Ahmed Abdi Godane

Ahmed Abdi Godane (Axmed Cabdi Godane; أحمد عبدي جودان; 10 July 1977 – 1 September 2014), also known as Mukhtar Abu Zubair, was the Emir (leader) of Al-Shabaab, an Islamist group based in Somalia.

Godane, who received training and fought in Afghanistan, was designated by the United States as a terrorist.

Ahmed Abdi Godane was born in Hargeisa, Somaliland on 10 July 1977.

He hailed from the Arap subclan of the greater Isaaq clan.

According to some reports he apparently had a difficult childhood and was said to have spent time at an orphanage.

His initial education was at the Umar bin al-Khattab Islamic school in Hargeisa where he reportedly excelled academically.

He won scholarships to pursue studies in Sudan and Pakistan, subsequently enrolling in a madrassa in Pakistan with financial support from affluent Saudis.

It was during his travels abroad that he is believed to have been attracted to militant Islamism.

Godane is believed to have journeyed to Afghanistan in 1998, where he received military training and battlefield experience alongside the Taliban.

During this time, he formed a friendship with Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad, also known as Ibrahim al-Afghani.

In 2001, he subsequently returned to Somaliland.

While in Somaliland, Godane landed a high-profile job as a salesman in al-Barakat, a Somali remittance company.

Godane also began taking part in religious debates about Salafism and started to express criticism towards the Somaliland administration, deeming it "un-Islamic."

He then attempted to establish his own jihadist organization in Somaliland, but the environment proved to be extremely unfriendly and resistant to his efforts.

In 2002, Godane and al-Afghani moved to Ethiopia's Ogaden region with the intention of establishing a new jihadist group.

During their time there, Godane and his fighters staged an ambush on a convoy of drug traffickers returning from Somaliland to Ethiopia, resulting in the deaths of the traffickers and the seizure of approximately $1 million in the heist.

Ethiopian authorities apprehended most of the assailants, but Godane and al-Afghani managed to evade capture and within a couple months fled to southern Somalia, where the absence of a functional government was conducive to their activities.

Using the money acquired from their heist, Godane and al-Afghani managed to infiltrate the Islamic courts.

By 2005, Godane began forging close relationships with other leaders within the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and established a strong alliance with the leader of al-Shabaab, Aden Hashi Farah Aero.

He was allegedly involved with the murders of several aid workers in Somaliland including a British couple Dick and Enid Eyeington, he was then sentenced in absentia to 25 years in prison for terrorism related charges.

During this period, Godane assumed command of a significant number of al-Shabaab fighters and played a pivotal role in the ICU's successful campaign to defeat local warlords and capture Mogadishu.

In mid-2006, he took on the role of secretary-general of the Executive Council of the ICU.

On 24 September 2006, the ICU captured the important port city from Barre Adan Shire Hiiraale leader of the Juba Valley Alliance, a tribal dispute has taken place between Habar Gidir leaders of the al-Shabaab faction within ICU and the Ogaden clan Ras Kamboni Brigades led by Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki over the position of the military police leader.

A compromise was reached where both groups agreed on appointing Ahmed Godane, an outsider who hails from the northern Arap clan as the head of military forces in the strategic city of Kismayo, Lower Juba.

After the Ethiopian invasion toppled the ICU from power in 2006, Godane was one of the al-Shabab leaders instrumental in reorganizing the group and laying the groundwork for the launch of its insurgency against the Ethiopian occupation.

He was also at the forefront of delegitimizing Sharif Sheikh Ahmed after the latter was elected as the new president of the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG).

Godane, during his time as Emir, oversaw the rapid expansion of both al-Shabab's territorial control in southern and central Somalia as well as the organization of governing structures to exercise a degree of control over these newly acquired areas.

Regional governors were appointed to oversee the implementation of the group's policies, programs, and edicts at the provincial (wilayat) level, with local administrators exercising authority at lower levels.

The exact date of Godane's rise to al-Shabaab's Emir is debated, although it seems he ascended to this position in December 2007.

During his leadership of Al-Shabaab, the group pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda.

In his first statement on June 2, 2008, as the head of al Shabaab, Godane pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and vowed that his group would launch a direct attack against the United States.

Godane continued to reject negotiations with what he called the "apostate government," arguing that the Somali Transitional Federal Government must either surrender or face destruction.

Following the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in 2009, al-Shaabab was able to achieve relative stability in the areas under its control by implementing a strict interpretation of Sharia law, focusing on carrying out punishments for specific offenses such as murder, theft, robbery, adultery, fornication, and espionage.

This stringent legal code had economic implications, leading to increased commerce and trade in areas under al-Shabab's influence, including major cities like Baidoa and Kismayo.

"We tell the Mujahideen to not trust [negotiations], and they should know that it is the path which led those whom they are fighting today to apostasy," he said in an audio message released on jihadist forums on July 6, 2009.

In January 2010, Godane, speaking on behalf of Al-Shabaab, released a statement reiterating his support for al-Qaeda and stated that they had "agreed to join the international jihad of al Qaeda".

Local insurgent authorities also initiated public works projects, including bridge and road construction, irrigation canal development, and famine relief distribution in 2011.

Additionally, al-Shabab established a proficient and multi-lingual media network.

Godane rejected Somali nationalist goals as he believed that the group's effort in Somalia was a part of the global jihad led by al-Qaeda.

He was killed in a U.S. drone strike on 1 September 2014 in southern Somalia.