Somalia’s Al-Shabab Join Al-Qaeda

Somalia’s Al-Shabab Join Al-Qaeda
ICC Note
Al-Shabab is a radical Islamic group that fights to create an Islamic state in Somalia.The group has been hunting down and killing Christian converts from Islam. The group’s decision to join al-Qaeda will exacebrate the persecution of Christians in Somalia.
02/10/2012 Somalia (BBC News)-Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which controls much of Somalia, has released a joint video with al-Qaeda, announcing the two groups have merged.
Al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, known as Mukhtar Abu Zubair, said he “pledged obedience” to al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The two groups have long worked together and foreigners are known to fight alongside Somali militants.
The announcement comes as al-Shabab is under pressure on several fronts.
Africa Union troops supporting the forces of the UN-backed government have taken control of the capital, Mogadishu, while both Kenya and Ethiopia have sent forces into Somalia to push back the Islamists.
Al-Shabab, however, still controls many southern and central areas of the country.
However, correspondents say al-Shabab’s policy of banning many foreign aid agencies from areas it controls during the region’s worst drought in 60 years has lost the group some of its popular support.
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BBC Somali editor Yusuf Garaad Omar says the merger of al-Shabab and al-Qaeda has the potential to change the dynamics of the conflict in Somalia.
During the 15-minute Arabic-language video posted on jihadist websites, Zawahiri said the move was “good news” for al-Qaeda.
Analysts say the announcement helps boost al-Qaeda after its leader Osama Bin Laden was killed last year.
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“Al-Shabab’s acceptance under the al-Qaeda umbrella probably came with permission from Zawahiri for the group to launch external operations against the West.”
This week, the London-based Royal United Services Institute think-tank warned that about 50 Britons were training with al-Shabab and could return to attack the UK.
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