Exactly. They would struggle against armed civilians. But the problem is the kebabs are paid by arabs and hence highly motivated. The civilians are not.

Ati 700 kebabs? Thats "peanuts"! If someone released the actual figures Guru would faint! Al-shabaab were obliterated, annihilated! But they will never be finished so long as there is monetary motivation and indoctrination.

@simonkabz you underestimate the motivation of a sane man, who has built his family and business through hard work, seeing everything he treasures threatened. If he was armed and knew how to use weapons...

In Westgate, an older Asian gentleman and a young man from Garissa, stood up to gunmen armed to the teeth. Yet, they were not even guarding everything they treasure.

There is a reason Al-Shabaab choose to make statements using unarmed civilians in unconventional warfare.

For free, soldiers get experience and training in conflict areas,let our soldiers train to be better and tough thats all matters for now.
Train hard fight easy!

Ifahamike kwamba:

1. KDF rehatted to Amisom. Do not talk of Kenya withdrawing from Somali, the correct way to say it therefore is Kenya to withdraw from Amisom, or Amisom from Somali!

2. Somali theatre has barely KDF 4,500 troops – bulk of troops are in +254 and adequate to provide security. So their absence here is NOT the cause of the insecurity in +254, it is actually a failure of homeland security – corrupt cops, criminal intelligence, immigr. officials,etc. So they should stay until AMISOM’s mandate expires – they do great things for their motherland but these can’t be publicly acknowledged.

3. Kebabs are merely youth from poverty-stricken Somali families who warlords brainwash with religion. Like now you go arm and train our Mungiki with fundukis, RPGs, and other weapons away from their traditional machetes. Poor exploited youth - giving them jobs and means of living is key. That means reviving the economy. That means creating a peaceful environment conducive for business for a judicial system, for a political administrative system. That means an external stabilizing (not occupational) force. Raison d’etre for Amisom.

4. The average Somali is a very hadworking person. Why, Somali was once a leading banana and fruits exporter in E.A! They still have very good farmers. And good business acumen too. But absence of peace, and extortion from Kebabs limits them.

5. Somalis are moderate Moslems and do not subscribe to extremist beliefs. They would rather a peaceful life where they can farm and pursue their other main pre-occupations: doing business and pastoralism.

6. But the warlords - who have arms, prosper and enrich themselves from the chaos, would like this perpetuated for the continuity of their personal riches. So they lord over ordinary Soms, conveniently adding religion to the mix and invite Moslem extremists/ Afghan/ M.E vets who import their grievances with US,UK & Israel to E.A. These are the pple @Guru supports.

7. Kebabs were once strong - at the onset of hostilities with the Ugandans in Mogtishu, UPDF was only able to advance 50metres (half uwanja ya ball) in >3 years! Their strength has been reduced significantly, reduced to guerilla tactics.

8. An all-out offensive by an enlarged Amisom with adequate force multipliers (mandege) would almost wipe them out, with resulting vacuum quickly filled by an assertive Pres. of Som. and socio-econo-political structures determined by pple of Som. put in place immediately.

9. And then Som. can join E.A Community – a huge trading bloc that would include Ethiopia, S.S., Ug, Tz,Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda –interconnected by railways, massive highways, oil pipelines, massive elec grids…

10. @ Guru, think of the infinite economic possibilities such a huge market of combined population of > 350 M pple, seating on the world’s largest oil and gas reserves offers...unfortunately you are fixated on point 6 above merely because you have a common religion with them. Sad.

All this chest thumping for what??

What has 8 years "destroying" Shabaab yielded!?

1. The Somali president still cannot get sleep in his own palace..

2. The Somali parliament cannot hold a simple meeting without being blown up..

3. The so called rag and tag Militants taking over whole towns in Kenya with KDF too afraid to save its own people..

4. The whole of Southern Somalia still under the control of militants..

5. The development of local terror death squads

So why all the AMISOM hype??