The Al-Shabaab Terrorist Group Free Essay Example, 2750 words

Islamic Courts Union was a group of Sharia courts who collaborated to form a rival administration against Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government. ICU was larger group within which Al-Shabaab operated. The ICU broke up, and the Al-Shabaab reorganized themselves into a more combatant group. Al-Shabaab began a campaign of encouraging people from all localities across the country to join their ranks. The motive of this campaign was to encourage additional people to participate in the jihad group operations in order to increase in numbers and maintain power. The chief of awareness raising of Al-Shabaab, Sheikh Mohamed Shongole, requested parents to send their unmarried girls to fight alongside male militants (Little, 2012). Massive inclusion is one of the strategies that terrorists groups employ in order to gain financial and human resources to aid their perilous operations. The initial members of Al-Shabaab are believed to have emerged and organized themselves into a group in 2003 (Leuprecht & Hall, 2013). The group formerly emerged as militant youth wing of al-Ittihad al-Islam. Al-Ittihad al-Islam was one of the Somali extremist groups of 1980s and 1990s. Al-Shabaab remained inactive for several years without taking control of any territory. We will write a custom essay sample on The Al-Shabaab Terrorist Group or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now It is believed that the group might have taken years of rest in organizing deadly attacks to commence later. Leadership challenges and lack of finances were among the constraints that hit the group during this period of inactivity. The year 2006 saw the removal of the Islamic Courts Union from Mogadishu, the Somalia capital, by Ethiopian forces (Leuprecht Eritrea used the group as a proxy against its long-term enemy, Ethiopia. The Al-Shabaab group retreated to the swampy areas of South Somalia from where the members conducted conventional guerilla campaigns that led to the defeat of advancing Ethiopian forces. The association of Al-Shabaab with Al-Qaeda signaled a new approach in 2008.