Somalia taking serious steps to bring security back to Mogadishu

Ahmed Adel

Somali Internal Security Minister Abukar Islow revealed Sunday a new plan for bringing security back to Somali capital Mogadishu.

The Somali government, he said, would use modern equipment to beef up security in the capital.

Islow called on residents in Mogadishu to demonstrate cooperation with policemen with the aim of tightening security in the capital.

Deputy Police Commissioner, Zakiya Hussein, said, meanwhile, that cooperation between citizens and police opened the door for improving the security situation in Mogadishu.

“Security forces have already intensified their operations with the aim of bringing security back to the city,” Hussein said.

Mogadishu is located on the western coast of the Indian Ocean. It covers an area of more than 20 square kilometers and is surrounded by the Indian Ocean from the south and the east, bordered by the central Shebelle region of the north, and the Lower Shebelle region of the north-west, with a population of about 2 million.

Mogadishu’s population growth rate is estimated to be about 7% due to the displacement crisis and the fact that Somalis from other cities have to flee to the capital for refuge from attacks by al-Shabaab since since 1991.

Somalia is a fertile ground for the emergence of terrorist organizations. The al-Shabaab movement appeared because of the presence of disputes among the different tribes in Somalia.

The movement supported the Union of Courts in the beginning, opening the door for war between it and government forces. It then swore allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2012. It had 9,000 fighters by then.

The movement claimed responsibility for a series of bombings inside and outside the country in the border areas with Kenya. The US included al-Shabaab in its list of terrorist movements in February 2008.

The movement has considerable influence in the Somali countryside and controls some northern and southern areas of the capital Mogadishu.

Al-Shabaab adopted its current name in 2006 as one of the military arms under the so-called Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia, which controlled the capital Mogadishu then. It seeks to establish an Islamic Caliphate in the country.

A US report in 2013 confirmed the involvement of both Qatar and Turkey in funding the movement.

It said both countries supplied the movement with large quantities of weapons and ammunitions, through charities, and the movement of piracy operations on the vessels crossing the Strait of Bab al-Mandeb.

This support, it said, gave the movement the ability to purchase arms and ammunitions as well.

Mogadishu targeted

Al-Shabaab increased its attacks in Mogadishu, benefiting from the weakness of the Somali army.

In October 2018, the movement carried out a suicide attack on an Italian military convoy in the center of the capital with a car bomb, wounding 5. In November 2018, the movement detonated three car bombs at a hotel in Mogadishu, killing At least 17 people were injured and others injured. In January 2019, the group bombed a United Nations compound in the capital, wounding three people.

Counterterrorism strategy

In a study of RAND, published in 2016, the organization said although al-Shabaab’s efforts have been squandered in the past, from 2011 to 2016, the movement has never been defeated but has regained its influence in some areas adjacent to the capital. Military personnel in Somalia, it said, take urgent steps to meet the political, economic and security challenges.

The strategy, according to the study, played a vital role in undermining the terrorist movement. The strategy involved deploying a small number of US special operations forces to target strikes, providing intelligence and building the capabilities of the forces from local partners to enable them to carry out ground operations.