Al-Shabaab’s Threat To Sierra Leone Is Real By Mohamed Sankoh (One Drop) No matter what rhetoric the Inspector General of Police, Francis Munu, the Chief of Defence Staff of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), Major General Samuel O Williams, and the Office of National Security (ONS) use to calm down Sierra Leoneans’ fears of a possible terrorist attack on the country by the Somalia militant group; the reality is: Al-Shabaab will one day hit Sierra Leone with a deadly attack if troops from the RSLAF are still in Somalia! It might be within a year, two years, three years or even six years from now, but the fact is: when terrorist organizations made threats they go all out to carry them to make their points. And “Al-Shabaab” (which when translated from the Arabic into the English language means “The Youth” or ‘The Boys”) is the Somalia-based cell of Al-Qaeda known for being effectively effective in making true of its threats. When Uganda and Kenya agreed to contribute troops to the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), the hierarchy of Al-Shabaab threatened that if they did their countries would be terrorists’ practicing fields. And owing to its reputation of always carrying out its threats, Uganda was the first country to be ticked-off of Al-Shabaab’s hit list. The group claimed responsibility for the July 2010 Kampala attacks, which killed 74 people. On 21 September 2013, Al-Shabaab again ticked-off Kenya from its hit list after its militants attacked the Westgate Shopping mall in which “the insurgent group asserts that its militants shot around 100 people in retaliation for the deployment of Kenyan troops in Somalia, with the Kenyan Red Cross confirming 62 fatalities and over 120 injuries” (according to Wikipedia). And Sierra Leone, according to a threat from the Somalia militants, is one of the countries that are now top on their hit list for the unforgivable crime of sending Sierra Leonean soldiers to Somalia to put a lid on the madness now taking place in that failed state. It could be recalled that as far back as 31 January 2007, Al-Shabaab made a video warning African Union (AU) peacekeepers to avoid going to Somalia asserting that, "Somalia is not a place where you will earn a salary — it is a place where you will die” (according to Wikipedia). Realistically, if extra-security-conscious and highly nationalistic countries like Uganda and Kenya could be hit by Al-Shabaab; then what will prevent them from hitting Sierra Leone whose borders have always been and still are in extreme poor health? And besides, in a country where poverty stares seven out of ten families in the eye and where regional and political schisms are fast becoming part of the national psyche; few thousand United States dollars from militants posing as investors will definitely made Sierra Leone a sort of toilet-roll target! And, probably, what the Sierra Leonean military, police and ONS hierarchies do not know is the fact that Al-Shabaab has an intricate network that has made many of its foot soldiers holders of multiple passports including that of the United States of America, the United Kingdom and some countries in the European Union. So, if our Immigration Officers at the Freetown International Airport at Lungi will be looking out for people with Somalian passports in order to track down members of Al-Shabaab; they would be producing the same comical effect like that of the Joint Chief of Staff looking under President Obama’s bed for the current Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri! When Al-Shabaab’s hierarchy would have finally put in motion its plans to carry out its threat on Sierra Leone, its executors would come in as either European or American investors. For research on Al-Shabaab, by many international security pundits, have shown that its membership also includes various foreign fighters from around the world. And to add vinegar to a concoction of hemlock, Somalia current President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Sunday 29 September 2013 told CNN’s Farid Zakaria, on the GPS programme, that Al-Shabaab is not only a threat to Africa but a threat to the entire world. I have always been an optimist when it comes to the survival and development of Mama Salone. But for once, let’s be realistic that threats from Islamist groups like Al-Shabaab should not be shrugged off with the careless arrogance of optimism. If war crimes convict like Charles Taylor could threaten that Sierra Leone would one day taste the bitterness of war and it happened; if ex-President Ahmad Tejan Kabba (I still have problems with the “H”) could hear about a military coup many days before it happened and later found himself in exile in neighbourng Guinea; and if the current security apparatus could have an inkling of a possible army mutiny nearly a month before arrests were made, then what will stop a daredevil group like Al-Shabaab from carrying out its threats someday? And the manner in which most state functions are being carried out are themselves security threats to the Republic of Sierra Leone. Since the September of 2007 to date, it could be noticed that whenever President Ernest Bai Koroma is at a place or any place, one could see the Vice President; the entire Cabinet including most deputy ministers; the heads of the military and police; the heads of the Freetown Fire Force and the Prisons Department; heads of Parastatals, and even the Speaker of Parliament with many MPs there. For me, such an act constitutes security threat of any kind. Even the last press conference hosted by President Koroma at State House, after his successful China trip, was like a cabinet meeting as the Cabinet and deputy ministers outnumbered journalists by ten to two! If terrorist organizations could beat security apparatuses in the USA, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Israel, Uganda, Kenya and even Nigeria; then it is logical that I should be boldly pessimistic that Al-Shabaab will attack Sierra Leone within a year, two years, three years or even six years from now if troops from the RSLAF are still in Somalia. In summary, the threat from Al-Shabaab of attacking Sierra Leone someday is now a sword of Damocles dangling over the country. I’m not prayer-some but those Sierra Leoneans who are prayerful should now put their “intercession and speaking-in-tongues” powers to work. This is because the only thing, in my arrogant opinion (I don’t usually make humble opinions), that will save Sierra Leone from any threat from Al-Shabaab is divine intervention not our security apparatuses… medsankoh@yahoo/+232-76-611986
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 08:25:11 +0000
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