Robert Duncan
October 29, 2010, 1: p.m.
Somali forces have succeeded in protecting a small town on the Kenyan border from the al- Shabab. In the words of Sharif Abdiwahid, “Al-Shabab attacked our defensive positions ... but we later defeated them and kicked them out of the town and surrounding areas” Witnesses said that some of the 27 people that were killed were civilians, which may be a result of the difficulties of fighting at night, as al-Shabab forces did not retreat until after midnight. The town is reportedly empty as of Saturday, with ninety percent of the residents fleeing to towns in Kenya or Ethiopia. The town, called Balad Hawa, had been under al-Shabab control since January of 2009, when Ethiopian troops, who were there in support of Somalia’s Transitional Government, withdrew from the area. Kenyan troops have been deployed on a border-patrol in an effort to encourage the al-Shabab fighters not to enter Kenya.
The fact that Somalia’s government is powerless can be plainly seen throughout the past few years, but this small victory by people claiming to be fighting for the Somali national government shows that the people want peace, and that at least some of them are willing to fight for the government that is currently powerless to actually help them. Hopefully in the future, the UN could approve funding to help these freedom fighters liberate their country from the 19-year streak of ineffective government. Currently however, Kenya is training thousands of Somali recruits. Kenya is quickly becoming a major player in the Somali civil war, fronting the cost of equipping and training many of the soldiers that hold villages on the Somali side of the country’s borders. This generosity is also in the best interest of Kenya, though, due to its own history of al-Qaeda related attacks against its people, I would say that Kenya’s people are very supportive of the efforts against the al-Qaeda linked al-Shabab.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/10/2010102341119874579.html
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