In Somalia, foreign intervention won’t resolve Al Shabab threat

The best hope for stability in Somalia may lie in African Union troops, but they can't take the offensive against the terrorist group Al Shabab.

Article Keydmedia Online
3 September 2010

Johannesburg, South Africa

Western governments may consider the rising power of the militant group Al Shabab a major threat to the Horn of Africa. But they have learned enough from the ill-fated US military intervention of 1991-93 – portrayed in "Black Hawk Down" – to know that Western troops are not the solution.

Yet, as the Al Qaeda-backed fighters take control of much of Somalia