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Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:08, 14 January 2007

Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa
Part of the War on Terrorism
File:040609-djibouti2.jpg U.S. soldiers and French special forces personnel conduct a reconnaissance patrol
Date October 2002 - present Location Horn of Africa and Gulf of Aden Result Operation ongoing
Belligerents
NATO and allies, represented by: Belgium Canada France Germany Italy Spain United States United Kingdom Australia New Zealand Pakistan  Ethiopia	al-Qaeda File:Somalia Islamic Courts Flag.svg Islamic Courts Union
Casualties and losses
U.S.: 15 non-combat fatalities Ethiopian army, Somali TFG, Somali ARPCT: 600 killed	2,000+ killed

Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) is a unit of United States Central Command. It is partially a component of the United States response to the September 11, 2001 attacks. CJTF-HOA focuses its efforts to disrupt and detect terrorist activities in the region and to work with host nations to deny the reemergence of terrorist cells and activities.

Background

The Horn of Africa had been a known hotbed for terrorist activities, with the twin bombings that took place in 1998. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States became concerned that Al-Qaeda members may attempt to set up bases in the Horn of Africa due to their other base of operations, Afghanistan, being targeted. Operation Enduring Freedom defined a specific theater of activities in the Horn of Africa, and the CJTF-HOA was created to meet the mission's objectives.

Operations

In October 2002, the Combined Joint Task Force, Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) was established in DjiboutiatCamp Le Monier and contains approximately 2,000 personnel including U.S. military and Special Operations Forces (SOF) and coalition force members, Coalition Task Force 150 (CTF-150), including French special forces. The coalition force members consist of ships from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Pakistan, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom. The primary goal of the coalition forces is to monitor, inspect, board and stop suspected shipments from entering the Horn of Africa region and areas of Operation Iraqi Freedom.^{[citation needed]} CTF-150 has been under British, German and French command. ^[1]

CJTF-HOA has devoted the majority of its efforts to train selected armed forces units of the countries of Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency tactics. Humanitarian efforts conducted by CJTF-HOA include rebuilding of schools and medical clinics as well as providing medical services to those countries who forces are being trained. The program expands as part of the Trans-Saharan Counter Terrorism Initiative as CJTF personnel also assist in training the forces of Chad, Niger, Mauritania and Mali. {{citation}}: Empty citation (help)

Elements of the United States Fifth Fleet are also part of the operation for anti-piracy operations.

Denial of Operations in Somaliland

OnMay 6, 2005, US Marines were reported landing in Somaliland, the autonomous and self-declared independent northern area of Somalia. The landings were purportedly to carry out a search and questioning of locals regarding the whereabouts of terrorist suspects. US military officials denied the allegations and said operations were not being conducted in Somaliland.^[2]

Escalating Tensions in Somalia

OnJanuary 21, 2006, the guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) captured a vessel operating off the Somali coast whose crew were suspected of piracy.^[3]

OnJuly 1, 2006, a Web-posted message purportedly written by Osama bin Laden urged Somalis to build an Islamic state in the country and warned western states that his al Qaeda network would fight against them if they intervened there.^[4]

OnJuly 11, 2006, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) took control of the Somali capital Mogadishu, and by the beginning of December had firm control of most of the south of Somalia.

InNovember, 2006, a US Marine detachment was in Garissa town, in Kenya's North East Province, adjoining Somalia. Officially, the Marines were an engineering detachment conducting a humanitarian mission of drilling bore holes in conjunction with the Kenya military to support flood relief.^[5] However, local suspicions alleged the Marines were performing a reconnaissance mission close to the Somali border.^{[6] [7]}

OnNovember 26, 2006, the US Embassy in Kenya issued a travel alert to US citizens regarding travel to Kenya or Ethiopia after letters allegedly written by the Somalian leader of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, encouraged suicide terrorist attacks on US citizens in those two countries.^[8]

War in Somalia

OnDecember 14, 2006, the US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer warned al Qaeda cell operatives were controlling the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), the Islamist faction of Somalia rapidly taking control of the southern area of the country.^[9] The next day, ICU Information Secretary Abdirahim Ali Mudey denied the allegation as baseless.^[10] Frazer later announced that the United States has no intention of committing troops to Somalia to root out al Qaeda.^[11]

OnDecember 27, 2006, the New York Times reported analysts in Nairobi, Kenya claimed US surveillance aircraft were funneling information to Ethiopian forces. Maj. Kelley Thibodeau said she was "not at liberty to discuss" the matter.^[12]

Somali Prime Minister Gedi declared one of the key objectives of the offensive on Kismayo was the capture of three alleged Al-Qaeda members, suspects wanted for the 1998 United States embassy bombings in East Africa: Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and Abu Taha al-Sudani.

The United States Fifth Fleet's maritime task force (Combined Task Force 150^[13]) based out of Djibouti, is patrolling off the Somali coast to prevent terrorists launching an "attack or to transport personnel, weapons or other material," said Commander Kevin Aandahl.^[14] The announcement did not say what particular ships comprised the cordon, but the task force includes vessels from Canada, France, Germany, Pakistan, the UK and the US. US ships of Combined Task Force 150 include the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Ramage (DDG-61) and the Ticonderoga-class cruiserUSS Bunker Hill (CG-52).^[15] The aim of the patrols shifted on January 2, 2007, according to diplomats, to "... stop SICC leaders or foreign militant supporters escaping" ^[16]

OnJanuary 2, 2006, US Marines operating out of Lamu, Kenya, were said to be assisting Kenyan forces patrolling the border with Somalia with the interception of Islamists.^[17]

OnJanuary 8 it was reported that an AC-130 gunship belonging to the United States military had attacked suspected Al-Qaeda operatives in Southern Somalia. It was also reported that the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower had been moved into striking distance.^[18] The aircraft flew out of its base in Djibouti. 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 of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as they headed south from Mogadishu starting on December 28.^[19] It was said that the leader of Al Qaeda in East Africa, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, was killed in the attack, but later it would be confirmed that he survived and also that none of the Al Qaeda operatives were killed. The only one's that were killed were at least 8 militants of the ICU and at least 2 civilians.

OnJanuary 9 it was reported U.S. special forces and CIA operatives are working with Ethiopian troops on the ground in operations inside Somalia from a base in Galkayo, in Puntland, and from Camp Le Monier, Djibouti.^{[20] [21]}OnJanuary 12, a small team of US forces investigated the site of the US gunship attack to search for information about the identity and fate of the targeted individuals.^[22]

External links

• CJTF-HOA Official Site
• Global Security
• Pilot Online

Notes