losing territory or frontier control according to Lieutenant Mohamed
Hassan, the Commander of Kenyan forces in the northern sector, the
ouster of Al Shabaab from Burhache, Damasa and Bulla Hawa have denied it
revenue generated through taxation and extortion in its former border
towns.
"When they lose border
towns they lose revenue besides room to maneuver," said Lt Hassan adding
that their ouster cost Al Shabaab major routes connecting Gedo to
Ethiopia and Kenya to launch attacks.