Al-Islaah is a moderate Islamist movement that formed in the 1970s and is affiliated with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. It evolved from a postwar social service network, recognized for the quality of its hospitals and schools (including the University of Mogadishu), to a political movement with broad support from students, professionals, and business people. It has rejected violence. Damul Jadiid (DJ)—"New Blood"—is a faction within al-Islaah that broke with the organizational rejection of violence and joined the Islamic Courts Union in 2006. Current president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and several within his cabinet are rumored to be DJ members. Critics assert that the DJ is responsible for the government's centrist attitude and its interface with the Arab world, as opposed to building connections with the African Union, heightening tensions with Ethiopia and Kenya. Whether or not the DJ is indeed deeply involved in these matters has not changed the perception that the government lacks transparency, which has complicated efforts to build consensus with authorities in other parts of the country. Sources: Matt Bryden, "Somalia Redux? Assessing the New Somali Federal Government," Center for Strategic and International Studies (August 2013), accessed January 24, 2014. Kenneth J. Menkhaus, Somalia: State Collapse and the Threat of Terrorism (New York: Routledge, 2006). Kenneth J. Menkhaus, "Somalia and Somaliland," Battling Terrorism in the Horn of Africa, ed. Robert I. Rothberg (Baltimore: Brookings Institution Press, 2005), pp. 23-47.
