Month: July 2022

At least 10 people were killed and more than 20 others injured Friday when al-Shabab extremists attacked a town that sits on the Somali side of the border with Ethiopia, according to witnesses and officials.

“The militants launched a surprise dawn attack on the town of Aato in the Bakol region of Somalia this morning [Friday], triggering fierce gun battles with a joint Ethiopian paramilitary Liyu police officers and Somali forces,” witnesses who requested anonymity fearing reprisals told VOA.

One of the witnesses said the militant fighters began their attack using car bombs and mortar shells, then used guns as they fought the opposing forces.

At the time of the attack, members of Somalia’s parliament were in the town to distribute food aid sent from Mogadishu to drought-affected residents. It was not clear if the government delegation was the target of the al-Shabab attack.

“Heavily armed militants, using mortar shells and machine guns mounted on vehicles attacked the town, confronting joint Somali and Ethiopian forces in the streets of the town in a battle that ensued for three hours,” Aden Mohamed Nor, a Somali lawmaker, in the town during the attack, told VOA by phone.

Nor said he saw the dead bodies of more than 10 combatants from both sides, and that al-Shabab took most of its dead and wounded fighters as they were repulsed.

“I saw the dead bodies of more than 10 mainly al-Shabab militants. Based on our intelligence info, the militants lost many fighters in the battle and loaded their dead and wounded onto armored vehicles they apparently seized during previous attacks on African Union Troops’ bases in Somalia.” Nor said.

Earlier Friday, at least two people were killed and eight others injured in a bomb blast that killed a regional minister in the town of Baidoa, about 250 kilometers from the capital, Mogadishu.

Those killed in the blast were Somalia’s southwestern regional state Minister of Justice Sheikh Hassan Ibrahim and his son, witnesses and security officials said. At least eight other people, including the minister’s second son, were injured.

Security officials said an apparent remote-controlled bomb went off as the minister and his sons left a mosque, where they had performed the Friday congregational prayers.

Aato was Shabab’s entry to Ethiopia

Aato, a town in the Bakol region of Somalia, is one of three Bakol towns, along with Yeed and Washaago, that the militants attacked last week as they crossed into the Afdher zone of Ethiopia’s Somali state.

Somali military officials put the number of al-Shabab fighters who crossed the border into Ethiopia at almost 500 fighters. U.S. assessments suggest they may have penetrated as much as 150 kilometers into Ethiopia before being stopped.

“Our brave soldiers foiled a plan al-Shabab was working on for at least a year, and defeated the fighters they sent to Ethiopia within three days,” Mustafe Omer, the president of Ethiopia’s Somali region, told reporters.

Omar also said Ethiopia is planning to create a “security buffer zone” aimed at countering al-Shabab attacks.

“We cannot merely watch an open border where the militants mobilize themselves on the other side [Somalia] to attack us,” he said. “We must prevent such a threat and not wait until they come to our border.”

U.S. officials and some analysts worry that in addition to Ethiopia, which al-Shabab had previously attacked in 2013 and 2014, al-Shabab also plans to expand in operations in Kenya, Djibouti and beyond.

“The militants have been enjoying [freedom] in their movements and military mobilizations because of the absence of Somali National Army offensives targeting their hideouts and the areas they still control,” said Abdisalam Yusuf Guled, the former deputy head of the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency.

“So, they [al-Shabab militants] have got the choice to attack wherever they want and whenever they want,” he said. “To me, it [Ethiopia] was a rare attack but always predictable.”

Source: Voice of America

A local Somali official has welcomed a plan by Ethiopia’s Somali state to create a buffer zone along the border inside Somalia to fight militant group al-Shabab. The plan was announced Thursday, a week after hundreds of Somali militants launched a cross-border attack that Ethiopian authorities say they repelled.

Somalia’s federal officials have yet to comment on an Ethiopian buffer zone inside their country and some security analysts warn it could create more tension.

The president of Ethiopia’s Somali state, Mustafe Omar, has announced that his administration will create a buffer zone inside Somalia to prevent al-Shabab militants from entering Ethiopia again.

He was speaking to media at the front, flanked by his senior security commanders.

He said al-Shabab fighters entered the region from several directions last week but have been beaten badly and security forces are searching for their remnants.

Omar said “the first phase” of the fighting has been concluded, and outlined the next step Ethiopia plans to take.

He said the second phase will be to create a security buffer zone inside Somalia that is free of terrorists because, he says, we can’t wait for the enemy here.

Mohamed Moalim Ahmed is mayor of Hudur, the capital of Somalia’s Bakol region, which borders Ethiopia. He said Friday that the regional administration welcomes the plan by Ethiopia’s Somali state to create a buffer zone inside Somalia to fight al-Shabab terrorists.

Speaking with VOA via phone, Ahmed said that they are ready to work with the Ethiopia’s Liyu security forces to defeat al-Shabab.

“We, the government of the southwest state of Somalia, are ready to work with the Liyu police to unite and come together to fight [al-Shabab],” Ahmed said. “We don’t see a problem if the security forces of the Somali region of Ethiopia reside in our areas and public fear regarding their coming will be discussed to avoid harming the civilians and only target the enemy.”

Liyu police have been present in Somali border towns for some time, and it was not clear what steps Ethiopian authorities would take to establish a formal buffer zone.

Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad, a Horn of Africa strategic studies analyst and African affairs commentator, told VOA via WhatsApp that creating a buffer zone inside Somalia is a bad idea.

“Maybe the idea of joint military exercises between Somali national army and Liyu police I think is sellable to the Somali public but creating buffer zone inside Somalia is not noble idea and I don’t think that will work,” Abdisamad said. “That will create unnecessary tension between the two countries and must be avoided.”

“Why right now? What is the significance of creating a buffer zone? What is the idea? Who is pushing the idea itself?,” Abdisamad added. “In the longer run, it creates a new problem between the two states.”

Somalia’s federal government has not commented on the proposed buffer zone but the new prime minister, Hamza Abdi Barre, has ordered security agencies to respond to al-Shabab attacks in the border towns in the Bakol region.

Security forces in Ethiopia said they killed more than 100 al-Shabab militants after they crossed into eastern Ethiopia last week. U.S. assessments suggest the Shabab fighters may have penetrated as far as 150 kilometers into Ethiopia before being stopped.

Meanwhile, al-Shabab said Friday that it attacked the town of Aato, near the Somali border with Ethiopia.

Residents told VOA that they have heard multiple explosions and heavy fire exchanges. Casualties are yet unknown.

Al-Shabab has been fighting the Somali government and African Union troops in Somalia for more than 15 years, carrying out attacks in Somalia and neighboring Kenya.

Experts believe that the group’s attack in Ethiopia is meant to show the group is still very dangerous to the security of Horn of African countries.

Source: Voice of America

A Malawian rights activist has been found safe a day after his reported abduction led to the cancellation of an anti-government protest.

An eyewitness said five men abducted Sylvester Namiwa, the head of the Center for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI), as he was leaving a press conference Wednesday.

He was found alive Thursday afternoon in a bush in the Nathenje area on the outskirts of Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe.

Edwin Mauluka is the spokesperson for the CDEDI.

“I was this morning with him as we escorted him to police. The issue is in the hands of police because we reported that matter to police, that Mr. Namiwa has found there at Nathenje,” said Mauluka.

Namiwa spoke to reporters after his re-appearance Thursday. He said he would not give details on his alleged abduction until he talked with his lawyers and family members.

However, he said he believed the abduction was a government ploy to silence dissenting views.

“I am betting my last drop on my blood to defend this democracy…. Chakwera and his Malawi Congress party are a threat to democracy but I will not be intimidated,” said Namiwa.

Police said Friday they have taken a statement from Namiwa and are conducting an investigation. Harry Namwaza is the deputy spokesperson for the Malawi Police Service.

“After taking a statement from him, there are other things we should do like visiting all scenes where he was allegedly taken to,” said Namwaza. “So, once we are done with our investigation, we can give an update in terms of what we found and what will be the way forward because we also have to identify those behind these abductions.”

The abduction of Namiwa ignited a war of words in parliament Thursday.

The minister of Homeland Security accused the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of carrying out the abduction to tarnish the image of the government.

DPP lawmakers accused the government of abducting Namiwa to foil an anti-government protest that was planned for Thursday.

The protest was canceled in Lilongwe but demonstrations went forward in other areas, where police fired teargas to disperse people who allegedly wanted to loot shops and vandalize property.

Source: Voice of America