With Islamist militant group 40km from Mogadishu, a ‘strategic stalemate’ has been reached, but some fear worst is yet to come
One night in early July, Maryan Abdikadir Geedi decided it was finally time to abandon her small shop in the town of Moqokori in the Hiiraan region of Somalia.
Though she had heard of the rapid recent gains made by al-Shabaab, the Islamist militant movement, the 46-year-old had hoped to stay. Since getting married in 2013, Geedi had seen control over Moqokori change hands repeatedly.
“Just like how the rain comes and goes, so does control over Moqokori, but this time it was different,” Geedi said.
Since launching their offensive in February, al-Shabaab has swept through a swath of Somalia, taking back all the territory it lost to a coalition of government forces and allied tribal militias backed by US and Turkish air support in 2023, and adding more. In July, the fighting had reached within 40km (25 miles) of Mogadishu, the capital. Some observers predicted the capital might fall.
