A power struggle is complicating an already troubled picture in Somalia. Extremists like al Shabaab have wrought terror in Somaliland and neighboring provinces for more than two decades.
The latest news of the execution of two of its top commanders and fighters in Somalia points to a troubling picture. Godane, one of the leaders of al Shabaab, and one who intends to export the AlQaeda terror across its borders, ordered the execution of the two leaders and founders of the terror group.
More than a struggle for power, which so far would have been internal to Somalia, this is a struggle for vision.
The two executed men were high ranking. So high in fact that one of them had a 5 million dollar bounty on his head from the CIA. The two men were captured and then killed, although Godane's militia asserts that is not so, that the two were killed in 'honorable' fighting.
Godane's men announced the killing through a message to the widows of the executed leaders that spoke of 'their need to wear mourning dress'.
Al Shabaab has always been fractured, as the different leaders try to claim territory and gain access to income through their terror activity. Some rivalry are centuries deep. and run along tribal lines Somalia is renown for its tribal divisions. Other groups instead, are motivated by their allegiance to a particular ideology, whether that be dictated by al Qaeda or otherwise.
There might be a more straightforward motive for the two leaders' deaths however. In April, Afghani, the one with the large bounty on his head, had petitioned Al Zawahiri for removal of Godane, due to Afghani's perceived incompetence of Godane as a leader.
For now, the other groups that oppose Godane seem to have vanished in the hinterland, afraid of further reprisals.
Source : France 24/ 6.30.13
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