Al-Shabaab remains a threat as attacks increase
SATURDAY
MAY 27 2017
Kenya
Defence Forces soldiers on February 6, 2017 show charred vehicle parts
following a fight with Al-Shabab militants at Kulbiyow camp in Somalia. UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said Al-Shabaab is still a threat. PHOTO
| JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
By
KEVIN J. KELLEY
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NEW YORK
Al-Shabaab
has stepped up its terror attacks in recent months, demonstrating its
"resilience and adaptability" despite "internal squabbles and
fracturing," the United Nations chief says in a new report.
A total
of 134 civilian deaths and 200 injuries were attributed to Shabaab or
"unidentified persons" in the first four months of this year - a 47
per cent increase from the same period last year, UN Secretary-General Antonio
Guterres told the Security Council on Friday.
KDF SOLDIERS KILLED
Somali security forces and the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) accounted for a combined total of 74 civilian deaths during the past four months, the UN leader added.
Somali security forces and the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) accounted for a combined total of 74 civilian deaths during the past four months, the UN leader added.
Al-Shabaab
is also reported to have killed more than 30 Kenyan
troops in a
January 27 "complex attack" on a military base near Kulbiyow in
Somalia's Lower Juba region.
"The
exact figure remains unknown," Mr Guterres states without offering a
reason for the uncertainty.
TACTICAL REVAMP
That incident is described in the report as the most serious in a series of frequent Shabaab attacks on Amisom and Somali troops in rural sections of central and southern Somalia.
That incident is described in the report as the most serious in a series of frequent Shabaab attacks on Amisom and Somali troops in rural sections of central and southern Somalia.
"Al-Shabaab
remains a potent threat.
"The
group’s tactical evolution and growing level of sophistication in its execution
of complex terrorist operations in urban and rural settings are a testament to
that," the secretary-general observes.
CHOLERA VACCINATION
Mr Guterres also cites a need to "provide Amisom with predictable support in order to increase its effectiveness and facilitate its joint operations".
Mr Guterres also cites a need to "provide Amisom with predictable support in order to increase its effectiveness and facilitate its joint operations".
He
points out that 95 per cent of Amisom's roughly 21,000 troops have not been
vaccinated against cholera, even though an outbreak of the potentially fatal
disease is underway in some of the areas where Amisom personnel are located.
Secretary-General
Guterres' report includes an optimistic assessment of political developments in
Somalia.
REBUILD SOMALIA
The peaceful
election of a
new president is viewed as the high point in "a sequence of remarkable
events, which gives the people of Somalia and the international community
considerable hope for the future of the country".
"Somalia
now has a new federal government that has been welcomed across clan lines.
"The
government must build on this vote of confidence in dealing with its many
urgent priorities, including drought response, security, public finance
management, fighting corruption, increasing revenues and advancing the
constitutional review," the report states.
DROUGHT AND FAMINE
The report adds that "the humanitarian situation remains deeply worrying and could become worse still.
The report adds that "the humanitarian situation remains deeply worrying and could become worse still.
"It
has the potential to derail political developments and the legitimacy, in the
eyes of the public, of federal and state institutions and office holders."
More
than six million Somalis - half the population - remain in urgent need of
food aid, the report notes.
The
threat of famine continues despite large infusions of aid by donor nations and
charitable groups, Mr Guterres warns.
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