AMISOM increases its forces in Mogadishu
The long-awaited fourth battalion from Burundi began its deployment at Mogadishu Airport on Wednesday last week [8th Dec]. The force joined the Burundi contingent command stationed in the University and the former Siad Barre Military academy which lies on the main industrial road, a highly volatile area. A day earlier, the UN Security Council had held consultations on how to support increasing the African Union Mission in Somalia in accordance with the request made by IGAD and the AU. The request had been made to raise AMISOM’s force level to 20,000 of which 12,000 troops should be deployed in Mogadishu. The current size of AMISOM forces, which now includes four battalions from Burundi and five battalions from Uganda, is slightly over 8,000, that is the original mandated size of the Mission. AMISOM and the TFG have continued to respond to attacks from Al-Shabaab in Mogadishu, and the TFG have recently extended their control into two more districts of Mogadishu. There remains the need for more coordination between the TFG and AMISOM forces to further diminish Al-Shabaab’s presence in the city.
Last week, the Somali Prime Minister met a number of diplomats and UN senior staff from Nairobi at Mogadishu Airport. He took the opportunity to detail his plans for the first hundred days of his new Cabinet. The Prime Minister said Mogadishu would be pacified within three months and pledged that the TFIs would be fully functioning before the end of that hundred days. As part of the transitional tasks that need to be agreed before the end of the transitional period next August, the new cabinet has already approved next year’s budget, with a ceiling of 98.5 million US dollars, of which just under 30 million dollars will be provided through local revenue and 68.7 million is expected to come from partners.
Meanwhile, the UN has now launched an appeal for US$530 million to help the estimated two million people in Somalia who need assistance. Speaking to the media, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, called on the extremist movements, Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam “to better understand the need for humanitarian assistance” in Somalia. He said that negotiations with the insurgents “in order to get access to civilians caught up in the conflict will be a priority for the UN as drought threatens to worsen the catastrophe”. A recent statement from the Chairman of the Sanctions Committee pursuant to resolution 751 (1992) and1907 (2009) concerning Somalia and Eritrea to the Security Council, also included a suggestion by the Deputy Director of the Coordination and Response division to engage Al-Shabaab.
There is certainly a very real necessity to provide for those in need, but it should be emphasised that it is Al-Shabaab that had denied assistance to those who are indeed desperate, and prevented access to humanitarian support from various donors, forcing those organisations to leave areas that are assumed to be under Al-Shabaab's control. The humanitarian community should have consistent and non-fragmented access to those in need, but it is also necessary to avoid diversion of humanitarian assistance to terrorist groups which would seriously jeopardise the efforts of AMISOM and the TFG to pacify Mogadishu. This has happened previously and a number of incidents have been reported to the Security Council by the UN Monitoring Team.
Meanwhile, Al-Shabaab leaders have been meeting in Kismayo to discuss a number of issues. They reportedly reached a decision to try to operate on a uniform basis throughout all of Somalia’s former eighteen regions, including Somaliland and Puntland. Already, there have been reports from Puntland that a number of assassinations have been carried out, and similar attempts are expected in Somaliland. The Somaliland authorities recently foiled a planned terrorist attack and detained a dozen of those involved. Equally, there have been further disputes between Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam over the control and benefit from two check points in Burhakaba town. The town was under the control of Hizbul Islam. Al-Shabaab, discovering the two check points were particularly lucrative, demanded to take them over. This triggered a fight between the two terrorist groups in Burhakaba town and it spread to the livestock market area of Mogadishu. There were casualties on both sides with a dozen or so killed including two Hizbul Islam commanders. This is not the first time there have been such incidents and the clash is unlikely to have more serious political or security implications for the relations between the two groups.