As Somalis prepare for only their third general election in 60 years,
al-Shabaab has been escalating its attacks throughout the country. More than a d


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Al-Shabaab Attacks Escalate As Somalia Prepares For National Elections

(New York, N.Y.) – As Somalis prepare for only their third general election in
60 years, al-Shabaab has been escalating its attacks throughout the country.
More than a dozen deadly attackswere reported
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over the last week alone, underscoring al-Shabaab’s unrelenting campaign of
violence despite ongoing U.S. airstrikes on the terrorist group.

 

On November 1, Somalia will hold
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parliamentary elections, and the presidential election is expected in early
2021. Fears of al-Shabaab attacks disrupting the elections stem from past
violence that targeted delegates who voted in previous parliamentary elections.
Al-Shabaab militants are responsible for the deaths of dozens of past delegates.

 

In 2012, Somalia held its first presidential election in 45 years, resulting
in the creation of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS). African Union and
FGS forces have had some success in ousting al-Shabaab from the country’s major
cities, and the FGS now maintains control of the capital, Mogadishu. However,
al-Shabaab is still able to maintain an operational capability in Mogadishu and
seek refuge in rural areas and along the Kenya-Ethiopia border. In addition to
al-Shabaab, other clan militias and Islamist militant groups continue to
dominate in large areas in the rest of the country. These groups continue to
clash with each other as well as with government forces.

 

One such incident came on December 11, 2016, when a suicide truck bomber drove
into Somalia’s largest port in Mogadishu and detonated his explosives, killing
29 people and wounding 48 others. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the
attack, saying that it sought to disrupt the country’s parliamentary elections
scheduled for the end of that month. Al-Shabaab’s military operations spokesman
Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab claimed the targets of the attack were police
officers stationed at the port “because [the officers] had been trained to
provide security at [the] so-called elections.” Previously, al-Shabaab has
accused presidential and parliamentary candidates in Somalia of being puppets
of Western powers.

 

To read CEP’s Al-Shabaab resource, please click here
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To read CEP’s Somalia resource, please click here
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