Solution to Somalia's problems political, not military. Why are US troops there? |Opinion
Ali-Guban Mohamed is founder and editor of Gubanmedia.com, an online source of news and commentary about the Horn of Africa based in Lewis Center, Ohio.
President Biden campaigned on a platform to end "the never-ending wars." But the New York Times is reporting that he is sending hundreds of U.S. troops to Somalia to fight al-Shabab extremists that control swaths of territory in southern Somalia.
The decision reverses President Trump’s decision to withdraw 700 U.S. military personnel who were stationed in the war-torn country on a rotation basis.
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"Our forces are not now, nor will they be, directly engaged in combat operations," said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby. "The purpose here is to enable a more effective fight against al-Shabab by local forces.”
The Biden administration has yet to explain to the American people and the Congress: Why are U.S. troops still fighting in Somalia? What are we trying to accomplish? When will our troops come home?
But this new, expanding U.S. involvement in Somalia's conflict will do little to make a difference in Somalia or bolster the position of the U.S.-backed, feckless Somali government. The deployment would put American troops in harm's way because Somalia still is dangerous and messy.
In fact, the pace and intensity of Al-Shabaab attacks have increased lately. Earlier this month, the group attacked an African Union Mission in Somalia housing Burundian troops in Aiel-Baraf, a village 110 kilometers north of Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, killing dozens of Burundian troops.
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Al-Shabab attacks have also breached the most secure place—the Mogadishu airport, which is located inside Somalia’s Green Zone.
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On May 15, the clan-based Somali legislature elected former president Hassan Mohamud as the new leader in a sham election marred by corruption and fraud. He is holed up in a hilltop Villa in Mogadishu. His previous administration was riddled with corruption, graft, and bad governance. The government authority does not reach beyond Villa Somalia, where 22,000 African troops, private contractors keep a tottering Somali government alive.
Describing the depth of corruption in Somalia’s elections, our own ambassador, Larry E. André Jr. said that “most of the seats had been selected by regional leaders, “sold” or ”auctioned,” according to the New York Times' story.
We should not read much from Mohamud’s election because his success would depend on how entrenched Hawiye clan elites in Mogadishu — who flourished from the lawlessness and chaos — and the leaders of the nominal federal states cooperate.
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Sending hundreds of U.S. troops or killing more al-Shabab leaders would not solve Somalia’s bad governance and corruption. The solution of Somalia’s problems is not a military but rather a political one.
Without any real political progress on the ground, the Pentagon’s efforts to back the local forces, made up of rival Hawiye clan militias, in the campaign against the extremist group would be futile, as the U.S. Africom commanders have told the Congress.
Ali-Guban Mohamed is founder and editor of Gubanmedia.com, an online source of news and commentary about the Horn of Africa based in Lewis Center, Ohio.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Opinion: US troops in Somalia will not solve its corrupt government
