IT HAS been a bad start to 2016 for Somalia. This was meant to be the year when peace would at last begin to take hold in a country which has not known it for a quarter of a century. An election would finally create a functional government and al-Shabab, a jihadist group allied to al-Qaeda, which has plagued the country for years, would be knocked back; or so hoped the international diplomats who fill up Mogadishu's airport.
It does not appear to be working out like that. An American airstrike, launched on March 5th, which may have killed as many as 150 fighters, was a serious blow to the militants. But it also underlined how confident the fighters had become.
Parts of Somalia have been occupied by troops from its neighbours since 2006, when Ethiopia invaded. Since 2007, this has become a formal, UN-mandated African Union mission of roughly 22,000 soldiers. The idea is that African troops, paid for by western donors, provide stability while Somalis negotiate peace. This is meant to culminate in elections to create a permanent government this year.
Yet over the past three months or so, al-Shabab have struck several blows against the...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/1SxB6Ex
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