The Fall of Kismayo

The strategic southern port city of Kismayo is taken by the Islamic Courts, Baidoa is now in the crosshairs

The Islamic Courts have further consolidated their grip on power in souther Somalia. Just one day after Barre Adan Shire, (or Bare Hirale) the Minister of Defense for the weak Transitional National Government and head of the Juba Valley Coalition, announced his forces would defend Kismayo from an attack, he withdrew his forces and the army of the Islamic Courts entered the city. The BBC reports that “On Sunday night, the Islamists entered the town. Hirale and his militiamen have emptied the township and fled,” according to Kismayo resident Abdullahi Hashi Gullale. Kisaymo is the latest in a series of central and southern port cities seized by the Islamic Courts.

The Islamic courts sent a sizeable force to take Kismayo. Over “600 Muslim gunmen on about 50 ‘battlewagons’ – machine-gun mounted pick-ups also known as ‘technicals'” were seen en route intothe city on Sunday evening. Once the Islamic Courts entered the city, they lowered the Somali flag and raise the Al Rayah – al Qaeda’s black battle flag. A protest broke out, with chants of “No to Islamic Courts, No to anti Bare people, No to Al-Qaeda operatives.” The Islamic Courts fired on the crowd, killing three. “The head of Islamic Courts in lower Juba region in southern Somalia Sheik Hassan Al-Turki who was leading the Islamist forces that seized the power of Kismayo city, addressed people in the city telling them the region would be under the Islamic law.” reports SomaliNet. The city is now under curfew.

The seizure of Kismayo is important for several reasons. The port city is Somalia’s third largest city, and its captrue further legitimizes the Islamic Courts as the true power broker in Somalia. The withdrawal of Bare Hirale’s forces indicates the Transitional National Government is truly a weak entity, and is unable to defend strategic territory controlled by its own defense minister. The tribes no longer possess the power to oppose the Islamic Courts. Finally, the Islamic Courts puts itself in a position to threaten and deployment of IGAD peace keepers from Kenya

by occupying Kismayo.

The fall of Kismayo follows an attempted decapitation suicide strike against Transitional National Government President Yusuf and the Parliament and months of asserting control over south and central Somalia. Only the government center in Baidoa remains, and the ICU has an army camped outside the temporary capital. With Kismayo and the south largely secured, the ICU can now focus the full weight of their efforts against the Transitional National Government. The Deputy leader of the Islamic Courts Sheikh, Abdirahman Janaqow, and Sheik Yusuf Indohaadde (who was captured on film with al Qaeda over the summer) have already threatened Ethiopian troops in Baidoa.

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

Tags: Somalia