Securing Somalia : A Mirage 2000 aircraft is seen in Djibouti. French Defence Minister Herve Morin and his Spanish counterpart Carme Chacon were on a brief visit to Djibouti to assess multinational efforts to secure the strategic Somali waters and review their anti-piracy arsenal.(AFP/Lionel Bonaventure)
Somalia's Islamists Up Close And Personal
-- Jerusalem Post
-- Jerusalem Post
After 18 years of violence and anarchy, Somalia is now entering deep and uncharted political waters, as Somalia's warring sides make matters worse for millions of its people, who are facing severe humanitarian conditions.
Somali insurgents are intensifying efforts to seize towns from government troops, with Iraqi-style hit-and-run attacks against government backers.
Mogadishu is the hot bed for the insurgency by the Islamists, with civilians suffering the most casualties.
"We'll never cease fighting, until the foreign forces leave our country," Islamist A-Shabab spokesman, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Man'sour, told reporters in the capital, in his first public appearance since the insurgency intensified over the past six months.
On Sunday Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the Islamist groups agreed on an accord, which calls for a cease-fire to go into effect on November 5, and for Ethiopia's withdrawal to begin on November 21.
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My Comment: The JP's analysis on how Iraqi-style hit-and-run attacks are now the modus operatus of Somali's insurgents is a must read. This is a scary development. The Ethiopian Army and Somalia's Transitional Federal Government are not ready to fight this type of war.