Peacekeepers say Al Shabaab under control

While the world is worried that the recent Kampala bombings were a sign that Al Shabaab is growing in strength, the peacekeepers in Mogadishu maintain they have made some major gains that could be bolstered with increased support from the United Nations.

The spokesperson of the African Union Mission in Somalia, Major Ba-Hoku Barigye, said the positioning of the troops in strategic places has reduced incidents of improvised explosive devices.

He also revealed that Amisom is expanding into areas that were previously held by Al Shabaab such as Shibish, Bondere and Karani.

However, he acknowledged that the security situation is still fluid and unpredictable.

“They cause skirmishes for minutes and then disappear But even those few minutes cause a lot of damage and deaths, and becomes the focus of the media, giving the impression that Mogadishu is the most dangerous place in the world. It scares countries that are potential contributors to peacekeepers,” said Major Barigye, who was in Nairobi on official duty.

Still, the AU members led by Uganda are pushing for more troops against the argument that Ethiopia entered in 2006 with thousands of troops yet they could not contain the situation.

This school of thought argues that more troops will only galvanise Somalis to fight “foreign occupation.”

But Major Barigye argued that Amisom is pushing for more troops to attain the level that AU had initially planned in 2007 —  8,000 troops in nine infantry battalions.

Currently, there are only 6,300, comprising the Uganda and Burundi contingents.

He also added that the 8,000 may not be sufficient as more battle-hardened and better equipped foreign fighters have joined the ranks of Al Shabaab.

“But we have to clear the perception that Amisom is looking for more soldiers to fight Al Shabaab. Our mandate is to maintain peace and create an environment for national discussion and political settlement. We cannot directly confront Al Shabaab but we have the right to self defence when we are attacked,” he said.

Major Barigye stated that since Amisom’s entry in 2007, some 8,535 commercial flights have landed in Mogadishu, a sign that there have been many windows for peace but the international community has not taken advantage of them. 

As the discussion within the AU to send more troops to Somalia continues, there are those calling for total disengagement of Amisom since the Somalis have been fighting for 20 years without a solution.

But experts on Somalia argue that such an approach is defeatist because it would lead to the collapse of the Transitional Federal Government, where upon the Al Shabaab would take power and open Somalia as a haven of international terrorist that would endanger the entire region and the continent.