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Uganda president gives rare insight into Shabaab attacks in Kenya, Somalia, Kampala – and America’s fail

ON April 24, 2015 Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni released an article on the fortunes and misfortunes of the Somalia extremist group Al-Shabaab:

MALTA COMMONWEALTH MEETING
Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni

THE most atrocious, criminal, cowardly and monstrous attacks by Al-Shabaab against soft and innocent targets such as shoppers in Nairobi’s Westgate Mall in September 2013; young students in northeast Kenya’s Garissa  University on April 2 in which 148 were killed, or football fans watching the World Cup matches at the Rugby Club in Kampala in July 2010, may look very frightening to those that are not used to war or that are not well informed. However, those attacks, in fact, prove three things

They prove that Al-Shabaab is sectarian which is obvious because it only targets non-Muslims. Secondly, it proves that Al-Shabaab is bankrupt both morally and ideologically. Why attack non-combatants? Why not attack soldiers if you want to fight? Why attack only non-Muslims? Thirdly, however, it also proves that Al-Shabaab is already defeated. Why do I say this?

I say this because it is that bankrupt Al-Shabaab that initiated attacks against the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) who were part of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping force AMISOM in the month of May in the year 2009 in Mogadishu.

The UPDF had gone to Mogadishu, not to fight anybody, but, to stabilise the situation there and to guard the Port and the airforce. This was after the Somali factions had agreed to a shared government in Djibouti and after the American mistakes of manipulating the warlords had failed. We went there under the African Union Flag. You know that flag. It consists of the conspicuously huge map of Africa. Nobody that is not blind can mistake this for anything else.

What the [Horn and East African grouping] Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and AU wanted was negotiations to include anybody that had been left of out the interim government – especially the groups that had been in Eritrea.

In any case, we were in just a small portion of Somalia, at Mogadishu port, at the airport and, later on, on the request of the Interim Somali Government, State House and Kilometre 4 (linking the different positions) was added.

Not wise to attack Uganda, Burundi

Even if the Al-Shabaab did not want to negotiate with the Interim Government for any obscure reason, it was not wise to attack the Ugandan and Burundian troops carrying the AU flag. Why do you attack the AU flag? Do you not belong to Africa? If you do not belong to Africa, where do you belong? In any case, big chunks of Somalia, including ports and airports, were under their control. They could build capacity there if they had any ambitions to do so.

However, intoxicated with their bankrupt ideology of Islamic chauvinism (arrogance and narrow-mindedness), they attacked our troops calling them “Kaffir” (primitive people that do not know God) just like the European imperialists used to call us.

Well, the “Kaffirs” taught those idiots that we know how to defend the African soil and the African flag. Our well-trained and well-disciplined army smashed the fanatical attacks of these misled people.

This was especially so in the Ramadhan of August 2010; we smashed the mass attacks of these confused people and advanced to Barawe, Marka, Juba Hotel, Bondhere, Florencia, Telebunka, Elhindi, Santa gate Shigare, Bakara Market, National Stadium, Mogadishu University, Dayinley, Afugoye, Kilometre 50, Elsaalini and Shalambot beyond our original positions at the airport, Sea-Port, Kilometre – 4 and State House.

They, then, started sniping our troops from the built up areas. We brought in commandos that were experts in counter sniping. Between May 2011 and September 2011, at least, 320 Al-Shabaab fighters were killed by UPDF snipers. With other attacks and movements, the Al-Shabaab fled from Mogadishu on August 6, 2011.

The manipulation of the young Muslim youth by their cowardly and criminal leaders promising them heaven (janah) by dying fighting the “Kaffirs” could no longer persuade these poor children to face the might of the UPDF.

I sometimes wonder about the moral standing of these leaders. If pre-mature going to heaven is such a good thing, why don’t some of these leaders set an example by blowing themselves up instead of only sending these poor children to die?

“Defeated” Al-Shabaab

After that Al-Shabaab was defeated in Baidoa, Afgooye, Marka, Beledweyne, Kismayu. Therefore, the Al-Shabaab is now attacking shopping Malls, football fans, university students and so forth, because they are already defeated. They cannot attack anything else – not even a well- guarded Police Station let alone a battalion of the AU forces.

In their bankruptcy and ignorance of war, they miscalculate that attacking soft targets will frighten Africa and cause it to abandon the Somali people to these idiots. That will not happen.

I have not talked about the concept of the Armed Population in recent times in public. In 1980s, 1990s, when some actors were threatening to invade Uganda, we had trained a militia of 2 million men and women. All high school leavers used to get military training.

However, with increased Secondary School and University enrollment, the numbers became too big. We, therefore, suspended that generalised mass training and, instead, concentrated on the areas that had insecurity at that time. In (northeastern) Teso region we had a militia (Local Defence Units – LDUs) of 8,000 known as the Arrow Boys; in (northern) Lango we had another 8,000 and they were called Amuka.

Now that the Al-Shabaab can no longer either fight conventional or guerilla battles against the AU force and they are only relying on terrorist attacks against the soft, innocent targets, we can harden the soft targets with the concept of the Armed population, maybe, initially, in the threatened areas as defined by intelligence.

Read more: Uganda president gives rare insight into Shabaab attacks

Source: Mail & Guardian Africa

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