Three deadly bomb attacks in Somalia’s capital in October have highlighted the failings of a decadelong international effort to quash an insurgency linked to al-Qaida in one of the world’s poorest countries.
While African Union troops helped the federal government drive the Islamist group known as al-Shabab out of Mogadishu in 2011, the group has continued to stage assaults in the city. The U.S. blamed it for the country’s deadliest-ever attack — an Oct. 14 truck-bombing that left more than 300 people dead — while two weeks later al-Shabab set off two car bombs that killed 26 people, including two former lawmakers.
The attacks are a predictable consequence of the government and African Union scaling back their fight against the militants, mainly because of limited funding, according to Christian Ani, an Ethiopia-based analyst with the Institute for Security Studies. The forces haven’t engaged in any major offensives since 2015, he said.
“Al-Shabab continues to be a strong force in Somalia,” he said by phone. “It has a heavy presence around the Juba Valley and the outskirts of Mogadishu. It continues to pose a significant threat to the security of the country.”
Somalia descended into conflict following the ouster of President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, prompting the deployment of a U.S.-led United Nations peacekeeping mission that involved as many as 33,000 multinational troops. The U.S. pulled out after two of its helicopters were shot down and 18 of its troops were killed in Mogadishu in October 1993 and other UN troops left shortly afterward.