How has Al-Shabaab abandoned its transnational goals to focus on local issues? A thread:
A. By 2016 al-Shabaab had to rethink its strategy. Domestically, al-Shabaab’s focus on global jihad, its draconian style of governance, had triggered a drastic decline in public support.
A. By 2016 al-Shabaab had to rethink its strategy. Domestically, al-Shabaab’s focus on global jihad, its draconian style of governance, had triggered a drastic decline in public support.
B. During #Somalia’s 2011 drought, for example, the group blocked aid deliveries, burned food, and killed charity workers, worsening a disaster that ultimately killed over 260,000 Somalis.
C. But a drought in 2017, al-Shabaab responded proactively, providing food relief, and digging irrigation canals for farmers. The group also did emergency provisions to communities in contested territories, who have long complained about being neglected by the #Somali government.
D. It's clear the group would rather garner local support and replace the Somali government in goods & services than lead jihad. It's clear that the group has shifted its strategy in order to take over the country similar to that of the #Taliban in #Afghanistan.
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