By Ibrahim Mohamed
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Sustained clashes over the last week have centred on the capital and Somalia's southern border with Kenya. Government troops and African Union peacekeepers say they have inflicted heavy losses on the al Shabaab militants in Mogadishu.
But al Shabaab claim to have hit back, killing at least seven Burundian soldiers from the AMISOM peacekeeping force.
"We urge Somalis, in particular military officers from former governments, to take up weapons and support al Shabaab's counter-attack," Sheikh Muktar Robow Mansoor, a top al Shabaab militant, told a crowd in the rebel-held Gedo region.
In the south, Ethiopian troops lined the border from the Kenyan town of Mandera east to the Ethiopian frontier town of Dollow, residents and a Somali military officer said.
Ethiopia invaded Somalia to support the interim government with tacit U.S. support at the end of 2006 and officially withdrew its military from the country only in early 2009.
Since then Ethiopia and neighbouring Kenya, east Africa's largest economy, have helped to train Somali government forces.
Over the weekend, al Shabaab repeated threats to strike Kenya for its training activities and for allowing Ethiopian troops to operate from its towns. [ID:nLDE71Q08A]
"The Ethiopian troops are heavily armed and deployed along the border between Mandera and Dollow, giving us ammunition," said the Somali officer on condition of anonymity.
"Our troops and the (government-allied) Ahlu Sunna fighters are in the frontline. The fighting will continue. We want sustained fighting to weaken their power," he said.
Kenyan military helicopters swooped along the border and over the Somali town of Balad Hawa where Somali troops have been locked in gun-battles and artillery fire with al Shabaab.
KENYAN HELICOPTERS
Al Shabaab militant Robow dismissed AMISOM reports that the government had seized several strategic insurgent bases in the past few days, saying the insurgents had in fact repelled the attacks.
President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed acknowledged the offensive had not gone according to plan.
"Now we are preparing a tougher offensive to oust al Shabaab from the city. The shortest way to impair al Shabaab is to exert a powerful military action on them," he said late on Monday.
Some Horn of Africa experts say a coherent political strategy must run in tandem with any military effort if there is to be long-lasting stability.
The mandates of both the interim government and parliament end in August but there is no clear plan yet for what will follow with elections impossible in the lawless nation.
"There must be a political strategy in advance of a military strategy and that does not appear to be clear," Rashid Abdi, a Somalia analyst at the International Crisis Group told Reuters.
People living along the desert frontier said Kenyan troops had deployed along the porous border near the town of Mandera, denying access to scores of Somalis fleeing the clashes.
"We feel secure now. Our army is serious, they are camping right at the border and are in charge," said a school teacher from the Kenyan town of Mandera who gave his name as Ibrahim. (Additional reporting by Sahra Abdi and Richard Lough in Nairobi, Noor Ali in Isiolo; writing by Richard Lough; editing by Sonya Hepinstall)) (For more Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: af.reuters.com).
Source: Reuters