“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a Wahabi State and yet the west has no problem dealing with it. I fail to understand the difference between Somalia under Al Shabab and Saudi Arabia under the Saud”
Al Shabab Al Mujahidin evolved from a fringe group within the Islamic Courts union (ICU) in 2006 to the strongest and most disciplined movement in Somalia that literally controls the South and central regions and also has presence as far as Puntland and Somaliland – no faction or movement ever got to such prominence in the two chaotic decades after the fall of Mr. Barre’s government. Al Shabab has so far dwarfed the concerted efforts of the local warlords camouflaged, by Ethiopia, as the transitional federal government (TFG) and the international community’s negative propaganda and military might. The strength of the movement is attributed to have come from its more lofty religious ideology which transcends the zero sum game of the traditional clan competition which epitomizes the failure of Somalia’s middle class and the fallout of the poorly devised unconstructive intervention of the US through its clientele states of IGAD countries which as consequence translated into a healthy dividend in favour of the movement – AMISOM contingent is the latest and more feeble projects of military nature are said to be in the pipeline.
Al Shabab is a movement oversubscribed by the disenchanted youth that grow up during the civil war and as such has no connection what so ever to the old establishments – the famous old clergy class like Sheikh Omer Faruq and his likes that schooled them in the Wahabi teaching or the household name politician class of yester years. The clergy and the politicians must realize that they can’t lead the kids they let down – Amir Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr was born three days after I sat for my GCSE examination in Shabelle Mennonite mission school . I can hardly relate to the Al Shabab people who grow up in a very harsh time when the only gift from the US are helicopter gunships and mass bombardments as opposed to the Peace Corps and educational materials we used to associate with the Americans during our formative years. Read More
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