151. Shabaab operations in Somaliland date from at least 2003, when members of
the group killed four foreign aid workers in three separate operations.83 In 2006, a
Shabaab team with arms and explosives was apprehended while plotting a campaign
of assassinations and bombings to disrupt parliamentary elections. In October 2008,
Al-Shabaab deployed suicide bombers in simultaneous attacks against the
Somaliland presidency, the Ethiopian liaison office and the UNDP office, killing
25 people.
152. In September 2009, Shabaab emir Ahmed Abdi “Godane” (Abu Zubeyr) issued
a recorded statement entitled “A Message to Somaliland”, in which he described the
administration as anti-Islamic, denounced the electoral process, and called on the
public to rise up against the authorities.85 The message was widely interpreted as a
warning that Al-Shabaab would turn greater attention to Somaliland, and the
Somaliland authorities have since thwarted a number of Shabaab operations,
intercepting consignments of arms, ammunition and explosives.
153. Late in September 2009, the Somaliland authorities arrested Mohamed Omar
Abdirahman, a suspected bomb maker.86 In November 2009, the authorities
unsuccessfully attempted to arrest in Bur’o two suspected senior Shabaab leaders
named Sa’iid Ahmed Abdi “Jaar” and Adan Ahmed Arreh (also known as Adaan
“Jihad”). Late in December 2009, the Somaliland Interior Minister briefed the press
that the police had recovered a sack of explosives planted at a bridge on the main
road between Berbera and Bur’o.87 In January 2010, Somaliland authorities
recovered high explosive projectiles apparently intended to bomb a mosque in
Hargeysa, whose imam had been outspoken against Al-Shabaab.
Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia submitted in accordance with resolution 1853 (2008)
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