Al-Shabaab escalates violence in absence of authority in Somalia

Somalia is suffering from the impact of successive crises, as there are security vacuums exploited by the terrorist Al-Shabaab movement to intensify its violent operations from the capital, Mogadishu, where it managed to control the city's five districts after fierce fighting that left casualties, along with dead from the warring parties, according to the Somalia al-Jadid website.

The fall of that important city and the movement's approach to Mogadishu coincided with the outbreak of a crisis between outgoing President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and his political rival, Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, as the latter's work was suspended after being accused of corruption.

The Financial Times reported about the escalation of attacks by Al-Shabaab and its exploitation of weak security and political crises in the Somali government to escalate the pace of its violence.

The newspaper confirmed that a year after Washington withdrew its forces from Somalia and postponed the Somali elections, this encouraged terrorist groups, including Al-Shabaab, to spread and increase violence, as Al-Shabaab exploited the government forces’ fight with the rebel group Ahl al-Sunnah Wal Jama’ah at the same time, during which the government lost a lot of its military capacity.

Absence of legitimate authority

Among the current political crises that Somalia is suffering from, there has been no legitimate authority since February 2021, which was the date of the end of Farmajo’s presidential term, and the subsequent outbreak of his crisis with Roble in April of the same year, as Farmajo tried to extend his four-year term for the next two years, which sparked political skirmishes.

The two sides have since reached an agreement allowing them to remain in office until elections are held to form local and national parliaments and a federal government, but despite apparent efforts to de-escalate tensions under the indirect election system, no date has been set for the election of the new president of Somalia.

At this time, Al-Shabaab was able to recover large parts of Galmudug state after it had been expelled from it earlier. During that period, the group launched many attacks in different parts of the country.

American departure

The African Union asserts that the departure of US forces from Somalia has contributed to the deterioration of the security situation in the country, and that the planned withdrawal of the African Union Mission may also exacerbate the situation in a worrying and frightening manner.

The AU expressed its concern about the Somali government's lack of the required combat capability that is supposed to combat terrorism and the incursion of Al-Shabaab.

It is reported that the UN Security Council agreed in December 2021 to extend the presence of the African Union force in Somalia for a period of three months until the end of March 2022.