ABSTRACT
The Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, or al-Shabaab, is an offshoot of the former Islamic Courts Union. One of the groups was organized under Aden Hashi Ayro, and called itself the al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen movement. Al-Shabaab was headed by Aden Hashi Ayro until he was killed by a United States (US) airstrike in early May 2008. As Ethiopian forces left Somalia in early 2009, fighters affiliated with al-Shabaab took over the areas that had been occupied by the Ethiopian forces and implemented a strict version of Sharia in areas they came to control. In early 2008, when the US designated al-Shabaab a global terrorist entity, prominent members struck a celebratory tone. In 2010, al-Shabaab controlled much of southern Somalia, including most of Mogadishu, the capital, where they enforced strict Islamic Sharia law. The United Nations reported in 2011 that at least US$15 million of al-Shabaab's annual revenues came from the charcoal and sugar trade.
