In Summary
January 18, 2020, Al-Qaeda’s senior management, or general command, released a two-page statement praising the jihadists fighting in Mali and Somalia.
Much of the Al-Qaeda statement focused on the fights in Mali but at the end it praised it affiliated jihadists in Somalia.
Al-Qaeda’s leadership advises the jihadists to take an active role in attacking French and American establishments, their joint forces in the five countries in the Sahel region.
January 29, 2020, the Al-Qaeda official branch in East Africa, Harakat al Shabaab al Mujahideen (HSM) follows the footsteps of its parent group Al-Qaeda and issues a two-page statement praising jihadists fighting in West Africa (Sahel).
The Shabaab statement lauds Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) struggle in West Africa.
Encourages them to march on the path of jihad and strengthen the blows to the ‘crusaders’ in unity until they attain victory.
The statement reflects and seeks to push Al-Qaeda’s agenda in ongoing role in guiding the insurgencies in East and West Africa.
Analysis
The Somali based Al-Shabaab appreciation of other Al-Qaeda branches and networks in traditional jihadist playgrounds is symbolic and also notable.
The question therefore is, is Al-Shabaab terrorist group seeking hegemony and quelling possible jostling for more Al-Qaeda Central attention by its siblings or a sign the group is seeking collaboration and expansion of its influence networks?
The praise message may just be a reminder of their parent group (Al-Qaeda) key goal of targeting the Western interests including their allies. Intelligence reports indicate recent attacks of Al-Qaeda aligned groups in East and West Africa have been following orders from Ayman al-Zawahiri, Al-Qaeda’s emir. For example, the recent attack on US-Kenya manned Camp Simba near the border with Somalia.
Al-Shabaab’s statement among other reasons is aimed at boosting the morale of their foot soldiers from all their global branches to continue with their goal of conducting more attacks in a united global front demystifying their fight is on behalf of ‘Muslim Ummah’.
Al-Shabaab is stamping authority as a notable jihadist player aligned with Al-Qaeda network and citing the parent group has praised the East Africa group for notable attacks such as the Baledogle attacks on U.S. troops in Somalia, Al-Shabaab seeks to extend the same praises to the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) citing a series of successful attacks against the joint forces (G5) in the Sahel region.
Al-Qaeda views United States as its main enemy and thus its primary goal is to fight the US and its allies. US is involved in West Africa counter-terrorism efforts, the same in East African nation Somalia, Al-Shabaab’s home base. While, Al-Shabaab praises jihadists accomplishments especially in Mali against French military troops, also notably, the statement calls for the fighters to target the US crusaders and their allies in these campaigns.
Insights
Shabaab statement announced that the support of the Mujahideen Youth Movement to the Muslim and Muslim Victory Groups, and that the jihadists in East Africa are in support of their fight. Al-Shabaab statement therefore signals the groups approval on the ongoing battles and for the jihadists aligned to Al-Qaeda (Both JNIM and Shabaab) to remain loyal to Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab propagandists making the two-page salutations and publishing it on various pro-websites and social media channels seeks to push the group’s agenda that they are defenders of Islam in East and West Africa.
It is noteworthy that this salutation by Shabaab to jihadists in West Africa and especially the group’s show of support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) in Mali signals an interest of Mujahideen Youth Movement recommending to join forces in the face of the Crusade in Africa.
Also, Al-Qaeda underscores the power of propaganda warfare and its general command therefore encourages the fighters in West Africa to continue producing propaganda, noting that the Islamic Ummah (worldwide community of Muslims) closely follow their, publications statements and media productions.
Finally, the statement is a call to their sympathizers (calling them honorable Muslim Ummah) to fulfill their duty regarding the Islamic cause in Mali and Somalia by supporting the blessed Jihadi movement with everything at their disposal. This means the group is calling for support besides calling ‘potential’ candidates to join their cause; ‘jihad’.
This statement is a wake-up call for joint Sahel (G5) counter-terrorism assets to change strategy in this fight. Also, United States to reconsider its stance of withdrawing its troops as it is critical that jihadist groups could blossom. The total American military presence in Africa is estimated to be between 6,000 and 7,000 troops.
