Ramadan offensive threatens Somalia's starving

The Ramadan offensive has begun here, an obvious date to rally supporters of the al Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab militant group, but this year feels a little different.

I was in the Somali capital two years ago and every night, just before the call to prayer signaled the breaking of the fast, we'd hear a cacophony of mortar rounds and gunfights.

Somali friends told me back then the militants believed dying in battle while still fasting would ensure they "entered heaven without even taking their shoes off."

This year Al-Shabaab's grip on the capital and the loyalty of Somalis feels more tenuous. Since I was last here in 2009 the rains have failed and the drought has spread bringing with it famine and desperation.

Ramadan strike launched in Somalia

Al-Shabaab insists that the famine crippling their families and communities is a "crusader" invention -- an excuse for occupation. For al-Shabaab, the crusader term can apply to anyone opposing them and can include the U.N., international aid groups and the African Union.

Even as crops withered and livestock starved, Al-Shabaab kept its ban on aid groups operating in territory it controls in Southern and Central Somalia, and parts of the capital.
By Nima Elbagir, CNN
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