Setting the Conditions for Victory?

On 15 October 2011 Kenyan armed forces crossed into Somalia following a series of kidnappings of foreigners in Kenya, allegedly by members of the Somali Islamist organization Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (Mujahideen Youth Movement). However, it soon became apparent that Kenya's first-ever foreign military venture had broader aims of securing a region that had long presented a security challenge to the Kenyan state. ¹ Since Kenya gained independence in 1963, a separatist insurgency, civil war in Somalia, a large refugee population, arms smuggling, banditry and international counter-terrorism operations have made the northeastern provinces that border Somalia some of the country's most volatile areas. Western governments have responded to the international threat that this frontier region is thought to pose with various strategies to mitigate violent extremism, counter terrorism and promote stability and good governance.