Clashes erupted on Wednesday between forces from Somalia’s federal government and the semi-autonomous Jubbaland region, raising concerns that internal rivalries are diverting attention from the fight against the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group.
The violence in the strategically important region, which follows an election held there despite being opposed by authorities in Mogadishu, is taking place just weeks before the mandate of an African Union peacekeeping force expires Reports Reuters .
“This morning, federal forces from Mogadishu in Ras Kamboni, using drones, attacked Jubbaland forces,” Adan Ahmed Haji, assistant security minister of Jubbaland, told a press conference in the regional capital Kismayu.
Later in the day he said hundreds of federal forces had surrendered and fled to the Kenyan border, while Jubbaland fighters had captured Ras Kamboni. Reuters could not immediately verify his claims.
In the meantime chief analyst at Sahan research posting on his X account @RabdiAnalyst says that Turkey protested to Somalia for deploying Turkish-trained special forces Gorgor to Ras Kamboni to fight regional leader.
The candidates/graduates known as the Gorgor commando brigade, are identifiable with the sky blue beret and the unique Turksom crest instead of the seal of the Armed Forces. As Somalia is under a UN embargo and cannot obtain military aircraft, the air force candidates are trained in Turkey instead.
Similarly the US equally protested deployment of elements from US-trained Danab forces.
The analyst says that Lesson from the mess in Ras Kamboni are:
1. Somali elite more invested in fighting themselves than they are in fighting Al-Shabaab
2. Parallel security sector training, proliferation of politicised special units creating new tools for federal elites to pursue their own agendas.
The United States agreed in 2017 to help train and equip the 3,000-strong Danab to act as a quick reaction strike force against al Shabaab. The group has been waging an insurgency against the central government since 2006.26 Apr 2024
