• Terrorist Organization Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, 2006
  

The group is an offshoot of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), which splintered into several smaller factions after its defeat in 2006 against the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and the TFG's Ethiopian military allies. Al-Shabaab describes itself as waging jihad against "enemies of Islam", and is engaged in combat against the TFG and the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM). Alleging ulterior motives on the part of foreign organizations, group members have also reportedly intimidated, kidnapped and killed aid workers, leading to a suspension of humanitarian operations and an exodus of relief agents. The outfit has been designated a terrorist organization by several western governments and security services.

In early August 2011, the TFG's troops and their AMISOM allies reportedly managed to capture all of Mogadishu from the Al-Shabaab militants. An ideological rift within the group's leadership also emerged in response to pressure from the recent drought and the assassination of top officials in the organization. Al Shabaab is hostile to Sufi traditions and has often clashed with the militant Sufi group Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a.

Al-Shabaab is also known as Ash-Shabaab, Hizbul Shabaab (Arabic, "The Party of Youth"), and the Popular Resistance Movement in the Land of the Two Migrations (PRM). For short, the group is referred to as HSM, standing for Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen. The term Shabaab means "youth" in Arabic, and the organization should not be confused with similarly named groups.

Although Al Shabaab's leadership ultimately falls upon al-Qaeda leader, the internal leadership is not fully clear, and with foreign fighters trickling out of the country, there is less and less central command. In December 2010, al-Qaeda replaced Moktar Ali Zubeyr "Godane" with Ibrahim al-Afghani, also known as Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad. But Al Shabaab refused to comply, and Godane continued to function as its Emir. The group was originally run by Aden Hashi Farah "Ayro", who was appointed by Hassan Dahir Aweys, one of the leaders of ICU at the time of the organization's founding. After the death of Ayro, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow (also known as Abu Mansur) became leader until he was succeeded by Moktar Ali Zubeyr "Godane". In August 2011, Godane was heavily criticized by Al-Shabaab co-founder Hassan Dahir Aweys and others for not letting aid into the hunger stricken parts of Southern Somalia. Although not formally announced, in effect, Shabaab was split up in a 'foreign legion', led by Godane and a coalition of factions forming a 'national legion' under Aways, often refusing to take orders from Godane, and hardly talking to each other. In February 2012, Godane made a 'Bayat' statement, swearing full allegiance to Al-Qaeda. With it he likely hopes to reclaim and extend authority, and to encourage foreign fighters to stay. This move will further complicate the cooperation with the 'national legion' of Al Shabaab.

Amir

• Sheikh Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow" (2002 – 2008) — central Hawiye clan
• Sheikh Mukhtar Robow "Abu Mansoor" (2008 – 2009) — He was referred to as The Speaker, not Amir. Leesaan sub-clan of southern Rahanweyn clan
• Sheikh Moktar Ali Zubeyr "Godane" (2009 – 2010) — Arab sub-clan of northern Isaaq clan
• Sheikh Ibrahim al-Afghani — Sacad Muse sub-clan of Isaaq clan

Other leaders:

• Sheikh Mukhtar Robow "Abu Mansoor" — Second Deputy Leader and regional commander in charge of Bay and Bakool. (Leesaan sub-clan of Rahanweyn)
• Sheikh Fuad Mohammed Khalaf "Shangole" — Third most important leader after "Godane" and "Abu Mansoor". In charge of public affairs. (Awrtabe sub-clan of Darod)
• Hassan Dahir Aweys - Spiritual Leader
• Sheikh Hussein Ali Fidow — Political Chief
• Sheikh Ali Mohamud Raghe "Dheere" — He is from Hawiye Murusade clan. Official Spokesman. (Not to be confused with the Sheikh Ali Dhere who established the first Islamic court in Mogadishu in 1996.)
• Sheikh Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad "al-Afghani" (Abubakar al-Seyli'i) — First Deputy Leader and Governor of the Kisimayo administration (Sacad Muse sub-clan of Isaaq)
• Sheikh Hassan Yaqub Ali — Official spokesman of the Kisimayo administration (Sacad Muse sub-clan of Isaaq)
• Sheik Ali Mohamed Hussein — Leader (Governor) of Banaadir region (Mogadishu)
• Sheikh Abdirahman Hassan Hussein — Leader (Governor) of the Middle Shabelle region
• Sheikh Hassan Abdullah Hersi "al-Turki" — Leader of the Ras Kamboni Brigades which controls the Juba Valley and was first part of Hizbul Islam but merged with al-Shabaab in 2010. (Ogaden sub-clan of Darod)
• Sheikh Mohamed Said Atom - Warlord and arms dealer who in July 2010 announced allegiance to al-Shabaab and the al-Shabaab commander in Puntland.
• Mukhtar Abu-Muslim - Head of Fatwas, from Darod clan of Ogaden sub-clan.
• Abdulahi Haji "Daud" - Head of assassinations, from Hawiye clan of Murursade sub-clan.
• Sahal Isku Dhuuq Head of kidnappings of aid workers for ransom, from Dir clan of Biyomaal sub-clan.
• Hassan Afrah - Head of relationship with pirates, from Hawiye clan of Saleban sub-clan.
• Dahir Gamaey "Abdi Al-Haq" - Judge of Al-Shabaab, from Hawiye clan of Duduble sub-clan.

Al-Shabaab is said to have many foreigners within its ranks, particularly at its leadership. Fighters from the Persian Gulf and international jihadists were called to join the holy war against the Somali government and its Ethiopian allies. Though Somali Islamists did not originally use suicide bombing tactics, the foreign elements of Al-Shabaab are blamed for several suicide bombings. A 2006 UN report identified Iran, Libya and Egypt, among others in the larger region, as the main backers of the Islamist extremists. Egypt has a longstanding policy of securing the Nile River flow by destabilizing Ethiopia.

Formally a predominantly nationalist organization, Al Shabaab has repositioned itself as a militant Islamist group that also attracts a large cadre of Western devotees. The outfit's foreign recruitment strategy has been active in the United States, where members have attempted to recruit from the local Muslim community. According to an investigative report from the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, Al Shabaab has recruited over 40 Muslim Americans since 2007. These American and foreign recruits play a dual role within the organization as mercenaries and as a propaganda tool for radicalization and recruitment. These recruited individuals, like Omar Hammami, appear in propaganda videos posted in online forums in order to appeal to disaffected Muslim youth and inspire them to join the Islamist struggle. This radicalization and recruitment effort is a top-down strategy, wherein Islamist agents attempt to use mosques and legitimate businesses as a cover to meet, recruit, and raise funds for operations in the US and abroad.

Most of the foreign Al-Shabaab members come from Yemen, Sudan, the Swahili Coast, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. As of 2010, they are estimated at between 200 to 300 operatives, augmented by around 1,000 diasporan ethnic Somalis. Many of Al-Shabaab's foot soldiers also belong to Somalia's marginalized ethnic minorities from the farming south.

Foreigners from Afghanistan and Iraq as well as Afghan trained Somalis play an important role in the group's leadership ranks due to their combat experience. Bringing with them specialized skills, these commanders often spearhead the indoctrination of new recruits, providing training in remote controlled roadside bombings, suicide attack techniques, assassinations and kidnappings of government officials, journalists, humanitarian and civil society workers.

Foreign al-Shabaab commanders include:

Foreign leaders:

• Fazul Abdullah Mohammed: Fazul, a Kenyan national, was appointed by Osama bin Laden as al Qaeda's leader in East Africa in late 2009. Before the death of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, Fazul served as the military operations chief for al Qaeda in East Africa. Fazul was an experienced al Qaeda leader who is known to be able to move in and out of East African countries with ease. In August 2008, he slipped a police dragnet in Kenya. Fazul had been sheltering in Somalia with Shabaab and the Islamic Courts for years. Fazul was considered to be Shabaab's military leader, while Sheikh Muktar Abdelrahman Abu Zubeyr is Shabaab's spiritual leader. He was killed on 8 June 2011.
• Shaykh Muhammad Abu Fa'id: Fai'd, a Saudi citizen, serves as a top financier and a "manager" for Shabaab.
• Abu Musa Mombasa: Mombasa, a Pakistani citizen, serves as Shabaab's chief of security and training.
• Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki: Amriki, whose real name is Omar Hammami, is a US citizen who converted to Islam and traveled to Somalia in 2006. Once in Somalia, he quickly rose through the ranks, and now serves as a military commander, recruiter, financier, and propagandist. Amriki appears in several Shabaab propaganda tapes. Hammami has become a primary recruiter for Al Shabaab; he has issued written statements on behalf of Al Shabaab and has appeared in the terror organization's propaganda videos and audio recordings. An indictment unsealed in August 2010 charged him with providing material support to terrorists.
• Mahmud Mujajir: Mujajir, a Sudanese citizen, is Shabaab's chief of recruitment for suicide bombers.

One who was not mentioned but reported by the Long War Journal is

• Issa Osman Issa: Issa serves as a top al Qaeda recruiter and military strategist for Shabaab. Before joining Shabaab, Issa participated in the simultaneous attacks on the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998, and has been described as a central player in the simultaneous attacks on the Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, Kenya, in 2002, and the attempt to down an Israeli airliner in Mombasa also in 2002.

While Al-Shabaab previously represented the hard line militant youth movement within the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), it is now described as an extremist splinter group of the ICU. However, since the ICU's downfall, the distinction between the youth movement and the so-called successor organization to the ICU, the PRM, appears to have been blurred. Al-Shabaab had recently begun encouraging people from across society, including elders, to join their ranks. In February 2012, Sheikh Fu'ad Mohamed Khalaf Shongole, the chief of awareness raising of al-Shabaab, said that "At this stage of the jihad, fathers and mothers must send their unmarried girls to fight alongside the (male) militants". The addition of elders and young girls marks a change in the movement, which had previously involved only men, particularly young boys.

Their core comprised veterans who fought and defeated the secular Mogadishu warlords of the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter - Terrorism (ARPCT) at the Second Battle of Mogadishu. Their origins are not clearly known, but former members say Hizbul Shabaab was founded as early as 2004. Al-Shabaab also has various foreign fighters from around the world, according to an Islamic hardliner Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Manssor.

As of January 2009, Ethiopian forces have withdrawn from Somalia and Al-Shabaab carries on its fight against former ally and Islamic Courts Union leader, President Sharif Ahmed, who heads the Transitional Federal Government. Al-Shabaab has had success in its campaigns against the weak Transitional Federal Government, capturing Baidoa, the base of the Transitional Federal Parliament, on January 26, 2009, and killing three ministers of the government in a December 3, 2009 suicide bomb attack on a medical school graduation ceremony.

On the other hand, in the areas it controls, Al-Shabaab has reduced oversized cheap food imports. This has allowed Somalia's own grain production, which normally has high potential, to flourish. This had the effect of shifting income from urban to rural areas, from mid income groups to low income groups, and from overseas farmers to local farmers. The policy worked remarkably well until drought hampered local food production increasingly since 2010. In response, Al-Shabaab announced in July 2011 that it had withdrawn its restrictions on international humanitarian workers.

According to the head of the U.N.'s counter piracy division, Colonel John Steed, Al-Shabaab in 2011 also increasingly sought to cooperate with other criminal organizations and pirate gangs in the face of dwindling funds and resources. Steed, however, acknowledged that he had no definite proof of operational ties between the Islamist militants and the pirates. Detained pirates also indicated to UNODC officials that some measure of cooperation on their part with Al-Shabaab militants was necessary, as they have increasingly launched maritime raids from areas in southern Somalia controlled by the insurgent outfit. Al-Shabaab members have also extorted the pirates, demanding protection money from them and forcing seized pirate gang leaders in Harardhere to hand over 20% of future ransom proceeds.

While Al-Shabaab has been reduced in power and size since the coordinated operation between the Somalian military and the Kenyan army against it began, the group has continued its efforts at recruitment and territorial control. The outfit maintains training camps within areas near Kismayo in the southern regions of Somalia. One such camp has been constructed in Laanta Bur village near Afgooye, which is also where the former K-50 airport is located.

The U.S. has asserted that al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda pose a global threat. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta stated that "U.S. operations against al-Qaida are now concentrating on key groups in Yemen, Somalia and North Africa."

Complaints made against the group include its attacks on aid workers and harsh enforcement of Sharia law. According to journalist Jon Lee Anderson:

The number of people in Somalia who are dependent on international food aid has tripled since 2007, to an estimated 3.6 million. But there is no permanent foreign expatriate presence in southern Somalia, because the Shabaab has declared war on the UN and on Western non - governmental organizations. International relief supplies are flown or shipped into the country and distributed, wherever possible, through local relief workers. Insurgents routinely attack and murder them, too; forty - two have been killed in the past two years alone.

Anderson also reports that enforcement of law against adultery or zina includes execution. In 2008,

in the port of Kismayo, a young girl accused of adultery was buried up to her neck in the field of a soccer stadium packed with spectators, and then stoned to death; her family said that she was only thirteen years old and had in fact been gang raped. This summer, in the ancient coastal town of Merca, the Shabaab decreed that gold and silver dental fillings were un - Islamic, and dispatched patrols to yank them out of people's mouths.

Shabaab have persecuted Somalia's small Christian minority, sometimes affixing the label on people they suspect of working for Ethiopian intelligence. The group has also desecrated the graves of prominent Sufi Muslims in addition to a Sufi mosque and university, claiming that Sufi practices conflict with their strict interpretation of Islamic law. This has led to confrontations with Sufi organized armed groups who have organized under the banner of Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a.

Echoing the transition from a nationalistic struggle to one with religious pretenses, Al Shabaab’s propaganda strategy is starting to reflect this shift. Through their religious rhetoric Al Shabaab attempts to recruit and radicalize potential candidates, demoralize their enemies, and dominate dialogue in both national and international media. According to reports Al Shabaab is trying to intensify the conflict: "It would appear from the alleged AMISOM killings that it is determined to portray the war as an affair between Christians and Muslims to shore up support for its fledgling cause... The bodies, some beheaded, were displayed alongside Bibles and crucifixes. The group usually beheads those who have embraced Christianity or Western ideals. militants have begun placing beheaded corpses next to bibles and crucifixes in order to intimidate local populations.” In April 2010 Al Shabaab announced that it would begin banning radio stations from broadcasting BBC and Voice of America, claiming that they were spreading Christian propaganda. By effectively shutting down the Somali media they gain greater control of the dialog surrounding their activities.

Al-Shabaab achieved a military victory in the August 2008 Battle of Kismayo. After several days of fighting in which scores of deaths were reported, Al-Shabaab fighters defeated the militia of Barre Adan Shire Hiiraale and took control of the port city. Kismayo had been held by the TFG since January 2007. The fighting in Kismayo is reported to have displaced an estimated 35,000 people. After the withdrawal of Hiiraale's fighters, Al-Shabaab commenced a peaceful disarmament process targeting local armed groups that had been contributing to insecurity in Kismayo. The group has been blamed or claimed responsibility for, among other attacks, the February 2008 Bosaso bombings and the 2008 Hargeisa – Bosaso bombings. By late 2008, it was estimated that the group controlled the whole of southern Somalia, except for some pockets of Mogadishu. This was more territory than that controlled by the Islamic Courts Union at the height of their power.

In December 2008, Anwar al-Awlaki sent a communique to Al-Shabaab, congratulating them. He thanked them for "giving us a living example of how we as Muslims should proceed to change our situation. The ballot has failed us, but the bullet has not". In conclusion, he wrote: "if my circumstances would have allowed, I would not have hesitated in joining you and being a soldier in your ranks".

In 2009, Al-Shabaab witnessed a number of its fighters, including several leaders, defect to Somalia's Transitional Federal Government. One such high profile defection was that in early November 2009 of Sheikh Mohamed Abdullahi (also known as "Sheikh Bakistani"), who commanded the Maymana Brigade. Sheikh Bakistani told Voice of America (VOA) Somali Services that he found the group's suicide missions and executions unbearable. He also indicated that his father, a well known local religious leader, had visited him several times and helped convince him to defect. However, a spokesman for Al-Shabaab denied that Sheikh Bakistani was a member of the group. During the same month, in an interview with Agence France - Presse (AFP) in Villa Somalia arranged by the Somali federal government, one former Al-Shabaab fighter reported being disillusioned with the group's direction, indicating that while he began fighting in 2006 "to kick out the Ethiopian invaders", he defected a month ago, "disgusted by the false interpretations Al-Shabaab give of Islam". Similarly, a former Hizbul Islam commander recently defected to the Somali government; one of his family members (another Hizbul Islam commander) had been murdered by Al-Shabaab militants as punishment for having escorted a UN convoy. He said in the VOA interview that "if you don't want to fight anymore, there's no point. That's why I quit".

In early December 2009, Sheikh Ali Hassan Gheddi, who at the time served as Deputy Commander in Chief of Al-Shabaab militants in the Middle Shabele region, also defected to the government, indicating that "Al-Shabaab's cruelty against the people is what forced me to defect to the government side. They extort money from the people and deal with them against the teaching of Islam". Another reason he gave for defecting was Al-Shabaab's recent prohibition on the UN World Food Programme (WFP) because he felt that it directly affects civilians.

With monies from extortion dwindling in areas like Mogadishu, defections in the face of AMISOM forces, among other internal issues, Al Shabaab is turning to other militant Islamic groups for support. Al Shabaab has declared their support in order to bolster their numbers and has made a number of strategic operational ties to both Al Qaeda and AQAP in Yemen. In some cases Al Shabaab has begun flying the Al Qeada - Iraq banner at some of its rallies in order to demonstrate solidarity with the group. There are signs that Al Shabaab militants are learning from Al Qaeda’s propaganda methods. “Shabaab’s propaganda has increasingly been slicked up to resemble messages produced by Al Qaeda’s “As-Sahab” (“The Clouds”) media wing and AQAP’s “Inspire” magazine, including the release of rap songs by Omar Hammami.” It is unclear how the death of AQAP leader Anwar al-Aulaqi and others has affected this bourgeoning relationship between the two. As is evident by their merger with Hizb-ul-Islam in December 2010, Al Shabaab is turning to former rivals for assistance as their numbers decrease due to defections and casualties directly resulting from battles with AMISOM forces.

Al Shabaab uses various mediums in order to proliferate their propaganda. Besides traditional radio, the internet is the most heavily utilized by Al Shabaab and other militant Islamic groups such Al Qaeda because it is the easiest and most cost effective way to reach a large audience. As the internet is especially popular with today's youth, organizations such as Al Shabaab are using online forums and chat rooms in order to recruit young followers to their cause. Al Shabaab's official website, which has since been taken down, featured posts, videos and official statements in English, Arabic and Somali, as well as online classrooms to educate followers.

Prior to its expulsion from Mogadishu in mid 2011, Al-Shabaab had also launched the Al-Kataib propaganda television station the year before. The channel's pilot program aired the confessions of Ahmed Kisi, an alleged CIA spy, who had been executed earlier in the week.

In addition, Al-Shabaab is also using music to influence and appeal to their young followers. According to Robin Wright, "by 2010, almost eight out of every ten soldiers in Somalia's many rebel forces were children", which are especially influenced and susceptible messages conveyed to modern, western themed music. One of Al Shabaab’s foreign born leaders, American Omar Hammami, aka Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki, gained notoriety after an April 2009 video of him rapping about jihad. Hammami's most recent song, "Send Me a Cruise", debuted online on April 9, 2011.

On December 7, 2011, Al-Shabaab also reportedly began using the Twitter social media network. The move is believed to be an attempt by the group to counteract tweets by allied officials, and to serve as venue for the dissemination of information on alleged casualties as well as a way to interact with the press. The account, HSMPress, has attracted over eight thousand followers for its witty taunts of the KDF in general and its official spokesman, Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir, with whom it has frequent exchanges, in particular.

For example, after Chirchir upbraided the Shabaab for not letting women in the areas under their control wear bras, saying life had more to offer, HSMPress retorted "Like bombing donkeys, you mean!" referring to a recent announcement by Chirchir that any large group of loaded donkeys would be considered a target. "Your eccentric battle strategy has got animal rights groups quite concerned, Major." Later, responding to Chirchir's claim that Kismayo had been captured by the KDF, HSMPress said the Kenyan "boys are a grotesque parody of an army! They can outpace ur world class runners by far. Indeed, they ‘Run like a Kenyan’". The account shows a less belligerent side with others, telling a UN official who queried "it is good when extremists or perceived extremists come out and talk [..] can we have a coffee with them too?" that "a caramel macchiato would do!"

While it is not known for certain if the HSMPress account is sanctioned by the Shabaab, both Western and African Union officials believe that it is. It has relayed information about battle outcomes that has sometimes been more accurate than its opponents, and posted pictures of authentic identity cards of missing AMISOM peacekeepers that were presumably killed in combat. The account itself is operated by a man with the nom de guerre Sheik Yoonis, who has in the past responded to press questions during telephone interviews in a "clipped British accent".

Most of Al-Shabaab's messages on Twitter are in English, with authorities suggesting that they are intended for an outside audience and potential recruits in the West. Officials in the United States, where Twitter is based, are exploring legal ways to terminate the account, although they acknowledge that doing so might raise free speech concerns. Chirchir commented in a tweet of his own that such a move would be counterproductive, as "Al Shabaab needs to be engaged positively and twitter is the only avenue".

Following the 2011 Eastern Africa drought, Al Shabaab adapted its propaganda strategy to accommodate the changing circumstances. In some cases, group members employed humanitarian aid as a recruitment tool, using relief supplies as bribes and as an incentive to join the militants, whose numbers had decreased due to casualties and defections. Group members dismissed the UN declaration of famine in various regions as grossly exaggerated and banned various organizations from providing aid to those regions.

In response, the Prime Minister of Somalia Abdiweli Mohamed Ali in July 2011 appointed a national committee to tackle the severe drought affecting the southern part of the country, and the following month announced the creation of a new 300 man security force. Assisted by African Union peacekeepers, the military unit had as its primary goal to protect convoys and aid from the Al-Shabaab rebels, as well as to secure the IDP camps when the relief supplies are being distributed.

Although fighting disrupted aid delivery in some areas, a scaling up of relief operations in mid November prompted the UN to downgrade the humanitarian situation in several regions from famine to emergency levels. Humanitarian access to Al-Shabaab controlled areas had also improved and rainfall had surpassed expectations, improving the prospects of a good harvest in early 2012. In February 2012, the UN declares that Somalia has produced a bumper harvest, and that the famine is over.

Since the TFG led Operation Linda Nchi between the Somalian National Army (SNA) and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) against Al-Shabaab militants in southern Somalia began, Al Shabaab has been intensifying its propaganda effort – a signal perhaps that militant forces is growing desperate as it suffers heavy losses. Group members have started to diversify their tactics, engaging in various methods in order to demoralize the allied forces. According to the Associated Press, Al Shabaab has resorted to dressing up some of its own casualties in TFG and AU uniforms, although an African Union spokesman indicated that only two corpses of AU soldiers were unaccounted for. About half of the dead bodies were also visibly Somali, prompting eye witnesses to suggest that they were fallen Somali government soldiers. The remainder were dressed in Burundi military uniforms and resembled non - Somali foreigners, with Al-Shabaab militants displaying a Bible and some crucifixes reportedly taken from the deceased. Additionally, Al Shabaab has been conducting militia parades as a show of force in cities such as Marka.

As Al Shabaab is suffering heavy military losses, the effectiveness of their propaganda campaign to date is somewhat inconclusive. What is apparent, however, is that they are increasing their propaganda efforts without corresponding response from TFG, AMISOM and KDF forces. Al Shabaab retreats from regions in southern Somalia and areas around Mogadishu are falsely heralded as tactical maneuvers by the militants who are facing defeat - while the allied forces remain largely muted on the success that they have made in the region.

The propaganda techniques employed by Al Shabaab show the stark contrast between militant forces and the conventional armies of AMISOM. While Shabaab forces act with impunity in regards to their guerrilla tactics, the allied forces are obligated to comply with articles of the Geneva Convention which require them to warn civilians of air raids and troop movements – oftentimes informing the very militants they intend to strike and leaving them unable to act when they observe flagrant militant activities. According to Al-Jazeera, Al-Shabaab have also attempted to capitalize on the coordinated incursion by depicting itself as a resistance force fighting foreign occupiers and urged local residents to take up arms against the Kenyan soldiers.

On February 9, 2012, Mukhtar Abu al-Zubair 'Godane' announced in a fifteen minute video message that Al-Shabaab would be joining the Islamist militant terrorist organization al-Qaeda, under the leadership of Ayman al-Zawahiri. Al-Zubair stated, "On behalf of the soldiers and the commanders in al-Shabaab, we pledge allegiance to you. So lead us to the path of jihad and martyrdom that was drawn by our imam, the martyr Osama." Al-Zawahiri approved and welcomed Al-Shabaab as al-Qaeda's Somalia based terrorist cell in a 15 minute video response, stating "Today, I have glad tidings for the Muslim Ummah that will please the believers and disturb the disbelievers, which is the joining of the Shabaab al-Mujahideen Movement in Somalia to Qaeda al-Jihad, to support the jihadi unity against the Zio - Crusader campaign and their assistants amongst the treacherous agent rulers." The merger follows reports about a rift in the leadership, and it coincides with reports about large factions breaking away from Al Shabaab, and up to 500 Al Shabaab fighters fleeing or leaving southern Somalia for Yemen, where a full Al Qaeda branch AQAP is stepping up operations, under perceived increased military pressure since a new president took office.

Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government now recognizes them as one group. In a speech to Mogadishu residents, Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said that “From today onwards there is not such thing as Al-Shabaab but just Al-Qaeda.”

In response to Godane's announced name change and merger with al-Qaeda, all other Shabaab top leaders called a conference in Baidabo. They refused to adopt the new name (al-Qaeda in East Africa) and they agreed on a new policy, focusing entirely on domestic issues. No mention any more of any international struggle. One significant policy, is to form a national, independent Shuria of Islamic clerics, which means also independent of Al-Qaeda. With it, they seem to try to remove some obstacles for reaching an entente with their Sufi opponents, and to avoid getting targeted by US drones.

This open revolt against Al-Qaeda makes it more likely that Al Shabaab slowly becomes ready for some sort of negotiated entente. At February 23, 2012, while Shabaab was pushed out of several strongholds, Radio Magadishu reported that 120 Al-Qaeda leaders and followers have fled from Kismayo to Yemen. Aways was appointed military commander of Kismayo and the south.

In December 2009, the United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions on Eritrea, accusing the Horn of Africa country of arming and providing financial aid to militia groups in southern Somalia's conflict zones, including Al-Shabaab. Plane loads of weapons said to be coming from Eritrea were sent to anti - government rebels in southern Somalia. AU peacekeepers also reportedly captured some Eritrean soldiers and prisoners of war. In 2010, the UN International Monitoring Group (IMG) also published a report charging the Eritrean government of continuing to offer support to rebel groups in southern Somalia, despite the sanctions already placed on the nation. The Eritrean administration emphatically denied the accusations, describing them as "concocted, baseless and unfounded" and demanding concrete evidence to be made publicly available, with an independent platform through which it may in turn issue a response. In November 2011 the UN Monitoring Group repeated claims that Eritrea would support al-Shabaab. The report says that Eritrea gives US$ 80,000 each month to al-Shabaab linked individuals in Nairobi.

In 2010, reports surfaced linking the secessionist government of the northwestern Somaliland region with the Islamist extremists that are currently waging war against the Transitional Federal Government and its African Union allies. The International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA) published several reports shortly after the 2010 presidential elections in Somaliland, accusing the enclave's newly elected president Ahmed M. Mahamoud Silanyo of having strong ties with Islamist groups, and suggesting that his political party Kulmiye won the election in large part due to support from a broad - based network of Islamists, including Al-Shabaab. The ISSA also described Dr. Mohamed Abdi Gaboose, Somaliland's new Interior Minister, as an Islamist with "strong personal connections with al-Shabaab", and predicted that the militant group would consequently be empowered.

In January 2011, Puntland accused Somaliland of providing a safe haven for Mohamed Said Atom, an arms smuggler believed to be allied with al-Shabaab. Somaliland strenuously denied the charges, calling them a smokescreen to divert attention from Puntland's own activities.

Atom and his men were reportedly hiding out and receiving medical attention in Somaliland after being pursued by Puntland forces in late 2010. The Puntland Intelligence Agency also claimed that over 70 Somaliland soldiers had fought alongside Atom's militiamen, including one known intelligence official who died in battle. Somaliland media reported in January that Atom's representative requested military assistance from the Somaliland authorities, and that he denied that Atom's militia was linked to al-Shabaab.

Puntland government documents claim that Atom's militia were used as proxy agents in 2006. They accuse Somaliland of offering financial and military assistance to destabilize Puntland and distract attention from attempts to occupy the disputed Sool province.