Containing terrorist organizations by sea and land

with special regard to Somalia

1.Introduction

Terrorist organizations which are trying to promote their religious or social beliefs
throughout the use of violence and exploitaiton of people living in conditions of low political and
economic freedom are considered to be one of the biggest threats of modern society. These
radical groups usually obtain credibility by attracting the minority classes which seek recognition
and believe that they have been underprivilieged of what is rightfully theirs. When classifing
them by rational choice, there are two types of terrorist models: present-aim and self-interest.

But in order to defeat these radical organizations, we need to understand who are helping
them. Starting with 2017, Somali pirates began supplying the terrorists opperating in the Horn of
Africa with weapons and fighters brought from overseas, while gaining revenue in exchange for
their services. Piracy reached its peak in Eastern Africa in 2012, when the total number of attacks
reached a number 237. After that year, it was thought that these attacks have diminished due to
operations such as: Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Atlanta. In March 2017, Somali
pirates targeted their first comercial ship since 2012 and it was soon discovered that the materials
captured went straight to terrorist organizations. These acts are threating international security
and in order to stop terrorism in Africa, UN Resolutions shall be updated with the aim of cutting
the supplying of weapons to radical groups.

2.Definition of Key Terms

Present-aim oriented terrorist groups prefer self-destructive behavior, such as suicides in

order to achieve their goals. Usually, their attacks are focused more on massive destruction
resulting in huge numbers of casualties on the majority group rather than monetary benefits. The
following terrorist groups: Al-Qaeda, Taliban, Hamas or Algeria’s Armed Islamic Groups fall
into this category.
 The self-interest oriented terrorist groups, however, are based on trade-offs associated
with choices which are conditioned on income and other types of benefits. Their attacks are
focused on targets which will provide them the best revenue compared with their investment in
human capital, resulting in engaging in an act with high payoffs.

3.History

In the 1990s and early 2000s terrorist attacks were somewhat episodic being limited to
well-defined areas such as Liberia, Algeria or Uganda. The numbers began raising in 2009,
following the emerge of Boko Haram in Nigeria and the spread of Al-Shabaab in Somalia,
measuring a 200% increase in radical groups and a 750% increase in casualties between 2009
and 2015.

Boko Haram

Stated as “world’s deadliest terrorist organisation” by 2014, Boko Haram is the radical
group which brings fear among Nigerian people since 2009. It arised because of the theological
conflict between Ja’far Mahmud Adam and his former student Muhammad Yusuf. In 2003, the
dispute developed into open conflit with clashes between security forces and Muhammad
Yusuf’s followers. In January 2004, a group on 200 followers targeted police stations, continuing
with further attacks in September, when the Nigerian army managed to kill 27 terrorists.
Between 2004 and 2007, Ja’far Mahmud Adam criticized Muhammad Yusuf’s beliefs as
“stupid” and “ignorant”. Starting with 2009, the attacks between Boko Haram and Nigerian
police forces started occuring again. During the clashes of June and July at least 900 people were
killed, together with the radical leader Muhammad Yusuf. In 2010, 150 terrorists were liberated
because of a planned attacked on a prison following with the targeting of Christian and
Pentecostal churches in 2011 and 2012. It is estimated that the radical group activating in Nigeria
has caused 20,000 deaths, $9 billion worth of damage and has displaced 2.6 million people.
Today, Boko Haram claims to represent “the community of the people of the Sunna who fight
for the cause of Islam by means of jihad according to the method of Salaf”.

Al Shabaab
 The predecessor of Al Shabaab is said to be AIAI (al-Ittihad al-Islami), a terrorist group
which activated after the outburst of the civil war. They were mostly funded by Osama Bin
Laden and were containing of Middle East-Somali extremists. Al Shabaab was formed when the
younger members suggested the creation of a “Greater Somalia” and decided to unite forces with
ICU (Islamic Courts Union). Together, they took control of the capital in June 2006, but it was
reclaimed by Somali and Ethiopian autorities in December. While the ICU retreated to other
countries, al Shabaab remained in the country and began to gain control over central and
southern Somalia. In January 2009, whereas Ethiopian forces pulled out of Somalia, Al Shabaab
continued with its attacks against ICU and the Transitional Federal Government and captured
Baidoa. Beginning with 2011, Al Shabaab searched to colaborate with other terrorist
organizations, such as Al Qaeda, and pirate gangs, however demanding money in exchange of
their protection and forcing the pirates to give them 20% of their ransom proceeds. In 2017,
AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia) began withdrawing its troops, which were
previously deployed in 2007, as part of the gradual drawdown. This was the factor that
determined Al-Shabaab to plan a comeback, attacking Mogadishu on both October 14th and 28th
and killing just above 600, recorded as “one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Somalia”.

Somali Pirates

In the early days of piracy, this activity was mainly threatening the international fishing
vessels. Seeing its economic potential, these groups began highjacking comercial ships and
demanding ransom for their liberation. After the break down of the central government during
the civil war, the Somali waters remained unwatched which was the starting point for illegal
fishing and dumping of toxic waste. Because it endangered the fish stock, local fishermen united
their forces in order to protect their resources and it did not take longer until they started using
weapons for their cause.

At the beginning, the attacks were focused on the Gulf of Aden, however in November
2008, they began targetting ships outside this area. At the same time, on 21st of the same month,
Indian Navy obtained the approval from United Nations to fight against piracy inside Somali
waters. In 2011 piracy reached its peak, when Somali pirates organized 237 attacks, before
shipping companies started following safer routes and taking precautions measures. Pirates
acquire most of their weapons from Yemen and Mogadishu. Nowadays, the funding of piracy
operations is done throughout a stock exchange method, with investors being able to buy or sell
shares for the upcoming pirate attacks.

4.Key Issues

Economic Growth

The terrorist attacks damage the economic growth of African countries since they are
based on massive destruction. The main objective of some radical groups, such as Boko Haram
and Al-Shabaab, is to target productive assets or important businesses. The affected countries are
obliged to focus their investements on expenditures caused by the attacks, on national security
and on supply chain (compensation for the redirection of resources caused by terrorists).
Moreover, those countries lose productive capacity because of the killed and permanently injured
population, while foreign investors tend to avoid financing businesses in the respective area as a
result of compromised safety and national security.

Tourism is another domain which is majorly affected by terrorism and is linked to

economical growth. For example, Kenya’s vision 2030 is a plan which seeks to transform Kenya
into a middle-income country. It was calculated that by 2017, the number of tourist arrivals
would increase from 1.7-million to 3-million. Unfortunately, the actual number dropped to 1.45-
million due to the expansion of terrorist groups in the area, whereas the rate of employment was
also damaged.

Additionally, the pirate attacks affect the financial gains of the countries opened to the
Gulf of Aden. Shippng vessels prefer to choose safer routes rather than the faster ones, avoiding
to travel from the Suez Canal into to the Golf of Aden. In this way they prevent any eventual
pirate attacks which could damage their businesses, but countries, such as Egypt, record a
decrease in revenue (in 2011 it was recorded a $642-million loss due to piracy off the coast of
Somalia).

Human Losses

The most important problem caused by terrorist attacks is the loss in population. Since its
beginnings, Boko Haram has killed 20,000 people and displaced 2.6-million Nigerians. In 2014
alone, they claimed 6,664 lives in Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon, more than the ones caused by
ISIS (6,073 deaths), while in 2016, Al-Shabaab killed more than 4,000 people. In October 2017,
they were responsible for the deadliest terrorist attack in Somalia, a truck bomb which caused
more than 500 casualties.

5.Major Parties Involved

USA- the first one to deploy troops in Africa was President Barak Obama in 2013 (100 troops in
Niger). In 2017, this number was said to had grown to 800 troops. At the begging of the year the
Pentagon anounced that 7,200 personnel were assigned to AFRICOM. In 2017, U.S troops
carried 3,500 excercises and programs in 33 countries. Between 2016 and September 2018, the
USA conducted 21 different operations, targeting both Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab. The USA
has a permanent military base in Africa, Camp Lemonnier, and carries periodic drone strikes in
Somalia and Libya. Over the next years, the Pentagon anounced they will cut the number of
deployed troops in Africa.

UK- in the summer of 2018, the UK deployed three helicpoters and 120 troops in northern Mali
in order to assist the French personnel. According to the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development, UK invested £43-billion towards Africa

France- there are 4,000 French troops deployed in Africa, based in Mali, Chad, Niger, Ivory
Coast and Burkina Faso, operating under Operation Barkhane which is a military response to the
Islamist terrorist attacks. They also cooperate with West African forces and UN peacekeeping
forces

Somalia- is the target of most of the attacks planned by Al-Shabaab. Unfortunately, military
operations against this radical groups have led to even more deaths and displacements of
civilians. Somali security forces working under AMISOM are reported to be responsible for a
number of innocent deaths. Additionally, Somali pirates attack ships in the Gulf of Aden and in
the Indian Ocean in order to provide weapons and materials to Al-Shabaab.

Nigeria- is the target of most of the attacks planned by Boko Haram

 6.Evaluation of Previous Attempts

Boko Haram

In 2013, Nigerian authorities launched an offesinve against Boko Haram hoping to push
the extremist out of the cities of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States. While the operation was
succesful, troops have been acused of human right abuses. Since 2015, Chad, Niger and
Cameeron (targeted countries by Boko Haram) have deployed thousands of personnel in order to
fight against terrorists. It reduced violence provoked by this radical group, while also retaking
some of the territory previously controled by the extremists.

In 2013, the USA entitled Boko Haram as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, but it denied
military assistance. Against Boko Haram, the UK, besides the $259-million worth assistance
package, have aided Nigeria by training 28,000 troops in 2017. In May 2018, Donald Trump
accepted a $600 million deal to sell 12 aircrafts to Nigeria which will be used for counter-
terrorism.

In 2014, the UN Security Council emposed embargos and economic sanctions on Boko
Haram, but they proved rather inefficient because those militants are difficult to track. On 31st of
March 2017, the Security Council adopted Resolution 2349 after the attacks in the Lake Chad
Basin Region in Africa which encouraged neighbouring governments to increase military
presence and cooperation in the respective area.

Al-Shabaab

Against Al-Shabaab, the US involvment is based on training the Somali troops to fight
against terrorist, while also providing air power when necessary. In 2018, the USA has
conducted 47 airstrikes (with 323 militants dead), compared with the 24 this year. The operations
proved succesful, with the USA claiming that during the strikes no civilians were killed, until at
the beginning of this year when it was discovered that starting with 2017, at least 14 civilians
were killed.

Under Resolution 733(1992) the Security Council imposed arms embargo on Somalia
and decided to renew it under Resolution 2444(2018), while also lifting the sanctions imposed on
Eritrea under Resolutions 1907 (2009), 2023 (2011), 2060 (2012) and 2011 (2013), because of
the lack of conclusive evidence that Eritrea supports terrorist groups.

Piracy off the Coast of Somalia

In 2017, China bulit a base in Djibouti in order to provide support for anti-piracy
operations. They have claimed that the base is only to assist the Chinese cargo through the Gulf
of Aden. In 2013, Combined Task Force 151, 150 and Operation Atlanta engaged in the Horn of
Africa in order to run counter-piracy operations. Their goal was to monitor, board, inspect and
stop any suspect shipping.

In May 2010, a naval base was constructed in the town of Bandar Siyada in order to force
pirate gangs out of the area, while the administration of Galmudug tried to make the pirates enter
in conflict with the terrorist groups in order to lower the number of pirate attacks. These
solutions seemed succesful since the number of pirate strikes in the Gulf of Aden diminished
from 86 to 33.

With the piracy raising again in the recent years, UN Security Council adopted
Resolution 2442 (2018) which renewed for another year the authorizations of international naval
forces to fight against piracy in the Somali waters.

7.Possible Solutions

In order for the authoities to have a better chance with fighting against terrorist, the
security at the border of the countries should be enhanced in order to make it difficult for the
terrorist groups to practice attacks outside the borders of the country in which they have their
operational base. This could be done by using a number of technologies, such as bomb detection
systems or surveillance (where is needed).

Aditionally, the number of pirates attacks can drastically diminish if an UN body will be
created with the purpose of patrolling in the Horn of Africa waters and prevent any attacks
before even happening. This solution would be effective because these kind of approaches
proved to be efficient, but the number of attacks increased again when the operations stopped
from engaging.
8.Bibliography

1. Wikipedia on Terrorism
2. Overview of Terrorism in Africa
3. AMISOM Background
4. Collaboration Between Pirates and Terrorist
5. Wikipedia on “Piracy off the Coast of Somalia”
6. Rise of Terrorism in Africa
7. Overview of Al-Shabaab
8. Wikipedia on Al-Shabaab
9. Report of terrorist attack in Mogadishu
10. Wikipedia on Boko Haram
11. Tourism affected by terrorism in Kenya
12. US Military personnel in Africa
13. Ties between France and Somalia
14. China’s Djibouti naval base
15. Resolution 2442 (2018)
16. Resolution 2349 (2017)
17. Resolution 773 (1992)
18. Resolution 2444 (2018)

9.Appendices

I. Explanations about terrorism in Africa

II. In depth explanations about Boko Haram
III. NATO’s military concept for defence against terrorism
IV. Operation Active Endeavour