Al-Shabab
A military spokesman for al-Shabab issues a statement south of Mogadishu. Feisal Omar/Reuters
Al-Shabab remains capable of carrying out massive attacks in Somalia and surrounding countries despite a decade-long African Union offensive against the Islamist group.
Backgrounder by Claire Felter, Jonathan Masters, and Mohammed Aly Sergie
January 14, 2018
Introduction
Al-Shabab, or “the Youth,” is an Islamist insurgent group based in Somalia. It once held sway over the capital of Mogadishu and large portions of the Somali countryside, but in recent years an African Union–led military campaign has pushed it back from major population centers. However, the thousands-strong insurgency remains the principal security challenge in war-torn Somalia. It mounted its deadliest attack yet in late 2017.
What are the origins of al-Shabab?
One of the most impoverished countries in the world, Somalia has seen militant groups come and go in its decades of political upheaval. Analysts say the forerunner of al-Shabab, and the incubator for many of its leaders, was al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI, or “Unity of Islam”), a militant Salafi group that peaked in the 1990s, after the fall of Said Barre’s 1969–1991 regime and the outbreak of civil war. AIAI’s core was a band of Middle East–educated Somali extremists that was partly funded and armed by al-Qaeda’s chief, Osama bin Laden.
In the early 2000s, a rift developed between AIAI’s old guard, which had decided to create a political front, and younger members, who sought the establishment of a “Greater Somalia” under fundamentalist Islamic rule. The hard-liners eventually joined forces with an alliance of sharia courts known as the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and served as its youth militia. Al-Shabab and the ICU wrested control of the capital in June 2006, a victory that stoked fears in neighboring Ethiopia of spillover jihadi violence.
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Timeline-Al-Shabab
2004–2017
With brazen terrorist attacks at home and abroad, the Somalia-based Islamist insurgent group has proved resilient despite strategic setbacks in recent years.
2004
ICU security forces patrol the streets of Mogadishu.
Shabelle Media/Reuters
Jun, 2004
Islamic Courts Union Emerges
A coalition of eleven sharia courts form the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), naming Sharif Sheikh Ahmed its leader.
President Abdullahi Yusuf after a swearing-in ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya. Radu Sigheti/Reuters
Oct, 2004
Transitional Federal Government Formed
Somalia’s internationally backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG), comprising representatives of the country’s largest clans, is formed in exile in Nairobi. Abdullahi Yusuf is elected president of the interim body.
2006
Al-Shabab fighters seize the capital. Shabelle Media/Reuters
Jun, 2006
Mogadishu Falls
Backed by al-Shabab militants, the ICU wrests control of Mogadishu after clashing with a coalition of warlords.
Ethiopian troops ride on a military truck in Mogadishu. Sahal Abdulle/Reuters
Dec 6, 2006
Ethiopia Invades
Ethiopia, a majority-Christian nation, invades and takes Mogadishu with little ICU opposition.
2007
Al-Shabab militants display weapons on the outskirts of Mogadishu. Mowlid Abdi/Reuters
A Turning Point for al-Shabab
Galvanized by the invasion, al-Shabab transforms into the most powerful Somali guerrilla group, well funded and thousands strong.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf (left) talks to former President Abdiqasim Salad Hassan. Shabelle Media/Reuters
Jan 7, 2007
Transitional Government Enters Mogadishu
The TFG moves into the capital from its interim headquarters in the western city of Baidoa.
Ugandan soldiers arrive at Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu. Shabelle Media/Reuters
Feb, 2007
Regional Peacekeepers Arrive
The United Nations approves a regional peacekeeping force known as the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) to support the TFG in its battle against al-Shabab.
2008
Al-Shabab fighters march on the outskirts of Mogadishu. Mowliid Ibdi/Reuters
Feb, 2008
U.S. Designates al-Shabab Terrorists
The U.S. State Department designates al-Shabab a foreign terrorist organization, blocking anyone in the United States from providing financial support to the group.
2009
Ethiopian troops as they leave Mogadishu. Ismail Taxta/Reuters
Jan 13, 2009
Ethiopia Pulls Out
Ethiopian troops withdraw from Somalia after a series of setbacks and are replaced by AMISOM forces. The country does not redeploy troops to Somalia until 2014, when it becomes a contributor to the regional force.
2010
A Ugandan man waits to learn the fate of victims of the bomb blasts in Kampala. Xavier Toya/Reuters
Jul 11, 2010
A Transnational Terrorist Threat
Al-Shabab, in its first foreign terrorist attack, carries out multiple suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda, killing seventy-four.
2011
AMISOM forces sit outside Mogadishu Stadium. Feisal Omar/Reuters
Aug, 2011
AMISOM Turns the Corner
AMISOM and TFG forces push al-Shabab out of Mogadishu and other major urban centers after a year-long offensive.
Kenyan and Somali soldiers take part in a joint patrol at a charcoal depository. Noor Khamis/Reuters
Oct 16, 2011
Kenya Marches In
Kenya invades southern Somalia in Operation Linda Nchi following kidnappings claimed by the militant group. The country’s forces are integrated into AMISOM in February 2012.
2012
An al-Shabab militant at an announcement of the group’s integration with al-Qaeda. Feisal Omar/Reuters
Feb, 2012
Tying the Knot With al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri announces al-Shabab’s affiliation with the jihadi network.
Kenyan forces serving with AMISOM enter the port city of Kismayo. Stuart Price/AFP/Getty Images
Oct, 2012
The Fall of Kismayo
Backed by local Somali forces, Kenyan troops sweep into Kismayo, ousting al-Shabab from its last major stronghold and cutting off a major source of the militant group’s funding.
2013
Clinton shakes hands with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud at the State Department. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Jan 17, 2013
A New Beginning
The United States recognizes the government of Somalia after a hiatus of more than twenty years. “There is still a long way to go and many challenges to confront, but we have seen a new foundation for that better future being laid,” says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
A police officer secures an area inside the Westgate Shopping Center, where al-Shabab gunmen went on a shooting spree. Siegfried Modola/Reuters
Sep 21, 2013 – Sep 24, 2013
Terror in Nairobi
In a multiday raid on a Nairobi mall, al-Shabab militants kill sixty-seven people. It is the deadliest terrorist attack in Kenya in fifteen years.
An AMISOM soldier keeps guard on top of an armored vehicle in Mogadishu. Siegfried Modola/Reuters
Dec, 2013
U.S. Deploys Ground Troops
The U.S. military sends a small team of advisors to Mogadishu to assist AMISOM forces. It is the first U.S. deployment since eighteen soldiers were killed in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu.
2014
A news broadcast shows slain al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane. Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP/Getty Images
Sep 1, 2014
Al-Shabab Leader Killed
Ahmed Umar, also known as Abu Ubaidah, becomes al-Shabab’s leader after Ahmed Abdi Godane, one of the group’s founders, is killed in a U.S. air strike.
Somali forces make their way to Barawe during the second phase of Operation Indian Ocean. Feisal Omar/Reuters
Oct 5, 2014
Port City Liberated
Somali and AMISOM troops retake the southern coastal city of Barawe nearly six years after al-Shabab gained control of the area.
2015
Students are evacuated from Garissa University College. Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images
Apr 2, 2015
Kenya Again Under Attack
Al-Shabab militants in central Kenya kill 148 people at Garissa University College. The fifteen-hour siege, in which gunmen hold more than seven hundred students hostage, exceeds the 2013 mall raid as the group’s deadliest attack in the country.
2017
Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed addresses lawmakers after winning the presidency. Feisal Omar/Reuters
Feb 8, 2017
A Contentious Election
Former Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed wins the presidency. The government hails the election as the final step in its decades-long path toward effective central governance, but international observers criticize the election as corrupt.
Civilians carry the dead body of an unidentified man from the scene of an explosion in Mogadishu. Feisal Omar/Reuters
Oct 15, 2017
Mogadishu Bombings
In Somalia’s deadliest terrorist attack, truck bombings in the capital city kill more than five hundred people and injure another three hundred. Al-Shabab is widely believed to be behind the attack, though it does not claim responsibility. Two weeks later, Shabab militants kill at least twenty-nine during a siege on a hotel in Mogadishu; the dead include senior government and police officials.
Al-Shabab militants patrol southern Mogadishu. Feisal Omar/Reuters
Nov 21, 2017
U.S. Escalates Strikes
More than one hundred militants affiliated with al-Shabab are killed in a single U.S. air strike northwest of Mogadishu, according to the Pentagon. The strike is one of more than two dozen in Somalia authorized by the Trump administration in its first year.
Burundian soldiers board a UN plane at Bujumbura International Airport to replace AMISOM troops in Somalia. Renovat Ndabashinze/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Sep 30, 2017
AMISOM Begins Drawdown
The UN Security Council approves the withdrawal of a thousand AMISOM troops by the end of 2017, the first time it has cut peacekeeper numbers in Somalia, as part of a transition of security responsibilities to the Somali government. Another reduction of a thousand troops is set to take place in 2018.
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How did the group take shape?
Ethiopia, a majority-Christian nation, invaded Somalia in December 2006 and ousted the ICU from Mogadishu with little resistance. The intervention, which came at the request of Somalia’s transitional government, radicalized al-Shabab, analysts say. After much of the ICU fled to neighboring countries, al-Shabab retreated to the south, where it began organizing guerrilla assaults, including bombings and assassinations, on Ethiopian forces. Some experts say it was during these years that the group morphed into a full-fledged insurgency, gaining control over large pieces of territory in central and southern Somalia.
The Ethiopian occupation was responsible [PDF] for “transforming the group from a small, relatively unimportant part of a more moderate Islamic movement into the most powerful and radical armed faction in the country,” writes Rob Wise, a counterterrorism expert. Addis Ababa said the intervention was a “reluctant response” to calls by the ICU for jihad against Ethiopia and its renewed territorial claims against both Ethiopia and Kenya. It has stressed that the intervention was supported by the United States and the African Union, among others.
New Islamist-nationalist fighters swelled al-Shabab’s ranks from around four hundred into the thousands between 2006 and 2008. The group’s ties to al-Qaeda emerged during this period. Al-Shabab leaders praised the terrorist network and condemned what they characterized as U.S. crimes against Muslims worldwide. The State Department designated al-Shabab a foreign terrorist organization in February 2008. Al-Shabab’s leadership declared allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2012.
What are its objectives?
Many analysts say different factions within the group have different objectives, though al-Shabab as a whole continues to pursue its broad aim of establishing an Islamic state in Somalia. A major cleavage among the group’s leaders divides those known as nationalists, who largely seek to oust the central government, from militants with transnational aims. Bronwyn Bruton, an expert on al-Shabab at the Atlantic Council, says hard-liners within the group have gained prominence in recent years. “People who are still calling themselves al-Shabab are more and more committed to the idea of sharia law,” she says. “The unifying idea of al-Shabab is opposition to the Western-backed government.”
The unifying idea of al-Shabab is opposition to the Western-backed government.
Bronwyn Bruton, Atlantic Council
In areas it controls, al-Shabab enforces its own harsh interpretation of sharia, prohibiting various types of entertainment, such as movies and music; the sale of khat, a narcotic plant that is often chewed; smoking; and the shaving of beards. Stonings and amputations have been meted out to suspected adulterers and thieves. The group bans cooperation with humanitarian agencies, blocking aid deliveries as famine loomed in 2017. This forced some eight hundred thousand to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.
Who leads al-Shabab?
Ahmed Umar, also known as Abu Ubaidah, is the current leader of al-Shabab. He was installed in 2014, after his predecessor, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in a U.S. done strike. Some experts believed Godane’s removal would prompt a power struggle, as Umar appeared to lack Godane’s strategic savvy, and was unlikely to maintain control of the fractious group. More recently, experts have said that al-Shabab remains a largely unified organization.
How is al-Shabab funded?
Counterterrorism experts say al-Shabab has benefited from several sources of income over the years, including revenue from other terrorist groups, state sponsors, members of the Somali diaspora, charities, piracy, kidnapping, and the extortion of local businesses and farmers. The governments of Eritrea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Qatar, and Yemen have been accused of financing the group—although most deny these claims.
Al-Shabab has built up an extensive racketeering operation, with illicit trade of charcoal bringing in an estimated $10 million a year despite a UN ban on Somali charcoal exports that has been in place since 2012. In recent years, al-Shabab has increased its reliance on smuggling contraband sugar across the border into Kenya, bringing in tens of millions of dollars in revenue annually. Kenyan forces have been accused of involvement in the scheme since 2015.
What has been the regional impact?
The UN Security Council authorized the African Union to lead a peacekeeping force in Somalia, which is known by its acronym, AMISOM, in early 2007. Its primary mandate was to protect the country’s transitional government, which was set up in 2004 but had just returned to power in Mogadishu. Uganda was the first nation to send forces into Somalia under AMISOM, and, as of early 2018, it maintains the largest contingent in the regional force, at more than six thousand troops. Other forces come from Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Djibouti, and Sierra Leone. In total, AMISOM comprises around twenty-two thousand troops.
Al-Shabab struck outside of Somalia for the first time in 2010, when coordinated suicide bombings killed seventy-four people in the Ugandan capital of Kampala. “We are sending a message to every country who is willing to send troops to Somalia that they will face attacks on their territory,” said the group’s spokesman at the time.
In 2013, al-Shabab fighters claimed responsibility for an attack on a Nairobi shopping mall that killed 67 people, and in 2015 the group killed 148 in an attack on a university in the city of Garissa. The latter was the deadliest attack in Kenya since the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, in which more than two hundred people died.
While al-Shabab maintains a strong presence in Somalia a decade after AMISOM’s creation, the UN-backed mission has begun the first phase of a drawdown, withdrawing a thousand troops by the end of 2017. The African Union and United Nations have said the withdrawal will allow Somali security forces to take the lead, but some experts say Somalia’s government could face collapse as AMISOM pulls out.
Where is al-Shabab?
Al-Shabab’s territorial control is fluid. The group typically leaves an area ahead of an AMISOM offensive, but experts say that UN-backed forces do not have the capacity to hold recaptured territory and note that militants usually return. Al-Shabab largely retreated from Mogadishu by late 2011, following offensives by AMISOM and Somali forces. Counterterrorism forces regarded the group’s exit from the capital as a major victory, though some experts say that al-Shabab’s withdrawal was a strategic decision and that the group has returned to the guerrilla tactics of its earlier days.
The group has suffered several setbacks in recent years, including losses of the port cities of Kismayo and Barawe, after which it made the southern city of Jilib its de facto capital. Meanwhile, it has stepped up its presence in the north, particularly in the semiautonomous region of Puntland, where it battles fighters affiliated with the self-proclaimed Islamic State for primacy. Al-Shabab experts Stig Jarle Hansen and Christopher Anzalone say the group controls more territory than at any point since 2010, though the Somali government insists the group faces collapse.
“Even in areas they hold, the central government and federated states struggle to administer territory, provide basic services, and overcome a decades-long legacy of corruption and mismanagement of state institutions,” says James C. Swan, a former U.S. special representative for Somalia. “These weaknesses create openings that al-Shabab continues to exploit.”
In October 2017, the capital city suffered its worst terrorist attack to date when twin truck bombings killed more than five hundred people and injured more than three hundred. Though al-Shabab never claimed responsibility, the group is widely believed to have carried out the attack. The group claimed an attack at a hotel two weeks later that killed several senior government and military officials.
Estimates of al-Shabab’s membership range between three thousand and six thousand, though the U.S. State Department reported in 2017 that defection rates have increased in the last two years due to U.S. air strikes and the group’s negligence in paying low-level fighters.
What is U.S. policy in Somalia?
Washington’s primary interest in Somalia has been preventing the country from becoming a refuge for terrorist groups to plot attacks on the United States and destabilize the Horn of Africa, where longstanding disputes among Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia fester. In recent years, U.S. officials have been wary of collaboration among militant Islamist organizations in the region, including al-Shabab, Boko Haram, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
U.S. authorities also remain concerned about the jihadi group’s ability to recruit members of the Somali diaspora living in the United States. Al-Shabab has attracted dozens of American volunteers to fight in Somalia, many from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The United States has largely relied on proxy forces in Somalia to fight al-Shabab, and has hired private contractors to supply some of them, according to the New York Times. Since 2007, Washington has provided hundreds of millions of dollars to train and equip AMISOM and Somali security forces, but it announced in late 2017 it was suspending aid to most Somali units over corruption concerns. In April of that year, President Donald J. Trump authorized the first deployment of regular U.S. troops to the country since 1994, joining a small number of counterterrorism advisors already there. Defense officials say some five hundred U.S. personnel are now stationed there.
U.S. air strikes in Somalia have spiked under the Trump administration. The United States carried out twenty-nine strikes by late November 2017, according to the Pentagon, compared with fourteen ordered by the Obama administration in 2016. A single strike on a training camp northwest of Mogadishu in November 2017 killed more than a hundred militants, according to U.S. Africa Command.
The United States recognized the Somali government in 2013, following a hiatus of more than twenty years. However, the U.S. mission to Somalia remains based in Nairobi, Kenya.