France and US on terrorist radar: Al-Shabaab threatens to target them in Djibouti
The leader of the Somali terrorist movement Al-Shabaab sent a message to the Djiboutian people, calling for striking at international interests in the country, especially French and American, in an incitement that comes less than two weeks before the presidential elections in the small country in the Horn of Africa.
The most recent message came from Al-Shabaab leader Ahmed
Umar Abu Ubaidah, whose terrorist movement launched a terrorist attack that
resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries in Somalia and border areas of the
African country, which has been ravaged by decades of conflicts with which
successive governments and international military interventions have failed to
curb terrorism and extremism or put an end to the war of attrition.
Al-Shabaab, the Somali branch of al-Qaeda, has transferred a
large part of its terrorist activities to border areas, while Somalia in recent
months has been experiencing a political crisis and power struggles between
outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo and the Somali opposition
groups.
The Kata’ib Foundation, Al-Shabaab's media wing, published
video clips from the message of its leader, who threatened to launch terrorist
operations against French and American interests in Djibouti.
In the video clip, Abu Ubaidah attacked Djiboutian President
Ismail Omar Guelleh, who has ruled since 1999 and is certain to win a fifth
term in the presidential election scheduled for April 9.
Due to its unique geographical location on the borders of
Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, opposite the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which
connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, Djibouti is home to many foreign
military bases.
The largest French battalion in Africa is located in
Djibouti, where there are about 1,500 soldiers, while there is also the only
permanent American base in Africa with 4,000 soldiers, from which
counterterrorism operations are launched, especially in Somalia.
Djibouti also has the military presence of Japan and Italy,
as well as China, which in 2017 opened a military base and port in the country.
In addition, Djibouti participates with a battalion in the
African Union force in Somalia (AMISOM), which is fighting Al-Shabaab.
