Shaykh Hassan Yakub Ali: The Powerful al-Shabaab Waali of Galmudug

Shaykh Hassan Yakub Ali: The Powerful al-Shabaab Waali of Galmudug

In February, Shakyh Hassan Yakub Ali became the first al-Shabaab militant leader to issue threats against Somalia’s new president, Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed. Ali warned that the al-Qaeda affiliate in East Africa would carry out sustained attacks throughout the four-year term of President Mohammed (a.k.a. Farmajo). In the subsequent weeks, there was a series of grenade, vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) and gun attacks in the Somali capital of Mogadishu (Garowe Online, March 21; News24, February 20).

Yakub described Farmajo, who was elected Somalia’s ninth president on February 8, as an enemy of Somalia. In a strongly worded statement broadcast on al-Shabaab’s media networks, Yakub labeled the new president as worse than other presidents of Somalia because he holds dual Somali and American citizenship (Africanews, February 28).

Farmajo was Somalia’s prime minister in 2010 and 2011 and lived in the United States before returning to contest the election. Farmajo’s election reportedly sent shock waves through al-Shabaab, given his popularity among the local people.

The Shaykh warned that any individual or clan who collaborated with the leader would be severely be punished (Kismayo24, February 19, 2017). When the hardliner issued this significant statement — which sets out the future direction of the militant group during the reign of Farmajo — Ali’s status within the group appeared to rise.  At the same time, observers speculated, by allowing the Ali to make the speech, the top leadership may be have been indicating its intention to review its administration in view of the latest political and military developments.

Who Is Shaykh Hassan Yakub Ali?

Shaykh Ali is a senior al-Shabaab militant leader who has had a checkered career within the extremist group.

Since 2012, he has been in charge of Galmudug, a semi-autonomous region in Central Somalia, as the region’s waali (governor). Recently, al-Shabaab has amplified attacks in Mudug, Southern Galmudug, against the state, wrestling the control of some towns in the region from government administration. As waali of the region, Shaykh Ali stands directly behind this surge in attacks.

Originally from Baidoa, the capital of Southwestern Somalia’s Bay Region, Ali is believed to be in his 40s. He belongs to the Sacad Muse, a sub-clan of the Isaaq, one the main clans in Somalia (Somalinet, September 19, 2013). There is little information about Ali’s early life, but some observers suggest he may have trained in Afghanistan alongside other al-Shabaab leaders. Many al-Shabaab leaders have experience in Afghanistan, and this would give him the pedigree needed to advance through the group’s ranks.

Militant Activity

Ali’s first posting with al-Shabaab appears to have been in the port city of Kismayo, where he later became the secretary of information for the region. In this position, Ali would have been responsible for the flow of information within the organization and controlling independent information/media sources in the communities under his remit. As the group tightened its control in Southern Somalia, Ali is attributed with attacking the free press in the area. One of Ali’s most significant steps to this end was the signing of an order in 2008 to shut down HornAfrik, Somalia’s only independent radio station at that time. Ali accused the station of airing music and anti-Islamist information. At least two prominent Kismayo Journalists were killed in the ensuing battle to keep the station on air (CPJ, December 19, 2008).

Ali took full control of al-Shabaab’s administration in Kismayo — the city was completely under al-Shabaab’s control at this time and served as its headquarters — around 2009, becoming its governor and al-Shabaab’s spokesman in the city. His administration was accused of implementing a severe tax program and other ruthless measures. One such measure included forcing businesses to pay as much as $2,000 per month to support the insurgency (SomaliaReport, April 30, 2011). Owners of businesses that could not afford the fee were forcefully recruited by the group as fighters. Ali demanded that business owners pay the fees or appear at recruitment locations in the city to join al-Shabaab as fighters.

In 2009, when Shaykh Ahmad Sharif Ahmad — formerly a moderate Islamist leader within the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), al-Shabaab’s predecessor — became president, Ali came out strongly in opposition to the new government and cabinet. Ahmad had accepted a proposal for implementing sharia in Somalia, but Ali rejected it as a plot by the infidels (Sunday Nation, March 1, 2009). The rejection of President Ahmad’s proposal underscored Ali’s position as a hard-line jihadist, boosting his status in the group.

Two years later, in 2001, the militant leader was at the center of al-Shabaab’s plan to disrupt Kenya’s tourism industry by kidnapping foreigners. Sheikh Ali had been assigned the role of overseeing the plan, which was being executed from Kismayo. By then, Ali was also the chairman of the Amniyat, the intelligence wing of al-Shabaab, in Southern Somalia’s Juba region. His brief was to develop and implement secret actions targeting tourist hotels and sites, and government installations in the coastal region. In order to ensure the desired results were achieved, Ali was instructed to recruit experienced operators: al-Shabaab combatants, former pirates and relatives of some of the top officials within the group (SomaliReport, September 18, 2011).

As a part of this plot, it is believed that the 2011 kidnapping of Judith Tebbutt was carried out on Ali’s orders. The British national was vacationing at Kiwayu Safari Village, a resort situated on the Kenyan coast. Her husband, David Tebbutt, was shot dead at the scene. In October 2011, gunmen kidnapped a French woman on wheel chair from a resort in Manda Island. (Modern Ghana, October 1, 2011).

Around the same time, two Spanish aid workers employed by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) were kidnapped from Dadaad Refugee Camp in Kenya’s northeastern region in 2011. (Daily Nation, July 18, 2013).

Demotion

Despite the initial success of his campaign, things started going wrong for Ali after a few months. It became apparent to the top leadership that Ali’s tactics could attract more youth to fight Kenyan forces in Southern Somalia, where Operation Linda Nchi (Operation Protect the County) was launched in October 2011. The Al-Shabaab leadership decided to reshuffle the regional administration in order to change the group’s fighting tactics in 2012. Ali was sacked as the governor of Kismayo as part of this reshuffle. Shaykh Ahmad Godane, then emir of al-Shabaab, sent top ranking Shaykh Hussein Ali Fiidow to relieve Ali of his duties. He was sacked alongside Shaykh Abdinasir, the head of preaching. However, Ali allegedly rejected the sacking saying he would continue holding the position (Somali Report, March 15, 2012; Somali Report, January 12, 2012).

In May 2012, Kenya Defense Force (KDF) had launched an amphibious operation, code-named Operation Sledge Hammer, which involved air, land and sea forces.  Ali fled the city as Kenyan forces advanced on it. By September of that year, Ali was believed killed in a KDF airstrike on a logistics center in Kismayo. (Daily Nation, September 29, 2012).

However, the following month, he was heard on radio telling the people of Galmudug, where he was transferred as Waali in October 2012, to resist apostates of Christianity. (AMISOM Media Daily Monitoring, October 12, 2012).

Conclusion

As a top leader within al-Shabaab, Ali has presented himself as a dependable hardliner who is committed to moving forward the group’s agenda. His regular public statements demonstrate just how unyielding his stance is. Despite earlier setbacks to his position in the group, he apparently continues to rise within al-Shabaab No doubt Ali will use his increasing authority within al-Shabaab to shore up support for his hardline positions in directing the group’s future course of action.