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this should not draw much ire across the NGO, UN and western press after we have been launching numerous predator strikes and :Libya
Al Shabab have been makin moves into Kenya, trying to establish a presence there, I support the Kenyans doing what they have to do to prevent that.
hey , me too. let them have at it.
MOGADISHU, Somalia Kenya and Somalia on Monday called for other nations to help in their fight against Islamist insurgents, as an aid organization said that five civilians were killed and more than 50 wounded when a military aircraft hunting the militants struck a displaced-persons camp in southern Somalia.
Most of the victims and wounded were women and children, the organization said.
In a meeting in Kenyas capital, Nairobi, delegations from Somalia and Kenya, which has sent hundreds of soldiers backed by tanks and gunships into Somalia in a premeditated assault to vanquish the Shabab Islamist militant group, called for a naval blockade on the Shabab-controlled seaport of Kismaayo.
A Somali government spokesman said Somalia was calling on big countries and big organizations to help with the blockade of Kismayo, a major moneymaker and densely populated stronghold for the Shabab.
While the official did not name any countries specifically, he did say that Somalia was interested in help from NATO, whose United Nations-backed intervention in Libya officially ended on Monday.
A spokesman from the Kenyan government said the two countries had already requested the other countries and partners with consistent interest in Somalia to help further. Those countries, he said, included European countries, and the United States.
The American government has said it is playing no direct or indirect role in Kenyas operations in Somalia. Memories of the American operation in Somalia in 1993, portrayed in the 2001 movie Black Hawk Down, have kept an overt presence of American troops away from Somalia.
However, the United States has carried out drone attacks inside Somalia and relies on private contractors to help advance its interests as well.
Currently, Uganda and Burundi provide troops to an African Union peacekeeping mission here, which has supported Somalias weak, American-backed government in taking control of much of Mogadishu.
More African nations are believed to soon follow.
A communiqué from the Eastern African Standby Force, a coalition of East African militaries, indicates that more than 100 officers and medical personnel, including military trainers, medical technicians and equipment, along with logistical support, will be sent to the African Union peacekeeping force.
The peacekeepers have suffered heavy casualties recently in gun battles and suicide attacks from the Shabab.
The African Union controls Mogadishu, while the Kenyan military, operating independently and alongside government forces and a mix of ragtag militias, is trying to clear the Shabab out of southern Somalia.
The Kenyan Army is well equipped and well trained, but it has virtually no experience fighting a conventional foreign war. Furthermore, rains have been bogging down the troops on the ground.
So airstrikes have spiked. On Oct. 18, the Kenyan military said it had killed 73 Shabab members in southern Somalia. Several days later, the military said it had struck the coastal border city of Raas Kaambooni.
Last week, Kenyan aircraft struck the city of Anole, also in southern Somalia, killing 19 Shabab militants, according to the military.
But on Sunday, an aircraft carried out a strike on the town of Jilib, which lies in Shabab territory, hitting a humanitarian camp where roughly 7,500 Somalis suffering from the famine were taking shelter, according to Doctors Without Borders.
Kenya confirmed on Monday an airstrike the day before in the area, but it said it had hit a Shabab training camp, not a humanitarian camp, killing 10 militants and injuring 47.
We hit an Al Shabab camp; 500 meters from that camp is an internally-displaced-persons camp, said a Kenyan military spokesman, Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir.
He said that Shabab militants had tried to fight back with a vehicle armed with antiaircraft guns, but mistakenly drove into the humanitarian camp after the vehicle was hit by Kenyan aircraft.
MOGADISHU, Somalia The tiny country of Djibouti will send about 850 soldiers to an African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia this month, a spokesman for the mission said Wednesday. It is only the third country to do so after a series of unmet promises from a number of African nations.
The troops from Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, will join roughly 9,000 soldiers from Uganda and Burundi, which have been supporting Somalias weak, American-backed, transitional government since 2007. The government, which has been fighting Islamist insurgents known as the Shabab in Somalias capital, Mogadishu, has virtually no influence outside of the city, and despite a nationwide mandate, neither does the African Union.
But the peacekeepers have largely pushed the Shabab from Mogadishu, though the rebels still carry out hard-hitting attacks. For a peacekeeping force trying achieve an objective that no entity has accomplished in nearly 20 years pacify Somalia the Djiboutian troops will be welcome. The peacekeeping force is currently set at 12,000 troops, but peacekeeping officials hope for at least 20,000.
Our forces have been very adaptive, adapting to the terrain, fighting in built-up areas, said Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda, a spokesman for the peacekeeping force. But its been difficult.
More and more, countries in Africa are joining the battle in Somalia. Kenya sent hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers backed by tanks and gunships across the border to clear out the Shabab from a number of strongholds in southern Somalia. A high-ranking East African official said Tuesday that the heavily militarized country of Eritrea, which borders Djibouti and Ethiopia, had sent cargo planes loaded with weapons for the Shabab to southern Somalia, an accusation Eritrea rejects. Ethiopian troops have been spotted occupying Somali territory near a Shabab stronghold, and Uganda is sending 2,000 more of its own soldiers to join the peacekeeping force in Mogadishu.
The governments of South Africa, Rwanda and Tanzania have voiced support for Kenyas operation, and this week Kenya and Somalia asked for big countries, including the United States and European nations, to help in a naval blockade of the highly coveted Shabab-controlled seaport of Kismaayo.
But as bad weather has bogged down Kenyas troops, the Kenyan Air Force has delivered a number of damaging strikes. The International Committee of the Red Cross said an airstrike on Sunday hit a camp for thousands of displaced Somalis suffering from the effects of a famine, killing a number of civilians.
On Tuesday, Kenyas military issued a chilling warning to residents in 10 towns under the Shababs influence, warning that further strikes were imminent and that the towns would be under attack continuously.
On Wednesday, there were reports that hundreds of civilians were fleeing their homes in advance of the threatened attacks. I have only two kids, and I cannot see myself dying, said Aisha Ali from the town of Elasha Biyaha. I have to go to the safe zone.
MOGADISHU, Somalia The Kenyan government said Tuesday that aircraft were delivering weapons to Islamist insurgents in southern Somalia, widening the international nature of a war that has already engulfed several African nations.
In a statement, the Kenyans said two planes landed Tuesday in the Somali town of Baidoa, which is under the control of the Shabab, a militant Islamist group that has claimed allegiance to Al Qaeda. The planes carried weapons destined for the group, the statement said, without specifying who had sent them.
One high-ranking East African official later said the shipments had come from Eritrea.
Kenya also warned residents in 10 Shabab-controlled towns to avoid contact with the militants, telling them to avoid being used as conduits for the weapons, as it would strike those towns soon.
In line with the Kenya Defense Forces Strategy of diminishing Al Shabab effectiveness and weapon use, the towns will remain under imminent attack, the statement said.
Kenyas military launched a pre-meditated assault into Somalia last month with hundreds of troops backed by tanks and gunships to eradicate the Shabab. Its military joined those of Uganda and Burundi, which are contributing to an African Union peacekeeping force that is fighting the insurgents. Last month, 13 more military specialists from Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda and Burundi came to assist the African Union peacekeepers.
But now some officials have accused Eritrea, often considered the most militarized nation in Africa, of joining the fray, too but on the side of the Shabab.
Eritrea has long been accused of supporting the Shabab, and in 2009 the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on it, demanding that it cease arming, training and equipping armed groups and their members.
A Somali politician told Somali news media on Monday that Eritrea was funneling weapons to the Shabab into Baidoa. Heavy artillery, bombs, light weapons, the politician was quoted as saying.
Similarly, a Somali government spokesman restated the governments fear that Eritrea was supporting the Shabab, arguing that it had done so in the past.
There have been suspicions for a long time, said Suldan A. Farahsed. Eritrea was often financing and supporting these opposition movements. It has been well documented.
Eritrea strongly rejected the accusations Tuesday, saying military is not the solution to Somalias problems.
Eritreas desire, right from the beginning, is to see peace and stability in Somalia, the government said in a statement. There is no reason why Eritrea will send weapons to Al Shabab or any other groups and destabilize the country.
To the contrary, it added, it is evident that most of the weapons that are devastating Somalia are coming in from the regime in Ethiopia.
Somalias decades-long instability has taken many turns, with nearby countries getting involved. In 2006, thousands of Ethiopian forces poured across the border to oust a rising Islamist government. But in the process a more radical offshoot of the Islamists arose: the Shabab.
Eritrea and Ethiopia have long been bitter enemies and have fought in the past. And Ethiopian troops habitually cross the Somali border Ethiopian soldiers have been spotted near a Shabab stronghold for the last several days and there are fears that Somalias conflict is acting as a proxy war between the two.
Sending troops into Somalia from any country is a "fools" mission and will only lead to disaster.
Kenya Invades Somalia. Does It Get Any Dumber?
If the history of war teaches us anything, it's that invading a foreign country is dicey. Storming across too many borders was the undoing of many of the world's great conquerors, from Alexander the Great to Napoleon to the Nazis. The last few decades of US foreign policy - Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq - only underline how tricky invasions are, even for the most powerful. The last 20 years have also seen Somalia emerge with a particularly consistent record of chewing up anyone who arrives carrying a gun, including the U.N. and U.S. special operations troops (1992-3), Ethiopians (2006-9) and Ugandans and Burundians from an African Union peacekeeping force (2008-today).
So what does Kenya think it's doing? On Sunday, a force estimated variously at a few hundred to 2,000 Kenyan soldiers crossed the border into Somalia into pursuit of militants from the Somali Islamist group, al-Shabab. The invasion came after a rash of armed incursions into Kenya from Somalia. On Sept. 11, Somali gunmen killed British tourist David Tebbutt, 58, and abducted his wife Judith, 56, from a resort on the northern Kenyan coast. In a second attack on a nearby beach hotel on Oct. 1, another group of Somali gunmen kidnapped a 66-year-old disabled French tourist, Marie Dedieu, who was confirmed dead on Wednesday. And then on Oct. 13, a third group of kidnappers took two Spanish aid workers from Dadaab, a camp in northern Kenyan -- the biggest refugee settlement in the world, set up 20 years ago for those fleeing fighting and famine in Somalia.
Starting a war is not an obvious way to bolster a country's reputation for safety and security. Starting a war with an al-Qaeda affiliate who have previously carried out attacks abroad (in Kampala in July 2010 two al-Shabab suicide bombers killed 76 people) and who have been itching for an excuse to do the same to you carries even more obvious risks. But starting a war in which your invading forces are outnumbered from the beginning (al-Shabab has around 2,500 men at arms), and doing that just as the rainy season starts, is bat crazy.
Sure enough, by Wednesday the Kenyans and their Somali allies were stuck in torrential rains and thick mud 20 miles short of their first objective of the al-Shabab-ruled town Afmadow. Even if the occupiers can extract themselves from the literal quagmire, analysts unanimously agree they will find it all but impossible to avoid becoming militarily bogged down. Faced with al-Shabab's well-armed, experienced and more numerous guerrillas - fighters who two years ago saw off a far fiercer, better trained and bigger Ethiopian force - Kenya's soldiers seem headed for deadlock at best and, at worst, bloody defeat. What's worse, the Kenyan invasion seems likely to reunify al-Shabab just as it was in danger of splintering over disagreements about leadership and whether to accept aid to alleviate an ongoing famine in southern Somalia. It could even help restore al-Shabab's plummeting local support.
Read more: Kenya Invades Somalia. Does It Get Any Dumber? - Global Spin - TIME.com
Depends how you storm across the border and what border. If you do it like we have recently done it, as in conquer the enemy and build the nation you are bound to fail. But if you do it declaring the entire country your enemy with the aim of taking them out and leaving them to clean up the mess, then it can be very successful. See how Russia invaded Georgia!
Kenya Invades Somalia. Does It Get Any Dumber?
If the history of war teaches us anything, it's that invading a foreign country is dicey. Storming across too many borders was the undoing of many of the world's great conquerors, from Alexander the Great to Napoleon to the Nazis. The last few decades of US foreign policy - Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq - only underline how tricky invasions are, even for the most powerful. The last 20 years have also seen Somalia emerge with a particularly consistent record of chewing up anyone who arrives carrying a gun, including the U.N. and U.S. special operations troops (1992-3), Ethiopians (2006-9) and Ugandans and Burundians from an African Union peacekeeping force (2008-today).
So what does Kenya think it's doing? On Sunday, a force estimated variously at a few hundred to 2,000 Kenyan soldiers crossed the border into Somalia into pursuit of militants from the Somali Islamist group, al-Shabab. The invasion came after a rash of armed incursions into Kenya from Somalia. On Sept. 11, Somali gunmen killed British tourist David Tebbutt, 58, and abducted his wife Judith, 56, from a resort on the northern Kenyan coast. In a second attack on a nearby beach hotel on Oct. 1, another group of Somali gunmen kidnapped a 66-year-old disabled French tourist, Marie Dedieu, who was confirmed dead on Wednesday. And then on Oct. 13, a third group of kidnappers took two Spanish aid workers from Dadaab, a camp in northern Kenyan -- the biggest refugee settlement in the world, set up 20 years ago for those fleeing fighting and famine in Somalia.
Starting a war is not an obvious way to bolster a country's reputation for safety and security. Starting a war with an al-Qaeda affiliate who have previously carried out attacks abroad (in Kampala in July 2010 two al-Shabab suicide bombers killed 76 people) and who have been itching for an excuse to do the same to you carries even more obvious risks. But starting a war in which your invading forces are outnumbered from the beginning (al-Shabab has around 2,500 men at arms), and doing that just as the rainy season starts, is bat crazy.
Sure enough, by Wednesday the Kenyans and their Somali allies were stuck in torrential rains and thick mud 20 miles short of their first objective of the al-Shabab-ruled town Afmadow. Even if the occupiers can extract themselves from the literal quagmire, analysts unanimously agree they will find it all but impossible to avoid becoming militarily bogged down. Faced with al-Shabab's well-armed, experienced and more numerous guerrillas - fighters who two years ago saw off a far fiercer, better trained and bigger Ethiopian force - Kenya's soldiers seem headed for deadlock at best and, at worst, bloody defeat. What's worse, the Kenyan invasion seems likely to reunify al-Shabab just as it was in danger of splintering over disagreements about leadership and whether to accept aid to alleviate an ongoing famine in southern Somalia. It could even help restore al-Shabab's plummeting local support.
Read more: Kenya Invades Somalia. Does It Get Any Dumber? - Global Spin - TIME.com
Al Shabab is only moderately popular with most Somalis depending on tribe.
But as with any country.
When invaded the people will put aside their differences.
That is when the average Somali will rally around Al Shabab
NAIROBI, Kenya Kenya's military spokesman is using Twitter to warn people not to help al-Qaida-linked militants by selling them an old-world transportation tool: donkeys.
Spokesman Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir is tweeting updates on Kenya's military push into Somalia to fight the al-Shabab militants.
On Thursday, he warned unidentified planes to stay out of the region for fear they are transporting weapons to al-Shabab. Chirchir said in an interview that Kenya would shoot down any planes that officials suspect are full of weapons.
But his commentary also carries the kind of military warnings not usually issued by the Pentagon or NATO: Southern Somalia is getting heavy rains that vehicles can't move through. Accordingly the price of animal transport has shot up.
"Kenyans dealing in donkey trade along the Kenya-Somali border are advised not to sell their animals to Al Shabaab," Chirchir tweeted, adding: "Selling Donkeys to Al Shabaab will undermine our efforts in Somalia."
"In addition we are also reliably informed that the cost of donkeys has risen from $150 to $200 for a donkey. Thus, any large concentration and movement of loaded donkeys will be considered as Al Shabaab activity," Chirchir said.
Chirchir said that Twitter is an easy way to quickly and easily communicate the military's message, and that many Somalis are online. Earlier this week, Chirchir tweeted a list of 10 Somali towns it warned would soon be attacked, prompting residents to flee after Somali media picked up the story.
"When you do something on Twitter it goes onto the Internet and people who see it can even call those who can't see it," he said. "We're getting good feedback that Somalis are moving away from al-Shabab camps. It is heard in Mogadishu, Kismayo and Baidoa."
Chirchir says that the Kenyan military has informants who say three flights carrying weapons for al-Shabab have landed in Baidoa, Somalia in the past week. Residents and a Somali legislator say that al-Shabab fighters had blocked off the access to the airport in the central Somali town of Baidoa.
"All aircrafts are hereby warned not to land in BAIDOA. Anyone violating this will be doing so at their peril," Chirchir tweeted.
Unexplained flights would be challenged by radio and asked to detail their flight path and cargo, Chirchir said by phone. He said if the Kenyan military was not satisfied with the explanation and the plane landed in areas held by the al-Shabab militia, the plane risked being shot down or destroyed.
"Before any engagement, in the air, if it is flying, we will ask them what they are doing," he said. "If it cannot explain what they are doing, it will be destroyed in the landing strip."
He said planes also risked being shot down mid-air.
Kenya has Jordanian jets but parliamentarians have raised questions about how flight-worthy they are.
NAIROBI, Kenya Think of it as the Battle of the Tweets.
Somalias powerful Islamist insurgents, the Shabab, best known for chopping off hands and starving their own people, just opened a Twitter account, and in the past week they have been writing up a storm, bragging about recent attacks and taunting their enemies.
Your inexperienced boys flee from confrontation & flinch in the face of death, the Shabab wrote in a post to the Kenyan Army.
It is an odd, almost downright hypocritical move from brutal militants in one of worlds most broken-down countries, where millions of people do not have enough food to eat, let alone a laptop. The Shabab have vehemently rejected Western practices banning Western music, movies, haircuts and bras, and even blocking Western aid for famine victims, all in the name of their brand of puritanical Islam only to embrace Twitter, one of the icons of a modern, networked society.
On top of that, the Shabab clearly have their hands full right now, facing thousands of African Union peacekeepers, the Kenyan military, the Ethiopian military and the occasional American drone strike all at the same time.
But terrorism experts say that Twitter terrorism is part of an emerging trend and that several other Qaeda franchises a few years ago the Shabab pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda are increasingly using social media like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Twitter. The Qaeda branch in Yemen has proved especially adept at disseminating teachings and commentary through several different social media networks.
Social media has helped terrorist groups recruit individuals, fund-raise and distribute propaganda more efficiently than they have in the past, said Seth G. Jones, a political scientist at the RAND Corporation.
For the Shabab, this often translates into pithy postings, like Europe was in darkness when Islam made advances in physics, Maths, astronomy, architecture, etc. before passing on the torch, and sarcastic jabs at the Kenyan Army. Kenyas military spokesman, Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir, is also a loquacious writer of posts, and the result is nothing short of a full-on Twitter war.
After Major Chirchir wrote that the Shabab might be transporting weapons on donkeys and that any large concentration and movement of loaded donkeys will be considered as Al Shabaab activity, the Shabab responded: Like bombing donkeys, you mean! Your eccentric battle strategy has got animal rights groups quite concerned, Major.
Major Chirchir fired back, Life has better to offer than stonning innocent girl, a reference to the Shababs penchant for harsh Islamic punishments like stoning.
The Shabab have teased Major Chirchir for his spelling mistakes and have tossed around some SAT-quality words.
Stop prevaricating & say what you really think, Major! the Shabab wrote. Sure your comments will invite derision but try to muster (or feign) courage at least.
Few Somalia hands are surprised by all this. The Shabab may be bloodthirsty, and in the areas they control and they still control many they have yanked out gold teeth, beheaded shopkeepers, sawed off arms and stoned adulterers. Yet, at the same time, they have shown their technical skills, making powerful suicide bombs and roadside explosives. They also have a geeky side, showcasing their work through slick propaganda videos, Web sites and digital chat rooms.
Beyond that and quite frightening to many American officials is the fact that educated Westerners are clearly working for the Shabab. Several Somali-Americans have killed themselves as suicide bombers, and even non-Somali Westerners, including one man from Alabama, are serving as battlefield commanders.
