The Comeback Kids

Somalia’s Al-Shabab has overtaken Boko Haram as the deadliest militant group in Africa

- Conor Gaffey

IN APRIL, Somalia’s new president Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who is better known by his nickname Farmajo, tried a new tactic in the fight against the Somali militant group Al-Shabab. First, he declared war on the group. Then he offered the militants amnesty, promising to give the fighters education, training and employment if they surrendered within 60 days.

The group didn’t take the president up on his offer. Less than two months later, in late May, AlShabab claimed responsibility for killing at least 11 police officers with three roadside bombs on the Kenyan side of the Somali border. The militants’ message was clear: They were ready for war.

Al-Shabab, a group with ties to Al-Qaeda, has just overtaken Nigerian jihadis Boko Haram as the deadliest militant group in Africa. Al-Shabab—which means “the Youth” in Arabic—was responsible for 4,281 casualties in Africa in 2016, compared with 3,499 by Boko Haram and 2,350 by ISIS, according to data collected by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project and compiled by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, an institution affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense. (Historically, Boko Haram remains the most deadly group in Africa: It has killed 11,000 more people than Al-Shabab since 2010, according to the same data.)