Battle for Mogadishu's Bakara Market Proves Costly, Complicated

[Liqaye]

Michael Onyiego | Nairobi

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

 

 

Photo: AP

Somali government soldiers in the bush take position during clashes between insurgents and Somali government soldiers with AU peacekeeping forces in southern Mogadishu's Bakara market

As international troops close in on Mogadishu's Bakara market, a stronghold of the militant group al-Shabab, an analyst from the International Crisis Group is warning that seizing the critical position could prove to be complicated and costly.

 

Much of the military campaign in Somalia's war-torn capital, Mogadishu, has been a battle for Bakara market. Sitting on top of a hill in the city's main business district, Bakara is a nerve center for much of southern Somalia, and has served as a stronghold for the al-Qaida-linked insurgent group al-Shabab for the past half decade.

 

For the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) moving towards the market has been a key goal for the past year. During the September "Ramadan Offensive" the government and international troops touted significant gains made in nearby neighborhoods such as El Hindi.

 

A Somalia analyst for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG), Rashid Abdi, explains the importance of Bakara to the AMISOM mission.

 

 

 

 

"Strategically, of course, it really denies al-Shabab a place they have been using for the last five or six years to launch mortar attacks and basically to recruit and also to extort money from traders," said Abdi. "So if AMISOM is about to take control of Bakara market then that will be a very significant victory and a big blow for al-Shabab."

 

According to recent reports, AMISOM and forces of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) have closed in and appear to be tightening their grip on the position that has eluded them for so long. AMISOM says two soldiers and 20 insurgents were killed in fighting around the market in the past few days. The insurgents have reportedly begun to dig trenches to prevent tanks and vehicles from entering, and civilians are beginning to flee in advance of the fighting.

 

African Union and Somali government forces have promised not to bomb or even enter the market, but rather to cut off critical al-Shabab supply lines and squeeze the insurgents out. But ICG's Abdi warns that any major fight will be difficult for government and AMISOM troops.

 

"The problem is that Bakara is a very difficult place," added Abdi. "It is a maze of tightly packed kiosks or stalls. It is teeming with humanity, traders, shoppers. It is a very difficult place to control and al-Shabab have used Bakara market to launch mortar attacks on TFG positions."

 

The other problem is civilians. Bakara is the busiest, most populated part of Mogadishu, and perhaps the largest legitimate component of southern Somalia's economy remaining after two decades of chaos and war. With al-Shabab hiding behind it, Abdi fears the worst.

 

"They use the civilian cover there and so it has been very difficult for many of the past TFG government to move in because of the fear that that will cause massive civilian casualties," added Abdi. "If AMISOM is closing in and about to take it, then the question is: "at what cost?"

 

Al-Shabab still controls parts of Mogadishu and much of central and southern Somalia, though AU and government forces have been gaining ground.

 

On March 22, just 60 days ago, Somali Prime Minister Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed pledged to remove al-Shabab within 90 days. With a month left, the world will be watching to see if Somali and international forces can make good on his promise.

Source: VOA

[Liqaye]

Landmine Fears Slow Bakara Offensive

 

Traders Concerned Over Damage, Looting

By YAHYA MOHAMED, YUSUF HAGI 05/23/2011

 

©Somalia Report

Pro-government forces on front lines

The Somali government’s offensive through the al-Shabaab stronghold of Bakara Market in the capital Mogadishu looks set to be slowed down by the fear of landmines left behind by retreating insurgent forces.

 

The peacekeeping mission, known as AMISOM, said in a statement that the southern and western edges of the market, including Wadnaha Road, came under government control on Sunday.

 

“We have taken the offensive to the extremists and driven them back,” AMISOM Force Commander Nathan Mugisha said in a statement. “The impending removal of the insurgents from Bakara is our main goal, as we place more and more of the city under Government control.”

 

AMISOM said 22 al-Shabaab fighters had been killed and 40 wounded, while two peacekeepers were killed and five wounded. Al-Shabaab did not give its own casualty figures.

 

However, AMISOM and government forces are having to move slowly to clear landmines left along the road and in other areas of the market, while market traders are concerned that their livelihoods, already damaged by constant shelling, may be further damaged by the government advance.

 

The business community’s discontent is in part fuelled by the destruction of houses caused by AMISOM tanks moving through private plots to avoid mined roads. Mohamed Hussein, a trader in Bakara, told Somalia Report that AMISOM tanks had already destroyed parts of the small and semi-permanent buildings in the market, including his own kiosk.

 

AMISOM has promised to take care in the offensive in order to minimize civilian casualties and damage to property.

 

©AMISOM

AMISOM commander (left) tours the new front lines

“We appreciate that these are difficult times, and we urge the public to minimise movement in and around Bakara until the security operations are complete,” Mugisha said. “We urge the business community to help us push the insurgents out of Bakara."

 

Looting fears

Traders are also concerned about possible looting by Transitional Federal Government soldiers – a fear enhanced by al-Shabaab stating publicly that traders could expect to have their possessions stolen.

 

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a senior al-Shabaab official, told trades in areas of Bakara still under al-Shabaab control that is was their duty to defend their properties.

 

“We call for on all Somali businessmen to join the fight to defend their properties from the infidels and puppet solders,” he said near the frontlines. “It is compulsory to pay all your capacity, finance and other means of support to defend Islam and Mogadishu’s main market, otherwise those so-called government troops will loot your properties and harm your dignity.”

 

Traders suffered heavily from looting when the government controlled the market in 2007, but TFG security officials said this will not happen now.

 

Police spokesman Abdullahi Hassan Barise told a local radio station on Monday morning that the TFG will establish a police post in the market, and his officers will provide a twenty-four hours security patrol in the area to prevent looting. Despite Aweys call and suspicion over the advancing forces, there were reports that businessmen were refusing to help al-Shabaab, particularly a request to allow insurgents to take up positions on the roofs of taller buildings to gain a vantage point over the government troops advancing through the streets below.

 

Should the government manage to seize significant portions of Bakara, it would be a blow to the insurgents, who heavily on taxes on traders in the sprawling business center - along with revenues generated from the ports of Kismayo and Marka - to fund their battle to oust the government.

 

 

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