Phoebe Donnelly discusses al-Shabaab on BBC interview

On December 29, 2019 BBC’s Dotun Adebayo interviewed Phoebe Donnelly about al-Shabaab’s activities in Somalia. Phoebe highlighted her research on the way al-Shabaab uses relationships, specifically forced marriage, to strengthen their control beyond territory. Phoebe points out that al-Shabaab’s strategy to create and embed families within the population is long-term in that these relationships do not simply go away if the group loses control. She argues that response activities need to think beyond tactical operations to include the social structures that al-Shabaab has created. Click here to listen to the BBC segment on al-Shabaab. Phoebe’s interview starts 8 minutes and 30 seconds into the recording.