Many recruits from Somali diaspora communities are wooed by al-Shabab's mixing of a relatively simple creed composed of a peculiar form of militant Islamism with appeals to Somali nationalism. Most of the estimated 20 Somali-Americans who traveled to Somalia and joined al-Shabab did so when the Ethiopians were still occupying Mogadishu and other parts of the country in support of the Transitional Federal Government. Other non-Somali recruits are Muslims, like American al-Shabab member Omar Hammami, also known by the nom de guerre Abu Mansur al-Amriki, or the American.
The movement's media foundation, the Al-Kata'ib, or Brigades, continues to produce increasingly polished propaganda films that serve as recruitment vehicles. Young Somalis in North America and Britain have been targeted since 2007, as evidenced by the appearance of multiple English-speaking young men in insurgent films released in 2007 and 2008. A lengthy video recruitment message released in August 2008 from Saleh ‘Ali Saleh al-Nabhani, an Al Qaeda operative in East Africa with Kenyan and Yemeni citizenship, was subtitled in English. More recent al-Shabab videos have also included subtitles or narration in English.
Al-Shabab's appeal for East African recruits is best illustrated by a film produced by Al-Kata'ib and released in November 2010. The 35-minute film, Message to the Ummah and Inspire the Believers, features nine foreign fighters identified by country of origin. The video is subtitled in English and Swahili, and also includes spoken parts in Arabic, English, Swedish and Urdu. Of the nine recruits, six come from countries near East Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Sudan. The other three are identified as from Britain, Sweden and Pakistan and address the camera in English, Swedish and Urdu. A tenth recruit, also an English speaker, is not identified by country.
Al-Kata'ib's decision to subtitle Message to the Ummah in Swahili, the lingua franca of East Africa, is indicative of the movement's interest in East African recruitment. Swahili, a Bantu language, is spoken by some 35 million people in the region including Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, Somalia, South Africa and the United Arab Emirates. The film closes with spokesman ‘Ali Mahamoud Rage smiling and saying in a mix of Arabic and Swahili, using a common Swahili phrase: "And we say to our people/family in East Africa: Welcome to Somalia, hakuna matata [there are no worries]."
In its recruiting appeals, al-Shabab's methods vary depending on the audience. For the Somali diaspora, appeals rely on a mix of Somali nationalism and militant Islamism that painted first the Ethiopian military and now the African Union Mission in Somalia, a 9,000-soldier force in Mogadishu, as foreign interlopers propping up a corrupt government. Al-Shabab's call to non-Somali Muslims is largely transnational. For example, Swedish recruit Abu Zaid in Message to the Ummah speaks about Lars Vilks, the controversial Swedish cartoonist who drew derogatory cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that offended many Muslims around the world, both militants and non-militants. These calls are not Somalia-specific and are aimed at a wider audience of discontented Muslims. Similar religious exhortations, combined with Somalia-centric messaging, are also made to the Somali diaspora.
Al-Shabab's desire and ability to recruit from outside the country signals both strength and domestic weakness. On the one hand, its recruitment networks abroad have proven to be relatively successful in attracting diaspora recruits through diverse recruitment appeals based both on a virulent interpretation of Somali nationalism and militant Somali Islamism, influenced by the notions of a militant Islamic transnationalism. However, the insurgent movement's need to recruit abroad is also a sign that it's incapable of meeting manpower needs domestically.
