Al-Shabaab

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Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (HSM) (Arabic: حركة الشباب المجاهدين‎; Ḥarakat ash-Shabāb al-Mujāhidīn, "Mujahideen Youth Movement" or "Movement of Striving Youth"), more commonly known as al-Shabaab (Arabic: الشباب‎, "The Youth" or "The Boys"), is a militant Islamist group. As of 2011, the outfit controls large swathes of the southern parts of Somalia,where it is said to have imposed its own strict form of Sharia law. Al-Shabaab's troop strength as of May 2011 is estimated at 14,426 militants.

Foreign intervention, specifically the December 2006 Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, had a profound effect on al-Shabaab’s rise. Al-Shabaab was the militant wing of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts that took over most of southern Somalia in the second half of 2006. They were the only military force willing to resist the Ethiopians following the collapse of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), due to the invasion al-Shabaab was able to recruit thousands of nationalist volunteers by playing on deep-seated Somali antipathy toward Ethiopia. Al- Shabaab – a clan based insurgent and terrorist group- has continued its violent insurgency in southern and central Somalia. The group has exerted temporary and at times sustained control over strategic locations in southern and central Somalia by recruiting, at times forcibly, regional sub-clans and their militias, using guerilla asymmetrical warfare and terrorist tactics against the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia and its allies, African Union peacekeepers and non-governmental aid organizations. Al-Shabaab describes itself as waging jihad against "enemies of Islam". Alleging ulterior motives on the part of foreign organizations, group members have also reportedly intimidated, kidnapped and killed aid workers, leading to a suspension of humanitarian operations and an exodus of relief agents.

History and ideology

Islamist movements did not merge until the late 1960’s after Britain and Italy withdrew from their administered parts of Somaliland; a new Somali nation was established on the 1. July 1960. In 1969, a coup headed by Mohamed Siad Barre ushered in an authoritarian socialist rule characterized by the persecution, jailing and torture of political opponents and dissidents. A group called Salafiya al Jadiid was established which opposed President Barre’s authoritarian rule of. A second Islamist group was formed in the early 1980’s namely the al-Itihaad al-Islamiya or the Islamic Union (IU), this group was formed because they felt a heavy resentment towards President Barrre’s oppressive dictatorship. The group’s goal was to depose Barre and establish an Islamic state, which would ideally incorporate the entire Horn of Africa. Another aim of the IU was to seize the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia, (Ethiopia and Somalia fought a major war in the late 1970’s) in which the majority of the people in this region are ethnically Somali. The IU never achieved its goal of getting rid of President Barre, but the group remained intact after the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid overthrew him in early 1991. In the early 2000’s a small group dedicated to protecting al-Qaeda in East Africa and striking foreign targets inside Somalia broke apart from the IU. The group was led by the former military commander of the IU-Hassan Dahir Aweis- who has been on the U.S list of suspected terrorists since shortly after 9/11 because IU provided shelter to al-Qaeda elements. This small group was then known as al-Shabaab and served as the military wing of an emerging political force called the Islamic Courts Union. The ICU traces its roots back to the 1990’s when clans and warlords set up Shari’a courts because of the political vacuum which was when President Barre’s regime collapsed. At first there was no relationship between the various Shari’a courts, but eventually they earned appreciation of much of the population for bringing order to certain parts of the country. Eventually in 2004 eleven courts merged to form the ICU. There have been several attempts from the international community at establishing an interim government, but most of the country fell under the control of Somali warlords. The competing warlords and longstanding clan rivalry has effected establishing a lasting stability in the country. In October 2004 Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed was voted in as President of the second interim government, known as the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of the Somali Republic. This has been Somalia’s lasting ruling body which is composed of Somalia’s biggest ruling clans. In 2009 Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed resigned and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed became President. Al-Shabaab shares ideological ties with al-Qaeda and advocates a strict form of Salafi Islam. Their main goal is to establish an Islamic State, implementing the Shari’a and getting rid of foreigners in Somalia.

Organization and leaders

Al-Shabaab is not centralized or monolithic in its agenda or goals. Its members come from disparate clans and the group is susceptible to clan politics, internal divisions and shifting alliances. Al-Shabaab is led by Sheikh Mohamed Mukhtar Abdirahman "Abu Zubair," though experts say there is a core group of senior leaders that guide its actions. The group is divided into three geographical units: Bay and Bokool regions, led by Mukhtar Roobow "Abu Mansur," the group's spokesman; south-central Somalia and Mogadishu; and Puntland and Somaliland. A fourth unit, which controls the Juba Valley, is led by Hassan Abdillahi Hersi "Turki". There are reports stating that the units appear to operate independently of one another, and there is often evidence of friction between them. It is not clear how many are part of the al-Shabaab, but analysts generally agree that the group contains several thousand fighters. The group was able to expand for two reasons: Somalia has not had a central government since 1991; and many of the clan warlords that filled the power vacuum have proven willing to cooperate with al-Shabaab, at least in Somalia’s south.

Key members: Sheikh Aadan Haashi Ayro was the first leader of al-Shabaab as an independent entity and it is believed that he received little formal education before joining the Islamic court in the mid-1990’s under the guidance of Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. He is believed to have trained and fought in Afghanistan. Ayro was killed in a May 2008 U.S. strike.

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweis is a Somali political figure who was added to the US governments list of terrorist in 2001. Aweis was a former military commander of the IU and was a leader of al- Shabaab before it became an independent entity. He was viewed as being one of the more radical leaders of the Union, who promoted the Shari’a and directed militias that took control of the Somali capital of Mogadishu in June 2006. Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Ali (Abu Mansur) is the spiritual leader and a main spokesman of al-Shabaab. Abu Mansur was affiliated with the IU and is believed to be a hardline and radical Islamist who trained to fight with the Taliban in Afghanistan. He is believed to have set up the first militant training camps in Somalia. Robow later served as the Deputy Commander of the Islamic Courts Union, which controlled much of the south of Somalia. Mukhtar Abu Zubair (Ahmed Abdi Godane) is the leader of al-Shabaab, assuming command after Ayro’s death. Abu Zubair is believed to have fought and trained in Afghanistan and to have received his religious credentials in Pakistan. He is designated by the United States as a terrorist. Ibrahim Haji Hama (al Afghani) is a leader of al-Shabaab and is responsible for operations in Somaliland and Puntland. Al Afghani is believed to have trained and fought in Afghanistan and the Kashmir region. One of the influential foreigners is: Abu Mansour al Amriki (Omar Hammami) is an American-born al- Shabaab militant who now commands fighters in the Bay and Bakool regions; he converted to Islam and travelled to Somalia in 2006. He also functions as an English-speaking recruiter for the group.

Affiliation to al-Qaeda

A connection to al-Qaeda goes back as far as the 1990’s. During the 1990’s cooperation between the IU and al-Qaeda strengthened. The IU allegedly received training, logistical and financial support from al-Qaeda. Some of its leaders even travelled to train and fight with bin Laden’s fighters in Afghanistan. One of these fighters was Sheikh Aadan Haashi Ayro, who eventually became leader of al-Shabaab until his death in 2008. The extent to which al-Shabaab and the AQAP (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) might be cooperating is a matter of intense speculation, most of it uninformed. Experts say there are links between individual al-Shabaab leaders and individual members of al-Qaeda, but any organizational linkage between the two groups is weak. However there are a few noticeable ties: 1) Several of al-Shabaab’s leaders trained and fought in Afghanistan, most likely with al-Qaeda and probably even had direct contact with Osama bin Laden. 2) It is known that al-Shabaab have provided shelter for top al-Qaeda leaders from East Africa. Al-Qaeda leaders receiving protection from al-Shabaab most likely reciprocate by providing technical assistance to al-Shabaab. The final connection between al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda is through the media. Al-Shabaab has reportedly sworn to support AQAP, Muktar Robow a rebel leader and spokesperson for al-Shabaab stated in August 2008 “we will take our orders form Sheikh Osama bin Laden because we are his students,’ he further stated that “Most of our leaders were trained in al-Qaeda camps.” There is material suggesting that AQAP had acted as a go between for bin Laden and al-Shabaab and bin Laden agreed to grant al-Shabaab the same al-Qaeda franchise status as AQAP. Though al-Qaeda appears to support al-Shabaab’s jihad, it is unclear whether al-Shabaab has any ambitions beyond Somalia, as they apparently refuse to shift their focus away from Somalia and onto western targets or to change the group’s name to al-Qaeda in East Africa, because they fear this would enhance US interests. Although there are no clear links between al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab they do however share a long term ambition which is to unify the Muslim Ummah (nation) under a single Islamic Caliphate. Al-Shabaab’s main objective is to defeat the near enemy, the TFG and AMISON supporters and to establish an Islamic state in Somalia, however they have developed an international outlook. On the other hand Somalia holds little sentimental value for al-Qaeda, but it does hold strategic value, especially as a failed state with al-Shabaab in control of large parts of the south and it lies close to Yemen, just a boat ride away.

Terrorist designation

The group has been designated a terrorist organization by several western governments and security services. On the 29th of February 2008 the US government designated al-Shabaab as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224. It is linked to Al Qaeda, an association which the group's leaders denied until early 2010. Al-Shabaab is recognized as a terrorist group by Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Propaganda

Opposition

The future of al-Shabaab

Literature

Wise Rob, Al-Shabaab, Center For Strategic And International Studies, Homeland Security and CounterTerrorism Program Transnational Threats Project-AQAM Futures Project Case Study Series, Case Study Number 2, July 2011

Shinn David H., Somalia's New Government and the Challenge of al-Shabaab, Combating Terrorism Center, Vol.2 issue 3, March 2009

Gartenstein-Ross Daveed, The Strategic Challenge of Somalia's al-Shabaab- Dimensions of Jihad, Middle East Quaterly, pg. 25-36, Fall 2009

Murphy Martin N, Somali Piracy- Why Should We Care?, RUSI Journal, 156:6, pg. 4-11, 2011