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Somalia: U.S., UN Now Differ On Terror Group
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The East African (Nairobi)
24 March 2008
Posted to the web 24 March 2008
Kevin J. Kelley
Nairobi
In a move signalling an intensifying US focus on Somalia, the State Department last week designated the armed Islamist group al-Shabaab a terrorist organisation.
Al-Shabaab is "a violent and brutal extremist group with a number of individuals affiliated with al-Qaeda," the US charged.
The group's leader has ordered his fighters to attack African Union peacekeeping troops in Mogadishu and has called for militants from other countries to join al-Shabaab in Somalia, the State Department added.
The US action may not result in a significant shift in strategy since Washington had not felt the need for a formal terror designation in order to justify military strikes in Somalia.
It has launched at least four such operations in the past 14 months with the aim of killing individuals said to have played a role in terror attacks inside Kenya in 1998 and 2002.
In addition to enabling American authorities to freeze the assets of any one allegedly linked to al-Shabaab, the designation is intended to "help undercut the group's ability to threaten targets in and destabilise the Horn of Africa region," the State Department said.
But in a report issued the day after the US action, the United Nations says it cannot verify reports of links between al-Shabaab and international terrorist cells.
"It should be noted that al-Shabaab elements appear to be focusing their insurgent operations against the Ethiopian armed forces and the Transitional Federal Government in Mogadishu, rather than other targets outside of Somalia," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon added in a Somalia update presented to the Security Council.
Elsewhere in the same report, however, the UN chief cites "indications that international terrorists have sought safe haven in the Hiraan and Juba districts," which are considered al-Shabaab strongholds. "Radical elements have used sophisticated remote-controlled explosive devices and suicide bombs in several parts of the country," the report points out.
Whatever its actual role may be, al-Shabaab is pleased to have been designated a terrorist organisation, a spokesman for the group said last week.
"We are happy that the US put us on its list of terrorists, a name given to pure Muslims who are strong and clear in their religious position," Sheik Muqtar Robow said, calling insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan "our brothers."
A leading Islamist in Somalia offered a different view of the US move. Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, head of an Islamist group with ties to al-Shabaab, called US policy toward Somalia "wrong and twisted."
The Americans made "the wrong decision in 2006 when they backed the Ethiopian invasion and they are wrong to designate part of the resistance as terrorists," he said.
The UN report describes the security situation throughout Somalia as "volatile." This instability impedes international relief efforts intended to aid the thousands of Somalis who have fled the "war zone" in Mogadishu for the "hunger zone" in southern parts of the country, the report adds.
"There have never been so many people in Somalia in such dire humanitarian circumstances and there has never been such limited ability to support them, mainly because of precarious security conditions," the UN warns.
The situation seems unlikely to improve, the report implies. It notes that the African Union military contingent dispatched to Somalia to pave the way for an Ethiopian troop withdrawal "continues to face serious constraints, particularly with regard to finance, logistics and force generation."
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Unless these problems are solved, the AU force of 2,600 will not reach its authorised level of 8,000 troops, the UN says.
But even under these present circumstances, the UN will seek to move a substantial number of its staff from Nairobi to Somalia, Mr Ban told the Security Council.
More favourable political and security conditions could allow the UN to put in a stronger presence in Mogadishu, Mr Ban added. He envisioned one scenario whereby the warring parties in Somalia agree to renounce violence and share power, leading to a deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission consisting of up to 27,000 troops and 1,500 police personnel.
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