Overshadowed by IS, Somalia’s Shebab loses jihadist lustre

Eclipsed by newer, more bloodthirsty and media-savvy global jihadists, Somalia’s Shebab militants are struggling to stay relevant. On Saturday the two most rapidly ascendant militant Islamist groups joined forces, in words at least, as Nigeria’s Boko Haram declared its allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria. The rise of these two groups has left Al-Qaeda aligned Shebab in the dust, damaging its capacity to attract foreign recruits, said Ken Menkhaus, a Somalia expert and professor at Davidson College, North Carolina.

Shebab is really overshadowed by IS.

Menkhaus

Shebab’s internal debate over whether to shift allegiance to the IS franchise intensified with the death of the group’s leader and Al-Qaeda stalwart, Ahmed Abdi Godane, in a US missile strike last year. New emir Ahmed Umar is an al-Qaeda loyalist while other senior figures -– among them Mahad Karate who runs the Amniyat, a special internal security wing that deals in intelligence and assassinations -– advocate for a switch to the ascendant IS, experts say. Shebab has fallen a long way from its height just a few years ago when it was the extremist group of choice for aspiring jihadists worldwide.

Africa Shabab