The African Union is delaying its troop withdrawal and government tactics are questioned after its anti-Al Shabaab offensive suffered a heavy reverse, Nine months ago, when President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud announced a pause in its hitherto successful anti-Al Shabaab offensive, prospects were good. Unusual clan alliances and pressures from the drought combined against the jihadists, and the President believed one more military heave would bring success.
Mogadishu s first big corruption trial in years is in full flow, but suspicions of scores being settled while business goes on as usual are casting a shadow, Four civil servants face heavy penalties if they are convicted of stealing public funds in the first corruption trial in living memory. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud s government is determined to tackle the age-old problem after coming under heavy pressure from the international community. But the behaviour of his inner circle leads many to wonder if he is only going through the motions.
Despite marked successes in its war against Al Shabaab, the government s campaign has been weakened by the regional authorities competing priorities, While the combined offensives against Al Shabaab in Hirshabelle and Galmudug have been drawing attention, the Federal Member States (FMS) and the Somali Federal Government (SFG) gathered for a National Consultative Meeting in Baydhabo on 14 March to take stock of its counter insurgency campaign.
Bi-partisanship between Democrats and Republicans on Africa is starting to fray, The plan by Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to lead a United States-Africa Policy Working Group could trigger a new divide with the Republican party in the US s House of Representatives over Africa policy. Until now debates on Africa were one of few areas of public policy in Congress, free from bitter partisanship.
Despite talking tough against Al Shabaab, President Hassan Sheikh has not stopped terror attacks, much less reformed the security system as he promised
, The new government s failure to replace compromised state security officers and a catalogue of other errors explains how Al Shabaab was able to attack the Hayat Hotel in central Mogadishu, local intelligence sources have told Africa Confidential.