(CNN) -- Amid the worsening conflict in his country, Somalia's president made a plea for Somalis living in the United States to stop sending their young men to fight."I call on the Somali-American community not to send their youth to Somalia to fight alongside al-Shabaab," President Sheik Sharif Ahmed said on Sunday. He was referring to the Islamist militant group that is waging a brutal war against his administration in Mogadishu.
"I am saying to those young men from abroad: 'Your families fle
d your home to America because of insecurity. You should not 
return here to ferment violence against your people,'" he said.
Somalis began arriving in the United States in significant numbers after the U.S. intervention in Somalia's humanitarian crisis in 1992. A sizable group of young Somali-American men left Minneapolis last year and were feared recruited by al-Shabaab militants.In October, Shirwa Ahmed, 27, a Somali-American who had been radicalized by al-Shabaab in his adopted home state of Minnesota, traveled to Somalia and blew up himself and 29 others.The incident -- the first-ever suicide bombing by a naturalized U.S. citizen -- raised red flags throughout the U.S. intelligence community.
The president's call came after fresh fighting erupted Sunday between Somalia's transitional government forces and Islamist rebels.According to several witness accounts, AMISOM -- the African Union Mission to Somalia -- supported government forces to push back al-Shabaab as the militia attacked the presidential palace.AMISOM tanks and soldiers were involved in the fighting, according to witnesses."The sound of heavy artillery in Mogadishu was very loud and continuous," a witness told CNN. "It was shaking the ground, and many buildings were destroyed by the shelling."..more..http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/07/13/somalia.president.plea/index.html?eref=rss_world
"I am saying to those young men from abroad: 'Your families fle
d your home to America because of insecurity. You should not 
return here to ferment violence against your people,'" he said.Somalis began arriving in the United States in significant numbers after the U.S. intervention in Somalia's humanitarian crisis in 1992. A sizable group of young Somali-American men left Minneapolis last year and were feared recruited by al-Shabaab militants.In October, Shirwa Ahmed, 27, a Somali-American who had been radicalized by al-Shabaab in his adopted home state of Minnesota, traveled to Somalia and blew up himself and 29 others.The incident -- the first-ever suicide bombing by a naturalized U.S. citizen -- raised red flags throughout the U.S. intelligence community.
The president's call came after fresh fighting erupted Sunday between Somalia's transitional government forces and Islamist rebels.According to several witness accounts, AMISOM -- the African Union Mission to Somalia -- supported government forces to push back al-Shabaab as the militia attacked the presidential palace.AMISOM tanks and soldiers were involved in the fighting, according to witnesses."The sound of heavy artillery in Mogadishu was very loud and continuous," a witness told CNN. "It was shaking the ground, and many buildings were destroyed by the shelling."..more..http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/07/13/somalia.president.plea/index.html?eref=rss_world
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