HIGHLIGHTS OF NIF ROLE IN THE GREATER HORN OF AFRICA

Somalia : The Islamist Threat to the Region
Overview
Beginning in the early 1990's Al Itihaad Al Islamiya (AI AI) or Islamic Union emerged as the most militant Islamist group in Somalia . Other radical Islamic organizations existed in Somalia, but none of them came close to AI AI in its influence within Somalia and its impact on neighboring states, as it used military force, terrorist tactics, and ideological persuasion to achieve its aim of an all Somali Islamic state. AI AI received training and financial support from the Sudanese government and from Al Qaeda, especially during the period 1992-1996 when Sudan was playing host to Osama bin Laden. These external sources of support helped AI AI become a major military player in Somalia , where diverse factional militias vied for power after the collapse of the Somali central government in 1991. This external backing also encouraged AI AI to carry out attacks within Ethiopia that advanced Sudan 's objective of destabilizing Ethiopia and conformed to AI AI stated irredentist aims of bringing all regions inhabited by Somalis into a single Caliphate.
Both Al Qaeda and AI AI are believed to have played roles in the battle against American forces that led to downing of the Black Hawk helicopter in Mogadishu in 1993 and the death of 18 American soldiers and hundreds of Somalis. This incident and the subsequent parading of the bodies of American soldiers that was seen on international television created the public opinion context in which President Bill Clinton ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Somalia . Osama bin Laden has claimed that this action was part of his organization's campaign against an American presence in the Horn of Africa region. It was also at this time that AI AI reportedly called for a Jihad against the United States , as part of its opposition to the U.S.-led intervention. The U.N. and the U.S. later implicated AI AI cadre in the bombing of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998, and in September 2001 President George W. Bush declared AI AI an ally of Al Qaeda and ordered all of AI AI's assets frozen. AI AI fighters also killed a U.S. aid worker in Ras Kamboni in southern Somalia in 1999.
In the late 1990's, Ethiopian forces allied with local Somali militias routed AI AI fighters in Somalia . After this reversal of military fortunes, AI AI deviated from what appears to have been its primary Taliban-like practice of achieving power through territorial conquest and adopted an approached similar to that of the National Islamic Front in Sudan that emphasized penetrating existing political institutions to achieve its Islamist aims. AI AI then re-emerged within the capital Mogadishu as an "Islamic Court" enforcing Islamic law with its own paramilitary force and continues to seek influence in other areas of the country, including the self-administered territory of Puntland . Elements of AI AI-dominated Islamic Courts merged into the judicial, security and administrative apparatus of the Transitional National Government currently in place in Mogadishu .
AI AI remains a threat to regional stability. In the past, it has cooperated with Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations in undertaking operations in East Africa . AI AI has itself engaged in terrorist action inside Ethiopia ; it appears to be actively creating a base of support within the Somali communities of Kenya 's North Eastern Province ; its fighters are responsible for the unprovoked murder of a U.S. aid worker; and some of its fighters have engaged in maritime piracy. Since 9/11, AI AI and much of its leadership have reduced their visibility, but there is no reason to believe that they have ended their association with international terrorism. AI AI likely continues its relationship with Al Qaeda, as Al Qaeda continues to use Mogadishu as a base for operations in East Africa . Although not as potent a military force as it once was, due in large measure to decisive military and political interventions by Ethiopia , AI AI's espousal of the formation of a pan-Somali state means that it maintains intentions on territory inside Kenya , Ethiopia and Djibouti . Ascension by the organization and its members to power in Somalia holds the promise of aggressive actions against neighboring states. Factions within Somalia are on the cusp of achieving a plan for national political reconciliation and the establishment of a clan-based government of national unity. It is yet to be seen how the militant Islamists fare in their ongoing bid to achieve state power in this new context.

Arabic Forum