Al Shabaab Name New Leader Aftermath of U.S Strike That killed Former Leader, Promises Revenge

MOGADISHU, Sept 6 (Reuters) -
The Somali Islamist militant group
Al Shabaab confirmed on Saturday that its leader Ahmed Godane had been killed in a U.S. air strike this week and named a new leader, promising "great distress" to its enemies.

U.S. forces struck Godane's encampment in south-central Somalia with Hellfire missiles and laser-guided munitions on Monday, but the Pentagon did not confirm his death until Friday.
Western governments and neighbouring countries want to neutralise a group that they say has exploited Somalia's chaos to attract jihadists and train them to fight.

In a statement, Al Shabaab reaffirmed its affiliation to al Qaeda, and named its new leader as Sheikh Ahmad Umar Abu Ubaidah, warning its enemies to "expect only that which will cause you great distress".
Little is known of al Shabaab's new
leader, but a local elder who asked not be named said he had joined al Shabaab in 2006 and, like Godane, hailed from the Dir clan.
Godane himself was named head of al Shabaab in 2008, less than a week after his predecessor Aden Hashi Ayro was killed in a similar U.S. raid.

Godane dramatically raised the group's profile, carrying out bombings and suicide attacks in Somalia and elsewhere in the region, including last September's attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, in which 67 people died.

Godane publicly claimed responsibility for that attack, saying it was revenge for Kenyan and Western involvement in Somalia and noting its proximity to the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
The militants have also staged guerrilla attacks in parts of the capital, as well as in neighbouring Kenya and Uganda.

The Pentagon said on Friday that
Godane's killing was a "major symbolic and operational loss" for al Shabaab, but some analysts have said it could bring more violence.

Al Shabaab, whose name means "The Youth", said two of Godane's companions had been killed in the
attack, adding: "Avenging the death
of our scholars and leaders is a binding obligation on our shoulders that we will never relinquish or forget, no matter how long it takes."

The group, which aims to impose its own strict version of Islam, controlled Mogadishu and the southern region of Somalia from 2006 until 2011. It was forced out of the capital by peacekeeping forces deployed by the African Union, who have launched a new offensive against the Islamists this year.

Kenya deployed troops with the AU
force to try to prevent al Shabaab
encroaching onto its own territory,
and suffered retribution in the shape of the attack on the Westgate mall.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta
thanked the United States for killing Godane, and "for bringing an end to Godane's career of death and destruction; and finally allowing us to begin our healing process".

- Reuters

Tech-Savvy Al-Shabbab Order Members to Change Mobile Phone Numbers, Ban Members From Using Smartphones

An Al-Shabab directive that all its members change their mobile phone numbers shows how tech-savvy the al-Qaeda-linked Somali Islamist group remains and how their communications strategy is key to their survival.

Concerned that their messages may be intercepted, the leadership has also banned members from using smart phones.

The group has long run what is regarded as a slick media machine.

Even without smart phones, it has been known for its sophisticated handling of social media, a reputation at odds with its regular bans on communication technology for Somali citizens.

In particular, it has made extensive use of Twitter in order to get its message across. It has also devoted considerable resources to producing a series of promotional videos.

Diaspora appeal

Al-Shabab's material aims to spread the group's ideology of establishing an Islamic state in Somalia, in line with al-Qaeda's stated ambition of setting up a global Islamic caliphate.

It wants to achieve this both by military conquest and also the conversion of souls - for which communication technology is a key tool.

Al-Shabab's well-produced video documentaries deliver the jihadi narrative in an appealing form to Somali audiences in the diaspora.

They are aimed at young people of Somali origin such as Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, a suspect in last year's Westgate mall attack in Kenya. His family is said to have moved to Norway as refugees in 1999.

The group's documentaries are produced by its media arm, the al-Kataib foundation.

Many of them show al-Shabab engaging in charity work and other activities that depict the group as a legitimate authority.

However, they can also be quite gruesome - showing the corpses of those they have killed, including alleged spies who are often beheaded.

And they contain threats to their perceived enemies - in Somalia, neighbouring countries such as Kenya which are helping Somalia's government and the West.

The videos portray al-Shabab's fight as part of a wider global conflict in which Islam is under threat.

English and US accents

Al-Shabab also has its own radio station, Radio Andalus.

The group has acquired half a dozen relay stations, mainly by seizing private radio stations such as HornAfrik, Holy Koran Radio and the Global Broadcasting Corporation radio and their equipment - including some from the BBC.

The website Kismaayo News reported that by 2013, the group had 50 journalists working for Andalus radio.

When it comes to recruiting presenters, al-Shabab is known for its attention to detail.

It generally takes care to use presenters with British or American accents to deliver its English language audio statements.

With statements in Arabic, standard Arabic is used, and the presenters clearly have a high level of education in the language and in Islamic texts.

Swahili-language presenters use classical Kiswahili as spoken in Tanzania and coastal Kenya.

The majority of al-Shabab's audio output, though, is in Somali and is presented articulately and fluently.

Twitter frustrations

A number of pro-al-Shabab websites have emerged, which host material produced by the group and act as vehicles for furthering its military aims.

The content is intended to frustrate efforts by the Somali government and its allies - mainly the African Union forces fighting in Somalia - to eliminate the group.

Al-Shabab has often used Twitter to challenge the veracity of claims made by the African Union forces.

Its Twitter accounts are now closed, but Kenya's military spokesman Maj-Gen Chirchir has continued to attack the group's media policy.

On 20 May he tweeted: "Al Shabaab Courtesy calls! The more videos you release to scare Kenyans the more WE make visitations. Consider peace, the better option."

When the group's official spokesman, Sheikh Ali Dheere, appears on video, he is surrounded by fighters.

He reportedly answers to the group's overall leader and oversees a bevy of apparently enthusiastic journalists.

Al-Shabab has honed its media strategy as aggressively as it has enforced its bans on the Somali population.

As the group loses control of parts of the country, it has issued a series of bans on technology:

• Internet: In January 2014, the group declared a ban on using the internet through mobile handsets and fibre optic cables. It said the Muslim population "could be spied on and monitored and information on them transmitted through the internet on their phones". The group also declared that mobile internet devices had "adverse effects on the moral behaviour of the Muslim population in Somalia".

• Smart phones: In 2013 smart phones were banned by the group. Media reports said al-Shabab operatives went round intimidating anyone possessing a smart phone. Their campaign began shortly after a raid on a house in Barawe by US commandos last October. They were targeting al-Shabab commander Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, alias Ikrima. He had lived in Norway but returned after failing to get political asylum there.

• TV: In November 2013 the group's members in Barawe announced via loudspeakers that watching television was banned. They declared that it was against Islamic principles and ordered residents to hand their television sets and satellite dishes to al-Shabab officials.

BBC

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) Calls for Reconciliation Between Jihadist Groups

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), one of al Qaeda's official branches, posted a statement on jihadist forums on Jul. 1 praising the Islamic State's recent military gains in Iraq. AQIM also calls for reconciliation between the ISIS and rival jihadist groups in Syria. The message was first obtained and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group.

The statement was authored on June 22, one week before the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS) rebranded itself as the Islamic State and declared that it now ruled over a caliphate. The Islamic State's controversial caliphate announcement is not, therefore, addressed in AQIM's statement.

AQIM's message is addressed to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS), which is how the group will be referred to here.

AQIM begins by praising "the victories of our people the Sunnis in Iraq under the command of their mujahideen sons, and on top of them the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham" (ISIS). Interestingly, AQIM argues that ISIS' advances in Iraq have "alleviated our calamity in" Syria and "mended the rift and directed arrows of the mujahideen to the necks of the enemies of the Ummah and the religion: the Crusaders, the [Shiites], and the apostates."

Therefore, AQIM sees ISIS' advances in Iraq as aiming the jihadists' "arrows" at their appropriate common enemies, instead of one another. However, the gains made by the ISIS in Iraq have not put an end to the infighting in Syria, where the ISIS and its rivals have battled for months.

After calling for broad support for the jihad in Iraq, AQIM's statement then says the jihadist factions should reconcile their differences. AQIM first addresses the ISIS. "We call upon our mujahideen brothers in Iraq and on top of them, our brothers in the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham [ISIS], to take advantage of these conquests and winds of victory to gather and meet, and forget the past of dispute and conflict, and open a new page with their brothers," the group's statement reads, according to SITE's translation.

Without naming any specific groups in Syria, AQIM addresses jihadists there, arguing that they should support the ISIS' efforts in Iraq. "We call upon our mujahideen brothers in Sham to strongly support the conquests of their brothers in Iraq and protect their backs and provide them with what they need to continue their march and complete their victory, as recommended by our Sheikh and Emir Sheikh Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, may Allah preserve and protect him, because Iraq is a debt upon the entire Ummah."

Courtesy, full article:
Long War Journal