By William Tucker
The popular uprisings in the Middle East have occupied much of my time recently and as a result coverage of Somalia has suffered. Much has changed in the country recently as Ethiopian backed Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa (ASWJ), along with African Union troops from Uganda and Burundi, have moved towards a more offensive posture in the besieged African nation. This shift in policy has allowed for slow, but steady gains by AU as a means to give Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government room to operate. The current gains by the AU have not been easy to come by and thus it is no surprise that the AU is looking to bolster the troop presence in the country. This is not to say that al-Shabaab has been defeated, or is even nearing defeat, but the militant group has been forced to adapt to the more aggressive AU stance. The Shabaab is a militant group with a deep bench of expertise in insurgent warfare, and at the present, it would be best to view the current situation as a setback for them and not indicative of a changing security landscape.
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