Somalia’s Islamist militant group al-Shabab is fighting on multiple fronts against Kenya, Ethiopian and African Union forces. But their toughest battle may be against their own mothers, brothers and friends who are pleading with them to surrender for the sake of peace. For VOA Mohammed Yusuf reports.

Abdirahman Hassan, 21, is part of the Ras Kamboni militia, a group allied to Somali government forces in the fight against al-Shabab. Right now he is on assignment protecting the town of Dobley, just across the border from Kenya.

His brother Jamaa, 18, is fighting for al-Shabab and is stationed in Afmadow, a town less than 10 kilometers from the frontline of the war.

Hassan says whenever he talks to his brother he always advises him to leave the terror group. He says, in turn, his brother tries to convince him to join al-Shabab.

“We do call each other. I do tell him there is no reason to stay with al-Shabab and he should leave the group, since they have also allied with al-Qaida,” said Hassan. “And he says I am a non-believer and that I have to leave whatever I am doing and to join him.”

Hassan also said if he meets his brother in the battle he is aware that neither sibling will spare the other.

“When we meet, a gun will separate us, every one of us trusts and believes his gun,” Hassan said. “If we come face to face with him in the battle field, I will kill him, it’s a must, and if he gets the same chance he will kill me too because he has been told that by killing your enemy you will go to heaven.”

Al-Shabab-al-Qaida ties

Al-Shabab, a name which means “The Youth,” recently formalized its ties with al-Qaida, and has been fighting to impose its harsh version of Islamic law in Somalia. Some of the group’s top leaders are foreign militants who have come to Somalia for what they call a jihad, or holy war.

But Muslim clerics in the region have often said there is no jihad in Somalia, but only a group of people who are fighting over territory and resources.

Somali government fighter Sultan Hamdi said his nephew is fighting for al-Shabab and is stationed in Beledweyne, in Somalia’s Hiraan region. According to Hamdi, his nephew joined al-Shabab at the age of 15 when the militants recruited his entire school class.

“These children are brainwashed and al-Shabab are taking this young generation to fight for them. We are just praying he sees the right path. I have also told him if that we meet in the battle field, and if he fires at me and my colleagues, I will fire at him, there will be nothing like uncle and nephew. Can you show mercy to someone who wants to kill you?”

Recruiting minors to replenish ranks

With al-Shabab’s ranks dwindling, due to tension and in-fighting within the group, human rights organizations say the militants have increasingly recruited children to strengthen their numbers. Families and children that resist the recruitment drive face severe consequences and even death.

Ras Kamboni spokesman Abdinassir Serar says he knows some of his troops speak to their family members in al-Shabab. He says some have successfully convinced their loved ones to leave the group.

“First of all these people have joined al-Shabab not knowing what they are getting into. As you are aware, they also recruit young children,” Serar said. “Lack of that maturity is a problem. But when someone else, be it a parent or a relative or a friend, is able to advise them, it’s possible for some of them to accept the advise and look for ways to get out of the situation they are in.”

A good number of al-Shabab fighters have contacts within the government and are able to surrender easily in exchange for safe passage.

But Serar says there are others who surrender out of fear, knowing they have become everyone’s enemy in and out of the country.

Hassan, of Ras Kamboni, says for those who do not have contacts in the government, all they can do is go to the bushes, bury their weapons and come back to their civilian lives.

Al-Shabab has formally joined the fold of the global al-Qaida terrorist network. This comes after a series of defeats for the militant group in the face of a concerted military offensive by multi-national forces in Somalia. Some analysts say this new development will strengthen the two groups’ terror operations in the region.

In a 15-minute video reported by an internet monitoring service, the Site Intelligence Group, al-Qaida’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri announced that al-Shabab has joined al-Qaida’s jihadist movement against what he called the “Zionist-Crusader campaign.”

A Somali analyst with Southlink Consultants in Nairobi, Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdi Samed, says this formal announcement will not only strengthen al-Shabab but also al-Qaida.

“Since both sides now are losing ground, they are going to reinforce each other. That’s why right now they say ‘let’s join together since we have common interest, common goals and push our agenda and course jointly.”

In a statement to the Somali National News Agency on Friday, the minister of information and telecommunications, Abdulkadir Hussein Mohamed said, quote, “This is no news to us. We knew all along that they were one and the same. And that al-Shabab leaders were fully paid up agents and representatives of al-Qaida, a foreign terrorist organization engaged in the most un-Islamic activities of murdering innocent Muslim Somali civilians.” End of quote.

The minister said the government is pleased that, in his words, the time for al-Shabab to masquerade as an indigenous Somali-Islamic organization is gone forever. He also called for the international community to join the fight against al-Qaida in Somalia unreservedly.

The militant group has been battling Somalia’s U.N.-backed transitional government for the last five years. In 2009, al-Shabab leaders released a video called “At Your Service Osama.” That same year, former al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden also released a video in which he made encouraging comments about the Somali insurgency.

A Kenyan political writer, Barrack Muluka told VOA nothing changes on the ground and called on international intervention in the fight against terror in the region.

“The global community has got to recognize that this is not a local event happening, where Kenya has got to be concerned about protecting its territory against al-Shabab and al-Qaida, but indeed here is international terrorism at work. It should also be one that attracts international intervention.”

Abdi Samed of Southlink consultants said al-Shabab will report to al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri and by doing so, it will ease the tension and political wrangling in the group.

“It’s boosting the morale of al-Shabab and also convincing those who have different opinions altogether saying that right now Godane is no longer of al-Shabab. The real leader of al-Shabab is Ayman Zawahiri. That ((in)) itself they can convince those who are saying that no we are not satisfied with the leadership of Godane.”

Godane is Ahmed Abdi Godane, an al-Shabab commander who is considered the top leader of the group.

Al-Shabab is a mix of recruit, clan militias, and paid fighters. The group has also

had hundreds of foreign fighters among its ranks. The foreign fighters from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen brought cash, tactics and knowledge of how to put explosives together.

Western intelligence officials over the years have maintained that al-Qaida fighters have found sanctuary with al-Shabab. In January this year, a U.S. drone strike killed a British passport holder Bilal al-Berjawi. Al-Berjawi was a close associate of the late al-Qaida East Africa leader Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, who was believed to have played a key role in the deadly 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam.

Mohammed himself was killed by Somali military government forces last June in Mogadishu.

The killing of these two top al-Qaida associates in the region has divided al-Shabab leadership with leaders accusing each other of spying for the western intelligence agencies. Observers say one of the key roles al-Qaida will play is to defuse tension between moderate fighters and those who pursue a global jihadist agenda which threatens to divide the group.

Dozens of ethnic Somali families in northeastern Kenya are increasingly worried for their sons in the Kenyan Defense Forces, who are battling the Islamist militant group al-Shabab in southern Somalia. While the soldiers are away, their families are left without the care of their sons and husbands, and are now dependent on family friends and relatives for support. For VOA Mohammed Yusuf reports.

The Kenyan military has raised the number of its soldiers killed in Somalia to 15. Among them is Yusuf Koriyo. Koriyo was killed on December 22, 2011 at Gerinle village, which borders Kenya.

Family in need

Fatuma Aden received the news that her husband was killed by a single bullet that hit his chin when his military convoy came under attack from al-Shabab. That day Koriyo was the only soldier killed in the attack.

Fatuma is now left with the burden of raising her 11-month-old girl. She said the last time she received any assistance from the government was in December.

She says when her husband died, soldiers sent her some money. But she says December was the last month the family received money and that was Yusuf’s salary for that month.

This is where Kulmiye Koriyo, a brother-in-law, comes in. He has been providing assistance to Fatuma and her daughter with basic needs.

“We normally offer anything she needs,” said Koriyo. “She has a small kid, she don’t take food. She needs milk and clean water; we have to provide them. It is a must because since I am his cousin’s brother, any assistance they require from my side I have to give them.”

Map of Kenya

In October last year, Kenya’s defense force launched a military campaign intended to destroy al-Shabab after a wave of kidnappings on Kenyan territory. Al-Shabab has denied responsibility for the kidnappings.

Worrying for sons

The death of Yusuf Koriyo has left many families in Garissa worried about their sons on the frontline. Mohamed, who prefers to give just his first name, is from one such family. He has a brother serving in the military, stationed on the road between Tabta and Qoqani Somalia’s Lower Juba region.

He says as a young man growing up in northeastern Kenya he wanted to join the military but his perception has changed since the death of Yusuf Koriyo and how Koriyo’s family has been treated by the Kenyan government.

“My perception has changed,” he said. “Before, each and every youth, it was a career most of us wanted to join: the military to defend the country. But so far you can imagine [the] military is only thinking about you when you are present in your country. Their interest is when you are working. Once you die they completely forgot about you.”

Kulmiye Koriyo agrees there is nothing to be proud of in being a Kenyan soldier after how his brother-in-law’s family was treated.

“My sister-in-law, she was not happy at all,” added Koriyo. “If someone passes like a month ago and the salary ends like that its inhuman, unfair. I suggest it’s not good being a [in the] military since this is what they do if somebody passes away. That is the end of his life and his family. It not a good job.”

Discouraging treatment

Koriyo warns such treatment will discourage other families, and make them urge their sons to resign from their duties.

Mohamed says his mother is disturbed to see her son on the battlefield and hopes she has the power to get her son back.

“Our life has completely changed,” he said. “He was the sole bread winner of our family. We have not communicated to him for the last two months. We don’t know if he is alive or wounded or they are hiding [something] from us. We don’t have access to him in terms of information, communication and even the care of his family and we are really scrambling here and there. We [are] trying. Our best well-wishers are also helping us. You can imagine one morning you wake up and have nothing.”

As the battle rages on inside Somalia, Kenyan forces have taken control of several towns in the last two weeks. The families hope their sons and husband come home alive, and that the government will look for ways to address their problems.

In a visit to Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu Thursday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague promised to step up the fight against terrorism and piracy. Hague is the first British foreign secretary to visit the war-ravaged city in two decades. For VOA Mohammed Yusuf reports.

Secretary Hague’s visit comes during a time of relative peace and security in Mogadishu, since African Union (AMISOM) troops and forces of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) pushed al-Shabab out of the capital last month.

Hague announced that Britain has appointed its first ambassador to Somalia in more than two decades. Matt Baugh will serve as London’s new senior envoy to Somalia and will be based in Kenya until security conditions allow an embassy to be built in Mogadishu.

Hague said the British government is well-prepared to do more to stabilize Somalia and to create more legitimacy and accountability in the political institutions.

“With the further expansion of the AMISOM forces, of which we hope will be agreed at the United Nation, for countries to work effectively together to counter terrorism and piracy, and to highlight the need for effective humanitarian and development aid in the future,” he said. “Again so that this country can succeed in a way that it has not been possible over the last two decades.”

In less than three weeks, the British government will host an international conference on Somalia in London, chaired by British Prime Minister David Cameron. More than 40 countries and international organizations are expected to attend the conference to address Somalia’s future.

Adjoa Anyimadu, the assistant Africa Program researcher for Chatham House, a foreign policy institute in London, said Hague is sending a message on behalf of the international community that they have an interest in peace in Somalia and they are willing to talk to Somali people about finding a solution.

“There is more feeling in the international community to spear a united approach to help Somalia solve its problems,” she said. “Especially within the last year, when famine affected large part of Somalia, a lot of high-level officials from all over the world have taken real interest in what is going on there and are trying to come together to help Somalia find a solution, particularly as the TFG mandate expires in August.”

She also said there is an understanding within the international community that Somalia’s political problems cannot be solved without involving Somalis in the discussion.

Secretary Hague says there is a future for Somalia and its people and the conference will be an important moment in the Somalia’s history.

The country has not had a functioning central government since President Mohammed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

Despite recent victories over militant group al-Shabab, the transitional government asserts little authority outside Mogadishu, enabling pirates to operate on the country’s coastline, while al-Shabab continues to control areas of central and southern Somalia.

Hopes for a turnaround have been hampered by infighting in the government. The country has gone through several prime ministers in the last few years, and lawmakers recently exchanged punches in parliament because of a dispute over the speaker.

In Somalia, government forces backed by Ethiopian troops are set to advance on the Bay and Bakool regions, key strongholds of the militant group al-Shabab. The Islamist group has vowed to resist any foreign intervention. For VOA Mohammed Yusuf reports.

In Somalia’s Gedo region, which borders Ethiopia, Somali government forces have played a defensive role for the last eight months. But with the reported arrival of more Ethiopian troops, a Somali lawmaker tells VOA the forces are ready to secure the region and move forward to capture neighboring Bay and Bakool.

A Somali military official in the Gedo region, Diyed Abdi, says Somali forces hope to reduce the amount of territory al-Shabab controls.

“There is an ongoing operation to back up Transitional Federal Government plans to take control of other regions,” he said. “We would like to capture other town in Gedo and other regions with the help of Kenya, Ethiopia and AMISOM forces who are based in Mogadishu.”

A local official in the Gedo region town of Luq told VOA he could neither confirm nor deny the presence of Ethiopian troops in his town. But witnesses said the troops arrived this week and remained in the Luq area as of Tuesday.

This latest development is not something new to Somalis; Ethiopian forces have often crossed into Somalia to pursue al-Shabab and militias said to be allied to an Ethiopian rebel group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front.

Al-Shabab, which has links to al-Qaida, is fighting to overthrow Somalia’s internationally recognized government. The Islamist group controls much of southern and central Somalia, though it has lost ground in recent months. AU and Somali forces took full control of Mogadishu earlier this month, while Ethiopian forces recently took control of Beledweyne in Somalia’s Hiraan region.

Even though Somali forces have received enormous military support from neighboring countries the TFG struggles to regularly pay its troops. Abdi said they haven’t received salary for six months but they will continue to fight without any condition.

“Our expectations are high, even though the TFG have not paid us, we are also people who are patriotic, and we want to fight for our land and our flag which they have replaced with the black flag of al-Qaida,” he said.

Al-Shabab rose to power by fighting government forces and pro-government Ethiopian troops who invaded Somalia in 2006. The group considers any outside intervention as a threat to Somali sovereignty.

On Monday the militants permanently banned the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), one of the few international aid agencies operating in areas under its control. It accused the aid agency of providing contaminated food and betraying the trust of the population.

Earlier this month, ICRC temporarily suspended its operations in central and southern Somalia, saying local authorities had blocked deliveries of food and seeds.

International and local media rights groups have welcomed the release of 21 journalists in Somaliland and have called for authorities to release another four who are still detained. But some journalists in Somaliland are concerned for their safety and job effectiveness following the arrests. For VOA Mohammed Yusuf reports.

The autonomous region of Somaliland is facing intense criticism after the detention of 25 journalists last weekend. On Sunday, local journalists organized a peaceful protest in front of the state house, a day after police stormed and closed a local TV station.

National Union of Somali Journalists Secretary General Mohammed Ibrahim says the group is convinced Somaliland authorities were angered by the independent media reporting on a tribal conference in the Taleeh district of the Sool region.

“Somaliland authorities have systematically cracked down on journalists and media,” said Ibrahim. “They are doing this because Somaliland authorities believe that the outcome of this conference will cause insecurity to the Somaliland administration that are currently in control most of the region in Somaliland.”

Following the January 5 conference, elders in the Dhulbahante clan announced the Sool, Sanaag and Aeyn regions are forming a independent state. The three regions are claimed by both Somaliland and Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region.

A Somali political analyst with Southlink Consultants in Nairobi, Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdi Samed, says Somaliland’s reaction is clear it will not tolerate political interference from outside.
“They are saying the unity of Somaliland is untouchable,” said Samed. “Somaliland, they want to secure her border and they have a very clear border between Somalia and Somaliland. So any one who is going to tempt that border they mark as enemy number one.”

He also said Somaliland authorities would continue to censor media and arrest journalists.

“They want to censor media so that people of Somaliland, they do not get to know much about Dhulbahante state,” said Samed. “That [is] why they are cracking down on some of the media houses. So that [the people] do not have a factual and accurate reporting what is going on today in Taleeh and also the declaration of the new state.”

Somalia has not had a functioning central government since President Mohammed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Somalia split into a number of clan-ruled territories, while the people of northwest Somalia formed their own administration called Somaliland. The region runs its own affairs, though it does not have international recognition as an independent state.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is temporarily suspending distribution of aid to more than one million people in central and southern Somalia, after local authorities blocked deliveries of food and seeds. For VOA Mohammed Yusuf reports.

In mid-December, authorities in Jowhar, in the Middle Shabelle region of central Somalia, stopped a Red Cross humanitarian convoy for what they called a quality check. Four weeks later, the ICRC says it hasn’t received any reason why authorities are still holding up the convoy, and due to that, they have decided to suspend its operations in central and southern Somalia.

Anna Schaaf is ICRC Africa’s communication officer. She says the agreement on food distribution the ICRC had with local authorities is not being respected, and that until they have guarantees they will not distribute the food.

“We had an agreement that they would respect our working modalities, which allow us to work as a neutral and independent humanitarian organization,” said Schaaf. “So we have working modalities that are the same all over the world, which means for example we are the ones who are making assessment on the ground and we are the ones deciding what we are distributing and where exactly.”

Schaaf says the ICRC is very much concerned about the situation and called on local authorities to give a quick explanation on why they are holding trucks full of food aid.

“Now we would like to know what the reason is for the blockade of this convoy, and we would like to have guarantees our working modalities are respected in the future, so that we can actually go on with food distribution as planned for 1.1 million people,” added Schaaf.

Schaaf did not specifically say who is blocking ICRC supplies from reaching Somalis in need. However, Middle Shabelle is controlled by the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which has banned most aid groups from operating in the areas under its control. ICRC is one of the few humanitarian aid agencies that has been given access and is providing basic needs in central and southern Somalia.

The humanitarian crisis in the region remains one of the worst on the planet. Several parts of southern Somalia were declared famine zones last year, and the region has suffered through years of drought and conflict.

The drought has eased in recent months thanks to improved rains, but insecurity remains high in the south, where Kenyan forces who entered Somalia in October are fighting frequent battles with al-Shabab.

Somali politics for the last six years has been characterized by political wrangling between the president, the prime minister and the speaker of the parliament. On Tuesday, Somali legislators opposed to Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan cast a vote of no-confidence to oust him, accusing him of abusing power. The development opens up a new political power struggle in the transitional government as it fights to assert its authority in the battle-torn country. Mohammed Yusuf has more for VOA from Nairobi.

On Tuesday, 280 members of parliament voted to remove Speaker Sharif Hassan. A day later a scuffle erupted in parliament as Sharif Hassan’s opponents attempted to elect a new speaker.

In an interview with VOA’s Somali service, Sharif Hassan questioned the legitimacy of the vote because he was out of the country, in Italy. He also said he is heading back to Mogadishu to deal with the crisis.

Roger Middleton is an analyst in London for Chatham House, a foreign policy institute. He says serious disputes are going to arise now that the speaker has returned to Mogadishu.

“The real worry for people with the constitution process and road map and so on going on at the moment is the parliament gets bogged down in dispute who should be the speaker, who has the right to remove the speaker, if anybody has the right to remove the speaker. Then the constitutional effort and the efforts to broaden the engagement with Somali political process — those will get side tracked by this move. So it certainly changes the way politics operates in the last few months.”

Middleton says the move taken by lawmakers is an attempt to play a bigger role in decision-making in the country. The parliament has been criticized by many for being inactive and ineffective.

Awad Asharah, a Somali member of parliament, says Sharif Hassan took too much power for himself and obstructed parliament from performing its duties.

“He also tarnished our image because people say we are corrupt, we take money and only Sharif (the speaker) can do what he wants in the parliament. So we have to straighten the situation.”

Some politicians question the legality of the move to oust Sharif Hassan, because he was out of the country, in Italy, when the vote took place. Former lawmaker Hussein Gedi says the law should be respected.

“I cannot say whether they were right but what it could have been better to find solution and talk. It seems to me, that this matter needs to be revised and resolved constitutionally.”

Middleton of Chatham House says the parliamentary crisis is going to hurt efforts to stabilize the country.

“I think he is going to complicate negotiations over the end of the transition, which is meant to happen in August next year. He is going to complicate negotiations over a new constitution and a new government so there are some big challenges thrown up by this in Somali politics.”

The political infighting has already claimed its first casualty, as the United Nations was forced to postpone a meeting, scheduled for Thursday, on ending the transitional government and drafting a new constitution.

For now, Somalia’s political wrangling continues.

Ethiopian troops have apparently crossed over into Somalia, weeks after Kenya launched its own incursion into the country in pursuit of al-Shabab militants. Some analysts say the Kenyan operation can succeed only if Ethiopia cooperates. Mohammed Yusuf reports.

Witnesses said this week they had seen Ethiopian troops cross the border into Somalia. The Ethiopian government denied the move, but the Somali defense minister confirmed it and said the troops would work with Somali government forces.

An Ethiopian invasion in Somalia will open up another front in the fight against al-Shabab, but analysts say Ethiopia’s presence could also give al-Shabab a life line.

Tension has historically run high between Ethiopia and Somalia and reached a new high five years ago with an Ethiopian invasion that targeted Islamist militants in the capital.

Al-Shabab gained support in Somalia by fighting off Ethiopian forces during that time, using anti-Ethiopian sentiment to rally support for their own insurgency.

Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdi Samed, a Somali political analyst with Southlink Consultants in Nairobi, says Ethiopia would be better off working with the African Union peacekeeping force, AMISOM, that backs Somalia’s government in Mogadishu.

“Somalia and Ethiopia, they have been long time enemies to each other, so trusting Ethiopia again it will take time,” said Samed. “But if they come under the umbrella of AMISOM, it is better than what they are doing right now.”

This week’s Ethiopian incursion follows a Kenyan military operation targeting al-Shabab in southern Somalia that began more than a month ago.

The Kenyan government has called on the international community to assist in the operation. Kenya, meanwhile, says it is considering contributing troops to the AMISOM mission.

But Samed says Somalis are concerned to see their neighbors sending troops into the country. He notes there has always been tension between Somalia and the countries that it shares a border with, including Kenya and Ethiopia.

“The front line states are the ones who are ready to send troops into Somalia,” added Samed. “It’s better African Union peace force to come from Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Malawi and so on. But still there is a lot of suspicion about front line state.”

There is also a lot of concern about the incursions among Somalis on the ground.

Abdifatah Hassan Farah is the editor of Radio Galgudud in the Gurieel Galmudug region of central Somalia. His station reported a heavy presence of Ethiopian forces in and around the town last week.

Farah says Ethiopian troops are still positioned in the region, but that he does not know what their mission is, or where they are going next.

The State Department’s top Africa policymaker on Tuesday warned Ethiopia not to invade Somalia, but the warning came too late, with Somalis claiming that Ethiopian troops were already rolling through their villages in trucks.

The statement from Johnnie Carson, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, was a sign that Washington is growing increasingly wary of a month-old offensive against the Islamist militant group al Shabab that was launched by Kenya and now appears to include Ethiopia. Mohammed Yusuf reports.

“We firmly believe that the best way to deal with al Shabab and the way to restore stability is working with AMISOM militarily, using them as a vehicle to advance security,” Carson said in response to a question during a conference call with reporters. AMISOM is the acronym for the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, which is manned mostly by troops from Uganda and Burundi.

“I would remind the caller that Ethiopia went into Somalia some four and a half years ago and stayed for approximately two and a half to three years. That effort was not universally successful and led in fact to the rise of Shabab after they pulled out,” Carson said.

Carson’s remarks also could be viewed as a rebuke of Kenya, another U.S. ally in East Africa. Kenyan troops invaded Somalia last month, ostensibly after kidnappings along its border with Somalia. According to U.S. diplomatic cables made public by Wikileaks, Carson was very critical in 2010 of a Kenyan plan to use proxy Somali militias to go on an offensive against al Shabab and create space for a regional administration in southern Somalia.

U.S. officials say Kenya did not consult them before launching its recent incursion.

Now, Somalis say, Ethiopia has joined the fray.

Abdi Wehliye, 43, who lives in Gurieel town in central Somalia’s Galgudud region, says that fellow townsmen saw Ethiopian troops rolling up on Saturday evening. He saw them Sunday morning five kilometers outside town, where he says they have pitched camp. On Sunday, Ethiopian commanders, escorted by a small number of troops, came into the town to meet with local elders and officials, he said.

Somalis are notoriously xenophobic when it comes to outside interference in their own affairs, and Somalis view Ethiopia as a historical arch nemesis. That sentiment was used by Shabab during Ethiopia’s 2006-2008 occupation to rally support for its insurgency.

The U.S. is all too aware of that history, having backed Ethiopia’s military adventure in 2006. The U.S. itself pulled troops out of Somalia in the early 1990s after they became the targets of regular Somali attacks.

Wehliye said, however, that while people don’t like Ethiopians, their dismay has been tempered by their anger at Shabab for its brutal and ultimately disastrous administrative tactics, which many blame for the devastating famine that is expected to leave hundreds of thousands dead this year in central and southern Somalia. Shabab banned most Western aid and recruits barely teenage boys to fight.

“I thought some people would jump and start carrying guns against Ethiopia but it seems they are not yet sure what they want,” Wehliye said in a phone interview. “Many Somalis hate al Shabab for what they have done to them and their families.”

Ethiopian troops have also entered central Somalia’s Hiraan region, said a resident of Beledweyne town who asked to be identified only as Hussein for security reasons. He said that the Shabab had treated Somalis like “slaves in our own country” and that he welcomed the Ethiopians, who he said had arrived near Beledweyne in five trucks in recent days.

“I support anyone who helps us fight al Shabab. We want to get our freedom back. Al Shabab are the ones who brought this entire problem on us. They are the reason so many countries want to invade Somalia,” he said.

Not everyone reached by phone seemed keen on an Ethiopian presence, however, a fact that U.S. officials are certain to seize on to discourage a prolonged presence inside Somalia. The Ethiopian government has categorically denied that its troops have entered Somalia.

Waeys Ahmed, who’s also from Gurieel, said he would be happy to see al Shabab “wiped out.”

“But with Ethiopia and Kenya coming to fight al Shabab, I don’t think it’s good for the interest of Somalis. They have their own agendas,” he said. “This is taking us back to where we were in 2007, when al Shabab enjoyed more support from the population.”

The Somali government, which from its limited control in Mogadishu can do little about the arrival of foreign troops, has struggled to find the right tone in responding to the incursions.

On Tuesday, Somalia government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman said that while Kenya is welcome because it entered into an agreement with his government, Ethiopia is not.

“We are a sovereign country, so foreign troops cannot enter without bilateral agreement or a legal mandate,” Osman said.

But he also said he was taking the Ethiopian denials at face value, despite what Somali residents say.

“There are no Ethiopian troops on our soil,” he said.