The fragile hold on power of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG), a protracted state of violent instability, long unguarded coasts, porous borders, and proximity to the Arabian Peninsula, made Somalia an attractive location for international terrorists seeking a transit or launching point for operations there or elsewhere. Despite continuing peace efforts by the TFG and other moderate forces not formally aligned with the TFG, the terrorist and insurgent groups al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam continued to exercise control over much of southern Somalia. The TFG and peacekeepers of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) were confined to parts of Mogadishu. Foreign fighters were involved in al-Shabaab’s fight against rival militias and the TFG. Several foreign extremists were involved in terrorist attacks in Somalia, including suicide bombings.
In January, the last Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia. On January 31, Somalia’s newly expanded parliament, meeting in Djibouti under UN auspices, elected the former leader of the Islamic Courts Union, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, as president of Somalia. The move came just days after the Djibouti wing of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia entered into a power-sharing deal with the TFG. Over the next several months Sharif announced the imposition of moderate sharia law in Somalia and made other efforts to reach out to the opposition, but al-Shabaab and other radical groups rejected these moves. Armed Islamist group attacks in May through July left the TFG isolated in Mogadishu and reliant on AMISOM for protection. The capability of the TFG and other Somali local and regional authorities to carry out counterterrorism activities was extremely limited.
Al-Shabaab’s leadership has connections with al-Qa’ida (AQ); several senior al-Shabaab leaders have publicly proclaimed loyalty to al-Qa’ida. Al-Shabaab consists of a disparate grouping of armed clan militias, many of whom do not adhere to the ideology that is held by the group’s leaders. These leaders have founded and support a number of training camps in southern Somalia for young national and international recruits to al-Shabaab. In these camps, AQ-affiliated foreign fighters often lead the training and indoctrination of the recruits. Al-Shabaab and other extremists conducted suicide attacks, remote-controlled roadside bombings, kidnappings, and assassinations of government officials, journalists, humanitarian workers, and civil society leaders throughout Somalia. Al-Shabaab threatened UN and other foreign aid agencies and their staff.
On September 14, AQ senior leader and al-Shabaab trainer Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan was killed in al-Shabaab controlled territory in southern Somalia. Nabhan was an associate of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, aka Harun Fazul, one of several al-Qa’ida leaders charged with carrying out the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. In November, Fazul was reportedly named Nabhan’s successor as AQ leader in Somalia.
Although AQ and al-Shabaab are not formally merged, they produce mutually supportive rhetoric. In March, AQ released a video entitled “Fight on, Champions of Somalia” in which Usama bin Ladin urged al-Shabaab to overthrow the TFG. On September 21, al-Shabaab proclaimed its allegiance to Usama bin Ladin in a video entitled “At Your Service, Osama.” The 48-minute film was posted on Islamist Internet forums while al-Shabaab fighters distributed DVD copies and organized public screenings in Mogadishu.
During the year there were numerous high profile terrorist attacks inside Somalia. Some of these operations were conducted by al-Shabaab, others by insurgent or criminal groups:

• On February 22, a double suicide bombing on an AMISOM base killed 11 soldiers and wounded 15 others.
• On March 26, a roadside bomb injured Somalia’s interior minister Sheik Abdulkadir Ali Omar and killed his secretary in Mogadishu.
• On April 19, gunmen kidnapped two foreigners working for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) in Huddur, Bakool region. They were released ten days later. Shortly thereafter, MSF announced that deteriorating security was forcing it to close the Huddur health center and four others in Somalia.
• On May 17, four foreign fighters and 13 other al-Shabaab members reportedly died in Mogadishu when the vehicle bomb they were constructing detonated prematurely.
• On May 24, an al-Shabaab suicide bomber killed six policemen and a civilian at a police headquarters in Mogadishu.
• On June 18, an al-Shabaab suicide bomber killed 35 people in Beledweyne, including TFG Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden.
• On July 10, al-Shabaab militants in the city of Baidoa publicly beheaded seven people accused of being Christians or spies for the TFG.
• On July 14, al-Shabaab kidnapped two French security advisors from their hotel in Mogadishu. One escaped and the second was still being held at year’s end.
• On July 17, armed men possibly linked to al-Shabaab kidnapped three foreign aid workers, including one American citizen in Mandera, Kenya, and took them across the border into Somalia. All were released in October.
• On July 21, the UN announced it had suspended humanitarian operations in Baidoa after al-Shabaab fighter’s looted equipment and vehicles from the UN compound there and at the UN office in Wajid.
• On September 17, two al-Shabaab suicide bombers in stolen UN vehicles killed 21 people in an attack on an AMISOM base in Mogadishu. The dead included the deputy AMISOM commander and 16 other peacekeepers.
• On November 1, a remote-controlled bomb killed five Somaliland military officers, including a division commander.
• On November 2, gunmen attempted to hijack a Daallo Airlines flight from Bosasso, Puntland, to Djibouti. Other passengers overpowered the hijackers and the plane returned to Bosasso.
• On November 12, gunmen shot to death Puntland judge Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aware, who had recently jailed four al-Shabaab members.
• On December 3, a suspected al-Shabaab suicide bomber disguised as a woman killed at least 23 people, including three government ministers, at a graduation ceremony for a university in Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab denied responsibility for the attack.
• On December 13, Puntland Vice President Col Shire survived a bomb attack on his motorcade 30KM south of Bosasso, Puntland.
• On December 14, a roadside bomb killed three policemen on patrol in Bosasso.
• In mid-December, al-Shabaab militants reportedly killed more than ten people who were praying at the grave of a famous Sufi sheikh in Lower Shabelle region.

Western and regional nations worked to assist Somalia through training and support for TFG security forces. On November 17, EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs and European Defense meeting in Brussels approved the concept of a European initiative to train the Somali security forces.
AMISOM continued to secure the air and sea ports and presidential compound in Mogadishu. In November, AMISOM announced a total of 80 of its soldiers had died since deploying to the country in 2007. Uganda had 37 troops killed and Burundi 43, mainly in suicide attacks and roadside bombings.