Africa’s growing terrorism infestation makes way for al-Shabaab

Updated on: 02.15.10 at 10:22 am

al-Shabaab video

Watch out for Africa. At least that’s the word on the street in Mogadishu.
Al-Shabaab fighters in the lawless Somalia, located on the Horn of Africa, declared “all-out” war Friday on the Dark Continent’s country.
“Our fighters are prepared to take part in this war that we are declaring against the enemy of Allah,” Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur, a senior al-Shabaab official told a congregation at Nasrul-din Mosque in southern Mogadishu. “We must take part in this war because it is our responsibility as Muslims to defend the religion and eliminate the enemy from our country.”
Somalia, frequently associated with pirating, now is harboring a much larger threat—one that it certainly is not prepared for or ready to combat.
Neighboring countries said they plan to send trained recruits to help fight al-Shabaab, but good luck, as these include Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda and Sudan.
The United States and NATO forces have helped in the trending fight toward lawlessness in Operation Enduring Freedom in the Horn, but it’s looking limp.
As the plague of terrorism spreads with bombings, attacks and lawless order—an oxymoron, no doubt—the terror infestation of Somalia will expand.
The U.S. already is aware of Somalia’s history of harboring terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda—all aware of the country’s lack of a functioning government.
Despite policymakers refusing to comment or provide information on the U.S. relationship with warlords for what is known as the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT), it’s noteworthy that governments are attempting to subdue terror cells before homegrown terrorists view Somalia as another Pakistan.
Unfortunately, this already may have started.
Andrea Elliott, of The New York Times, reports al-Qaeda is turning Somalia into an ever-more popular jihadist destination, writing that Omar Hammami, an Alabama-born Muslim, turned to militancy under al-Shabaab in the mid-2000s. Hammami currently is charged with terrorism-related activities, according to a sealed federal indictment.
There’s also the 20 U.S.-born Somali-Americans from Minneapolis who allegedly are in cahoots with terrorist organizations. Few other details were released Wednesday by the FBI, other than denying that al-Shabaab dispatched people to recruit in the U.S., according to Minnesota Public Radio.
History also shows that incidents, such as that of Operation Gothic Serpent, partly known popularly as Black Hawk Down, whose mission was to capture the warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, extends the tentacles of terror concerns. The end result was failure for the U.S. and the United Nations that ultimately led Osama bin Laden to proclaim America’s inherent weakness to a terrorist attack.
It seems sections of the Dark Continent are becoming infected with terror as the cells are sprouting stronger than ever before.
Governments around the world would be wise to keep closer watch on Somalia following al-Shabaab’s recent declaration.
After all, this blows pirating out of the water.
Previous report on al-Shabaab by NTVKenya