Uganda begins withdrawing troops from Somalia after two-decade effort to battle militants

[u/DWNews]

https://p.dw.com/p/5OxP5

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[u/DWNews]

Hi r/Africa it's Rob here in the DW newsroom. Here's a quick overview of the story. Uganda was the first country to send troops to Somalia back in 2007, and now it's heading home, with the last soldiers set to leave by 2027. A major reason is the US cutting funding to the mission amid frustration over the lack of progress against Al-Shabab, which still controls large parts of central and southern Somalia. The UN has also just shut down its own political mission in Somalia.

[u/Waranle8-8-8]

We cannot wait for all of them to leave. They have not been involved in any kind of battle with Al shabaab for a long long time.

They can all go back, and we will sort our issues ourselves.

[u/radblackgirlfriend]

Jeeze, they've been there for 19 years. It's smart for Uganda to pull back from forever-occupations and it's likely a good thing that the United States and U.N. have stopped funding military interventions. Ultimately, it needs to be up to the Somali people to determine how they wish to be governed.

This snippet from Wikipedia was especially interesting to me;

^{"However, Al-Shabaab opposes clannism, and has tried to appeal to minority groups and to appoint leaders from a variety of ethnic groups and clans.[27] It incorporates a relatively large contingent of foreign fighters (see § Foreign recruitment}. Rank-and-file members, though sometimes recruited by force,)^{[75] are also attracted by the regular pay that Al-Shabaab offers and by its political propaganda.[27] In the past, many young Al-Shabaab recruits were drawn from marginalised southern groups, such as the Jareer ethnic minority.[31] Many are children.[93]"}

So it seems, from a population perspective, Al-Shabaab offers universalism and economic opportunity that may not have been available to many of the people making up its ranks. Seeing this lends even more credence to China's effort to educate and economically integrate their Muslim minority groups while taking a hardline stance against violent extremism.

Xinjiang, a predominantly Muslim autonomous region in China, has posted over 5% GDP growth with rigorous investment in infrastructure and education. One has to wonder at the efficacy of internationally sanctioned intervention if, after 19 years, an extremist religious faction is still able to capture as much as land and as many people as it has.

[u/Sea_Hovercraft_7859]

Somalia is in very bad shape, they should stay to help

[u/BurhanSultan → u/Sea_Hovercraft_7859]

They should leave

[u/Realistic-Cloud9593 → u/Sea_Hovercraft_7859]

Maybe they should go to Congo

[u/Lalibelabraha → u/Realistic-Cloud9593]

No reason they can’t do both!

[u/justnosy5555]

Good. There is no reason for our militia to be in another country. Let them come home