(28-08-23) DHUSAMAREB — President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s long-anticipated trips to the cities of Eldher and Galcad were definitively cancelled on Monday after high-ranking officials narrowly escaped a lethal attack by Al-Shabaab militants.
Mahad Salad, the Director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), and Colonel Hassan Ali Shute, the Head of the Armed Forces Court, were dispatched as part of an advance team. Their mission was to assess and address the concerns of the Somali National Army, which had unceremoniously abandoned their posts in the town of Galcad, derailing plans for the President’s secured visit.
The security vacuum in Eldher and Galcad initially necessitated the dispatch of Salad and Shute from Mogadishu. Their perilous confrontation with Al-Shabaab militants on Monday marks a significant escalation in the volatile region, compelling the authorities to cancel President Mohamud’s forthcoming visits.
The abrupt cancellation transpires against a backdrop of a fractious relationship between the Minister of Defense and the Commander of Defense Forces, exacerbating operational inconsistencies within the military. This internal strife is even more concerning, considering Saturday’s devastating attack by Al-Shabaab on the Somali National Army in Cawsweyne, revealing the army’s vulnerabilities and Al-Shabaab’s counter-attacks in areas where al-Shabaab has long been entrenched.
In a concerning development, the Somali Army made an abrupt withdrawal from several towns in Galgadud on Monday, including Wabho, Osweyne, Budbud, Gal’ad, and Masagaway. The move followed a devastating Al-Shabaab attack on a military camp on Saturday, where the militants claimed to have killed 178 soldiers and captured or destroyed 58 armoured military vehicles, according to former deputy mayor of Mogadishu Ali Yare. This withdrawal casts a shadow on President Mohamud’s two-year-long campaign against the Al-Qaeda-affiliated group.
President Hassan has been stationed in Dhusamareb since the beginning of August, spearheading the first phase of an offensive against Al-Shabaab and overseeing the recent capture of the militants’ stronghold in El Buur last Friday.
The military offensive, launched last year in the central part of the country, has intensified recently. Yet, the events of the past few days underscore the complexities and risks involved in combating Al-Shabaab, demanding urgent attention from all stakeholders.
Halqabsi Newss
