Clan militia locally known as Ma’awisley will now lead most of the military operations in central Somalia as the national army provides reinforcements, military sources have said noting the move is a change of tactic by the Federal Government.
Former National Intelligence and Security Agency director-general Brigadier General Abdirahman Turyare who is tasked with mobilising clan militia told the media the government is reverting to an earlier approach which resulted in major victories late last year.
“The current mobilization is different from the mobilization that was taking place in the past few months, which only focused on the national armed forces,” Turyare said.
“The plan is to remobilize the armed forces, rest some of those soldiers who have been in the front line for a year and a half, replace them with the newly trained forces, and remobilize the Ma’awisley and to let the local community lead the fight,” he said.
Ma’awisley, a self-styled clan militia which sprung up in Hiiraan region in 2017 mounted a deadly offensive against Al-Shabaab from July 2022. The Somali National Army and state forces later joined the mission providing support to the militia.
However, in later stages of the war this year, the SNA led the operations. Sources said the move to let the Ma’awisley militia follows the recent withdrawal of SNA forces from Osweyn, Elbur, El Dheer, Masagaway, Budbud and Gal’ad.
Al-Shabaab later recaptured Gal’ad and engaged in a fierce fight with SNA in Osweyn leading to casualties.
