International Crisis Group, Horn of Africa analyst Rashid Abdi says al-Shabab has a decentralized leadership structure that has been vulnerable to dissent.

VOA: standard.2009.12.23

"It is a very decentralized movement." "It is not hierarchic, so I do not think the arrests or the killings of its senior officials have ever had any impact, any significant impact on the movement."

VOA: standard.2010.05.10