(CNN) -- The mysterious visitor stands in a patch of scrubland in Somalia, surrounded by Islamic militants wielding AK-47s. His face is covered by a white-and-red headscarf; he is slim and seems young. But there is something puzzling about him: His skin is fair, and when he speaks in an audio recording, his English is near perfect and spoken with a North American accent.





The militants -- belonging to Al-Shabaab -- say his name is Abu Abdulla Almuhajir (the foreigner). And they say he is an envoy from the al Qaeda leader, Ayman al Zawahiri, thousands of miles away in Pakistan.





Almuhajir has turned up in the desolate scrubland, they say, to offer al Qaeda's help with famine relief. Photographs show him at what appears to be an aid camp that Al-Shabaab claims it has set up for victims of the famine. The recording says he is delivering aid that al Qaeda had purportedly collected, including food, clothing and $12,000 converted into Somali currency.





A video showing the images and audio recording was posted to Islamist websites last week. U.S. counter-terrorism agencies are still trying to ascertain Almuhajir's identity and whether he really was an al Qaeda envoy -- about which there is some doubt.





The event, at which a large group of Somalis were shown sitting crossed-legged on the ground, was clearly a propaganda ploy by Al-Shabaab to boost its popularity -- and that of the al Qaeda brand. International aid agencies have sharply criticized the group for banning or obstructing aid in areas in central and southern Somalia worst hit by the famine. The group's brutal imposition of Taliban-like practices in territory under its control has also alienated many Somalis.





If authentic, the event suggests a strengthening of the relationship between hard-line factions of Al-Shabaab and al Qaeda. Though factions of the group have long been allied with al Qaeda and share its vision of global jihad, the video of the meeting would be a rare demonstration of such ties.





The so-called emissary told his Somali audience that al Qaeda felt their pain and urged Muslims to support Al-Shabaab, which is fighting Somalia's government in an effort to implement a stricter form of Islamic law. He also recalled Osama bin Laden's long interest in Somalia, saying he "played a major role in repelling invading forces of the Muslim land in Somalia."





And Almuhajir promised that al Qaeda's new leader, Zawahiri, would continue that support.





"In a recent release, Sheikh Ayman brought the drought in Somalia to the attention of the Muslim Ummah (or global Muslim community) and encouraged them to support their brothers in Somalia," he said.





Western counter-terrorism analysts have been puzzling over the identity of "the foreigner." Several Americans and Canadians are believed to have joined al Qaeda in Pakistan in recent years and risen through the group's hierarchy. The most prominent has been Oregon-born Adam Gadahn, 33, al Qaeda's English-language spokesman who joined forces with the group around a decade ago. But counter-terrorism analysts say that Gadahn's voice (and waistline) is very different from that of the mysterious al Qaeda envoy pictured in the Al-Shabaab video.





Another candidate is Adnan Shukrijumah, 36, an American citizen born in Saudi Arabia who spent much of his youth in New York and South Florida, who joined al Qaeda around the time of 9/11 and rose up the ranks to become a planner for the group's external operations. But the envoy appears to have fairer skin than Shukrijumah. And then there is Jude Kenan Mohammed, 22, from Raleigh, North Carolina. He is believed to be still at large in Pakistan after leaving the United States in October 2008 to allegedly wage jihad. Just after he arrived, he was arrested by Pakistani officials, charged with weapons possession and released on bail. The following year, he failed to show up to his court hearing, suggesting he may have slipped into tribal areas.





It may be that the whole event was manufactured in an effort to bolster Al-Shabaab
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