Ethiopia Sends Fresh Troops into Neighboring Somalia

Following July 2022 Al Shabab attacks in Ethiopia’s Somali region, army announced deployment of troops to provide buffer zone.

8/2/2022

Authorities in Somalia said Ethiopia has deployed hundreds of troops into Somalia’s Gedo region to prevent al-Shabab terrorists from crossing over into Ethiopia.

Gedo’s regional administration spokesman, Ali Yussuf Abdullahi, said the Ethiopian troops have been coming to the region since the end of last week and established bases in and around the border town of Dolow.

Abdullahi, also known as Ali Juba, said the troops, numbering about 2,000, were deployed to fight al-Shabab militants who started to gather large numbers of fighters near the border with Ethiopia and Kenya.

Abdullahi said he wanted to tell Somalia’s people that a new problem has arisen from al-Shabab that continues in Hiran, Bakol and Gedo. Abdullahi said Gedo administration authorities are impacted by the terrorist group’s new attacks in the border areas with Ethiopia. Because of the increase in insecurity, he said, al-Shabab infiltrated border areas and that it is necessary to cooperate with Ethiopia. That’s why new troops have arrived and are staying in and around Dolow, he said.

Somalia’s new government main challenge now to clear Al Shabab from areas were the group had been entrenched for a decade. The group attacking Ethiopia is a first in many years and calls into question the work that has been done so far to contain the threat by AU -led troops. A new level of commitment to address the insurgency is expected from Addis Ababa following the attacks. Moreover, Shabab’s cooperation with the outlawed Oromo Liberation Army is drawing close attention to authorities who fear regional terror alliance.