©al-Shabaab

Al-Shabaab Official Interviewed

In 2009, the first radio station established by al-Shabaab, the hardline Islamic group battling for control of Somalia, was based in the port city of Kismayo to propagate the views of the hardliners and try to sell their ideas to the population.

The establishment of the radio station came after the owners of private radio stations in Mogadishu agreed not to publicise or broadcast stories relating to conflicts as Ethiopian forces withdrew from Somalia, and the Shabab vowed to continue fighting until all foreign forces pulled out of Somalia, including the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces.

In the following days and weeks, the insurgents began what seems to have been a revenge campaign...

Al Shabaab, Media Friendly

Mediamania is gripping Somalia. As the country heads towards ending the transitional government in August of this year, the media is set to take centre stage in a process that will dramatically change Somalia’s political landscape.

In Mogadishu alone, the airwaves have been filled by nearly 20 FM radio stations with many more likely to be established in the coming months as the election season draws near. Of these twenty stations, more than half were formed within the last two years while four are about a month old.

During the rule of Somalia’s strongman, Mohamed...

TEDx

TEDx Mogadishu

Richard has since sold TED...

Dr Ayman al Zawahiri

The truth on the ground may be quite different. Somali, Kenyan and Ethiopian military advances as well as severe leadership rifts among al-Shabaab's top officials have put pressure on the foreign fighters in the group, which has lead to two very different perspectives on where the foreign fighters are now.

One set of sources is firm the foreign fighters have fled Somalia for Yemen, while the other indicates the foreigners have...

Mjr. Chirchir's Twitter Account

The Kenyan military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir announced on his Twitter account yesterday afternoon that al-Shabaab militants had stoned to death a Kenyan citizen from the Nairobi suburb of Majengo. The execution, Mjr. Chirchir claimed, had been carried out in the port city of Kismayo on January 10.

"Kenyan Al Shabaab whipped before being stonned (sic) to death in Kismayu," Mjr. Chirchir tweeted at around 5:00pm local time (0200 GMT), attaching a photo of a man in the process of being buried in an open field as local residents watch...