U.S. targets al Qaeda support in Somalia, Iraq

WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Thursday announced new anti-terrorism sanctions against leaders of an al Qaeda-linked insurgency group in Somalia and a convicted German financier of al Qaeda in Iraq. The moves ban Americans from dealing with the designated individuals and seek to freeze any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction. The separate financial actions were taken under a U.S. executive order that targets terrorists and those providing support to them, the Treasury said. In Somalia, the Treasury blacklisted three leaders of al Shabaab, which it called a "violent and brutal extremist group that uses lethal tactics" to undermine civil society. "These terrorist commanders have had direct involvement in the kidnappings and cold-blooded murders of numerous Somali officials and civilians and they should be cut off from the world's financial system," said Adam Szu bin, who heads the Treasury's sanctions arm, the Office of Foreign Assets Control.more..http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N20410857.htm

US slaps financial sanctions on a mostly hawiye al-shabaab terrorists .
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081120/treasury_somalia.html?.v=1

US designates three leaders of a local group in Somalia as terrorists

WASHINGTON, Nov 20 (KUNA) -- The United States designated on Thursday three leaders of an Islamic insurgent group in Somalia for its role in undermining the local government."Today's action targets three leaders of al-Shabaab, an al Qaida-linked terrorist group that uses lethal tactics to undermine peace and civil society in Somalia," said director of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control Adam Szubin. "These terrorist commanders have had direct involvement in the kidnappings and cold-blooded murders of numerous Somali officials and civilians and they should be cut off from the world's financial system," he added.The Treasury Department described in a statement al-Shabaab as "a violent and brutal extremist group in Somalia." "Al-Shabaab has used intimidation and violence to undermine the Somali government and threaten civil society activists working to bring about peace through political dialogue and reconciliation. It has claimed responsibility for shooting Deputy District Administrators in Somalia and for several bombings and shootings in Mogadishu targeting Ethiopian troops and Somali government officials," added the statement.The Treasury says that alShabaab claimed responsibility for the February 6, 2008 bombings in Boosaaso, Puntland, which killed 22 Ethiopian civilians and wounded 66."A number of al-Shabaab members are affiliated with al Qaida, and many of al-Shabaab's senior leaders are believed to have trained and fought with al Qaida in Afghanistan," added the statement.The State Department already named al-Shabaab as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on February 26, 2008.The three individuals are the founder of al-Shabaab Ahmed Abdi Aw-Mohamed, the commander of al-Shabaab forces in Somalia Issa Osman Issa and al-Shabaab's spokesperson Mukhtar Robow. (end) jm.rk KUNA 201956 Nov 08NNNN


since hawiye warlords overthrew Siad Bare.Somalia has been at war since 1991, The Horn of Africa nation has been plagued by chaos and clan-based civil war since when hawiye Warlordism, terrorism. PIRATESM ,(TRIBILISM) Replaces the Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre administration .While the terrorist threat in Somalia is real, Somalia’s rich history and cultural traditions have helped to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for international terrorism. The long-term terrorist threat in Somalia, however, can only be addressed through the establishment of a functioning central government Videos: Jihad Camp in Somalia; English-Speaking Recruits WWW.KATAAIB.NET IN VANCOUVER WA, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR BILL WARNER... Most of the Terrorist are from Hawiye tribe (al-shabaab) The leadership is mostly sub-clans of Hawiye (Habar Gidir clan) With The Exception Of OGADEN CLAN http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB2mnoXLoec&feature=related (ONLF )own hassan turki(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasan_Hersi) and Abu Mansur a foot soldier from al-Qaeda



SCENARIOS-Is Somalia on the verge of an Islamist takeover?

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LL429900.htm

Hostages recall Somali pirate attacks, good manners

MOMBASA, Kenya, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The water was still, the sky cloudless and the 12-man crew, Kenyans and Sri Lankans, were relaxed after their Sunday morning cup of tea in February last year as they returned from taking food aid to north Somalia.
Then they spotted a speck on the horizon and saw it get bigger. Sudddenly realising that a boat was heading right at them, they changed course and put the throttle down.
After an hour-long chase, the pirates' "mother ship" dropped two fibreglass speedboats which raced up alongside. Each held half a dozen young Somalis armed with pistols, machineguns and rocket-launchers more..http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LK429959.htm

Yemen powerless to combat Somali piracy

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Somali pirates preying on shipping in the Gulf of Aden have struck most often off the coast of Yemen, an unstable, impoverished Arab state that has few resources to tackle the maritime scourge.
Ships often take sea lanes near Yemen to avoid proximity to pirate lairs in lawless Somalia or its breakaway Somaliland and Puntland regions, but there is no sign of Yemeni involvement in the attacks, diplomats in Sanaa and some analysts say.
They do not exclude links between Somali pirates and some of the several hundred thousand Somali refugees and migrants in Yemen, but cannot confirm theories that pirates have forged ties with criminal networks there during years of people-smuggling.
Many analysts, however, regard Yemen's own chronic problems as a major potential threat to order in the Horn of Africa.more.http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4AJ48F20081120