Kenya’s defiance of the Somali government on the ban on charcoal exports from Kismayo threatens the cohesion of the African Union Mission in Somalia. It will also test the mettle o...
Disputes over politics and money, especially income from Kismayo and Mogadishu ports, threaten the new President’s new order
Political rivals, warlords and some regional officials are already testing the mettle of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, just over a month after his election. Relatively untarnish...
Kenya takes Al Shabaab by surprise but raises questions about its choice
of leaders for the port city and its ability to manage the politics
The battle for Kismayo was anything but the decisive contest many expected, we can report, now that more details of the fighting have emerged. Al Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen ha...
The election of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is seen as a sign of stability but the new government’s foundations are far from strong. Meanwhile, Kenya’s military policy is worrying other members of the Amisom alliance. The election process was marred by vote-buying but Western commentators welcomed the outcome, often warmly. However, Ethiopia has concerns about the Islamist background of the new leader
Somalis welcomed the election of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, an outsider with a better reputation than his predecessor, as the first critical test of the new constitution. The...
The campaign against Al Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen is suffering from divisions within the African Union Mission in Somalia and fears over poor tactics, military observers have...
Vol 53 No 18 |
- SOMALIA
- BRITAIN
Britain’s Department for International Development has taken no step towards setting up the Joint Financial Management Board promised at February’s London Conference on Somalia, Af...
The elders are warming to their constitutional role, while Kenya weighs up the taking of Kismayo
The 135 Somali elders whose role is to appoint a Constituent Assembly have responded to the warm international welcome they have received by showing they want to take at least one ...
While Al Shabaab suffers reverses, the government that replaces the TFG in August may turn out to be little different
There is a mood of broad optimism among many commanders from the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) about recent military successes. Al Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen, howe...
Vol 53 No 8 |
- SOMALIA
- TURKEY
Turkey is underscoring its engagement in Somalia through development projects in Somaliland and Puntland. It sees the projects as proving to the United States and European Union th...
Regardless of the recent defeats of Al Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen, senior African Union Mission in Somalia commanders privately admit that the next phase of military operations is fraught with potential difficulties. Since forcing Al Shabaab out of Mogadishu in August, five years after Amisom first came to Somalia, the Ugandan People’s Defence Force’s 5,500-strong contingent is slowly moving out to assume control of new territory beyond the capital. Any bolder moves to occupy territory further afield, however, depend on leaving currently-occupied zones to Transitional Federal Government (TFG) soldiers and police, whose competence and reliability are in some doubt. Amisom commanders also worry because communications are scant and coordination absent with the Ethiopian forces to the south. Now that the Kenyan forces have been re-hatted as Amisom, links with them should improve.
Lack of trust in the TFG forces who have to take over the Ugandan and Burundian positions when Amisom moves out of Mogadishu is making Amisom tread cautiously. The TFG forces are ...
