Introduction
Harakat al Shabaab al Mujahideen, commonly known as Al-Shabaab is an Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in East Africa. For nearly two decades, Al-Shabaab has endured as the most potent and lethal jihadist force in Somalia, at times controlling large portions of the country and building a global profile as a key player in the wider global jihadist landscape. Further, Al-Shabaab’s experience recruiting and integrating foreign fighters into its ranks serves as a useful case study on jihadist group identity and national versus global ideological ambitions.
The jihadist group has been able to conduct operations in East Africa under a chain of command that appears flexible. The terror group has multiple cells, units, divisions and figures with diverse powers, nonetheless, that do not mean Al-Shabaab are not politically organized. In terms of hierarchical structure of its leadership Al-Shabaab is well organized with independent components.
At the top, Al-Shabaab is headed by a supreme a central commander which also known as Emir. The emir (leader) is helped by a deputy and also mostly relies on ten-member council, in a form of top shura majlis or body of cabinet. It is this body (shura council) who decide all major activities and operations to be undertaken by the group. Under this is the consultative council or the general shura majlis which comprises of junior Emirs in charge of several sub divisions of different areas covering traditional areas like politics, media, and daily military operations.
The Profile of Al-Shabaab Emir, Ahmad Umar (Abu Ubaidah).
Ahmad Umar, also known as Abu Ubaidah, is the current emir/leader of Al-Shabaab terrorist with its home-base in Somalia. The then Al-Shabaab spokesman Ahmed Abdiaw Mohamed announced Umar as the group’s emir (leader) on September 6, 2014, after a September 1 U.S. airstrike killed former Al-Shabaab emir Ahmed Abdi Godane.
Abu Ubaidah was part of Godane’s inner circle and a confidant at the time of Godane’s death. The United Nations had subjected Ubaidah to sanctions pursuant to paragraph 8 of UN Security Council Resolution 1844 on September 24, 2014 while Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) had put a bounty reward of up-to $2-million award for information leading to the killing or capture of Ubaidah, on September 27, 2014. Ubaidah is believed to be in his fifties is from Somali town of Luq, Gedo region and proximal to Ethiopian border. The current Shabaab leader hails the minority Dir clan. He joined the al Ittihad al Islamiya and the Ras Kamboni Brigade in 1996 where he immediately embarked on studying religious education and learned to read and write both Arabic and Somali.
In 2000, Ubaidah is reported to haveruna Qur’anic school in Kismayo in Lower Jubba region and by 2006 becoming a low-ranking officer in the Islamic Courts Union. While serving at the courts, he earned a reputation as a brutal punisher of non-Muslims. Abu Ubaidah joined Al-Shabaab fold in 2007 and began working with the group’s late military commander Aden Hashi Farah Ayro where he rose through the ranks to Godane’s Deputy/Assistant in 2008 following Ayro’s death and was promoted to be Al-Shabaab’s deputy governor of Lower Jubba region, which was under Shabaab’s control, the same year.
On June 29, 2009, Abu Ubaidah became Al-Shabaab’s governor of Bay and Bakool regions, where his reputation continued to come out by enforcing a strict interpretation of shari’a. During his reign as governor, he mandated strict rules for humanitarian organizations operating in Bay and Bakool and strictly banned any sign of Western culture. In August 2009 alongside the then Al-Shabaab deputy governor for Gedo region, Ma’alin Osman, and governor for Hiraan region, Abukar Ali Aden were public figures for Al-Shabaab and were engaged in a major fundraising event to get funds to facilitate the group’s operations in their respective areas of responsibility. In January 2011, Abu Ubaihah also hosted a meeting with local businessmen that was aimed at negotiating funding for Al-Shabaab’s fighters and also attended a similar ceremony with Al-Shabaab senior leaders including Sheikh Mukhtar Robow and Fuad Mohamed Qalaf Shongole in March 2011.
Clan politics come out robustly and mostly influenced Ubaidah’s decision making especially when he was Al-Shabaab’s governor for Bay and Bakool regions of Somalia. For instance, a rift between Ubaidah and his deputy Ma’alim Abdullahi Gab, reportedly was deep-rooted in clan politics, appeared in August 2011 subsequently Ubaidah sacked/dismissed Gab. Ubaidah continued to rise in ranks.
Notably, Godane appointed Abu Ubaidah as a transitional military commander of Bay, Bakool, and Gedo regions in January 2012 after Godane sacked/dismissed former military commander Moalim Jinaw. The then Al-Shabaab leader (Godane) promoted Ubaidah to be his advisor in November 2013. Abu Ubaidah is believed to have played a pivotal role in Godane’s internal purge of the group’s foreign fighters in 2012-2013 and he received credit for leading the group that tracked down and killed the American Al-Shabaab member, Omar Hammami, also known as Abu Mansur al Amriki. In2014,Ubaidah accepted a position prior to his appointment as emir in Al-Shabaab’s Interior Maktab (Department) in which he oversaw the group’s domestic activity.
There have been conflicting reports detailing the process of Abu Ubaidah’s appointment to emir of Al-Shabaab terrorist group. It is not clear whether Godane had a determined successor or al Shabaab’s leadership chose Ubaidah. However, there are Al-Shabaab sources report that indicate a unanimous decision among the group’s top leaders to choose Ubaidah. Other sources suggest that not all senior leaders may have been present during the decision-making process due to security safe guards that would have precluded gathering in a single location.
Other Key Leadership within Al-Shabaab.
In order to run its operations from across the regions of Somalia, the group hierarchical structures play a pivotal role in making sure the group’s operations are conducted seamless. Notably in the leadership structure of Al-Shabaab military branch which is touted as the most important branch of the organization. It has two sub-units; namely Jaysh Al-‘Usr or the army of hardship and suffering, and the judicial, social and economic branch, Jaysh Al-Hisbah, using the term coined by ibn Taymiyah. The functions of the hisbah branch are among others to upload law and moral principles in the society and to oversee the general welfare of the public. The hisbah also acts as a religious council, manages the shari‘a courts and at the same time it enforces the laws through its Islamic Police Force or aysh al-Hisbah.
At management, Emir of Shabaab has appointed political and a military representative for each region under its control. There are four main geographical regions, namely; the Bay and Bokool regions, south-central and Mogadishu region, the Juba Valley region and the semi-autonomous regions of Puntland and Somaliland. Al-Shabaab leadership is somehow decentralized and regional commanders can pursue operations without necessarily consulting the shura council.
Ideology
Abu Ubaidah adheres to takfiri ideology just like his predecessor Ahmed Godane. Ubaidah’s position in Godane’s inner circle makes it highly likely that he shared Godane’s vision for Al-Shabaab, centered on the rejection of Somali nationalist goals and an understanding of the group’s efforts in Somalia as just one front in Al-Qaeda’s global jihad.
Under the stewardship of Abu Ubaidah, Al-Shabaab’s main political ideology is to establish an Islamic Emirati (State) in Somalia. By that, the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab as a group aims to overrun Somalia and eventually spill-over its ideology throughout the Horn of Africa. From there, they move towards the Central, South and Eastern Africa at large.
References:
Sheikh Ahmed Umar Abu Ubaidah aka Ahmed Diriye; Al-Shabaab’s Indifferent Takfiri Emir: https://intelligencebriefs.com/sheikh-ahmed-umar-abu-ubaidah-aka-ahmed-diriye-al-shabaabs-indifferent-takfiri-emir/
Al-Shabaab Leadership & Organizational Structure: https://rampages.us/shabaab301/2015/07/12/al-shabaab-leadership-organizational-structure/
Examining Extremism: Harakat al Shabaab al Mujahideen (al Shabaab): https://www.csis.org/blogs/examining-extremism/examining-extremism-harakat-al-shabaab-al-mujahideen-al-shabaab