U.S. President Barack Obama has urged allies in the East African region to join together in routing al-Shabaab, a day after the militants carried out a deadly car bomb attack in Mogadishu.
Mr Obama who was speaking in Addis Ababa after meeting Ethiopian leaders said that the bombing of a popular Mogadishu hotel shows what the al-Qaeda-linked terrorists aiming for.
‘’Yesterday’s bombing in Mogadishu reminds us that Terrorist groups like Al Shabaab offer nothing but death and destruction and have to be stopped.’’
He went on to further praise the role of the Ethiopian forces in Somalia fighting against the militants, with most recently driving them out from two major strongholds.
At least 15 people were killed in the Aljazeera hotel bomb attack. The hotel is popular with Somali government officials and foreign dignitaries.
With criticisms from across the country and the globe, al-Shabaab has vowed to continue carrying out similar attacks.
The United States was deeply engaged in Somalia beginning in 1992 in an effort to alleviate a serious famine. This major engagement ended in 1994 when U.S. troops ended their participation in the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Somalia. The United States continued its humanitarian assistance program but otherwise largely ignored developments in Somalia until the bombing of the U.S. embassies in 1998 in Kenya and Tanzania. The embassy attacks were instigated by al-Qaeda and several of the perpetrators took refuge in Somalia.
In recent years, the Obama administration has intensified its campaign against an al-Qaeda affiliate in Somalia by boosting the number of proxy forces in the war-torn country, expanding drone operations and strengthening military partnerships throughout the region.
It is believed that the State Department has provided more than $300 million for the African Union peacekeepers in Somalia backing the government forces in the fight against al-Shabaab.
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Somalia: Al Shabaab offer nothing but death and destruction – Obama
Published: July 27, 2015
