Al Shabab Threat Clouds the Horn of Africa

The greatest menace facing Somalia and the Horn of African nations in these trying times is the emergence of Al Shabab Islamic radical group. Al Shabab is a collection of firebrand extremists who are believed to have strong links with Al Qaeda, and prides itself to have launched a holy war against the resurrection of any future secular Somali State. They are bent on pushing their extremist view of Islam to decidedly establish a regime based on the Taliban model of 1990s Afghanistan. Their outlook of sharia-based government is a distorted vision of Islam.
The total membership of Al Shabab is unknown, however according to a report published last year by Kasmo, a Somali newspaper based in London, Al Shabab members are between the ages of 14 – 22. Recent reports have also confirmed the presence of international and foreign extremists within the ranks of Al Shabab. Worse still is the fact that Al Shabab organization drafts new recruits from youth that either have a criminal record, or criminals with little education or knowledge. Quoting from Government officials in Mogadishu, a leading UK Arabic paper, Al-Hayat, states that Al-Shabab supporters are “ less educated and more brutal than the older men of religion. They have no regular work and they earn their livelihood by using their weapons to protect foreigners or carry out dirty jobs to serve the persons who pay them.”[1] Al Shabab has also been credited for introducing suicide bombing into Somalia - something that is alien to Somali culture and religious traditions. In 2007, Former Prime Minister, Ali Mohamed Ghedi, told a reporter that Somalia was “rife with suicide bombings”, adding that this is a tactic “alien to Somalia”. [2] Al Shabab also claimed the responsibilities of numerous assassination campaigns against government officials in Somalia. In November, 2007, the group targeted Bay Deputy Governor, Hasan Bikolo, who was seriously wounded after detonating a landmine against his vehicle. Moreover, in June 03, 2007, Al-Shabab suicide bomber, Abdiaziz Muhammed Samatar, blew himself up at the gate of the Somali Prime Minister’s residence in Mogadishu, destroying completely the premier’s house. The heavy explosion caused several fatalities and wounded body-guards, but missed the Premier. Al Shabab’s latest detonation assault on civilians in Mogadishu occurred in January 20, 2007. They took responsibility for this suicide bombing. The group’s jihad Websites declare that they detonated a landmine in Makka-al-Mukarrama Street in Mogadishu, destroying the vehicle of African Union Force there and wounding seven AU soldiers. [3] Here is a partial list of some of the people that al-Shabab claimed responsibility for assassinating:October 27, 2008: Aisha Ibrahim Dhuholow was stoned to death in the southern port city of Kismayo. She died pleading for her life, buried up to her neck in a hole in the ground.October 08, 2008: Colonel Tobanle (korneyl Tobanle) was assassinated in Hodan district in Mogadishu. October 04, 2008: Al Shabab’s Special Operations Brigade, Al-Usra Army, assassinated Ibrahim Hasan who was government security officer in Baydhabo. August 10, 2008: Al Shabab Brigade in Bakool slaughtered Abdullahi Jahwareer, government official in Hudur, Bakool region. The group claimed that they slaughtered the official according to the Islamic Shariah. August 09, 2008: Brigadier General Ahmed Ali was assassinated by detonating a landmine targeting his vehicle in Mogadishu suburbs. February 05, 2008: Shabab managed to assassinate Sheikh Ibrahim Goonle, Hiiraan Court official. October 01, 2007: Shabab claimed the responsibility of the assassination of Colonel Abdi Haji Ahmed in Mogadishu. The Shabab brand of Islam and the Somali religious extremists in general cannot fully be understood outside the context of international terrorist groups and the post 1991 stateless condition of Somalia.
The rise of religious extremism in the Muslim world in general has to do predominantly with the absence of democratic, accountable and responsible regimes and the failure of governments in some Islamic countries to address problems arising from rapid social, demographic, and economic changes in the last century. In Somalia, in particular, after the fall of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre administration , extreme clanism emerged in the country which greatly undermined Somalinationalism and has become an obstacle to date to the reconstitution of the Somali state. Clan loyalty became the paramount order of the day. Evidently, Islamists began to make the case that the only alternative to clanism and the failed Somali nationalism is political Islam. Islamic fundamentalism is being used as an alternative philosophy and a unifying factor by the Somali religious movements and the extremist Al Shabab terror group. The stateless situation did not only create a fertile ground for the emergence and development of fanatic and radical groups as political movements in Somalia, but it also created conditions conducive for the free movement of international extremists and terrorist forces. The lack of and deficiency of government institutions, administrative tools, and organized politics became a piece of good fortune for Al Shabab and other extremist organizations. This gave them a relative advantage over the warlords and other clan oriented forces that had no ideology of any kind. The power of the Shabab organization stems from their organized nature, external financial help and their ideological orientation which go beyond plain clanism. The widespread poverty, Ethiopian invasion, war fatigue and the desire for law and order by the Somali people have also contributed to the attraction and appeal of Al Shabab group. The goal of Al Shabab is to impose a government based on the Taliban model on Somalia and beyond. The Taliban, led by Mullah Mohamed Omar, emerged as the strongest faction in lawless Afghanistan, after capturing Kabul in 1996. While they created some stability after nearly two decades of conflict, they immediately applied a tough and narrow interpretation of Islamic Sharia Law and unleashed vicious punitive measures against anyone who disagreed with their primitive regime. The Taliban regime carried out gross human rights violations, restricting freedom of women and girls for education and work outside their homes. The Taliban banned music and sports and embarked on extensive demolition of many statues and artifacts across the country. That is exactly what Al Shabab is currently doing in southern Somalia; raiding cinema houses, desecrating graveyards and banning sports of all kinds and wedding ceremonies. Also, one of the objectives of the Shabab, as a forum member of the Jihadist websites stated, is to make Somalia “the land of training and [jihad] preparation for the youth of Islam”. [4] On another front, the absence of any comprehensive US policy towards Somalia made matters worse. Throughout the Bush years, US policy towards Somalia has been marred with inconsistency, vacillation and short-range political expediency. The Bush administration opted outrageously to support a group of despised warlords who have committed gross human rights violations in Mogadishu which prompted the rise and expansion of the Union of Islam Courts (UIC) - an amalgamation of various outfits of Islamic radicals. Al Shabab is a splinter group from the original UIC that brandish a more radical version of Islam and often boast its affiliation with the worldwide terrorist network of Al-Qaeda. The group’s spokesman, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, had recently admitted, in a press conference in Mogadishu, that foreign fighters are fighting alongside Al Shabab. [5] It may not be feasible to gauge the type of government Al Shabab has in store for the people of Somalia. It is, however, possible to weigh the extent of calamity that Al Shabab could potentially inflict on war-weary Somali populace and the entire region of the Horn of Africa.