Minnesota Somalis: Death of al-Shabab leader a blow against terrorism

Members of Minnesota's Somali community welcomed news of the death of al-Shabab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane who was killed in a U.S. airstrike on Monday.

Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said on Friday that U.S. forces had killed Godane, the co-founder of al-Shabab, in Somalia's Lower Shabelle region.

Godane's killing weakens the terrorist group's ability to attract individuals from outside Somalia, including young men from Minnesota, said Adam Omar of Hopkins, an observer of Somalia's political affairs and graduate student in public administration at Minnesota State University-Mankato.

Since 2007, al-Shabab has recruited more than 20 young men from the Twin Cities, home to the nation's largest Somali population, according to FBI estimates.

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Godane had killed many innocent civilians and had been an obstacle to peace, said Jibril Afyare, president of Somali Citizens League, a Twin Cities organization that works with the youth.

"People who have gone to fight with al-Shabab they can see today that everyone who is involved with killing innocent people will end up exactly how this gentleman had ended up," Afyare said.

The war against al-Shabab is not over yet, he said, but Godane's killing is a step in the right direction.

"This is a long battle," Afyare said. "The ideology has to be eliminated of extremism and terrorism."

Sadik Warfa, deputy director for the Global Somali Diaspora, said the Somali government must "seize the moment" and devise a strategy to achieve peace in Somalia by offering an olive branch to moderate leaders and fighters within al-Shabab.

A very small segment within Minnesota's Somali community supports al-Shabab, Warfa said, but most people in the community want a better life for their children and families, along with less violence in their homeland.

"We Somali-Americans are against terrorist organizations," Warfa said. "We are a hardworking community."

U.S. forces killed Godane's predecessor, Adan Hashi Ayro, in an airstrike in 2008.

Godane's death creates an opportunity for the Somali government to eliminate the group in the long run, Omar said.

Under Godane's leadership, al-Shabab has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and evolved into a ruthless militant group that carried out suicide bombings and assassinations.

It would be difficult to find another militant leader who could fill Godane's shoes, Omar said, because Godane had killed most of his deputies in recent years, leaving no one to lead al-Shabab.

"It could splinter and join ISIS ranks or it could stay where it is right now with al-Qaeda and be more of a regional threat in East Africa and Somalia than join the global ISIS movement," Omar said.

Following Godane's death, the Somali government announced it would offer amnesty in the next 45 days to al-Shabab members who renounce violence and cut ties to al-Shabab and al-Qaeda.

"While an extreme hardcore may fight over the leadership of al-Shabab, this is a chance for the majority of members of al-Shabab to change course and reject Godane's decision to make them the pawns of an international terror campaign," Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in a statement.

Without Godane as its leader, "it is difficult to imagine al-Shabab remaining a cohesive entity," said Abdi Aynte, executive director of the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies in Mogadishu.

"Long-standing rumors of ideological differences within the group are likely to manifest further as remaining senior members vie for control," said Aynte, a former Minneapolis resident.