Kenya’s Defence Minister, Yusuf Haji(r) with Chief of Defence Forces, General Julius Kianga
13 December 2011
Kenyan forces and their Somali allies battling Islamist Shebab insurgents said Tuesday they plan to advance deeper into rebel-held regions.
Two months after Kenya sent troops to fight the Al Qaeda-linked rebels, the fores have made little progress due to bad weather, while the insurgents have multiplied grenade and landmine attacks in areas along the Kenya-Somalia border.
“The target is still Kismayo,” Kenyan army official Captain Thomas Mwanga told reporters in the southern Somali region of Ras Kamboni.
However, Kenya Defence Minister Yusuf Haji said this month that they were not necessarily targeting Kismayo, a key port town controlled by the Shebab.
“What the minister said was, we will not own Kismayo. We will just pacify it and give it back to the (Somali) transitional federal government,” Mwanga said.
Mohamed Ibrahim Farrah, a Somali government spokesman, said the authorities were making assessments after rains subsided recently.
“The problem is the rain. There’s a lot of water. The rain stopped only 10 days ago. We should wait another 10 days.”
Kenyan forces are in three locations in the south of Somalia. The offensive was launched in mid-October after a series of cross-border kidnappings and attacks Nairobi blames on the Shebab militia.
ANP/AFP
Beegeagle's Blog 
This is begining to look like more like” operation bog down” in one of the most arid regions of the world the KF chooses the raining season to launch a major operation, what were their contingency plans yes we have seen some PHOTOS of the ARMY transportation vehicles did they not think 4X4s? and if the port is the focus why didn’t the KN get involved and coordinate an amphibious landing? I hope this does not end badly.
Let us hope for the best. Kenya has embarked on a major operation on a limited budget but is a very capable military establishment. I also wonder why embark on an operation in the rainy season.
You have raised an interesting point though – does the KN have adequate resources to pull off an amphibious landing against a defended port ?
They have shown some considerable skill in deploying air cavalry and combined arms ground forces (armour, infantry and artillery) but I wonder of their capacity for an amphibious assault owing to a lack adequate numbers of specialized platforms.
Well, I would not be able to say for certain why Kenya do not field even one amphibious battalion. Beyond the KN’s ability to stage amphibious landings, how about army amphibious troops to lead the charge? They might consider retraining a regular infantry battalion for that purpose given the number of islands clustered around the Somali frontier and a recent history of such islands being attacked by Somali insurgents. Assuming that those nutters had decided to dig in and hold onto Manda Island? Given the touristic value of the place, a combo of spec ops and amphibious troops rather than air-dropped paras would have been best suited for the task, I imagine.
They badly need to load up on river gunboats. Those are clearly in short supply to the Navy judging by what we saw during the abductions on Manda Island and elsewhere that seaborne attacks were staged by Al Shabaab where the KDF had to practically whip round for gunboats with which to give chase.
As for amphibious landings,the LS(M) such as KNS Tana and the 56-58m fast attack craft (KNS Nyayo,Umoja,Shujaa etc) could prove to be adequate in any amphibious landings by using their 76mm guns to engage shore-based targets in any opposed landing. I do not think it is beyond their capabilities at all
Beegeagle, as usual your assessment seems to be accurate.
My concern is getting the troops close in with support gear. I do believe their assets are inadequate to do it without stripping patrol forces interdicting Al-Shabab and I do not know whether an untrained infantry unit could comfortably pull this off without a bit of chaos.
Retraining an army battalion should not be difficult – well within the capabilities of a professional army like Kenya’s – but I would point out to the experience of India during the 1971 war when an amphibious assault on Cox’s Bazaar “Operation Beaver” in reinforced battalion strength using troops untrained in amphibious operations ended in confusion and only succeeded because there was no opposition.
Of course things would be different for Kenya but I would think that they would want to rehearse carefully before such an operation.
Could it be that Kenya is being unduly careful and deliberate in its military operations to avoid casualties in its own forces (bad in an election year) ?
Admittedly, we have sometimes wondered if there will ultimately be a price to be paid for not pressing their advantage. It could be that the adverse weather conditions stalled the advance but bearing in mind the fact that Al Shabaab are the sort who seek to hold onto territory(like the NPFL and RUF in Liberia and Sierra Leone or SPLA in Sudan) rather than engaging in classic hit-and-run guerrilla warfare(such as MEND, AQIM and Boko Haram), the delayed assault could pave way for a much bloodier confrontation at a later date. There can be no doubt about the fact that Al Shabaab are probably now preparing defensive positions and moving in weapons and supplies into the towns of Afmadow and Kismayo, taking advantage of the lull in the fighting. They have even began to launch terror attacks using IEDs in places such as Wajir, Mandera and Garissa in northern Kenya which has a large and indigenous ethnic Somali population, some of whom might be amenable to the whims of Al Shabaab.
As for not wanting casualties, there are insufficient antecedents from which extrapolation can be made. African armies which have over the decades proven to have large capacities to take casualties and continue fighting regardless include Nigeria,Algeria,Sudan,Ethiopia,Angola,Uganda,Chad.
Some others which appear less able to take casualties include the armies of Ghana(ECOMOG), which curiously stood down a battalion at a time when West African armies were piling on the numbers in Liberia and Libya(in Uganda and in Chad’s Aouzou Strip)
We might not be able to tell which category the Kenyans, who are thus far bearing up quite nicely, fall into since Al Shabaab have largely avoided contact with the advancing KDF up to this point.
Time will tell. Any army fighting against unscrupulous mass murderes and terrorists deserves our support regardless.
My contention is as straightforward as this, SBM….
Somali terrorists have previously(September) sailed down the coast and effected abductions right on Lamu Island. Nothing stops the KDF from taking Afmadow overland and as ground troops advance from the left flank towards Kismayo, an amphibious battalion supported by a Spec Ops Company and moved to the theatre by the said KN LCMs and FACs(five in all would move an entire battalion),could advance up the same coastline to Kismayo, just the way Al-Shabaab travelled down the coast and struck at Lamu.
ECOMOG, using comparable assets – larger LSTs and similar-sized Lurssen+Combattante III FACs and a Mk.9 corvette – similarly encountered resistance when they sought to enter the Port of Monrovia(Liberia) and Lungi Island(SLR) where their airport is situated.
In both instances, they faced shore-based resistance from the Freeport and Airport while in Monrovia, rebels who were strewn in ambush in the marshes also opened up with their mortars and RCLs. The Navy responded with their 76mm naval guns and with rocket artillery and ultimately fought their way onto their shore-based targets. Mind you, Monrovia and Lungi are both situated 1,200-1,500 miles from Lagos, Nigeria. If the NN pulled off those amphibious landings with similar assets in the 1990s,I believe that the KN should be able to do so NEXTDOOR in Somalia with slight adjustments in the 2010s.
War brings about adjustments and improvisation. When the Nigerian Civil War broke out in 1967 and even with oil facilities strewn across a river delta equal in size to Scotland and Belgium put together, we did not have a single amphibious unit deployed anywhere yet half of the 853 kilometre coastline was under the control of secessionist Biafran forces. The hastily formed 3 Marine Commando Division was tasked with retaking that entire coastal front and advancing inland to link up with 1 Infantry Division and 2 Infantry Division operating in the north of the rebel enclave.
With crash training programs, 3 MCDO ultimately landed 35,000 troops launched from western Nigeria and sailing down longer stretches of coastline through the port towns and estuaries of Koko, Warri, Burutu, Forcados, PHC, Bonny, Oron, Eket and Calabar. In general, these were opposed landings with fierce resistance put up at PHC,Onne,Eket and Oron in particular. In the end, they landed all their troops. This, they accomplished whilst embarked on a mix of ex-British Ford-class Seaward Defence Boats (google that), submarine chasers, merchant vessels and the frigate NNS Nigeria(later Obuma), put together by a decade-old Nigerian Navy.
Talking about being unprepared for the task, Murtala Muhammed’s 2 Infantry Division suffered heavy casualties when it attempted to land its troops on enemy soil by sailing from the west bank of the River Niger and attempting to take the rebel-held commercial city of Onitsha by frontal assault. This effort met with disastrous consequences for the federal troops as hundreds of troops perished midstream and vessels bearing supplies and armoured vehicles were sunk by shore-based 73mm AT guns,six-pounder guns,107mm RCLs and 105mm artillery and even improvised rockets and flying mines put together by the Biafran 11 Division of the brilliant Colonel Conrad Nwawo, defending from entrenched positions on the east bank. They were TWICE beaten back by the defending Biafran Army at great cost to the advancing Federal 2 Infantry Division. That is the costly path which the Kenyans should avoid by making adequate preparations for amphibious and littoral warfare.
After the war and sequel to the redesignation of 3 MCDO as the 3 Armoured Division and transformation of 4 Infantry Division to 82 Composite Division, the NA’s 13 Infantry Brigade, sandwiched between the labyrinthine 3,014 creeks and waterways of the Niger Delta and a hostile Cameroon to the east, became transformed into the 13 Amphibious Brigade. At the start of the Niger Delta insurgency, 2 Air Mobile Brigade similarly became the 2 Amphibious Brigade, giving the NA her second Amphibious Brigade while the 72 Air Portable Bn(paratroopers) have since become the Special Forces Bn.
When on 20 December 1993 General Sani Abacha ordered a battalion of troops to invade the Bakassi Peninsula, the charge was expectedly led by a formation under the 13 Amphibious Brigade.
Across the specializations in the infantry corps, a professional army should be able to switch seamlessly between highland,amphibious,desert,jungle,airborne and counterinsurgency operations via retraining programmes as new realities emerge.
If you ask me, the threats which exist in the Cameroon-Nigeria frontier(where Nigerian-born Bakassi insurgents are now active) are clearly replicated in the Kenya-Somalia maritime frontier. Beegeagle’s Blog, from the time of the attacks on Manda and Lamu Islands, concluded that the Kenya Army need to raise an amphibious battalion which would operate in sync with the Kenya Navy and acquire perhaps a dozen 15-metre landing craft(for amphibious forces) PLUS a dozen 12-metre river gunboats and three 20-metre fast patrol craft(for the KN).
There exists an array of shipyards in Asia (Malaysia,China,India,Korea) which would deliver those in 4-6 months flat for an outlay of about $35-40m.
The Americans and the French are collaborating with the Kenyans on Op Linda Nchi. Nothing stops them from bringing in trainers to assist in conversion training(amphibious operations and littoral warfare) for one infantry battalion.
Kenya’s military says integration with AMISOM won’t affect current war
NAIROBI, Dec. 17 (Xinhua)
Kenya’s military said on Saturday the integration of its forces with the Africa Union Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops will not affect its war against the Al-Shabaab militia.
Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) Operations Commander, Colonel Cyrus Oguna told journalists in Nairobi that the re-hatting of the KDF will not take away the right of Kenya to defend itself and will pursue the insurgent group whenever necessary.
“When faced with aggression even after integrating with AMISOM, our troops will go and deal with it and come back,” Oguna told journalists at the weekly press briefing in Nairobi. Kenya’s Parliament has already endorsed the government’s decision to allow the Kenya Defense Forces to join AMISOM as part of the pan African body’s strategy to combat Al- Shabaab.
Oguna said the KDF, which launched ground and air strikes across southern Somalia in mid October, will carry out its military operation deeper into rebel-held territory of Afgoye. He said the troops would target Afgoye, a town near Mogadishu and home to thousands of displaced people, as well as the ports of Merka and Barawe on the southern coast. The development to join AMISOM follows the unanimous vote in Parliament two weeks ago.
Kenya is joining the force at the invitation of the African Union. Oguna said KDF troops registered major gains in the past week where they inflicted major damage to Al-Shabaab following six engagements with the outfit last Tuesday in Gabra Garso and two attacks at Afmadow Airstrip where their command structure was destroyed.
Linsay Kiptenes, the deputy director in charge of the Horn of Africa Region at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressed Kenya’ s concern at the events of last week where over 280 members of the Somali Parliament removed the speaker at a time the Transitional Federal Government is enjoying unprecedented goodwill from the international community. “This action, coming only eight months away from the end of the transition period next August will affect the Road Map and every effort must be made to curb such incidents.
The whole world has rallied behind the people of Somalia and they should therefore not fight amongst themselves lest they played into the hands of the enemy.” Kipteness said Kenya will participate at an African Union meeting next Monday where the re-hatting of the Kenyan troops to AMISOM will be extensively discussed so as to make the operation an AU/UN issue by seeking for endorsement from the United Nation’ sSecurity Council so as not to make the Kenyan troops appear like an occupation force.
Kenya’s army marches toward
Somalian port town of Kismayu
by Chrispinus Omar
NAIROBI, Dec. 18 (Xinhua)
As Kenya’s military is advancing toward Somalia’s port town of Kismayu, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) has come under renewed international pressure to move swiftly toward ending its tenure in August 2012. Kenya’s military plan is to move the forces and equipment toward Kismayu, from where they hope to dislodge the Al-Shabaab insurgents. Airstrikes in the areas of Gabragaso,Janabdala and Okosigo in central Somalia helped Kenyan troops in carrying out their plan to liberate Kismayu from the Al-Shabaab, a spokesman for the troops said.
However, Kenyan Foreign Affairs Spokesman Lindsay Kiptiness said there were mounting fears the military gains may not be sustained unless they were backed by real political progress at the level of the TFG. “A new round of political conflict would affect the transitional process eight months away,” Kiptiness said on Saturday at a weekly briefing on the Kenyan operations in Somalia.
Kenyan military’s operations officer, Col.Cyrus Oguna, said the airstrikes on strategic locations aimed at expanding areas under its control had seen the operation push deeply into the Al-Shabaab, and enabled aid agencies to move in place in Somalia. “We have been able to plan and execute attacks with testable accuracy while keeping collateral damage at zero,” Oguna said. “We have surpassed our timelines within proportions,” Oguna said. “The Al-Shabaab’s infrastructure has been affected.”
Oguna said the operation had already left several Al-Shabaab casualties, some of whom were currently being treated at various hospitals in Kismayu. The hospitals in Kismayu are overflowing with wounded. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who visited Somalia recently to review the security situation on the ground, praised the progress achieved by the Kenyan forces, backed by the Ethiopian, the TFG forces and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
“The Islamists are retreating under mounting pressure from government forces and their allies backed by Kenya and Ethiopian forces,” Ban said.
The UN chief told the Security Council it was important that a coherent military strategy be developed which is aligned to the political objectives. Somalia’s political wrangling escalated this week after parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan was voted out but later rejected the vote outcome. The UN has also weighed in by announcing through the Security Council that future assistance to Somalia would be tied to progress toward ending the transition. Ban said in a briefing to the Security Council last week that accelerated constitutional and parliamentary reforms should be pushed faster since they do not require financial assistance, but would be based on political willingness.
The UN and the African Union, Ban said,had initiated an assessment mission to determine the military requirements on the ground in Somalia. He said the results of the assessment would be communicated to the Council. The UN chief officially informed the Council of the need to boost the troops inside Somalia and arm them with the required military capabilities.
Ban’s formal request to the Council appears to have been based on previous requests made in 2010 by the AU’s Peace and Security Council (PSC). The AU has been asking the UN to provide the equipment, including five tactical helicopters and military engineering capabilities to the AMISOM to enable it to succeed in Somalia.
Ban noted that the UN should not exclude the incorporation of new forces and expansion of AMISOM, with its current strength of 12,000 troops.
Has the blitzkrieg commenced? They struck just to the north of Kismayo yesterday