AP reports: “More than 300 people are dead after the truck bombing in Somalia’s capital and scores of others remain missing, authorities said Monday, as the fragile Horn of Africa nation reeled from one of the world’s worst attacks in years.”

ABDI SAMATAR, samat001 at umn.edu
Available for a limited number of interviews, Samatar is professor and chair of the Department of Geography, Environment & Society at the University of Minnesota. He appeared on the BBC last night discussing Somalia.

He said today: “I think there’s little doubt that al-Shabab are behind this attack.

“This shows the failure of the international community to bring peace to Somalia. Drones and military forces with no real strategy for stability just produce more violence.

“The African Union force is a conventional army up against guerrilla fighters and I have little faith they will prevail. They have Mogadishu, but al-Shabab has much of the rest of the country.

“The African Union force is partnering with Kenya and Ethiopia, which want to gerrymander Somalia. This undermines any serious attempt at stabilizing Somalia.

“The Somali government should develop its own force. It is weak, but it is not as corrupt as the last government. It think the people will rally behind that.

“The goal of much of the political class in Somalia is not to create peace, but to engage in endless political gymnastics in pursuit of their own interests.”