Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

Chapter 5
Terrorist Safe Havens (Update to 7120 Report)
Terrorist safe havens described in this report include ungoverned, under-governed, or illgoverned
physical areas where terrorists are able to organize, plan, raise funds, communicate,
recruit, train, transit, and operate in relative security because of inadequate governance capacity,
political will, or both.
AFRICA
TERRORIST SAFE HAVENS
Somalia. In 2012, many areas of Somalia remained a safe haven for terrorists, although fewer
areas than in 2011. The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and its successor, the Federal
Government of Somalia, with the assistance of the AU Mission in Somalia, AU member states,
and allied Somali militia forces, secured areas neighboring Mogadishu and drove al-Shabaab out
of many of its strongholds in south-central Somalia. Most notably, the forces gained control of
the port city of Kismayo on September 28.
Al-Shabaab continued to control large sections of rural areas in the middle and lower Jubba
regions, however, as well as the Bay and Bakol regions. Al-Shabaab also augmented its presence
in northern Somalia along the Golis Mountains and within Puntland’s larger urban areas.
Additionally, Somalia’s long unguarded coastline, porous borders, and proximity to the Arabian
Peninsula allowed foreign fighters and al-Shabaab members to transit around the region without
detection. Areas under al-Shabaab control provided a permissive environment for al-Shabaab and
al-Qa’ida operatives to conduct training and terrorist planning with other sympathetic violent
extremists, including foreign fighters. The capability of the TFG through August, the
Government of Somalia from September on, and other Somali local and regional authorities to
prevent and preempt al-Shabaab terrorist attacks remained limited.
The TFG and its successor, the Federal Government of Somalia, cooperated with U.S.
counterterrorism efforts.
According to independent sources and NGOs engaged in demining activities on the ground, there
was little cause for concern for the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Somalia.
The Trans-Sahara. The primary terrorist threat in this region was al-Qa’ida in the Islamic
Maghreb (AQIM). Though its leadership remained primarily based in northeastern Algeria,
AQIM factions also operated from a safe haven in northern Mali, from which it launched kidnap
for ransom operations, collected arms in the wake of the Libyan Revolution from that country,
and attempted to expand its safe haven but was pushed back by Algeria, Mauritania, and Niger.
Mali. In 2012, the Tuareg Rebellion, aided by returning mercenary fighters and arms
proliferation stemming from the Libyan Revolution, was followed by the arrival of violent
extremist and terrorist groups such as al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and the
Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), in northern Mali. The rebel groups,
aided by violent extremists in some cases, took advantage of the political chaos in Bamako
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