Cool article and this is just an update on what Bancroft Global Development has been up to since I last talked about their contract in Somalia.(you guys still need to build your company website!) I am curious though how this news is a surprise or an ‘exclusive’ story according to the AP? lol I know my readership was informed about the company and what they were up to a long time ago.
Now the updates that I thought were interesting is the designated marksmen stuff that Bancroft is teaching. To get the AU away from using mortars, and more towards using precision fire is a good move. If done correctly, you could create a city dominated by AU snipers.
The other thing that jumped up at me was the use of suicide assaulters and EFP’s. Al Shabab is totally getting some help and taking ideas from the other war zones that Al Qaeda is operating in. Although it sounds like Bancroft is doing a great job at mitigating the IED threats and taking care of the EOD stuff. Very interesting and check it out. –Matt
In this Tuesday Aug. 9, 2011 photo, explosives expert Martinus Van Blerk, left, and a team of Ugandan soldiers are seen just after blowing up a hand grenade left behind by Islamist rebels in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Katharine Houreld)
AP Exclusive: US Group Trains Troops in Somalia
By KATHARINE HOURELD
August 10, 2011
On the front lines of Mogadishu’s streets, Islamist militants battle African Union troops. Standing alongside the peacekeepers are members of an American-run team of advisers, former military men who play a little-known but key role in the war against al-Shabab.
Aside from covert raids by special operations forces, the U.S. government has not been involved militarily in Somalia since the intervention almost two decades ago that culminated in the Black Hawk Down battle. But a Washington-based company has been quietly working in one of the world’s most dangerous cities to help an AU peacekeeping force protect the Somali government from al-Qaida-linked Islamist insurgents.