Somalia: not piracy catch all thread

[davidbfpo]

Hat tip to Randy Borum for a pointer to this jamestown Foundation report Clan and Conflict in Somalia: Al-Shabaab and the Myth of “Transcending Clan Politics”, which opens with:

Clan identity and Islam are central pillars of Somali society, with clan dynamics and inter-clan rivalries magnified by decades of state collapse. Al-Shabaab - the dominant Islamist militia controlling much of southern and central Somalia - claims to “transcend clan politics,” yet reality on the ground belies this claim, revealing that al-Shabaab seeks to manipulate local clan alliances and remains deeply influenced by clan politics. This analysis shows that despite al-Shabaab’s hard-line Islamist identity and pro-al-Qaeda rhetoric, many aspects of the group’s past and current behavior remain deeply rooted in Somalia’s local dynamics. Moreover, clan rules apply even to Somalia’s most feared Islamists.

An American aspect which I've not seen reported before:

Even recruitment of foreign fighters - at least those of ethnic Somali origin - may have a clan-based component. A March 2010 report by the United Nations noted that more than half of the initial twenty Somalis who left Minneapolis to fight in Somalia had a parent from the Harti sub-clan, and several American Somalis killed in Somalia were discovered to have Harti familial ties, supporting the conclusion that recruitment has occurred along clan-linked peer networks.

It concludes in part:

In terms of al-Shabaab’s placement as an adherent to al-Qaeda’s worldview, the organization is caught between proving its Salafi-Jihadi credentials to core al-Qaeda and affiliated movements while attempting to establish power among a Somali population that focuses internally on parochial clan interests. Any disruption to this careful balance risks either undermining al-Shabaab’s carefully built power-base in Somalia or losing the support of international Salafi-Jihadis.

Link:http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_...backPid%5d=515

[M-A Lagrange]

I am very sad to announce the death of 2 MSF expatriates in Somalia, Philippe Havet and Andrias Karel Keiluhuo. They were killed in Somalia over a dispute between the NGO and a former employee, nothing to see with the on going war.
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/Insid...00049181&cid=4

Philippe was “the logistician of the great lakes” as Colette Braeckman called him on her blog. http://blog.lesoir.be/colette-braeck...-a-mogadiscio/
He dedicated his life to build a better DRC and a better Africa.
So did his colleague that unfortunately I do not know so I cannot salute him as he deserves.

[davidbfpo]

A relatively long BBC News analysis by an ICG regional analyst.

Foreign military intervention is deeply unpopular in Somalia and hugely counter-intuitive, at least from a historical perspective. It inflames public passions, radicalises society and exacerbates political polarisation.So far, Somali opposition to the Kenyan and Ethiopian interventions has largely been muted. We have not seen the huge visceral blowback predicted by some critics...

More interestingly, the extremists appear to have failed to rally Somalis or to effectively play the nationalist card as they did in 2006. The more plausible explanation is that the insurgent groups are deeply unpopular.

Link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16510716

Rightly the comment asks is there a

clear and coherent long-term political strategy?

[Chowing]

Al-Shabaab is not only using the popular social media Twitter, the host of the account is believed to be British. The terrorist group has an American Muslim using hip hop to appear to the world's young people to join the group. The seem very skilled at communication and more foreigners are listening and following. I report a whole list of foreign recruits including a British woman in my newest blog article http://terrorisminafrica.com/2012/01...ng-foreigners/

[M-A Lagrange]

Kenya arrests 29 Ugandans 'headed to Somalia to fight'

The group warned of the danger of "a new generation of East African jihadists" including some recent converts to Islam and others attracted mainly by promises of money from the Islamist recruiters.

Many Kenyans are among detainees held by Ugandan authorities on suspicion of involvement in twin bomb attacks in Kampala in July 2010 that claimed 76 lives.

http://www.rnw.nl/africa/bulletin/ke...omalia-fight-0

[davidbfpo]

I spotted an initial report over the weekend IIRC, now NYT has a fuller account, entitled 'U.S. Drone Strike Kills Foreign Commander Fighting for Militants in Somalia':http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/wo..._r=1&ref=world

Taken from the report: Bilal al-Barjawi was of Lebanese origin, who had been a UK citizen till it was revoked ayear ago, his wife and children remain in London and:

joining them (Al-Shabab) in mid-2006 after having fought in Afghanistan.

We've heard of ethnic Somalis returning from the USA and Europe, suggestions that other groups, notably AQ, have links with Al-Shabaab, but nothing IIRC like this - an experienced fighter who was Arab by birth, British by nationality. Now what made him take the violent Jihad route?

[tequila]

IRIN News - Soldiers' Stories

A short film (about 30 minutes) about Ugandan peacekeepers in AMISOM. The focus is on a female Ugandan vehicle gunner and a male Ugandan medic, with some interesting interviews with Ugandan officers. This was in early 2011, prior to AMISOM ejecting al-Shabaab from Mogadishu.