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1 [1] (November 6, 2017)

handle is hein.crs/goveatg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Senvce Inforrning the legislative debate since 1914 Updated November 6, 2017 Al Shabaab Al Shabaab (aka Harakat Shabaab al Mujahidin, or Mujahidin Youth Movement) is an insurgent and terrorist group that evolved out of a militant wing of Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts in the mid-2000s. In its formative years, Al Shabaab drew on historical anti-Ethiopian sentiment among Somalis for recruits and support, including among the Somali diaspora in the United States and Europe. Ethiopia intervened in Somalia in 2006 to oust the council's nascent government. Al Shabaab held significant territory in south-central Somalia, including the capital, Mogadishu, in the late 2000s, until the U.N.- authorized African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) gained momentum against the insurgency through a series of military offensives in 2011-2012. Al Shabaab continues to wage an asymmetric campaign against the Somali government, AMISOM, and international targets in Somalia. It has killed thousands of Somali civilians. While Al Shabaab has primarily focused on its agenda in Somalia, it has also threatened the countries contributing troops to AMISOM and successfully conducted deadly terrorist attacks in Djibouti, Kenya, and Uganda. Its activity in Kenya has increased since Kenya's 2011 military intervention in Somalia against the group. Al Shabaab attacks have killed hundreds in Kenya. The group's April 2015 assault on a university in northeast Kenya, which killed at least 147 people, was Kenya's deadliest terrorist attack since the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing by Al Qaeda. Al Shabaab's ability to recruit abroad, including among U.S. citizens, has been of concern to U.S. policymakers. Its ties with other terrorist groups, most notably Al Qaeda (AQ) and its Yemen affiliate, and its threats against international targets also elevate its profile among extremist groups in Africa. Reports suggest that some foreign fighters may have deserted or left for other jihadist theaters in recent years. Others, including Kenyan recruits, may be trained in Somalia and deployed for attacks elsewhere in East Africa. Leadership Al Shabaab's former emir, Ahmed Abdi Godane (aka Abu Zubeyr), was killed in a U.S. airstrike on September 1, 2014. His predecessor, Aden Hashi Ayro, was killed in a 2008 U.S. missile strike. The group suffered infighting in its senior ranks under Godane, who consolidated power by neutralizing his rivals within the movement in 2012-2013. American jihadist and Al Shabaab member Omar Hammami was among Godane's most vocal critics before the Al Shabaab leader reportedly had him killed in 2013. Godane's highly centralized leadership style and strategic approach led several prominent leaders to leave the group or surrender to local authorities in exchange for amnesty. Some additional defections have occurred since his death. Al Shabaab announced Ahmed Diriye (aka Abu Ubaidah), one of Godane's inner circle, as his successor and reaffirmed their allegiance to Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri. Al Shabaab's leadership have maintained allegiance to Al Qaeda despite defections by small factions of fighters to the Islamic State (IS/ISIS). Objectives Al Shabaab broadly ascribes to an irredentist and religiously driven vision of uniting ethnic Somali-inhabited areas of Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Somalia under an Islamist government. Its leaders have also repeatedly expressed their commitment to the global jihad movement, although there is some question as to how committed some Somali foot soldiers are to this aspect of its agenda. The group has justified its attacks outside Somalia as retaliation for participation in, or support for, AMISOM and/or as retribution for alleged abuses against Muslims in Somalia and the broader region. Its operations in Kenya appear focused on sowing internal dissent and fear and on fomenting a domestic insurgency. Its April 2015 attack on a university in the northeast town of Garissa reportedly targeted non-Muslims specifically. The U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia has stated that Al Shabaab has both the capability to carry out another such attack and a self- proclaimed motive with regard to targeting countries contributing troops to AMISOM. Al Shabaab uses a variety of propaganda tools to spread its message, including social media, online forum posts, and an English and Swahili magazine, Gaidi Mtaani (Terrorist on the Street). In some areas of Somalia, Al Shabaab capitalizes on grievances and distrust of the government and fills local governance roles, providing services and resolving disputes. Areas of Operation While Al Shabaab's base of operations remains in Somalia, it has increasingly conducted attacks in Kenya since 2011 and has demonstrated an ability to strike targets in Uganda and Djibouti. Reported attempts to attack Ethiopia have been, to date, unsuccessful. Regional militaries' offensives in 2011-2012 pushed the group from Mogadishu and other major southern cities and ports, and subsequent offensives against the group reclaimed additional key towns, including the port city of Barawe, a key militant base until October 2014. Al Shabaab maintains the ability to conduct attacks in the capital and other areas, however, and continues to control territory in some rural parts of south-central Somalia. AMISOM and the Somali forces have struggled to provide security in reclaimed areas and along supply routes. Al Shabaab is also operational in parts of northern Somalia and reportedly maintains cells and/or relationships with affiliated groups in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. A small Al Shabaab faction in the Somali state of Puntland led by Abdulqadir Mumin broke away in late 2015 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. ittps://crsreports.conqross.gov