Al - Itihaad al - Islamiya Al - Itihaad al - Islamiya or AIAI ( " The Islamic Union " ) is a defunct Islamist militant group in Somalia that was added to the U . S . list of terrorist organizations on September 24 , 2001 . History . In the early 1990s , as Somalia fell into disorder following the collapse of the Siad Barre regime , Osama bin Laden took advantage of the chaos to fund al - Itihaad , later sending foreign militants who trained and fought alongside al - Itihaad members with the goal of creating an Islamist state in the Horn of Africa . AIAI was also active in setting up sharia courts . Despite its association with al - Qaeda , other analysts caution against overgeneralization , noting that al - Itihaad had elements of a genuine social movement and that the characters of sub - factions throughout the country substantially differed from each other . By 1994 , al - Itihaad had established itself in the Somali Region of Ethiopia . According to a report by the Emergency Unit for Ethiopia of the UNDP , the Al - Ittihad were most active in the area between Kebri Dahar , Danan , Kelafo and Degehabur . Some elements were reported to be active near Danot , Nusdariiq and ' Adow . Although they had support amongst the Ogaden , at the time their activities were not tolerated by the Isaaq and Dhulbahante clans . The al - Itihaad sent a delegation to the Peace and Unity Conference of the Somali Nation , which was held February 1995 at Kebri Dehar , at which they made pledges which would cause the organization to effectively cease to exist as a political and military force within the Ogaden . Despite this promise al - Ittihad continued to engage in violent actions after this congress . One was the attempted assassination of then Minister of Transportation and Communications , Abdul Majid Hussein in 1996 . Another was in March of that year , when they raided areas in the Jigjiga Zone controlled by the Abskuul clan , apparently in collaboration with disaffected members of this clan . Established local security forces cleared al - Itihaad infiltrators from the Jigjiga Zone , and the defeated remnants retreated to disputed border areas between the Somali and gala ( oromo ) regions , which has served as a refuge for them , as well as for Oromo fundamentalist rebel groups . An article published in the " San Francisco Chronicle " , on December 16 , 2001 quoted unnamed intelligence officials who claimed AIAI was extensively connected to Al Barakaat . The San Francisco Chronicle called al Barakat a Somali - based business conglomerate and money transfer organization . They quoted former U . S . Treasury Secretary Paul O ' Neill who called al Barakat as one of the " financiers of terrorism " . The 9 / 11 Commission Report subsequently cleared al Barakat of involvement in financing the 9 / 11 hijackers , The 9 / 11 Commission determined that the 9 / 11 hijackers received their remote funds transfers through US financial institutions , not Islamic financial institutions . Funded by wealthy Saudis , al - Itihaad had extensive connections with the Somali expatriate community in Kenya , in particular the Eastleigh district of Nairobi and the predominantly Muslim coastal regions . At its height , the AIAI militia numbered over 1000 . According to U . S . intelligence officials , al - Itihaad cooperated with the al - Qaeda operatives who carried out the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam that killed 224 people . On March 7 – 8 , 1999 , Ethiopia claimed it had made a cross - border incursion into Ballanballe searching for members of AIAI who had reportedly kidnapped a person and stolen medical supplies , and denied reports of looting . Allegations from that time also claim Ethiopia was the supplier of various Somali warlords , while Eritrea was arming other warlords . On 24 September 2001 , AIAI ' s finances were sanctioned by the administration of U . S . President George W . Bush under Executive Order 13224 . Its then - head Hassan Dahir Aweys was also sanctioned under Executive Order No . 13224 in November of that year . In June 2004 , Hassan Abdullah Hersi al - Turki , who had become leader of the organization , was also sanctioned for his connections to bin Laden . Al - Qaeda operatives were reported to have used the AIAI base on the island of Ras Kiyemboni , south of Kismayu near the border with Kenya . Other sources indicate that al - Qaeda formed a training camp on Kiyemboni , while al - Itihaad set up its own training camp at Las Quoay near the northeast port of Boosaaso . In the aftermath of the September 11 , 2001 attacks , these camps were dismantled and the hundreds of trained militants sailed for the safety of tribal areas in Yemen . Shortly thereafter it was claimed that al - Itihaad had dissolved as an organization . Sheikh Aweys went on to become one of the leaders of the Courts of the Islamic Court Union ( ICU ) , which seized control of Mogadishu in June 2006 after several months of fighting . Hassan Al - Turki went on to lead Hizbul Shabaab , the Youth Movement wing of the ICU before ceding the organisation to Aden Hashi Farah " Eyrow " . Members of Al - Itihaad al - Islamiya ( AIAI ) . The following individuals were known to be members of AIAI :