War and Conflict Journal

President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal Threatens Gambia

Following the Casamance rebel attack of December 21, 2011, Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade ordered his troops to pursue the rebels, even if that meant entering into neighboring Gambia. President Wade, among others, believes Gambia is a long-time supporter of the MFDC rebels.  Prior rebel attacks over the years have resulted in armed incursions by Senegalese forces into The Gambia.

Senegal Map with Casamance in Red

The Casamance region of Senegal is marked in red on this Senegal Map

The Casamance War in Senegal

The ongoing war in the Casamance region of Senegal pits the Jolo people of the Casamance region against the government of Senegal. The rebels, who call themselves the Mouvement des forces démocratiques de la Casamance (MFDC), seek independence for the region. The Jolo are primarily Christian, while the rest of Senegal is primarily Muslim.  Despite a cease-fire arranged in 2004, violence has continued on and off ever since.  In 2010, an arms shipment from Iran, bound for the Casamance rebels, was intercepted in Nigeria.  In December, 2011, rebels attacked the Senegalese Army, resulting in 12 deaths.
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http://www.historyguy.com/casamance_senegal_war.html

al-Shabab War in Somalia Update:

After the disintigration of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) after the U.S.-aided Ethiopian Invasion of 2006, the al-Shabab militia became the leading Islamist military group. In 2007, Shabab publicly aligned itself with al-Qaida, and has waged a bloody guerrilla war against the TFG government forces and the African Union troops (primarily troops from Uganda and Burundi), in Mogadishu and in southern Somalia. Al-Shabab is considered a terrorist group by Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. (see also U.S. Special Forces Attack on al-Qaida in Somalia (September, 2009)

Shabab engaged in a terrorist attack in Uganda in 2010, and in the autumn of 2011, Shabab militants kidnapped several foreigners from Kenyan soil, prompting a Kenyan military intervention in southern Somalia to battle the Shabab fighters. Kenyan government sources claimed that the goal of their invasion was to end the Shabab presence in the southern Somali city of Kismayo.

Witnesses reported seeing 25Kenyan armoured vehicles carrying Kenyan soldiers passing through the Somali town of Dhobley, and there were reports of warplanes bombing two Shabab bases near the border.

According to the BBC, Somali government troops are acting in conjunction with the Kenyan forces ito attack the al-Shabab-controlled areas in southern Somalia. The third day of the Kenyan offensive featured a slowing down of Kenyan forces due to heavy rain and mud in a region with few paved roads.

Map of Kenya and southern Somalia in 2011

http://www.historyguy.com/somalia_conflict_shabab_war.htm

Kenyan forces intervene in southern Somalia to battle the al-Shabab Islamist militia.  Shabab has engaged in terrorist activities in Somalia, Uganda, and Kenya, and is allied with al-Qaida.

Kenya and the Transitional Somali government are supported by the United States.  And, can it be a coincidence that this intevention by an American-allied African nation takes place only two days after President Obama announces the American intervention in the Lord’s Resistance Army Insurgency that has bedeviled Uganda, southern Sudan, Congo, and the Central African Republic?  Note that Uganda,  has thousands of troops in Somalia in support of the transitional government.

http://www.historyguy.com/somalia_conflict_shabab_war.htm

The Lords’ Resistance Army (LRA) Insurgency in Uganda

http://www.historyguy.com/lords_resistance_army_insurgency.htm

Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)

The insurgency of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) of Joseph Krony against the government of Uganda began in 1987 in the aftermath of the failed Holy Spirit Movement Rebellion of Alice Auma (also known as Alice Lakwena). After the Holy Spirit Movement lost a major battle against the Ugandan government at th ebattle of Jinja, Alice Auma fled to Kenya while Joseph Kony emerged as the leader of the remaining rebel forces. With Kony’s assumption of power came a shift in the rebels’ strategy and a new name: the Lord’s Resistance Army. Krony declared himself to be a prophet, emerging as a “Spirit Guide,” and inspired his rebel troops to fight the Ugandan government.

Krony’s beliefs (or tactics) emerged from a twisted understanding of Christian and local spiritualist pagan beliefs. His Lord’s Resistance Army is as much a cult as it is a military force. The LRA insurgency gained control of most of northern Uganda, with significan aid from the government of Sudan, which was in conflict with the Ugandan government.

In line with the cult-like beliefs of the Lord’s Resistance Army, Kony’s forces exhibited incredible brutality on the civilian populations they encountered. Women would be raped, children kidnapped and forced to join the LRA as “child soldiers,” anyone who broke the the arcane rules of the LRA would have their hands or other limbs cut off.

In 2005, Kony was indicted by the International Criminal Court for leading the LRA in a campaign of “murder, abduction, sexual enslavement, mutilation, as well as mass burnings of houses and looting of camp settlements”during his insurgency, and for personally ordering his troops to target and kill civilian populations.

Over the years, repeated Ugandan military offensives reclaimed most of the territory controlled by the Lord’s Resistance Army.

As his control over northern Uganda waned, Kony led his dwindling army through the borderlands of Uganda, southern Sudan, the Congo, and the Central African Repbublic. Everywhere he travelled, his men killed, raped, pillaged, and looted civilian populations. In October, 2011, American President Barack Obama announced that 100 “combat-ready” American Special Forces troops were joining with the Ugandan military to hunt down Kony and bring him to justice.

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New York Times Article on the escalating drone war against al-Qaida and Shahab in Somalia at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/world/africa/02somalia.html

Throughout April, 2011, NATO airstrikes continued to pound Libyan military positions and units, while the ground war between Gadhafi’s forces and the rebels took on a see-saw effect, as several towns and positions changed hands between them. Many outside analysts saw the war grinding into a stalemate, with Gadhafi’s forces controlling most of western Libya, while the rebels held most of eastern Libya.
In the last week of April, the United States announced the introduction of its unmanned Predator drones to the war.
On April 30, 2011, the Libyan government announced that a NATO airstrike killed Gadhafi’s youngest son, Saif al Arab Gadhafi, aged 29, and three of Gadhafi’s grandchildren. In the rebel capital of Benghazi,  celebratory gunfire erupted upon word that the younger Gadhafi’s death. The Libyan spokesman who announced Said Gadhafi’s death also claimed that the NATO strike was a failed attempt to kill the Libyan leader himself, implying that Muamar Gadhafi himself was in the house at the time of the attack.

http://www.historyguy.com/libyan_war_2011.htm

The First Ivory Coast Civil War

(2002-2007)

http://www.historyguy.com/ivory_coast_civil_war_first.htm

French Soldiers on duty in Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast (Cote d Ivorie) Civil War (Sept. 19, 2002-2007)Rebel soldiers (who later called themselves the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast (MPCI) launched a coordinated, nation-wide attack on forces loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo. Loyalist forces held onto the capital city of Abidjan, but lost control of the northern cities ofBouake and Korhogo. Initial reports had former military dictator General Robert Guei as the leader of the coup.It was also reported that he perished in the fighting. Ivory Coast has seen ethnic and religious violence since 2000 between northern Muslims (such as Guei) and southern Christians (such as President Gbagbo). The government also claims that rebel reinforcement entered the country from a bordering nation, most likely Burkina Faso to the north.Tensions have increased between the two West African nations partly as a result of the status of millions of migrant Burkina Faso citizens living in Ivory Coast seeking jobs.A cease-fire began on Oct. 17, which held until the last week of November, as government forces launched a new offensive with recently acquired helicopters and what appeared to be a unit of English-speaking mercenaries.Also, a new rebel group appeared, seizing several towns along the western border with Liberia. This group, calling itself the Ivorian Popular Movement for the Greater West, clashed with French peacekeeping forces that were attempting to evacuate Europeans from the area. This Yacouba-based tribal group, which appears to include some Liberians, may be connected to one of the factions involved in the Liberian Civil War. A second western rebel group, called the Movement for Justice and Peace, appears loyal to the late General Guei.

From January 15 through January 26, 2003, the warring parties met at Linas-Marcoussis in France to to negotiate a an end to the war. The parties signed a compromise deal on January 26. President Gbagbo was to retain power and opponents were invited into a government of reconciliation and obtained control over the Ministries for Defense and of the Interior. Soldiers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and 4,000 French soldiers took up positions separating the warring sides. The parties agreed to work together on modifying national identity, eligibility for citizenship, and land tenure laws which many observers see as among the root causes of the conflict. The civil war was declared over as of July 4, 2003 when the government and New Forces militaries signed an “End of the War” declaration, recognized President Gbagbo’s authority, and vowed to work for the implementation of the LMA and a program of Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration (DDR).

Despite the written agreement, true reconciliation did not take place, and in November, 2004, President Gbagbo ordered airstrikes against the rebel-held north and hit the city of Bouaké.. These airstrikes also hit (supposedly by accident, though that is questionalble) French forces who were in the country to enforce the peace on November 6. In this attack, an Ivorian Sukhoi Su-25 bombed a French base in Bouaké, killing nine French soldiers and an American aid worker while injuring 31 others. French forces then responoded with an overland attack on Yamassoukro Airport, destroying two Su-25s and three attack helicopters on the ground, while two government military helicopters were shot down over Abidjan. One hour after the attack on the camp, the French Army established control of Abidjan Airport. France flew in reinforcements and sent three jets to Gabon on standby.

Pro-government demonstators , rallied by the pro-government media, rioted and plundered properties owned by French nationals. Several hundred Westerners, mainly French citizens, took refuge on the roofs of their buildings to escape the mob, and were then evacuated by French Army helicopters. France sent in f 600 troops as reinforcements from their base in Gabon and from France itself while foreign civilians were evacuated from Abidjan airport on French and Spanish military airplanes. An unknown number of rioters were killed after French troops opened fire on the mobs.

Ivory Coast Map

After the French-Ivorian clashes in 2004, the two opposing Ivorian sides settled into a stalemate, whicn proved conducive to negotiations, and on March 4, 2007, a peace agreement was signed between the government and the rebel New Forces in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. New Forces leader Guillaume Soro was then appointed Prime Minister and assumed that office in early April, 2007. On April 16, in the presence of Gbagbo and Soro, the U.N. buffer zone between the two sides began to be dismantled, and government and New Forces soldiers paraded together for the first time. Gbagbo declared that the war was over.Scattered violence broke out on occassion, including an assassination attempt on Soro, but the agreement held until a resumption of the civil war in 2011 after a disputed election.

Ivory Coast Civil War Sources and Links:

First Ivorian Civil War–Wikipedia Article

Background Note: Cote d’Ivoire–U.S. State Department

A ‘Civil War’ that is French and Neo-Colonial–International Viewpoint

French troops in Ivory Coast battle–BBC News, Dec. 21, 2002

The Libyan War

 http://www.historyguy.com/libyan_war_2011.htm

Libyan rebels hoisting the pre-Gadhafi Libyan flag

The Libyan War began as a protest movement against long-time Libyan leader Colonel Muamar Gadhafi and quickly escalated into a full-scale civil war. As the Libyan government forces increased their use of deadly force on the rebels, the United Nations imposed a “No-Fly Zone” over Libya in order to “protect Libyan civilians.” The Libyan No-Fly Zone’s enforcement was undertaken by a coalition of European nations and the United States. The Libyan No-Fly Zone was begun with airstrikes and ship-borne missile strikes at Libyan air-defence installations as well as Libyan ground forces.Names of the Conflict:

The Libyan War of 2011Libyan No-Fly Zone War

Libyan Uprising of 2011

Libyan Civil War

Operational Names of Nations Intervening in Libya:

Operation Odyssey Dawn (United States)Operation Ellamy (United Kingdom)

Opération Harmattan (France)

Operation Mobile (Canada)

DATES OF CONFLICT:

BEGAN: February 15, 2011–Protests against the Libyan government began

Foreign Intervention Began: March 19, 2011

ENDED: Ongoing

 Libyan War Sources and Links:

Libya Uprising 2011–Wikipedia article

The Libyan War of 2011-Stratfor

2011 military intervention in Libya–Wikipedia article

Is It a War? Libya Terminology Is Tangled–Wall Street Journal

Events in Libya February 24, 2011:

–Forces loyal to the Libyan government counter-attacked rebels in the town of Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, and at the small airport outside Misrata, Libya’s third largest city.

–World oil prices reached $120 a barrel due to concerns over the violence in Libya and the fear of further revolt in the oil-producing regions of the Middle East.

–Gadhafi’s cousin, Gadhaf al-Dam, an aide who served as Gadhafi’s personal ambassador to other nations, defected to Egypt and denounced the Libyan dictator.

Libyan History:

http://www.historyguy.com/wars_of_libya.htm

http://www.historyguy.com/libya_unrest_timeline_2011.htm