Thursday, September 2, 2010

U.S. sees rebel "tension" on foreign militant role

Foreign militants do not enjoy universal acceptance in Somalia's al-Shabaab but outside powers will find it hard to use their presence to divide and weaken the hardline Islamist insurgency, a U.S. military official said.

A collection of militants from countries as diverse as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Sudan and the Comoros are the driving force behind the hardline radical group, which controls swathes of south and central Somalia, several analysts have said.

Some analysts see potential for fomenting divisions, since more nationalist al Shabaab footsoldiers share few of the global ambitions of the al Qaeda-aligned foreigners, who include some diaspora Somalis who left homes in the West to join the group.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the foreigners' presence was constantly discussed in al-Shabaab, perhaps due in part to a perennial wariness about outsiders.

But this same sensitivity to outsiders meant any attempt by governments who oppose them to cause rifts would be difficult.

"There are some foreigners among the Islamic insurgency and that is an issue of tension - to what extent do you want these foreigners helping out?" said the official, speaking in a briefing on U.S. military support for governments in the region.

"Does it hurt the cause of Islamic ascendancy in Somalia or does it help it, on balance? There is a debate."

An attempt by outside powers to highlight these differences would immediately be suspect because it was not coming from Somalis, and it would therefore have to be done with finesse.

"Somalia is a really difficult place for the international community to act just because Somalis do tend to have - I'm generalizing which is always risky -- this reaction against foreigners," he said.

Al Shabaab, fighting to topple the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), claimed responsibility for an attack in Uganda's capital on July 11 that killed 79 people.

The group said the attack was revenge for Uganda's deployment in an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, which has had no effective government for two decades and has suffered militia chaos, war and periodic famine in that time.

The official said the bombing, al Shabaab's first successful foreign strike, was "a controversial act" that probably created splits in the insurgency's leadership over tactics "in terms of how to go about getting to that goal (of an Islamic state). Was this the right time? And the right thing to do?"

"I think the Islamic insurgency moves into uncharted territory (following the bombing)...because what's the international reaction? Does the international community get more involved in Somalia because of that?...In general it opens up a lot of unknowns for the leadership."

The military official said that despite the debate over tactics, the leadership appeared united on the broad strategy of contributing to al Qaeda's global anti-Western campaign.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: Reuters

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