As you can imagine, this is just a bit off the mark from Al-Shababs point of view. They say they are merely making a tactical move by retreating from parts of Mogadishu and surrounding areas, the government says they have routed them and are now in control of the areas previosly occupied by Al-Shabab.
Knowing the tactics of Islam, the retreat to re-arm and re-organize is the one to bet on. If the government wants to indulge in pipe dreams and believe the illusion that Islam has been defeated, they will soon find themselves fighting a broader and more deadly war.
Watch for the MSM to take this announcement and run with it as if it were the Olympic torch.
From Reuters/Yahoo August 6 by Mohamed Ahmed and Ibrahim Mohamed
(Reuters) - Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said on Saturday his military had defeated Islamist rebels battling to overthrow his Western-backed government after the al Shabaab group began withdrawing fighters from the capital Mogadishu.
A 9,000-strong African peacekeeping force and Somali government forces had been steadily wresting control of rubble-strewn Mogadishu from the militants this year. Al Shabaab's pullout followed a string of fierce gun battles late on Friday.
Somalia has been without effective central government since the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre 20 years ago.
Al Shabaab's retreat from the Somali capital Mogadishu signals an acceptance it cannot militarily defeat a government propped up by foreign muscle and firepower, but raises the specter of an escalation in al Qaeda-inspired raids.
Winning Mogadishu might expand the government's prison capital a little, but it is unlikely to bring any tangible peace to the rest of the Horn of Africa country.
"It was not the strength of al Shabaab that kept them in Mogadishu for so long, it was the incompetence and weakness of the (Somali government)," said Afyare Elmi, a professor at Qatar University's International Affairs department.
"I'm worried the (government) may not be able to step into the vacated areas and other clan militia step in. The challenge ... is to expand into these areas and install law and order."
President Ahmed urged those who had fled their homes not to rush back to the city neighborhoods now empty of militants until they had been cleared of explosives. The government said the rebels had retreated as far as 100 km (62 miles) from the capital.
"The Somali government welcomes the success attained by the Somali government forces backed by AMISOM who defeated the enemy of al Shabaab," Ahmed told a news conference at his residence.
Al Shabaab has never previously entirely left Mogadishu, raising questions over whether deep rifts among the al Qaeda-affiliated group's senior commanders had finally led to a split.
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Knowing the tactics of Islam, the retreat to re-arm and re-organize is the one to bet on. If the government wants to indulge in pipe dreams and believe the illusion that Islam has been defeated, they will soon find themselves fighting a broader and more deadly war.
Watch for the MSM to take this announcement and run with it as if it were the Olympic torch.
From Reuters/Yahoo August 6 by Mohamed Ahmed and Ibrahim Mohamed
Somali government declares Islamist rebellion defeated
(Reuters) - Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said on Saturday his military had defeated Islamist rebels battling to overthrow his Western-backed government after the al Shabaab group began withdrawing fighters from the capital Mogadishu.
Rejecting Ahmed's claim to have quashed al Shabaab's four-year insurgency, the militants' spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, said their retreat was tactical only and they were holding their positions elsewhere in the anarchic country.
Somalia has been without effective central government since the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre 20 years ago.
Al Shabaab's retreat from the Somali capital Mogadishu signals an acceptance it cannot militarily defeat a government propped up by foreign muscle and firepower, but raises the specter of an escalation in al Qaeda-inspired raids.
Winning Mogadishu might expand the government's prison capital a little, but it is unlikely to bring any tangible peace to the rest of the Horn of Africa country.
"It was not the strength of al Shabaab that kept them in Mogadishu for so long, it was the incompetence and weakness of the (Somali government)," said Afyare Elmi, a professor at Qatar University's International Affairs department.
"I'm worried the (government) may not be able to step into the vacated areas and other clan militia step in. The challenge ... is to expand into these areas and install law and order."
President Ahmed urged those who had fled their homes not to rush back to the city neighborhoods now empty of militants until they had been cleared of explosives. The government said the rebels had retreated as far as 100 km (62 miles) from the capital.
"The Somali government welcomes the success attained by the Somali government forces backed by AMISOM who defeated the enemy of al Shabaab," Ahmed told a news conference at his residence.
Al Shabaab has never previously entirely left Mogadishu, raising questions over whether deep rifts among the al Qaeda-affiliated group's senior commanders had finally led to a split.
One faction prefers a more nationalist Somali agenda and wants to impose a harsh Islamic programme on the nation. Another more international wing aims to promote Jihad (holy war) and is bent on overthrowing a government they see as a Western stooge as well as forging closer ties with regional al Qaeda cells.
Either side ultimately wants sharia and pure Islam, it is only a disagreement on how to get there.
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