A young boy leads hard-line Islamist al-Shabab fighters as they conduct military exercises in northern Mogadishu’s Suqaholaha neighborhood, Somalia.
FILE – A young boy leads hard-line Islamist al-Shabab fighters as they conduct military exercises in northern Mogadishu’s Suqaholaha neighborhood, Somalia.
The militant group al-Shabab, once a threat primarily in Somalia, has grown and expanded its aspirations, operations and aims, and is preparing to wage a long war in East Africa, according to analysts and experts on the region.
East Africa’s Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which works for peace, prosperity and regional integration among its eight member states, declared this week that al-Shabab is now a “transnational” organization projecting threats of extremist violence far beyond Somalia.
“Even if al-Shabab were to be defeated tomorrow I think it has inspired a generation of jihadists from across the region, from different countries, who are likely to continue,” says Matt Bryden, a director and senior analyst for the Sahan Foundation, which conducted IGAD’s regional study on al-Shabab.
“Al-Shabab is clearly no longer an exclusively Somali problem, and requires a concerted international response,” the IGAD report said, noting that al-Shabab is active is six countries of the region – Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Tanzania.
Bryden traces the roots of al-Shabab back to 2009, when the group was a purely Somali organization but was also attracting many foreign adherents, in particular Swahili speakers.
“In East Africa, among Swahili-speaking populations, this goes beyond al-Shabab as a Somali organization sending agents to operate in neighboring countries,” says Bryden. “Al-Shabab’s propaganda is now heavily populated with radio, video and articles in Kiswahili. It’s clearly targeting recruits in East Africa.”