AL-ITIHAAD AL-ISLAMIYA

'al-Itihaad al-Islamiya' or 'AIAI' ( ''Islamic Union'') is a defunct Islamist militant group in Somalia with alleged ties to Al Qaeda.

Contents

History

Members of Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI)

Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya and Joint Task Force Guantanamo allegations

References

External links

History

In the early 1990s as Somalia fell into disorder following the end of the Siad Barre regime, Osama bin Laden took advantage of the chaos to fund al-Itihaad, later sending foreign militants who trained and fought alongside al-Itihaad members with the goal of creating an Islamist state in the Horn of Africa. AIAI was also active in setting up sharia courts. Despite its association with al-Qaeda, other analysts caution against overgeneralization, noting that al-Itihaad had elements of a genuine social movement and that the characters of sub-factions throughout the country substantially differed from each other.
U.S. returning to a nightmare called Somalia
An article published in the ''San Francisco Chronicle'', in December 16 2001 quoted unnamed intelligence officials who claimed AIAI was extensively connected to Al Barakaat.
The San Francisco Chronicle called al Barakat a Somali-based business conglomerate and money transfer organization. They quoted former U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill who called al Barakat as one of the "financiers of terrorism". The 9/11 Commission Report subsequently cleared al Barakat of involvement in financing the 9/11 hijackers, The 9/11 Commission determined that the 9/11 hijackers received their remote funds transfers through US financial institutions, not Islamic financial institutions.
Funded by wealthy Saudis, al-Itihaad had extensive connections with the Somali expatriate community in Kenya, in particular the Eastleigh district of Nairobi and the predominantly Muslim coastal regions. At its height, the AIAI militia numbered over 1000.
Counter-terrorism in Somalia: Losing hearts and minds?
According to U.S. intelligence officials, al-Itihaad cooperated with the al-Qaeda operatives who carried out the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam that killed 224 people.
On March 7-8 1999, Ethiopia claimed it had made a cross-border incursion into Ballanballe searching for members of Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI) who had reportedly kidnapped a person and stolen medical supplies, and denied reports of looting. Allegations from that time also claim Ethiopia was the supplier of various Somali warlords, while Eritrea was arming other warlords.
Ethiopia denies looting Somali border town Somalia - Emerging third front in the Ethiopia-Eritrea War? Stratfor
On 24 September 2001, al-Itihaad al-Islamiya's finances were sanctioned by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush under Executive Order 13224. Its then-head Hassan Dahir Aweys was also sanctioned under EO13224 in November of that year.
Suspected Terrorist List: To Massachusetts Registered Investment Advisers William Francis Galvin Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
In June 2004, Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki, who had become leader of the organization, was also sanctioned for his connections to bin Laden.
Designation of Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki under Executive Order 13224 Adam Ereli
Al-Qaeda operatives were reported to have used the al-Itihaad base on the island of Ras Kiyemboni, south of Kismayu near the border with Kenya.
Next stop Somalia?
Other sources indicate that al-Qaeda formed a training camp on Kiyemboni, while al-Itihaad set up its own training camp at Las Quoay near the northeast port of Boosaaso. In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, these camps were dismantled and the hundreds of trained militants sailed for the safety of tribal areas in Yemen.
Shortly thereafter it was claimed that al-Itihaad had dissolved as an organization. Sheikh Aweys went on to become one of the leaders of the Courts of the Islamic Court Union (ICU), which seized control of Mogadishu in June 2006 after several months of fighting.SOMALIA: Islamic courts set up consultative council, Integrated Regional Information Networks, 26 June 2006 Hassan Al-Turki went on to lead Hizbul Shabaab, the Youth Movement wing of the ICU before ceding the organisation to Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow".

Members of Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI)

The following inviduals were known to be members of AIAI:

★ Hassan Dahir Aweys

★ Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki

★ Abu Taha al-Sudan

★ Gouled Hassan Dourad

Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya and Joint Task Force Guantanamo allegations

The United States has held almost 800 captives in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Bush Presidency spokesmen have described these captives as "the worst of the worst", and "very bad men".
Originally the Bush Presidency asserted that it did not have to provide any opportunity for its captives to learn why they were held, or any opportunity for them to challenge the evidence that put them there.
But the Supreme Court of the United States over-ruled the Bush Presidency in its ruling in Rasul v. Bush. In response the United States Department of Defense responded by setting up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants, which administers the Combatant Status Review Tribunals, and annual Administrative Review Board hearings.
Counter-terrorism analysts of the Joint Task Force Guantanamo play the key role in
compiling the allegations used to justify the captives continued detention.
Algerian captive Mammar Ameur, one of the Guantanamo captives who is a refugee recognized by the United Nations, faced allegations that he was associated with the AIAI during his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Mammar Ameur's ''Combatant Status Review Tribunal'' - pages 61-80
Those allegations were:

★ ''The detainee worked for the African Muslim Agency.

★ ''The African Muslim Agency is linked to Al-Ittihad al Islami (AIAI).

★ ''Al-Ittihad al Islami (AIAI) is listed as a terrorist organization on the President's Executive Order 13224.
Mammar Ameur responsed to these allegations...
His Personal Representative reminded Mammar Ameur that he had told him that the name "Islamic Union" could refer to literally hundreds of organizations.
After this reminder Mammar Ameur added:

References

External links

★ SECURITY ADVISORY, Security Intelligence Global, 25 September 2001