Somalia's Minister of Defence, Abubakar Abdi Osman, talked on the sidelines of the ongoing 15th Ordinary Summit of the African Union at Speke Resort Munyonyo about the situation in his country and how the Transitional Federal Government is coping.
How is the security situation in Mogadishu?
Before I answer your question, let me first say we want to thank our brother President Museveni and our Ugandan brothers and sisters for the commitment and love they have shown the people of Somalia. This country has sent her boys and girls to Mogadishu to help bring peace and stability in Mogadishu.
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The situation is not good, frankly speaking. There has been heavy fighting for the last six months. It's worsening. We have more al Shabaab trained from outside Somalia and brought to Somalia to fight. We have fighters from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Europe and America. All these are criminals who are running away from justice in the countries they are fleeing. But we are also trying to fight them. It's one and half years since we started training our soldiers to fight these enemies of peace in Mogadishu. We need time to train our forces. They must be trained to confront these enemies who are receiving weapons everyday with an intention of destabilising the region. They have been attacking government and Amisom. There is heavy fighting in Mogadishu but we and Amisom are on defensive.
Other than sending peacekeepers in Somalia, what else should African Union do to pacify Somalia?
I can say reconciliation. And we have already taken steps to make warring parties reconcile. After the Djibouti Conference that formed the current Transitional Federal Government, many warring parties reconciled. Al Suns Wajhmu were given five cabinet positions, ambassadorial positions and others that total to 37 positions. We are still pushing for reconciliation and peace talks.
What are some of the resolutions that you have prepared to present to the African Union heads of state summit which starts on Sunday?
The main resolution is to change the mandate of Amisom mission from peacekeeping to peace enforcement. We also request for additional forces in the first two weeks. We request for 2,000 troops in the next two weeks. During the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) meeting in Addis Ababa, they agreed that 2,000 soldiers should be sent to Mogadishu within a month. The proposal to change the mandate will be submitted to the summit by the IGAD member states.
Why has the Somali conflict been complex and hard to end?
It's because we have foreign troops. We have terrorist groups coming from different parts of the country. All criminals, fugitives and wanted people runaway to Somalia. It has become a safe haven for the world's most wanted people. Currently, there are 3,000 foreign fighters in Somalia. They are the ones supplying arms to al Shabaab. They are the ones blowing up people. They are the ones who killed our brothers and sisters in Kampala. It was really unfortunate that the people they blew up were not armed, people who were enjoying World Cup [final]. Terrorism has never been our culture. They confuse young boys and tell them to go blow themselves up.
Is it lack of capacity or commitment that African countries that had pledged forces to Somalia have not fulfilled their promise?
Uganda and Burundi have committed their resources to this cause. They sent soldiers and equipment. Recently, the European Union, United States have also come in to support the cause. But until now, we don't know why those countries have not sent the peacekeepers. But we hope they do so soon.
Where do the al Shabaab get financial and weaponry support?
They are controlling over 3,000km of the Somali coastline. They have landing sites, seaports, airfields and they collect revenue. They get over 40 per cent of every ransom paid to the pirates. These pirates use the guns given to them by the al Shabaab. They are getting ransom money in exchange for the guns they give these pirates.
What is the level of the al Shabaab's support in terms of public support and weaponry?
They have no strength. Their strength is terrorism. Their strength is ideological disorientation. They are now drugging young boys to carry out suicide bombings. They have committed these crimes in Kampala and Mogadishu. We have lost tens of thousands of people because of this violence in Somalia. We lost 23 medical students who were graduating [not long ago]. We have lost generals. We have lost professors.
We recently lost 24 women who were cleaning the city because the al Shabaab thought cleaning the city, would give credit to the government. We hope very soon, we can see peace in Somalia. We are trying to avoid retaliation whenever these enemies attack our positions because we are avoiding [civilian] causalities and destruction of infrastructure. We are preparing our forces to defend the people of Somalia.
However, we still call on them for reconciliation. Before you ask about the strength of the force, you must first know what kind of force are they? What is their ideology?
If their belief is killing, then you know they are not strong. What has happened to Uganda, has happened to us. We know they have been receiving battle wagons and anti-aircraft missiles.
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