Sending U.S. Troops to Somalia Evokes Memories of "Black Hawk Down"
U.S. military officials told the Voice of America (VOA) overseas radio broadcast that “dozens” of American soldiers have been deployed to Mogadishu to train and equip Somali and AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) forces fighting the linked al-Shabab militant group in Somalia. Al-Shabab, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by Australia, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States, pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2012.
“United States Africa Command will conduct various security cooperation and/or security force assistance events in Somalia in order to assist our allies and partners,” U.S. Africa Command spokesman Pat Barnes told VOA on April 14.
A “few dozen” troops from the 101st Airborne Division in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, arrived in Mogadishu on April 2 at the request of the Somali government, the U.S. military official told VOA.