The headline is eerily reminiscent of a WAR Report piece “UN warns of Somalia [Country Profile] terror link” published November 10, 2003. Shortly thereafter, General Samuel Helland’s predecessor, US Marine Brig. Gen. Mastin Robeson, then commander of the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, discussed an initial effort to establish a network and culture of information-sharing (see February 23, 2004 WAR Report) “U.S. General Urges East Africa to Pool Intelligence”) across the region. As US Marine Maj. Gen. Helland took command of the joint task force in the summer of 2004, it was clear that the intelligence fusion was working and new details were emerging regarding the terror networks of sub-Sahara Africa (see August 18, 2004 WAR Report). The biggest success against that particular al-Qaeda cell came, however, with the arrest in Pakistan of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani last August. Along with Fazul Abdullah Mohammed who remains at large, Ghailani was behind the African Embassy bombings of 1998 (Terrorist Incident and Terrorist Incident) as well as the Kenya attacks in November 2002 (Terrorist Incident and Terrorist Incident). Meanwhile, Mohammed (Abdul Karim) was last seen in Mogadishu, Somalia in 2003 after leaving behind a young wife in a small coastal village in Kenya.

Yet, although the headlines from 18 months ago appear the same, there have, indeed, been significant changes in and around Somalia. Whereas the internal chaos of Somalia since 1991 when clan-based warlords deposed the central government headed by dictator Mohamed Siad Barre has been a known quantity, a political transformation has begun. Regional efforts, especially by the African Union and supported more generally by the international community, have led to the election of a Somali government-in-exile located in Kenya that just this month is in the process of relocating back into Somalia. Three of the four most powerful warlords in Mogadishu — including Mohammed Qanyare Affra, Osman Ali Atto, and Muse Sudi Yalahow — have agreed contribute a total of 650 men as well as materials to a unified training camp on the outskirts of the capital city. Although the role of the fourth warlord, Hussein Aideed, has yet to be finalized, it is hoped that this new force will be used to eliminate the random roadblocks and reduce the lawlessness on the streets in preparation of the return of an active central governing authority.

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