Pressure piles on peacekeepers
2009-09-18 18:34
Mogadishu - Islamist insurgents vowed to pursue their campaign until African Union peacekeepers leave Somalia, a day after sending the force reeling from twin suicide attacks on its headquarters.
At least 16 peacekeepers were killed on Thursday when suicide bombers from the Shebab, an al Qaeda-inspired group, rammed stolen UN vehicles into the mission's headquarters at Mogadishu airport.
The deadliest attack on the mission, named Amisom, since it deployed in the lawless Horn of Africa country in March 2007 drew a barrage of international condemnation but also Shebab warnings of more to come.
"I condemn this terrorist attack in the strongest terms," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in New York.
Other backers of Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed also expressed shock at the attack, which killed at least 12 Burundian and four Ugandan soldiers and wounded many more.
Sense of urgency
"The brazenness of the attacks on Amisom headquarters today should, if anything, point to the sense of urgency with which the international community must bring its pressure to bear on the murderous campaign," of the Islamists, the Ethiopian government said in a statement.
Ethiopia, which ended an ill-fated two-year occupation of Somalia in January, has always said it was ready to move back in should Muslim extremists threaten to take over.
The attack revealed the vulnerability of Amisom, killing the Burundian deputy commander of the force and lightly wounding his Ugandan boss, who was preparing to host negotiations in the compound when the blasts went off.
"Until now we have 12 dead," Burundian army spokesperson Lazare Nduhayo said in Bujumbura, where the authorities declared five days of national mourning.
Permanent strife
The African Union is trying to convince other member states to contribute troops and make good on an initial pledge to build a force of 8 000 men, almost twice the size of the current deployment.
For two years, the Shebab and its allies focused their war effort against Ethiopia's presence. But since Ethiopian troops pulled out in January, the militia have made Amisom's departure their priority, accusing the peacekeepers of being the fore guard of a Christian crusade.
With the country embroiled in permanent strife pitting a complex patchwork of factions with multiple and changing allegiances against each other, the African force has struggled to make any impact.
Its main function has been to act as the last lifeline of Sharif's embattled transitional government, mainly patrolling a limited perimeter around key institutions in the capital.
Amisom has nevertheless been drawn into the conflict, exchanging heavy mortar fire with insurgents targeting its bases from densely-populated urban areas.
Retaliation claims
While the Shebab is believed to enjoy only limited support in the Somali population, the civilian casualties caused by Amisom fire have all but dashed that force's own hopes of building local credibility.
"We call on Christian nations whose governments are sending their sons to Somalia to stop... We warned you before and we are warning you now: don't send them to hell in Somalia," said Shebab spokesperson Ali Mohamud Rage.
He claimed the double bombing of the AU headquarters was in retaliation for the killing two days earlier in a US land and air operation of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan wanted by the United States for deadly 2002 anti-Israeli attacks in Mombasa.
Nabhan was one of al-Qaeda's pointmen in the region and had links with the Shebab but experts argue the Amisom attacks had most likely been planned long before his death.