Skip to content

Somalia in Saudi-released list of Islamic Counterterrorism Coalition

Storyline:National News

Somalia appears in a list released by Saudi Arabia which 34 nations have agreed to form a new “Islamic military alliance” to fight terrorism with a joint operations center based in the kingdom’s capital, Riyadh.

The announcement published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency said the alliance will be Saudi-led and is being established because terrorism “should be fought by all means and collaboration should be made to eliminate it.”

The statement said Islam forbids “corruption and destruction in the world” and that terrorism constitutes “a serious violation of human dignity and rights, especially the right to life and the right to security.”

The new counterterrorism coalition includes nations with large and established armies such as Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt as well as war-torn countries with embattled militaries such as Libya and Yemen. African nations that have suffered militant attacks such as Mali, Chadand Nigeria are also members.

Somali government which struggles to defeat Al-Shabab fighters has yet to comment on the issue.

Two months ago, a senior Al Shabab commander and about 20 of his followers have pledged allegiance to Daesh, the first move of its kind to emerge in the Somali group.

“We, the mujahideen of Somalia, declare allegiance to the caliph as Ebrahim Ibn Awad Ibn Ebrahim Al Awad Al Qurashi,” Abdiqadir Mumin, an al Shabab commander in the Puntland region of Somalia, said in an audio tape published on YouTube.

A follower of al Shabab’s Mumin confirmed the veracity of the recording declaring allegiance to Al Qurashi, better known as Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the leader of Daesh and self-proclaimed caliph of the Muslim world.

“Senior leader Abdiqadir Mumin and his 20 fighters, including me, joined [Daesh],” one of Mumin’s supporters said by telephone.

Mumin had been based in the Galgala hills in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region, said the supporter, who asked not to be identified. The 20 came from a group of 300 in Galgala, he said, adding that his group had now moved to another area.

Although reports indicate that the number of Al-Shabab militants declaring a shift of loyalty to IS is increasing, particularly in Jubaland and Lower Shabelle region, which is also in southern Somalia, the two Islamist groups appear to be using the same banner which has a black flag with Tawheed writing.