A truck bombing by the Somali jihadist group al-Shabaab that killed more than 100 people in Mogadishu last month – an attack that targeted students lined up for news about scholarships to Turkey – drew condemnation from the United Nations, Western states, the Somali Transitional Federal Government and Somali civic groups. But that made no difference at all.

Al-Shabaab’s leadership wears criticism from the West like a badge of honour. As for the Somali people, al-Shabaab treats them like cannon fodder, and uses their country as a platform for jihad and as a base for a small financial empire based on extortion and environmentally rapacious charcoal exports.