Islamist Terrorism Poses Renewed Threat

In early October, then-U.S. National Counterterrorism Center Director Scott Redd said that the U.S. public was not "tactically" safer than it was before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Many other U.S. and European officials ended 2007 less optimistic about the global terrorism situation than they began it.
This is in spite of the more positive outcomes of the international community's response to terrorism: dig more at http://www.forbes.com/2007/12/20/islamist-terrorism-jihad-cx_1221oxford.html?partner=links

Terrorist sympathizers from Masjid Ibn-Taymiyha Columbus Eight Somali store operators charged in food-stamp fraud

Eight men who ran four area food markets are accused of abusing federal food programs for the needy at a cost to taxpayers of more than $1.5 million, newly unsealed charges allege


http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/01/28/somalis.html

19 Killed in Somalia Clash

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Islamic Terrorist firing rockets and mortars clashed with Somali troops and their Ethiopian allies in fighting that killed at least 17 civilians and two Ethiopian soldiers in the capital, witnesses said Tuesday.http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Jan29/0,4670,Somalia,00.html

French aid worker among four killed in Somalia terr attack

Three aid workers from France, Kenya and Somalia were killed Monday along with a local journalist by a roadside bomb near the southern Somali town of Kismayo, officials said.
The Dutch branch of aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) said three employees -- a Kenyan doctor, a French logistics expert and a Somali driver -- were among those killed by the blast. dig more http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hZDxcNoxWr18IwjB3QocGSivrQGA

Republic of Ethiopia The Week in the Horn

http://www.mfa.gov.et/Press_Section/Week_Horn_Africa_Jan_25_2008.htm

News somalia

The African Union warned the Shabab insurgency is spreading to relatively peaceful areas. "Their strategy seems to be to further weaken the TFG [Transitional Federal Government] by destabilising as many areas as possible. ... In the Middle and Lower Juba regions, the al-Shabaab [military wing of the deposed Union of Islamic Courts] are reported to be training new recruits and planning attacks, taking advantage of the instability created by clashes between clans." More than 130 Somalis drowned as their boat capsized in the Red Sea.

African Union Unveils Road Map for Peace in Somalia

The African Union's top security official has presented Somalia's leaders a four-point plan for creating stability in the war-ravaged country. From the Somali capital, Mogadishu, VOA's Peter Heinlein reports the plan's ultimate goal is to entice the United Nations to take over peacekeeping duties from beleaguered Ethiopian and African Union troops. more at the Digg Store. http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-01-24-voa1.cfm

Top AU official in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU (AFP) - African Union Peace and Security Commissioner Said Djinnit on Wednesday arrived in Mogadishu to review the African body's peacekeeping operation and meet Somali officials. "The purpose of my visit is to meet the prime minister and the cabinet members to express our support for efforts in the peace process in Somalia," he told reporters at the airport.Djinnit, on a one-day visit to the war-torn Somali capital, went straight into talks with new premier Nur Hassan Hussein."The second point is to meet Amisom, our troops on the ground and their commanders, to express our position on the wonderful job they are doing on behalf of Africa in supporting peace in Somalia," Djinnit added. More of this story

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080123/wl_africa_afp/somaliaunrestafricanunion

New Somalia Cabinet Locates to Mogadishu

By James Butty Washington, D.C.23 January 2008
Butty interview with Ashkii Listen to Butty interview with Ashkii

Somalia’s newly confirmed cabinet ministers are beginning their third day of work Wednesday in the violent-plagued capital of Mogadishu after arriving over the weekend, marking the official relocation of the new government from Baidoa to the national capital. Abdirazak Ashkii is Somalia’s minister for reconciliation. He old VOA that Mogadishu is relatively safe despite reports of frequent mortar attacks from Islamic insurgents. More of this story

http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2008-01-23-voa5.cfm

Most Wanted Man in Horn of Africa The Islamic Courts' Leader.

TFSF Headline NEWS

The Islamic Courts' Leaders

the leadership of Somalia's Islamic Courts and Shabab.
Somalia's Islamic Courts presentation looks at the major players in the Islamic Courts and affiliated Shabab movement. Both organizations have deep ties to al Qaeda and are waging a violent insurgency against the Transitional Federal Goverment and allied Ethiopian forces.

Read the Rest of the Headline ON

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/01/in_pictures_the_islamic_courts.asp

news briefing, State Department

news briefing, State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said the fact of Monday's meeting does not mean the United States is on the verge of recognizing Somaliland and that U.S. policy on the matter is unchanged.
He said U.S. officials believe it important to have contacts with responsible political figures from all over Somalia, who have an interest in building the country's institutions and taking it to, as he put it, a more hopeful future:
"Certainly Jendayi's [Frazer's] meetings fall solidly within that category, and it's a policy we are going to continue to pursue," said Sean McCormack. "We have interests in fighting terrorism in Somalia as well as in the Horn of Africa. Part of trying to bring about some greater stability in Somalia, writ large, involves working with the political parties, encouraging the political parties and political leaders in Somali to come together."
McCormack said the United States defers to the African Union as the appropriate forum to address the recognition issue.
Recent U.N. Security Council resolutions on Somalia, backed by the United States, reaffirm support for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and unity of the country

Problems in the VOA-Somali Service

Problems in the VOA-Somali ServiceBy Abdirahman Warsame

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/problems_in_the_voasomali_serv.html

At the beginning of the Voice Of America-Somali program, Somalis in the Diaspora and back home were very enthusiastic about the radio service. From the start expectations were very high, particularly as US foreign policy toward Africa has taken a new course in the last few years, following suspected al-Qaeda efforts to establish itself in East and Central Africa. Read more at american thinker.

An Internet Jihad Aims at U.S. Viewers

When Osama bin Laden issued his videotaped message to the American people last month, a young jihad enthusiast went online to help spread the word.America needs to listen to Shaykh Usaamah very carefully and take his message with great seriousness,” he wrote on his blog. “America is known to be a people of arrogance.”
Unlike Mr. bin Laden, the blogger was not operating from a remote location. It turns out he is a 21-year-old American named Samir Khan who produces his blog from his parents’ home in North Carolina, where he serves as a kind of Western relay station for the multimedia productions of violent Islamic groups. more..http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/us/15net.html?_r=1