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### Viewing cable 09NAIROBI1171, A PORTRAIT OF AL-SHABAAB RECRUITMENT IN KENYA

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09NAIROBI1171 | 2009-06-11 14:02 | 2011-04-06 00:12 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Nairobi

`

    VZCZCXRO6499
    PP RUEHROV
    DE RUEHNR #1171/01 1621431
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    P 111431Z JUN 09
    FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9802
    INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
    RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 6572
    RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 3213
    RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 3084
    RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
    RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
    RUZEFAA/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
    RHMFISS/CJTF HOA
    RUZEFAA/CDR USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NAIROBI 001171

    SIPDIS

    AF/E:SUSAN DRIANO; INR:MOZELLA BROWN; S/CT:ZACHARY
    ROTHSCHILD; S/CRS:NADIA BLACKTON

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/07/2019
    TAGS: PTER PREL SOCI PGOV KE SO
    SUBJECT: A PORTRAIT OF AL-SHABAAB RECRUITMENT IN KENYA

    Classified By: Ambassador Michael Ranneberger, reasons 1.4 b,d

    -------
    Summary
    -------

    ¶1. (C//REL TO USA, KEN, GBR//) There are a number of factors
    that make Kenya a fruitful source for recruiting young men to
    join such extremist groups as the Somalia-based al-Shabaab
    militia.  While we have been focused on Nairobi's Eastleigh
    suburb and the North East Province as particular areas of
    concern, new information indicates that al-Shabaab
    recruitment efforts may have also reached Isiolo, located in
    Kenya's geographic center.  An Isiolo businessman claims that
    60 young Kenyan Somali men have disappeared from Isiolo since
    January 2008 to fight in Somalia, and that two he knew
    personally recently died while conducting suicide bomb
    attacks in Mogadishu.  Recruitment in Isiolo, he said, is
    directed from a radical mosque in Eastleigh but carried out
    by members of four radical mosques around Isiolo.  Parents of
    these missing youth are grieving in private but are afraid of
    speaking out, he said.  Even if the Kenyan Government becomes
    actively involved in rooting out the recruitment network,
    there are no easy answers to this problem.  We will continue
    to actively explore ways the United States can be of
    assistance.  End Summary.

    --------------------------------
    Kenya: A Good Source of Recruits
    --------------------------------

    ¶2. (C//REL TO USA, KEN, GBR//) There are a number of factors
    that make Kenya a fruitful source for recruiting young men to
    join such extremist groups as the Somalia-based al-Shabaab
    militia.  Kenya's close proximity to Somalia, its sizeable
    population of ethnic Somalis, high levels of poverty and
    unemployment, a history of poor governance, and a worrisome
    youth bulge all contribute to the risk factors.  Kenya's
    ethnic Somali population in particular suffer from lower
    levels of development and education than their fellow
    Kenyans.  Idle, unemployed youth are at particular risk.  The
    continuing legacy of the Shifta Wars in the 1960s, certainly
    a contributing factor to Kenyan Somalis' lower level of
    development, also leaves them feeling like outsiders in their
    country of birth.  We have focused our attention for some
    time on Eastleigh, a well-known Somali-majority suburb of
    Nairobi, and the North Eastern Province, which directly
    borders Somalia, as possible recruitment locations.  We also
    have reason to believe that some limited recruitment by
    al-Shabaab has occurred in Dadaab refugee camp (septel).

    ¶3. (C//REL TO USA, KEN, GBR//) New information indicates,
    however, that al-Shabaab recruitment efforts also have
    reached Isiolo.  Located in Kenya's geographic center, Isiolo
    has a mixed population but was originally settled during the
    colonial period by members of the Isaq and Harti clans from
    Somaliland who fought for the British in the First World War.
     The area has become a center for cattle rustling and is
    awash in small arms (septel).  As in Muslim majority areas
    (Coast Province and North Eastern Province) and other urban
    areas throughout the country, traditionally moderate,
    pro-establishment Sufi mosques have gradually been overtaken
    by more activist, sometimes extremist, Wahhabi-led
    institutions whose clerics bring much-needed cash into the
    Isiolo area.  These Wahhabist clerics may have direct links
    with radical mosques in Eastleigh, and may be acting as
    recruitment agents for extremist groups in Somalia.

    ¶4. (C//REL TO USA, KEN, GBR//) As the battle in Somalia
    becomes more clan-based and Somalis increasingly join
    clan-based militias instead of al-Shabaab, some have
    postulated that al-Shabaab is increasingly in need of foreign
    fighters to keep up its numbers.  Frustrated and aimless
    Kenyan Somali youth, therefore, are a prime target.  In
    Isiolo, this recruitment effort is reportedly targeted
    specifically at members of the Somali Isaq and Harti clans.

    -----------------------------
    Residents Concerned in Isiolo
    -----------------------------

    NAIROBI 00001171  002 OF 003

    ¶5. (C//REL TO USA, KEN, GBR//) On June 3, an Isiolo-based
    Kenyan Somali businessman told PolOff that he was extremely
    worried about the Islamic extremists' reach into Isiolo and
    what it means for his family and his home.  Since January
    2008, 60 youth have gone missing from Isiolo, he said,
    presumably to fight in Somalia.  Two suicide bombers who
    recently struck in Mogadishu were from Isiolo, he claimed,
    and the businessman said that he knew the boys personally.

    ¶6. (C//REL TO USA, KEN, GBR//) The businessman said that the
    first suicide bomber -- a friend of XXXXXXXXXXXX -- was a
    25-year-old man named Tawakhal Ahmed.  Ahmed, he claimed, was
    responsible for the February 22 bombing of the African Union
    compound in Mogadishu (a blast that killed 11 Burundian
    peacekeepers and injured 15 others).  Ahmed was originally
    recruited in 2006 to fight in Somalia against the Ethiopian
    occupying forces after getting involved with a Wahhabi
    mosque.  According to the businessman, Ahmed grew his beard,
    found religion, came into good money, and disappeared into
    Somalia to fight the jihad.  When he came back, Ahmed
    reportedly told the businessman how he had travelled to
    Somalia: the journey started at the Garissa Lodge in
    Eastleigh, then four to five boys at a time would go on a bus
    to Doble and onto Kismayo, where they trained in a camp for
    three weeks.  After that, recruits received mobile phones,
    which is how they subsequently received their orders.  When
    the Islamic Courts Union fell in late 2006, they reassembled
    in Doble and Ahmed returned to Kenya, but not before his
    commanders destroyed his (and others') mobile phones, which
    had sensitive numbers programmed in them.  On Ahmed's return,
    the businessman said that he tried to convince Ahmed that
    Somalia was not his war and that he should stay home.  By
    that time, Ahmed agreed and said that he wanted to get
    married and start a madrassa (Islamic religious school) in
    Isiolo.  However, a few months ago, the men from Isiolo's
    radical mosques returned with some men from Eastleigh to
    re-recruit Ahmed, the businessman said.  The men from
    Eastleigh gave Ahmed USD 6,000, which Ahmed in turn
    distributed among his relatives and friends.  After a
    three-day prayer ritual, Ahmed left once again for Somalia,
    this time to carry out the February 22 suicide bombing.

    ¶7. (C//REL TO USA, KEN, GBR//) The businessman said that the
    second local man was named Yusuf Mohammed Warsame, who was 25
    or 26 years old and who, like Ahmed, finished secondary
    school in Isiolo.  The businessman said that he did not know
    when Warsame left for Somalia, but claimed that he was
    responsible for the May 24 suicide bombing in Mogadishu.
    (Note: The May 24 blast killed 10 people, including six
    soldiers, but an al-Shabaab spokesman has claimed that the
    bomber was a Somali, not a foreign fighter.  End Note.)

    ¶8. (C//REL TO USA, KEN, GBR//) The businessman said that four
    Isiolo area mosques have been taken over by radical Islamists
    who are not originally from Isiolo and are being used as
    underground recruiting centers for al-Shabaab.  The mosques
    are: Masjid Hidaya and the County Council Mosque, both in
    Isiolo Town; Masjid Noor in Bula Besa; and Masjid Taqwa in
    Bula Oda.  The businessman said that these mosques act as
    satellites of Eastleigh's Sixth Street Mosque, which directs
    recruitment operations. (Note: Isiolo's most prominent
    mosque, the Grand Mosque, is run by a moderate imam who has
    presided over the mosque for years and has resisted the
    overtures of Wahhabist clerics.  The businessman opined that
    the radicals may be waiting for the imam to pass away before
    they make their move for the Grand Mosque.  End Note.)

    ¶9. (C//REL TO USA, GBR//) The businessman expressed
    frustration at what he perceived as a lack of concern or
    follow-up by Kenyan officials, with whom he has already
    shared these concerns.  (Note: He claimed that he had spoken
    with Isiolo's District Commissioner, Isiolo's Member of
    Parliament, and representatives of the National Security
    Intelligence Service to no avail, which is why he approached
    the Embassy.  End Note.) He said that he has been following
    up on the stories of missing children himself, as he is
    frequently accosted by family members who tell him that they
    have not seen their sons.  Parents who lose their children
    mourn in private, and are afraid to speak out about what is
    happening.  One mother, he said, actually travelled to
    Kismayo, Somalia to look for her missing 12-year-old son and

    NAIROBI 00001171  003 OF 003

    she found him in a training camp.  The son reportedly told
    her to return to Isiolo and leave him there, or else she
    would be killed by the camp organizers.

    ---------------------------------
    Concerns from Other Interlocutors
    ---------------------------------

    ¶10. (C//REL TO USA, KEN, GBR//) While it would be difficult
    for us to confirm that the two men from Isiolo are indeed the
    suicide bombers responsible for attacks in Mogadishu, the
    story of the recruitment process and the disappearance of
    young men is plausible and matches concerns reported by
    Kenyan District Child Protection Officers from Nairobi and
    Garissa to UNICEF's Kenya office.

    ¶11. (C//REL TO USA, KEN, GBR//) Comment: If true, the reports
    about a possible al-Shabaab recruitment network that reaches
    all the way to Isiolo is disturbing.  There are no easy
    answers to this problem, even if there were Government of
    Kenya involvement.  To date, much of U.S. counter-terror
    support has focused on helping to secure Kenya's borders: we
    are providing assistance to Kenya's army to help them better
    react to major security incidents along the porous
    Kenya-Somali border and we are initiating a program to help
    the Administration Police and Wildlife Service to provide the
    first line of security along the border according to their
    mandate.  In the maritime arena, we provide support to the
    Navy and the Maritime Police Unit to better police Kenya's
    territorial waters.  We also work with the Kenya Civil
    Aviation Authority and the Kenya Airports Authority to
    enhance aviation safety and security throughout the country.
    Recently, however, USAID began a youth employment/youth
    inclusion program in Garissa with 1207 funding specifically
    aimed at reducing the vulnerability to recruitment of young
    Kenyan Somalis.  We hope that it can serve as a model for
    reaching Kenyan Somalis and youth who are at risk in other
    areas of Kenya as well.  We will continue to follow up on the
    recruitment issue and explore other ways the United States
    can be of assistance.  End Comment.
    RANNEBERGER

`