{"id":3796,"date":"2010-04-15T21:43:21","date_gmt":"2010-04-16T02:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/?p=3796"},"modified":"2017-01-08T21:53:43","modified_gmt":"2017-01-09T02:53:43","slug":"wooing-bin-laden-cooperation-between-somalias-al-shabaab-movement-and-yemens-al-qaeda-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/?p=3796","title":{"rendered":"Wooing Bin Laden: Cooperation between Somalia\u2019s al-Shabaab Movement and Yemen\u2019s al-Qaeda Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew McGregor<\/strong><\/p>\n

A speech delivered at the conference \u2013 \u201cYemen on the Brink: Implications for U.S. Security Interests in the Horn of Africa,\u201d Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington D.C., April 15, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In early March, there were reports that 12 to 15 al-Qaeda operatives and leaders had left Yemen for Somalia. The men are said to have embarked from al-Mukallah, a Yemeni port in the Hadramaut region commonly used for smuggling or shipping weapons to Somalia. Though numerous Yemeni officials have insisted the Coast Guard is highly active off the coast of Yemen, the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia reports little Coast Guard activity in the area, which despite being controlled by the President\u2019s Republican Guard also continues to be a center of drug smuggling. Other reports suggest the al-Qaeda group reached Somalia via airplane, disguised as humanitarian workers.<\/p>\n

Somali Treasury Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman claims some of the al-Qaeda operatives came by ship from Yemen, while others crossed overland from Eritrea. According to Abdirahman, the al-Qaeda operatives are not Yemenis, but came all the way from Afghanistan and Iraq to escape the military offensives in those countries and because they \u201cbelieve they can do what they like\u201d in Somalia. The Treasury Minister also suggested that this was only an advance party, designed to determine if al-Qaeda\u2019s \u201cbiggest military bases\u201d could be moved to Somalia. Despite this announcement, none of the \u201cal-Qaeda leaders\u201d were named, nor were their positions in the organization announced. The entire story was called into question yesterday when an al-Qaeda source in Yemen denied all such reports, calling them baseless and promising to issue a statement on the allegations soon.<\/p>\n

The current concern over cooperation between militants in Yemen and Somalia began in early January, when al-Shabaab\u2019s Shaykh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur announced that al-Shabaab had decided to send fighters to Yemen to aid their \u201cMuslim brothers\u201d in their battle against Yemen\u2019s regime. The decision was characteristic of al-Shabaab\u2019s short attention span \u2013 the movement always seems to find something else to do other than complete its conquest of Mogadishu.<\/p>\n

Somalia\u2019s Hizbul Islam movement, once a solid ally of al-Shabaab, has also courted controversy in recent days by extending an invitation to Osama bin Laden to come to Somalia. Hizbul Islam says it is also prepared to welcome \u201cevery Muslim fighter\u201d to Somalia to fight the enemies of Allah. These now presumably include al-Shabaab, with which Hizbul Islam is now engaged in bitter fighting in a three-way battle with Mogadishu\u2019s Transitional Federal Government \u2013 the TFG. According to a senior Hizbul Islam official (Moallim Hashi Muhammad Farah), \u201cThe West may call [Bin Laden] a criminal, but we call him our brother and he is not a criminal. Questioning the relationship between us and al-Qaeda is like questioning the relationship between two brothers, and that is not realistic.”<\/p>\n

Despite these reports of al-Qaeda operatives heading for Somalia, there are other reports coming from inside that nation that say the number of foreign fighters active in Somalia is actually decreasing, due to fear of being cornered there by the much anticipated TFG offensive, leading many of these fighters to return home.<\/p>\n

Evidence of Militant Movement between Yemen and Somalia?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Somalia\u2019s Information Minister (Dahir Mahmud Gelle) claims the new goal of al-Shabaab is to \u201cfoment jihad in Yemen,\u201d going so far as to join the Shi\u2019a Huthist rebellion in north Yemen. Though the latter is an unlikely development, persistent rumors place Somali volunteers in the front lines of the Shi\u2019a rebellion.<\/p>\n

Al-Qaeda fighters were reported by U.S. authorities to be leaving Pakistan for Somalia and Yemen a year ago, but, at least so far as Somalia goes, it seems that many of these were actually misidentified Tablighi Jamaat missionaries, many of whom paid for this confusion with their lives shortly after reaching Somalia. In recent months, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has announced an exchange of fighters with Somalia. This was confirmed by al-Shabaab\u2019s spokesman, who said Yemeni fighters would play a major role in al-Shabaab\u2019s military campaign. One al-Qaeda leader, Shaykh Abu-Sufyan Al-Sa’adi, announced how pleased the movement was with Shabaab\u2019s decision to send fighters to Yemen, saying the two movements would soon seize the southern entrance to the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Shaykh Ali Mohamud Raage<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Al-Shabaab spokesman Shaykh Ali Mohamud Raage regards al-Qaeda as nothing more than Muslims who have suffered massacres for practicing Shari\u2019a law and religion in their own country. Al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda share only the \u201cMuslim faith and freedom fighting,\u201d nothing else. Beyond noting that al-Shabaab\u2019s strength is derived internally rather than from foreign fighters, the Shaykh refuses to discuss the exchange of fighters between Somalia and Yemen in the media.<\/p>\n

The TFG\u2019s state minister of defence, Shaykh Yusuf Muhammad Si\u2019ad Indha Adde, threw fuel on the fire by maintaining Osama bin Laden is looking to \u201cmake his biggest base in Somalia,\u201d and is determined to threaten global security by cutting off the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Indha Adde also claims Yemeni rebels are shipping arms to al-Shabaab through the southern Somali port of Kismayo, which is in al-Shabaab hands.<\/p>\n

Taking the Bab al-Mandab Strait: Dream or Possibility?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A videotape released in early February by Sa\u2019id al-Shihri, the deputy leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, declared that al-Qaeda was determined to seize both sides of the vital Bab al-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea in cooperation with their allies in al-Shabaab. The narrow Bab al-Mandab is one of the most important seaways in the world \u2013 most of the Western world\u2019s oil supplies pass through the strait. Closing the strait to the 3,000 tankers a year that use it would effectively close the Suez Canal to most traffic, dealing a deadly blow to Egypt which relies on the canal\u2019s revenues. The only alternative for these vessels would be to sail around Africa\u2019s Cape of Good Hope, adding another 6,000 miles to their journeys.<\/p>\n

According to al-Shihri, controlling this strait and returning it to the \u201cbosom of Islam\u201d would represent a great victory for al-Qaeda and would give the organization \u201cinternational influence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jihadi websites have been studying the means of disrupting shipping in the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Among the ideas are:<\/p>\n