Last week, in a rather dire story about the ongoing fighting in Mogadishu, the BBC reported that Somali insurgents had penetrated a camp belonging to the Ugandan African Union peacekeeping force. The infiltrators were ultimately pushed back, the article said.
Not exactly, according to Ugandan spokesman Captain Paddy Ankunda. He says the insurgents attempted a frontal assault on the camp and got massacred. “Not a good idea,” is how he summed up the insurgent attack. “We have the arsenal.”
Somali insurgents are a mixed bag comprising foot soldiers from the deposed Islamic Courts regime as well as criminals, pissed-off locals and nationalists opposed to the Ethiopian and African Union occupations. But one thing they have in common is their ghetto combat style. Your basic insurgent comprises dudes toting AK-47s and maybe a few RPGs plus “technicals” – pickups sporting machine guns – for fire support. They’ve got mortars, too, but haven’t really learned to coordinate fires with infantry attacks. As the Ethiopians proved last year when their tanks battalions sliced through the Islamic Courts militia in just a couple weeks, such ragtag forces have no chance against legitimate armies boasting engineered fighting positions, artillery, crew-served weapons and formal training.
But insurgents have a nasty way of adapting. Taking a cue from their spiritual brethren in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, Somalia insurgents have planted their first roadside bombs, targeting the Ethiopian and African Union troops. For this reason Captain Paddy calls Mogadishu “Baghdad – only not quite as bad.” What’s more, to counter the bombs, the Ugandans ride in V-shaped, wheeled armored vehicles just like the U.S. military is buying for its troops in Iraq. What between the tough rides and the firepower, the African Union troops have managed to hang on to their handful of positions – the airport and seaport, most notably – despite the spike in violence in Mogadishu since October. Captain Paddy actually seems pleasantly surprised. “We’re here and we’re surviving,” he says.
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The AU has tried to fight the conventional fight for a couple of years. Insurgents by definition refuse to fight conventionally, using “decentralized warfare” (also known as terrorism), they fight on. The only two ways to beat them is to beat the entire country into submission, (i.e.the Germans during WWII), or using pinpoint tactics and taking away their support and infrastructure, (United States SOCCOM policy). The AU isn’t stupid they know/knew that they had about one conventional stand-up fight before the insurgency started, they took advantage of their firepower superiority while they could use it, and have established their base camps and are trying their level best within the political rules they have to follow.
I have a friend who was with marines when the UN peace keepers extracted from Somalia the first time. The general in charge of the MEU doing the extraction told his guys ‘they don’t pay you to bring the ammo home!’ the marines layed down the enough fire over the heads of the Paks as they withdrew to the LCU’s that their command tank lost its protruding antennas! The Marines expended something like 100,000 rounds of ammo in less than half an hour, while the Pakistani’s withdrew, they recieved less than a hundred rounds in counter fire and the Paks took NO CASUALTIES! “For yeah though I walk through the shadow of the valley in shadow of death I shall fear no evil for I fire support on my side!” Want to make a bet that the AU doesn’t have the same philosophy with their troops in Mogadishu?
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