Albany Blog

Student enrollment is rapidly outpacing expectations at an AMISOM pilot school project meant to encourage parents of Jazeera village in southern Mogadishu to bring their children for free primary education.  Initially just nine students signed up for the program. Within 30 days the school roster had 97 names, and now 210 students are enrolled.

The parents have not been left behind either.  Many adults have registered themselves to take advantage of the free public education, which has been absent in Somalia for the last 20 years since the ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre.  The latest AMISOM programme marks a step by the peacekeeping mission to battle illiteracy in Somalia.  Statistics on Somalia’s literacy rate are scant, but one estimate by UNICEF says just 24 percent of females between the age of 15 and 24 can read in the country. 

Education become a luxury after Barre was deposed, leaving many poor Somalis like the people of Jazeera and their children uneducated.  Now the education-hungry villagers and their children are posing challenges to AMISOM, which is struggling to provide them with books, desks and other educational materials.  Despite the lack of supplies, students are eager to attend class.  Hani Ahmed, a 9-year-old girl, is elated by the opportunity to attend the start-up school, which has yet to be named. 

“We did not have a school around before this was opened,” she said.  “This school was started by elders and AMISOM. I learn English and the Quran at the moment. The school is free. We don’t pay anything. I want to study hard in order to get a job when I finish school.”

Located in the expansive Wadajir district of southern Mogadishu, the population of Jazeera has sharply risen over the years as many civilians flee violence in other parts of the chaotic capital.  Security in the area is better than other parts of Mogadishu in large part due to the presence of the Jazeera training camp, where AMISOM peacekeepers train Somali government forces.

Due to lack of resources the students of Jazeera school have been forced to study in a refurbished former sweets factory.  During the morning children attend classes on the Quran, English, mathematics and geography, while parents and other adult learners attend similar classes in the afternoon.

Funds are in short supply too.  “We urge well-wishers to support us,” said Abdullahi Ibrahim, one of volunteer teachers.   “Our country has been ravaged by illiteracy, but if many students get an education it would have a positively impact. Extremism will be checked and our children will not be easily lured into fighting or even brainwashed.”

Maj. Nelson Ahebwa, an AMISOM peacekeeper with the Civil Military Unit, or CIMIC, is one of the pioneers of the project.   CIMIC launched the initiative, and Ahebwa is happy to see their work paying off as increasingly more Somalis enroll their children and themselves in classes.

“This is my happiest day in life,” said Ahebwa, who has already begun groundwork for similar such school in other areas of Mogadishu. “When I first met the elders last month, many were skeptical, although they seemed really interested. The number of students has shot from nine to nearly a 100 within month. We will lobby for support from donors and agencies like UNICEF to assist the students and the school.”

By Guled Mohamed  Senior Press Officer AU/UN Information Support Team

Nearly two years ago al-Shabab fighters colluded with a Quranic teacher to kidnap 20 children from the Fagah area of north Mogadishu and conscripted the youths.  One of the children captured and forced to fight by the militant group was a 12-year-old who goes by the name Sharif.  He spoke to reporters in April at Mogadishu’s Villa Somalia Presidential Palace, where he now lives under the watchful eye of the AMISOM commander.  Sharif said al-Shabab often intoxicates its fighters, who are mostly under age. He showed journalists a swelling on his right bicep, where he said his al-Shabab handlers injected him with an unknown drug that supposedly gave him superhuman fighting powers.  Sharif’s military training began shortly after capture, he said, offering a full account of what happened in lengthy remarks transcribed below.

I used to live in Fagah area of Mogadishu with my parents and siblings. One day our Quranic teacher took us to his house to go and pray for a sick woman. As soon as we reached his house we were surrounded by masked al-Shabab armed men. They fired at us and a bullet hit close to the teacher’s legs. He fled and left us.

I don’t know exactly when they kidnapped us, but it was when Abdullahi Yusuf was still in power, some time six months before he left. The next day before we left I saw our Quranic teacher receiving money from al-Shabab officials presumably for delivering us to them. I think he was a swindler who took money in order to enlist us with al-Shabab. They took us to Modmodey, where we joined a larger group and were all taught rifle handling and shooting skills before deployment.

The training camp was big. They divided us into smaller groups. We started receiving military training. They taught us how to fire and service a rifle. We were taught everything from pistols to AK-47 rifles. I can dismantle and assemble any rifle. We are also taught ambush skills. After a few months we were deployed around the country. I was among those sent to Beletweyne.

In Beletweyne I took part in many battles, including the fighting against the Ahlul Sunnah group in the central regions. They kept rotating us after a few months. I was then deployed to Mogadishu. When I came to Mogadishu I only saw two out of my former 20 classmates who were kidnapped together. I don’t know where the others went. I believe they must have died.

The al-Shabab commanders always injected us with a drug before going out to fight. The drug gave us dreamlike bravery. I was so high and so strong I thought I could simply grab our enemies and throw them away like stones. It was not true and I lost many colleagues during these battles.

I have not spoken to or seen my parents since I was kidnapped. I fear that if I go and look for them the al-Shabab will find out and trace them to finish them off. A month ago, an older boy in my group secretly told us he had spoken to a government commander in the nearby district and was planning to escape. He had arranged everything with the commander.

When the day to escape finally came, we silently walked out pretending we were going for a routine patrol. We had to move out in groups of two to avoid suspicion. We finally reached the destination where we were supposed to be picked up. That’s how I got where I am now. I have been here for almost a month now.

In Villa Somalia, I don’t do anything. I eat and sleep with the AMISOM forces. The commander is a good person. He has been very kind to me. If there is anything I miss most and wish I could do it is to go to school. I just want to get an education.

By Guled Mohamed

Senior Press Officer AU/UN Information Support Team

With virtually no public services available in Mogadishu, one of AMISOM’s most important tasks has been to ease the suffering of the population through humanitarian assistance.  Every day around 800 ailing Somalis seek medical assistance from the two outpatient field clinics run by AMISOM doctors. A similar number of residents also get their daily supply of safe water for domestic use from the African Union peacekeepers. And since most international humanitarian agencies have withdrawn from southern Somalia owing to security concerns, Somalis in need are increasingly looking towards AMISOM for help.

Somali women queuing outside AMISOM's medical centre.

“Every other time I visit the field clinics I am really saddened,” AMISOM Spokesman Maj. Ba-Hoku Barigye said during one of his many visits to the main outpatient clinic near the airport run by Ugandan doctors.  “The suffering of the population is just too much. We have gone beyond our ability to help the population. We firmly believe that with the right support AMISOM and the government can really save more lives in Somalia.”

AMISOM Senior Humanitarian Officer Abdul Diabagate the suffering of the population calls for a more robust approach.  Diabagate appealed for a more vigorous and timely intervention by the world to ease suffering in Somalia, which is in the grips of one of the worst humanitarian crises the country has seen in two decades of internal conflict.

“AMISOM continues to provide critically needed humanitarian assistance under increasingly life threatening conditions,” said Diabagate, who oversees donations of drugs and medical equipment sent by the Somali diaspora, the British government and the United Nations Support Office for AMISOM.  “It is important to note that our little humanitarian assistance is easing civilians suffering, but as you can see our interventions are not enough. We need more support and hope that the international community, including world leaders, will take advantage of AMISOM’S presence on the ground to advance humanitarian issues.”

Somalis queuing outside AMISOM's medical centre.

An AMISOM sentry controlling the access to AMISOM's medical facility.

Mahado Ali is among the scores of Somalis receiving vital AMISOM humanitarian assistance.  With no income and a family to support, the 65-year-old widow and mother of five is grateful for the support.

“We live just opposite the base,” Ali said while clutching her 3-year-old son Ahmed Hassan in a queue with other patients waiting to be seen by an AMISOM doctor at the clinic.  “My son has diarrhea.  I came to treat him free of charge at the clinic. The peacekeepers also provide us with safe drinking water. Our safety is also guaranteed here. Life would have been terrible without the support we receive from AMISOM.”

Several tents inside the base serve as the main in-patient hospital, where dozens of ailing Somalis can be seen lying in the open. The facility badly needs refurbishing.  An AMISOM nurse who declined to be named summarized Somalia’s critical humanitarian situation this way.

“We virtually use the same supplies meant for the peacekeepers to assist these poor people,” she said.  “We have the capacity to assist many more but we just can’t. If only the world could provide much more support, the suffering here would have been history.”

By Guled Mohamed

Senior Press Officer AU/UN Information Support Team

By: Orlando Bama

In an article titled “Is Somalia the new Afghanistan?” published in the Sunday Times online of 9 August 2009,

" The author with members of the Albany Darfur team in Khartoum"

Jon Swain and Michael Gillard have raised two critical questions about the situation in Somalia: Is Somalia now rivalling Afghanistan as a crucible of terror? If so, what can (and should) be done about it?

Reacting to the article, two readers posted brief comments on the situation in Somalia. The first reader simply stated: “Perhaps if ‘we’ stepped back and let them sort out their own mess, things may turn out for the best in the long run.” The second comment was even more cynical: “Africa is a lost cause and Muslim countries like this seem to be the worst; just look at Sudan.”

These comments seem to reflect the general mood and thinking of the man and woman on the street in most Western countries, particularly in the current global economic recession, and make the case for a vigorous communications campaign to convince the international community that Somalia is worth saving, that “Africa is not a lost cause” and that “stepping back and letting them sort out their own mess” is not an option, because that is not in the best long term strategic interest of any Western nation, including Australia, as recent events have unfortunately demonstrated.

The main reason why Somalia must be saved, in the enlightened self-interest of the West, is that we live in a global, increasingly interconnected and interdependent world. While globalisation may have its benefits – and there are many – unfortunately, 9/11, 7/7 and recent events in Australia have reminded us that a major challenge of the new world order is the stark reality that what happens in Kandahar or Mogadishu has potentially grave consequences for the man and woman on the streets of New York, London and Sydney.

If the West succumbs to the temptation of so narrowly defining its ‘national interests’ to preclude decisive and immediate action on Somalia, on the grounds that Somalia is some distant problem in a messed-up part of the world, it is just a matter of time before the chickens come home to roost. The hundreds of increasingly radicalised young Somalis – British, German, Canadian, US and Australian citizens – who are giving up the comfort and security of life in the West to return home to fight jihad, just might become the suicide pilots of tomorrow who will hijack the next jumbo jets bound for Paris or Berlin. This is not a scare tactic; it is the world in which we live! It has happened before and it can happen again.

Despite the severe global economic recession which has produced generation-high unemployment, scary budget deficits and lots of anxiety about the future, Somalia must become a foreign and defence policy priority for Britain, the United States and all industrialised countries. The long term cost of doing too little or nothing now, could come not in billions of dollars but in thousands of Western lives.

So, the answers to Swain and Gillard’s questions are: Yes, Somalia is fast becoming the new pre-9/11 Afghanistan – a crucible of international terror. And yes, something can and should be done about it… now!

In a recent BBC television interview, the President of the beleaguered government of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed pleaded for help from the international community. He reassured Western public opinion that Somalia does not need British or American troops. Somalis, he went on, have proven that they are good fighters and can defend themselves and liberate their country from the stranglehold of foreign-backed misguided fanatics, who have perverted the essence of a peaceful religion – Islam. All that the Somali government is asking for, said the President, are the resources it needs to take the fight to the jihadis and kick the terrorists out of Somalia.

Western leaders, from Obama to Brown, seem to understand what’s at stake in Somalia. That understanding now needs to be transubstantiated into action.

* * *

Orlando Bama is a journalist and one of our consultants. He is currently reading for a PhD in Communication Studies at the University of Leeds.

By Else de Temmerman

President Sharif Ahmed, a former geography teacher, does not seem overwhelmed by the almost insurmountable task of pacifying Somalia. The soft-spoken moderate leader of the Islamic Courts, who was elected by an enlarged parliament in January, speaks in clear and decisive terms about the Islamic insurgents whom he says have been brainwashed by global jihadists, and his dream of restoring law and order in a country that has been without a functional government for almost two decades.

Q: How would you analyse the current situation?

A: There has been war in Somalia for a long time. The peace talks in Djibouti led to this progress (an all-inclusive government) and gave Somalia an opportunity to recover. Unfortunately, the opposition to the peace process does not have a political agenda. They just want to control Somalia and hand it over to global terrorists. Whenever we call them for peace talks, they don’t want to listen.

Q: Are you trying to engage the opposition?

A: There are some members of the opposition whom we managed to get on board. They are now part of the government. They were calling for the introduction of Sharia and the government has accepted to implement Sharia law.  They claim they are fighting for Islam. But they are wrong. Islam does not allow the things they are doing: the killings, the chaos. In the history of Islam, when the Prophet Mohamed formed the first government, it was inclusive. Today, they say they are the only Muslims. The others are not Muslims. They infiltrated the Union of Islamic Courts, which I led. Now they think they are members of the Islamic Courts. They are using our name and the goodwill towards the Islamic Courts.

Q: When the Islamic Courts were power in 2006, Somalia was peaceful. One could travel around the country undisturbed. You are back in power now but the security seems worse than ever. What happened between then and now?

A: The difference is that while we were out, elements and top leaders of al-Qaeda came here. Previously, we had some elements of al-Qaeda but they were not active. While we were away, they took advantage of the situation and brainwashed a lot of young people. Al-Qaeda brought in its own people (foreign fighters). Their only agenda is to kill. Now they pose a threat not only to Somalia but to the region as a whole and the neighbouring countries.  When you are a member of al-Shabaab, it is difficult to get out: they kill you. You need to look for an opportunity to get out of their ranks. Back in 20006, our goal was to stabilise the country, not to hurt or kill anyone. That is still our position.

Q: How many foreign fighters are there and who are they?

A: There is no exact number for the foreign fighters, but they are many. Some of them are from Europe, America, Asia and Africa. There are also Somali nationals who went to other countries, changed their nationality and came back.

Q: Would you estimate them to be in their hundreds or thousands?

A: There are over 2,000.

Q: Who is their commander?

A: The commander of the Somali terrorist fighters is called Ahmed Abdi Godane, a Somali who was trained in Afghanistan. The Somali who changed their nationality and came back are commanded by a Pakistani General called Hajir. As for al-Qaeda, Abu Yahya al-Libi (a Libyan who fought in Afghanistan in the early 1990s) was assigned to control what is going on in Somalia. Osama Bin Laden himself talked about that.

Q: What is the role of Eritrea?

A: Eritrea sends money. It is a transit point for the foreign fighters to come here. Eritrea officers are in Somalia (to train al Shabaab).

Q: Are any other countries supporting al Shabaab?

A: Yes, there are other countries behind Eritrea, but we are not mentioning them now.

Q: What does it take to have a safe Somalia?

A: To stabilise Somalia, you need to build capacity, train the Somali security forces and complete the number of AMISOM peacekeepers to the amount that was pledged. We also need to maintain the peace talks by continuing to call those who are not yet on board to come and join us. In addition, we need to bring relief to the needy, help the injured and rehabilitate the militias. Reconstruction is another factor.

Q: What is your strategy to counter al-Shabaab’s propaganda?

A: Because they are telling lies, their propaganda has now become counter-productive. It has back-fired. They say they are Muslims but their actions tell the opposite. They are preaching what they are not practicing. As for the government, there is a task force to counter the propaganda. But the government is only six months old. We have a lot of things to do. And the financial means to improve our public relations may not be there.

Q: There are supposed to 8,000 peacekeepers but there are only 4,000, notably from Uganda and Burundi. Why has the world failed to send troops?

A: As far as the number of AMISOM soldiers is concerned, they are few because of economic factors. The African Union has pledged to complete the numbers. It is just a matter of time.

Q: How would you rate the performance of the peacekeepers, particularly the Ugandans?

A: AMISOM soldiers operate within a mandate which they know. They consult and coordinate with the government on whatever action they plan. Their discipline is good. They perform their duties actively.

They have the support of the government and the Somali people. We thank the Ugandan government and the Ugandan people for sending troops. They are our brothers and sisters and they have shown concern for the Somali people. We commend the wonderful job they are doing to save Somalia. This is the beginning of the reality that Africa will be able to solve its own problems.

Q: What is the way forward?

A:  Somalia is at a cross-roads. It is moving from chaos to a government and statehood. The clan system has been there for a long time. People are now tired of inter-clan fighting. The number of MPs is very large. That is to appease the clans, so that each clan is represented. The council of ministers is all-inclusive. The Somali people are not waiting for al-Shabaab. They are waiting for a government. Al-Shabaab is using terror and intimidation. We, on the other hand, enjoy good relations with the clan leaders. I meet them regularly one by one.

This government has the support of the people and the international community. The US, the EU and the Arab League support us. We hope their assistance will double. The current war is no longer an internal conflict. It is a global issue, a problem of international terrorism. The government is ready to defend its people in terms of mobilising them, telling them the right thing and establishing a security force.

The writer is the editor in chief  of The New Vision

“What we are going to do in Somalia is to empower our brothers to rebuild their state.” Words of Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni, whose country deployed troops to Somalia in response to IGAD’s 2005 call to African countries to contribute troops for a mission in Somalia. IGAD (the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development) is a regional body comprising Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda.

For more than 18 years now, Somalia has been a classic case of a failed state, the main reason why chaos, instability and violence have persisted. IGAD in particular, and the African Union (AU) in general, consider the building of a strong Somali state as key to the re-establishment of security and stability in that country. The AU believes that a strong Somali state will provide an environment where the Somali people can sit together and discuss the conflicts that have for years torn their nation apart. In 2006, before Uganda deployed her troops to Somalia, Yoweri Museveni emphasised this aspect of the mission: “We will not go to Somalia to impose peace on the Somalis, because we shouldn’t do that and we cannot. What we are going to do in Somalia is to empower our brothers to rebuild their state…. We want to be part of the solution [in Somalia], not the problem.”

Since the toppling of the regime of Siad Barre in 1991, thousands of people in Somalia have perished, tens of thousands have been internally displaced while others fled into neighbouring countries, and a large part of the population now depends of food aid. The country is awash with armed militias, arms are flowing in day and night, foreign fighters are coming in at an alarming rate, and piracy along Somalia’s coast is fast becoming a way of life. The situation, if it continues unabated, poses a threat not only to the people of Somalia but to the entire region and the international community.

Uganda is one of the two African countries that have so far contributed to the African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Of the Mission’s present 4,300 troops, 3,000 are Ugandan and 1,300 are Burundian.

Uganda’s reasons for deploying troops to Somalia are first and foremost a response to the decision by IGAD and, subsequently, by the AU, to help the people of Somalia. Fundamentally, however, Uganda’s decision is couched in the Pan African philosophy that as long as a single African country is in turmoil, the continent of Africa will not be at peace. The very philosophy that informed African countries’ involvement in the anti-apartheid struggle, it has been at the heart of the AU’s conviction that Africans must assist Somalia to come out of its cycle of conflict. Museveni summarised this sentiment at an IGAD summit in 2005: “It is a shame for one of the ancient races of Africa to suffer for so long as the rest of Africa looks on.”

Additionally, Uganda sees the stabilisation of Somalia as a strategic challenge for the entire region. The increasing internalisation of the conflict, especially the suspected infiltration into Somalia by Al Qaeda elements who want to use Somalia as a bridgehead for expanding their terrorist activities throughout Africa, has added urgency to efforts to stabilise Somalia, a concern echoed by Somalia’s president Sheikh Sharif Ahmed who recently told journalists: “Al Qaeda considers Somalia a strategic place. They want to make it a safe haven for criminals. We ask the world to help us fight the international terrorists.”

Uganda’s involvement in Somalia is also set against a backdrop of recent troubles in the Great Lakes Region and the Horn of Africa: the genocide in Rwanda, the civil war in Southern Sudan, the civil war in Burundi, the wars in the DRC, the ongoing war in Darfur, the wars in Uganda, the Ethiopian war that removed Mengistu, and the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The people of the region are still trying to recover from the devastation and suffering that accompanied those conflicts. In Uganda’s view, a view in harmony with that of the AU, the last thing the region needs is for one of its sister countries to become a haven for international terrorists of any type.

For Uganda, therefore, participation in the African Mission in Somalia is a strategic necessity and a duty for all African countries if the region is to avoid slipping back into the violence that has already devastated the region and traumatised its people. The very future of the people of the region is intimately linked to the success of the African Mission in Somalia.

Hope Kvingere is a special presidential assistant in Uganda.

The war in Somalia has entered a new phase. Even by Mogadishu’s standards, in recent days the fighting has been intense. More than 100 people have been killed. The al-Qaeda affiliated al-Shabaab and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), supported by the international community, are engaged in a violent power struggle. The dynamics are fluctuating by the day but al-Shabaab, along with other Jihadist movements such as Hisbul Islam, controls most of the territory in south-central Somalia and they are preparing for a final push to seize the presidential palace.

This turn of events is not surprising. Only recently, the very same day rich countries were opening their pockets in Brussels to prop up the weak TFG, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys landed in Mogadishu. As the leader of al-Shabaab and a former colleague-turned competitor of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the arrival of Aweys was significant. He pledged war and has delivered on it. Once in Mogadishu, Aweys addressed crowds in calling the African Union troops “bacteria” that must leave Somalia. Foreign troops in Somalia have always been a point of contention and deeply unpopular. But the reality is that without them the TFG cannot survive. Brushing off overtures from President Sharif for dialogue, al-Shabaab appears to be looking for a military victory.

In the coming days the international community will certainly be considering what options it has. These appear relatively limited — the US has little appetite for intervening and al-Shabaab gave the Ethiopian military such a serious fight that they too do not look eager to invade again.

The concerns widely discussed about the current crisis in Pakistan, particularly as to whether the government is viable and can withstand the Taliban being within 100 km of the capital, are amplified in Somalia. In Somalia, foreign and local fighters, some of who have trained in Afghanistan, actually do control all but a few streets in the capital. There are reports that al-Shabaab is set to be provided with additional reinforcements of foreign and local jihadists in the coming days.

Somaliland, the un-recognized peaceful and politically stable northwestern region of Somalia, must also consider its own security. Somaliland rightly prides itself on being an oasis of peace in a violent region. In September 2009 they will be holding their third presidential elections which, building on the 2003 elections, appear set to be competitive and free. After years of fighting for independence and after years of watching their brothers in the south slaughter themselves, Somalilanders do not take their accomplishment of peace lightly. Unfortunately, they may have already been pulled into this war.

Somalilanders know al-Shabaab’s wrath well. They have been the victims of its impeccable timing — the October 29th suicide bombers that that struck the presidency, UNDP and the Ethiopian embassy coincided with an international meeting for the TFG in Nairobi. A crucial part of the leadership of al-Shabaab currently hails from Somaliland and the October bombings were partly a response to internal criticism suggesting that that they should bring their own clans and land into the war. Al-Shabaab has a presence in Somaliland and events in the south make al-Shabaab sympathizers bolder.

The Somaliland government will certainly be asking difficult questions in the coming days. Should Somaliland forge new security relations with Puntland, the autonomous region to the east? This appears to be happening to some degree, but what would a more dynamic alliance look like?

These are very real and complicated dilemmas for Somaliland and are issues they will be grappling with in the coming days and months. Domestically there will be new debates as now-marginalized politicians that have lost out in President Sharif’s government look for influence. Somaliland has so far managed to successfully build its own democracy and state without intervention, largely because a local and organic peace process was allowed to flourish without external engineering.

At this critical juncture a chance remains for the international community to act to at least preserve and protect the one island of hope — a peaceful, democratic and independent Somaliland that could become a beachhead for extending peace with justice in the region. But Somaliland should be realistic — the international community will allow Somaliland to fail. Somalilanders have rightly prided themselves on succeeding without international intervention but they may yet face one of their greatest tests.

Nichole Stremlau