On 12 January 2013, French special forces attempted to rescue kidnapped French spy “Denis Allex” in the middle of the night from a hideout in the al-Shabaab-controlled town of Buulo Mareer (about 30 km south of Marka.) However, the operation… Read More ›
Brief Background on Jubaland Jubaland historically comprised of Lower and Middle Juba states. But military dictatator and ex-President Siad Barre split up the region in 1975, adding Gedo (created as an enclave for Barre’s Darod-Marehan clan members), Bay, and Bakool… Read More ›
This is the first in a multi-part series about Somalia in 2013. In 2012, the Somali National Army and its partners in AMISOM and Ethiopia retook major al-Shabaab strongholds–including the lucrative port of Kismayo–and essentially confined al-Shabaab to the southern… Read More ›
Members of the Muslim Youth Centre (MYC)–a radical group that advocates for Jihad in response to marginalization against Kenyan Muslims–has claimed that the “mujahideen” were responsible for recent attacks in Nairobi’s neighborhood of Eastleigh. After three grenade attacks since 5 December… Read More ›
The violence in Kenya is developing into a familiar pattern. The frequency of al-Shabaab (AS) sympathizer attacks remains steady, but the retaliatory violence by Kenyan security forces and civilians should be of great concern to observers. On 18 November 2012,… Read More ›
Uganda’s Security Minister Muruli Mukasa has stated that the country intends to withdraw its troops from Somalia and other conflict hotspots in response to the UN’s allegation that Uganda is supporting M23 rebels in DRC. Ugandan forces in Somalia—estimated to be at… Read More ›
What began as a plan in July 2011 to push al-Shabaab from its bases in the capital Mogadishu turned quickly into a larger scale operation–with the help of Kenyan and Ethiopian forces and proxy militias–to force al-Shabaab out of all… Read More ›
Three days after al-Shabaab’s most significant “tactical withdrawal” to date, the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF), its counterparts in AMISOM, Ras Kamboni, and the Somali National Army (SNA) finally entered the port city in the first week of October to fill… Read More ›
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