Bringing Global Jihad to the Horn of Africa

Al Shabaab, Western Fighters and the Sacralization of the Somali Conflict

Author(s): Lorenzo Vidino, Evan Kohlmann, Raffaello Pantucci
Journal Title: African Security
Volume: 3
Issue: 4
Pages: 216-238
Publisher(s): Routledge
Publication Year: 2010

Sacralization of conflict is the process through which religion, or, in most cases, a militant interpretation of it, evolves from being an irrelevant or secondary factor at the onset of a conflict to shaping the views, actions, and aims of one or more of the conflict's key actors. The article outlines how this phenomenon has taken place in Somalia over the past twenty years by looking at two related phenomena: (1) the rise to prominence of al Shabaab, a group that, unlike its predecessors, follows a global jihadist ideology, and (2) the arrival of foreign fighters, particularly from Western countries, attracted more by global jihadist ideology than ethnic ties or nationalist sentiments.

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