Battle of Kismayo | |||||||
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Part of the War in Somalia | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Fighters loyal to Al-Shabaab and the Islamic Courts Union [1] | Marehan pro-government militias | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Unknown | Barre Adan Shire Hiiraale | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
At least 89 killed [2] |
The Battle of Kismayo began on August 20, 2008 when Ogaden clan fighters took the battle to Ethiopian forces in Kismayo and their protectorate clan, the Marehan clan. Fighters began an offensive to conquer the Southern Somali port of Kismayo from pro-government militias. Three days of fighting reportedly killed 89 people and injured 207 more. The Ogaden clan led by Ahmed Madoobe took the town, at the expense of the Marehan clan who were up to that point kept in the city by the Ethiopian army. After the retreat of the Ethiopian army, the Marehan militia led by Barre Hiiraale were seen fleeing the city in all directions before eventually succumbing to Ras Kaambooni on August 22. [1] [3]
Al-Shabab, fighting as part of the Islamic Courts Union, was driven out of Kismayo in January 2007 after Ethiopian forces rolled into Somalia to back the interim government in the fight to take control of much of central and southern Somalia. [3] According to Interim Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf, Kismayo was subsequently not under the Ethiopian-backed transitional government's control, and there were no Ethiopian forces in the area at the time of the battle; clan militias in Kismayo claimed to be part of the government, however. [4] In the months prior to the battle, Kismayo was considered peaceful in comparison to Mogadishu, the capital. [5]
Marehan clan militias, led by warlord-turned-parliamentarian Barre Hiiraale, suffered heavy losses, and Hirale's personal car was reportedly seized by Islamist fighters. [1] According to witnesses, August 22 saw the most intense fighting, with both sides using a lot of heavy guns including anti-aircraft guns. [2]
The fighting in Kismayo is reported to have displaced an estimated 35,000 people. After the withdrawal of Hiiraale's fighters, Al-Shabaab commenced a peaceful disarmament process targeting local armed groups that had been contributing to insecurity in Kismayo. [6] In early September a night-time curfew was imposed. [7]
A new district administration was established on 6 September 2008. Its members reportedly represented the ICU and Al-Shabaab (three members each) plus a local clan (one member) which had played a part in the military assault. [8] The legitimacy of the administration was later disputed, however, as the ICU and elders from local clans alleged that Al-Shabaab had not consulted them adequately. [9]
On 28 September 2012, Kenya Army troops and Raskamboni movement militia re-captured the city from the Al-Shabaab insurgents during the Battle of Kismayo (2012). [10] [11] This was a culmination to the Kenyan Operation Linda Nchi attack into Somalia which had begun late the year before.
Kismayo is a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia. It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region.
Barre Adan Shire, also known as Barre Hiiraale, Barre "Hirale" Aden Shire, or Abdikadir Adan Shire, is a former Minister of Defense of the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG). He was previously the TFG Minister for National Reconstruction and Resettlement. Hiiraale was also the chairman of the now defunct Juba Valley Alliance, which controlled Southern and Southwestern Somalia, including the nation's third-largest city, the strategic port town of Kismayo. During his time in office, Hiiraale presided over the country's largest autonomous area, as well as commanding an extensive militia.
The Ethiopian occupation of Somalia, also called the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia or the Ethiopian intervention in the Somali Civil War, was an armed conflict in Somalia that lasted from 2006 to 2009. It began when military forces from Ethiopia, supported by the United States, invaded Somalia to depose the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and install the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). The conflict continued after the invasion when an anti-Ethiopian insurgency emerged and rapidly escalated. During 2007 and 2008, the insurgency recaptured the majority of territory lost by the ICU. At the start of 2009 Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia, but became re-involved several years later to counter the growing strength of Al-Shabaab.
The 2006 Islamic Courts Union offensive is the period in the Somali Civil War that began in May 2006 with the Islamic Courts Union's (ICU) conquest of Mogadishu from the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) and continued with further ICU expansion in the country. Following the outbreak of the war on December 21, 2006; by December 24, direct Ethiopian intervention in the conflict in support of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) was no longer denied by the Ethiopian government. The Eritrean government denied any involvement despite Ethiopian claims to the contrary.
The Battle of Beledweyne occurred on December 24 to December 25, 2006, when Ethiopian troops seized that Somalian town from Islamic Courts Union fighters, according to some news agencies. Beledweyne is 100 km north of Baidoa, the seat of Transitional Federal Government of Somalia.
The Battle of Bandiradley in Somalia began on December 23, 2006, when Galmudug and Ethiopian forces, along with faction leader Abdi Qeybdid, fought Islamic Courts Union (ICU) militants defending Bandiradley. The fighting pushed the Islamists out of Bandiradley and over the border south into Adado district, Galgadud region, by December 25.
The fall of Mogadishu occurred on December 28, 2006, when the militaries of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Ethiopian troops entered the Somali capital unopposed. It came after a swift string of TFG and Ethiopian military victories against the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which had its headquarters in Mogadishu before it fled south.
The Juba Valley Alliance is a political faction of the Somali Civil War. It was the primary opponent of the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM) and the Somali Reconciliation and Restoration Council (SRRC) vying for the control of Kismayo and the Juba River valley, the area known as Jubaland.
The fall of Kismayo occurred on January 1, 2007, when the troops of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and Ethiopian forces entered the Somali city of Kismayo unopposed. It came after the Islamic Courts Union's forces faltered and fled in the Battle of Jilib, abandoning their final stronghold.
Sheikh Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki was a Somali Islamist leader of al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI) and later of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU).
Yusuf Mohammed Siad Indhacade, aka "Inda'ade" was a Somali and former Minister. In 2011 he was a General in the Somali National Army. He hails from the Ayr sub-clan, part of the Habar Gidir, which is a branch of the Hawiye clan. For a short period he was Somali Minister of Defence (Somalia).
The timeline of events in the War in Somalia during 2006 is set out below.
The timeline of events in the War in Somalia during 2007 is set out below.
The 2009 timeline of events in the Somalia War (2006–2009) during January 2009 is set out below. From the beginning of February the timeline of events in the Somali Civil War (2009–present) is set out following the conclusion of the previous phase of the civil war.
The Somali Civil War (2009–present) is the ongoing phase of the Somali Civil War which is concentrated in southern and central Somalia. It began in late January 2009 with the present conflict mainly between the forces of the Federal Government of Somalia assisted by African Union peacekeeping troops and al-Qaeda aligned al-Shabaab militants.
A series of battles in Hiraan, Shabeellaha Dhexe and Galgudug, between rebels of al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam and Somali government forces and ICU militants loyal to the government, erupted during spring 2009. The fighting led to al-Shabaab capturing major government strongholds and Ethiopian forces re-entering Somalia and setting up bases in Hiraan. There was a halt in fighting during a government offensive in Mogadishu, which started on May 22.
Ahmed Abdi Godane, also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubair, was the Emir (leader) of Al-Shabaab, an Islamist group based in Somalia. Godane, who received training and fought in Afghanistan, was designated by the United States as a terrorist. The exact date of Godane's rise to al-Shabaab's Emir is debated, although it seems he ascended to this position in December 2007.
This is a 2012 timeline of events in the Somali Civil War (2009–present).
The Battle of Kismayo was an offensive led by the Kenya Defence Forces, under the codename Operation Sledge Hammer, to seize the port city of Kismayo, Somalia, from Al-Shabaab from 28 September 2012. Fighting alongside the Kenya Army were Raskamboni movement militia and the Somali Army.
Jubaland, the Juba Valley or Azania, is a Federal Member State in southern Somalia. Its eastern border lies 40–60 km (25–35 mi) east of the Jubba River, stretching from Gedo to the Indian Ocean, while its western side flanks the North Eastern Province in Kenya, which was carved out of Jubaland during the colonial period.