Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga asked the United States and the European Union for financial and military help to combat the radical al Shabab rebels in Somalia.

The battle to wipe out al Shabab is already an international effort. Kenyan and Ethiopian soldiers have been pushing the rebels eastward, while Somali and African Union forces, most of them from Uganda and Burundi, cleared al Shabab out of Mogadishu in August and some key rebel strongholds to the south of the capital in recent months.

The next and final onslaught, according to Odinga, is the port city of Kismayo. The Kenyan prime minister expects his troops to be in the southern city, which is less than 150 miles from the Kenyan border, by August, but said he needs money and troops for an operation by land, sea and air, the BBC reported.

Washington, which put a $33 million bounty on the heads of six al Shabab commanders last week, said on Sunday that it will continue to provide assistance to the African Union Mission in Somalia, of which Kenya is a part, but did not elaborate.

European union Somalia Uganda Somalia