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Al-Ittihad
al-Islami (AIAI)
Once Somalia’s largest militant Islamic organization, AIAI rose to power in the early 1990s following the collapse of the regime of Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre but now constitutes a loose collection of independent militant groups with no identifiable central authority. Former AIAI leader Hassan Dahir Aweys was a dominant figure in the Council of Islamic Courts, which controlled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia from June 2006 until the Ethiopian invasion in December of that year. AIAI’s aim was to establish an Islamic regime in Somalia and force the secession of the Ogaden region of Ethiopia.
Former AIAI members likely remain active in jihadist pursuits and groups targeting Ethiopia. Former elements of AIAI may have been responsible for kidnappings and murders of relief workers in Somaliland in 2003 and 2004.
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