# Kenya Launches Operation Linda Nchi (2011)

URL: https://allhistories.com/somalia/timeline/2011-kenya-launches-operation-linda-nchi
Location: Lower Juba, Somalia
Themes: battle

Kenya had long feared instability along its border with Somalia, where it hosted hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees at Dadaab and supported local militias in Jubaland as a buffer. In September and October 2011 kidnappings of foreign tourists on the Kenyan coast near Lamu and of aid workers from Dadaab, blamed on Somali gunmen, provided the trigger for action. On 16 October 2011 the Kenya Defence Forces launched Operation Linda Nchi ("Protect the Country"), sending troops, armour and aircraft into the Juba regions in coordination with the Transitional Federal Government and the Ras Kamboni militia of Ahmed Madobe. Heavy rains slowed the advance, but Kenyan forces gradually captured towns such as Ras Kamboni, Afmadow and Badhaadhe. In 2012 the Kenyan contingent was formally integrated into AMISOM, and in September 2012 it took part in the capture of Kismayo. The intervention made Kenya a central actor in Jubaland's politics, but it also prompted al-Shabaab's deadly retaliatory attacks inside Kenya, including at Westgate in 2013 and Garissa in 2015. It was Kenya's first major cross-border military operation since independence in 1963, and it was backed by strong public support at home after the kidnappings had threatened the country's tourist industry. At this point in the timeline (16 October 2011), the President of the Transitional Federal Government was Sharif Sheikh Ahmed (31 January 2009 – 20 August 2012); the President of Somaliland was Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo (27 July 2010 – 13 December 2017). Government: the Prime Minister of Somalia was Abdiweli Mohamed Ali (19 June 2011 – 17 October 2012).

## Why it matters
Operation Linda Nchi opened a southern front against al-Shabaab and made Kenya a major player in Somali affairs.

Ruler at the Time: [Sharif Sheikh Ahmed](https://allhistories.com/somalia/rulers/sharif-sheikh-ahmed)

President of Somaliland: Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo (Kulmiye)
Prime Minister of Somalia: Abdiweli Mohamed Ali (Independent)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Operation Linda Nchi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Linda_Nchi)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Kenya Somalia 2011](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Kenya+Somalia+2011)
- [BBC News — Somalia profile: timeline](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14094632)
- [International Crisis Group — Somalia](https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/somalia)
- [Wikipedia — The Federal Era And Al-Shabaab (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Government_of_Somalia)