The Al-Shabaab is a militant group that is at odds with the government in Somalia. The rebel group, Al-Shabaab has been pushing the Somalia’s government to impose sharia within the country. Sharia, is in its simplest terms, a stricter form of Islamic law. When the conflict began months ago, everyone thought that the Al-Shabaab group held little to no threat to the western government of Somalia. But recently this group has directly attacked government officials and the violence has gotten worse. Al-Shabaab leaders say that they will stop at nothing to get what they want in their country. These fighters have been linked to Al-Qaeda. They have implemented scare tactics that include mass killings, both within and outside of the Somalia’s borders. Keeping the citizens of Somalia in a state of terror if a key factor as well. The Al-Shabaab has begun to accuse uninvolved citizens of being a spy for the Somalia government. This tension and war between Somalia’s government and Al-Shabaab has recently escalated so greatly that it is quickly becoming a humanitarian crisis. The Al-Shabaab has now been listed as a terrorist organization. Due to the escalating violence, the African Union has stepped in with peacekeeping soldiers primarily from Uganda and Burundi. The Al-Shabaab has responded with plots for revenge attacks in the capital cities in Uganda and Burundi unless they withdraw from Somalia. If they withdraw, this leaves the already weaken Transitional Federal Government of Somalia utterly helpless to the attacks from the Al-Shabaab. What can be done to salvage this developing nation and diminish the Al-Shabaab?
What really agitates me though is that a religious group is using violence to fight for their religion. I know that this happens all across history, yet it still baffles me. Is that really what your God wants…?
Here's a link to an article about how this group targets Somali-American youths: http://www.investigativeproject.org/1764/how-al-shabaab-targets-western-youth.
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