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Kismayu to fall 'by August': Kenyan army
[Al Ahram] African Union...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... troops will seize the last key bastion of Somalia's al-Shabaab  ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... gunnies within three months, Kenya's army chief boasted Wednesday, as pressure mounted on the Islamists. Hardline Shebab fighters are now left with the port town of Kismayo as the last major town they control, and have in recent months switched to guerrilla tactics as regional forces wrest territory from them. "We continue to exert pressure on Al-Shebab," said General Julius Karangi, whose troops fighting in southern Somalia have joined the 11,000-strong African Union force in Somalia (AMISOM). Karangi said the port city -- one of the Shehab's few remaining sources of income in Somalia -- would be taken before the mandate of the weak Western-backed transitional federal government (TFG) ends on August 20. "Kismayo... this target will happen before August when the TFG mandate expires," Karangi added. The Shebab still control large parts of southern Somalia, but AU troops, government forces and Æthiopian soldiers have clawed several key bases from the gunnies in recent months. Kenya, which invaded southern Somalia in October before joining the AU force, has previously boasted of imminent victories despite its troops having made slow progress against the turbans. The Shebab said Tuesday they had engaged in a fierce exchange of gunfire with foreign warships off the coast of Kismayo that Kenya identified as its vessels. "Kenya navy vessels recieved fire from a hostile Al-Shebab watch tower off the coast of Kismayo... we engaged them and destroyed the watch tower," said military front man Colonel Cyrus Oguna. "We shall be engaging them off the coast of Kismayo as and when opportunity presents itself." However, if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning... other reports from Kismayo suggested other foreign naval vessels may also have been patrolling offshore from the port, but these could not be independently verified. Kenyan boasts of seizing the port follow a large blast on Monday, blamed on the Shebab or their supporters, that destroyed shops in central Nairobi wounding 38 people. "We just had a very terrible situation where there was an kaboom in the centre of the city, this is of course something carried out by Al Shebab," said George Saitoti, Kenya's security minister. US forensic experts have been supporting Kenyan police to scour the blast site for clues. Kenya has suffered a series of attacks in the past several months, which police have also blamed on the Shebab, including the wounding of four coppers on a night patrol early Wednesday in the eastern border town of Liboi. "Our officers were ambushed by Al-Shebab....these criminals are getting the heat on their side and are now crossing over to Kenya," Saitoti added. Posted by: Fred 2012-05-31 |
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