So where have we got 20 days into Kenya’s military action against Al-Shabaab in Somalia? How goes ‘Operation Linda Nchi’? The Kenya Forum has spoken to a ‘former special forces officer’ based in Nairobi to seek his assessment of progress to date and more importantly, what should happen next.

When Kenyan troops crossed the border into Somalia the Kenya Forum gave its qualified support to the move (‘Operation Linda Nchi: Kenya goes to war in Somalia): ‘qualified’ in so much that the serious business of going to war, like marriage, should not be entered into ‘lightly’ but ‘reverently and responsibly’.

The Forum argued that in order to protect Kenya’s border security, its citizens (and those who visit our country), and in order to secure regional stability, the military campaign was justified.

We counselled, however, that no one should be under any illusi