Somalia: not piracy catch all thread

[davidbfpo]

I know Kenya has had a close relationship with Israel, which was very clear after the Entebbe Raid and when a few years ago a SAM was fired at an Israeli charter flight, full of tourists from an Indian Ocean resort.

Now there's this single strand reporting, which is almost a gift to Al-Shabab:

Kenya's prime minister is seeking Israel's support in stopping reprisal terror attacks by an al-Qaida-linked militant group Kenyan troops are pursuing in Somalia.... for assistance in building the capacity of the Kenyan police to deal with attacks by al-Shabab militants....but al-Shabab could view Kenya's request as a provocation.

Link:http://abcnews.go.com/International/...1#.TsF-4D0Uqsp

[davidbfpo]

Aidan Hartley, a Kenyan farmer - near the Somali badlands - and journalist has written a short article on the terrain facing the Kenyan Army incursion, plus supporters:http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnist...ild-life.thtml

He opens with:

I am proud of Kenya for taking on Muslim extremists in southern Somalia. Rather wisely, the Kenyan military has so far prevented hacks from reaching the field. But for anybody in the outside world who cares, this is not a new battle. Operations against Somalis of varying types of fanaticism have been mounted since the 1960s.

[davidbfpo]

Copied for reference from SWJ Blog a link to a multi-part report in the commercial on-line paper 'Military Times'; SWJ has amended the title to 'The (Not So*) Secret War in Africa' and two parts are to follow.

This is the short introduction:

This series is the result of a six-month investigation by Army Times senior staff writer Sean D. Naylor.

Naylor reached out to dozens of current and former diplomatic and military leaders and special operators about their activities in the Horn of Africa.

It is a war few will acknowledge and even fewer will discuss.

Nevertheless, Army Times was able to piece together a mosaic that shows the level of involvement by U.S. forces in Africa and the significant resources that have been employed - with mixed success - to hunt terrorists in Africa.

Link:http://militarytimes.com/projects/na...orn-of-africa/

It will be interesting to see if this report is cited as evidence of AFRICOM activity on other threads.

Added here as the focus is Somalia and historical activity.

[davidbfpo]

Aidan Hartley is a white Kenyan farmer, whose farm is in the region near Somalia and a journalist. The linked article is about his struggles to stop rustlers and added here as it gives an impression of what life is like in that area. Human Terrain no less:http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnist...ild-life.thtml

[davidbfpo]

A BBC report starting with the UK's development minister and a quick overview of Somali primarily:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16296849

He said it would also help prevent terrorism and disorder in Somalia which was a "direct threat" to the UK.

"There are probably more British passport holders engaged in terrorist training in Somalia than in any other country in the world...This is not only about saving the lives of huge numbers of vulnerable babies and children, it is also about doing the right thing to promote British security."

An intriguing comment as most attention has been on the human traffic between the UK and Pakistan, with irregular "leaks" and rare arrests etc. The Somali community in the UK is smaller too.

There's also another international conference to be held in London in February 2012.

As for this comment:

Across Britain there is a very strong feeling that it is right to spend a very small amount of money, something like 1% of all the public expenditure that takes place in Britain, on helping people who are in a wretched and desperate condition

IIRC opinion polling does not support the scale of UK overseas aid, which is set to grow due to previous commitments amidst cuts at home, e.g. 20% for policing over three years. Nor does most aid go to places like Somalia.

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to Randy Borum for a pointer to this jamestown Foundation report Clan and Conflict in Somalia: Al-Shabaab and the Myth of “Transcending Clan Politics”, which opens with:

Clan identity and Islam are central pillars of Somali society, with clan dynamics and inter-clan rivalries magnified by decades of state collapse. Al-Shabaab - the dominant Islamist militia controlling much of southern and central Somalia - claims to “transcend clan politics,” yet reality on the ground belies this claim, revealing that al-Shabaab seeks to manipulate local clan alliances and remains deeply influenced by clan politics. This analysis shows that despite al-Shabaab’s hard-line Islamist identity and pro-al-Qaeda rhetoric, many aspects of the group’s past and current behavior remain deeply rooted in Somalia’s local dynamics. Moreover, clan rules apply even to Somalia’s most feared Islamists.

An American aspect which I've not seen reported before:

Even recruitment of foreign fighters - at least those of ethnic Somali origin - may have a clan-based component. A March 2010 report by the United Nations noted that more than half of the initial twenty Somalis who left Minneapolis to fight in Somalia had a parent from the Harti sub-clan, and several American Somalis killed in Somalia were discovered to have Harti familial ties, supporting the conclusion that recruitment has occurred along clan-linked peer networks.

It concludes in part:

In terms of al-Shabaab’s placement as an adherent to al-Qaeda’s worldview, the organization is caught between proving its Salafi-Jihadi credentials to core al-Qaeda and affiliated movements while attempting to establish power among a Somali population that focuses internally on parochial clan interests. Any disruption to this careful balance risks either undermining al-Shabaab’s carefully built power-base in Somalia or losing the support of international Salafi-Jihadis.

Link:http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_...backPid%5d=515

[M-A Lagrange]

I am very sad to announce the death of 2 MSF expatriates in Somalia, Philippe Havet and Andrias Karel Keiluhuo. They were killed in Somalia over a dispute between the NGO and a former employee, nothing to see with the on going war.
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/Insid...00049181&cid=4

Philippe was “the logistician of the great lakes” as Colette Braeckman called him on her blog. http://blog.lesoir.be/colette-braeck...-a-mogadiscio/
He dedicated his life to build a better DRC and a better Africa.
So did his colleague that unfortunately I do not know so I cannot salute him as he deserves.