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