EYE SPY INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE 76 201142

THE ROAD TO AL-QAIDA IN SOMALIA

RICINAL-QA

IDA’S

PIPELINEEye Spy examines the emergence

of a disturbing alliance thatchanges the dimension and threat

facing counter-terrorist forcesoperating in the Horn of Africa

ritish intelligence officialsare monitoring anincrease in young Britonstravelling to North Africawhose ultimate objectiveis to join the emerging al-Qaida franchise known

Bas Al-Shabaab [translates to the Youth orBoys]. This as colleagues from the CIA continue to tackle various threats in a regionof the world that is decidedly unstable.

Over the last three years MI6 and the CIA havebuilt up a careful picture of events, including identifying a number of secret land and seapipelines to Somalia established by al-Qaidafrom various neighbouring countries. Tocompound matters, a huge CIA operationuncovered disturbing evidence of ricinproduction by forces friendly to the group. Another serious problem for the authorities isthe emerging alliance between the terror groupand pirates who have made Somalia theirhome base. Some experts still consider this

an unlikely scenario, but the evidence does -at the very least - point to cooperation.

PIRACY AND AL-QAIDA

Pirate gangs, some aligned to al-Qaida areresponsible for seizing dozens of ships off thecoast of Somalia, but in recent times havestarted to operate with near impunity inside the Kenyan border. Analysts believe this isevidence of a “coming together” of pirates andal-Qaida. New Scotland Yard has still not ruledout the possibility that a British couple,attacked in September whilst holidaying in aluxury Kenyan hotel complex at the Kiwayu

Safari Village (close to the border withSomalia), were victims of Al-Shabaab. In thiscase, David Tebbutt was shot dead and hiswife Judith abducted and taken to Somalia.Another high profile incident occurred on 13October; terrorists simply walked into the sprawling refugee camp at Dadaab, just inside

Flag and logo used by Al-Shabaab

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