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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Sep 03 2010 - 08:44:22 EDT
Coalition of militants 'the driving force'
September 03 2010 at 11:37AM
By William Maclean
London - Foreign militants do not enjoy universal acceptance in Somalia's
al-Shabaab but outside powers will find it hard to use their presence to
divide and weaken the hardline Islamist insurgency, a US military official
said.
A collection of militants from countries as diverse as Saudi Arabia,
Pakistan, Sudan and the Comoros are the driving force behind the hardline
radical group, which controls swathes of south and central Somalia, several
analysts have said.
Some analysts see potential for fomenting divisions, since more nationalist
al Shabaab footsoldiers share few of the global ambitions of the
al-Qaeda-aligned foreigners, who include some diaspora Somalis who left
homes in the West to join the group.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the foreigners'
presence was constantly discussed in al-Shabaab, perhaps due in part to a
perennial wariness about outsiders.
But this same sensitivity to outsiders meant any attempt by governments who
oppose them to cause rifts would be difficult.
"There are some foreigners among the Islamic insurgency and that is an issue
of tension - to what extent do you want these foreigners helping out?" said
the official, speaking in a briefing on US military support for governments
in the region.
"Does it hurt the cause of Islamic ascendancy in Somalia or does it help it,
on balance? There is a debate."
An attempt by outside powers to highlight these differences would
immediately be suspect because it was not coming from Somalis, and it would
therefore have to be done with finesse.
"Somalia is a really difficult place for the international community to act
just because Somalis do tend to have - I'm generalising which is always
risky - this reaction against foreigners," he said.
Al Shabaab, fighting to topple the Transitional Federal Government (TFG),
claimed responsibility for an attack in Uganda's capital on July 11 that
killed 79 people.
The group said the attack was revenge for Uganda's deployment in an African
Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, which has had no effective government
for two decades and has suffered militia chaos, war and periodic famine in
that time.
The official said the bombing, al Shabaab's first successful foreign strike,
was "a controversial act" that probably created splits in the insurgency's
leadership over tactics "in terms of how to go about getting to that goal
(of an Islamic state). Was this the right time? And the right thing to do?"
"I think the Islamic insurgency moves into uncharted territory (following
the bombing)...because what's the international reaction? Does the
international community get more involved in Somalia because of that?...In
general it opens up a lot of unknowns for the leadership."
The military official said that despite the debate over tactics, the
leadership appeared united on the broad strategy of contributing to
al-Qaeda's global anti-Western campaign.
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