War and Conflict Journal

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

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11609724

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American Special Forces attacked vehicles in Somalia carrying members of al-Qaida’s Somalia and Kenya branch on September 14, 2009. The dead included Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, wanted for the 2002 car bombing of a beach resort in Kenya and an attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner. He was a leader of the local al-Qaida branch. Nabhan was a 30-year old Kenyan who is suspected of being behind the 2002 attacks in Kenya ttargeting Israelis. Ten Kenyans and three Israelis died in the bombing of an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa. Ground-to-air missiles were fired at the Israeli airliner as it took off from the city’s airport but missed the jet. Nabhan is believed to be one of those who fired a missile. He later escaped in Somalia, which is a largly lawless nation with a strong al-Qaida presence.

Previous American attacks on al-Qaida in Somalia involved missile attacks which were relatively imprecise, and created casualties among Somali civilians. This attack was carried out by helicopters which fired on the vehicles. Witnesses reported that after the helicopter attack concluded, American troops rappelled to the ground, collected the dead and wounded, and flew off. One Somali official said that the attack produced five dead.

The last confirmed American troop presence in Somalia was in 1993, during the Battle of Mogadishu. When Ethiopia invaded Somali in 2005 and 2006, some reports indicated that small numbers of U.S. troops accompanied the Ethiopians, searching for al-Qaida leaders.

See http://www.historyguy.com/special_forces_attack_al-qaida_somalia.htm

Somali pirates apparently bit off more than they could chew when the crew of the American cargo vessel, the Maersk Alabama, resisted the pirates’ attempt to hijack their ship.  The Somali pirates attacked some 380 miles off the coast of Somalia, and initially took control of the ship.  However, before the American naval vessel, the USS Bainbridge could arrive, the crew had fought back, forcing the pirates to abandon ship.  Unfortunately, the pirates kept the Maersk Alabama’s captain, Richard Phillips as a hostage.

For more information, see http://www.historyguy.com/somali_pirate_attack_maersk_alabama.htm

Somalia is a chaotic and nearly governmentless nation off the east coast of Africa, and it is home to the world's best known contemporary pirates. These pirates, who operate a financially lucrative ship-hijacking operation, capture merchant ships off the coasts of Yemen, Somalia, and Kenya, and then hold them for ransom. The ship owners and their insurance companies usually pay the ransom, sometimes in the millions of dollars, because it is far cheaper than losing the ship and cargo. For example, the Saudi oil tanker seized on Nov. 17, 2008, had just been built, at a cost of $150 million, and carried an oil cargo valued at $100 million. Paying a ransom of even several million dollars would save the ship and crew.

Naval vessels from around the world (United Stated, United Kingdom, Russia, India, others), patrol the Somali coast to…http://www.historyguy.com/somali_pirate_attacks.htm  Go to History Guy.com to see the rest of the article