Background Piece on Al-Shabaab

The Council on Foreign Relations published on 13 March 2015 a backgrounder on "Al-Shabab" by Jonathan Masters and Mohammed Aly Sergie.  It appeared before the recent attack on Garissa University in Kenya.  It covers the origins, objectives, leaders, funding, areas of control, and recruitment by al-Shabaab in addition to U.S. policy on Somalia.