Committee Guide: Security Council
Topic: Preventing the collaboration between Al-Shabab and IS with special regards to
Somalian terror
Factbook:
Somalia, also known as the federal republic of Somalia is a country located in the eastern
region of Africa. Since the year 2000 the country has been mostly ruled by nongovernmental organizations, mainly by somalian clans and the Islamic terrorist group AlShabab. The international community has achieved the democratic election in the year
2012. Since then, Somalia is officially a federal republic but still faces problems
concerning the national security.
Around 60% of the population of Somalia are Nomads, around 25% are private farmers.
The remaining population lives in cities or small towns.
Political situation in Somalia in 2014
In 2016 around 1 million people fled from Somalia to neighboring states. This is mostly
due to the states security issues, but also to the poverty in the region.
IS or Islamic State is a radical Islamic group which has been active since 2004. The group
emerged from the terrorist group Al-Qaida, the organization responsible for the 9/11
attacks. It is said to be the worlds richest terrorist group with around 2 Billion USD.
According to various intelligence agencies the IS is said to have between 1000 and 2000
so called “soldiers” as of 2016. This number is also said to be rising continuously. The
followers of the Islamic State come from various regions of the world but mainly from
eastern countries.
Al-Shabab is militant group mostly located in Somalia. Since Osama bin Ladens death
they are said to be part of the terrorist group Al-Qaida. The group emerged from the
Somalian civil war in 2006. With around 400-500 members they are currently the largest
radical group in Somalia. Al-Shabab is funded by illegal activities including piracy, state
sponsorship and extortion of local population. The group benefits from Somalia’s lack of
governance and uses the country as a training ground and base for terrorist attacks
across the region. They are said to be willing participants of worldwide “Dshihad”. This is
currently the only interest which is shared between Al-Shabab and the IS. The relationship
between the groups is difficult, due to their history with Al-Qaida. There have been many
approaches on the side of the Islamic States to win the alliance of Al-Shabab. Until now
this has been reportedly unsuccessful.
Al-Shabab and Al-Qaeda relations
On 9 February 2012, Mukhtar Abu al-Zubair ‘Godane’ (Leader of Al-Shabab from 20072014) announced allegiance to Al-Qaeda in a 15-minute video message. ‘Godane’ stated,
“On behalf of the soldiers and the commanders in Al-Shabaab, we pledge allegiance to
you to the path of jihad and martyrdom that was drawn by out imam, the martyr Osama”.
Al-Zawahiri approved and welcomed Al-Shabaab as Al-Qaeda’s Somalia-based affiliate.
In response to Godane's announced name change and merger with al-Qaeda, all other
Shabaab top leaders called a conference in Baidabo. They refused to adopt the new
name (al-Qaeda in East Africa) and they agreed on a new policy, focusing entirely on
domestic issues and with no mention of international struggle.
This open revolt against al-Qaeda from some members made it more likely that AlShabaab would slowly become ready for some sort of negotiated entente. By 2013, the
internal rifts within Al-Shabaab erupted into all-out warfare between Godane's faction and
those of other leaders in the organization. In late June, four senior Shabaab commanders
were executed under the orders of Godane. One of these commanders was Ibrahim alAfghani, who had complained about the leadership style of Godane in a letter to Ayman
al-Zawahiri.
After the death of Godane in 2014 (in a US drone strike), the new leader Abu Ubaidah
(alias Direye) reaffirmed the group’s ties with Al-Qaeda.
Al-Shabab and IS relations
In March 2015 an “emissary” of IS sent a public invitation to Ubaidah, urging him to pledge
loyalty to ISIL.
By the end of the year, cracks started appearing in the group as Abdiqadir Mumin, a
senior Al-Shabab commander deflected to IS along with some 20 of his followers in
October.
After that Al-Shabab started brutally clamping down on IS sympathizers within its ranks. A
leading Al-Shabab official in the Middle Juba region of southern Somalia was
reportedly ambushed and shot dead by fellow members for expressing pro-IS tendencies.
Social media had also lit up with reports of arrests of pro-IS members within the Somali
group, and Al-Shabab’s feared secret police, known as the Amniyat, had reportedly been
rooting out sympathizers.
While numerically small, the defections gave ISIS its first point of contact in East Africa.
In January 2016, the Islamic State released another video urging the “brothers” in alShabaab in Somalia to join their struggle. As of 2016 two senior al-Shabaab commanders
have pledged allegiance to IS.
Experts believe that winning over al-Shabaab, a formidable terrorist group which has
carried out attacks in Kenya and Uganda as well as Somalia, would represent “a massive
scalp” for Isil
Ryan Cummings, chief Africa analyst for Red24, a crisis management firm, said the
allegiance debate was largely generational.
“The senior leadership of al-Shabaab has remained quite loyal to al-Qaeda – the younger
guys who don’t hold the purse strings might be more drawn to Isil,” he said.
References
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http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2015/03/isil-eyes-east-africa-foments-division150322130940108.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/12015075/How-al-Qaeda-and-IslamicState-are-fighting-for-al-Shabaab-affections-in-Somalia.html
http://www.newsweek.com/isis-or-al-qaeda-somalias-al-shabab-divided-over-allegiance-397772
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/kenya/2015-10-08/terrorist-tug-war