Somalia

Terrorist Attack in Somalia Kills 19 in Mogadishu Hotel, Restaurant

The Somali capital of Mogadishu was the scene of a deadly terrorist incident on Wednesday evening where 19 people were killed in a car bomb and subsequent hostage-taking attack.

Police have reported that a terrorist drove a car bomb into the Posh Hotel in the capital and then gunmen took more than 20 people hostage in an adjacent restaurant until security forces could move in and neutralize the threat to the hostages.

District police chief Abdi Bashir told Reuters Somali security forces took back control of the restaurant at midnight after the gunmen had held hostages inside for several hours. Five of the gunmen were killed, Bashir said.
“We are in control of the hotel but it was mostly destroyed by the suicide bomber,” he told Reuters by phone.
Witnesses said there were bodies lying at the scene on Thursday morning as ambulances came to take them away.
Ahmed Mohamud Adow, the spokesman for the country’s interior ministry, said the dead included a Syrian national who worked at the restaurant. He did not identify the dead Syrian who local residents said worked as a chef at the Pizza House.
Another 27 civilians were taken to hospital with various injuries, ambulance services said. Witnesses said the attack was launched after the Iftar dinner for customers who are fasting for Ramadan. Most of them were still inside relaxing.
The wreckages of three-wheeled scooters caught up in the blast at the hotel, which also housed a massage parlour, lay overturned around the scene. Al Shabaab, the Islamist militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack. The group claimed on Thursday morning it killed more than 20 people including soldiers and government workers.

The Somali country has been wracked by civil war since 1991. Dictator Siad Barre was disposed and the rival clan leaders fought for control. The US was involved in a humanitarian mission and subsequent attempt to remove one of the clan leaders Mohamed Farrah Aidid in the early 1990s. That resulted in the operation that became known as Black Hawk Down.

The US is involved in the attempt by the Somali government to remove the al-Shabaab terror group but on a small footprint although that could change in the future.

To read the entire article from Reuters, click here:

Photo courtesy Reuters

US Raising the Stakes in Somalia, Despite Losing Navy SEAL Last Week

The US is going to raise the pressure on the al-Shabab terrorist group despite the loss of a Navy SEAL operator and two other wounded in an operation last week.

U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) said that the battle took place in Barii, a small town 40 miles west of Mogadishu. It was reportedly a Somali-led operation, U.S. forces reportedly came under fire when American aircraft were used to help deploy Somali commandos. Navy SEALs have been advising the Somali units.

There was also an international conference occurring in London at the same time. This is intended to increase the security and government reform in Somalia. The aim is to create a new international partnership agreement to stabilize Somalia. The aim is to stabilize the country and turn things over to Somali forces with an exit strategy for the allied countries by 2020.

In early March, the Pentagon requested new rules of engagement for its operations in Somalia to remove constraints on airstrikes and raids targeting people suspected of being al-Shabab militants. On March 24, General Waldhauser reiterated the call for more flexibility in decision-making to fight al-Shabab, saying that “it’s very important and very helpful for us to have [a] little more flexibility, a little bit more timeliness, in terms of decision-making process. . . . It allows to prosecute targets in a more rapid fashion. . . . [I]f we were given . . . those permissions and authorities, [it] will be very helpful to us.”
On March 29, President Trump granted wider scope to launch U.S. military operations by designating Somalia an “area of active hostilities” where war-zone targeting rules will apply for at least 180 days. Subsequently, General Waldhauser appeared ambiguous about the new authorities, stating “we have not been given loosened rules for authority to strike. What we have been given is we’ve been given authority to assist AMISOM forces that are on missions where, if they cannot take care of the situation on their own, then we are authorized to assist them there. We are also authorized to develop targets on our own and take appropriate action if required.”
Just a few days later, on April 24, a letter written by USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance requested the geographic coordinates of aid groups working in Somalia. “Due to the need for increased operational security in Somalia, and based on best practices in other complex emergencies, humanitarian and development organizations may want to provide information about their fixed locations in Somalia for deconfliction,” it stated.

The US has furnished training and equipment to the Somalis, has helped pay for the security forces and has been conducting raids on located al-Shabab forces. The US is planning on stepping up the tempo despite the loss of the Navy’s special operator to weaken the terror group and to further bolster Somalia’s forces.

To read the Washington Post entire article click here:

Photo courtesy of AP

US Stepping Up Security Training Effort for Somalia

United States AFRICOM (Africa Command) Commander, Marine General Thomas Waldhauser stated via conference call in Germany that although the US is sending Somalia 40 personnel to help train the army there, it doesn’t signal a shift in strategy.

The US, along with other partner nations involved in helping the Somali army get off the ground all agree that it is time for the Somali army to stand on its own. However, the other organizations involved won’t be leaving for at least another year but will be there to help.

The US contingent will train the Somali logistical units to help create better supply networks for the fledgling military.

“Our goal from the United States’ perspective, in conjunction with our partners who are there doing the training, is that the Somali National Security Forces will be prepared to provide for their own security sometime in the 2020/21 timeframe when the next series of elections go,” Waldhauser said. “We all have to pull together to make sure that we’re very effective and efficient in the training now.”
Ambassador Francisco Madeira, the civilian head of AMISOM, said the AU intends to begin drawing down its forces in 2018.
“We were not intending to stay there forever,” he said. “Somalia is for the Somalis. We, like all other Africans, we have our own countries.”
“We are in solidarity with the Somali people, we need to support Somali people. We have interests to have a stable Somalia,” Madeira said. “But surely, the Somalis, the country, can only be best defended by the Somalis themselves, who understand better their dynamics, their reality and their priorities and their objectives.”
In early April, President Mohamed announced that he would offer amnesty to members of al-Shabab who renounce extremism and agree to undergo demobilization and reintegration training. Mohamed declared war on all extremists who rejected the offer.

The Somali military is trying to rid itself of the al-Shabab terrorist organization that hides in plain sight among the civilian populace. That makes their job more difficult but not impossible. They’ll use sophisticated means to identify them by intelligence gathering and aerial surveillance.

To read the entire article from the Voice of America, click here:

Photo courtesy Voice of America

Trump Expanding Special Operations To Target Militants in Somalia

President Trump is expanding the Pentagon’s ability to and the US Africa Command to launch a more effective offensive campaign against the al-Shabab militant group in Somalia. This signing off by the President should clear the way for more airstrikes and a more active presence of U.S. Special Operations Forces on the ground.

This move should also mark a shift in policy where in the past, Special Operations forces were forced to act in a defensive posture or “self-defense” of US advisors and their Somali counterparts. Now they will be able to take a more offensive role in helping Somali units recapture territory from al-Shabab and putting more pressure on them.

American forces have been increasingly active in Somalia in recent years. The Obama administration never abandoned its “signature strike” bombing program in either Somalia or Yemen, which allowed for U.S. drones and manned aircraft to target groups of men who merely showed signs and behaviors of belonging to terrorist groups. The largest of those strikes came in March 2016, when U.S. warplanes bombed an al-Shabab training camp north of Mogadishu, killing what the Pentagon estimated were about 150 militants.
Late last year, the Obama team declared Shabab an “associated force” of al Qaeda, putting the group under the same tenuous legal umbrella that allows the U.S. government to wage war in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Yemen.
U.S. commandos on the ground in Somalia accompany government forces on patrol, and have the authority to shoot back or call in airstrikes if threatened, under rules set down by the Obama administration.

General Thomas Waldhauser, commander of Africa Command has said that welcomes the ability to call for attacks and airstrikes from his command HQs rather than have to wait for approval by Washington.

He said the shift in policy from the Obama administration will give his commanders the ability to launch offensive strikes that would allow his ability “to prosecute targets in a more rapid fashion.”

To read the Foreign Policy entire article click here:

Photo courtesy of US Africa Command