Operation Linda Nchi (; "Protect the Country") had the Kenya Defence Forces enter southern Somalia beginning in 2011. The Kenyan government declared the operation completed in March 2012, but its forces then joined AMISOM in Somalia.
Academic observers and the International Crisis Group said the operation was a Kenyan intervention. Ostensibly the Kenyan government aimed to create a buffer zone between Al-Shabaab and instability in southern Somalia, and the Kenyan homeland. However, at a deeper level, the Kenyans desired "to be seen as a reliable partner in the U.S.-led ‘global war on terrorism’, there were institutional interests within the KDF, and key political elites within the Kenyan government, notably Minister for Internal Security George Saitoti, the Defence Minister Yusuf Haji and several senior security chiefs, advocated for intervention to advance their own economic and political interests."
Lead up and planning
Kenya's incursion into southern Somalia started after the 13 October kidnapping of two Spanish women who were working for Médecins Sans Frontières at the Dadaab refugee camp. The abductions were allegedly carried out by Al Shabaab militants. Médecins Sans Frontières issued a press statement at the time disassociating itself from any armed activities and related declarations launched following the abduction. The Kenyan government claimed its troop deployment had received approval from the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG). Kenya's Foreign Affairs Minister, Moses Wetangula, stated that the deployment of Kenyan troops was at the request of the TFG. The Kenyan military said that there was no set exit date for the operation, but the indicator of the mission's success would be a crippling of Al-Shabaab's capacity.
According to The Guardian, "several sources agree[...] that the Kenyan intervention plan was discussed and decided in 2010, then finalised with input from western partners, including the US and to a lesser extent France", with Nairobi using the kidnappings "as an excuse to launch an operation ready and waiting."
A 2010 cable detailing a meeting between the TFG and the United States government (USG) stated that "Sharif offered a qualified "yes" when asked if he supported the [Government of Kenya's (GOK)] Lower Juba initiative" and that he "told the GOK that the TFG did not want to see Somalia further divided[...] The GOK had reassured the TFG that it also did not want to see Somalia divided and that it intended to use the troops now being trained in Kenya for a national not a regional mission." The cable also suggested that "[Ahmed's] qualified willingness to support the long-incubated Kenyan Lower Juba initiative at this meeting was at variance with the skepticism he had expressed to Somalia Unit in Nairobi about two weeks ago", where Sharif "suggested that the troops in training at Isiolo did not have broad-based clan representation and speculated that it might be better to bring them to Mogadishu and integrate them into existing TFG security forces. He also in that meeting seemed more skeptical of the GOK's ability to manage a cross-border offensive." In addition, the cable stated that "Sharif predicted that efforts to reform TFG security forces in Mogadishu, TFG outreach to ASWJ, and troops trained by Kenya and Ethiopia would coalesce into a comprehensive effort to push Al-Shabaab out of south central Somalia."
On 16 October 2011, Reuters reported that Somali and Kenyan military officials had met over the weekend in the town of Dhobley, in Somalia, on the Kenya border. According to an unidentified security source, "the meeting was to prepare a joint operation between the two forces ... to launch an offensive against Al-Shabaab rebels who are scattered in different parts of southern Somalia".
The same day, an unnamed Somali military commander said that Kenyan troops had crossed the border and, in a joint operation with Somali forces, pushed Al Shabaab out of two bases near the Kenya border. Abdi Yusuf, a senior Somali military commander, confirmed that two warplanes had attacked Al Shabaab bases, but did not confirm their origin. He noted: "I can't identify the military aircraft, but our neighbour Kenya is fully supporting us militarily and our mission is to drive Al-Shabaab out of the region". Somalia's ambassador to Kenya, Mohamed Ali Nur, responded "We cannot condone any country crossing our border." TFG spokesman Abdirahman Omar Yarisow later contradicted Nur, asserting that "the governments of Somalia and Kenya are now cooperating in the fight against Al-Shabaab."