The UN Security Council is set to approve an additional 4,000 troops
for Amisom in Somalia to help the fledging government maintain security
in that nation.
This follows the Africa Union request to send in more soldiers to
fight Al Shabaab due to its threats to nations in the region. If this
additional force is deployed, it will bring the total number of the
Amisom troops from several African nations to 22,000.
Amisom controls Mogadishu, Kismayu and other major towns in the
south of the country. According to the UN, Al Shabaab controls about a
third of the territory. Recent UK media reports suggest that the
organisation, which UN says has about 5,000 men, is regrouping,
recruiting and training daily contrary to perceptions that they are
finished.
The Guardian newspaper report quotes KDF sources saying that the
group’s number could actually be three times more, and that in spite of
being formally removed from Kismayu, Al Shabaab maintains a parallel
underground administration that collects revenue from businesses.
The same report suggests that Amisom advances to other areas
under the control of the group have lost momentum in recent months due
to inadequate equipment.
My take is that both the AU and the UN are wrong in pursuing
expansion of Amisom troops at the expense of building the capacity of
Somalia’s defence forces. Its Army, estimated at just about 10,000 men
converted from local militias, is so ill-equipped that it lacks the
capacity to secure towns freed from Al Shabaab.
For a country as vast as Somalia, facing a major terrorist
insurgency, its security forces do not have a single aircraft to help
its forces mobilse when necessary. Its so-called Army, where the rank
and file earn an inconsistent, paltry pay of $160 per month, suffers
questions of trust and legitimacy because of their perceived
affiliations to clans and regional powers.
It is illogical to invest so much resource in sending foreign
armies to police the country, yet the national government urgently needs
support to build its own security forces.
Amisom spends about US$500 million annually for deploying its
17,000 troops in Somalia. Regional countries spend similar amounts to
support troops in that country.
Uganda’s budget for its forces in Amisom last year was about $100
million. Kenya probably spends even more. Yet, the impact of these
foreign forces in Somalia is minimal in my view, relative to what a well
trained and equipped Somali forces would have achieved.
First, the amounts spent on the proposed 22,000 Amisom forces
annually is more than adequate to recruit 100,000 men into the Somali
Army, complete with their artillery.
Secondly, there is little doubt that local Somalis understand the
terrain and would, according to some UN reports, offer “better policing
and better intelligence”.
It is also rational to suggest that properly equipped, trained
and well remunerated Somali forces would easily overrun the insurgent
groups, and be a more attractive alternative for the youth to join.
It makes pretty good sense to teach folks how to fish than to give them fish. he Somalia Army even under the TFG regime suffered low morale and
defection due to poor terms and the lack of adequate equipment to
respond to threats.
Now that Somalia has a government that is recognised globally, it
is time the international community invested in its people in order to
help the nation build its capacity.
The Amisom forces can then be redeployed to its porous
international borders to stop infiltration until security is restored in
the country.
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