Update on the Somalia instability
Featured image: map showing Somalia, Jubaland and the city of Kismayo. Source: Researchgate
There are reports from Somalia on new Al-Shabaab attacks on at least three military Somalian bases and towns of Jubaland State, at the south of the country. Al-Shabaab is very relevant for the instability in Somalia in particular, and in the Horn of Africa in general, and so far cannot be crushed by the Somalian State and its imperialist masters. We reported on some of its actions, which for example caused several casualties to foreign forces deployed in the region. Currently this organization controls a lot of territory and it is continuously pursuing in its war against Somalia. After the attacks mentioned, there are several different figures of the Al-Shabaab casualties, from several dozens, to more than one hundred, what shows the size of this threat for the weak Somalian State.
Actually, the State of Somalia is mainly protected by a large deployment of Ethiopian troops (around 4,000, and from other countries, specially from Yankee imperialism1, which has one important base and projects of further development there, in Kismayo, one of the places where Al-Shabaab attacked. Also are well-known the constant drone bombings by Yankees in Somalia. This campaign of drone bombings by Yankee imperialism started with Bush government in 2007 but became massive with Obama from 2009, and have lead also to several massacres of civilians. Yankee attacks are conducted by both US Special Operations Command under AFRICOM, and by the CIA, but the latter do not admit its operations.
Additionally to the direct Yankee presence, Somalia have signed several military agreements with lackeys of Yankee imperialism. On January 2024 Somalia made the arrangements of a defense agreement with Egypt, and finally it has been approved and it is going though since 19th of July, when the Somali government Cabinet has given green light to it. The preparations of this agreement were right after the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Ethiopia and Somaliland, on what we reported.
But the agreement which has driven to more international reactions and more concerns in the Horn of Africa has been the Defense Cooperation Agreement with the old Turkish State, also signed after the MoU between Ethiopia and Somaliland. More recently there are real concerns about the possible Turkish Navy deployment in Somalian waters, because the old Turkish State will send an exploration vessel on September-October, and recently Tayyip Erdogan submitted a motion to the Turkish parliament seeking authorization for the deployment of the Turkish military to Somalia. On that question, Somaliland said it “vehemently rejects any potential deployment of Turkish naval forces within Somaliland’s recognized maritime zones.”
In short, the Horn of Africa is a very unstable region, and within it, Somalia is a failed State which has an endemic instability. Since long time ago it has witnessed numerous wars, imperialist interventions and independent regions splitting from the Somalian State. While some bourgeois and semi-feudal and semi-colonial media are trying to show how Somalian State has achieved a huge triumph against Al-Shabaab, truth is this State has a clear weakness and their enemies are capable to wage an army (according to some sources, between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters) and launch attacks which even need the constant intervention from Yankee imperialism in the region.
1As we saw in our article on the Yankee military presence in Africa, focusing on the Horn of Africa: https://redherald.org/2024/02/21/yankee-imperialism-militarizes-the-horn-of-africa-even-more/
