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ADDIS ABABA — The African Union vowed yesterday to press on with its fight against Al Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militants in Somalia following a deadly siege in Kenya that is now in its fourth day. “Our resolve is to fight now more than ever before,” the deputy head of the AU’s executive branch, Erastus Mwencha, told AFP.
Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the bloody attack at Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, which started Saturday and has so far left at least 65 people dead and about 200 injured.
Mwencha said the bloody siege underscores the difficulty of fighting al-Shabaab rebels, whose threat extends beyond the borders of Somalia.
“This is a moving target which we must constantly update ourselves (on) and continue to be vigilant in our fight,” he said, adding that the international community must work together to exchange intelligence and expertise to stamp out the al-Shabaab threat.
The 17 000-strong African Union mission in Somalia, or Amisom, has been battling Shebaab extremists in Somalia since 2007.
Mwencha said Amisom troops — which have liberated large swathes of southern Somalia including the capital Mogadishu — are fighting al-Shabaab rebels who have “melted into society,” making them harder to pin down.
“However large a force you are, there’s no amount of work that can be enough to try and flush them out of society,” he said, stopping short of saying there was a need to increase troops numbers.
Amisom is funded by the United Nations and the European Union and is made up of regional troops, including Kenyan troops who were “re-hatted” into the mission last year after invading Somalia in 2011.
al-Shabaab said the mall attack was in retaliation for Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia.
The UN special representative for Somalia, Nicholas Kay, also called yesterday for a redoubling of efforts in battling the militants. — AFP.
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