Djibouti - Negotiations sponsored by the United Nations and aimed at bringing the Somali government and its main political foes into direct dialogue were due to resume Saturday in Djibouti. more..http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=776697
David Angel. -- Ali Ahmed Jama
Muslims are self-secure enough to face hard truths about Islam, asserts Toronto's Tarek Fatah.
He had better hope so. Many other authors inviting Muslims to critically examine their religion have had to fear for their lives.
Irshad Manji, formerly of Toronto, now of New York, and author of The Trouble with Islam, travels with a bodyguard. Somali-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Dutch author of Infidel, travels with two.
Robert Spencer, American author of such works as The Truth about Muhammad, writes that he "lives in a secure, undisclosed location."
Fatah, too, has received death threats over the years, to the point where he resigned two years ago as communications director for the Muslim Canadian Congress in an effort to lower his profile.
This book will raise it again and he would be wise to look out for himself. Yet throughout Chasing a Mirage, Fatah comes across as somebody who genuinely believes that ultimately, in the grand scheme of things, Muslims truly are mature enough to face even the harshest truths he is prepared to tell. dig more ..http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/Books/article/420875
 His Excellency President of the Somali Transitional Federal Government.Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmedwith French President Nicolas Sarkozy |
  |
| Salute You Your endeavour in bringing back our lost country. We are also thankful to international community we appreciated your hard work on war on terror in horn of africa . specialy Western ally . we are fully supportive of you. pro-peace Somalis . We thank you! |
This is the first part of a Somali Documentary done by the great Prof. Hussein Tanzania and it tackles the Somali -Ethio conflict and it starts from the early days and how the political game was played.Some of the people interviewed in this film are Abdulmajid Hussein, I M Lewis, Siilaanyo, Dhigicdhigic and some of the ogaden refugees who fled from their land after the Russians killed their families.
Bartamaha obtained this documentary from the family of Hussein Tanzania and we are gratefull to their contribution
This is the second part of a Somali Documentary done by the great Prof. Hussein Tanzania and it tackles the Somali -Ethio conflict and it starts from the early days and how the political game was played.Some of the people interviewed in this film are Abdulmajid Hussein, I M Lewis, Siilaanyo, Dhigicdhigic and some of the ogaden refugees who fled from their land after the Russians killed their families.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWTuvwgWmow&feature=related
also thanks to Abdisalam Aato for doing all the digitizing.
US Special Forces have struck yet again inside Somalia. The latest airstrike in central Somalia killed senior Shabab and al Qaeda leader Aden Hashi Ayro and seven others. The attack comes as the Islamic Courts steps up its attacks on Somali and Ethiopian forces and has overrun villages and districts in central and western Somalia.
The airstrike has been confirmed by Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, the spokesman for Shabab, the youth wing of the radical Islamic Courts Union. "A US warplane bombed us in Dhusamareb district and there were casualties," Robow said in a statement. "This was an unprovoked attack." Press reports indicate at least eight people were killed in the strike.
Robow confirmed that Aden Hashi Ayro and Sheikh Muhyadin Omar, two senior leaders in the Islamic Courts, were among those killed. Ayro was the leader of Shabab and served as an operational commander during the rule of the Islamic Courts. He trained under Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader of the Islamic Courts who is also a senior al Qaeda leader. Ayro was sent to train in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan prior to 2001.
Ayro is believed to be behind the deadly string of roadside bombings and suicide attacks against government and Ethiopian forces. In a propaganda audiotape released by Shabab in November 2007, Ayro called for "attacks on African Union troops and expressed his wishes of someday beheading women and children in Addis Ababa."
The Islamic Courts and its affiliate Shabab have stepped up its attacks in Somalia the past several months. Islamic Courts and Shabab fighters attack Somali and Ethiopian forces on a daily basis. The Islamic Courts and Shabab are reported to have taken over districts in the Middle Shabelle, Bay, and Middle Juba regions. More than 100 Somalis are reported as killed during heavy fighting in Mogadishu from April 19-22. The Somali government accused Shabab of executing 20 worshippers in a mosque to trigger the fighting, while Shabab has blamed the Ethiopian military.
 | Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur, the spokesman for al Qaeda-linked Shabab, the youth movement of Somalia's Islamic Courts Union. |
Recent strikes targeting the Islamic Courts and Shabab
Today's successful strike is the fifth known US-led airstrike against al Qaeda operatives in Somalia since the Ethiopian operation to drive the Islamic Courts from power was launched in late December 2006. The Ethiopians also launched airstrikes against Islamic Courts fighters who were fleeing into Kenya in early January 2007. The US targeted Hassan Dahir Aweys and Aden Hashi Ayro during this time period.
The US targeted al Qaeda commanders Fazul Abdullah Mohammad, Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, and Abu Tala al Sudani during the early 2007 strikes. Fazul was again targeted in June 2007.
Fazul is al Qaeda's operations chief responsible for planning the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, as well as the 2002 car bombing attack in Kenya and missile attack on an Israeli airliner. Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan is also wanted for questioning in connection with the 2002 attacks Kenya. Abu Taha al Sudani (or Tariq Abdullah) is al Qaeda's leader in East Africa.
The last airstrike occurred on March 3, 2007, when US struck an al Qaeda safe house in the town of Dobley in southern Somalia, just four miles from the Kenyan border. The US targeted Hassan Turki, who had taken control of the Dobley region in late February. Turki, who was a senior leader in the Islamic Courts and its predecessor, al Itihaad al Islamiyah, is believed to be running a military training camp on the Kenyan-Somali border. Turki is believed to have survived the attack.
Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow" (also spelled Ayrow or Ayro, ? - 1 May 2008 was a leader of the Hizbul Shabaab, the armed wing of the Somali Islamic Courts Union (ICU). He was from the Ayr sub-clan, part of the Habar Gidir, which is a branch of the Hawiye clan. He was reportedly married to Halima Abdi Issa Yusuf. He was among several militants killed in a U.S. airstrike on May 1, 2008.Early lifeLittle is known about Aden Hashi Farah Ayro, though from his clan, it was known that he received little formal education of any kind before joining the Ifka Halane Islamic court in the mid-1990s under thetutelage of Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys. According to sources from the International Crisis Group, Aweys selected him to go to Afghanistan for further training.Afghanistan and Al-QaedaAden Hashi Fa
rah Ayro was said to have gone to Afghanistan to train with al-Qaeda before 2001, according to Matthew Bryden of International Crisis Group. Here he was supposedly trained in explosives and other insurgent tactics, applying them in the Islamic Courts Union militias later on; notably with the Shiirkoole (Circolo) court of Mogadishu.It was after this stint with the terror organisation that he went back to Somalia in 2003 to set up a network with other al-Itihaad al-Islamiya veterans to assassinate foreigners and opponents, culminating in the eventual deaths of four foreign aid workers and at least ten Somali former military and police officers. On June 10, 2006, The Guardian broke this story by stating, "An unnamed network run by one of Aweys's proteges, Aden Hashi Farah "Ayro", has been linked to the murder of four western aid workers and more than a dozen Somalis who allegedly cooperated with counter-terror organisations. They also desecrated an Italian cemetery in Mogadishu to great international outrage, and helped shelter and provide assistance to Al-Qaeda operatives in Banaadir and the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia. During this period, Ayro's actions remained clandestineIslamic Courts UnionOn June 15, 2006, Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow" was said to have taken a load of arms sent from EritreaIn July, 720 Somali volunteers were selected by Aden Hashi Farah "Eyrow" to travel to Lebanon to fight against the Israelis. Of those, only 80 returned to Mogadishu. In September, another 20 returned, along with five members of Hizbollah.Attempt on lifeTheresa Whelan, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, in a press conference on January 17, 2007, said she believed the U.S. AC-130 gunship raid which occurred on January 8 had killed eight fighters linked to Aden Hashi Farah Ayro. Ayro was believed to have been wounded in the attack and perhaps killed.However, on March 7, 2007, it was found that Aden Hashi Ayro, who has described himself as a commander of the Islamic Courts movement, said in an audio tape sent to Mogadishu-based Koran Radio: "It is time for the Somali youth to fight the occupation by Ethiopia and others." He further said, "We will fight for the name of Allah and our country. Let us bring together all our forces to fight the enemy of Somalia.Al-Qaeda in SomaliaAccording to intelligence provided to Somalia's Deputy Defence Minister, Salad Ali Jelle, Aden Hashi Ayro was named by Al Qaeda as its leader in the wartorn nation. It was also reported by the Associated Press that the United Nations have attributed 16 killings to him, including BBC journalist Kate Peyton and a failed attempt to bring down an Ethiopian airliner.DeathOn May 1, 2008, Terrorist adan hashi farah(ayrow) is killed in a pre-dawn airstrike launched by U.S. forces..... good job.
MOGADISHU, Somalia - U.S. missiles destroyed the house of the man identified by the U.S. military as the top al-Qaida commander in Somalia, killing him and 10 others Thursday in a pre-dawn attack that analysts warned could torpedo peace talks.
