Somalia capital under lockdown as East Africa leaders jet in for anti-al-Shabaab conference

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Several streets in Somalia's capital Mogadishu were deserted for the better part of Wednesday as heads of state and governments from East Africa and the Horn streamed in for a critical conference on Al-Shabaab war and possible ways of helping the country to stabilize after over three decades.

Security teams picked from the elite police and the Somali National Army [SNA] along with their partners in the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia [ATMIS] manned popular checkpoints to avert possible security threats and give the leaders humble time to deliberate on a number of security related matters.

Such lockdowns are familiar in the country where Al-Shabaab gets access to fortified and highly protected zones within Mogadishu. For instance, the Al-Shabaab recently attacked the complex with hosts Mogadishu Mayor Yusuf Hussein Jimale, leaving close to six people dead.

Already, Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh has arrived in the country along with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, with Kenya's President William Ruto has joined his colleagues later. The meeting at the airport hotel was preceded by that of defense ministers and army chiefs from the region.

The meeting, Villa Somalia said, will majorly focus on the milestone made by the local security forces in the fight against Al-Shabaab with the help of international partners. Somalia has been conducting operations against the militants for the last seven months, leaving over 500 of them dead.

“This collaboration is expected to lead to the quick liberation of the country from the Kharijites [renegades[ who have been dealt heavy blows on the battlefield in the past few weeks,” it said, using a government term for al-Shabaab. The Al-Shabaab has lost strategic towns in the country.

The teams are also set to take stock of the contribution of the ATMIS in the fight against Al-Shabaab, which will basically lead to a possible review of the Somali Transition Plan [STP] which spells out the duration which the African Union troops should stay in the war-torn Horn of Africa nation.

Currently, there are close to 22,000 ATMIS troops in the country, drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Burundi. It is anticipated that by 2024, most of these soldiers would have pulled out of the country and subsequently, handed over security responsibilities to the local troops.

GAROWE ONLINE