Thousands of people in central Somalia came out Sunday to protest a US air raid that killed more than a dozen people Thursday. Among the dead is Aden Hashi Ayro, a man the United States says was Al-Qaeda’s leader in Somalia.

Ayro was a military commander of the armed opposition group, Shabaab. The group had functioned as the military wing of the short-lived government led by the Union of Islamic Courts before it was forced from power in December 2006 by US-backed Ethiopian troops. Since then Shabaab has been one of the main groups carrying out attacks against Ethiopian and government forces in Somalia.

It was added to the US government’s terror list in March of this year. Washington said Shabaab members were trained by Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and hosted suspects wanted for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Shabaab denied the allegations and said they were not terrorists but told Reuters “now we’ve been designated terrorists and forced to seek out and unite with any Muslims on the list against the United States.”

Thursday’s air strike comes in the midst of a deepening humanitarian crisis in Somalia that the International Committee of the Red Cross described as “catastrophic.”

Over one million people have been made internal refugees and 3.5 million – or nearly half the country’s population – may need food aid by the end of the year, the UN Food and Agriculture organization warned.

Nearly a hundred people have been killed in the past three weeks alone. Late last month Ethiopian soldiers raided a mosque in the Somali capital, killing 21 and kidnapping 41 children, according to Amnesty International.

To discuss the latest in Somalia I am joined now from Minneapolis by Abdi Samatar. He is professor Geography and Global Studies at the University of Minnesota.

Abdi Samatar, professor of geography and global studies at the university of Minnesota. He is the author of several books and publications on Somali history, politics, and culture.

Related Democracy Now! Stories

• Former UN Spokesperson Salim Lone: International Community Turning Blind Eye to Worsening Somalia Crisis (11/14/2007)
• U.S. Launches Targeted Assassination Air Strikes in Somalia, Many Reported Killed (1/9/2007)

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