Al-Shabab

Al-Shabab remains capable of carrying out massive attacks in Somalia and surrounding countries despite a decade-long African Union offensive against the Islamist group. 

Backgrounder by Claire Felter, Jonathan Masters, andMohammed Aly Sergie

Last updated January 9, 2018

Introduction

Al-Shabab, or “the Youth,” is an Islamist insurgent group based in Somalia. It once held sway over the capital of Mogadishu and large portions of the Somali countryside, but in recent years an African Union–led military campaign has pushed it back from major population centers. However, the thousands-strong insurgency remains the principal security challenge in war-torn Somalia. It mounted its deadliest attack yet in late 2017.

What are the origins of al-Shabab?

One of the most impoverished countries in the world, Somalia has seen militant groups come and go in its decades of political upheaval. Analysts say the forerunner of al-Shabab, and the incubator for many of its leaders, was al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI, or “Unity of Islam”), a militant Salafi group that peaked in the 1990s, after the fall of Said Barre’s 1969–1991 regime and the outbreak of civil war. AIAI’s core was a band of Middle East–educated Somali extremists that was partly funded and armed by al-Qaeda’s chief, Osama bin Laden.

(....) Read more: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/al-shabab?utm_medium=social_earned&utm_source=fb&utm_campaign=backgrounder&utm_term=al-shabab&utm_content=011118