An all-out offensive against the Al-Shabaab Islamic resistance movement based in Somalia is currently underway in the southern region of this Horn of Africa nation. A combined force of U.S. Predator drones and French naval vessels is targeting four towns in the southern region so that Kenyan military forces on the ground can seize Kismayo, a port city under the control of Al-Shabaab. The city is a major source of trade and serves as the economic lifeline for the resistance movement, which has been labeled by the U.S. as a terrorist organization allied with al-Qaida.

These developments in Somalia are taking place within the context of greater U.S. and NATO military intervention in Africa. In addition to their Libya mission, where the U.S. Africom military command conducted its first major operation on the continent, the U.S. imperialists have recently admitted to dispatching 100 military advisers and Special Forces commandos into four states in Central and East Africa.