Africom conceding growing threat from al-Shabaab in Somalia

The success of al-Shabaab movement in overrunning large swaths of Somalia demonstrates the failure of the United States Africa Command (Africom) in achieving its objectives.

American recognition

Rear Admiral Heidi Berg, Africom's director of intelligence, conceded on October 1 the presence of a growing danger from the increasing activities of al-Shabaab movement.

The al-Qaeda-affiliated movement, she said, has become more emboldened as far as the attacks it launches are concerned.

Reassessment

Berg said the U.S. Africa Command currently assesses that there is a definitive shift in focus on conducting attacks against the U.S.

"We’ve watched that take place over the course of a couple of months," she said.

Violent extremist groups including ISIS-Somalia, Boko Haram and al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb exist in Africa.

But Berg claimed that al-Shabab is particularly worrisome, and noted that the organization’s propaganda and public announcements are “reminiscent” of al-Qaida’s prior to the 9/11 attacks.

"We currently assess that al-Shabab is the most capable terrorist group on the African continent in terms of the ability to potentially threaten Western interests regionally," Berg said.

Other al-Shabab attacks have been deadly for Americans.

In January, U.S. and Kenyan forces were attacked at Manda Bay Airfield in Kenya and the ambush resulted in the deaths of Army Spc. Henry Mayfield Jr., 23, and two U.S. Department of Defense contractors, Dustin Harrison, 47, and Bruce Triplett, 64.

According to a Department of Defense Inspector General report released in August, Africom reported that al-Shabab did not significantly modify its tactics in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project tracked more than 600 violent incidents in Somalia between April 1 and June 30, 2020, per the report.

A total of 568 violent incidents were logged in the previous quarter. Africom said al-Shabab’s attacks involved ambushes, hit-and-run attacks, and IEDs, the report said.