TFG gains momentum

[Somalina]

Somalia: Government captures al-Shabab militia bases

 

 

Sunday, March 06, 2011

 

Forces loyal to Somalia's transitional government have captured a key town near the Kenyan and Ethiopian borders. For the past two years Bulo Hawo has been mainly under the control of the Islamist al-Shabab militia.

 

Government troops, backed by forces from the African Union, also gained ground from the group in the country's capital, Mogadishu. Reports suggest about 50 peacekeepers were killed in the offensive but the UN has not confirmed how many died.

Freedom of manoeuvre

Maj-Gen Nathan Mugisha, of the UN peacekeeping mission known as Amisom, said his forces had captured the former ministry of defence building in the north of the capital, gaining control of a major al-Shabab base.

 

"By taking these positions we have effectively reduced their freedom of manoeuvre in that sector," Gen Mugisha told Reuters news agency.

 

He said the offensive meant the UN forces now had control of seven districts in the capital, leaving six contested and three under rebel control.

 

The offensive in the town of Bulo Hawo began early in the morning. Dozens of militants were reported to have been killed in the fighting which lasted more than three hours."We have chased them to an area 40km (25 miles) south of the city," Sharif Abdiwahid Sharif Aden, a spokesman for the pro-government militiamen told Associated Press.

 

Eyewitnesses said Ethiopian troops were also part of the offensive against al-Shabab.

 

Somalia has not had a functioning national government for 20 years.

 

Al-Shabab controls much of southern Somalia and has been fighting interim government forces and the 8,000 AU troops for control of Mogadishu in recent months.

 

The BBC's Will Ross, in Nairobi, says that it is clear the group has been under increased pressure on several fronts.

 

The question now, he says, is whether or not the al-Qaeda-linked fighters have sufficient power to reverse any of their recent losses.

 

Source: BBC News

[The Zack]

Woot Woot.... We shall see how this unfolds.

[General Duke]

There is no doubt that Al Shabaab are on the back foot.

[Somalina]

Somali Forces Take Border Town From Rebels

nytimes.com

 

By MOHAMMED IBRAHIM

Published: March 6, 2011

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia — After several days of fighting, Somali and African Union troops have captured the border town of Bulo Hawo, military officials said.

 

Somali officials also said they had taken more territory in the capital, Mogadishu, and the government issued an offer to pay any militants willing to switch sides.

 

The southwestern town of Bulo Hawo, which borders Kenya and Ethiopia deep in rebel-held territory, has changed hands several times. Government forces had last taken the town in October from the Shabab rebels.

 

As a government offensive ramped up in the last few days, thousands of civilians have fled into Kenya, where there are large Somali refugee camps.

 

The government recaptured the town on Saturday, Defense Minister Abdihakim Mohamoud Fiqi announced at a news conference on Saturday.

 

There were reports that Ethiopian troops had joined Somali forces in the attack, but President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed said Ethiopia had only provided logistical support.

 

“No Ethiopian army were involved the in the ongoing government offensive, but they have given our army logistical support,” he said Friday.

 

Mr. Fiqi, the defense minister, also announced a new program to pay rebels to switch sides and buy their guns are market prices.

 

“We promise that every person who joins from the government from the Shabab side will be given money for his gun and a monthly salary and any other necessary assistance,” he said.

 

He did not specify how much the former rebels would be paid.

 

In fighting in the capital on Friday and Saturday, government forces allied with African Union troops moved the front line forward, pushing the Shabab out of one neighborhood and killing 13 militants, Mr. Fiqi said.

 

African Union forces also thwarted coordinated attacks on the former Defense Ministry building on Saturday, the African Union force said. In a statement, the African Union force said it had destroyed a “jeep flying a black flag” that was heading to the gate of the compound, “killing all suicide bombers inside.” The Shabab rebels often fly a black flag.

 

The African force also repelled a simultaneous attack with small and medium weapons, inflicting “serious casualties” on the rebels and only a minor injury on one African Union soldier.

 

The Defense Ministry building had only been recaptured by government and African Union forces two weeks earlier. Since then, it has served as a based for Burundian members of the African Union force.

 

Brig. Gen. Maurice Gatereste, commander of the Burundi contingent, called the attack “an act born out of frustration and desperate desire” to recapture the compound.

[Somalina]

Somali troops, militia take two towns from rebels

 

Monday, March 07, 2011

 

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali troops backed by pro-government militia took two towns from rebel Islamist group al Shabaab in fighting on Monday morning, local officials said.

Battles have raged across central and southern Somalia in recent weeks as Somali troops backed by the moderate Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca militia struggle to reclaim territory from al Shabaab, which has links to al Qaeda.

 

The soldiers captured Luq, 80 km (50 miles) from the Ethiopian border, and Elwaq, a frontier town close to Kenya after taking Beledhawo over the weekend.

 

"We have taken Luq town after a brief fight. Al Shabaab has fled," Abdi Fatah Mohamed Gesey, former governor for Bay region, told Reuters by phone from the agricultural town.

 

"We will not stop our operations against al Shabaab. The residents have warmly welcomed us and our next stop will be Baidoa."

 

President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said on Saturday his fighters were receiving logistical help from Ethiopian troops.

 

Sustained clashes over the past week have focused on the capital and Somalia's southern border with Kenya. Government troops and African Union peacekeepers say they have inflicted heavy losses on al Shabaab militants in Mogadishu

 

"Our troops have captured Elwaq, nine km from the Kenyan border, peacefully," Colonel Mahamud Ali Shire told Reuters by telephone.

 

"They run away from the town. We are now headed for Garbaharey, we have heard their last convoy has left for Bardhere to keep their foreign fighters safe, but we will not for a minute stop our fight against them."

 

(Reporting by Mohamed Ahmed and Ibrahim Mohamed; Additional reporting by Sahra Abdi in Nairobi; Editing by Helen Nyambura and Michael Roddy).

[Somalina]

Madaxweyne Shariif oo baaq u diray Hay’adaha Samafalka

 

Muqdisho: (Sh. M. Network) Madaxweynaha dowladda KMG Soomaaliya Sheekh Shariif Sheekh Axmed ayaa sheegay in Hay’adaha Samafalka looga baahanyahay inay gar gaaraan dadka ku dhibaataysan degmada Baladxaawo ee gobolka Gedo.

 

Sheekh Shariif Sheekh Axmed Madaxweynaha dowladda KMG Soomaaliya oo u waramayay Idaacadda Shabelle ayaa waxaa uu ka hadlay deegaano ka tirsan gobolka Gedo oo ay ka jiraan abaaro xoogan gaar ahaan degmada Baladxaaawo oo ay ka qaxeen dadkii ugu badnaa ee ku noolaa halkaasi.

 

Madaxweyne Shariif ayaa waxaa uu ugu baaqay Hay’adaha Samafalka iyo shacabka Soomaaliyeed inay gar gaar la gaaraan dadkii ka cararay degmada Baladxaawo ee iminka ku dhibaataysan degmada Mandheera ee dalka Kenya.

 

Waxaa uu sheegay Sheekh Shariif Sheekh Axmed in degmada Baladxaawo ay ku taalo meel istaraatiiji ah oo ay Hay’adaha samafalka gayn karaan gar gaar bini’aadanimo kuwaasi oo uu sheegay in hadda ay awoodaan in inay caawiyaan dadkaasi dhibaataysan maadaama halkaasi ay ka taliyaan ciidamada dowladda KMG Soomaaliya.

 

Madaxweynaha dowladda KMG Soomaaliya Sheekh Shariif Sheekh Axmed ayaa waxaa uu sheegay in degmada Baladxaawo ay ka mid tahay degmooyinka ka tirsan gobolka Gedo islamarkaana si xoogan ay u saameeyeen abaaraha, isagoo xusay in aduun waynaha looga baahanyahay gurmed bini’aadanimo.

 

Hadalka kasoo baxay Madaxweynaha dowladda ayaa waxaa uu soo if baxayaa iyadoo degmooyin badan oo ka tirsan gobolka Gedo ay la wareegeen ciidamada dowladda KMG Soomaaliya.

[Liqaye]

MUSTAFA HAJI ABDINUR

MOGADISHU, SOMALIA

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

 

Somalia's pro-government forces on Tuesday closed in on bastions of the insurgent al-Shabaab group, mounting their largest coordinated effort in years to wrest back the country from al-Qaeda-inspired rebels.

 

The offensive started last week with a major battle in Mogadishu that saw government troops reclaim large swathes of the capital, where the government had long been confined to a few blocks by the sea.

 

But government troops and their allies have in recent days opened new fronts in the south along the border with Kenya, and in the west, near the border with Ethiopia, two countries reported to actively support the military push.

 

The Western-backed Somali government's troops are backed by the 8 000-strong African Union mission in Somalia (Amisom), as well as by the Sufi militia Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa and tribal militias.

 

Their offensive aims to stretch an al-Shabaab group that has controlled most of southern and central Somalia for three years with a limited number of men but is supported on the ground by jihadi fighters from around the world.

 

According to witnesses and officials, Ethiopia was trucking in troops to El Bur district, a key al-Shabaab stronghold in central Somalia.

 

"I saw dozens of trucks belonging to the Ethiopian military heading towards El Bur. It looks like they are joining Ahlu Sunna's war against al-Shabaab," said one local resident, Ise Maalim.

 

'The war to eliminate the al-Shabaab threat has begun'

A government official in Dolow district, further south, said the all-out offensive that had been promised by three successive prime ministers was finally under way. "The war to eliminate the al-Shabaab threat from the country has begun. We will not stop until we succeed in our goal to cleanse this country of al-Qaeda and its Somali followers," Abdifatah Ibrahim Gesey said.

 

The towns of Bulo Hawo and Luq, near the Kenyan border, were recently recaptured from al-Shabaab, who witnesses said were abandoning some of their positions in the south to regroup for the battle over Mogadishu.

 

Bulo Hawo was conquered after a bloody battle that some security sources in the region said left at least 80 people dead, including women, but Luq was taken over without any fighting.

 

According to officials and witnesses, pro-government forces have also deployed around Beledweyne, a strategic town near the Ethiopian border that is crucial to the flow of military supplies and trade.

 

Al-Shabaab fighters were also believed to be bracing for a battle in the city of Baidoa, which is where the transitional federal Parliament was based before the insurgents captured the town and made it one of their strongholds.

 

"This is the most coordinated offensive I have seen ... It could change the political map of Somalia for some time," said a foreign security expert based in the region.

 

Sweeping raid

The anti-al-Shabaab drive started with an operation conducted mainly by Amisom's Ugandan contingent in Mogadishu to smash a network of trenches and tunnels the insurgents had been using to control most of the city.

 

A few days later, the African force's Burundian contingent launched a sweeping raid to recapture key thoroughfares and landmarks that had been in al-Shabaab hands for months and sometimes years.

 

Neither side admitted to major losses, but security sources in Amisom and elsewhere reported that no fewer than 43 Burundians and many more al-Shabaab fighters were killed in what was one of Mogadishu's bloodiest battles in years.

 

Tens of thousands of people have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced over the past few years in Somalia, which is chronically described as the world's most dangerous country and its worst humanitarian crisis.

 

The transitional government, whose mandate is set to expire within months, was in battle order and President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Monday sacked all the country's top security officials in a bid to improve top-brass coordination.

 

Meanwhile, al-Shabaab were reported to have launched a massive recruitment drive to contain the government's advance.

 

Source: AFP