Somalia: not piracy catch all thread

[JMA]

Who may I ask is running this war against the insurgents? And who should be paying the government forces or... who is stealing the money?

PM: Somalia to open 2nd front against insurgents

Kenya has a force of 2,000 Somali refugees stationed in northern Kenya, and Ethiopia trained a force of 1,000 fighters under a German-funded program.

[davidbfpo]

A good, short FP Blog article, with a map, which gives context to the reporting, repeats the fact external actors train Somalis for the government and they defect:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...ntrol?page=0,0

Some 9,000 troops have been trained and armed to help fortify the government, but desertion rates are astronomical. Perhaps no more than 1,000 soldiers -- or fewer -- remain. AMISOM peacekeepers, by contrast, number about 7,000.

[JMA]

A good, short FP Blog article, with a map, which gives context to the reporting, repeats the fact external actors train Somalis for the government and they defect:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...ntrol?page=0,0

Temporary loyalty to the highest bidder is similar to Afghanistan. But then that national characteristic has been known for ever. Now I wonder who the clowns were who thought they were really 'smart' and could ignore all that history? And of course what the 7,000 Ugandans are doing is a well kept secret... other than when they shelled the Bakara Market and killed a bunch of civvies. It is said they (AMISOM) are losing Mogadishu "one block at a time".

[tequila]

NPR story on the EU trainers trying to train the Somali TFG's army. The major problem with desertion appears to be that the TFG doesn't pay its soldiers.

Not sure why we are even sending paychecks through the TFG. Why? So that government officials can steal them and spur desertion to al Shabaab?

[JMA]

NPR story on the EU trainers trying to train the Somali TFG's army. The major problem with desertion appears to be that the TFG doesn't pay its soldiers.

Not sure why we are even sending paychecks through the TFG. Why? So that government officials can steal them and spur desertion to al Shabaab?

Exactly. Now someone needs to ask those 'smart' guys at the state department and at the EU how come they had not thought the whole thing properly through in the first place.