- Title: SOMALIA: Kenya Defence Forces move forward slowly against al Shabaab militants
- Date: 22nd February 2012
- Summary: STUDENTS IN CLASS CLOSE UP OF SCHOOLBOYS IN CLASS
- Embargoed: 8th March 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Somalia, Somalia
- Country: Somalia
- Topics: International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA18S0HI33DLFVKYS2VUJY9F3BB
- Story Text: On the outskirts of Tabda, Kenyan gunners hunker down in trenches, scanning the distant scrub where Islamist militants still roam more than four months after losing control of the town in southern Somalia.
Tabda was one of a string of towns swiftly seized by Kenya in Somalia's arid southern tip, after it sent troops across the border in October, blaming the al Shabaab rebels for a spate of cross-border attacks.
Anticipated advances deeper into rebel-held territory, however, have not yet materialised as the insurgents resort increasingly to guerilla tactics.
Jeff Nyaga, a unit commander with the Kenyan Defence forces on campaign in Tabda says his ground-attack troops and a campaign of air strikes have badly hurt the al Qaeda-backed insurgents in the area.
He points to al Shabaab's reliance on hit-and-run attacks by small gangs of fighters as evidence of the militia's diminishing capabilities and reveals that major work will be the "pacification" of areas surrendered by the militants, winning Somali hearts and minds by maintaining security and delivering limited aid to a part of the country that has lacked effective government for two decades.
"The pacification operation must be done. We must make sure that areas that have been liberated, they are cleared of al Shabaab, normalcy is restored. The local administration that is people driven is in place. Rather than rushing the operation and moving forward and by the time you move another 40 kilometres, al Shabaab are behind you, you can not re-supply your own troops. The local community, the local administration, the effort that we have already achieved, then it is a major set back," said Nyaga.
The Kenyan army says it now controls a strip of Somali territory running along its porous frontier. Its most forward-stationed troops are positioned 40 km east of Tabda, beyond the town of Qoqani, more than 100 km inside Somalia.
Rebel strongholds including Afmadow, which lies on a strategic trading route, and the port city of Kismayu remain in their sights, senior officers say.
But they are reluctant to put a timeframe on when an assault on Kismayu, the nerve-centre of al Shabaab's southern operations and traditional base of its foreign fighters, might take place.
"This is not a conventional warfare. Initially when we came in al Shabaab would attack in large numbers, there was much more resistance, there was more resilience. But 75 percent, I would say, of al Shabaab capability has been degraded, severely degraded actually. And also the capturing of these major towns, we are talking of Doble, we are talking of Hosingo, these are the major gateways, one, for the contrabands. And so we have cut off the revenue that the al Shabaab used to get," said Nyaga.
Any battle for Kismayu could be hard fought. Holding it would be even tougher and some analysts say Kenya is stalling for time, perhaps waiting for other countries to buy into the operation.
"Communities of nations have been brought together, they have been mobilised, let us move forward, let us stabilise Somalia. And actually I might say the existence of al Shabaab and their pronouncement, which is something new, we knew all along they were operating alongside Al Qaeda, it hardens our position, it gives us more zeal and resolve to push on. Actually it tends to isolate them more, rather than giving them an upper hand," said Nyaga.
For now, Tabda residents are on side, hopeful the militants who hacked off the hands of thieves, banned women from wearing bras and conscripted men into their ranks will be defeated.
A prolonged military presence, however, risks reversing popular support among a nation that has traditionally resented foreign interference.
Kenya hopes to avoid that pitfall by integrating its forces into the African Union peacekeeping mission, AMISOM, which has been in Somalia since 2007 and confined to fighting al Shabaab in the capital, Mogadishu. The U.N. Security Council may vote this week to bolster AMISOM's numbers, paving the way for the "re-hatting" of Kenya's troops.
Britain hopes to build on the modest security gains in Mogadishu, now almost entirely under the control of AMISOM and the government, and in southern Somalia when it hosts a conference in London on Feb. 23. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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