The violence in Somalia

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Al-Shabaab to attack military base in Somalia  

 

The Islamist terrorist group al-Shabaab has attacked a military base belonging to the African Union in Somalia, AFP reports. It is not known if the attack resulted in any injuries or deaths.  

 

The military base, which is located in the town of Bulo Marer, twelve miles southwest of Mogadishu, is staffed with soldiers from Uganda. This is stated by a spokesperson for the Ugandan army.  

 

Terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab have plagued Somalia for more than 15 years. Recently, the president of Somalia, Hassan Shiekh Mohamud, launched an offensive against the terrorist group.  

 

Woman mourns after a terrorist attack in Somalia. Farah Abdi Warsameharah / AP  

Analysis: Somalia's unexpected success against al-Shabaab  

 

In Somalia, there is now a feeling that the country is united in the fight against the terrorist group al-Shabaab, write Liban Obsiye and Liban Hussein in an analysis for the site African Arguments. President Hassan Shiekh Mohamud recently launched a new offensive against the group. According to Obsiye and Hussein, the earlier fear of retaliation from al-Shabaab, which has historically dampened efforts against the terrorist group, now appears to have been blown away.  

 

The writers also draw on a televised speech the president recently gave in which he made it clear that there are no alternatives to ending al-Shabaab.  

 

- Either you are with us or you are with al-Shabaab and there is nothing in between, he said then. 

 

On The Conversation's website, Mohamed Haji Ingiriis writes about the Somali breakaway republic of Somaliland, which was never recognized by the outside world. Ingiriis writes that the region, after 25 years of calm, is now shaken by an armed conflict that claimed over a hundred lives. What triggered the violence was the shooting death of a young, popular politician. The incident led to large protests which later developed into demonstrations for reunification with Somalia.  

 

Ingiriis sees no immediate solution to the conflict and believes that the big loser from this will be President Muuse Bihi, who has taken the country from relative calm to "a cliff edge".