Al Shabab’s deadliest attack on AU troops; Isn’t this mission impossible?

Al Shabab has successfully attacked the AU troops in Somalia and has left a top Burundian force commander dead.

Uganda and Burundi are the only African countries that allowed to deploy in volatile Somalia to support a weak Transitional government.

Press reports indicate about 16 people are dead after suicide bombers arrived in stolen UN vehicles.

Maj.Gen.Mugisha, the injured force commander in Somalia. Daily Monitor photo.

The dead include the deputy commander Maj Gen Juvenal Niyonguruza from Burundi.

Force commander Gen Nathan Mugisha, from Uganda, was lightly wounded. The Ugandan military has not yet indicated how many Ugandans died in the blast. But this is the first major attack on the base since Uganda entered Somalia under the AMISON.

I have always wondered what Uganda has to gain or to stand up for in Somalia that we must risk our troops’ lives in a mission impossible. Uganda cannot simply continue to ignore the rising influence of the militants and the conflicting interests from the west and neighbouring countries like Ethiopia and Eritrea that have partly played in the mess in this country. Ugandan troops a few months were reported to have passed on arms from USA to the TFG which controls a small part of the country.

Why should Ugandans be in Somalia as peacekeepers in the face of violence where they are targets? How many lives do we have to lose to see that a peacekeeping mission at this stage cannot work in Somalia? What is the AU thinking or is this asking too much? I think Ugandans especially those whose relatives are deployed in Somalia should start asking government questions that should have been answered before deployment.


  1. And Uganda’s involvement in somalia will come back to bite us in the bum one day.

    It’s the citizens of Uganda and Somalia that will grow to blame eachother and probably hate eachother in future.

    I wonder if there’s any aid that we have been given and sending troops was part of the deal.

    1. My dear African Brethren (in the very Christian Sense, I am not been patriarchical)!

      I am surpirsed u (rosebell et al) r reasoning like this. Remember the adage of the man who goes to sleep when his neighbour’s house is on fire and refuses to help… Moreover, we as Africans have always been our brothers keepers. We cannot afford to turn our back on Somalia (infact it should be an open sore on our conscience that we even allow it to happen in this age and time). However to disparage the noble efforts of our Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers is not only discouraging but is also to encourage impunity. What we can perhaps advocate is the need for a more robust force and in this regards, we must look up to the Intl Community (specifically the US for obvious reasons). If Somalia get one tenth the attention in Afghanistan, I have no doubt, the issue will be resolved with much ado. I rest my case.

      1. Bobby, I beg to disagree with you. If that brother refuses your help and wants to kill you and all your children it becomes a different story. And the Somalia situation cannot be simplified to this proverb. Somalia is at the center of way too many interests and to compare it to Afghanistan where US is heading the operations and other NATO forcess goes byond just attention. USA can never actually come back to Somalia, their soldiers were killed in early 90s and now the politics of fear reign. But besides Nigeria pledged to give troops and I think its high muslim population would have decreased on the way may be the islamists see Uganda and Burundi as working for a christian purpose which has no breadth of truth but again its a perception of those on other side of the fight.
        Somali crisis has way too many interests that make it difficult for the fighters and clans to trust anyone who comes in the name of nuetrality. The intervention needs to be re-thought. And for Ugandan tax payers to pay part of the cost of the mission that will only result in a failure I cannot agree with it. And you only talk about the west, what about the Arab league whom Somalia closely associates with? what have they done?

  2. Dear ROsebell

    I agree with u on the difficulties peacekeepers face in the ctry. I also agree that there is a need to rethink the modalities for resolving the conflict but I disagree that u shld let ur brothers house burn. This is becos, like the child that says his or her mother would not sleep, he or she would equally not sleep. Perhaps, we shld direct our energies to rethinking the modalities, don’t u agree?

  3. Well got a couple of relatives who have and are there and you see they want to go and reason being, There is money. The money is the centre of attraction for these fighters. The reason we could be in Somalia is to show our presence, show off to the world we a peacelovers and our desire to know we are part of those who are willing to bring peace back to somalia.
    But who are we protecting…..?
    The transition government that has no updated weapons or very stable army to fight the warlords. So what do we do? We are peacekeeping in an area withiout any peace.
    The arab league is close to the transition government but will continue to distance itself from Alshabab and other movements, however hard we try I believe the somali problem is broad and the answer is within the various clans that are all crowded in Mogadishu.
    Funny thing is there is an UN arms embargo on Somalia but the clans have very sophisticated weapons. How? someone is suppling ,someone with interests.
    Whatever Ugandan troops are doing is brave but whose interests are they protecting? a question i still ponder on….

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