In a move to assist newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Somalia’s
fight against al-Shabaab, President Joe Biden this week approved the re





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President Joe Biden Authorizes Redeployment Of U.S. Troops To Help Combat
Al-Shabaab In Somalia

 

(New York, N.Y.) — In a move to assist newly elected President Hassan Sheikh
Mohamud in Somalia’s fight against al-Shabaab, President Joe Biden this week
approved
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the redeployment of U.S. ground forces to the country—a reversal from the
previous administration’s late-2020 decision to withdraw from the region. Along
with redeployment, Biden also approved a request from the Pentagon to actively
target about a dozen al-Shabaab leaders in the country.

 

Since 2012, Somalia has been confronted with increasing attacks by the
al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab, a U.S.-designatedForeign Terrorist Organization
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attacks from the terrorist group, Somalia’s presidential and parliamentary
elections had been delayed since 2021. According to security analysts, the
power vacuum resulting from the divisions between Somali political leaders
provided a boost to al-Shabaab militants.

 

“For several years now, East Africa, the Sahel, and West Africa have witnessed
a declining security environment in parallel with an unprecedented growth of
terrorist groups linked both to al-Qaeda as well as ISIS. Regional terrorist
networks of affiliates of global terrorism structures—such as the al-Qaeda
coalition Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin’ (JNIM), the Islamic State West
Africa Province, Islamic State Greater Sahara Province, and the Islamic State
Central Africa Province—have transformed this part of the continent into an
active terrorist zone. Al-Shabaab in East Africa, based in Somalia with cells
in the wider region, was able to take advantage of Somalia’s political
instability to solidify its position in the country,” said Counter Extremism
Project (CEP) Senior DirectorDr. Hans-Jakob Schindler
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Administration’s strategic decision to once again conduct counter terrorist
operations against al-Shabaab is an important milestone in steadying Somalia
and by extension also East Africa.”

 

The order for U.S. forces to deploy comes weeks after the U.N. Security Council
voted
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unanimously to endorse the African Union’s new transitional mission in Somalia
(ATMIS). On March 31, 2022, the new mission was authorized to take action
against al-Qaeda and ISIS and conduct a phased handover of security
responsibilities to Somalia’s government. ATMIS replaces the African Union
Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which had been in the Horn of Africa nation for 15
years trying to build peace and security in the area.

 

To read CEP’s resource Somalia: Extremism and Terrorism, please click here
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To read CEP’s resource Al-Shabaab, please click here
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