VZCZCXRO0271
OO RUEHDE RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHNR #1540/01 1981457
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 171457Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0409
INFO RUCNSOM/SOMALIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CJTF HOA
RUZEFAA/CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RUZEFAA/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHMCSUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 001540 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/E AND A/S CARSON 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PTER PHUM MOPS SOCI SO
SUBJECT: SOMALIA - Al-Shabaab Stepping Up Intimidation Tactics 
 
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Summary 
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¶1. Al-Shabaab insurgents since early May have stepped up 
intimidation tactics, to include abduction, mutilation, and 
beheadings, possibly signaling al-Shabaab's increasing desperation 
and further marginalizing al-Shabaab leaders. Civil society leaders, 
journalists, Transitional Federal Government (TFG) officials, and 
would-be al-Shabaab defectors in recent weeks have been the targets 
of public al-Shabaab reprisals. Our contacts tell us al-Shabaab's 
increasingly draconian tactics are likely costing al-Shabaab leaders 
local support and exacerbating tensions between al-Shabaab and 
Hisbul Islam. End Summary. 
 
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Amputations, Mutilation, and Beheadings on the Rise 
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¶2.  According to media reports and our contacts in Somalia, 
al-Shabaab operatives are increasingly employing amputations as a 
means to intimidate and promulgate fear.  On June 25, al-Shabaab 
militia inflicted double amputations on four young Somali men in 
Mogadishu, cutting off their right hands and left feet as a 
punishment for theft. We have since heard three of the four have 
died from their wounds.  The incident was widely reported by Somali 
media outlets and our contacts tell us the four victims were not 
thieves but al-Shabaab deserters.  Additional contacts report 
al-Shabaab militia on July 3 amputated the arm of an alleged thief 
in the port town of Merca. 
 
¶3. According to a civil society contact that recently fled 
Mogadishu's Karan district, al-Shabaab militia in late June publicly 
tortured and mutilated 19 militiamen manning a Karan checkpoint. Our 
contacts report several additional cases of TFG family members and 
domestic staff being targeted by al-Shabaab operatives. In April, 
the brother-in-law of a Member of Parliament (MP) was reportedly 
killed by al-Shabaab militia on the road outside Baidoa. The 
al-Shabaab operatives then publicly displayed the man's badly 
mutilated body. 
 
¶4. Reports of beheading have become increasingly common in recent 
weeks.  An MP from Baidoa, whose husband was recently abducted by 
al-Shabaab, told us al-Shabaab on June 22 addressed hundreds of 
people at Baidoa Stadium and warned them anyone supporting the TFG 
would face the "slanted knife" - a euphemism for beheading. The same 
MP told us her brother was one of seven men the al-Shabaab accused 
of spying for Ethiopia and beheaded in early July.  Press reports 
from June 27 stated al-Shabaab publicly beheaded three men in Wajid 
over suspicion of disloyalty.  According to our contacts in the 
area, al-Shabaab operatives took two men in Wajid, Bakool region, 
from their homes, beheaded them, and dumped their headless bodies on 
the road. 
 
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Civil Society Activists and Journalists Targeted 
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¶5. Al-Shabaab appears to be systematically targeting civil society 
leaders and journalists.  According to our contacts in Somalia, 
media practitioners, journalists, and civil society leaders are 
consistently intimidated and threatened.  Recently, al-Shabaab shut 
down radio Mandeeq (Bulla Hawa district, Gedo region), arrested 
Radio Juba journalists in Baidoa, and warned Bulla Hawa residents 
against tuning in to a Nairobi-based Somali radio station known for 
its anti-Shabaab programming. According to our contacts, many civil 
society organizations have moved from Mogadishu to Nairobi because 
of security concerns and the few that remain in Mogadishu are 
increasingly fearful of conducting their work.  In recent days we 
have heard several reports of al-Shabaab breaking into NGO offices 
and looting computers, documents, and mobile phones. 
 
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Comment 
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¶6. We believe that these incidents, while anecdotal, indicate 
al-Shabaab is employing an increasingly systematic campaign of 
intimidation of its enemies. It is clear that al-Shabaab's tactics 
are creating fear among Somalis. However, we are also hearing 
numerous reports that al-Shabaab's tactics are motivating clan 
leaders, local administrations, and even some Hisbul Islam leaders 
 
NAIROBI 00001540  002 OF 002 
 
 
to further distance themselves from al-Shabaab. Our contacts close 
to Hisbul Islam leaders in the Juba River valley, for example, have 
cited al-Shabaab's draconian tactics as one of the major factors 
causing tensions between Hisbul Islam and al-Shabaab factions in 
that region. 
 
ABELL