17 Nov 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- Government assures public on safety in its fight against al Shabaab (Source: Radio Bar-kulan)
- ‘We will consult Aid agencies to relocate IDPs’ Interior Minister (Source: Shabelle)
- Kenyan forces set up bases in strategic southern Somali town (Source: Radio Shabelle Kulmiye Risala)
- TFG forces claim to have killed dozens of al Shabaab fighters in Gedo fighting (Source: Shabelle Radio Mogadishu)
- Video – Kenya defense forces ready to advance to Kismayu (Source: NTV)
- Regional leaders seek to step up war on Somalia rebels(Source: Reuters)
- Ethiopia Kenya to discuss sending troops to Somalia (Source: AFP News24)
- Kenya: We are not planning to seize the port of Kismayo (Source: Mareeg Online)
- Tension prevails as Somalia-Ethiopia show of force continues in Hiiran region (Source: Radio Bar-kulan)
- African Union to join Kenya in fighting Shabaab (Source: Daily Nation)
- Fake Somalia passports IDs found at port (Source: The Standard)
- Meeting in support of peace efforts in Somalia held in Addis Ababa (Source: Ethiopian News Agency)
SOMALI MEDIA
Government assures public on safety in its fight against al Shabaab
17 Nov – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 102 words
The government will prioritise public safety once the offensive against al Shabaab resumes, officials say. The Deputy Prime Minister who is also the defence minister, Hussein Arab Isse, said the government is working on plans to avert civilian casualties during their operations adding that government will only target rebel bases to avoid civilian casualties.
‘We will consult Aid agencies to relocate IDPs’ Interior Minister
17 Nov – Source: Shabelle – 186 words
The Minister of Interior Affairs and National Security, Abdisamad Mo’lin Mohamud, said on Thursday that he will consult with international aid agencies on the possible relocation of IDPs in Mogadishu.
The minister said, in an exclusive interview with Shabelle Media Network, that the ministry is putting together a plan on how to relocate IDPs in the capital back to their homes. “With the help of aid agencies and UN relief organisations, my government is committed to helping IDPs in Mogadishu resettle back to their homes” said the Minister.
http://www.shabelle.net/
TFG distributes food aid donated by Saudi Arabia
17 Nov – Source: Radio Mogadishu, Somalia Report – 49 words
The TFG Refugee Committee has distributed aid donated by Saudi Arabia to displaced families in Karaan district, Banadir region. The food aid composed of rice, milk and dates were distributed to hundreds of families in need while police forces were providing security. The families thanked the Saudi and TFG governments.
Kenyan forces set up bases in strategic southern Somali town
16 Nov – Source: Radio Shabelle, Kulmiye, Risala – 187 words
Reports say that Kenyan forces have set up military bases in some parts of Lower Jubba region, south western Somalia. Contingents of the Kenyan army stationed in Doblai District and Taabto locality are reported to have moved and set up new bases in some more towns in Lower Jubba Region. The Kenyan troops with armoured vehicles have established bases in Qoqani District and its outskirts. The troops then conducted military movements in the area, as confirmed to Radio Shabelle by local residents.
TFG forces claim to have killed dozens of al Shabaab fighters in Gedo fighting
17 Nov – Source: Shabelle, Radio Mogadishu – 146 words
Officials of the interim government of Somalia in southern region of Gedo, on Thursday said that they have killed more than twenty al Shabaab fighters in the town of Elwaq. Isma’il Sheik Abdi, a TFG official in Gedo, confirmed during an interview with Shabelle Media Network, that they have inflicted heavy and irretrievable losses on the insurgent fighters.
Mr. Abdi, noted that the fighting was very fierce and took place a village about 10km away from the town of Elwaq. “During the battle, we captured four of al Shabaab fighters with their weapons while others ran away from battlefield,” Mr. Abdi, said.
http://www.shabelle.net/
Somali IDPs protest over poor living conditions
16 Nov – Source: Radio Shabelle – 149 words
Thousands of displaced families are protesting over the poor living conditions at their camps in Hodon district in Mogadishu. The IDPs complained about lack of food, medicine and clean water.
Crowds of IDPs, among them children and women who participated in a demonstration held in parts of Mogadishu on Wednesday, demanded for help from international aid agencies and the Somali government. “We left our houses because of the drought. We live in Hodon district and we have no clean water and food” some protesters told to the media in Mogadishu.
TFG soldiers paid for first time since July
16 Nov – Source: Somalia Report – 84 words
Government forces have today received their salaries after four months without pay, according to TFG officials. Each Mogadishu-based soldier who waited in line and confirmed their identity received $200 for August and September, but is still owed their October salary while TFG soldiers based in regions outside the capital did not get paid.
This comes after TFG President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed told the soldiers that the government will not tax anyone until al Shabaab insurgents have been removed the country.
Kenya: We are not planning to seize the port of Kismayo
17 Nov – Source: Mareeg Online – 90 words
The Deputy Chairman of the Kenyan parliament, Farah Mo’allin on Thursday said that the Kenyan government was not planning to seize Kismayo port in Lower Jubba, southern Somalia.
In interview with a local F.M stations in Mogadishu, the deputy chairman said that the Kenyan government did not intend to capture the port of Kismayo in southern Somalia. Farah said that Kenyan military operation inside Somalia only targets the Al-Qaeda linked group of Shabaab and added that no one could harm could harm Somali sovereignty.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Puntland issues final warning to Somali TV stations to end operations
16 Nov – Source: Puntland Post Online – 322 words
Puntland’s Ministry of Information has issued a final warning to employees of two Somali television stations operating in the region who were previously banned following accusations that the stations aired reports that were a threat to security in the region. Puntland’s Ministry of Information, Telecommunication, Culture and Heritage issued the following statement.
Officials of the administration have held a meeting in which they debated issues pertaining to the media and particularly the implementation of the order in which the administration banned Universal TV and Somali Channel TV. (…)
Despite the administration order on 1st November banning these two Somali television channels from operating in Puntland, it is been discovered that they continue to operate secretly. In addition to that, employees of these stations have been making unfounded accusations against the administration as well as inciting the residents and insulting Puntland officials. (…)
It has been acknowledged that there are enough free and independent media organizations ranging from television stations to radios and newspapers as well as websites in Puntland Region and that the two stations of Universal TV and Somali Channel should at once cease their operations and end the provocation by failing to comply with official orders and continuing to operate secretly.
Tension prevails as Somalia-Ethiopia show of force continues in Hiiran region
17 Nov – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 130 words
Tension is reportedly high in Beledweyne town, Hiiran Region, after Ethiopian and Somali troops conducted a joint military exercise in Kalabeyr, just 22 km north of Beledweyne town.
As the TFG-Ethiopia show of force continues in the area, rebel fighters abandoned their bases in Beledweyne in fear of attacks, according to locals. Residents told Bar-kulan that Ethiopian troops who crossed the border recently are engaging military exercise with the Somali forces in the area.
Other reports say the Ethiopian troops are training the Somali troops who are preparing a full scale war on al Shabaab in their bid to take rebel held positions in the region. The joint Somali-Ethiopia military exercise in the area heightened trepidations among rebel fighters and started retreating from their bases in the area regional headquarter, Beledweyne.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Video – Kenya defence forces ready to advance to Kismayu
16 Nov – Source: NTV – 3:05
And as the Somali President, Sheikh Shariff Sheikh Ahmed was finally backing the military operation, on the frontline; Kenyan forces are getting ready to advance to Kismayu with Kenyan fighter jets sighted in South Somalia. But on land, ground troops are finding out that it takes more than superior weapons to win the war on Al Shabaab. NTV’s Yassin Juma reports from Ras Kamboni.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
African Union to join Kenya in fighting Shabaab
16 Nov – Source: Daily Nation – 350 words
Kenya and the African Union are to combine their forces in the campaign against al Shabaab in a major strategic shift which could change the face of the Somalia war. The operation will bring together African Union forces operating around Mogadishu, Kenya Defence Forces and Transitional Federal Government forces to fight the militant group throughout Somalia.
An agreement reached by Presidents Kibaki, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and Somalia’s Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed will see Ugandan and Burundi-led AU forces backed by soldiers from Kenya.
Operations against the group will now be coordinated more closely between the two groups as more forces are expected from Djibouti, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. This would more than double the current number of AU troops operating in Somalia from 9,000 to 20,000. Most of these will be deployed to areas where KDF and AMISOM forces have defeated al Shabaab.
Presidents talk tough
16 Nov – Source: The Standard – 1069 words
Heads of State of Kenya, Somalia and Uganda have closed ranks over the need to stabilise the war-torn nation and build on recent military gains against al Shabaab. As part of a new agreement, Kenyan troops will join the AMISOM force operating in Mogadishu, alongside Ugandan and Burundian soldiers. The force is under-strength, with just 9,300 troops, well shy of the optimum 12,000 the African Union recommended.
The goal is to help the heavily pressed AMISOM force retain control of the 98 per cent of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu that it recently recaptured from the insurgents, and allow the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to extend its control beyond the capital. President Kibaki’s office said in a statement that the meeting had “welcomed Kenya’s willingness to deploy troops to AMISOM”.
The statement did not say if Kenyan troops already inside southern Somalia would be included in the force, or whether the contribution would consist of a separate batch of troops. About 3,000 members of the Kenya Defence Forces are said to be active in the battle against Al Shabaab.
Other sources indicated to The Standard that President Museveni was central to piecing together the deal and bringing Somalia’s TFG President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed on board, one month after the TFG leader condemned the Kenyan-led ‘Operation Linda Nchi’ against al Shabaab.
Soon after he made the comments, Kenya voiced its protest and Ahmed flew to Uganda for talks with Museveni, while his Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohammed arrived in Nairobi to cool tempers and declare his government’s support for the operation on condition that KDF works with its soldiers.
Museveni, Kibaki and Ahmed announced the deal on the day the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) marked 30 days since they began their offensive against al Shabaab insurgents.
http://www.standardmedia.co.
Video – Al Shabaab recruiting Kenyan youths to fight
15 Nov – Source: Al Jazeera – 2:24 min
Al Jazeera has spoken to the parents of Kenyan youth recruited by the Islamist group al Shabaab to fight in Somalia. Nobody is sure how many Kenyans al Shabaab have recruited, many coming from slums in the capital Nairobi.
But people who have been watching the process believe it runs into the hundreds, with only a handful of them are from ethnic Somali communities.
The vast majority of the recruits are from other tribes across Kenya, and that makes it much harder for the authorities to spot.
Kenya’s military has been battling the fighters inside Somalia, and now the families of the youths recruited by al Shabaab say they fear retaliation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Fake Somalia passports, IDs found at port
17 Nov – Source: The Standard – 339 words
Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) officials have recovered assorted fake passports and identification cards meant for the Somalia Republic.
The KRA officials were conducting routine checks at Consol base Limited in Mombasa when they came across the documents hidden away in one of the containers.
According to Mr Benson Chacha, a KRA manager, the 40ft container was from the United Arab Emirates and had been imported by a company called Machine Technology.
“We found goods that had not been declared upon entry. These included identity cards and passports meant for Somali republic and finger print machines,” said Chacha. “The fake passports and IDs were hidden between boxes of computers and CCTV cameras to make it difficult to find them in a search,” he added.
He said the container would remain under their custody while they conducted investigation to establish the purpose of the items.
The quantity of the consignment was yet to be established as police from the anti-terror unit and KRA officials were still sifting through the material.
http://www.standardmedia.co.
Video – Displaced children in Somalia find solace
16 Nov – Source: Al Arabia – 2:05 min
Famine and war continue to afflict Somalia resulting in the displacement of thousands of children. In the camps of Mogadishu, displaced children have been provided with counselling and psychological support in a bid to help them overcome stress caused by the trauma they have endured.
Children currently live in temporary shelters with limited resources of food, water and sanitation. The camps provide a source of solace for the children who have escaped famine, drought and conflict while some have watched family members die.
Hundreds of thousands of families have been forced out of their homes into Somalia’s besieged capital Mogadishu and other areas due to the drought and ongoing violence across the war-torn country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Two Arab countries oppose action on pirates
16 Nov – Source: The Star – 348 words
Two Arab countries yesterday opposed the naval blockade of the Indian Ocean against Somali pirates. Speaking at the 11th meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim states in Bangalore, India, Oman and Yemen said the international community should instead address the root cause of piracy. “Piracy will not be deterred by grey ships of navies,” said Talib Miran Zaman Al Raisi, the chief of economic affairs of Oman. “It is better handled by coast guards which need to be strengthened.” Raisi said the most effective way was to restore an effective government in Somalia.
Last month, Kenya sent troops to neighbouring Somalia to defeat al Shabaab which is linked to al Qaeda. Kenya blames the militants for a spate of abductions on its side of the border. The group has been fighting Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, preventing the establishment of an effective administration.
The Omani official said Somalis had long complained that some fishermen had been put out of work by overfishing, dumping of toxic waste in their waters and international waters adjacent to Somalia as well as the collapse of their economy. “We should not just look at piracy as terrorism. Somalis are hungry because their resources were taken,” Yemen’s minister for Foreign Affairs Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi told the Bangalore meeting. “We need to have a more comprehensive approach. Navy ships in the region have not resolved the issue; they have complicated it,” he added.
http://www.the-star.co.ke/
Meeting in support of peace efforts in Somalia held in Addis Ababa
16 Nov – Source: Ethiopian News Agency – 230 words
A meeting in support of the peace efforts in Somalia was held here on Monday, the African Union (AU) said. In a statement sent to ENA on Tuesday, AU said the meeting was convened against the backdrop of the recent political, security and humanitarian developments in Somalia and the need to take advantage of these developments to consolidate security across the country, the statement noted.
Sustaining efforts to enhance implementation of the political Roadmap was also purpose of the meeting, the statement said.
Various stakeholders and interested countries including defence ministers and chiefs, AMISOM, staffs of the Somalia Transitional Federal Government, Ethiopia and Uganda, among others, took part in the meeting, which exchanged views and agreed on the practical steps to be taken to further the promotion of peace and reconciliation in Somalia.
The meeting called on the international community to enhance its support to AMISOM, especially through the provision of the much needed force enablers to enhance the operational effectiveness of the force, it said.
The meeting also held a consultative forum with the African members of the UN Security Council to interact with them on the situation in Somalia and the best way forward, it noted.
Steps were agreed to pursue the cooperative endeavour in Somalia, building on the positive developments so far achieved, and to develop a comprehensive approach that targets terrorists and pirates, the statement noted.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Regional leaders seek to step up war on Somalia rebels
17 Nov – Source: Reuters – 238 words
The leaders of Kenya, Uganda and Somalia agreed to intensify efforts to defeat Islamist fighters in Somalia on Wednesday, at their first meeting since Kenya sent in troops to crush the militants.
The Nairobi meeting followed fresh night-time mortar attacks on the Somali capital Mogadishu by al Shabaab insurgents, highlighting the challenges President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed faces in restoring stability.
Kenya deployed hundreds of soldiers across its porous frontier five weeks ago, blaming al Shabaab for a wave of kidnappings on Kenyan soil.
In the last week, senior Kenyan government ministers have shuttled around the region and travelled to the Gulf to drum up political and financial support for a coordinated campaign to rout the al Qaeda-linked rebels.
“The meeting emphasized the need for enhancing coordination between AMISOM, TFG forces and Kenya Defence forces in order to successfully defeat al Shabaab,” said Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula, who briefed reporters after the leaders’ meeting.
Kenya, the region’s biggest economy, said it had offered to add to the more than 9,000 Ugandan and Burundian peacekeepers who are propping up the shaky Western-backed Somali government. It did not specify how many.
The Somali government now controls virtually the entire capital for the first time since the overthrow of dictator Siad Barre in 1991 allowed first warlords, then Islamist militants, to step into the political vacuum.
http://af.reuters.com/article/
Ethiopia, Kenya to discuss sending troops to Somalia
17 Nov – Source: AFP, News24 – 343 words
Ethiopia and Kenya are expected to discuss sending troops into Somalia Thursday at an African Union Peace and Security Council meeting on the war-torn Horn of Africa state, a spokeswoman said.
Kenya announced Wednesday it wanted to commit troops to the AU Mission for Somalia (AMISOM), one month after it sent its army across the border to fight Islamist Shabaab insurgents.
“We will see, they’re invited to discuss,” Nissa Roguiai said about whether Kenya’s troop offer would be covered in the meeting. Roguiai said members would also address a possible commitment of troops by Ethiopia to Somalia.
“It’s only discussions, no consultations will be made, we’re waiting for a commitment,” she told AFP before the meeting. If Ethiopia does commit troops, it is not clear whether they would be deployed under the auspices of AMISOM or the regional body, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
Ethiopia previously invaded Somalia in 2006 with US blessing, but pulled out in 2009 after sparking a bloody uprising and guerrilla attacks.
Kenya’s ambassador to Ethiopia Monica Juma, would not comment on her country’s troop offer as she arrived at the meeting. “I have not been in there yet,” she said as she entered the chamber.
http://www.news24.com/Africa/
Aid dwindles, disease spreads
17 Nov – Source: Inter Press Service News – 748 words
Doctors in Mogadishu are warning that famine victims in internally displaced camps have become vulnerable to contagious diseases like cholera and measles, as conditions here are ripe for an outbreak. This comes as internally displaced persons complain that relief aid to some camps has dwindled or stopped.
The leader of a group of Somali volunteer doctors aiding the famine victims living in camps outside of Mogadishu, Dr. Abdi Ibrahim Ahmed, told IPS that sanitation in the camps was of concern and that many did not have access to clean drinking water.
“Conditions in the camps are very ripe for killer diseases. Doctors are ready to contribute their time, knowledge and energy, but we call on the Somali government to take our warnings seriously,” Ahmed told IPS.
He said people at IDP camps have contracted various diseases including upper and lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria and meningitis.
Ahmed said that standby medical units need to be established in the camps, adding that improved sanitation was needed to help prevent the spread of disease.
“If torrential rains fall and there are no mobile teams operating at the camps, I am afraid that contagious diseases will kill many,” the doctor told IPS.
While international aid continues to be delivered to Somalia, relief efforts at some camps have dwindled or stopped.
The Sigale camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu holds more than 3,000 people, according to the camp chairman Mohamed Hassan Sheik Abdi. However, they have not received relief aid since early August.
“We received our last food assistance from Qatar in the early days of Ramadan. Since then no one has come to us. We only heard on the radio that assistance from the international community is coming daily and that food distribution is continuing at some IDP camps,” Abdi told IPS.
He said that every morning mothers and fathers from the camp go to the city where they beg for food and charity. “They return with what they get in the evening and feed their children who don’t eat all day,” he added. The living conditions here are deteriorating rapidly.
While the United Nations Children’s Fund built a few toilets in Sigale and other IDP camps, they are not sufficient to meet the needs of the increasing population of these camps. While adults form long queues to use the few toilets at Sigale, children opt to defecate outside.
Also, there is a severe lack of water and women are forced to walk vast distances to find water. It is no wonder that the drinking water is contaminated and has led to a number of watery diarrhoea cases, now one of the main causes of death at the camps.
According to Abdi, 10 persons, mostly children under the age of five, died from watery diarrhoea, whooping cough and diphtheria at Sigale since late September.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?
Somalis tortured German ship hostages
16 Nov – Source: AP – 579 words
A band of pirates tortured the crew of a German tanker off the coast of Somalia to extract a higher ransom payment and to find information about the ship’s fuel reserves, according to a federal court filing.
The revelation appears in a filing by the government explaining why it believes piracy charges against Mohammad Saaili Shibin should not be dismissed. Prosecutors say Shibin is the highest-ranking pirate the U.S. has ever captured and that he acted as a land-based negotiator who also researched victims’ online to determine their worth and secure hefty ransoms. Shibin’s attorney contends the piracy charge should be dismissed because he didn’t commit robbery at sea.
Shibin has been charged with a litany of crimes, including hostage taking, for his roles in the May 2010 hijacking of the Marida Marguerite as well as the February hijacking of the yacht Quest, where all four Americans on board were killed.
In a filing Tuesday, prosecutors said the piracy charge should stick because the robbery of the Marida Marguerite continued after it was taken to Somalia, where the ship and its mostly Indian crew were held until January. A piracy conviction carries a mandatory life sentence in the U.S.
“Indeed, the pirates’ desire to locate all the fuel onboard the ship to appropriate for their own purposes was so great that they resorted to torturing the crew members of the Marida Marguerite in order to extract information regarding fuel and water reserves, as well as communication capabilities,” prosecutors wrote.
The filing goes on to say that the torture was used by Shibin and others to attempt to extract a higher ransom payment from the ship’s owners. A message left with Shibin attorney James Broccoletti’s office Wednesday was not immediately returned.
Kenyan troops kill 12 al Shabaab fighters in south Somalia
17 Nov – Source: Xinhua – 270 words
Kenyan soldiers who crossed into Somalia last month to pursue Al-Shabaab fighters blamed for a series of abductions on the east African nation’s soil on Wednesday killed 12 insurgents near Busar in the south of the nation, military spokesman said. Kenyan Military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir also denied the insurgents’ claims that three of the Kenyans soldiers were killed in the attacks.
“I can confirm that no Kenyan soldier has been captured by Al- Shabaab,” Chirchir told Xinhua on Thursday by telephone.
He said the dual military operation involving the Kenya Defence Forces and the Transitional Federal Governmental of Somalia soldiers on Wednesday engaged the militia in their camp at Busar area, exchanged fire and 12 Al-Shabaab fighters were killed.
“Be assured that all Kenyan troops are in good spirit and steadfast to mission at hand,” Chirchir said as three East African leaders who met in Nairobi on Wednesday said the fight against Al- Shabaab militants presents a “historic opportunity” to restore peace and stability in Somalia.
Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni, and Somalia’s Sheikh Sharif Ahmed met in Nairobi Wednesday and expressed confident the Kenyan and Somali military action against the insurgents could end 20 years of lawlessness in Somalia.
The leaders called for regional solidarity to bring to an end the state of lawlessness that has prevailed in Somalia over the last two decades.
The leaders, who met at State House Nairobi, also reviewed the political and security developments in Somalia and observed that the protracted conflict had generated numerous problems including terrorism, organized crime, influx of illegal arms, the refugee crisis and internally displaced persons in Somalia.
U.S. denies assisting Kenyan forces against Shabaab
16 Nov – Source: Defence News – 316 words
The Pentagon said Shabaab militants in Somalia being targeted by Kenyan troops are getting what they “deserve” but insisted the U.S. military was not assisting Kenya’s campaign against the al-Qaeda-linked rebels. “I’m not going to get into what other countries are doing or not doing but al-Shabaab is a very serious terrorist threat and particularly in the region,” press secretary George Little told reporters Nov. 16.
“And pressure that’s brought to bear against them is something they deserve,” he said. Since Kenyan forces moved into southern Somalia to go after Shabaab militants a month ago, U.S. officials have adopted a reserved stance in public comments on the incursion – although Washington has long portrayed the Islamist Shabaab extremists as a dangerous threat.
Despite speculation about Western assistance to Kenya, Pentagon spokesman Capt. John Kirby said the American military was providing no help to the Kenyan forces. “We’ve been certainly monitoring their (Kenyan) military operations in southern Somalia,” Kirby said. “We haven’t taken a view or expressed an opinion about that but we’re certainly monitoring that.
“And we’re not providing any aid or assistance to that effort,” he told the same news conference. Kenya’s U.N. envoy on Nov. 15 sought to promote American support for his country’s offensive during a visit to Washington, saying the United States and other countries should do their part to counter the militants.
“We would love to see the international community, with the U.S. right up there, engaging in Somalia in ways in which they have not for quite a long time,” Ambassador Macharia Kamau told AFP in an interview.
Kamau also said the United States should consider imposing a naval blockade on the rebel-held Somali port of Kismayo to choke off the rebels’ supply lines, a move Washington has been reluctant to support.
A series of kidnappings of foreigners on Kenyan soil and incursions by Shabaab, who control much of southern Somalia, triggered Kenya’s unprecedented offensive.