NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Five years after Ethiopia invaded Somalia, with U.S. backing, Kenya has sent its troops and tanks into its lawless neighbor with a similar objective: setting up a border buffer zone to block Somalia's jihadists.

The Kenyans no doubt had the blessings of the U.S. administration of President Barack Obama as well, for helping the Pentagon fight global terror is the name of the game.

But so is securing the emerging energy boom in West and East Africa, along with other minerals in what is becoming a strategic contest between the United States and China, widely seen as the Americans' paramount rival in the years ahead.