Kenya asks U.S. assist with Somalia offensive
Troops targeting grip of al-Shabab
WASHINGTON – Kenya’s government has made an urgent appeal to the Obama administration for the Pentagon to provide intelligence and logistical support to Kenya’s faltering month-old military operation in Somalia against al-Shabab, a powerful al-Qaida-linked militia.
Administration officials are considering the request, which came through the State Department, to provide military surveillance and reconnaissance, which could include imagery from drone aircraft. Such aid would represent a significant expansion of U.S. involvement in the chaotic East African nation.
The 2,000 Kenyan troops that crossed into southern Somalia last month quickly became bogged down after seasonal rains turned roads into thick mud, leaving the invading forces far short of key al-Shabab strongholds to the north.
Some U.S. officials favor direct support for the Kenyan operation. Counterterrorism officials are eager to eliminate or weaken al-Shabab, a terrorist group that has conducted lethal attacks against U.S. allies in Africa and has vowed to expand its reach.
At least two Somali-Americans recruited by al-Shabab took part in suicide bombings in Somalia, and counterterrorism experts fear that other recruits will attempt attacks in the United States.
But administration officials are wary of getting drawn into another war in a Muslim country as U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan.
After crossing into Somalia in mid-October, the Kenyan troops captured several border towns and advanced inland. But they have yet to take the strategic crossroads town of Afmadow, about 80 miles from the border, or the crucial port of Kismayu, about 100 miles up the Indian Ocean coast.
If it secures those targets, Kenya hopes to create a military buffer zone in southern Somalia to stem the flow of weapons and trained militants across the border. Somali raiders this year kidnapped four foreigners in Kenya, dealing a blow to the country’s lucrative tourism industry.
Kenya also says it wants to help humanitarian aid groups working to alleviate suffering from the famine in southern Somalia. Al-Shabab has taxed some of the groups and kidnapped aid workers or stopped their supply convoys.