Farmers turned fighters in Somalia's grassroots offensive against al Shabaab

"They are bothering the community. We are farmers and they keep coming back to collect taxes from us. That is what made us fight," says Ali.This new push comes with a new administration, adamant to rid the country of insurgents. In May, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud came into power and weeks later, a 30-hour siege of the Hayat Hotel in Mogadishu ended with the killing of 20 people. In response to the massacre, he declared a"total war against al Shabaab".

He has been fighting alongside the Ma'awisley for the past four months and says:"We are their leaders and we have told them what's good for them and they accept it."A soldier from the Somali National Army stands watch as missiles are fired on al Shabaab locations Using their intelligence, ATMIS Djiboutian force commander Colonel Hassan Djama Farah prepares his men to launch the missiles. The first strike hits near the target and they fire another.

"The improvised explosive devices or bombs are al Shabaab’s weapon of choice. They know we supply our bases by road so they concentrate on putting IEDs on the road and that affects us psychcommander of ATMIS Ugandan troopsologically," he says. Lower Shabelle is technically the most fertile part of Somalia. But from above, formerly lush farms have become drought-ravaged lands. Now littered with planted bombs instead of fields of crops.Just under seven million people are at risk of starvation - close to half of the country's population.This anger is building amongst the Ma'awisley who are not just facing drought.

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