More on the announcement of merger of Shabaab and the Ras Kamboni Brigade

I’ve obtained a translation of the announcement of the merger of the Ras Kamboni Brigade with Shabaab, and their commitment to establish an Islamic state in the Horn of Africa as well as to support al Qaeda and the “international jihad.” The groups merged on Friday, and today, the announcement was released on the Al Qimmah Forum, an Islamist website run from Sweden. The site is used to post announcements from Islamist groups around the globe. The merger dealt a blow to Hassan Dahir Awey’s Hizbul Islam alliance. For more on this, see LWJ report, “Shabaab absorbs southern Islamist group, splits Hizbul Islam” from earlier today.

Below is a translation of the statement released on the Al Qimmah Forum. The statement also provides a who’s who of the two groups.

By the grace of Allah, the Al Shabaab Mujahideen Movement and the mujahideen of Ras Kamboni Camp today merged under one name: Al Shabaab Mujahideen Movement. The two sides agreed to continue the fight against the enemies of Allah and to seek the establishment of an Islamic government.

Sheikh Fu’ad Mohammed Khalaf and Sheikh Mohammed Dulyadeyn were among the leaders who jointly revealed this at a news conference in Baidoa. The agreement, which contains several items, was read out to the media by Sheikh Fu’ad, who said:

“We hereby state that the two mujahideen brother [groups] have agreed:”

“1. To unite the mujahideen of the two groups.

2. To seek to unify Muslims, especially the mujahideen who still remain out of the merger. We want them to join the mujahideen merger, and Allah will guarantee it.

3. To embark upon the establishment of an Islamic government that implements the law of Allah.

4. To support Muslims, particularly the Muslim people of east and the Horn of Africa living under enemy Christians who are the majority.

5. In order to restore the Muslims’ damaged honor, political power, economic power, and military power, Muslims of the east and the Horn of Africa should be united and hostilities the colonizer has fomented among Muslims of this region be brought to an end.

6. To counter the international crusaders’ war against Muslims and to combine the jihad of the Horn of Africa with the international jihad.”

Sheikh Mohammed Dulyadeyn read out the names of the leaders from the two sides who took part in the talks and are signatories to the agreement. Signatories from the Ras Kamboni side are:

1. Sheikh Hasan Abdullahi Hirsi, also known as Sheikh Hassan Turki

2. Sheikh Mohammed Mohammed Ali, also known as Dulyadeyn

3. Sheikh Mohammed Ahmad Guhad, also known as Abu Sa’ad

4. Sheikh Abdiqadir Abdullahi Mohammed

5. Sheikh Ibrahim Adan Ibrahim

Signatories from al Shabaab Mujahideen Movement are:

1. Sheikh Mukhtar Abdirahman Abu Zubeyr, the Emir of al Shabaab

2. Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Ali, also known as Abu Mansur

3. Sheikh Fu’ad Mohammed Khalaf

4. Sheikh Abdirahman Ahmad Adan, also known as Abdirahman Siro

5. Sheikh Abubakar Zeyli’i

Allah is Great, Allah is Great

All praise is due to Allah

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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