- US President Joe Biden has authorised the deployment of 500 ground troops to Somalia
- The order reverses President Trump’s order to withdraw 700 ground forces from Somalia
- It revives an American counter-terrorism operation in the Horn of Africa
- The troops will focus on decimating the Islamic militant group Al-Shabab which the US designated a terrorist organisation in 2008
- Al-Shabab formalised ties with Al Qaeda in 2012
- US Africa Command chief Gen. Stephen Townsend calls Al-Shabab the “largest, wealthiest, and most lethally active arm of al Qaeda”
- The group is seeking to topple the new government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud who ironically is accused of being soft on Al-Shabab
- US attention focussed on Somalia after 18 US soldiers were killed in an operation in 1993
- Attacks on US personnel by Al-Shabab have continued
- In 2020, the group attacked a Kenyan military base killing three US personnel stationed there
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