Note: This is not a verbal attack on the KDF and I will not entertain
comments in that vein.
The very tragic events at El Adde (Somalia) surrounding the recent fall
of the Kenyan Defence Force (KDF) base to Al Shabaab’s ‘Saleh
al Nabhan Battalion’—al Qaeda’s East African affiliate—is a good example of how many things that are
wrong with African armies came together in a perfect storm.
The video produced by the enemy is equally disturbing as it illustrates
the unpreparedness of the KDF.
The video can be viewed
here, but a warning: It contains graphic scenes that may be disturbing to
some: https://www.funker530.com/brutal-al-shabaab-raid-wipes-entire-kenyan-army-unit/
Regretfully, African
governments and their armies continue to ignore the warning signs that result
in an inability to prepare and defend against the coming storm…it is not a
matter of ‘if’ but of ‘when’ the storm will make landfall and increase the
damage to their countries and their credibility.
Africa is both today
and tomorrow’s battlefield and it is being shaped today through a series of
secret or shadow wars, proxy forces, covert actions, diplomatic and economic pressures,
and domestic and regional terrorism. Added to this is a failure of governance that
many African states exhibit and that has given rise to populism—a movement that
is increasingly turning to violence and armed actions.
More worrying though,
our armed forces are failing to keep pace with the ever-increasing speed of
conflict and war. The pace at which technology has enabled information,
intelligence, instructions, and disinformation to be transmitted via cell
phones, social media and radio messages, has dramatically increased the pace
and tempo of operations. It has also increased and underlined the requirement for
in-depth intelligence operations to distinguish between fact, fiction and
deception.
Filming these attacks, and
highlighting many KDF failures, merely adds to the enemy’s propaganda efforts,
and motivates and inspires potential recruits, when indeed, it ought to be the
other way around.
Armies need to realise
that we need to think quick, act and react with agility and speed—or die. If
quick thinking and agility is discarded, our armies may as well call it a day.
Instead, we try to
stick to what we think we know—ill-equipped, unbalanced World War 2
organisations totally unsuited to cope with the demands and fluid actions on
the modern African battlefield. This has
resulted in poorly planned and uncoordinated operations, a lack of balanced
forces, a lack of operational sustainability, a lack of momentum and great
sluggishness when tasked to move rapidly—to name but a few.
These outdated
approaches are then taught to African armies by trainers that have no or very
little experience of the continent and indeed, seldom if ever, understand the
enemy. Oftentimes, a different agenda is at play and the conflict is encouraged
to continue as long as possible.
All too often, people
want to point fingers at how bad their armies are, and the politicians are
quick to blame them for a lack of battlefield success. But, the reality is that
soldiers can only do what they are trained and equipped to do—and if they have
the leadership they require supported with political and military will.
To fulfil their
missions, African armies need to do a
very serious doctrinal rethink, reorganize themselves to be agile, have mobility
and firepower, ensure they have clear and unambiguous missions and mandates,
and ensure the leadership group know how to lead—from the front.
The attack on El Adde ought
to serve as a dire warning of what can happen to any armed force if we do not
get our act together, sooner rather than later. Our armies need to be correctly
trained, equipped, and postured, and not taught rubbish that is irrelevant.
We need to start
thinking very seriously before it is too late.
Note: For those interested
in the developing situation in Kenya, more can be found by visiting Andrew
Franklin’s Facebook pages at
https://www.facebook.com/andrew.franklin.5076?pnref=friends.search
