Somali Pirates: Islamist and Jihadist Influences and Funding

by Ganesh Sahathevan

Reuters reports that an explosion of piracy this month off the coast of Somalia is funding a growing insurgency onshore as the hijackers funnel hefty ransom payments to Islamist rebels.

The spike in attacks at sea has coincided with a rise in assaults on land by radical al-Shabaab [the "youth"] insurgents, including the capture on Friday of Somalia's strategic southern port Kismayu.

The United States say al-Shabaab is a terrorist group with close ties to al Qaeda. Experts say some of the businessmen and warlords who command the pirates are also funding the rebels (see

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/mar/102338.htm).

"The entire Somali coastline is now under control of the Islamists," Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, told Reuters in an interview.

(http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSLO00572320080824)

According to Abdisaid M. Ali, a former cabinet secretary in the Transitional Federal Government of

Somalia, and now an independent consultant/analyst on Horn of Africa:

Al-Shabaab and a few other Islamic extremists in Somalia including the ICU have their roots

in the former Al-Itihad Al-Islamiya which also evolved from Somalia’s religious organization,

the Al-Salafiya Al-jadiid in the early 1970’s. Al-Salafiya Al-jadiid was defeated by the former

Somali President (General) Mohamed Siyad Barre) in the late 1970’s and Al-itihad Al-

Islamiya in Somalia was defeated by Col. Abdulahi Yusuf, the present Somali president,

during the early 1990’s in the North East region of Somalia and later by the Ethiopian military

in the Gedo region in Somalia.

The new Al-Shabaab Leadership is decentralized, often with loosely coordinated levels of

leadership that revolve around local villages and religious leaders who are guided by these

scholars for interpretations of the meaning of the Jihad and the Qur’an in specific terms as

well as for the guidance of the armed conflict against the TFG and Ethiopian security forces

and other African peace keeping forces present in Mogadishu. In the past, they used to be in

conflict with traditional religious leaders but the radicals seem to have overpowered them

now.

On the matter of funding:

…(in the case of ) the Somali As-Shabaab Al-Mujahidin, the local mosques, local religious leaders, and local community networks provide the bulk of long term financial support for their logistical and operational needs. Mostly in kind, food, water, shelter, clothing and to some extent extensive sympathy among local communities as they bring some form of justice to the locals and do not abuse ordinary Somalis as does the TFG and other powers such as warlords and corrupt politicians.

To some extent, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states remain the most significant

source of external funds flowing to Somalia’s Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahidin and other radical

Islamist movements in the Horn of Africa through Dubai. In most cases, "charitable

foundations" linked to radical Islam in Somalia, as well as a careful examination of the radical

Islamic funding, indicate a continuing flow of funds directly from official Saudi organizations

to these Horn of Africa terror organisations. For example, The World Assembly for Muslim

Youth (WAMY) and the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) and Somali

businesses in the Gulf States, Europe and the United States as well as Australia and New Zealand and as far as Malaysia and Singapore are active financiers of radical Islamic movements in the Horn of Africa’s financial Jihad.

Southern Somali communities contribute to Al-Shabaab in the form of Zakat for the benefit of

Jihad in Southern Somalia against Ethiopians, TFG and other non violent Muslims.

Praising the merits of financial jihad, Muslim scholars also rely on Islamic tradition (hadith)

attributed to the Prophet Mohammad, which assures Muslims who donate money for jihad the

same reward in Heaven as the mujahidin themselves. According to hadith: "One [Muslim]

who equips a person on his way to raid [to the enemy's camps] in Allah's path [jihad] is

considered to have the same status as the raider [ mujahid ]. One [Muslim] who substitutes

[the raider] concerning his family and [taking care of their needs] with good deeds is

considered to have the same status as the raider [ mujahid ]." Technically therefore, whether

we like it or not, Muslims (provided the council of learned Sheikhs approves) are required to participate in the Jihad. Al-Shabaab is only an armed operation. Others who contribute all the other resources mentioned above also believe they are in the Jihad. (In the case of Somalia,

Jihad may be used euphemistically for clan cause)

(Ali’s paper is  located at http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Digital-Library/Publications/Detail/?ots591=0C54E3B3-1E9C-BE1E-2C24-A6A8C7060233&lng=en&id=55851. It is worth reading in full )

Comments

[Haji Gulleid]

Please read our blog: It is only about Somalia.

I think we're doing the same thing you do only a smaller scale.

Cheers!

[mjt]

Until these terrorists (and that they are) are dealt with in a strong, fast, and necessarily violent manner they are going to continue. Where in the world, or in history, has a terrorist organization stopped reaching for its goals due to simply being paid off? Never. Look at the history of the G"aza Strip. Look at the steps taken by Arafat after the Oslo Peace Accords. Here a terrorist is given the Nobel Peace Prize and he does nothing to fulfill his side of the bargains;in fact, the terrosism escalated.