Somalia: not piracy catch all thread

[Jedburgh]

ASPI, 13 Oct 09: Understanding the al-Shabaab Networks

The decision by the Australian Government on 21 August 2009 to officially list the al-Shabaab group as a terrorist organisation highlights a subject of growing concern in many Western governments: what is the danger posed by the Somali-based group, and is it merely a regional actor? The question is one of growing salience as stories increasingly surface of young Western (or Westernised) men leaving their homes to fight and train with the Islamic warriors in Somalia. Furthermore, the growing parallels with the ‘chain of terror’ that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown highlighted, emanating from Pakistan’s lawless provinces through Europe’s Muslim communities, mean fears are growing that it might result in a terrorist attack on the scale of the Madrid or London bombings.

This article outlines the growing sense of apparent threat in the West from networks linked in some way to al-Shabaab. It offers some brief thoughts on the growing links between what are herein termed ’the Shabaab networks’ and whether the threat from them is one than can be paralleled with the threat from the similarly structured al-Qaeda networks.

ISS, 3 Jun 09: Somalia: Understanding Al-Shabaab

On 8 May 2009, Al-Shabaab reinforced by a faction of Hizbul Islam and former Islamic Courts Union’s (ICU) leader Sheikh Aweys began what they claimed was a final assault on the capital Mogadishu in an attempt to destroy President Sheikh Sharif’s fragile National Unity Government. A wave of targeted assassinations of ICU officials and Al-Shabaab commanders in mid-April onwards, the reshuffling of military and political alliances among Islamist factions and inflammatory rhetoric that has led to a polarization of political positions has all but eliminated prospects for reconciliation between the government and the opposition.

At the time of writing the government is managing to keep hold of southern Mogadishu. Nevertheless Al-Shabaab continues to gain ground in central Somalia and is positioning itself for what it hopes will be a decisive military victory.

This report briefly examines the nature of Al-Shabaab’s ideological stance, their political ambitions and why this movement constitutes the gravest threat to the survival of Sheikh Sharif’s government and the Djibouti peace process that gave it birth.

NEFA, 5 May 09: Shabaab al-Mujahideen: Migration and Jihad in the Horn of Africa

Part I: The Early Years - Al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI) and “Blackhawk Down”

Part II: Ethiopia and the Ogaden War (1993-1997)

Part III: The Islamic Courts Union (ICU)

Part IV: Rise of the Shabaab al-Mujahideen Movement

Part V: The Current Status of Shabaab and its Islamist Rivals

Part VI: The Role of Foreign Fighters

Part VII: Shabaab’s Propaganda Strategy and Media Infrastructure

Part VIII: Shabaab al-Mujahideen and the Issue of Ocean Piracy

[Jedburgh]

MEQ, Fall 09: The Strategic Challenge of Somalia's Al-Shabaab: Dimensions of Jihad

Since emerging from an era of colonialism under Italy and Britain, Somalia has passed through military dictatorship, famine, and civil war to regional fragmentation. In the modern period, Americans best remember the loss of U.S. military personnel that followed attempts to secure order in the country as part of a United Nations operation. More recently, the hijacking of ships by pirates operating from the Somali coast has attracted considerable attention globally. But the biggest threat emanating from Somalia comes from a different source: An ongoing lack of internal order has left the country vulnerable to the rise of hard-line Islamist groups, of which the latest is Al-Shabaab (the youth), which rose from obscurity to international prominence in less than two years. Al-Shabaab's ideological commitment to global jihadism, its connections to Al-Qaeda, its military capabilities, and its ability to capture and control territory suggest that it will continue to pose a strategic challenge to both the U.S. and Somalia's neighbors.

Since its emergence, Al-Shabaab has played a major role in the insurgency that pushed Ethiopian forces out of Somalia; it also received the endorsement of Osama bin Laden and has seen large numbers of Somalis living in the West flock to its camps. Somalia has become, like Pakistan, a significant Al-Qaeda safe haven. Due to the relatively large number of Americans who travel to Somalia for military training, individuals linked to Al-Shabaab are among the top U.S. domestic terrorist threats.....

[davidbfpo]

A lot of developments with Somali male youths leaving Western homes (Canada, Denmark, Italy and USA) for the delights of Mogadishu. Here are some pieces by one analyst: http://icsr.info/blog/Somalias-forei...ions#comments; earlier: http://raffaellopantucci.wordpress.c...merican-jihad/ and http://raffaellopantucci.wordpress.c...baab-networks/

Some of which has been covered IIRC on other threads.

[davidbfpo]

We and the media focus on the piracy off the Somalia coast, no doubt as it is safer to report on and few reporters venture into Somalia today. Here is an exception a grim report on the people trapped there and seeking to leave - for the "settled" north aka as Somaliland and beyond. Now if this could be used in Info Ops against Al-Shabaab on You Tube plus - to show what their rule means I would applaud.

The link:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...litia-refugees - with a six minute video (yes not guaranteed to be viewable).

[davidbfpo]

Moderators Note

I have combined several small threads on non-piracy aspects of Somalia just as it makes sense.

[davidbfpo]

A report from a forgotten frontier Kenya with Somalia:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201002080323.html

The Islamic administration of Al-Shabaab that controls Somalia's southern regions of Jubba has on Sunday declared holy war on Kenya over reports that Nairobi is training Somali troops.

IIRC the Northern Frontier District of Kenya is mainly Somali and nomadic cattle-driven economy, rather prone to disputes and poor. See this thin entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_E...rovince_(Kenya)

Who are Kenya's allies? The "Usual Suspects" the UK and USA.

Watch and wait to see if rhetoric is matched with actions.

[davidbfpo]

I trust someone will use this apparent decision by Al-Shabaab to bar UN food supplies to Somalia as an illustration of the care for the masses Al-Shabaab shows.

The report:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...ss_world/wires

On Sunday, al-Shabab said it would prohibit the U.N.'s World Food Program from distributing food in areas under its control because it says the food undercuts farmers selling recently harvested crops.

It also accused the agency of handing out food unfit for human consumption and of secretly supporting "apostates," or those who have renounced Islam.

I wonder how much local food is being produced and from faraway will it be enough?