Nigeria Sends Alleged Shabaab Supporter To US For Trial
Brought to U.S., Man Is Charged With Aiding Somali Terrorists – New York Times
This past Monday, Nigerian authorities sent Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed to the United States to face charges that he provided material support to al-Shabaab, the terrorist insurgent group fighting to overthrow the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Somalia. Ahmed is alleged to have received training from al-Shabaab and to have provided the group with approximately five thousand dollars. The indictment also states that Ahmed was found in possession of bomb-making instructions in November 2009 and that he purchased a Kalashnikov rifle and two hand grenades.
Ahmed being tried in the US underscores the fact that Somalia and al-Shabaab have recently been looming large on the US counterterrorism radar. The US has demonstrated its intention to support the TFG in its effort take back Mogadishu, a significant step up from previous military and diplomatic support efforts, and has consistently escalated its criticism of and diplomatic action against Eritrea, who backs al-Shabaab in an effort to destabilize Ethiopia.
Trying alleged Shabaab supporters like Ahmed in US courts could be viewed as a symbolic supplement to a gradually coalescing counterterrorism strategy, a demonstration of America’s commitment to attack al-Shabaab and its support mechanisms on all fronts. It also highlights America’s willingness to work with its international partners, in this case Nigeria, to carry out that effort and pursue terrorists and their supporters through a variety of means wherever they operate.
That being said, however, the Ahmed case also showcases the limits inherent to any large-scale counterterrorism effort in which neither the US nor any viable local partner has a significant in-country presence or coercive capability. Ahmed’s arrest and prosecution are a reminder that training camps in Somalia’s south continue to operate relatively unimpeded, attracting both those seeking to carry out attacks against US-backed TFG and African Union forces in Somalia and foreign recruits who take their skills to conduct attacks abroad. In essence, Ahmed’s alleged activities are a symptom of a much larger problem that US and Somali authorities have shown little ability to solve.
To date, efforts to undermine al-Shabaab through public condemnation and diplomacy efforts, military proxy, targeted assassinations, and pressure on its state support networks have largely failed. To think that breaking al-Shabaab’s hold on southern Somalia can be achieved by prosecuting individuals allegedly supporting the group with four thousand dollars and a Kalashnikov, therefore, seems somewhat fanciful. Though targeting the individuals, terror cells, and funding networks that support al-Shabaab can be an important component of a broader counterterrorism strategy, those efforts must be coupled with a comprehensive policy that attacks the root of the problem more effectively in order to achieve results.
