TERRORISM: Al-Shabab's Analysis

Al-Shabab controls parts of Somalia , having assumed authorship in the past several bombings in several African countries, having sworn allegiance to al-Qaeda .

The Foreign intervention was crucial for the consolidation of al-Shabab in an autonomous group and its passage of an organization formed by a few hundred fighters for an organized and well funded, with thousands of insurgents .

The socio-political instability in Somalia and the expansion of organized crime and terrorism, particularly al – Shabab, were themes of a conference in London to discuss a political solution to the problem .

The group is characterized by having in its ranks many foreigners among British, American and Dutch. Last year, the British Intelligence expressed concern with the return of citizens residing in the country ( it is estimated that more than 50 British fought for Al - Shabaab ), and would return to the country in the coming years , coming from campaigns to support groups terrorists and insurgents, classifying them as potential threats to internal security .

Islamist insurgents al-Shabaab that integrate the global struggle for the restoration of the Islamic Caliphate, which imposes sharia in areas under its domain, created a Twitter account ( http://twitter.com/HSMPress ) and started " tweeting " English reporting their fighting , spreading their message, recruiting sympathizers militants and raising, seeking to raise funds and defy the government, to have the account suspended .

Islamists obtains funding through networks of collecting taxes from small businesses under his control , taxation on port activities, import and export of goods , coupled with smuggling and piracy. Is important to emphasize the funds obtained through kidnapping and possible arms trafficking in the Sahel . It is suspected that other countries finance the terrorist group and the UN reported the abduction of children to become militants by the group .

In 2009, a french intelligence agent was kidnapped when he was conducting a relief operation with the Somali government official. After the capture of a member of french intelligence, al-Shabab issued a series of demands including the end of the french support the Somali government and the withdrawal of peacekeeping troops from the African Union, whose 17,600 soldiers to help fight the rebels .

Recently, Islamic scholars, elders and imams, both from within and outside the country, condemned the extremism of al-Shabab in a religious conference organized by the Somali government to fight extremism, which incited the population to make a community policing actions against violent and indiscriminate group, which recruits young people attracted by financial reasons, often without ideology.

Analysts said the government should promote social activities to allow opportunities for young people, and considered the fatwa as a risk for the occurrence of actions against the government and the religious, who stood on the condition of enemy militia, which has suffered from internal dissent with death and persecuting those who disengage. After the fatwa came the attack on the Westgate shopping.

Al-Shabab has fallen from a force similar to an army capable of controlling extensive portions of territory for a decentralized, clandestine, toward the realization of complex attacks such as the Westgate or the headquarters of the "Programme of the United Nations Development" ( UNDP ) in Mogadishu , in June 2013.

The al-Shabab vowed allegiance to Ayman al - Zawahiri, personally chosen successor by Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda leader since his death in 2011, being called by extremist mujahideen fighting for reestablishment of the Islamic Caliphate.

http://journalistsresource.org/studies/international/conflicts/al-shabab-somalia-terrorism#
http://csis.org/files/publication/110715_Wise_AlShabaab_AQAM%20Futures%20Case%20Study_WEB.pdf
http://www.start.umd.edu/start/publications/br/STARTBackgroundReport_alShabaabKenya_Sept2013.pdf
http://estudosdeterrorismo2012.blogspot.com.br/
http://blogceiri.com.br/somalia-qual-o-futuro-do-al-shabab/