Somalia war machine gets big boost

By Standard Reporter

Details of the deal struck to place Kenyan soldiers fighting in Somalia under the African Union Mission in Somalia can now be revealed.

Amisom’s mandate has been changed to allow attacks outside Mogadishu within four sectors, including areas now under Kenyan control.

Ethiopian troops in Somalia are, however, not part of the new force. Fresh troops are expected from Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti and Kenya, with other nations providing smaller contingents.

International funding for the force will more than double to about $550 million (about Sh45 billion) a year.

Under the new arrangement Kenya will be allowed to claim compensation from the United Nations for equipment lost or destroyed while fighting Al Shabaab. The military operation has been draining about Sh200 million a month, with lost equipment doubling the cost of ‘Operation Linda Nchi’ since it began four months ago.

Explicit mandate

One Chinese-made Harbin Z-9 utility helicopter was destroyed last year when it crashed due to mechanical failure. A Kenya Navy patrol boat was also damaged in action last year.

Kenya spent a record Sh27 billion on military equipment in 2008. Vehicles and weapons in use in Somalia will now be eligible for compensation as "contingent owned equipment".

One of the sticking points on the creation of an enlarged Amisom force has been the command and control structure. President Mwai Kibaki, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and Ethiopia’s Meles Zenawi are said to have been "in constant contact" on the matter.

The chiefs of defence staff from the region tasked to deal with the issue agreed on a plan involving four sectors, with fresh Ugandan and Burundian troops – 1,700 from Uganda, 1,000 from Burundi – deployed to areas controlled by Kenya and Ethiopia. Details of how these sectors will relate to Amisom force commander, Maj-Gen Fred Mugisha, have not been released.

Kenyan officials estimate it will take up to six months for the force to be fully integrated.

AU planners want Amisom to control the ports of Kismayu, Haradhere, Marka and Barawe. They also propose an air-exclusion zone to cut off arms supplies to Al Shabaab. Military planning to achieve these goals is under way.

The United States, which is footing part of the bill for military and political initiatives in the war-torn

country, has set a hard deadline for progress. Addressing the UNSC, American representatives have warned funding and other support would be cut off if key tasks on the road map to reform

in Somalia are not executed.

"We will stand by Somalia’s side, but we are prepared to walk away if the TFG and the Transitional Federal Institutions cannot show concrete, measurable progress in 2012," the American representative said.

The deal comes at a time when Al Shabaab, which has the support of less than 5,000 fighters, is running out of ammunition, weapons and experienced militants. There have been reports of the militants using teenage fighters, including at least six Kenyan boys from Pumwani, in guerrilla attacks. The terror group’s recent decision to join Al Qaeda was one of the reasons given for the change in Amisom’s mandate, allowing offensive action outside Mogadishu.

Hassan Dahir Aweys, a high-ranking Al Shabaab official allied to Mukhtar Robow, aka ‘Abu Mansur’, was this week designated to lead the group’s fight in southern Somalia. This follows the recent killing of another southern commander as well as successes against the militants elsewhere.

On Wednesday, TFG soldiers backed by Ethiopian troops took control of parts of Baidoa town, a strategic Al Shabaab stronghold in western Somalia.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) met Wednesday to consider the Amisom resolution. In a rare show of generosity, the 15-nation UNSC has given the African Union almost all that it had requested.

Resolution 2036 gives Amisom an explicit mandate to go on the offensive against Islamist militants. Previously, the body was limited to peacekeeping, with the mandate changed to "peace enforcement" in 2010. This change was one of the conditions for Kenya’s entry into the UN-backed force.

UNSC also okayed an increase in the force by nearly 6,000 troops to 17,731. The move paves the way for more troops from Djibouti, Uganda

and Burundi, as well as putting Kenyan troops in Somalia under Amisom, a change referred to as

"rehatting’.

While Amisom was already cleared to have 12,000 troops, it has only about 9,500 at the moment, all of them in Mogadishu. Not all the extra men will be soldiers, though.

Some will be police officers tasked to protect international agency officials.

The United Nations will pay for any military vehicles or weapons owned by the countries that are part of Amisom that are lost or destroyed

in battle. Eligible equipment include vehicles and weapons used by land forces, as well as up to nine utility helicopters and three attack choppers under an aviation component. The arrangement does not include cover for seaborne equipment. Kenyan officials have expressed disappointment at not receiving $10 million they had sought for naval vessels in the operation.

Conventional engagements

The UNSC resolution was prepared by Britain ahead of an international conference on Somalia in London that is being attended by, among others, President Mwai Kibaki. The United Kingdom is providing $15 million in no-strings-attached funding this year alone, in addition to $6 million given last year.

Kenyan tanks and armoured vehicles rolled across the border into Somalia four months ago. Despite initial talk of taking key towns like Afmadow and Kismayu, there was a change in strategy after heavy rain bogged down ‘Operation Linda Nchi’.

Apart from one major battle in Dhobley, which Kenyan forces won decisively, there have been few direct or conventional engagements with the enemy on the ground.

Al Shabaab has resorted to guerrilla warfare tactics, launching small attacks with limited firepower on Kenyan positions or convoys. KDF has been forced to rely on air strikes against militant-held towns for offence, while maintaining a defensive posture in ‘liberated’ towns.

There have been significant improvements in Somalia since attacks on Al Shabaab began. The populations of towns like Hosingow and Dhobley, under the control of KDF and Somalia Government forces, has grown significantly since they were wrested from the militants.

Traffic at the Aden Abdulleh International Airport has trebled, the Mogadishu port has a growing line of ships waiting to dock, and real estate prices in the capital have doubled. Last month, maritime officials reported a significant decrease in the number of successful piracy attacks off the coast of Somalia.