The latest terrorist attack on Somalia’s presidential palace comes less than 10 days from another daylight suicide attack on a UN convoy near Mogadishu’s airport.
Somalia’s
government may call it a “media
spectacular” by a “dying animal” but
any honest observer can tell that the threat of this Al-Qaeda offshoot group is
not limited to Somalia but can destabilize the whole East African region and
the world at large.
Any victory for
Al-Shabab in Somalia will be a victory against the will and resolve of the
African Union and the international community to prevent Somalia from slipping
back into being a hub for international terrorism, piracy and lawlessness.
Known for
their internationalist agenda of bringing the region and the whole world under
their banner, Al-Shabab will not stop in Mogadishu if they get the upper hand.
Their eyes are on Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Djibouti, Kampala, and beyond.
Their
attacks in Mogadishu and before that in the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi
in Sept 2013 will only be a precursor for their grand plans of delivering death,
destruction and fear to the streets of world capitals.
Defeating Al Shabab, therefore, demands a concerted effort on international and domestic fronts. On the international front, it is obvious until now that despite their sacrifices and tangible victories, AMISOM forces are not capable of defeating Al Shabab alone. They need western support for better military intelligence, surveillance aircraft, and fighter planes.
As Al Shabab
is a mobile militia group using non-conventional shock attacks, it is mainly
through sophisticated intelligence that their movements and plans can be intercepted
and aborted. It is not of sheer coincidence that whenever the British and
American governments warn their citizens against travelling to Somalia, Al
Shabab’s attacks follow almost immediately. This is proof that western countries possess accurate intelligence of Al
Shabab’s plans. How much of that intelligence information, however, is shared
with AMISOM or the Somali government is beyond my knowledge. But the fact that
the Somali government and AMISOM come under surprise attacks by Al Shabab soon
after London and Washington’s travel warnings, one can only guess that maybe
western governments trust neither AMISOM nor the Somali government. But trust
or no trust, the end goal should be to defeat Al Shabab, otherwise everyone
would suffer in the end if a united front of both military assistance and
intelligence sharing is not put in place.
On the
domestic front, it is required of the Somali government to demonstrate that it
is a trustworthy partner by establishing a system of rigorous scrutiny of security
personnel to prevent Al Shabab’s infiltration in their ranks and using them as
a Trojan horse to target government installations as well as UN and AMISOM personnel.
The government also needs to improve the professionalism of its security forces
and to guarantee their economic welfare. Engaging the local community in the
war against Al Shabab through media campaigns led by prominent figures, women, youth,
and religious people will also be highly beneficial in countering Al-Shabab’s
false religious and nationalistic propaganda.
Somali regional
administrations should also join hands with the federal government in fighting
the menace of Al Shabab, the common enemy of the Somali people. It is not
rocket science to know that if Mogadishu falls, no regional administration will
survive. Those who decide to live in denial will only do that at their own peril.
It is therefore imperative on everyone to recognize that the assassination
attempt on the Somali president and the attack on the presidential palace is an
attack on the sovereignty and identity of the Somali nation. There is only one choice
for the Somali people, to fight back and defeat Al Shabab with the help of the
international community or to sit back and watch the Somali nation and its
history sink into oblivion.