US commander challenges Africa to do more on anti-terror war

General Thomas Waldhauser

A top military commander of the United States has called on the east African nation’s army to take more responsibility in the fight against Al-Shabaab, saying that the US military’s air campaign against terrorism in Somalia will not stop the jihadists.

Pentagon is running an ongoing mission in which US forces work with African Union and Somali national security forces to destabilize Shabaab network.

Story image for us military from Wall Street Journal

“At the end of the day, these strikes are not going to defeat Al-Shabaab,” the US military’s Africa Command head General Thomas Waldhauser told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“The bottom line is the Somalian National Army needs to grow, it needs to step up and it needs to take responsibility for their own security,” he added.

The US has increased the number of strikes it carries out since early 2017, with 35 strikes that year, 47 in 2018 and about 12 so far this year, Waldhauser said.

He added that US strikes were providing an opportunity for local forces to grow and become more combative.

 

 

African Union troops managed to push Shabaab fighters out of Somalia’s capital in 2011, and subsequently from other towns and cities. However, the Islamists still hold sway in large parts of the countryside.

The terrorists launch regular gun and bomb attacks on government, military and civilian targets in Mogadishu. They also lay ambushes on military convoys and outposts.

Africa Command said it killed 52 Somali militants in one of its strikes last month. In December, the US military claimed it had killed 62 Shabaab militants during six air strikes in the Horn of Africa nation.

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