PHOTO/STEPHEN MUDIARI/NATION Uganda’s Gen Aronda Nyakairima (left) is taken through a demonstration of the progress by African Union Mission for Somalia (Amisom’s) outgoing force commander, Nathan Mugisha (right) and other officers in Mogadishu on June 19, 2011.
By HENRY OWUOR
Monday, June 20, 2011
Mogadishu, Somalia - The buzz is there, many planes fly in as others zoom out. It is one of the busiest airports in this part of the world.
African Express planes fly in here many times a day from Nairobi. Others fly in from the Middle East, but only up to late afternoon.
After that, the airport goes dead and the runway becomes a jogging area for Ugandan and Burundian soldiers keeping the peace in this city that looks very tranquil from the air but is volatile on the ground.
Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport is seeing a lot of business from the large Somali diaspora community, a product of the war that has raged in this country since the departure of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
Now, there is a new breeze in the air. The trophy holder is the African Union which with support from the UN, has weaned this city from a total insurgent playground to a thriving business area.
It is now very prestigious among Ugandan or Burundian army officers to win a posting in Mogadishu.
A new commander, Maj-Gen Fred Mugisha has replaced Maj-Gen Nathan Mugisha who has been in charge of the force since 2009. The latter has been appointed Uganda’s deputy ambassador in Mogadishu.
To ensure the smooth transfer of power, the Chief of the Uganda Defence Forces, General Aronda Nyakairima was in Mogadishu on Monday on a tight programme that also involved talks with top Somali politicians, among them President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi, who later said he is quitting office in line with the Kampala Accord, and the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden.
Uganda now calls the shots in Mogadishu. Its 5,000-strong force backed by 4,000 others from Burundi now claim to control 70 per cent of the city, the main battleground being the Bakara market area where major attempts are being made to force out al-Shabaab militants.
The market is the main source of income for the militants who collect loyalty fees from shopkeepers in the area.
The other major source income for al-Shaabab is the piracy that can see the owners of a single ship parting with millions of US dollars before their vessel can be freed.
“The map of Mogadishu is changing. We now share Bakara market area with the insurgents. There are only five contested regions and of those only three are totally out of Amisom’s control,’’ says Major Paddy Ankunda, the spokesman of the Amisom peace-keeping force.
However, wrangles in President Sharif’s Transitional Federal Government may stall the progress made by the AU since its forces landed here in 2007.
An accord signed earlier this month required that Prime Minister Abdullahi leave office in 30 days, a condition he has acceded to.
But his supporters are not happy about this development and have been demanding parliament debate the issue. The Kampala Accord signed on June 9 was intended to give Amisom some breathing space before elections could be held.
“The Kampala Accord has harmonised the political situation in the country as it extends election deadline by one year. The prime minister steps down for the sake of harmony after the party representing the Speaker said the Prime minister must leave,’’ says Gen Nyakairima.
However, besides the shifting chairs among politicians, militarily, much still needs to be done. Amisom controls the airport area, State House which is also known as Villa Somalia area and University Area.
Even the area where top terrorist Fazul Mohamed was killed in Mogadishu, known as Afgoye, is not under Amisom control.
Says Gen Nyakairima: “In Mogadishu even taking half a street takes a lot of planning. We need more soldiers to add to what we have from Burundi and Uganda, more boats to control the ocean, more helicopters.’’
Among the countries that have made promises to send troops to Somalia are: Nigeria, Republic of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Djibouti. There are signs that Sierra Leone may make good its pledge to send in a single battalion of troops.
Says Gen Nyakairima: “Uganda is in Somalia as a Pan-African cause. We need any support we can get, be it a hospital or engineering unit. The situation here has greatly improved, we have businesses running up to midnight.’’
Bakara market remains the heart of commerce in Mogadishu but the question is how to drive the extremist al-Shabaab out without destroying it.
It is also among the most imposing areas of the city, visible from kilometres away. Besides fighting the insurgents, Amisom is running a full-fledged hospital in Mogadishu that is open to the public for surgical operations on specific days of the week.
As a sign of the improving confidence in the Somali business community, a $1 million hotel is being built close to the airport and some residences in the capital are now having glass windows as less and less bullets fly around.
However, the target of holding elections in a year may not be met. After 20 years of war, Somalia is still in the grip of militant groups that want no end to the anarchy that ensures that massive ransoms are collected from ship owners that fall victim to pirates.
Amisom has so far listed only 4,800 policemen in the entire country, many not fully trained but who are dedicated to their job as demonstrated by the recent arrest of two planes that flew in with $3.6 million for payment of ransoms to pirates.
Source: Daily Nation