The Danab Brigade: Somalia’s special ops force
In 2013, Somalia’s federal government wanted to create a counterterrorism combat force to take on Islamist militants al-shabaab, which seeks to overthrow the government. After negotiations with the US, an elite special forces unit was created in 2014: the Danab Brigade.
The unit, which has developed a reputation as Somalia’s most professional fighting force, was and is almost entirely funded by the US. According to a US Department of Defence official, its initial design was as per suggestions from US officials.
US funding for Danab was routed through the State Department, and used to employ Bancroft Global Development, a private military contractor that set up Danab and continues to train and advise the unit. Bancroft personnel are not necessarily American — many are South African, British and European — and so are not bound by the same combat rules as the US military.
Although US funding for Bancroft has continued, this has been supplemented by funding and support from the US military directly to Danab, partly under the 127e programme, a budgetary authority that allows US
Special Operations to use local military units as surrogates in counterterrorism missions.
According to former Danab leaders, this direct funding gives the force the flexibility to adapt more quickly. US Special Forces operators have also provided on-the-ground training to Danab soldiers and accompany Danab fighters on missions in an “advise and assist” capacity.
In at least one such mission, on July 12 near the village of Shanta Baraako, US soldiers were present when two civilians were allegedly killed by Danab soldiers. A US Africa Command spokesperson said at the time US soldiers were not involved in any “direct action of any kind”.
Danab is headquartered in Baledagole, a Soviet-built airport 100 kilometres north of Mogadishu. It was reconstituted as a US military base in 2012, and is host to one of the largest concentrations of US defence personnel in Africa, behind Djibouti and Niger. Danab itself has a contingent in excess of 800 troops.
Two civilians who live near Baledagole, who requested their names be withheld, said since 2012, the base has been getting “bigger and bigger”, and the construction on the base — including a $12-million runway refurbishment — has led to more employment opportunities for locals.
When asked if Danab or American forces ever disturbed the surrounding areas, one civilian said “absolutely no”, adding that Danab do not ask for bribes, operate checkpoints or disturb farming activities. If anything, he said, it would be nice if Danab and the US used their influence to stop clan fighting in the area.
The Danab Brigade began to take shape in 2015, according to Paul Williams, a professor at George Washington University, who has researched its operations. By 2017, it had become an example of what a professional combat unit could look like: well armed and trained, with troops from diverse backgrounds, recruited on merit and paid on time.
Although Danab has proved effective at forcing al-shabaab militants out of their strongholds, the force is not designed to then hold these positions. “The Somali National Army isn’t trained to hold, so Danab can capture but there isn’t a transitional army to keep the city,” said Abdirizak Mohamed, a Somali MP, and security minister from 2015 to 2017.
In March, US Africa Command’s deputy director of operations Miguel Castellanos said he expected the US to support Danab until at least 2027, and to increase the force to 3000.
With additional reporting in Gaborone by Joel Konopo of the INK Centre for Investigative Journalism, and editing by Simon Allison. This investigation has been edited for length. The full version will be published next week on the M&G’S website.