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

Post-election violence in Kenya escalated as President Mwai Kibaki
claimed victory in the presidential election. As of January 1, 208,
over 250 deaths were reported. International observers, as well as
man Kenyans, claim the election was tainted by voting irregularities
and possibly outright vote fraud.

The first deaths came as protesters took to the streets and police
and troops opened fire. The violence has since escalated into open
battles with clear ethnic divisions, as Kibaki’s Kikuyu supporters
fight against the Luo ethnic group. The losing candidate, Raila
Odinga, is a Luo.

Violence
Grows in Kenya–Wall Street Journal, Jan. 1, 2008

The president of Kenya, Mwai Kibaki, is the declared victor in this year’s very tight presidential election. Kibaki is a member of the Kikuyu ethnic group, or tribe, and his opponent, Raila Odinga, is a member of the Luo tribal group. Violence has broken out, with Odinga supports, who are mostly Luo, battling police and soldiers in the streets. As of 12/31/07, at least 125 Kenyans are reported dead in post-election violence.

Unlike party politics in North American, European and East Asian democracies, electoral politics in Kenya split along ethnic/tribal lines. In a disputed election, such as this one, that makes for a very dangerous political/ethnic/regional fault line that can lead to an all-out civil war.

From the American point of view, Kenya’s new turmoil is a potential impediment to the War on Terror in Eastern Africa, as Kenya has been a solid ally in the campaign against al-Qaida and the Islamist militants battling Ethiopian and Somali government forces in neighboring Somalia.

Post-Election Turmoil Grows in Kenya, With Over 100 Dead–New York Times, Dec. 31, 2007

Scores die in Kenya election riots–Al Jazeera, Dec. 31, 2007