Al Shabaab and Galgala militants deny each other [report]

[Cowke]

Somalia: Al Shabaab and Galgala militants deny each other [report]

29 Jul 29, 2010 - 11:06:58 AM

 

Somalia's insurgent group Al Shabaab has denied connection to a July 26 battle near Puntland's port city of Bossaso, where Puntland troops killed 13 militants and captured many after Galgala militants attacked an army post, Radio Garowe reports.

 

Al Shabaab Somalia July spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage, alias Ali Dheere, said during a VOA Somali Service interview Thursday: "Al Shabaab is not connected to them [Galgala militants] and it's the local people in Galgala that are fighting against the Puntland government and PIS," a reference to Puntland's intelligence and counterterrorism agency which operates under its new name, Puntland Intelligence Agency (PIA).

 

 

The Al Shabaab spokesman claimed that the "local people have been fighting against oppression by PIA and the Puntland government since the [former Puntland President] Adde Muse's term."

 

Sheikh Ali Dheere, Al Shabaab's spokesman, did not specify exactly what "oppression" he spoke of, but added: "It should not be – that every time a group of Muslim groups fight against current regimes that they are part of Al Shabaab."

 

Many wonder why Al Shabaab, an extremely violent group that proudly claimed the 7/11 bombings that killed more than 70 people watching the 2010 FIFA World Cup in Kampala, Uganda, is now publicly distancing itself from Mr. Atom, a secretive man hiding out in hills with foreign fighters.

 

Al Shabaab and Atom: Identical language

 

Mr. Mohamed Said Atom, the Galgala militants' leader, told the interviewer that the July 26 attack on Puntland army post in Karin, 40km south of Gulf of Aden port city of Bossaso, was "an attack but it was preceded by many things. The attackers were locals."

 

Map of Puntland, Somalia

 

"There is no Al Shabaab involved. Themselves [Al Shabaab] are saying they are not involved," Atom said.

 

But Atom's answers were identical to the words of Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Dheere and Al Shabaab's violent ideology, and he provided disconnected and vague answers to the direct question: "Are you Al Shabaab member?"

 

Both Atom and Ali Dheere claimed that the "local Muslim people" were fighting against the Puntland government, itself an elected Muslim government in federal Somalia, a country that is nearly 100% Muslim.

 

Not surprising, it is part of Al Shabaab's violent ideology to divide humans into those that surrender to Al Qaeda's global war or those that are "infidels."

 

In April, the largest Islamic conference in 20 years was held in Garowe, Puntland's state capital. More than 50 Somali Muslim scholars met for a week, held discussion panels, and declared that Al Shabaab's violent struggle is "not jihad" under Islamic principles.

 

Al Shabaab officials reacted with anger to the conference's outcome and issued threats against the conference's Somali Muslim scholars from all corners of Somalia, including Mogadishu and Somaliland.

 

In line with Al Shabaab dogma, Atom also claimed that "Puntland government was fighting the Muslims by cutting off supplies to Galgala," a reference to a Puntland army siege underway to flush out the Galgala militants.

 

Puntland officials say they are working closely with clan elders and community leaders in Galgala area to ensure that the flow of civilian goods and supplies to the villages always remains open.

 

Asked why he commands a private militia, Atom said: "We are Muslims and we wish to build an Islamic state and to remove the Ashahado la Dirir from Somalia."

 

Since 2006, Al Shabaab and its parent defunct alliance, the Islamic Courts Union, formerly led by current Western-backed TFG President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, have used propaganda phrases like "Ashahado la Dirir" to refer to all groups that oppose them, Somali or foreigner.

 

Observers say Atom's claim to represent "local clan interests" was overshadowed by his interview answers, dominated by references to Islamic state and political language that links him ideologically with anti-peace forces in Somalia, namely Al Shabaab.

 

In March, a United Nations report identified Atom as a weapons supplier to Al Shabaab, giving him intimate connections to the terrorist group whose ranks are infused by foreign fighters from the Middle East, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, according to regional governments like Kenya.

 

The foreign fighters have flocked into Somalia since 2006 after Al Shabaab invited them to fight Al Qaeda's global war against the West and its alies.

 

In Bossaso, sophisticated roadside bombings have killed Puntland soldiers in recent months, and intelligence officials say its another import from Al Shabaab in the terror group's attempt to destablize Puntland.

 

No clan support, Atom isolated

 

In early 2006, Atom was associated with a minor clan uprising in Galgala area against Puntland’s government after clan militias clashed with Puntland troops guarding foreign geologists, who were surveying the hilly region for potential resources.

 

Atom organized a private militia using momentary clan sentiments, but his transformation into a violent criminal in recent years has alienated the local clans, most of who are "wary of the foreign fighters and Somalis from all regions hiding out in the Galgala hills," according to well-informed sources.

 

Many believe that the Galgala militants' July 26 attack on Puntland government forces at Karin army post was a desperate attack, as Puntland's ongoing security crackdown on criminal elements in Bossaso and even expulsion of hundreds who pose security threats has disrupted Atom's terror operations.

 

For months, Puntland officials have blamed Atom's group hiding in the hills of being responsible for bombings and targeted assassinations of government officials.

 

Sources close to clan leaders say Atom is "isolated" and local clans have come out publicly and endorsed Puntland government's security crackdown against the Galgala militants.

 

Analysts say Mr. Atom's isolation and exposure as a violent criminal and his dangerous connections to Al Shabaab has weakened his position significantly and none of the local clans have supported him publicly.

 

It is possible Atom requested Al Shabaab's public rejection as part of a clever plan to deceive people and attempt to hide Atom's exposed nature as Al Shabaab cell. Such thinking would allow Al Shabaab to mask itself in Puntland.

 

But sources say many locals speak of fear of a pending Puntland offensive against Atom's hideouts, as the war of words over the airwaves builds up.

But sources say many locals speak of fear of a pending Puntland offensive against Atom's hideouts, as the war of words over the airwaves builds up.

 

Puntland, located in northeast Somalia, is a self-governing stable region with peaceful elections and which supports the establishment of a federal Somalia.

 

Al Qaeda-backed insurgents who have wreaked havoc in south-central Somalia are actively trying to support new insurgencies in peaceful parts of the country, including Puntland and Somaliland.

 

Puntland's government considers Al Shabaab a terrorist organization and has vowed to crush all threats to state security and has deployed thousands of troops and police in major cities.

 

GAROWE ONLINE