Operation_Enduring_Freedom_-_Horn_of_Africa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa Part of the War on Terrorism • • • • • • • [3] Casualties and losses United States: 22 non-combat fatalities Somalia 3 fatalities French naval commandos and United States soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Regiment participate in an exercise in Djibouti. Date Location Result 7 October 2002 – present Horn of Africa and Gulf of Aden Ongoing Russia Ukraine China[1] Iran [2] Singapore South Korea North Korea ~23 insurgents killed 11 pirates killed 53 pirates captured Belligerents NATO represented by: • • • • • • • • • • Belgium Canada Denmark France Germany Italy Netherlands Spain al-Qaeda Islamic Courts Union Somalia Pirates Turkey United Kingdom • United States Non-NATO allies: • Australia • • • • • Djibouti Ethiopia New Zealand Pakistan Somalia Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa (OEF-HOA) is the name of the military operation defined by the United States for combating terrorism in the Horn of Africa.[1] It is one component of the overall mission of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and is not the exclusive OEF operation on the continent of Africa. The other OEF mission in Africa is known as Operation Enduring Freedom - Trans Sahara (OEF-TS), which has, until the creation of the new Africa Command, been run out of European Command.[1] The Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) is the primary (but not sole) military component assigned to accomplish the objectives of the mission. The naval component is the multinational Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) which operates under the direction of the United States Fifth Fleet. Both of these organizations have been historically part of United States Central Command. In February 2007, United States President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the United States Africa Command which took over all of the area of operations of CJTF-HOA in October 2008.[2][3] Operations 1 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa Interception of Missiles from North Korea 3 June 2007 On 3 June 2007 the USS Carter Hall, a landing ship dock engaged pirates attacking a freighter, but failed to repel them. 28 October 2007 On 28 October 2007 the USS troyer opened fire on pirates tured a freighter and with blockaded a port the pirates take refuge in. Porter, a deswho had capother vessels attempted to Escalating tensions in Somalia So San Assault. On December 9, 2002 Spanish SPS Navarra (F85) intercepted the unflagged freighter So San several hundred miles southeast of Yemen at the request of the United States government. The frigate fired across the So San’s bow after the freighter ignored hails and attempted to evade the frigate. The freighter’s crew was North Korean; 23 containers containing 15 complete Scud ballistic missiles, 15 high-explosive warheads, and 23 nitric acid containers were found on board. Yemen claimed ownership of the shipment and protested the interception and U.S. officials released the vessel after receiving assurances that the missiles would not be transferred to a third party. [4] [5] On 1 July 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 alQaeda network would fight against them if they intervened there.[5] On 11 July 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. In November, 2006, a United States Marine detachment was in the town of Garissa in Kenya’s North Eastern 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.[6] However, locals speculated that the Marines were performing a reconnaissance mission close to the Somali border.[7][8] On 26 November 2006, the U.S. Embassy in Kenya issued a travel alert to U.S. 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.[9] Anti-piracy operations Pirates are rampant along the coast of Somalia and present a hazard to all shipping there, as such anti piracy operations are a routine part of Operation Enduring Freedom: Horn of Africa. 21 January 2006 On 21 January 2006, the USS Winston S. Churchill, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, captured a vessel operating off the Somali coast whose crew were suspected of piracy.[4] War in Somalia On 14 December 2006, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer warned that al-Qaeda cell operatives were controlling the Islamic Courts Union, the Islamist faction of Somalia rapidly taking control of the southern area of the country.[10] The next day, ICU Information Secretary Abdirahim Ali Mudey denied the allegation as baseless.[11] Frazer later announced that the United States has no intention of committing troops to Somalia to root out al-Qaeda.[12] 18 March 2006 On 18 March 2006 the USS Cape St. George, a Ticonderoga-class cruiser and the USS Gonzalez, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, engaged pirate vessels after receiving fire from them. 2 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa On 27 December 2006, The New York Times reported analysts in Nairobi, Kenya claimed U.S. surveillance aircraft were funneling information to Ethiopian forces. Major Kelley Thibode, a spokeswoman for the task force of American military personnel based in Djibouti, said she was "not at liberty to discuss" the matter.[13] Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Ghedi 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. At the time, the United States Fifth Fleet’s maritime task force (Combined Task Force 150[14]) based out of Bahrain, was patrolling off the Somali coast to prevent terrorists launching an "attack or to transport personnel, weapons or other material," said Commander Kevin Aandahl.[15] The announcement did not say what particular ships comprised the cordon, but the task force includes vessels from Canada, France, Germany, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the U.S. American ships of Combined Task Force 150 include the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Ramage and the Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Bunker Hill.[16] The aim of the patrols shifted on 2 January 2007, according to diplomats, to "… stop SICC leaders or foreign militant supporters escaping".[17] On 2 January 2006, U.S. Marines operating out of Lamu, Kenya, were said to be assisting Kenyan forces patrolling the border with Somalia with the interception of Islamists.[18] On 8 January it was reported that an AC-130 gunship belonging to the United States military had attacked suspected alQaeda operatives in southern Somalia. It was also reported that the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower had been moved into striking distance.[19] 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 28 December.[20] 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 8 militants of the ICU and at least 2 civilians were killed. On 9 January it was reported U.S. special forces and CIA operatives were working with Ethiopian troops on the ground in operations inside Somalia from a base in Galkayo, in Puntland, and from Camp Lemonier, Djibouti.[21] [22] 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.[23] On 17 January 2007, the Assistant Deputy Secretary of Defense for African affairs, Theresa Whelan, clarifed 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 be Aden Hashi Farah Ayro, who was believed wounded or possibly dead, while eight members of his group were killed in the attack.[24] Likewise, many airstrikes which resulted in civilian casualties around Afmadow conducted by Ethiopian aircraft were mis-attributed to the United States. On 21 January the capture of U.S. troops was reported by the ICU’s Qaadisiya.com site,[25] as well as the death of one due to malaria, but this assertion was denied as "utterly bogus" by Michael Ranneberger, U.S. Envoy to Kenya and Somalia.[26] 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.[27] On 1 February 2007, the captured ICU leader Sharif Ahmed was released from Kenyan police authorities.[28] He also was reported to have met with Michael Ranneberger allegedly to arrange for the release of the captured U.S. troops.[29] By 8 February, Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed had gone to Yemen where other ICU members are also thought to have gone.[30] On that day, reports in the Yememi Arabic newspaper Al-nedaa stated Sharif Ahmed’s release was the first conditional step to arrange the release of varying reports of 11 or 15 United States Marines allegedly captured during fighting in southern Somalia at the Battle of Ras Kamboni. Four Marines were also alleged to have been wounded in the fighting.[31][32] However, while these stories of captured American soldiers were prevalent in Somali media, they received little or no attention in the Western media. United States involvement in the conflict continued through 2008 with airstrikes targeting suspected Al Qaeda affiliated militants 3 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa including a strike of dubious success conducted on 2 March 2008 where at least one US naval vessel launched cruise missiles against an Al Qaeda target in a strike on the village of Dobley and a succeseful strike on Dhusamareb which killed several militant leaders. Alleged operations in Somaliland On 6 May 2005, a United States Marine Corps unit reportedly landed in Somaliland, the autonomous and self-declared state in northern Somalia. The landings were purportedly conducted to carry out searches, as well as to question locals regarding the whereabouts of terrorist suspects. United States military officials denied the allegations and said operations were not being conducted in Somaliland.[33] War in Somalia (2009–present) Main Article: War in Somalia (2009–) References [1] ^ "EUCOM: Operations and Initiatives". United States European Command. http://www.eucom.mil/english/ Operations/main.asp. Retrieved on 2007-02-06. [2] "DoD Establishing U.S. Africa Command". United States Department of Defense. 2007-02-06. http://www.defenselink.mil/News/ NewsArticle.aspx?id=2940. Retrieved on 2007-02-06. [3] "Africans Fear Hidden U.S. Agenda in New Approach to Africom". Associated Press. 2008-09-30. http://www.foxnews.com/story/ 0,2933,430564,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-30. [4] "Suspected Pirates Captured Off Somali Coast". United States Central Command. 2007-01-22. http://www.centcom.mil/ sites/uscentcom2/Lists/ Current%20Press%20Releases/ DispForm.aspx?ID=2596. Retrieved on 2007-11-03. [5] "Bin Laden releases Web message on Iraq, Somalia". USA Today. 2007-07-01. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/ 2006-07-01-bin-laden-plans- message_x.htm. Retrieved on 2007-11-03. [6] Hart, Brett (2007-12-05). "CJTF-HOA to Support Kenyan Government Flood Relief Operations". Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa. http://www.hoa.centcom.mil/Stories/ Dec06/20061205-001.html. Retrieved on 2007-11-03. [7] Suspicion As U.S. Marines Hit Town The East African Standard [8] Marines Mission Shrouded in Mystery The East African Standard [9] Why U.S. Imposed Travel Curb The Nation [10] U.S. says al Qaeda behind Somali Islamists Reuters [11] Islamic Courts Deny Al-Qaeda Operatives In Country Shabelle Media Network [12] US Does Not Plan to Send Troops Against Al-Qaida in Somalia U.S. State Department [13] Islamists in Somalia Retreat From Ethiopia-Backed Forces New York Times [14] "Navy tries to block fleeing jihadists from Somalia". Air Force Times, Staff and wire reports. 2007-01-03. http://www.airforcetimes.com/ story.php?f=1-292925-2458956.php. Retrieved on 2007-01-04. [15] "Thousands Flee Somalia Fighting". Associated Press. 2006-12-31. http://www.wbbm780.com/pages/ 157834.php?contentType=4&contentId=268733. Retrieved on 2007-01-04. [16] "Ramage, Bunker Hill keeping an eye on Somalia". MarineTimes.com. 2007-01-04. http://www.marinetimes.com/ story.php?f=1-292925-2461109.php. Retrieved on 2007-01-04. [17] "Ethiopian troops to stay in Somalia weeks". Reuters. 2 January 2007. http://today.reuters.com/news/ articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2007-0 SOMALIACONFLICT.xml&pageNumber=0&imageid=&cap=& C1-ArticlePage4. [18] Kibaki meets Somalia president as tension at border persists The Standard [19] "U.S. targets al Qaeda suspects in Somalia, Pentagon official says". CNN. 2007-01-08. http://www.cnn.com/2007/ WORLD/africa/01/08/somalia.strike/ index.html. Retrieved on 2007-01-08. [20] "Reports say U.S. targeted al Qaeda suspects in Somalia". 2007-01-09. 4 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Operation Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/ [27] "Military Official Reports Second US Air articlenews.aspx?storyid=2007-01-09T010418Z_01_N08416210_RTRUKOC_0_UKStrike in Somalia". Voice of America. SOMALIA-QAEDA2007-01-24. http://voanews.com/english/ REPORT.xml&type=worldNews&WTmodLoc=World2007-01-24-voa67.cfm. Retrieved on C3-More-6. Retrieved on 2007-01-09. 2007-02-06. [21] "U.S. Special Forces Engaged in [28] "Somali Islamist leader out of Kenyan Operations on the Ground in Somalia". custody". Reuters. 2007-02-01. ABC NEWS. 2007-01-09. http://www.hiiraan.com/news2/2007/feb/ http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/ somali_islamist_leader_out_of_kenyan_custody.aspx. 2007/01/us_special_forc.html. Retrieved Retrieved on 2007-02-01. on 2007-01-09. [29] "US diplomat bids the release of 11 US [22] "America’s Boots on the Ground in soldiers seized in Somalia". Shabelle Somalia". Pajamas Media. 2007-01-09. Media Network. 2007-02-01. http://politicscentral.com/2007/01/09/ http://www.shabelle.net/news/ americas_boots_on_the_ground_i.php. ne2220.htm. Retrieved on 2007-01-12]]. [30] "Somali Islamist travels to Yemen". BBC. [23] "U.S. troops seek airstrike dead in 2007-02-08. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ Somalia". United Press International. africa/6342527.stm. Retrieved on 2007-01-12. http://www.dailyindia.com/ 2007-02-08. show/102623.php/US-troops-seek[31] "Somalia: The story of US captives in airstrike-dead-in-Somalia. Retrieved on Somalia gains weight". 207-02-08. 2007-01-12. http://somalinet.com/news/world/ [24] "U.S. raid may have hit top Somali Somalia/7367. Retrieved on 2007-02-09. militant: Pentagon". Reuters. [32] "The Release of 15 US soldiers in 2006-01-17. southern Somalia underway--Yemen http://www.alaskareport.com/ paper". Shabelle Media Network. reu77361.htm. Retrieved on 2006-01-17. 2007-02-08. http://www.shabelle.net/ [25] qaadisiya.com news/ne2273.htm. Retrieved on [26] "U.S. has ground troops in southern 2007-02-09. Somalia: Journalist". Garowe Online. [33] "US denies Somali terror landing". BBC 2007-01-21. News. 2007-05-06. http://news.bbc.co.uk/ http://www.garoweonline.com/stories/ 2/hi/africa/4517971.stm. Retrieved on publish/article_7183.shtml. Retrieved on 2007-11-03. 2007-02-29. Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Enduring_Freedom_-_Horn_of_Africa" Categories: 2006 War in Somalia, Anti-terrorism policy of the United States, Military operations involving the United States, War on Terrorism, Horn of Africa This page was last modified on 23 May 2009, at 20:00 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers 5