Something Will Have To Be Done

Strategy Page
Dec 26, 2011

Kenyan police have arrested six ethnic Somalis as suspected al Shabaab members and are asking the public's assistance in finding two others. All are believed trying to organize terror attacks inside Kenya.

Kenyan troops in Somalia are moving to clear al Shabaab fighters from the main road to the city (the third largest in Somalia) of Baidoa, which is 256 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu. The Kenyan force in Somali continues to operate cautiously, as do the al Shabaab forces they confront. Al Shabaab has avoided fighting the Kenyans, who, it turns out, had planned this move into Somalia for two years, but were unable to get aid groups to agree to move across the border. The local clan militias are willing to move into villages and towns al Shabaab has withdrawn from, but all the military activity has hurt the economy, and sent more civilians fleeing to Kenyan refugee camps. The Kenyan invasion force hopes to force al Shabaab out of the port of Kismayo without a fight. But al Shabaab appears to be preparing to defend Kismayo, so the battle for the city may be more of a siege. That could go on for a while.

In Mogadishu, Somali and peacekeeper troops have cleared most of the city of al Shabaab gunmen. But the Islamic terrorists are still based in the suburbs, and peacekeepers closely monitor traffic coming into the city. The sharp decline in violence has led to more economic activity, even rebuilding in devastated neighborhoods. Bombed and pockmarked buildings are being repaired. Debris is being cleared away and roads long blocked are reopened. But the place is still largely devastated from two decades of violence.

Britain believes there are more British Moslems receiving terrorist training in Somalia than in Pakistan, or anywhere else in the world. Britain does not suggest that Western nations move troops into Somalia, but if Somalia becomes a major source of international terrorism, something will have to be done.

China has donated $4.7 million to the UN peacekeeping operation in Somalia, and has said it will later donate military equipment for the peacekeepers there as well.Continued