| U.S. "War on Terror" in the Horn of Africa 2002-2016 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
_Special_Operations_Capable_(SOC)_participates_in_a_long-range_deployment_exercise_from_the_amphibious_assault_ship_USS_Wasp_(LHD_1).jpg) Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit participate in a long-range deployment exercise from the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) into Djibouti, August 2002. | |||||
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| Belligerents | |||||
 United Kingdom United States |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||
 GeneralTommy Franks (2001–2003) GeneralJohn Abizaid (2003–2007) AdmiralWilliam J. Fallon (2007–2008) GeneralMartin Dempsey (2008–2015) GeneralDavid Petraeus (2008–2010) |
Garaad Mohamed*[3]  Indho Ade*[3]Mohamed Garfanji*[4] | ||||
| Strength | |||||
500 personnel in Somalia Unknown | |||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
| United States 2 killed in action, 6 wounded[5] 35 non-combat fatalities (see below) | Islamic insurgents:
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| 22–37 civilians killed (as of September 2017)[7](American operations only) | |||||
Operation Enduring Freedom has had related activities in theHorn of Africa.
United States counter-terrorist activities in the region have included advisers, supplies, and other forms of non-combat support, but more prominently have included drone strikes targeted atAl-Shabaab.[7] Other American combat operations include manned airstrikes, cruise missile strikes, and special forces raids. Many such activities were initially supervised byCombined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa before CJTF-HOA pivoted to a defense/diplomacy/development mission; others have been undertaken by task forces fromJoint Special Operations Command.
After theFall of Kabul in November 2001, there was considerable U.S. Department of Defense concern that Islamisttakfiri, jihadis, and others fleeing from Afghanistan might escape south and west to theArabian Peninsula andEast Africa.[9] U.S. Central Command already had responsibility forYemen.[10] But there were concerns that takfiri militants might escape across theArabian Sea toEast Africa.
As a result,II Marine Expeditionary Force was directed to establish a task force, to be responsible for Yemen and East Africa, to operate from the former French colony ofDjibouti. In due courseCombined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) was established, with its headquarters initially based aboard the command vesselUSS Mount Whitney. Its original mission was purely directed against fleeing takfiri militants from Afghanistan and/or other terrorist groups. U.S. forces became increasingly involved in theSomali Civil War. In October 2008, CJTF-HOA became part of the newUnited States Africa Command.[11]
In June 2006,The New York Times reported that senior Foreign Service officers at the United States Embassy in Nairobi had criticised the U.S.Central Intelligence Agency's backing of the SomaliAlliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism as short-sighted and counter-productive.[12] AReuters report said that support of the ARPCT had backfired and destabilized the area.[13]In mid-June 2006, Ethiopian troops began to enter Somalia in large numbers, aiming to remove theCouncil of Islamic Courts who were then running Mogadishu. This began the next phase of theWar in Somalia.
On 1 July 2006, a web-posted message purportedly written byOsama bin Laden urged Somalis to build an Islamic state in the country and warned western states that hisal-Qaeda network would fight against them if they intervened there.[14]
On 27 December 2006,The New York Times reported analysts inNairobi, Kenya claimed U.S. surveillance aircraft were funnelling information to Ethiopian forces.[15] Sean Naylor'sRelentless Strike describes U.S. SOF personnel accompanying the invading Ethiopian forces.[16] Somali Prime MinisterAli Mohammed Ghedi declared one of the key objectives of the offensive onKismayo was the capture of three alleged al-Qaeda members, suspects wanted for the1998 United States embassy bombings in East Africa:Fazul Abdullah Mohammed,Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan andAbu Taha al-Sudani.
Combined Task Force 150, a U.S.-ledCombined Maritime Forces task force was operating off the coast of Somalia to disrupt terrorist activity.[17][18] At the time, the task force included vessels from Canada, France, Germany, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.Arleigh Burke-class destroyerUSS Ramage and theTiconderoga-class cruiserUSS Bunker Hill.[19] The aim of the patrols shifted on 2 January 2007, according to diplomats, to "... stop SICC leaders or foreign militant supporters escaping".[20]
Likewise, many airstrikes which resulted in civilian casualties aroundAfmadow conducted by Ethiopian aircraft were mis-attributed to the United States. On 21 January 2007 the capture of U.S. troops was reported by the Qaadisiya.com site, as well as the death of one due tomalaria, but this assertion was denied as "utterly bogus" byMichael Ranneberger, U.S. Envoy to Kenya and Somalia.[21] On 24 January, the U.S. admitted to have made a second airstrike, but did not confirm the exact date or location of the strike.[22] United States involvement in the conflict continued through 2008 with airstrikes targeting suspected Al Qaeda affiliated militants including a strike of dubious success conducted on 2 March 2008 where at least one U.S. naval vessel launched cruise missiles against an Al Qaeda target in astrike on the village of Dobley and a successful strike onDhusamareb which killed several militant leaders
On 3 January 2007, U.S. Marines operating out ofLamu, Kenya, were reported as assisting Kenyan forces patrolling the border with Somalia with the interception of Islamists.[23] On 8 January it was reported that aU.S. Air ForceAC-130 gunship had attacked suspected al-Qaeda operatives in southern Somalia. It was also reported that the aircraft carrierUSS Dwight D. Eisenhower had been moved into striking distance.[24] Many bodies were spotted on the ground, but the identity of the dead or wounded was not yet established. The targeted leaders were tracked by the use ofunmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as they headed south from Mogadishu starting on 28 December.[25] It was reported that the leader of al-Qaeda in East Africa,Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, was killed in the attack, but later officials confirmed that he survived and also that none of the al-Qaeda operatives were killed. However, at least 10 civilians were killed. On 9 January it was reported U.S. special forces andCIA operatives were working with Ethiopian troops on the ground in operations inside Somalia from a base inGalkayo, inPuntland, and fromCamp Lemonnier, Djibouti.[26][citation needed] On 12 January, a small team of U.S. forces investigated the site of the U.S. gunship attack to search for information about the identity and fate of the targeted individuals.[27]
On 17 January 2007, the Assistant Deputy Secretary of Defense for African affairs,Theresa Whelan, clarified the airstrike conducted on 8 January was not the work of the CJTF-HOA, but of another force which she did not specify. The target of the strike was confirmed to beAden Hashi Farah Ayro, who was believed wounded or possibly dead, while eight members of his group were killed in the attack.[28]
On 28 November 2010 the U.S. Assistant Secretary of StateJendayi Frazer announced that the United States has no intention of committing troops to Somalia to root out al-Qaeda.[29]
On 25 January 2012, twoU.S. Navy SEAL teams raided a compound 12 miles (19 km) north ofAdado,Galmudug, Somalia,freeing two hostages while killing nine pirates and capturing five others.[30] On 5 October 2013,Naval Special Warfare Development Group SEAL commandos launched an amphibious raid on the town of Baraawe, fighting with al-Shabaab militants and inflicting some casualties on them before withdrawing.[31]
On 5 March 2016, U.S. airstrikes carried out by aircraft and unmanned drones killed more than 150 Al-Shabaab terrorists at aterrorist training camp called "Camp Raso", located about 120 miles north of Mogadishu as they were completing "training for a large-scale attack" according to a Pentagon spokesman. The camp had been under surveillance for some time before the strike.[32] In the early hours of 9 March 2016, U.S. special forces andSomali National Army special forces killed between 1 and 15 Al-Shabaab terrorists in a heliborne-attack on the Al-Shabaab-controlled town ofAwdhegele, as well as capturing an undisclosed number of high-value Al-Shabaab figures. The militants were training for a major operation.[33][34][35] On 11/12 April 2016, two U.S. airstrikes on Al-Shabaab targets in the town of Kismayo killed about a dozen suspected militants who posed an "imminent threat" to U.S. troops in the country.[36][37]
As of May 2016, roughly 50 U.S. special operations troops operate at undisclosed locations across southern Somalia, with their headquarters at the airport in Mogadishu; advising and assisting Somali andAMISOM Kenyan and Ugandan forces in their fight against Al-Shabaab. The same month, U.S. personnel helped those forces plan an operation against illegal checkpoints.[38] On 13 May, a U.S. strike targeted nine al-Shabab militants, three of them were allegedly killed.[39] Then theDepartment of Defense conducted an airstrike that killed a senior Al-Shabaab leader in Somalia on 27 May (announced 1 June 2016).[40] On 3 August 2016, a contingent of elite American troops acting as military advisers assisted Somali commandos in an assault on an al-Shabaab checkpoint inSaakow. As the force approached the checkpoint, the militants opened fire, and 3 militants were killed.[41] On 26 September a small team of U.S. and Somali troops, who were conducting an operation near Kismayo, were attacked with small-arms fire. A bomb-manufacturing network linked to al-Shabaab was reportedly the initiator, reported theMilitary Times on 29 September 2016. The Department of Defense "conducted a self-defense strike to neutralize the threat and in doing so killed nine enemy fighters." Also on 28 September, near the town ofGalkayo, a Somali army unit reportedly came under fire from al-Shabab militants. The Somali soldiers engaged them, then broke contact and rejoined with their nearby American advisers and soon afterwards the militants "began to maneuver in an offensive manner" so the U.S. conducted a self-defense airstrike, killing 4 militants.[42]
Piracy off the coast of Somalia presented a hazard to all shipping in the Gulf of Aden and down the coast of East Africa. It began to escalate after the2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami which heavily impacted livelihoods along the coast of southern Somalia.[48]
CJTF-HOA is primarily an air and land task force. It did not control naval actions against piracy, which fell underU.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT). TheCombined Maritime Forces, under the direction of NAVCENT, directedCombined Task Force 150, andCombined Task Force 151. Pakistan joined CTF 150.
TheEuropean Union Military Staff directed the EU anti-piracyOperation Atalanta. NATO later ranOperation Ocean Shield.
Independent anti-piracy operations were conducted off the coast of Somalia by other countries such as China and Russia.
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