Somalia: Voices from the Front
By Colonel (Retired) JM Owuoth
Reviewed by John Paschal Wanyama
Jaywanyama22@gmail.com

Somalia: Voices from the Front, by a retired senior military officer, is a tribute to the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) for its huge contribution in helping to restore law and order and establish a government in neighbouring war-ravaged Somalia.

The powerful setting for this book is the KDF campaign in Somalia alongside the story of the top Kenyan combatant and his team. Colonel (Retired) Joseph Mulowa Owuoth begins his interesting account with the start of the Kenyan mission in Somalia.

Kenya, tired of the incessant provocation and continued terrorist attacks by Al-Shabaab, has decided to take the fight to them right on their territory.

The story of the KDF troops crossing of the border in a gallant effort that led to the setting up of its base in the southern Somalia town of Dhobley is well told. When he was appointed the head of the mission, he was flown there by helicopter pilot Lt-Col Jonah Mwingi.

As a professional soldier, Col (Rtd) Owuoth also gives amazing insights into the training of military personnel at the then legendary Armed Forces Training College (AFTC) in Nakuru. Surprisingly, he does not mention the name Lanet, which was for many years synonymous in the minds of many Kenyans with this military training base.

This book is also a fascinating autobiography. It is a good analysis of the issues at hand in this geopolitical venture that was a significant part of the efforts to restore Somalia back to the community of civilised nations. He draws from his experience, psychology and military background and his own deep spirituality.

The media, as Col (Rtd) Owuoth writes in the Preface, had been constantly accusing the government of laxity in securing the citizens and the country. “A political decision was made and the Kenya Defence Forces marched into Somalia, invoking Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.”

On the morning of 14 October 2011, the KDF crossed into Somalia, commencing its first full-scale military engagement in the territory of a neighbouring country since Independence in 1963. It was named “Operation Linda Nchi.”

The book covers the period between 2011 and 2014, delving into the experiences of the Kenyan soldiers, the impact of the war and their return back home.

The writer, though focusing on the Somalia campaign, takes the reader through the organisation of the Kenyan military, especially the recruitment and training of soldiers. Col (Rtd) Owuoth joined in 1986 as a cadet, having started out a teacher.

This man, who would become an instructor at the School of Infantry, later trained at the War College in the United Kingdom and was deployed on several assignments abroad, including the United Nations peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone. He also served as a defence attaché abroad. At the age of 44, he was promoted to Major.

The retired colonel is a good storyteller, with interesting anecdotes on his own recruitment and military training and later his tenure as the head of the KDF mission in Somalia. He vividly recalls his encounter with a veteran soldier he found at the AFTC, but who later worked under him in Dhobley, Somalia.

Col (Rtd) Owuoth has a good command of the English language, which he perhaps perfected during his stint as a defence attaché and deep research skills that enrich this account and ease the understanding of the perennial Somali conflict.

Life on the war front is always challenging, and for the Kenyans in Somalia, with the increasingly grave threats from terror group Al-Shabaab, but the spirits of the gallant soldiers remained admirably high most of the time.

In his flashbacks, the author gives a fascinating glimpse into military training and its core philosophy, which is mean and tough, because the job is precisely that. There is also some humour despite the anxiety and suspense of the volatile war situation.

One of the strengths of this book is in its rich account that delves into the origins of the deadly conflict that has brought Somalia to where it is today, a country ravaged by religious fundamentalism and clan rivalries.

A country that started out at independence in 1960 as quite promising saw its disintegration begin with the overthrow of President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. Now often referred to as the “country that God forgot,” it is home to the Somalis, who are the indigenous inhabitants of the Horn of Africa region, dating back to at least 7,000 years.

The veteran soldier’s book is a treasure trove of information on military organisation, especially training and operations, including intelligence and logistics.

Somalis are a proud people, who, during the colonial days under the Italians and the British, were treated as somewhat superior to other Africans. But Siad Barre’s overthrow threw everything into disarray, with Somalia becoming a stateless country. It then descended into anarchy with clan-based conflicts.

In 2012, the international community resolved to help put together and support a government by the Somalis to lead the campaign for the restoration of law and order in their own country.

Col (Rtd) Owuoth brings some excellent background to the developments in Somalia after Siad Barre’s ouster that have resulted in the people migrating in large numbers to refugee camps in northern Kenya. Others would emigrate to Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Emirates and the Nordic countries in large numbers.

But the total collapse of the government meant the destruction of the country’s education system, and with the large numbers of idle children in many families, Jihadist groups like Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda and Taliban have found a huge recruitment ground.

They easily take advantage of the illiterate and ignorant youth, who are easily brainwashed in the name of fighting for Islam against the kuffars (plural of kafir), Arabic for non-believers. These young people are the ones who end up becoming suicide bombers.

Harakat al-Shabaab al Mujahideen or simply Al-Shabaab (the youth) has been a key factor behind the increasing radicalisation of youth through Islam and incorporating Somali nationalism.

A really moving side story is the death of Col (Rtd) Owuoth’s adopted son, Ngumbau Kaingu, 27, whom he helped to recruit into the KDF. The young man, who had been brought up in a children’s home, who was introduced to him by a Catholic priest, and thus didn’t know his biological parents, would later literally become part of the retired colonel’s family.

Ironically, after he returned from Somalia, his son was deployed there and was severely injured in an EID explosion and flown back to the Armed Forces Memorial Hospital in Nairobi, where he died after days in the ICU, with his adopted father visiting for a vigil to monitor him on life support.

Another side story of Col (Rtd) Owuoth and other soldiers who have served in Somalia is coping with the after-the-battle, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is about having to deal with the shame and horror that comes to haunt a retired soldier for a lifetime.

Quite gripping is the fight that the retired colonel got involved in after someone asked him in a bar if he killed anyone while in Somalia. He just punched the fellow and his friends joined in and overpowered the veteran soldier, but he had sharply conveyed his strong message.

Having witnessed the deaths of friends, the enemy and some non-combatants, anger, guilt and shame and boredom often drive the veterans into heavy drinking to serve as an escape mechanism. He sums up the experience as anger at himself, anger at Somalia, anger at Al-Shabaab, anger at the military, and anger at life.

Since his tour of duty in Somalia as the formation commander of the Kenyan forces ended, he was promoted twice, did a course at War College in the United Kingdom and served for three years as a defence attaché. He also served as KDF Spokesman. Col (Rtd) Owuoth retired at the age of 58, after serving in the military for 30 years.

He says the biggest fear was a return to the civilian world and the village after being used to a life of commands. But to slay the ghosts of the Somalia theatre, he had to undergo counselling and some weird Luo traditional counselling that involved him walking around stark naked at night.

Today, Col (Rtd) Owuoth is the director of a security firm and a counselling psychologist.

Somalia: Voices from the Front is his second book, published in 2024 shortly after the release of his first, titled Solja!, which is the diary of a private security guard.

jmowuoth@yahoo.co.uk and writerspen1@gmail.com