ABSTRACT
On September 10, 2011, armed men killed a British man, David Tebbutt, and kidnapped his wife, Judith, from a beach resort in northern Kenya near the border with Somalia. Ethiopian forces captured the central Somali town of Beledweyne from al-Shabaab. The kidnapping of European citizens in Kenyan territory had given the perfect excuse to Nairobi to launch a military incursion that had been in the making. In October 2011, the Kenyans sensed an opportunity to deliver a knockout blow against al-Shabaab, which had already been driven from most of the Somali capital of Mogadishu. In the battle for Kismayo, Kenyan generals had been plotting full control of the strategic town of Afmadow, a regional capital, advancing on Burgavo and later into Kismayo. Kenya began its operation into Somalia. They called it Linda Nchi, which means "protect the country" in the local language, Swahili.
