On June 17, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud visited Türkiye and was received by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. They discussed bilateral security issues of mutual interest and joint efforts to promote regional security and stability in the Horn of Africa region.

The Somali president’s visit to Türkiye follows two significant developments in the Somali peninsula. First, on Feb. 22, 2024, Ankara and Mogadishu signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) designating Türkiye as Somalia’s primary partner in maritime security and law enforcement for a decade. Additionally, under this military-security agreement, Türkiye will significantly contribute to the capacity building and enhancement of the Somali security sector, as it has done previously. Secondly, the visit coincides with the Somali National Army's notable military progress against the al-Shabab terrorist group.

Moreover, with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeeping forces set to withdraw from Somalia by December 2024, Somalia must swiftly enhance its military capabilities against al-Shabab to maintain and further build upon the state-building achievements of the past three decades. Therefore, Somalia Quint member states like Qatar, the U.K. and the U.S. must play a vital role in the military campaign against al-Shabab once AMISOM peacekeeping forces depart the country.

Geneology of al-Shabab

Al-Shabab emerged as an off-shoot extremist group of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in 2006. Al-Shabab benefited from Ethiopia’s Western-backed invasion of Somalia during the "war on terror" years. Hundreds of thousands of Somali youths joined the militant group as they were mobilized by nationalist sentiment occasioned by the invasion.

However, after the splitter of the ICU, where some political factions joined the then Somali transitional national government in 2009, pro-al-Shabab groupings established links with al-Qaida and by 2012 pledged loyalty to al-Qaida. What started as a Somali nationalist mobilization against an Ethiopian invasion morphed into a terrorist network of local and international militants fighting African Union peacekeeping forces, the Somali government and the "West" in Somalia.

In the course of this brutal violence of al-Shabab in Somalia, the Somali people have been the primary victims as they endured suicide bombings, assassinations and abductions by the militants leading to mass displacement, societal anomies and instability in the country.

Reign of terror

On March 15, al-Shabab laid a 13-hour-long siege on a popular hotel named SYL in Mogadishu. Five security officers were killed and 27 civilians injured in this latest attack. The militant group periodically attacks hotels, tea shops and social gatherings frequented by government employees and international aid workers in Mogadishu. On April 4, the militants killed Abdurrahim Yörük, a Turkish aid worker, in a roadside explosion. Yörük was a much-loved, empathetic, jovial and charismatic aid worker in Somalia. His Instagram account had more than 40,000 followers, and his death was painful to his family and his followers.

For al-Shabab, all aid workers from countries that support the Somali government are "legitimate" targets. Türkiye’s security and development capacity-building efforts have rendered its citizens in Somalia targets for the terrorist group.

Nevertheless, the Somali people are the main victims of al-Shabab terrorism. Hundreds of thousands have lost their lives to the militant group’s suicide bombings, indiscriminate attacks and assassinations. Moreover, the terrorist group targets clan elders, religious leaders, intellectuals and prominent individuals in society who do not agree with its political agendas or criticize its attacks. Such individuals are intimidated by assassinations or abductions and forced to support the propaganda of the terror group.

In April this year, I made critical comments about Al-Shabab’s indiscriminate attack on civilians on a local FM radio in Beled Xawo, Somalia where I was conducting my Ph.D. fieldwork research interviews. In the following days and weeks, I started receiving calls and text messages rebuking my opinions and comments. In one text message, the sender advised me to repent and retract what I said and that they know where I drink tea in the afternoons. The whole experience was alarming to me given al-Shabab’s assassination attacks. I had to cut short my fieldwork research and leave Somalia in fear for my life.

How to defeat radicalized militants

Somalia has come a long way in building its state institutions, especially the security and military sectors. However, Somalia is at a critical and crucial juncture with the looming departure of the ATMIS African peacebuilding forces at the end of this year. Two crucial steps are necessary to avoid what happened in Afghanistan in Somalia.

The Somali national army has registered numerous military victories against al-Shabab, and many districts were liberated from the terrorists in the course of this year. While the momentum is still with the Somali national army, international partners in security and military capacity building should double their efforts and assistance to Somalia. For instance, within the framework of the Turkish-Somali military partnership, Türkiye can enhance Somalia’s drone and aerial capabilities in intelligence gathering, reconnaissance and combat operations. Turkish drones were militarily effective against militants in Libya and in the recent Nagorno-Karabakh war.

Second, Somalia needs to recruit and train many more military personnel to fill its ranks. The current military victories have been registered by military graduates of Camp TURKSOM and the Danab brigades trained by the U.S. Ever since the Turkish military base was opened in September 2017, al-Shabab militants have felt its impact on the battlefield. While Camp TURKSOM was criticized as an element of Turkish expansionism in the Horn of Africa region, its Somali military graduates have liberated numerous districts from al-Shabab and dealt heavy blows against the militants.

While Somalia has registered positive developments in its security and military sectors, the inevitable ATMIS African forces withdrawal and the gains made during the current ongoing military operations against al-Shabab militants can be maintained by re-doubling strategic military assistance and support for Somalia’s efforts to defeat al-Shabab at this critical moment.

The terrorist group has ruined lives and destabilized the Horn of Africa region. That has to end now.