GLOSSARY
A
Adolescence / Adolescents
Definition: “There is no universally accepted definition of adolescence and adolescents. While there is some consensus on the age range of 10–19 (used by UNICEF and the World Health Organization), the Committee on the Rights of the Child urges caution in using this terminology, given variance in cultural, neurological and biological development and prefers to refer to the ages of 10–18 as adolescence.”
Source(s): “Prevention of Child Recruitment and Exploitation by Terrorist and Violent Extremist Groups: The Role of the Justice System: A Training Manual” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC). 2019 (p.ix); see also United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 20 (2016) on the implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence 6 December 2016 (CRC/C/GC/20), para 5
African Union (AU)
Definition: African Union, the successor to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 2002. It is a union of 54 member states that loosely mirrors the structure of the European Union.
Source(s): “Profile: African Unionhttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-16910745” BBC.
Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama'a (ASWJ)
Definition: Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama'a (ASWJ) is a clan-based Hawadle militia that opposed Al-Shabaab with some success in the Galmudug region, supported by Ethiopia (until the ascension of Abey in Ethiopia). It has recently come into conflict with the Somali government resulting in frequent clashes and some deaths (including of civilians), despite a series of negotiated settlements that have called for ASWJ’s incorporation into the SNA.
Source(s): “Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca” UCDP.
al-Afghani, Ibrahim
Definition: Born Ibrahim Jama Me’aad in the Isaq clan of Somalia. Ibrahim al-Afghani was the ideological founder of Al-Shabaab. Al-Afghani killed in 2013 during an internal purge after he opposed Al-Shabaab’s then-Emir Godane. (For more information, see Al-Afghani’s profile).
Source(s): Hansen, Stig Jarle. Al-Shabaab in Somalia. (2016); Joseph, Dan & Harun Maruf Inside Al-Shabaab: The Secret History of Al-Qaeda’s Most Powerful Ally (2018); see additional sources in the profile.
Al-Ansar
Definition: “The Helpers”, clan militias that Al-Shabaab intermittently calls on to support it in battle. Al-Shabaab is adept at exploiting clan grievances to build temporary alliances with local clans for battles against other clans, and government militaries.
Source(s): Harper, Mary. 2019. Everything You Have Told Me Is True: The Many Faces of Al Shabaab. London, UK: Hurst Co.
Al-Barnawi, Abu Musab
Definition: Abu Musab al-Barnawi is the leader of the Islamic State branch of Islamists in Nigeria, known as the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Originally the group was a part of Boko Haram, but when the Islamic State promoted al-Barnawi the leader of Boko Haram, Shekau, refused to acknowledge al-Barnawi’s leadership, leading to a separation in the two groups. Al-Barnawi continues to lead the Islamic State-loyalist faction, which is estimated to have between 3,500 and 5,000 fighters.
Source(s): “Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)” United Nations Security Council.
al-Hamammi, Omar
Definition: Also known as "Abu Mansour al-Amriki", Famous US-born (Alabama) jihadi who travelled to Somalia, killed in 2014 as part of Al-Shabaab's internal purge (For more information see al-Hamammi’s profile).
Source(s): Hansen, Stig Jarle. Al-Shabaab in Somalia. (2016); Joseph, Dan & Harun Maruf Inside Al-Shabaab: The Secret History of Al-Qaeda’s Most Powerful Ally (2018); see additional sources in the profile.
al-Hijra
Definition: Formerly known as the “Muslim Youth Center” (MYC), al-Hijra is Al-Shabaab’s primary affiliate in Kenya, and their most prominent ally regionally. Over more than a decade they have funnelled thousands of fighters into Somalia and launched countless attacks in Kenya. (For more information see the “Associations” page).
Source(s): Anzalone, Christopher. “Kenya’s Muslim Youth Center and Al-Shabab’s East African Recruitment” CTC Sentinel, October 2012, 5(10): 9-13.
al-Itihad-al-Islamiya (AIAI)
Definition: al-Itihad-al-Islamiya (AIAI) was Al-Shabaab’s predecessor in the 1990s and an Al-Qaeda affiliate. It was defeated by Ethiopia in 1996. It included many future Al-Shabaab leaders including its first Emir Ayden Ayro, and Mukhtar Robow as well as Hassan Dahir Aweys, Moalim Osman.
Source(s): Hansen, Stig Jarle. Al-Shabaab in Somalia. (2016); Joseph, Dan & Harun Maruf Inside Al-Shabaab: The Secret History of Al-Qaeda’s Most Powerful Ally (2018), “AIAI” UCDP.
al-Katib
Definition: Al-Shabaab TV and news organization
Source(s): Munene, Macharia. “The Challenge of Al-Shabaab” E-International Relations, February 7, 2012.
Alliance for Peace Restoration and Counter-Terrorism (APRCT)
Definition: The Alliance for Peace Restoration and Counter-Terrorism (APRCT) was a US-backed alliance of warlords during the early-mid 2000s, it fought (and lost) against the ICU.
Source(s): Hansen, Stig Jarle. Al-Shabaab in Somalia. (2016); Joseph, Dan & Harun Maruf Inside Al-Shabaab: The Secret History of Al-Qaeda’s Most Powerful Ally (2018)
Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia (ARS)
Definition: The Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia (ARS) was a rival militia coalition, led by Hizbul Islam and Aweys.
Source(s): “Analysis: Who is fighting whom in Somalia” The New Humanitarian. September 2, 2009.
al-Muhajiroun
Definition: A newer Islamic extremist group in Kenya that emerged in January 2015 and pledged a bayah to Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda. Analysis of the group has found that although “it is not clear what relationship exists between al-Shabaab and al-Muhajiroun, there is no doubt that the group was established to support the former’s attempts at expanding in Kenya and the East African region” (Ndzovu 2017, p.8). (For more information see Al-Shabaab’s Affiliations)
Source(s): Source(s): Ndzovu, Hassan Juma. “The Rise of Jihad, Killing of ‘Apostate Imams’ and Non-Combatant Christian Civilians in Kenya: Al-Shabaab’s Re-Definition of the Enemy on Religious Lines” Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and its Diaspora 3.1 (October 2017): 4-20;
al-Turkey, Hassan
Definition: Pro-Al-Shabaab leader of HKR and a former member of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). Instrumental in Al-Shabaab’s conquest of Kismayo in 2008. He was sanctioned by the UN in 2010. Believed to have died in 2015.
Source(s): Hansen, Stig Jarle. Al-Shabaab in Somalia. (2016); Joseph, Dan & Harun Maruf Inside Al-Shabaab: The Secret History of Al-Qaeda’s Most Powerful Ally (2018); Kriel, Robyn. “Al-Shabaab official wanted by U.S. dies in Somalia” CNN. May 28, 2015. “HASSAN ABDULLAH HERSI AL-TURKI” United Nations Security Council.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
Definition: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the Arabian peninsula, predominantly Yemen, since 2009, when it emerged from the merger of Al-Qaeda branches in the region including Saudi Arabia and Yemen. It emerged as a major force in Yemen in 2011, but it has been sidelined by the emergence of the Houthi war in September 2014.
Source(s): “AQAP” UCDP
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM)
Definition: Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM) is the West African affiliate of Al-Qaeda. AQIM has its roots in the Algerian civil war of the 1990s and early 2000s, when a splinter group, the GSPC fractured off and eventually became AQIM, it has spread abroad, and since 2012 it has mainly been located in Mali. For more information, see the Associations page.
Source(s): “AQIM” UCDP. Caleb Weiss The Long War Journal, see additional sources in the Associations section.
al-Zawahiri, Ayman
Definition: Ayman al-Zawahiri was the successor to Osama Bin Laden as head of Al-Qaeda in 2011. al-Zawahiri was born to an upper-middle class Egyptian family in 1951, and by the time he was 15 he was an active member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a hardline Egyptian Islamic group, for which he was jailed and reportedly tortured by the Egyptian government. After travelling abroad to Saudi Arabia he returned to Egypt in the 1990s where he became the leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad movement, a terrorist group that caused over 1,200 deaths in Egypt. In 1998 he joined Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda and has since been one of the group’s most senior leaders. After Bin Laden’s death, al-Zawahiri became the leader of Al-Qaeda and formally accepted Al-Shabaab’s bayah (oath of allegiance) in 2012. He remains the head of Al-Qaeda today and the U.S. has placed a 25 million USD bounty for his arrest.
Source(s): “Profile: Ayman Al-Zawahiri” BBC, August 13, 2015.
Amiru’l-Amm
Definition: Under Boko Haram’s first leader Mohammed Yusuf the highest position in the group was the Amiru’l-Amm.
Source(s): Kekilli, Emrah; Khayri Omar; Ibrahim Bachir Abdoulaye. “Anatomy of A Terrorist Organization: Boko Haram” SETA, January 2018.
AMISOM
Definition: The African Union Mission in Somalia. AMISOM has been present in Somalia since 2006 when it consisted solely of Ugandan troops defending the Presidential Palace and other key institutions in Mogadishu. After the departure of Ethiopian forces in 2009, the mission took over primary responsibility for defending the Somali government. In 2012 its mandate was expanded to include offensive operations and the degrading and defeat of Al-Shabaab. It was later reinforced by Burundian troops, and eventually absorbed the Ethiopian and Kenyan invasions. At its peak it swelled to over 22,000 soldiers. After several delays since 2018 its mandate is currently set to expire at the end of 2021 when the transition period is set to expire.
Source(s): Paul D. Williams. Fighting For Peace in Somalia. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2018.
Amniyat
Definition: (Alternatively spelled Amniyaat). The Amniyat are Al-Shabaab’s internal police and special operations division, responsible for policing Al-Shabaab’s dissidents, assassinating opponents to Al-Shabaab’s leaders, and for planning many of Al-Shabaab’s attacks, including assassinations, suicide attacks and international attacks. (For more information, see the Amniyat section in Al-Shabaab’s organizational page).
Source(s): Harper, Mary. 2019. Everything You Have Told Me Is True: The Many Faces of Al Shabaab. London, UK: Hurst Co. For additional sources, see the Amniyat section in Al-Shabaab’s organizational page.
Ansaar Muslim Youth Center (AMYC)
Definition: Ansaar Muslim Youth Center is Al-Shabaab’s affiliate in Tanzania (for more information see the “Associations” page.)
Source(s): Anzalone, Christopher. “Kenya’s Muslim Youth Center and Al-Shabab’s East African Recruitment” CTC Sentinel, October 2012, 5(10): 9-13.
Apostate
Definition: “a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle.”
Source(s): Oxford Languages
Aweys, Hassan Dahir
Definition: Islamic Courts Union (ICU) leader, founder of Hizbul Islam, religious and spiritual militant leader, intermittant member of Al-Shabaab (for more information, see Aweys’ profile).
Source(s): Hansen, Stig Jarle. Al-Shabaab in Somalia. (2016); Joseph, Dan & Harun Maruf Inside Al-Shabaab: The Secret History of Al-Qaeda’s Most Powerful Ally (2018); see additional sources in the profile.
Ayro, Ayden
Definition: Ayden Ayro was Al-Shabaab’s first Emir, killed by an airstrike in 2008. (For more information see Ayro’s profile).
Source(s): Hansen, Stig Jarle. Al-Shabaab in Somalia. (2016); Joseph, Dan & Harun Maruf Inside Al-Shabaab: The Secret History of Al-Qaeda’s Most Powerful Ally (2018); see additional sources in the profile.
Azzam, Abdullah Yusuf
Definition: Radical Islamic theorist and the “Father of Global Jihad” and the “spiritual father” of the September 11th attacks. He is one of the primary teachers of Osama Bin Laden, as well as Al-Shabaab ideologue Ibrahim al-Afghani. He was instrumental in the founding of the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-taiba and the Palistinian Hamas. He was assassinated in 1989 in Pakistan.
Source(s): Riedel, Bruce. “The 9/11 Attacks’ Spiritual Father” Brookings, September 11, 2011.
B
Baidoa
Definition: Major Somali city, it was the capital of the Somali government during the 2006 period of ICU rule. It is the capital of Bay region. After Ethiopia’s withdrawal in 2009 Al-Shabaab conquered it and held the city until 2012 when SNA and AMISOM forces retook it.
Balance of Power (BoP)
Definition: Balance of Power. The military strength of the opposing sides, and their relative strengths, measured by their control of territory, ability exert influence, and win battles against military rivals. Derived from classical realist and neorealist principles of Morganthau and Kenneth Waltz.
Barre, Siyad
Definition: (Alternatively spelled Siad Barre) Siyad Barre was a Somali dictator (1969-1991). Overthrown in 1991 after a decade-long insurgency that escalated to a civil war in 1988. He died in 1995. Barre was a member of the Marehan sub clan of the Darod clan. He was a former general who took power in a coup in October 1969. His reign was defined by a breakdown of relationship with the Soviet Union and the disastrous Ogaden war against Ethiopia.
Source(s): Hansen, Stig Jarle. Al-Shabaab in Somalia. (2016); Joseph, Dan & Harun Maruf Inside Al-Shabaab: The Secret History of Al-Qaeda’s Most Powerful Ally (2018). “Mohamed Siad Barre” Encyclopedia Britannica.
Bayah
Definition: An Islamic oath of allegiance. Often un-written. Implies a reciprocal obligation of the leader towards the subject, and the subject obeying the leader. Al-Shabaab issued a bayah to Al-Qaeda in 2012.
Source(s): Oxford Islamic Studies Online
Bin Laden, Osama
Definition: (Alternatively spelled Usama). Osama Bin Laden was the founder and lead-ideologue of Al-Qaeda until he was killed by U.S. special forces in 2011. Responsible for planning the organization’s most infamous act of terrorism, the September 11, 2001 bombings in New York and Washington, D.C. which killed nearly 3,000 people.
Source(s): “Profile: Osama bin Laden” Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). September 1, 2007
Blitzkrieg
Definition: Blitzkrieg is a German word for “lightning war” popularized by World War II to refer to a rapid all-out assault. It is also used to describe Al-Shabaab’s strategy of sudden, concentrated assaults on AMISOM or SNA forces which have become common since 2015.
Source(s): Reilly, Henry. “Blitzkrieg” Foreign Affairs, January, 1940. Joseph, Dan & Harun Maruf Inside Al-Shabaab: The Secret History of Al-Qaeda’s Most Powerful Ally (2018)
Boko Haram
Definition: Boko Haram is a Salafi, jihadist terrorist group in Borno State in North Eastern Nigeria. The group’s formal Arabic name is Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (which is roughly translated to “Group Committed to Propagating the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad”), but it is more commonly known as Boko Haram (which means “Western Education is a Sin'' in the local Hausa language). Boko Haram was founded by Mohammed Yusuf, and after his death in 2009 he was succeeded by his deputy Abubakar Shekau. Since 2009 it has waged a war in North Eastern Nigeria, including infamous abductions of children and brutal terrorist attacks (most infamously the abduction of 276 girls from Chibok in 2014). In March 2015 Boko Haram swore allegiance to the Islamic State, however when the Islamic State promoted Abu Musab al-Barnawi to command of the group (which they referred to as Islamic State West Africa Province or ISWAP), Shekau refused to accepted al-Barnawi’s leadership leading to a schism in the two groups. In CRTG Working Group publications “Boko Haram” refers to Shekau’s faction, and “ISWAP” refers to al-Barnawi’s faction.
Source(s): UCDP. Kekilli, Emrah; Khayri Omar; Ibrahim Bachir Abdoulaye. “Anatomy of A Terrorist Organization: Boko Haram” SETA, January 2018.
C
Cabo Delgado
Definition: A gas-rich region of northern Mozambique that is home to a growing Islamic insurgency (October 2017-present). The insurgents are known locally as “Al-Shabaab” but they have not been shown to have any ties to Al-Shabaab in Somalia, and are instead believed to be tied to the Islamic State (for more information, see the Associations page).
Source(s): Columbo, Emilia. “Supporting Mozambique’s Response to the Growing Insurgent Threat in Cabo Delgado” CSIS, April 9. 2020.
Child
Definition: “Every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”
Source(s): Convention on the Rights of the Child
Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups (CAAF)
Definition: Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups, which “refers to any person below 18 years of age who is or who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not only refer to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities.” See also CAFF (Children Associated with Fighting Forces).
Source(s): “Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups” (The Paris Principles), January 30, 2007; Save the Children
Children Associated with Fighting Forces (CAFF)
Definition: Children Associated with Fighting Forces. This is a broad category which includes not only children who participate actively in hostilities but also children in support roles. See also CAAF (Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups).
Source(s): “Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups” (The Paris Principles), January 30, 2007; Save the Children
Child Protection System
Definition: Child Protection Systems are “certain formal and informal structures, functions and capacities that have been assembled to prevent and respond to violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation of children”.
Source(s): UNICEF. “Female genital mutilation/cutting: A statistical overview and exploration of the dynamics of change” UNICEF, New York, NY (2013), p.3
Children in Conflict with the Law
Definition: “anyone under 18 who comes into contact with the justice system as a result of being suspected or accused of committing an offence”
Source(s): UNICEF “Child Protection Information Sheet: Children in Conflict with the Law” My 2006.
Children in Contact with the Law
Definition: A broader term that includes children who interact with the legal system in a variety of capacities including as child victims and witnesses, as well as children in conflict with the law (see “Children in Conflict with the Law” above).
Source(s): UNICEF “Justice For Children” September 2020.
Children accused of infringing penal law
Definition: Children who have been charged with a criminal offence but have not yet been tried before a court.
Source(s): Convention on the Rights of the Child
Children alleged as having infringed penal law
Definition: Children who are under investigation on suspicion of having committed a criminal offence.
Source(s): Convention on the Rights of the Child
Children Recruited by Terrorist Groups (CRTG)
Definition: Children Recruited by Terrorist Groups is a term used to denote children who are recruited or used by non-state armed groups (NSAG) including terrorist groups and other extremist organizations. As with the term “Child Soldier”, CRTG is defined (and used) in a broader sense, synonymous with Children Associated with Armed Groups and Armed Forces (CAAF) and Children Associated with Fighting Forces (CAFF). Each of these terms is defined by the Paris Principles on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (Paris Principles) as “child associated with an armed force or armed group refers to any person below 18 years of age who is, or who has been, recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, spies or for sexual purposes.”
Source(s): Paris Principles (Article 2.1); CRTG Working Group
Child Reintegration
Definition: “Child Reintegration” is “the process through which children transition into civil society and enter meaningful roles and identities as civilians who are accepted by their families and communities in a context of local and national reconciliation. Sustainable reintegration is achieved when the political, legal, economic and social conditions needed for children to maintain life, livelihood and dignity have been secured. This process aims to ensure that children can access their rights, including formal and non-formal education, family unity, dignified livelihoods and safety from harm.”
Source(s): “Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups” (The Paris Principles) (2.6), January 30, 2007.
Child-Sensitive
Definition: “Denotes an approach that takes into consideration the child’s right to protection and individual needs and views in accordance with the age and maturity of the child”.
Source(s): “Prevention of Child Recruitment and Exploitation by Terrorist and Violent Extremist Groups: The Role of the Justice System: A Training Manual” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC). 2019. (p.ix); see also Save the Children; DFID, HelpAge International, Hope & Homes for Children, Institute of Development Studies, International Labour Organization, Overseas Development Institute, Save the Children UK, UNDP, UNICEF, the World Bank and World Vision (Joint Statement) “Advancing Child-Sensitive Social Protection”. August 2009.
Child Soldier
Definition: Consistent with the definitions elsewhere in this Glossary, a “Child Soldier” is, by definition, someone aged 18 or younger. Additionally while the term “Child Soldier” indicates an explicit combat function, the nature of warfare, and the complicated and highly varying roles that combatants - in particular children - often have makes this distinction anachronistic and ill equipped for discussion of non-state armed groups. As a result, for the purposes of this Working Group and its publications, the term “Child Soldier” is defined (and used) in a broader sense, synonymous with Children Associated with Armed Groups and Armed Forces (CAAF) and Children Associated with Fighting Forces (CAFF). Each of these terms is defined by the Paris Principles on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (Paris Principles) as “child associated with an armed force or armed group refers to any person below 18 years of age who is, or who has been, recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, spies or for sexual purposes.”
Source(s): Paris Principles (Article 2.1); “Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups” (The Paris Principles), January 30, 2007.
Civil Society
Definition: Civil society is “the wide array of non-governmental and not for profit organizations that have a presence in public life, express the interests and values of their members and others, based on ethical, cultural, political, scientific, religious or philanthropic considerations”.
Source(s): World Bank “Civil Society”
Community-Based Policing
Definition: A philosophy and organizational strategy that promotes a partnership-based, collaborative effort between the police and the community to effectively and efficiently identify, prevent and solve problems of crime, the fear of crime, issues of physical safety and security, or social disorder.
Source(s): Saferworld. “Handout: The ten principles of community-based policing” 2006.
“Complex Attacks”
Definition: “Complex Attacks” are attacks that involve "a suicide device, more than one attacker, and more than one tactic (for instance, a suicide vehicle bomb) and small arms fire"
Source(s): Shire, Mohammed Ibrahim & Abdi Hersi. 2019. “Brothers in Arms: The Phenomenon of Complex Suicide Attacks”, Terrorism and Political Violence., p.2
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
Definition: The Convention on the Rights of the Child is an influential convention on the rights and protections of children ratified in November 1989. Among other influential components, it defines a child as “every human being below the age of eighteen years”, extending numerous provisions previously applied only to those under 15 years of age.
Source(s): Convention on the Rights of the Child
Counter Insurgency (COIN)
Definition: Counter Insurgency (COIN) is “the blend of comprehensive civilian and military efforts designed to simultaneously contain insurgency and address its root causes.”
Source(s): U.S. Department of State.
Counter Terrorism (CT)
Definition: The U.S. military defines Counterrorism operations as “operations that include the offensive measures taken to prevent, deter, preempt, and respond to terrorism”.
Source(s): US Army Field Manual, 2006, p. 4.
Counter Violent Extremism (CVE)
Definition: Counter Violent Extremism means “proactive actions to counter efforts by extremists to recruit, radicalize, and mobilize followers to violence. Fundamentally, CVE actions intend to address the conditions and reduce the factors that most likely contribute to recruitment and radicalization by violent extremists”.
Source(s): Department of Homeland Security
Crime Prevention
Definition: “Crime Prevention comprises strategies and measures that seek to reduce the risk of crimes occurring, and their potential harmful effects on individuals and society, including fear of crime, by intervening to influence their multiple causes.”
Source(s): United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime “Crime Prevention”.
D
Dadaab
Definition: Refugee camp in Kenya. It is among the largest refugee camps in the world home to over 218,000 refugees as of July 2020. The camp has been active since the fall of the Siyad Barre regime plunged Somali into chaos in 1991, despite frequent discussions of closing it by the Kenyan government.
Source(s): “Dadaab Refugee Complex” UNHCR.
Danab
Definition: It is the “Lightning” brigade. It is a special, U.S.-trained segment of the SNA. However, it operates almost entirely independently of the rest of the SNA, operating alongside AMISOM and U.S. forces (prior to the US-withdrawal in late 2020). It is thought to be one of the few functional elements of the SNA capable of operating without foreign support.
Source(s): Sperber, Amanda. “The Danab Brigade: Somalia’s Elite, U.-Sponsored, Special Ops Force” Mail & Guardian. August 11, 2020.
Da’wa
Definition: Al-Shabaab’s preaching and education ministry. They are responsible for designing the curriculums in Al-Shabaab’s schools, Mosques, and other public institutions. They are the instrument of Al-Shabaab’s media censorship.
Source(s): Joseph, Dan & Harun Maruf Inside Al-Shabaab: The Secret History of Al-Qaeda’s Most Powerful Ally (2018)
Demobilization
Definition: Demobilization is “the formal and controlled discharge of active combatants from armed forces or other armed groups. The first stage of demobilization may extend from the processing of individual combatants in temporary centres to the massing of troops in camps designated for this purpose. The second stage of demobilization encompasses the support package provided to the demobilized, which is called reinsertion.”
Source(s): Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards (UN 2006)
Deprivation of Liberty
Definition: Means any form of detention or imprisonment or the placement of a person in a public or private custodial setting, from which this person is not permitted to leave at will, by order of any judicial, administrative or other public authority.
Source(s): General Assembly, United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty (the Havana Rules), adopted by the General Assembly on 14 December 1990 (A/RES/45/113).
Deradicalization
Definition: Deradicalization is “the process of abandoning an extremist worldview”. This is a process designed to influence the attitudes of ex-combatants who harbour radical ideologies that support the use of violence to propagate a cause. Deradicalization is a non-linear process that seeks to promote mental and physical desistance from acts of violence. It is a complex process that must be supported by programmes that promote behavioural change since it may be difficult to demonstrate any significant changes in attitude without a change in behaviour. (See also: “Radicalization” below)
Source(s): Rabasa, Angel; Stacie L. Pettyjohn; Jeremy J. Ghez; and Christopher Boucek. “Deradicalizing Islamic Extremists” Rand, 2010 (p.1).
Dhere, Ali
Definition: Al-Shabaab’s spokesperson. Nom de guerre “Ali Rage”. (For more information see Ali Dhere’s profile).
Source(s): Hansen, Stig Jarle. Al-Shabaab in Somalia. (2016); Joseph, Dan & Harun Maruf Inside Al-Shabaab: The Secret History of Al-Qaeda’s Most Powerful Ally (2018); see additional sources in the profile.
Digital Divide
Definition: “The gap between demographics and regions that have access to modern information and communication technology and those who have restricted or no access”.
Source(s): “Prevention of Child Recruitment and Exploitation by Terrorist and Violent Extremist Groups: The Role of the Justice System: A Training Manual” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC). 2019. (p.ix); See also: Stanford; OECD.
Disarmament
Definition: Disarmament refers to “the collection, documentation, control and disposal of small arms, ammunition, explosives and light and heavy weapons of combatants and often also of the civilian population. Disarmament also includes the development of responsible arms management programmes”
Source(s): “Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups” (The Paris Principles) (2.6), January 30, 2007.
Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR)
Definition: Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration is the process of deradicalizing former members of NSAG and reintegrating them into society. Including separating the combatant from the armed group, taking their weapons, and reintegrating them into society.
Source(s): United Nations.
E
El Adde
Definition: Town in Somalia where Kenya had an AMISOM base that was the site of one of Al-Shabaab’s most devastating attacks on peacekeeping forces (January 2016). (For more information see Al-Shabaab’s history section).
Source(s): Oladipo, Tommy. “What happened when al-Shabab attacked a Kenyan base in Somalia?” BBC. January 22, 2016. “Al-Shabaab Attacks African Union Base in Somalia” Al Jazeera; “Kenyan troops abandon Somali camp to al Shabaab militants” Reuters, January 26, 2016
Emir
Definition: (Alternatively spelled Amir), is an Arabic word that translates to “commander” or “prince”. The term has come to mean a Muslim political leader (including a commander or governor), particularly in the Arab world.
Source(s): Cambridge Dictionary; Encyclopedia Britannica