EUAA COI Report. Defection, desertion and disengagement from Al Shabaab

The report provides background information and whenever available data about deserting and defecting pathways out of Al-Shabaab militant group. After distinguishing between the formal and the informal options, the report engages with the main challenges and consequences associated with them. Men, women, and children’s profiles, as well as forms of engagement with the group, are discussed as key determinants of potentially available pathways. Complementing this overview, which is based on research findings limited in scope and representativeness, the report relies on a pool of expert interviews which help shed some light on the unreported and underreported aspects of the issues at stake.

The reference period is from 1 July 2021 to 30 November 2022. The information gathered is a result of desk research and oral source interviews and input until 18 November 2022. Some limited additional information was added during the finalisation of this report in response to feedback received during the quality control process, until 9 December 2022.

This report was written by the COI Sector of the EUAA. The following departments and organisations have reviewed the report, together with EUAA:

- Germany, Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), Country Analysis;

- Belgium, Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, CEDOCA – Documentation and Research Center;

- Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD).

This report is produced in line with the EUAA COI Report Methodology (2019) and the EUAA COI Writing and Referencing Style Guide (2019).