The Al Shabaab attack on the African Union peacekeeping base in Leego on the main road connecting the Somali capital of Mogadishu to the city of Baidoa took place in the early dawn hours of Friday June 26. An AU forces officer reported that a car laden with explosives rammed into the main gate of the base. AU soldiers opened fire on the car but apparently the car made its way into the base.
It is not exactly clear what happened afterwards in the sequence of events but reports indicate that about 30 AU force soldiers mostly from Burundi have been killed in the attack which is a heavy morale deflator for AU troops in the country.
Al Shabaab have previously increased the spate of attacks during the holy Moslem month of Ramadan and true to form, they did not disappoint. We are told that on this same road leading from Mogadishu to Baidoa, Ethiopian peacekeepers affiliated with the AU force were also attacked barely a week before this latest attack of Friday June 26.
It begs belief and amazement as to what AU force commanders were doing to beef up security at the base since an AU convoy was attacked along the route on which the base sits? Did they take security precautions by setting up a first layer of active defense outside the perimeter of the base and implement heightened operational procedures to allow for rapid force reaction times in case of an attack? These are questions whose answers we are not so sure off.
Images of AU soldiers and their military equipment leaves a lot to be desired. The AU soldiers seem to be poorly equipped with no visible body armor not even a generation 1 body armor to offer at least some minimal protection.
The question is asked as to why the AU will send a 20,000 strong peacekeeping force to Somalia without providing it with decent body armor and military equipment in such a dangerous and fluid theater of active combat operations.
The cost of equipping a well-trained battle ready force to operate in Somalia should certainly be within the reach of finances of African countries if they understand the geopolitical significance of the area where Somalia sits.
The utility and strategic imperative of such a well-equipped force cannot be overemphasized. Firstly, it will give AU forces the ability to enhance their force planning, gain experience in logistics and organization of combat operations at a continental level.
This experience can then percolate down to the national militaries of the AU countries. The morale booster from the ability to provide such a force can serve as a jumping-off point for more ambitious military operations and continent wide integration of command and control structures of the African militaries.
Another reason why properly equipping the AU force in Somalia to succeed is that it allows the AU the opportunity for credible force projection in the strategic Red Sea maritime zone. Why the need for an AU force projection in the horn of Africa and the Bab El-Mandeb Straits? We refer to one of the reasons in this report from the US Energy Information Administration Report from November 2014. Here is an excerpt:
An estimated 3.8 million bbl/d of crude oil and refined petroleum products flowed through this waterway in 2013 toward Europe, the United States, and Asia, an increase from 2.9 million bbl/d in 2009. Oil shipped through the strait decreased by almost one-third in 2009 because of the global economic downturn.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is 18 miles wide at its narrowest point, limiting tanker traffic to two 2-mile-wide channels for inbound and outbound shipments. Closure of the Bab el-Mandeb could keep tankers from the Persian Gulf from reaching the Suez Canal or SUMED Pipeline, diverting them around the southern tip of Africa, adding to transit time and cost. In addition, European and North African southbound oil flows could no longer take the most direct route to Asian markets via the Suez Canal and Bab el-Mandeb.
The geopolitical opportunities of Al Shabaab’s attack on the AU Base in Somalia are clear. This realization of the strategic nature of this region has led China to open talks with President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti a country that borders Somalia and sits astride the Bab-El Mandeb straits on establishing a Chinese military base there. We note that the US already operates a military base in Djibouti.
The African Union Force in Somalia gives the AU a strategic opportunity to build a credible well equipped force that can stabilize Somalia and remain as a permanent force in the region to promote African interests in this vital region of global trade and power. If the Chinese and Americans are ensconced in the region, then it is only logical that a well-equipped AU force should be ensconced in the region as well with a mandate extending beyond the critical goal of stabilizing Somalia.
The prevention or minimization of such Al-Shabaab attacks on AU forces is the necessary first step to achieve that goal. Will the AU grasp this geopolitical opportunity to use the recent attack as a stimuli to build a well-equipped force to stabilize Somalia and serve as an AU power projection force? We hope they will do so.
Why will the AU send a 20,000 strong peacekeeping force to Somalia without
providing it with decent body armor and military equipment? Money! Money! Money! Peace keeping is a costly business and when some member states haven’t paid their dues in so long, we should ask why too!
Ask the US Armed Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. We read stories about US troops having to buy their own armor and guns on some site called EBAY and Amazon in the US.
The world has turned into dirty dirty business!
Only the AU stands tall, alas, she has no money nor support from individual governments nor individuals who claim the have money! Where is the armor going to come from? Where are the guns going to come from? You’ve gotta make them! To do it, you need money to put food on the table for those who wake up to make these thing for you. Now, who’s going to contribute towards the efforts of the AU. I haven’t seen one rich African step up yet. Why? I think that is more the question.
But thanks for the report.
Meanwhile, Al Shabaab finds so much money to buy or is it acquire heavy weapons and superior armory. That too is alas. How does Al Shabaab find these equipment. The West must be blamed. These guns my friend are not made in Nigeria, or Ghana, or Ehtiopia or South Africa. They are made in the US and Europe.
So, it’s time ask our so called friends in the West to start being responsible for a change. We have allowed them to walk around irresponsibly, and often pointing the finger at the AU and us. Why? Who is arming Al Shabaab, we? No, it’s the US and the EU. They should stop!
The AU should def. seize this opportunity to entrench its military might in Somalia as a first step. They have to. They must!