Al Shabaab, a self-proclaimed Al Qaeda franchise, is
basically an off-shoot of a strictly religious group called the Islamic
Courts Union (ICU), which fragmented into several smaller organizations
following its removal from power by Ethiopian troops in December 2006.
The
objectives of Al Shabaab are short and simple: to wage Jihad against
the “enemies” of Islam; but alas! Are the thousands of dying Muslim
Somalis enemies of Islam?
With covert military support from
Eritrea, Al Shabaab is currently battling several armies comprising the
Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG), the African Union Mission
to Somalia (Amisom) made up of Burundi and Ugandan forces, and the
Kenyan forces. The brutal Al Shabaab is also facing serious opposition
from Ethiopia, and from neighboring Djibouti, a tiny country which hosts
small contingents of American and French troops. Djibouti has promised
to send troops to reinforce Amisom.
Considering that American and
French troops are stationed in neighboring Djibouti, Al Shabaab
fighters expect a severe challenge from the two major powers. Although
France denies any involvement contrary to Kenya’s confession, the US is
already assisting Kenya remotely. The US operates from southern Ethiopia
and Kenyan coast as well.
For Al Shabaab the immediate challenge
comes from the recent Kenyan incursion backed by support from the
Western powers. Kenya was forced to launch a defensive attack in Somalia
in October after a series of attacks targeting locals, foreign aid
workers and tourists inside its own territory.
But why did Kenyan
authorities wait for so long when Al Shabaab was slowly taking
unofficial “control” of some parts of Kenya? The answer is simple: Kenya
was the main beneficiary of the dirty money from the Somali pirates.
Indeed, in the past few years pirates have pumped a lot of cash into the
Kenyan economy through real estate purchases and establishment of new
businesses.
Historically, greed in Kenya has been fueling
criminal activities in the region for decades including smuggling
Ugandan coffee in the 1970s, Tanzanian gold in the 1980s, and currently
food grain, pretty much everything even cattle rustling, and some
Kenyans feel proud about it.
This time though the dirty deal has backfired. In the midst of this bizarre marriage between the Kenyan economy and the Somali piracy, Al Shabaab built a safe haven in the Kenyan territory before blowing it up by targeting Westerners. Fearing the loss of tourist revenue and angering her Western allies, the Kenyan government sent her ill-experienced troops into Somalia.
Speaking
of combat exposure, Kenya’s military has never fought a war since
independence in 1963 and its peacekeeping involvement hasn’t been
impressive either. No wonder that Kenyan fighter jets bombed a refugee
camp repeatedly and its navy killed unarmed Kenyans who were fishing.
The
Kenyan government which has complained to the United Nations about
Eritrea’s assistance to Al Shabaab is reported to have found the going
too tough, contrary to its expectations that the mission would be over
by Christmas. Al Shabaab had warned earlier that the combat-untested
lads from Kenya won’t uproot them. Honestly, it’s not easy to fight an
insurgency.
Humbly, Kenya has now asked for US help although as
mentioned earlier, analysts believe that the US and French military were
already helping Kenya in fighting the illusive and invisible Al
Shabaab.
Certainly, Kenya will have to seek more help from other
nations since the Americans and the French won’t put their soldiers at
risk. Not surprisingly, the US Navy Times reports that Uganda and Kenya
have already sent delegations to Israel to seek military assistance.
Let us be realistic here, despite the covert and overt deployment of several armies and military assistance the mission is still bogged down in a quagmire as according to the UN reports Al Shabaab is bold enough to kick out 16 aid agencies that are funded by Western nations. Now, what should the world do?
As Tanzanian foreign policy on the complex Somali issue suggests, helping Somalis should be a global undertaking, rather than letting a bunch of galvanized but inexperienced forces twinned with ill-equipped but experienced forces trade shots with the insurgents. The efforts could end up being perceived as an anti-Islamic misadventure while in reality millions of Muslim Somalis are dying and begging for help. Truly, the world needs to look into this matter afresh.
Mr Matinyi is a consultant based in Washington, DC