Calls by US senate to send troops back to Somalia gains momentum

GOOBJOOG NEWS/WASHINGTON DC: Calls to to send U.S. troops back into Somalia to fight Al-Shabaab terrorists have gained momentum after several U.S. senators petitioned for the same at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday.

The push to send U.S. troops came about 16 months after former President Donald Trump pulled an estimated 700 U.S. special operators who were in Somalia.

Gen. Stephen Townsend, head of U.S. Africa Command made clear to senators at during the hearing that he did not think the current arrangement of what he described as “commuting” to Somalia is working.

It is not effective, it’s not efficient, and it puts our troops at greater risk,” he said.

Tuesday’s hearing came after U.S. military officials reportedly asked President Joe Biden to redeploy several hundred troops in Somalia to combat escalating threats from Al-Shabaab.

U.S. Africa Command, has most recently announced that together with the FGS, had carried five airstrikes in Somalia since Biden took office, killing several Al-Shabaab militants. 

The senators further pressed Townsend on the situation in Somalia, expressing concern that pulling troops from the country and conducting airstrikes have allowed Al-Shabaab to flourish.

Committee ranking member Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla said “It increases risk and decreases our effectiveness. We’re seeing this play out on the ground in Somalia as things get worse and al-Shabaab gains strength.”

Townsend blamed political dysfunction in Mogadishu and “inactivity” by the African Union Mission to Somalia for the worsening security situation in Somalia, adding that the best AFRICOM could do is “maintain a secure area around the bases that we return to, and we really can’t get at the al-Shabaab problem set.”