16 Time June 6/June 13, 2022
Shifting sands
Volunteers help clean up during a dust storm at the Imam Ali shrine in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf
on May 16. Eight sand- and dust storms have battered Iraq since April, the latest sending at
least 2,000 people to the hospital and leading to closures of schools, airports, and public
offices across the country. Dust storms are becoming increasingly common in Iraq and
surrounding areas, according to NASA, in part because of droughts and changes in land use.THE BULLETIN
Somalia—with U.S. help—looks to target al-ShababHassan sHeikH moHamud was elecTed
as Somalia’s President on May 15 in a bal-
lot open only to 328 parliamentarians.
Mohamud, 66, a former educator who
also ruled the country from 2012 to 2017,
pledged to move the embattled nation for-
ward following more than a year of political
gridlock that saw his predecessor Mohamed
Abdullahi overstay his term as part of a
widely condemned bid to hold on to power.
But Mohamud faces a difficult road ahead.HUNGER AND WAR Somalia’s worst drought
in decades has displaced 760,000 people
and left around 40% of the country hungry,
and the al-Qaeda-allied insurgent group
al-Shabab—viewed by the Pentagon as a
threat to U.S. security, and a top concern
for Washington—controls large swaths of
southern and central Somalia.COUNTERTERROR The Pentagon has con-
firmed plans to redeploy U.S. troops to
Somalia, reversing a Trump-era decision
to withdraw forces to nearby Djibouti.The Mohamud administration supports the
move and is planning an offensive against
al-Shabab. A renewed U.S. military pres-
ence will enable “a more effective fight
against al-Shabab,” said National Security
Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson.
The Biden Administration will report-
edly target a small section of influential
al- Shabab leadership that is suspected of
orchestrating attacks abroad.STATE FAILURE However, key to the stabil-
ity of the country is not military force, but
political unity that can effectively respond
to deep challenges including drought, says
Omar Mahmood, senior Somalia analyst at
the International Crisis Group. Al-Shabab
exploits a lack of public services to gov-
ern its territories, collect taxes, and ad-
minister court judgments. “Al-Shabab is a
symptom of political dysfunction in Soma-
lia,” Mahmood says. “As long as the elites
remain divided, as long as there’s griev-
ances on the ground, it will remain a very
pertinent actor.” —eloise barryNEWS TICKER
by
invoking the Defense
Production Actconfronted and tack-
led the gunman,COVID-
booster shot for kids
ages 5 to 11,