SOMALIA - Al-Shabaab Stepping Up Intimidation Tactics

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 001540

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/E AND A/S CARSON

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PHUM MOPS SOCI SO
SUBJECT: SOMALIA - Al-Shabaab Stepping Up Intimidation Tactics

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Summary
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1. Al-Shabaab insurgents since early May have stepped up
intimidation tactics, to include abduction, mutilation, and
beheadings, possibly signaling al-Shabaab's increasing desperation
and further marginalizing al-Shabaab leaders. Civil society leaders,
journalists, Transitional Federal Government (TFG) officials, and
would-be al-Shabaab defectors in recent weeks have been the targets
of public al-Shabaab reprisals. Our contacts tell us al-Shabaab's
increasingly draconian tactics are likely costing al-Shabaab leaders
local support and exacerbating tensions between al-Shabaab and
Hisbul Islam. End Summary.

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Amputations, Mutilation, and Beheadings on the Rise
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2. According to media reports and our contacts in Somalia,
al-Shabaab operatives are increasingly employing amputations as a
means to intimidate and promulgate fear. On June 25, al-Shabaab
militia inflicted double amputations on four young Somali men in
Mogadishu, cutting off their right hands and left feet as a
punishment for theft. We have since heard three of the four have
died from their wounds. The incident was widely reported by Somali
media outlets and our contacts tell us the four victims were not
thieves but al-Shabaab deserters. Additional contacts report
al-Shabaab militia on July 3 amputated the arm of an alleged thief
in the port town of Merca.


3. According to a civil society contact that recently fled
Mogadishu's Karan district, al-Shabaab militia in late June publicly
tortured and mutilated 19 militiamen manning a Karan checkpoint. Our
contacts report several additional cases of TFG family members and
domestic staff being targeted by al-Shabaab operatives. In April,
the brother-in-law of a Member of Parliament (MP) was reportedly
killed by al-Shabaab militia on the road outside Baidoa. The
al-Shabaab operatives then publicly displayed the man's badly
mutilated body.


4. Reports of beheading have become increasingly common in recent
weeks. An MP from Baidoa, whose husband was recently abducted by
al-Shabaab, told us al-Shabaab on June 22 addressed hundreds of
people at Baidoa Stadium and warned them anyone supporting the TFG
would face the "slanted knife" - a euphemism for beheading. The same
MP told us her brother was one of seven men the al-Shabaab accused
of spying for Ethiopia and beheaded in early July. Press reports
from June 27 stated al-Shabaab publicly beheaded three men in Wajid
over suspicion of disloyalty. According to our contacts in the
area, al-Shabaab operatives took two men in Wajid, Bakool region,
from their homes, beheaded them, and dumped their headless bodies on
the road.

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Civil Society Activists and Journalists Targeted
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5. Al-Shabaab appears to be systematically targeting civil society
leaders and journalists. According to our contacts in Somalia,
media practitioners, journalists, and civil society leaders are
consistently intimidated and threatened. Recently, al-Shabaab shut
down radio Mandeeq (Bulla Hawa district, Gedo region),arrested
Radio Juba journalists in Baidoa, and warned Bulla Hawa residents
against tuning in to a Nairobi-based Somali radio station known for
its anti-Shabaab programming. According to our contacts, many civil
society organizations have moved from Mogadishu to Nairobi because
of security concerns and the few that remain in Mogadishu are
increasingly fearful of conducting their work. In recent days we
have heard several reports of al-Shabaab breaking into NGO offices
and looting computers, documents, and mobile phones.

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Comment
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6. We believe that these incidents, while anecdotal, indicate
al-Shabaab is employing an increasingly systematic campaign of
intimidation of its enemies. It is clear that al-Shabaab's tactics
are creating fear among Somalis. However, we are also hearing
numerous reports that al-Shabaab's tactics are motivating clan
leaders, local administrations, and even some Hisbul Islam leaders

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to further distance themselves from al-Shabaab. Our contacts close
to Hisbul Islam leaders in the Juba River valley, for example, have
cited al-Shabaab's draconian tactics as one of the major factors
causing tensions between Hisbul Islam and al-Shabaab factions in
that region.

ABELL