Al-Shabab warns of more attacks unless Kenya pulls its troops out of neighbouring Somalia.
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Mogadishu, Somalia
- Kenyan security forces continued to battle their way through an
upscale Nairobi mall on Tuesday that al-Shabab gunmen seized four days
ago.
Officials
say at least 62 people have been killed in the attack on the Westgate
shopping centre, and more than 170 wounded. The figures are expected to
rise once the siege finally ends and the mall is secured.
The
mall attack is the most significant strike in Kenya since al-Qaeda
bombed the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998, killing more than 200 people.
Somalia-based al-Shabab - established in 2006 after Ethiopian troops
invaded that country - has claimed responsibility for the brazen
assault.
The Islamist group has lost ground in recent years to Somali government soldiers and African Union peacekeepers. Linked to al-Qaeda, al-Shabab enforces a strict interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, in all areas under its control.
Attacks
by the group within Kenya’s borders were unheard of before October
2011, when Kenyan troops established their presence in Somalia.
Of the five countries contributing troops to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) - Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Uganda - al-Shabab’s animosity appears directed most towards neighbouring Kenya.
"Al-Shabab
have lost more territory to Kenyan troops than to any other AMISOM
troops-contributing country," said Abdullahi Boru, a Nairobi-based Horn
of Africa security analyst.
After
months of indirectly arming and training local militias inside Somalia
to fight the Islamist group, Kenya decided to send its troops into
Somalia on October 2011.
What
followed for al-Shabab was the continuous loss of much of its prized
territory. Until then, the group had controlled most towns along the
Kenya-Somalia border.
"Kenya
is our historic enemy. Kenya is the enemy of the Somali people and
Somalia," Sheikh Abulaziz Abu Muscab, spokesman for al-Shabab's military
operations wing, told Al Jazeera.
Some
of the areas al-Shabab lost during the Kenyan campaign were lucrative
farming and fishing regions. With the loss of such territory came a
strain on the group’s finances.
Response to Kismayu’s loss?
Last
September, after a year of fighting al-Shabab in Somalia, Kenyan forces
succeeded in pushing the group out of the key port city of Kismayu.
Before
they were driven out, al-Shabab had controlled Somalia's third-biggest
city for more than four years. It was the group's main base of
operations and its loss was a big hit.
"Al-Shabab
has lost Kismayu port, which was their lifeline. They are in survival
mode," said Hussein Arab Isse, Somalia’s former deputy prime minister
and defence minister.
"Shopping
malls are easy targets and Westgate is the biggest mall in Kenya. It is
possible they targeted the mall as a response to the loss of Kismayu,"
he added.
Even
before they went into Somalia, Kenya openly backed militia leader
Sheikh Ahmed Madobe in his bid to oust al-Shabab from the Jubba region
of Somalia.
Madobe was a senior al-Shabab figure before he fell out with the group and took up arms against his former brothers-in-arms.
Once
al-Shabab was vanquished, the Kenya government backed Madobe as its
chosen leader for the taken over areas. It wasn’t an easy pill to
swallow for the Islamist fighters, seeing their former ally rewarded for
turning his back on them.
"Worst possible choice of leader. Backing Ahmed Madobe only gave al-Shabab more reasons to fight the Kenyans," said Boru.
Kenya
is also the only country in AMISOM - a combined force of more than
17,000 soldiers - to have deployed its air force and navy against the
Islamist militia, a move al-Shabab says resulted in civilian deaths.
"They
bombed our civilians in refugee camps. They bombed innocent Somalis in
Gedo. Ask them why they continue killing our people first," said Abu
Muscab, when Al Jazeera asked about the civilian carnage in the Westgate
mall attack.
Bringing the fight to Kenya
In
2011, after suffering a spate of kidnappings of foreigners on Kenyan
soil, Kenya's then-internal security minister George Saitoti accused the
Islamist group of being behind the abductions.
In
2012, Aboud Rogo, a Muslim cleric and a vocal supporter of the Islamist
group, was killed in Mombasa in a drive-by shooting. Rogo was on a UN
and US sanctions list for allegedly recruiting fighters and obtaining
funds for al-Shabab.
Nine
months later, another cleric Ahmed Khalid - a close friend of Rogo and a
staunch supporter of al-Shabab - was killed in a police shootout,
according to Kenyan authorities.
"It
is widely thought they were killed for their support for al-Shabab.
Many people think those killings were extrajudicial killings," said the
security analyst Boru.
After the killings, al-Shabab’s stance against Kenya became even more hardline.
"We don’t believe Kenya is a good neighbour. We don’t trust them. They are the enemy," said the spokesman Abu Muscab.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta - whose nephew was killed in the mall attack - has said his government will not be dissuaded by the assault.
"I want to be very clear and categorical: We shall not relent on the war on terror. We will continue that fight," Kenyatta said.
Al-Shabab, meanwhile, has called on Kenya to withdraw its troops from Somalia, or face more attacks on Kenyan soil.
Hussein,
who was Somalia’s defence minister at the height of al-Shabab’s rule in
south and central Somalia, said he thinks a resolution will not be
achieved through military force alone.
"To find a solution to al-Shabab, there needs to a negotiation," Hussein said.
Achieving security in the Horn of Africa is also up to the Somali people themselves, he added.
"Somalis are the only ones who can find a solution to this problem, and it won’t be just from the military."
Follow Hazma Mohamed on Twitter: @Hamza_Africa
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Wednesday, 25 September 2013
Somalia intervention cited for mall assault
