Somalia’s ongoing terror woes

A deadly extremist attack that lasted nearly a day in Mogadishu, Somalia, on Friday shed light on one Islamic terror group’s persistence despite heightened efforts by the United States and other nations to end its insurgency.

The attack by al-Shabaab extremists began the previous night with a car-bomb explosion on a popular street with restaurants and hotels. Responding security forces then battled with at least four militants, who holed up in some of the destroyed buildings for hours, before ending the siege and rescuing trapped civilians.

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the unrest and said it targeted the Maka Almukarramah hotel, which government officials frequent. At least 24 people died, and more than 50 others sustained injuries.

The African Union Commission for Somalia condemned the attack as “another proof that the militants have no respect for human rights or regard for the sanctity of human life.”

Somalia has battled with al-Shabaab’s insurgency since 2006. The al-Qaeda-linked group continues to stage attacks in Somalia and in neighboring Kenya, which contributes forces to the joint African Union mission.

The United States stepped up its airstrikes on al-Shabaab when the African Union mission began withdrawing some of its 21,000 troops from Somalia to meet a 2020 goal of handing over security to the country’s military. U.S. officials warned the Somali forces were not ready to tackle the extremism on their own, a point evidenced by the group’s latest hostilities.

The insurgents staged a 20-hour attack Jan. 15 on a hotel complex in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed 21 people. The casualties included Jason Spindler, an American businessman.

Shortly after Somali forces announced the end of the latest siege, U.S. Africa Command confirmed it carried out an airstrike Thursday in the southern Hiran region that killed 26 extremists. In a separate airstrike three days earlier in the same region, some 20 extremists died. The U.S. military has carried out a total of 24 strikes just since January.

Caroline Goodson, a program manager with the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute, explained that the United States is committed to the fight “because al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda are part of a broader Salafi-jihadi movement that has spread across Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.”

Omar Mahmood, an Ethiopia-based senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies, said the strikes keep pressure on the extremist group, especially in rural areas. But the conflict also needs nonmilitary intervention such as political negotiations and defection programs. “This war is more than something that can be resolved with only a military solution,” he said.

Persecution in Turkey

The high-profile case of detained U.S. Pastor Andrew Brunson led to a rise in hate speech against Christians and their churches in Turkey last year, according to the Association of Protestant Churches, which reported a “climate of insecurity” among the nation’s 150 congregations.

The association noted that although hate crimes and physical attacks on Christians declined in 2018, “there was a significant increase in public hate speech designed to incite the public to hatred of Protestants … purely due to their beliefs.” It also cited a “large increase” in false media reports naming individual Christians and churches, including Brunson, who was freed in October 2018. Those individuals and congregations were not given the right of reply or correction. One churchgoer accused of supporting terrorists lost business contracts for his company. The association warned that similar media attacks preceded the murder of three missionaries in 2007 at a Bible publishing house. —Julia A. Seymour

China grants activist restricted release

A Chinese human rights lawyer completed a two-year prison sentence but remains under restricted watch, his wife said. Jiang Tianyong had been serving his sentence at the Henan central province’s Xinxiang No. 2 Prison on subversion charges.

Jin Bianling said state security agents took away her husband for three days before returning him to his parents’ home in provincial town of Xinyang. He remains under close monitoring. “He couldn’t say much, as he told me he was still not free,” Jin said after a phone conversation with her husband.

Jiang notably worked on court cases involving members of the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual group and a blind legal activist, Chen Guangcheng. The Chinese government has repeatedly kept political prisoners under restrictive surveillance after they complete their sentences. —O.O.

A bounty for bin Laden’s son

The U.S. State Department last week placed a $1 million bounty on the son of Osama bin Laden, prompting Saudi Arabia to confirm it had already withdrawn his citizenship.

The State Department offered the bounty under its Rewards for Justice program to anyone who can provide information on the whereabouts of Hamza bin Laden. The program described him as an emerging leader of al-Qaeda who has “threatened attacks against the United States and allies.” The United States designated him as a “global terrorist” in January 2017. His father, who orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States, died in a military raid in Pakistan in 2011.

In a notice published Friday, Saudi Arabia said a royal decree revoked Hamza bin Laden’s citizenship in November. —O.O.

Uganda polices internet use

Government-imposed taxes on online banking and social media use in Uganda have led millions of people to abandon the internet. The government implemented the 5-cents-per-day charge in July to control “idle talk” and raise revenue. The restriction also covers Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter.

The Ugandan Communications Commission said internet subscriptions fell by more than 2.5 million in the months following the levy. Critics of the move called it an attempt to hamper free speech. During the 2016 presidential election, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ordered an internet shutdown to curb misinformation. —O.O.