An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 21 assassination in 1996 his son, Hussein Farah, took control and continued the fight. While the country was in chaos, a small group of Islamic extremists emerged and steadily began growing in strength. Ethiopia noticed the rise of fundamentalist groups and invaded in 1999, securing key towns along its border with Somalia. Then, in 2003 a government was established within Somalia that brought some stability. Abdullahi Yusuf Achmed became the fourteenth president of Somalia since 1991 and his govern- ment only managed to control areas that were under their direct control as warlords from other clans sought to hold the areas they dominated. Somalia had lost most of its infrastructure, and its economy was in ruins as farms and industry were continuously destroyed in years of civil war and the Ethiopian invasion had swelled the ranks of Islamic militants who sought to repel the 'invaders'. The Is- lamic Courts Union managed to seize control of Mogadishu and in 2006 a fierce battle, lasting several months, ripped the city apart. More help for the beleaguered country came in the guise of the African Union Mission in Somalia that comprised of forces from a number of African nations, including Uganda, Burundi, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Djibouti. The combined force managed to wrest control of Mogadishu's citadel from the insurgent group. The Ethiopian forces, which had managed to bring some stabil- ity to the border area pulled out in 2009, having suffered heavy losses during the conflict. As the war progressed, another Islamic fundamentalist group, al Shabaab, emerged and, like many of its predecessors, grew in strength, moving from conventional war- fare to waging a guerrilla campaign. The militant Islamic group managed to take control of many areas from local warlords, establishing elaborate bases from which they attacked not only targets in Somalia but also in neighbouring countries. Al Shabaab's affiliation to al Qaeda also enables the group to train and equip jihadist fighters to operate further a field. In 2013 Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed became president of Somalia and with the help of a number of international forces, is slowly taking his country back from the brink. Meanwhile, a number of terrorist attacks in neighbouring Kenya, have been claimed by al Shabaab, operating from their bases in Somalia. Piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the western Indian Ocean has also financed the rise of militant Islamic groups, with ships being hijacked and their crews and contents being held for ransom. However, increased patrols in the region by international navies have in recent years curtailed the attacks, although they have not completely eliminated the threat. US forces have launched a number of air strikes against targets in Somalia, killing prominent members of al Shabaab such as Ahmed Abdi Godane. Predator and Reaper drones fly daily sorties and carry out strikes in the region, with intelligence networks on the ground helping to identify targets. While the security and stability of the country balances on a knife edge, the present government has recognised the impor- tance of the clan structure and, by using a power-sharing formula, has managed to establish a parliament for Somalia. While this may be seen by some as the beginning of an end to decades of civil war, to others it is viewed as a brief respite in a country where the gun, rather than political dialogue, has long dominated the landscape. Mogadishu Al-Shabab fighters undergoing training outside the central town of Moqokori. Photo: Hamza Mohamed/Al Jazeera African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces secure the scene of a suicide bomb attack outside the UN compound in Mogadishu, June 2013. Photo: Feisal Omar/Reuters

• Cover