By Merga Yonas

Although some of the African leaders had made an attempt to alter the status quo from peacekeeping to peacemaking, the 15th African Union (AU) summit, which was held recently in Kampala, Uganda, ended by bolstering the number of peacekeepers in the war-raged Somalia. Indeed, the leaders' proposal of launching an offensive against the extremist al-Shabab was also a subject for debate at the summit. The AU heads of state and government meeting, which was widely covered in the world, grasped the attention of both the local and the international community to a large extent. In Ethiopia too, the meeting was drawing the attention of some Somali refugees, local people and political analysts.

Mohamad Nur, 34, a Somali refugee living in ‘Little Mogadishu’ (Bole Michael), located in Kebele 20 of Bole sub-city, Addis Ababa, appreciated the leaders’ approach for an offensive attack against al-Shabab. With a little room of reservation, he also supported the declared agenda of the summit, which was to bolster the number of AU peacekeepers in Somalia. Unless the responsible body, including the United Nations (UN), the AU and the international community search out and freeze the financial as well as technical basis of the extremists, the AU plan could bluntly be irrelevant, Mohamad said.

However, Yoweri Museveni, the Ugandan president, urged African leaders to defeat “the terrorists” and “sweep them out of Africa”. But, finally, the summit agreed to send thousands of extra troops to Somalia. Currently more than 6,000 troops from Uganda and Burundi comprise the AMISOM forces, battling al-Qaeda-linked insurgents in Somalia.

Yet, Nigeria and Ghana have not followed through on their promises of support. Other countries such as Guinea, Djibouti, Angola and Mozambique have pledged for reinforcement. It was predicted that the battalion of the mission could soon swell to 10,000 soldiers.

“Either to boost the number of armed forces or to carry on a pre-emptive strike against the extremists, investigating and freezing their source could make AU's move straightforward,” Mohamad told The Reporter. “That way it could be possible to push them back to where they came from.”

Africa: A time for caution
Following the twin blast, at a rugby club and the Ethiopian Village Restaurant in Kampala, the al-Qaeda allied group (al-Shabab) has warned Uganda and Burundi for further violence unless they pull their soldiers out of Somalia. After two weeks of the attack in Kampala, which killed more than 70 people, Mr. Museveni called for a global effort to defeat the extremists.

Al-Shabab has proved its strong hold in Somalia. That is the reason why they start exporting terrorist attacks from Somalia. Previously, the insurgents were considered as the only problem for Somalis. But now they are diversifying their attacks on other civilians outside the country.

Mesay Mamo, BA in Political Science and International Relation (PSIR), suggested that if the extremists should not be dwarfed sooner than later, there is no doubt that they could get international recognition like al-Qaeda, which still remains a headache for the whole world. So it is up to the African leaders and other members of the international community to bring about a solution for Somalia and the whole region in general, Mesay told The Reporter.

As Abdurahman Adnan Ibrahim, deputy prime minister of the transitional government, told al-Jazeera during the recent summit, “The AU is now doing what we have been telling them for a long time that this (al-Shabab) is not only an enemy of Somalia but is the enemy of the whole region ... Every country now realizes the reality on the ground,”

Creating Somali security forces will save civilian casualties
Al-Shabab, along with a number of other anti-government groups, controls much of southern and central Somalia, as well as most of the capital, Mogadishu. The transitional government, which has long promised to launch a major offensive against al-Shabab, controls only a few streets of the capital. At least 21,000 civilians are believed to have been killed in the violence over the past years, while 1.5 million people have been forced to flee their homes.

Though sending more peacekeeping troops to Somalia has been confirmed during the summit, the AU is still considering whether to allow the troops for attack against anti-government fighters there. Several political analysts and media personnel have been reserved on the offensive approach towards al-Shabab. They have questioned whether it is going to bring Somalia back to some sort of peace after two decades of chaos.

According to the East Africa correspondent of the BBC, Will Ross, there is concern that any offensive against al-Shabab could increase the number of civilian deaths and make the AU mission extremely unpopular with the Somali population.

Fighting the terrorists and vanquishing them outright could be very difficult. So, instead, adopting a different approach could be a possible solution. The political analyst also suggested that more troops and more guns were not what were needed in Somalia. It could exacerbate the already difficult situation there.
Conversely, Mesay picks sending troops for offensive attack or trying to enter into dialogue with the moderate Islamist insurgent as a possible solution. As far as AMISOM remain as peacekeepers, increasing their number could not destroy those extremists. To get al-Shabab out of Somalia or out of the region, the troops should combat as peacemakers, Mesay told The Reporter.

Currently, in Somalia, each day, many civilians are losing their lives. It is also obvious that during offensive attacks civilian could get hurt. But, in comparison, to eliminate the insurgents and restore peace and security in Somalia, the latter statement could be a better approach than the pervious one, Mesay added. This point was also shared by Mohamad, who fled from Somalia two decades ago and is longing for peace and stable security in his country.

Addressing extremism and security in Somalia needs a sober approach and, like Al-Shabab, the international community must not make another blunder in order to mitigate the situation. At the same time, sending troops to Somalia is a temporary solution that can not be sustained in the long term, Dr Afyare Abdi Elmi, a professor of International Affairs at Qatar University said.

So, the best way to address extremism is to help create professional and disciplined Somali security forces.

EthiopainReporter