Blowing up electricity poles, assassinating local government workers and targeting foreigners are new strategies used by Al Shabab to show it is not yet a spent force in Mogadishu, writes Raxanreeb correspondent
Several days after Al Shabab foot soldiers stormed Turkish offices and a residential complex in Mogadishu, president Hassan Sheikh visited the scene of the attack and angrily urged people of Mogadishu “ no to leave the job of protecting Turks in Mogadishu with security forces.” His call was a ‘ a vote of no confidence’ for Mogadihsu Police and security service. The president’s remarks were echoed by the Mogadishu mayor Mr Tarsan who castigated Mogadishu elders for not being as wise and pro-peace as “ Somaliland and Puntland elders”. Tarsan’s target, the Hawiye Traditional Council led by Mohamed Hassan Haad, a formerly a popular barber in Mogadishu, was busy calling for a Jihad against Kenya. The Commander of Police Force , Mr Saa’id, blamed ambitious politicians for Mogadishu’s deteriorating security described by Hiiraan Online as an indication that , although Al Shabab was forced to leave Mogadishu two years ago, it is still capable of staging attacks similar to those the group had staged when more than half of Mogadishu was under its control.
Roughly 90% of police force in Mogadishu was recruited in North Mogadishu during president Sharif Ahmed’s presidency . There is a perception that president Hassan Sheikh’s sub-clan contributed the lion’s share of security force recruits. In Bakara market business men drafted in more security detail after robbery and looting by police force members have become common-place. People in Mogadishu are afraid of men wearing police or army uniforms because robbers wear same uniforms and man illegal-road blocks ( isbaaro). The deteriorating security in Mogadishu is an evidence backing up the argument in the latest UN Monitoring Report on Somalia that Al Shabab had infiltrated security forces in Mogadishu. Blowing up electricity poles, assassinating local government workers and targeting foreigners are new strategies used by Al Shabab to show it is not yet a spent force.
Raxanreeb
Use Facebook to Comment on this Post
