Al-Shabaab‘still bent on slaughter’

The most senior Catholic in Somalia has cautioned the international community against complacency over the resurgence of Al-Shabaab after the country was struck by two terror attacks in a week by the Islamists, writes Fredrick Nzwili.

The al-Qaeda-linked group killed more than 20 people on Thursday last week during an eight-hour siege at a beachfront restaurant in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. At least three explosions were heard during the attack,  which prime minister of Somalia Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke has described as “barbaric”.

The beach slaughter occurred a week after the group claimed responsibility for a 15 January attack on a camp of Kenyan soldiers in the El-Adde area of Somalia, killing 63 soldiers.

Bishop Giorgio Bertin of Djibouti, Apostolic Administrator of Mogadishu, made the stark warning that the Islamic terrorist group is doing “more than regrouping” and has the capacity and inclination to strike again.

“The international community has relaxed a bit, but the war is not over,” Bertin told The Tablet. “Let the blood shed in Somalia bind us together as a nation,” said Bishop Philip Anyolo, chairman of Kenya’s Bishops’ Conference.