Somalia’s Islamic Courts presentation looks at the major players in the Islamic Courts and affiliated Shabab movement. Both organizations have deep ties to al Qaeda and are waging a violent insurgency against the Transitional Federal Goverment and allied Ethiopian forces. Since the Ethiopian military teamed up with the weak Transitional Federal Government to force out the al Qaeda-backed Islamic Courts Union in December 2006, Somalia has been mired in a violent insurgency. The leaders of the Islamic Courts Union escaped the Ethiopian advance and fled to Eritrea and Yemen, where they worked to reconstitute their power. The Islamic Courts Union essentially reformed as Shabab and teamed up with the powerful Hawiye clan to attack Ethiopian and Somali security forces. Ambushes and IED and mortar strikes are a daily occurrence in Mogadishu and the surrounding regions. Shabab is believed to be in outright control of the central Hiran province, while a Somali security official stated that 80 percent of the country was outside of government control. See the Rise and Fall of Somalia’s Islamic Courts: An Online History, for more information on the Islamic Court’s takeover of Somalia and the Ethiopian invasion which ejected them from power for more information. Nick Grace of ThreatsWatch and Dr. Abdiweli Ali contributed to this report.
