Spies, stonework, and the suuq: Somali nationalism and the narrative politics of pro-Harakat Al Shabaab Al Mujaahidiin online propaganda

ABSTRACT

Since 2013, media affiliates of Harakat Al Shabaab Al Mujaahidiin (HSM) have been producing and disseminating online documentary-style videos presenting daily life in areas of south-central Somalia under the militant group’s control. In the context of their wider ‘jihad’ waged against foreign occupiers and an ‘apostate’ Federal Government, these videos feature narratives of nationalist economic self-determination as alternatives to aid dependence and the allegedly nefarious interference of external powers in Somalia. This paper analyses the iconography of these videos in the context of the ‘narrative politics’ of a fragmented modern Somalia. If HSM has, at times, been characterised by a broad ideological divide between factions with an ‘internationalist’ jihadi outlook and those with a more pragmatic ‘nationalist’ worldview, then the discourses of this latter faction require detailed analysis not only for a clearer understanding of the internal dynamics of the HSM insurgency but also in regards to the wider role of narratives of Somali ethno-nationalism in ongoing processes of state reconfiguration. The paper argues that although HSM no longer benefits from the popular nationalist kudos it previously enjoyed in its resistance to the Ethiopian invasion of 2006, it nonetheless operates in a discursive battlefield where narratives around malign foreign intervention – based on exploitation of socio-political divisions of society and the dependence brought by external humanitarian aid – transcend the movement itself and find expression in the wider public spheres of news media and popular commentary.

KEYWORDS:

• Conflict
• Al Shabaab
• Somalia
• media
• Islamism
• nationalism
• aid

Acknowledgements

Between 2012 and 2014 I was employed by a major international humanitarian organization in southern Somalia. Although part of my work involved local media monitoring, this analysis was written after this employment and following a dedicated six-month period of fieldwork in Somalia and Kenya. The analysis contained within is my own and does not in any way represent the views of that organisation. I am grateful to several former colleagues for offering me assistance and insight with regards to my fieldwork and I wish to thank the anonymous peer-reviewers for their detailed critical feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. I employ this acronym for ‘Al Shabaab’ as it denotes the ‘official’ and full name of the group (the organisation or its supporters rarely use the moniker ‘Al Shabaab’ on its own but rather ‘The Mujaahidiin’ or Xarakaad Al Shabaab, the Al Shabaab Movement). Whilst I would otherwise use the Somali orthography for the acronym (thus XSM), the ‘HSM’ tag has been used by the group in the past for public (English) communication, such as for Twitter feeds accounts associated with its spokesmen (@HSMpress).

2. ^.United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea Report 12 July 2013: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2013/413.

3. For an overview of Salafi or Wahabi forms of ‘fundamentalist’ Sunni Islam and their different political or military manifestations see Wiktorowicz, “Anatomy of the Salafi Movement”.

4. Halgan.net, 9 April,2015: “Dowladda Federaalka Soomaaliya oo lacag dul dhigtay 11 hogaamiye oo ka tirsan Al-shabaab” [The Federal Government puts money on the head of 11 Al Shabaab leaders]: http://halgan.net/2015/04/dowladda-federaalka-soomaaliya-oo-lacag-dul-dhigtay-11-hogaamiye-oo-ka-tirsan-al-shabaab/.

5. Habermas, The Theory of Communicative Action.

6. Lucaites and Condit, “Re-constructing Narrative Theory.”

7. Hammond, “Somalia Rising”; Guardian newspaper, 22 January 2016, “Defiant Somalis Condemn Al Shabaab Beach Attack”: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/22/somalia-lido-beach-mogadishu-tweetlidopictures-alshabaab.

8. Somali language Sabahi Online was run by the US Department of Defence (AFRICOM/Special Operations Command): https://fcw.com/articles/2015/02/13/african-web-sites.aspx.

9. Anzalone, “Al Shabaab’s Tactical and Media Strategies”; Meleagrou-Hitchens, Maher and Sheehan, “Lights, Camera, Jihad”; Vidino, Pantucci, and Kohlmann, “Bringing Global Jihad to the Horn of Africa.”

10. Hansen, Al Shabaab in Somalia; Marchal, “The Rise of a Jihadi Movement.”

11. See Cabdullahi Ibraahim’s (26 March 2015) commentary, characteristic of innumerable critiques in the ‘mainstream’ Somali public sphere decrying the influence of foreign powers: “Maamul Goboleedyadu ma Federaalka Itoobiya bay ka tirsan yihiin?” [Are the Regional Administrations just Part of Federal Ethiopia?] Here the writer raises the spectre of the emergence of Islamist opposition ‘worse’ than Al Shabaab – akin to Daacish (The ‘Islamic State’) – who will argue they are defending the nation from colonialism and its facilitators: http://www.keydmedia.net/editorial/article/federaalkee_bay_ka_tirsan_yihiin_maamul_goboleedyada_itoobiya_mise_kan/.

12. Alshaer, “Towards a Theory.”

13. Said, Culture and Imperialism.

14. Bouissac, Saussure: A Guide.

15. Alshaer, “Towards a Theory,” 104.

16. Wodak, “Critical Discourse Analysis,” 191.

17. Al Furqaan Media, 22 December 2015 “Soo Kabashada Janaale” [The Recovery of Janaale]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQt0hzU6Ku8.

18. Bryden, “The Reinvention of Al Shabaab.”

19. Mosley, “Somalia’s Federal Future.”

20. Adam, “Political Islam in Somali History”; Abdullahi, “Women, Islamists”; Mire Aadam, Kobocii Islaamiyiinta Soomaaliya.

21. Somalimemo.net, 1 June 2015, “Sheekh Xasan Turki oo Masuul Ka Ahaa Dilkii Baadri Salvadore Colombo Loogu Geystay Magaalada Muqdisho” [Sheikh Xasan Turki Was Responsible for the Killing of Father Salvador Colombo in Muqdisho]: http://somalimemo.net/articles/2931/Sheekh-Xasan-Turki-oo-Masuul-Ka-ahaa-Dilkii-Baadari-Salvador-Colombo-Loogu-Geystay-Magaalada-Muqdisho.

22. De Waal, Islamism and its Enemies in the Horn of Africa, 128.

23. Barnes and Hassan, “The Rise and Fall of Mogadishu’s Islamic Courts”; Mwangi, “The Union of Islamic Courts and Security Governance in Somalia.”

24. Hansen, Al Shabaab in Somalia, Chapter 6.

25. Tiilikainen, “Spirits in the Human World.”

26. The Guardian newspaper, 2 April 2015 “Al-Shabaab: From al-Qaida Rejects to a Fighting Force of Thousands”: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/02/al-shabaab-from-al-qaida-rejects-to-a-fighting-force-of-thousands.

27. Hesse, “Introduction: The Myth of Somalia.”

28. This was a recurring theme of interviews I conducted with Somali professionals (in media, education and humanitarian fields) in Muqdisho, April 2015. For a (rare) critique in the Somali public sphere of doctrinal orthodoxy or the restrictions of religious debate see Bashir M. Xersi’s (3 October 2014) opinion piece “Wadaaddadii Soomaaliyeed ma UMAL ayaa ka haray?!” [Of the Somali Clerics Is It Only Umal Who Is Left?!]: https://bilediraac.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/wadaaddadii-soomaaliyeed-ma-umal-ayaa-ka-haray/.

29. Shariff, “ Islamic Educational Networks” discusses the role of Sudanese Islamic higher education in training and socialising a generation of cadres who played a crucial role in the Union of Islamic Courts project. My own experience in Muqdisho confirms the prevalence of such alumni networks in the current SFG.

30. Menkhaus, “Political Islam in Somalia,” 111.

31. Anderson, “Clan Identity and Islamic Identity,” 23.

32. The killing of civilians in Merka, by Ugandan AMISOM Forces (see Human Rights Watch statement 18 August 2015, https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/08/13/somalia-au-forces-linked-wedding-killings) is the latest of a series of similar incidents where indiscriminate fire on civilians has followed attacks on patrols. Elsewhere in the south-central hinterlands the continued presence of HSM and a lack of independent oversight on AMISOM operations make accurate verification of civilian casualties (frequently reported in the Somali-language media) highly problematic. Amin Amir’s popular and widely reproduced political cartoons (aminarts.com) are a good example of wider discourses in the Somali public sphere decrying this type of violence and the continued division of Somali through foreign intrigue.

33. In the Puntland and Somaliland, where political institutions are stronger, a greater level of regulation exists (see Stremlau, “Hostages of Peace”).

34. Kapteijns, Clan Cleansing in Somalia; Isse-Salwa, “The Internet and the Somali Diaspora.”

35. Somalia Newsroom, 3 December 2015: http://somalianewsroom.com/2015/03/12/will-al-shabaab-follow-boko-haram-and-pledge-loyalty-to-isis/.

36. CNN, 21 February 2015 “Al Shabaab threatens Malls, some in US”: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/21/us/al-shabaab-calls-for-mall-attacks/.

37. Caasimadda.com, 1 July 2015, “Daawo sawirada Al Shabaab oo soo bandhigay meydadka askarii Burundi ee lagu dilay Leego” [See Al Shabaab Published Pictures of Corpses of Burundian Soliders Killed at Leego]: http://caasimadda.com/daawo-sawirada-alshabaab-oo-soo-bandhigay-meydadka-askarii-burundi-ee-lagu-dilay-leego/ (Graphic images).

38. Vice News, 1 July 2015 ‘My Journey Inside the Islamic State’ on the location of media producers in the Iraq/Syria context: https://news.vice.com/article/my-journey-inside-the-islamic-state.

39. Al Furqaan March 2014 “Qaabka Loo Sameeyo Burjikada Ceelbuur”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myCwuND-ksQ.

40. Barnes, “The Somali Youth League”; Kusow, Putting the Cart.

41. Al Furqaan, December 2013 “Bulsho Horumartay Hagar Daamadii Hey'adaha Kadib”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wblzUXC04I.

42. Official HSM decree on ‘stopping of mobile internet and fibre-optic services’ 8 January 2014: Bayaan ku aadan joojinta adeegyada Mobile Internet & Fibre Optic, soft copy in writer’s possession.

43. Al Furqaan, January 2014, “Mashruuca afurinta dadka sooman”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paE-F46oO6k.

44. See Somalimemo.net (pro-Jihadi) Somali translation of Al Jazeera Report “Not yet Kenyan”, 2 April 2014 (no longer available online) .

45. Hill, “No Redress”; Menkhaus, “Ethnicity in Somali Studies”; Luling, “Genealogy as Theory, Genealogy as Tool”.

46. Baraawe is home to the Barawani (Bravanese) people (who are often categorised amongst the wider ‘Benadiri’ populations of the port cities of Southern Somalia, and are descendents of Arab mercantile communities).

47. Bryden, “The Reinvention,” 5.

48. Radio Al Furqaan, January 2014, “Daawo Sawirada Kulankii Dhex Maray Xarakada Mujaahidiinta Al-Shabaab Iyo Beesha H/Gidir. (Dhagayso)” [See Pictures of Meeting between HSM and the Habir Gedir Community (Listen)]: http://radioalfurqaan.com/?p=10987.