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Article Copied from Somali Analyst: in order to understand the current Al-shbaab we must understand its roots and track back fifteen years or more.
Most of this article is referenced in an assay wrote by investigative journalist based in Nairobi, N. Gardaad in 2016.
What we know today as Alshabab have their roots in the now defunct Islamic Courts Union (ICU) organization, which briefly took control of southern Somalia and Mogadishu in the summer of 2006. In late 2006, several factions of the ICU, representing the more radical elements within ICU, such as the Raskamboni brigade, the Salahudin group, and Mogadishuโs CC district group, came together to form a powerful faction within the ICU. This new faction was to be called โAl-shababโ. Al-shabab, thus, became the military wing of the ICU. Even before the invasion of Ethiopia the power struggle within the ICU had begun. THe ICU was dominated mostly by clerks and individuals who hailed from Galmudug and Jubbaland area. The most notable of the early ICU were Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, Sheikh Yusuf Indhacade, Hassan Turki and the young firebrand Ahmed H. Ayrow who later became the commander of the military wing of the Al-shabaab. Yet, one of the largest groups or clans that is based both in Central shabbelle and Benadir were missing from the movement.
In order to make it more acceptable to the central Shebelle group, Aweys and other main principles decided to make the face of the ICU a young judge based in in Jowhar, Central Shabelle. THus, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed became the face of the movement and its leader. In early 2000-2002 many local Sharia courts mushroomed in the capital and surrounding region to allow the movements of the people and create a semi legal courts to address local crimes and confront the warlords. While these courts created some peace among the locals, they usually punish the poor and those without powerful connection. While some of the local Ulema meant well to create law and order others were using the courts for means to gain power. In fact, as early as 1998, Cali Mahdi, the first president since the collapse of the state , in an interview with New York Times, said, " we are both Muslims, but these guys , the courts led by Sheikh Cali Dheere at the time , are using religion as means to gain power".
Even before the invasion of Ethiopia, an intense ideological and conflict was brooming among the moderate wings led by Shariif Sheikh Ahmed and the firebrands of the Al-shbaab wing led by Ahmed H. Cayrow, Ahmed Godane and Fuad Shongole. In one famous incident, Sharrif Ahmed cooled down the ICU hrethric and appealed for dialogue. After that statement, in the middle of the night Hashi Ayrow and company took him out and asked him to repent or will be judged and executed. Some members of IC court leadership , like Sheikh Yusuf INdhacade were even Goading Ethiopia for war. When I asked a leading in scholar why hasten a military confrontation with major regional power like Ethiopia knowing well the consequences of all out war, he said, Indhacade wanted to decimate the hated Al-shabaab through the Ethiopian military.
Then came the Ethiopian invasion at the end of 2006. The Ethiopian army, supported by the American special operations forces, quickly routed the lightly armed ICU forces. The ICU leaders scattered. The most senior members fled to Eritrea, where they worked with nationalist groups and formed Alliance for Restoration against the Ethiopians. Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the ICU chief, was rescued by the American CIA from the jungles of JUbbaland and transferred to Nairobi unbeknown to most of the IC leadership. He was accommodated in Nairobi and then facilitated to travel to Asmara Eritrea.
While the Somali parliament based in Mogadishu was struggling to make ends meet, Walad Cabdalla , the UN envoy for Somalia, paid the salaries of leadership of the Alliance and the exiled parliament while in Asmara. Shariif Ahmed negotiated with the UN and Ethiopia to become the candidate of the Alliance in hastily organized election in Djibouti. THe UN told him to write down in a piece of paper 250 members of parliament and contest the election which guaranteed his victory. Among those voting for Shariif were Ahmed Madoobe freed from Ethiopian jail. In 2011, Ethiopia insisted Madoobe to lead the JUbbaland liberation movement rejecting the architect of the project Proff. Mohamed A. Gandhi. While vying for power today, Shariif Ahmed is well aware by now that the sweet deal arrangement in Djibouti will never happen again in history. As part of the agreement, Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia partially. However the Ethiopian invasions impact on Alshabab was to be far more covert and longer lasting. While Al-shabaab was the most fearless elements that attacked relentlessly the Ethiopian army and forced its eventual withdrawal, the new Al-Shbaab became totally a different animal.
While the bombings and attacks continued after the Ethiopian invasion, Targets of the the new Al-shabaab mostly became against Somalis . As of today, the casualty ratio of the foreign forces compared to Somalis is probably 100 to 1.
THE COVERT COUP: Intelligence takes over Al -shabab.
Most people do not realize that targeted killing of prominent Somalis especially former military officers of Somalia started before even Al-shbaab was created. Targeted killing of officers started the year the Carta transitional government was formed in 2000. I had compiled a long list of killings between the year 2000-2006 in a file which i lost two years ago due to virus or some other unknown hacking. Among the early officers in 2000 was a Somali army colonel killed in Lafoole area by three assailants. He fought back and even wounded one of them. General MOhamed Cabdi was killed in MOgadishu after he preformed prayers at a local Masjid in 2004. Even Sheikh Hassan D, Aweys said that the man was his close friends and doesn't understand why would anyone anong the would target. Other Somali officers who did not leave the country after the collapse of 1991 and remained in Mogadishu were killed one by one before even Al-shabaab was formed. In other words, targeted killing of the prominent Somalis was going on before and after Al-shabaab was created.
When Alshabab was first created in 2006, the top leadership of the organization consisted of well known members from the Islamist movement in Somalia. Adan Hashi Ayro, the ICUโs top military commander, was chosen to be the overall commander of the new Alshabab forces. Sheikh Hasan Turki, the leader of the powerful Raskamboni Brigade, was elected as the new groupโs chairman of the Shura council. Ismail Arale, a moderate Islamist from the Somaliland region, was elected as the Amir (leader) of the group. Ahmed Madobe, the current president of the Jubba regional Administration, was elected as the deputy Amir. This military wing was incorporated with the Islamic court Union whose executive branch and Shura council was led by Shariif Ahmed and Sheikh Dahir Awaysrespectively.
The Ethiopian and other foreign intelligence operatives worked hard not only to decimate the original Alshabab leadership, but also to infiltrate the group and control it. In January of 2007, the Ethiopian forces with the support of American Special Forces captured Ahmed Madobe, the deputy Amir of Alshabab, after he was wounded by an American air strike in JUbbaland. Allegedly, he was betrayed by informants who were part of his group as he was targeted while deep inside the lower Jubba jungle west of the city of Kismayo. But the worst was yet to come for Alshabab. The Amir of the group, Ismail Arale, was captured by American forces in Djibouti while on his way to Eritrea for the opposition conference. He was transferred to Guantanamo Bay where he was incarcerated for several years (as prisoner number DJ9SO-010027DP) before he was finally released. In fact, when the Americans found out that Caraale was not that different than Shariif Ahmed in his views , they released him. Today he lives in Hargeisa.
