Shabaab leader admits links to al Qaeda

A senior leader of the radical Islamist group Shabaab in the southern city of Kismayo has welcomed Osama bin Laden's call to overthrow the government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, and also said Shabaab would maintain its contacts with al Qaeda.Sheik Hassan Yacquub Ali, the Information Minister for the Shabaab-controlled administration in Kismayo, said bin Laden's latest message was proof that al Qaeda and other Islamist groups continue to support the Islamist groups in Somalia, Shabelle reported. Yacquub made the statements during a press conference in southern Somalia.Bin Laden released an audiotape late last week where he urged Shabaab and other Islamist groups in Somalia to overthrow President Ahmed, who was described as an "infidel." Bin Laden called Ahmed and other Muslim leaders cooperating with the West "the surrogates of our enemies" a who "must be removed by armed force."
Yacquub also chastised Sheihk Hassan Dahir Aweys for rejecting bin Laden's latest tape and said it was not helpful to oppose bin Laden's message."Somalia knows [its] future and who can involve, but it is not something for Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda either," Aweys reportedly told an Arabic television station last week. Aweys is the leader of the anti-governemnt Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia-Eritrea and has direct links to al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda has devoted considerable propaganda resources to Somalia over the past two months. Bin Laden's tape is the third message from al Qaeda's senior leadership since Feb. 13.
Abu Yahya al Libi, a senior al Qaeda spokesman and religious and ideological leader, called for Somalis to fight the Ahmed government, in a video released on Feb. 13.Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda's second in command, praised Shabaab for the capture of Baidoa, the former seat of the Transitional Federal Government parliament, during a videotape released at the end of February.Shabaab's longtime links to al Qaeda The senior leaders of Shabaab have had close ties to al Qaeda for years, and Shabaab and its predecessor have been al Qaeda affiliates in all but name. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, Aden Hashi Ayro, and Hassan Turki have trained in al Qaeda camps during the 1990s. Ayro was the leader of Shabaab before he was killed in a US airstrike on May 1, 2008. Turki continues to serve as a military commander and senior trainer for the terror group. Turki currently commands the Shabaab-linked Ras Kamboni Brigade, one of four groups in the Hizbul Islam alliance. Aweys, the former leader of the Islamic Courts, was identified by the US Department of State as a Specially Designated Global Terrorists in November 2001. Aweys participated in the infamous "Black Hawk Down" incident in Mogadishu in 1993. Shabaab spokesman and military commander Sheikh Mukhtar Robow admitted that many Shabaab leader have trained with and take instruction from al Qaeda. "Most of our leaders were trained in Al Qaeda camps," Robow told The Los Angeles Times last August. "We get our tactics and guidelines from them," he continued. "Many have spent time with Osama bin Laden." ..more..http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/03/shabaab_leader_admit.php