Ahmed Abdi Godane (Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr)

Who was he?

Ahmed Abdi Godane was the second emir of al-Shabaab and the one who led it longest before 2014. This page records his public role from research sources. How al-Shabaab is organised is described in Al-Shabaab: how it is organised, and who has led it.

Early life

Christopher Anzalone, writing in West Point's CTC Sentinel, records that Godane was born in July 1977 in Hargeisa and attended the Umar bin al-Khattab Islamic school there. He won scholarships to study in Sudan and Pakistan, went to Afghanistan in 1998, and returned in 2001. In the 1990s he worked for the al-Barakaat money-transfer company in Burao (Christopher Anzalone, CTC Sentinel, September 2014). Wikipedia gives his birth date as 10 July 1977 (Wikipedia, Ahmed Abdi Godane).

Anzalone records that he was suspected of involvement, with Aden Hashi Ayro, in killings of foreign nationals in Somaliland in 2003–2004 (CTC Sentinel). See Aden Hashi Ayro.

The Islamic Courts and the rise of al-Shabaab

In mid-2006 he became secretary-general of the executive council of the Islamic Courts Union. After Ethiopia's army entered Somalia in December 2006 he helped reorganise al-Shabaab, and he became its emir in about December 2007, though the exact date is debated (CTC Sentinel).

Anzalone describes 2008–2010 as the movement's "golden age": it expanded fast, set up regional governors, enforced its version of sharia, and built a media operation (same source).

Al-Qaeda

Godane sought recognition from al-Qaeda for years. A formal affiliation was announced on 9 February 2012 (CTC Sentinel). In June 2012 the US offered a reward of up to US$7 million for information on him (same source).

The 2013 purge

Al-Shabaab's offensives on Mogadishu from August 2010 did not bring lasting gains, and disputes grew inside the movement. Anzalone records that Godane filled the shura with loyalists and later stopped its meetings. In June 2013 the Amniyat arrested Ibrahim al-Afghani and Mu'allim Burhan, who were then killed; in September 2013 it killed the American Omar Hammami and the Briton Usama al-Britani (CTC Sentinel). Mukhtar Robow fled to his home district after challenging Godane at Barawe (Wikipedia, Mukhtar Robow).

Westgate, 2013

In September 2013 al-Shabaab attacked the Westgate mall in Nairobi; Stanford's Mapping Militants project records about 68 killed. Godane claimed it as retaliation for Kenya's 2011 military entry into Somalia (Wikipedia; Mapping Militant Organizations).

Death

On the night of 1 September 2014 a US air strike hit two vehicles near Sablale in Lower Shabelle. The US confirmed his death on 5 September; al-Shabaab named Ahmed Diriye as his successor within a week (CTC Sentinel).

Sources differ

• When he became emir. December 2007 (most accounts) or 2008.
• How he is described. Anzalone calls him "a charismatic and multifaceted leader" while recording that he used the Amniyat against rivals inside the movement (CTC Sentinel).

Read the primary sources yourself

• Christopher Anzalone, "The life and death of al-Shabab leader Ahmed Godane", CTC Sentinel 7:9 (2014): article.