Uganda’s bombings claimed by Somali militants threaten to destabilize region

July 14, 2010 (KHARTOUM) — Al-Shabab appeared to make good on its threats to attack countries with troops protecting the transitional Somali government on Sunday, by claiming responsibility for two explosions in Uganda’s capital Kampala that killed 76 people.

Most of the victims were Ugandan, although one American was also killed. A suicide jacket was found at another location in Kampala indicating that a third explosion may have been planned.

Four foreign suspects were arrested in connection with the find but Ugandan officials would not confirm their nationalities despite dropping hints that they are Somali citizens.

Soon after the attacks Al-Shabab, Somalia’s most dangerous Islamist militant group, claimed responsibility for the attacks, calling for Uganda and others to withdraw their African Union peacekeeping forces from Somalia.

Since it was formed in 2006, Al-Shabab, an ultra-conservative Islamic group that has been compared to the Afghani Taliban, has carried out a number of violent attacks in Somalia, including the use of suicide bombers in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu. This would be its first foreign terrorist operation.

Al-Shabab’s spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamed Rage said after the attacks: “We warned Uganda not to deploy troops to Somalia, they ignored us.”

“We warned them to stop massacring our people, and they ignored that. The explosions in Kampala were only a minor message to them. … We will target them everywhere if Uganda does not withdraw from our land.”

Burundi who also has forces in Mogadishu was warned they could soon face attacks.

Preventing attacks, especially from suicide bombers, elsewhere in the region will be difficult due Africa’s porous borders, U.S. ambassador to Uganda Jerry Lanier, told Reuters on Wednesday.

Although Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack they may not have acted alone according to Uganda’s Inspector general of police, Kale Kaihura. He suspects that Ugandan Muslim radical group the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) may have carried out the attack with help from Al-Shabab.

In the past Uganda has accused the Sudanese government of backing the ADF in retaliation to Uganda’s support of the former rebels who now govern southern Sudan – the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) – during the 22 year civil war between north and south Sudan that ended with a peace deal in 2005.

The scale and coordination of the attack have led to suspicions that that ADF and or Al-Shabab may have received sophisticated training from al-Qaeda.

In a background briefing on the bombings a senior White House official said that the links between Al Qaeda and Al -Shabab had ‘existed for quite some time,” and were of “strong concern” to the U.S..

“[Al-Shabab’s] agenda is very similar to al Qaeda’s agenda. It advances a distorted and perverted version of Islamic goals and agenda. It has engaged in terrorist tactics inside of Somalia extensively. It is responsible for the assassination of a number of Somali peace activists, international aid workers, numerous civil society figures, as well as journalists.”

In 2008 Al -Shabab was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.Ss. and earlier this year was sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council.

In an interview with the South African Broadcasting Corporation on July 14, President Obama said that the U.S. would, “redouble our efforts, working with Uganda, working with the African Union, to make sure that organizations like [Al -Shabab] are not able to kill Africans with impunity.”

The President went on to say that Al Qaeda, Al -Shabab and other terrorist groups put no value in African life seeing the continent, “as a potential place where you can carry out ideological battles that kill innocents without regard to long-term consequences for their short-term tactical gains.”

The U.S. believes there to be two subcomponents of al Qaeda that are active in the region; Al Qaeda in East Africa (AQEA), which was responsible for the attacks against U.S. Embassies in Addis Ababa and Nairobi in 1998 and Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

AQAP is believed to be the most operationally active of the al Qaeda franchises in the region, operating mainly out of Yemen but also in the Horn of Africa.

These two parts of Al Qaeda are believed to have a “fair amount of interaction”, according the U.S. with both organizations having contacts and associations Al-Shabab.

According to a U.S. official there has been, “somewhat of a blending together of these different individuals who are at the top of these organizations. And, unfortunately, I think they are bringing along with them some of the young Somalis and others who are engaged in these local conflicts but are brought into the Al Qaeda orbit.”

The U.S. has said it is prepared to step up its support for Uganda in the wake of the attacks. FBI agents were due to arrive on Wednesday and Thursday to join the three agents already assisting Uganda with the investigation.

Ugandan opposition MP Hussein Kyanjo a long critic of the deployment Ugandan troops in Somalia told the BBC that President Museveni’s government would continue its policy of intervention in Somalia in order to ensure continued military and financial support from the U.S..

Opposition within Uganda to the presence of Ugandan troops in Somalia is expected to increase following the attacks but there seems to be no change in the approach by Uganda’s military and security forces despite Al-Shabab’s statement linking the bombings to the presence of Ugandan troops in Somalia.

“The act of bombing Uganda is a confirmation of the need to take control and pacify Somalia. This is an effort that everybody in the world has to realize,” Uganda’s army spokesman Felix Kulayigye told the BBC.

Uganda’s inspector general of police, Kale Kaihura, also speaking to the BBC echoed this attitude: “If you tolerate a group like al-Shabab to take over power in our neighborhood, they will start there and will want to spread. It would be worse if they were in charge of state power. That’s why Africa is united against it.”

The African Union mission to Somalia, known as AMISOM, which includes 3,200 Ugandan and 2,000 Burundian troops, is seen as vital in propping up the beleaguered transitional government in Somalia and preventing more of the country being overrun by Al-Shabab.

It was recently agreed that AMISOM, would increase the number of peacekeepers in Somalia by 2,000 bringing the total to 8,100. Many of the additional troops were expected to be Ugandan. Pressure will now grow on other African nations to contribute to AMISOM ahead of the AU summit to be held in Uganda later this month.

Nigeria, Ghana, and other countries have promised but not delivered troops suggesting the mission is too dangerous. Uganda also has troops deployed in Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic.

The ongoing insurgency in Somalia has killed 21,000 people and caused 1.5 million people to be displaced.

Al -Shabab enforces its own strict interpretation of Islam, routinely banning sport (including watching the FIFA World Cup), music and dancing.

(ST)