Chairman Payne, Ranking Member Smith, and members of the sub-committee, let me first express my appreciation for the opportunity to testify before your sub-committee. The Horn of Africa region is by far the most unstable region in Sub-Saharan Africa today. Millions of people have died and many more have been displaced or forced into exile. One does not have to look in a refugee camp in Kenya for a Somali or Ethiopian. Hundreds of thousands of people from the Horn of Africa region are now second generation American citizens. Some have returned to help their fellow brothers and sisters as humanitarian workers, human rights advocates, and journalists. Many have lost their lives. Ibrahim Addou, an American Somali, is one such person.

In early 2007, at the height of the Ethiopian invasion, Ibrahim wrote "People are living in a nightmare. The peace and the stability brought by the Islamic Courts has now been replaced by anarchy and chaos. Killings, robbing, raping, and looting are part of the daily life." In December 2009, he was killed in a suicide attack in Mogadishu along with over a dozen students, teachers, and two ministers. A number of Somali journalists covering the crisis in Somalia have been assassinated by insurgents. Dozens of humanitarian and human rights advocates have been killed or injured. I am making this point because what has gotten the attention of the media is the dozen or so people who went back to kill and maim their own people and not those who died while helping others.

The Horn of Africa region has been marred by civil wars, internal political turmoil, inter-state wars, famine, and man-made humanitarian disasters in recent decades. The region has also emerged as a place highly vulnerable to terrorist attacks and is considered a safe haven for international terrorist groups. The suffering in the Horn of Africa is largely manmade and some of the conflicts were triggered, in part, by failed leadership. Ethiopia and Somalia fought three major wars over the past several decades, while Eritrea and Ethiopia fought a bloody war in 1998-2000, in which over 100,000 people were killed and many more displaced. The two countries remain in a state of war, despite a peace agreement signed in 2000.

Somalia remains in a state of anarchy, despite a peace agreement reached in 2004 that led to the formation of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). Ethiopia's intervention in December 2006 to install the TFG in power by ousting the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), a group that took power in Mogadishu in June 2006, made Somalia more unstable than it was during the six months the ICU was in power. More than 22,000 people were reportedly killed during the Ethiopian occupation. Another area little is heard about is the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled to refugee camps in Kenya over the past several years. The Ogaden is a forgotten tragedy. Efforts to resolve the number of conflicts in the region have led to important peace agreements, although these agreements have not led to lasting peace and stability in the region. Internal conflicts and conflicts between states are major contributing factors to humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa. High population growth, heavy debt burdens, lack of resources, economic mismanagement, interference in the internal affairs of neighboring countries, and poor leadership also play significant roles in the deteriorating conditions in that region.

The United States has been actively engaged in the Horn of Africa region since the 1960s. In recent decades, the United States has played key roles in conflict resolution and provided significant humanitarian assistance. The United States helped to secure the 2000 border dispute agreement between Eritrea and Ethiopia and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan in 2005. U.S. engagement in Somalia, however, has been limited over the past decade, although the Obama Administration has been actively engaged in support of the TFG and in the fight against terrorism. Relations between Eritrea and the United States, once strong, are currently poor. Relations between Ethiopia and the United States are strong, although some Members of Congress and human rights groups have been critical of Ethiopia's human rights record and the government's handling of the 2005 and 2010 elections.

The Terrorism Threat in the Horn of Africa

Political, ethnic, and religious conflicts in the region create an environment conducive to the growth of terrorist groups. The takeover of power in Sudan by the National Islamic Front (NIF) in 1989 led to a significant increase in the activities of international terror groups in Africa. The NIF government provided safe haven for well-known international terrorist organizations and individuals, and the government?s security services also were directly engaged in facilitating and assisting domestic and international terror groups. Many observers contend that it was during his five-year stay in Sudan that Bin Laden laid the foundation for Al Qaeda. The penetration by Al Qaeda into East Africa is directly tied to NIF?s early years of support to international terrorist organizations. The Horn of Africa is by far the most impacted by international terrorist activities in Africa. The 1990s saw dramatic and daring terrorist attacks against American interests in East Africa. Over the past two years, a number of local terrorist groups have emerged in Somalia, including Al-Shabaab, the Ras Kamboni group, and Hizbul Al-Islam.

Somalia: Safe Haven for Terrorist Groups?

The United States, Somalia's neighbors, and some Somali groups have expressed concern over the years about the spread of Islamic fundamentalism in Somalia. In the mid-1990s, Islamic courts began to emerge in parts of the country. These courts functioned as local governments and often enforced decisions by using their own militia. Members of the Al Ittihad Al Islami militia reportedly provided the bulk of the security forces for these courts in the 1990s. By the late 1990s, Ethiopian security forces and Somali allies severally weakened Al-Ittihad. But the absence of central authority in Somalia created an environment conducive to the proliferation of armed factions throughout the country.

In 2003, the leadership of Al-Ittihad, including Sheik Ali Warsame, brother in law of Sheik Aweys, the leader of Hizbul Al-Islam, and a number of other top leaders, met and later decided to form a new political front. The Islamic Courts Union, which came to the scene in 2006, included some of the top leaders of Al-Ittihad. The young members of the movement disagreed with the decision of the older leadership in 2003 and decided to form their own movement. These young leaders, some of whom had fought in Afghanistan, met and later formed what is known today as Al-Shabaab. Some of the key commanders and leaders of Al-Shabaab come from Somaliland. Ahmed Abdi Godane (also known as Abu Zubayr), who is on the U.S. terrorism list and who trained and fought in Afghanistan, is a top leader from Somaliland. Mukhtar Robow, who is also on the U.S. terrorism list, is a key figure in the movement and at times the public face of the Shabaab. Another key player is Ibrahim Haji Jama (al-Afghani), who is on the U.S. terrorism list and also from Somaliland, and reportedly trained and fought in Afghanistan. Hassan al-Turki is a member of the Ogaden clan from Ethiopia, who has openly called for Jihad, and works closely with foreign fighters. On February 1, 2010, Al Shabaab and the Ras Kamboni group, led by Hassan Al Turki, reportedly agreed to merge under one name: Al-Shabaab Mujahidin Movement. In 2004, he was placed on the U.S. terrorism list.

U.S. Counter-Terrorism Measures

Al Qaeda poses a direct threat against U.S. interests and allies in East Africa, although Al Shabaab appears more focused on carrying out attacks against Somali citizens, the TFG, and African Union peacekeeping forces (AMISOM). Al Shabaab, however, has threatened to attack neighboring countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, and Eritrea. On February 2, 2010, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, at a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing, stated: "We judge most Al Shabaab and East Africa-based Al Qaeda members will remain focused on regional objectives in the near-term. Nevertheless, East Africa-based Al Qaeda leaders or Al Shabaab may elect to redirect to the Homeland some of the Westerners, including North Americans, now training and fighting in Somalia.(1)"

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201006181158.html