AFRICA/SOMALIA - On the eve of the Summit on Somalia the military option seems to prevail

Mogadishu (Agenzia Fides) - On the eve of the International Conference on Somalia, which opens tomorrow, February 23, in London, from the Country of the Horn of Africa there are reports of intensified fighting. In particular, the intervention has now become clear (at first wrapped in a blanket non so much of secrecy but ambiguous) of the Ethiopian army shoulder to shoulder with the National Transitional Government in the fighting to recapture Baidoa. This city (250 km north-west of Mogadishu), was the seat of the Somali parliament until its capture by the Shabab, in 2009.
In southern Somalia instead the military operations of the Kenyan army against the bases of the fundamentalist movement of the Shabab continue. After capturing several towns of the area (Bulgabo, Ras Kamboni, Badhadhe, tabda, Elare, Girma, and Hosingo) the military in Nairobi are aiming to conquer the city of Kismayo, home of the most important port in the area. In this way the soldiers in Kenya are gradually depriving the Shabab of their funding sources (customs fees, taxes on businesses, etc ...). The troops of Nairobi, located in southern Somalia, as from October will soon be integrated in AMISOM, the African Union Mission, which supports the Somali transitional government. Currently the AMISOM troops, deployed in the capital Mogadishu, are 9,000 (mostly Ugandan and Burundian soldiers). Adding about 2,500 Kenyan soldiers it will reach 11,500 units. The UN stated goal is to reach 17,700 African soldiers. Recently, Djibouti and Sierra Leone have started deployment of its troops in AMISOM.
Western Countries that provide financial and logistical support to AMISOM, worried about the Somali piracy and by the advance of Islamic fundamentalists, also threaten to intervene directly. While there is no confirmation of a direct air and naval support from France and the United States to the troops in Kenya, there are periodic attacks carried out by U.S. drones against groups or individuals classified as "terrorists". Finally, the British press, the British government, which hosts the Summit on Somalia, would be willing to intervene in turn with air raids against pirates and terrorists in the Horn of Africa Country, which in some parts are still devastated by famine. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 22/2/2012)