Monday, August 31, 2009

Shaikh Khalifa receives Somalian president and delegation

President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan received at his Bateen Palace, Shaikh Sharif Ahmad Shaikh Mahmoud, Somalia's President.

August 31, 2009, 22:25

Abu Dhabi: President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan received at his Bateen Palace, Shaikh Sharif Ahmad Shaikh Mahmoud, Somalia's President in the presence of Shaikh Sultan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President's Representative and General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The President welcomed the Somali Head of State and the accompanying delegation, who are on a visit to the UAE as part of a tour of the region.On Monday evening, Shaikh Khalifa received renowned Muslim scholars from various Arab and Islamic countries who had arrived earlier in the UAE at the invitation of Shaikh Khalifa to participate in this year's religious activities during the holy month of Ramadan. For their part, the scholars prayed to the Almighty Allah to shower His blessings on the UAE and other Arab and Muslim nations. They also expressed gratitude for Shaikh Khalifa's hospitality and hailed the UAE's humanitarian efforts. Welcoming the guests, Shaikh Khalifa underscored the role of Muslim scholars in propagation of Islam (Da'wah) and promoting tolerance and moderation that are among the great attributes of Islamic faith, culture and mission. .more..http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Government/10345213.html
Somali government soldiers patrol on a pick-up truck outside the presidential palace in the capital Mogadishu, August 26, 2009. Somali Islamists opposing the the country's Transitional Federal Government have warned the French government against sending more security advisors to Somalia. REUTERS



MOGADISHU, Monday
Somali Islamists opposing the the country's Transitional Federal Government have warned the French government against sending more security advisors to Somalia.
This is in reaction to the news that the European country is to continue assisting the TFG, especially in its drive to build a strong security apparatus.
On Saturday, Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Bilal, the leader of Camalka Islaamka (Islamic Action), an Islamist group sympathetic to the armed groups in Somalia, expressed its opposition to France dispatching security advisors to Somalia. He insisted that any French official coming to Somalia will be kidnapped.The threat comes only four days after a French official, Marc Aubrière, escaped from hostage takers in Mogadishu while another one who was also kidnapped by radical Islamists on July 14 remains in custody. The official, who regained his freedom in an undisclosed manner, sought refuge at the presidential palace before flying to Nairobi, Kenya on August 26 and eventually to Paris.French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner recently told the media in Paris and quoted in the Somali media that his country will continue assisting the TFG. The minister added that France wanted to send military officials to train the government force in order to perk up security.Kouchner reiterated that the fact that a French official remains hostage in Somalia would not deter his government from helping the TFG, as quoted by Xog-ogaal newspaper in Mogadishu on Sunday...more..http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/-/1066/648046/-/137gxc2z/-/

Somalia and Sudan to top African summit agenda in Libya

African leaders gathered in Libya on Monday for a summit to discuss the continent's trouble spots, particularly Somalia (pictured) and Sudan, on the eve of celebrations to mark 40 years of Muammar Gaddafi's rule.http://www.france24.com/en/20090831-libya-hosts-african-summit-eve-coup-anniversary-gaddafi

Time for Somaliland somalia to re-envision itself in a changing Somalia

The Somali people of Somaliland. separatist republic in northwest Somalia – have been here before. The dictatorial tendencies of President Dahir Riyale, Somaliland’s leader since 2003, are undoubtedly practices he learned fromThe Father and Founder Red Terror ..SOMALILAND separatist leaders, who unilaterally declared independence following the Dark Day .history of Somalia .. collapse ,Founders have entertained the Somaliland people with fallacies of international recognition and democratic governance. And so the Somaliland public supported separatism, hopeful that international recognition will pour in financial assistance and help recover the troubled economy. They even supported a war of aggression against Somalis in Sool region – in 2007, when tribal enclave of sepretist troops violently took control of the key town of Las Anod in a military development that saw 50,000 civilians flee to safety.There is no question that Somaliland People have been held hostage by a leadership with deep ties to the collapsed Red Terror ..starting ,leadership Terrorist groups, SNM clan militia.a senior officer ,opposition to Barre’s government, fully operational in the northern regions, armed factions Terrorist drove Barre out of power, resulting in the complete collapse of the central governmen, which specialized in suppressing domestic dissent. The lie told to the Somaliland public, time and again, has been that Somaliland declared independence following the Red Terror .. unjust bombardment of Hargeisa and Burao. There is even a MiG-21 jet sitting as a war-time monument in Hargeisa, forever reminding locals of a war from 20 years ago, as corruption and the undemocratic practices of the Riyale regime are overlooked. Indeed, Somaliland’s president, who was elected in a close contest in 2003, has remained in power far longer – in part due to a constitutional complexity. But an easier argument could be made that Pseudo-State Somaliland natives have allowed Mr. Riyale and his henchmen to abuse public trust for years because they fear shattering the “Somaliland independence dream” that has been founded on and solely depends on the existence of a stable government in Hargeisa.That Mr. Riyale sent soldiers to seize parliament to prevent meaningful political discourse on Aug. 29 marks a turning point in Somaliland’s contemporary history. Here is a region that long considered itself to be a model state for African democracy; today, its leader is directly engaged in the abusive and corrupt practices of the average African dictator.
The people of sepretist Somaliland
must re-envision their region in a changing Somalia. The cheap idea that tribal enclave of sepretist Somaliland , is “peaceful” while Somalia is “chaotic” has reached an eventual dead-end. The Somaliland people must make difficult choices in the coming days and weeks. Mr. Riyale’s very presence in office is an offense to democracy. Yet, without him, simmering clan hostilities that showed its ugly face in the mid-1990s in Burao could re-emerge, potentially threatening peace and stability in the region.Re-envisioning Somaliland will require brave Somalis willing to face reality. But can Hargeisa allow freedom of thought in today's state of fear-mongering?

Recording Ethiopia's Red Terror, The Founder of somali Hawiye Clan USC terrorist and SNM isaaq clan tribal entity sepretest somaliland terrorist

What ails Somali peacekeepers

When a mystery illness swept through the African Union peacekeeping mission here, killing six soldiers and sickening dozens, doctors were stumped.With help from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they ruled out swine flu, tropical infection, rat-borne bacteria and even deliberate poisoning, as claimed by Somalia’s insurgents.But the culprit, doctors fear, is just as alarming: Beriberi, a vitamin-deficiency disorder typically only seen in famines. Simply put, African Union soldiers appear to have died of a form of malnutrition.It’s the starkest example yet of how the mission in Somalia, which is authorized by the United Nations and largely funded by Washington, has become one of the most dangerous, yet least supported, peacekeeping operations in the world.More than two years after the AU launched its effort to try to turn around this Horn of Africa nation, only 5,000 of the pledged 8,000 troops are on the ground, nearly all from Uganda and Burundi. Experts say even the full 8,000 would be half of what’s really needed.While the new commander says he is intent on taking a tougher stance against insurgents who have growing ties to Al-Qaeda, his force only covers about eight square miles — roughly one-third of Mogadishu, an area that includes the capital’s airport, seaport and a cluster of buildings around the presidential palace that are held by the weak, internationally backed government.The mission’s projected $800-million-a-year budget has never been fully funded, with the US contributing about $200 million this year. Funding shortfalls have forced commanders to depend also on donations, such as the new hospital building paid for by Britain and food rations from the UN.UN missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the western Sudanese region of Darfur have four times as many troops, even though Somalia is the only operation in Africa where peacekeepers are routinely targeted by insurgents with mortars, roadside bombs and suicide attackers. Also, unlike other missions, there is no cease-fire agreement or UN-brokered treaty to enforce. “How do you do a peacekeeping mission in a place that has no peace?” asked Maj. Anthony Lukwago, an AU commander from Uganda.At a hillside AU outpost along Mogadishu’s craggy coastline, soldiers have learned to improvise. They aim their 120-millimeter mortars using three sticks in the dirt, capped with upturned old cigarette cartons marking the direction of insurgent strongholds miles away. Only recently did soldiers receive upgraded flak jackets and armored personnel carriers capable of withstanding the kind of roadside bombs they face.On the campus of Mogadishu University, now serving as headquarters for Burundi’s contingent, soldiers face roadside bombs virtually every time they leave the base. Nevertheless, they can’t get basic bomb-detection devices to sweep the streets or deactivation equipment to defuse the bombs. Their solution? Drive fast and travel at irregular hours, according to Brig. Gen. Prime Niyongabo, commander of the Burundian contingent. “There is so much we need,” he said.Erin Weir, a peacekeeping advocate with Refugees International, credited the AU presence with preventing Somalia’s transitional government from being chased out of the country altogether, but added that the worsening security situation has altered the character of the mission. “What they are doing is not peacekeeping,” she said. “It’s more a military task.”It’s little surprise that the mission has become one of the deadliest in Africa. Thirty-three AU soldiers have been killed, mostly by roadside bombs. Eleven of these troops died in a suicide truck attack this year. An additional 20 have succumbed to malaria and other diseases, AU officials said, including last month’s suspected beriberi outbreakMost of those sickened were recovering thanks to vitamin B1 injections, according to AU doctor James Kiyengo. That treatment was followed by preventive thiamine supplements for all soldiers and a re-examination of meal plans. Soldiers complain that the mission supplies them with meat just two or three times a week, no eggs and only rarely fresh vegetables. Commanders said they hadn’t come to a final conclusion about what caused the illness.The peacekeeping mission has also grappled with a vague, ill-fitting mandate that tightly restricts troops’ ability to combat insurgents, who scarcely existed when the mission started. The mandate calls for the AU to protect the government and its institutions. Safeguarding Somalia’s beleaguered civilians, half of whom survive on international aid, is not part of its responsibility.As a result, the mission, known as AMISOM, is frequently dismissed as weak and ineffective.“If they are going to hide behind their sandbags while people are suffering, they should go back home and enjoy a glass of wine,” said Madhi Ibrahim, 23, a frustrated Mogadishu resident.AU officials have attempted to court public opinion by sharing their water supply with neighbors and opening their clinics to the public. But officials said the mission’s mandate mainly permits self-defense. Insurgents “could have a party in front of our gate and we couldn’t do anything unless they attacked us first,” said Maj. Barigye Ba-Hoku, the mission’s spokesman.From the AU headquarters inside a white-washed, bombed-out mansion overlooking the Indian Ocean, Ba-Hoku said insurgents use the AU’s mandate and rules of engagement against it. For instance, they often fire mortar shells from residential neighborhoods because they know AU won’t fire back at civilian areas. One time, a busload of insurgents disguised as civilians approached an AU base, singing as if they were part of a wedding party. As they disembarked, they drew guns and attacked.Soldiers say they’ve grown tired of being on the defensive — and the criticism that comes with it. Many are itching for a fight.“We could overrun Mogadishu in no time at all,” Lukwago said, noting that the African Union force is the only one in Somalia with tanks, Katyusha rockets and long-range mortars. Their foes, he added, “are not military guys. They are a bunch of boys. They are not trained.”Until recently, political leaders at the AU and the United Nations resisted requests by AU commanders to go on the offensive. Many fear such a move would only escalate the violence and allow insurgents to taint the soldiers as “foreign invaders.”But newly arrived force commander, Ugandan Gen. William Ward, said he received a green light to get tougher. “We can pre-empt,” he said. “We don’t have to be like sitting ducks, waiting to be beaten like a drum.”In an example of the new approach, AU troops last month responded to an insurgent attack on the presidential palace by engaging for the first time in a sustained street battle, pushing insurgents back more than four miles. It was the farthest AU troops had fought outside of their zone.Edmund Sanders | LA Times

Africa: Bush's Africa Hand Faults 'Tough Love'

Nairobi — A former US Africa policy chief is accusing the Obama administration of not doing enough to advance American military, political and economic interests on the continent.

In commentaries in two major US media outlets, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer charged that Obama's envoys took the wrong approach when they spoke recently of presenting Kenya and other African countries with a message of "tough love."..more.http://allafrica.com/stories/200908310009.html

ANALYSIS-Saudi attack evokes fears of Yemen-based militancy

BEIRUT, Aug 29 (Reuters) - An attempt to assassinate Saudi Arabia's security chief, who is a prominent member of the royal family, appears to mark a new tactic by an al Qaeda network that is exploiting worsening instability in neighbouring Yemen.A suicide bomber posing as a repentant militant failed to kill Prince Mohammed bin Nayef at his Jeddah office on Thursday in the first known attack on a Saudi royal since al Qaeda began a bloody campaign in the world's top oil exporter in 2003."If it had been successful, it would have been an incredibly significant propaganda victory for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)," said Christopher Boucek, an associate of the Carnegie Middle East Programme. "But it's not on the level of sophistication seen in previous multiple, coordinated attacks."The Saudi and Yemeni branches of al Qaeda merged early this year to form AQAP. They regrouped in Yemen following a vigorous counter-terrorism campaign led by Prince Mohammed, deputy interior minister, that badly damaged militants in Saudi Arabia.AQAP is led by a Yemeni, Nasser al-Wahayshi, but it named as commanders two Saudis freed from the U.S. detention centre at Guantanamo Bay who had later graduated from Saudi Arabia's rehabilitation scheme for militants -- run by Prince Mohammed.Although one later surrendered to the authorities, that was a setback to a scheme that has won much publicity, even though the Saudis say its successes still outweigh occasional failures.Boucek said the rehab programme was only an adjunct to tough tactics credited with derailing al Qaeda's campaign by 2006...more..http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLT431329

Terrorist Abdi Diriye Egal Somalia's Islamic group al-Shabab spokesman in United Kingdom

Terrorist Abdi Diriye Egal Somali-British
Jihad Threat Alert.
Al-Shabaab terrorist group with close ties to al Qaeda
Somali Jihadist From Lancaster England , jihadist Call for Jihad against two East African countries of Kenya and Uganda.and jehadist call for assassination senior army officers from Somalia , Abdi Mahdi ,Fartag, Abdi Egal, Indharader,Warfa, and Others all of them from the transitional government of Somalia , Somali Ministry of Defense .Visiting Kenya for military corporations Meeting. jihadist gave interview .. Terror Apologist Website and have been been published Terror Apologist websites ...
Jihadist recruitment,and PR Web site shabaab located in Phoenix, Arizona.. http://www.allgedo.com/Galged/wareysi%20abdi%20diiriye%20news.htm
Somali militants recruit in Nairobi slum

French agent Marc Aubriere's amazing barefoot escape through Mogadishu

THEY had taken away his shoes to ensure he could not get far if he broke out.So Marc Aubriere, one of two French intelligence agents captured in Somalia by Islamic extremists, trained barefoot for weeks in his cell, walking back and forth across the concrete to toughen his feet for his escape.
French officials listened in amazement last week to Aubriere's account of his dash to freedom through one of the most perilous cities in the world. Following his debriefing in Paris, Aubriere, whose espionage colleague is still being held in captivity and faces execution, is expected to spend time with his family after medical checks.
In what seemed like a calculated affront to French national pride, the two secret agents, on a mission to train soldiers protecting Somalia's transitional government, were snatched from their hotel in Mogadishu on July 14 - Bastille Day - by gunmen impersonating police.
"They knocked on the door," said Aubriere, 40. "They had Kalashnikovs. That was that."
The Frenchmen were taken away in a truck but it broke down after a few hundred metres. It might have seemed farcical were it not for the swift arrival of fighters from Hizbul Islam, one of the most ruthless of the militia groups who kidnap and kill as part of the battle for control of Mogadishu.
They surrounded the truck and tense negotiations ensued. The Hizbul Islam fighters agreed to let the other gunmen go in exchange for the foreign prisoners.
When al-Shabaab, another al-Qa'ida-inspired militant group, got to hear about the valuable foreign hostages, it demanded a share of the booty. Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam have joined forces to overthrow the government. It was decided that al-Shabaab could have Aubriere's colleague, identified only as Denis A, as their prisoner. Aubriere found himself alone in a windowless cell in a place he referred to as "the stronghold". He insists his captors treated him well. "They were young guys but good guys," he said. ..more..http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26002851-32682,00.html

Somali jihadis cleverly woo Americans

MINNEAPOLIS -- One young man attended secret meetings in Minneapolis. Another got a phone call, urging him to leave Minnesota and go to Somalia to fight. Terrorist training videos featuring English speakers pepper YouTube, calling others to the cause.
Details are emerging about how terrorists in Somalia have lured young American men -- including as many as 20 from Minnesota -- back to their homeland to join their jihad. At least three have died, including one who authorities think is the first American suicide bomber. Three others have pleaded guilty in the U.S. to terror-related charges.Court proceedings and interviews with community members, attorneys and terror experts indicate the Somali-based terror group al-Shabab, uses widespread recruitment tactics including a vast Web-based network."Al-Shabab 10 years ago would be a two-bit, paramilitary group that no one would've cared about … sitting in a basement somewhere stockpiling rocket-propelled grenades and bullets for AK-47s," said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism specialist at Georgetown University. "Now, we see them reaching into the United States."Like many terror groups, al-Shabab uses Internet videos to draw disfranchised young men into its fold. Many feature typical militant scenes: men with covered faces firing automatic weapons, marching or practicing martial arts.But al-Shabab's propaganda sets it apart."I would say they were among the most explicit, the most violent, and the most enthusiastic videos of any jihadi organization out there," said Evan Kohlmann, a terror consultant.The group, which the U.S. government says has ties to al-Qaida, also uniquely targets Americans and English speakers, Kohlmann said...more..http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/insight/stories/2009/08/30/Missing_Somalis-Recruiting.ART_ART_08-30-09_G2_4VETEMI.html?sid=101
American Somali Muslims eager to join jihad
http://infidelsunite.typepad.com/counter_jihad/2009/08/american-somali-muslims-eager-to-join-jihad.html

al-shabaab Terrorist vows more attacks against,Ethiopian troops advance on insurgents in Somalia,Back Into Somalia

al-shabaab Terrorist have vowed more attacks against the Somali government and the African Union peacekeepers in the country, officials said on Sunday. habar-gidir hawiye The spokesman of the group al-shabaab Terrorist Ali Mohamud Rage, held a pres conference in the capital Mogadishu and said they will start a series of attacks during the holy month of Ramadan through out the country.
“We will redouble our fighting against the enemy and it is a new fighting which will be different from our previous attacks,” said al-shabaab Terrorist Ali.
The statement of al-shabaab Terrorist spokesman comes as hundreds of Ethiopian troops backing Somali government soldiers drove out of Beledweyne town in central Somalia from al-shabaab Terrorist.
Ethiopian troops advance on insurgents in Somalia


MOGADISHU, Somalia Ethiopian troops in heavily armored vehicles crossed into central Somalia on Saturday, witnesses said, taking control of Baladwayne town and advancing on Islamist insurgent positions in the area. The strategic town is a stronghold of the militant group al-Shabab, which the United States accuses of being al Qaeda's proxy in the country. Battles have been raging across central and southern Somalia in recent weeks as pro-government militias try to seize territory back from al-Shabab and another rebel group, Hizbul Islam. Residents said gunfire broke out in Baladwayne on Saturday as Ethiopian troops arrived alongside Somali government forces. "At about dawn, hundreds of Ethiopian troops entered the town from different directions, and we heard sporadic gunshots," resident Hassa Farah said by telephone. "After sunrise, we saw soldiers patrolling the main streets." ..more..http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/30/ethiopian-troops-advance-on-insurgents-in-somalia/

Back Into Somalia

September 7, 2009: Ethiopia and Eritrea are waging a proxy war in Somalia, but the town of Badme on the Ethiopia-Eritrea border continues to be the biggest point of conflict. The Ethiopia-Eritrea Border Commission (EEBC) gave the town to Eritrea. The Algiers Peace Agreement that both countries signed stated that the EEBC's decision would be final. Ethiopia, however, refused to accept it. Those facts are in Eritrea's favor. Eritrea's subsequent trouble-making, however, cannot be excused by Ethiopia's reneging on the deal. Eritrea has become “the hometown” of rebel, exile, and terrorist groups from around the world. Eritrea arms Somali Islamist militias and has fought a border war with Djibouti.
August 29, 2009: Ethiopian armored units reportedly took control of the Somali town of Baladwayne (central Somalia). The al Shabaab Islamist militia occupies positions near Baladwayne. Another Islamist militia, the Hizbul Islam, also has fighters in the area. Interestingly enough, the sources for the reports are residents of Baladwayne who phoned in information to news agencies. That indicates that cell phone communications are up and running even in central Somalia. The Ethiopian government, however, denied that it has troops in Somalia...more..http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/ethiopi/articles/20090907.aspx

Saturday, August 29, 2009

In Somalia, troops for peace end up at war


A Ugandan peacekeeper guards the presidential palace in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. There are 5,000 troops in the African Union mission; their mandate mainly allows only self-defense, and they hold just 8 square miles. (Mohamed Dahir / AFP/Getty Images / August 26, 2009)

African Union soldiers contend with a vague and underfunded mission with no cease-fire to enforce. Among the troops who have died, some apparently succumbed to illness due to malnutrition.Reporting from Mogadishu, Somalia - When a mystery illness swept through the African Union peacekeeping mission here, killing six soldiers and sickening dozens, doctors were stumped.With help from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they ruled out swine flu, tropical infection, rat-borne bacteria and even deliberate poisoning, as claimed by Somalia's insurgents.But the culprit, doctors fear, is just as alarming: beriberi, a vitamin-deficiency disorder typically seen only in famines. Simply put, African Union soldiers appear to have died from a form of malnutrition.It's the starkest example yet of how the mission in Somalia, which is authorized by the United Nations and largely funded by Washington, has become one of the most dangerous, yet least supported, peacekeeping operations in the world.More than two years after the AU launched its effort to try to turn around this Horn of Africa nation, only 5,000 of the pledged 8,000 troops are on the ground, nearly all from Uganda and Burundi. Experts say even the full 8,000 would be half of what's really needed.Though the new commander says he is intent on taking a tougher stance against insurgents who have growing ties to Al Qaeda, his force covers only about 8 square miles -- roughly one-third of Mogadishu, an area that includes the capital's airport, seaport and a cluster of buildings around the presidential palace that are occupied by the weak, internationally backed government.The mission's projected $800-million-a-year budget has never been fully funded, with the U.S. contributing about $200 million this year. Funding shortfalls have forced commanders to depend also on donations, such as the new hospital building paid for by Britain and food rations from the U.N.U.N. missions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the western Sudanese region of Darfur each have four times as many troops, even though Somalia is the only operation in Africa where peacekeepers are routinely targeted by insurgents with mortars, roadside bombs and suicide attackers. Also, unlike other missions, there is no cease-fire agreement or U.N.-brokered treaty to enforce...MORE..http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-somalia-peacekeepers29-2009aug29,0,4488715,full.story

We are good; they are bad. We love freedom; they hate it. We are generous; they are devious, Harper speaking to Canada's dark side?


Canada PM is alone among Western leaders in holding to the post-9/11 view that separates the world between good and evil. But his black-and-white moral universe isn't alien to Canada. In fact, it speaks to something dark in the national soul

Stephen Harper is one of the last holdouts still fighting the war on terror. That dualistic concept of a global struggle between good and evil is now discredited across most of the world as overly simplistic. Even the phrase itself has gone out of use But not in Ottawa. To the prime minister and his government, the verities spelled out by former U.S. president George W. Bush still ring true: There is a primal battle raging, one that pits us against them.We are good; they are bad. We love freedom; they hate it. We are generous; they are devious, attempting to worm their way into our society in order to destroy us. How else to explain the Harper government's deliberately callous approach to Canadian citizens, like Suaad Hagi Mohamud, arrested in Kenya because officials there thought her lips didn't look right, or Abousfian Abdelrazik, stranded for six years in Sudan because Ottawa refused to renew a passport that had expired while he was incarcerated – and allegedly tortured – in prison there without charge? How else to explain Harper's obdurate refusal to at least ask the U.S. to repatriate Guantanamo Bay inmate and former child soldier Omar Khadr? Critics have charged that the Conservative government's approach in these cases betrays its racism. But that's not quite it. Harper shuns Khadr. Yet he has publicly, if unsuccessfully, pressured China to release Muslim-Canadian Huseyin Celil, now serving time in prison there on terror-related charges.In Harper's world, there is no contradiction here. Celil is worthy of support by simple virtue of the fact that he criticizes Communist China, which by definition is part of "them."Mohamud, Abdelrazik and Khadr, however, do not belong to Harper's us. They are the other: Toronto-born Khadr, because at the age of 15, he was caught up fighting in the Afghan war on the Taliban's side; Sudanese-born Abdelrazik because the U.S. claims, without providing proof, that he supports terrorism; Somali-born Mohamud because ... well, just because.Other Western political leaders are disavowing this Manichean view of the world. British government officials no longer use the phrase "war on terror." In the U.S., Bush's successor, Barack Obama, is attempting to rebuild America's damaged relationship with the Islamic world.Here in Canada, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has publicly recanted his earlier support for Bush's invasion of Iraq. As well, the former essayist no longer muses on the virtues of "coercive interrogation" techniques (which the United Nations and others call torture).

Indeed, anyone listening to the outrage of the Liberals as they attack Harper's human rights record might forget that it was their government that first concluded that Abdelrazik should be left moldering in Sudan and Khadr in Guantanamo.The then Liberal government even downplayed Khadr's age when he was imprisoned without trial seven years ago, lest the public be reminded that, as a child soldier, he was eligible for special consideration by his U.S. captors.It was also on the Liberal watch that an overly zealous RCMP anti-terror unit contributed to the jailing and torture in Syria of Canadian Maher Arar. As a judical inquiry eventually found, Canadian officials working for that same Liberal government were complicit in the torture abroad of three other Canadians: Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El-Maati and Muayyed Nureddin.But with the public increasingly skeptical about the war on terror, the notoriously slippery Liberals are moving with the times. So too Obama, who plans to appease the new mood by excoriating low-level U.S. interrogators for behaving inappropriately while he quietly continues the odious practice – first begun by Bill Clinton – of shipping terror suspects abroad to be tortured...more..http://www.thestar.com/article/687556

Strategic shift to Yemen and Somalia soon?

by Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel

Aljazeera reports today that ”Al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Nayef.”

The Prince, the deputy interior minister and the man who heads the kingdom's crackdown on the group, survived the attack last Friday. Al-Qaeda enjoys safe-havens in Yemen. Will we see focus shift to Yemen and Somalia soon?

Stability and security in Afghanistan is vital to America’s national interests, the war “of necessity” says the Commander-in-Chief. But the combined instability of Yemen and its neighbor across the Gulf of Aden, Somalia, seems a more complex, effective and formidable base of operations for Al-Qaeda. The region’s geographic position is daunting: a threat to the oil we require and the vital shipping lanes for the commodity.

Will the Saudi government lure us away from the campaign in Afghanistan?

How long before our base in Djibouti comes under attack?

Who is helping the government of Yemen fight their counterinsurgency?

News has been sparse from Yemen and Somalia recently. But this incident, this attack on the Saudi Royal Family will reverberate here soon.http://voices.kansascity.com/node/5651

Somalia-Ethiopia troops jointly chase out Islamist insurgents from town

BELETWEIN, Somalia Aug 29 (TF.SF) - A joint force of Somali and Ethiopian government troops have chased out Islamist insurgents from a key town in central Somalia, TF.SF reports.Residents in the town of Beletwein, capital of Hiran region, said a heavily-armed convoy of Ethiopian troops entered the town overnight Friday and reportedly took control of the town without much resistance.Islamist insurgents who controlled the western neighborhoods of Beletwein reportedly fled further south, with confirmed reports saying there were brief skirmishes in the western outskirts of town as the insurgents retreated.Ethiopian troops in Beletwein, SomaliaThe governments of Somalia and Ethiopia have not spoken publicly about new developments in Beletwein, but Addis Ababa has repeatedly denied reports that its troops re-entered Somalia since withdrawing in Jan. 2009 after a two-year military intervention inspired an ongoing Islamist insurgency in south-central Somalia.Beletwein is reportedly calm and allied forces control strategic parts of the town. But town residents feared that Somali-Ethiopian troops might move deeper into Hiran region, where Islamist insurgents have set up defensive positions in Bula Burte district.Somali insurgent factions, Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, have not spoken publicly about the arrival of Ethiopian troops in Beletwein.The insurgents control most districts in Hiran, and many regions in southern Somalia including the key towns of Kismayo, Baidoa, Jowhar, and Marka.The arrival of Ethiopian troops in Beletwein comes a day after Hiran region's pro-government Islamist governor, Sheikh Abdirahman Ibrahim Ma'ow, returned to Beletwein after spending three months in Mogadishu.

Ethiopian troops enter key Somali town, locals say, BBC NEWS Ethiopia seizes town in Somalia.

MOGADISHU, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Ethiopian troops in heavily armoured vehicles crossed into central Somalia on Saturday, witnesses said, taking control of Baladwayne town and advancing on Islamist insurgent positions in the area.The strategic town is a stronghold of the militant group al Shabaab, which the United States -- Ethiopia's ally in the Horn of Africa -- accuses of being al Qaeda's proxy in the country.Battles have been raging across central and southern Somalia in recent weeks as pro-government militias try to seize territory back from al Shabaab and another rebel group, Hizbul Islam.Residents said gunfire broke out in Baladwayne on Saturday as Ethiopian troops arrived alongside Somali government forces."At about dawn, hundreds of Ethiopian troops entered the town from different directions and we heard sporadic gunshots," resident Hassan Farah told Reuters by telephone."After sunrise we saw soldiers patrolling the main streets."Another local, Farah Ali, said Somali government forces had killed two suspected Islamist rebels during a sweep of the town."Government forces were on an operation in the west of Baladwayne, which was an al Shabaab stronghold. Many shops and hotels were looted. Several men were also arrested," Ali said.Locals said al Shabaab's fighters had mostly withdrawn in the face of the Ethiopian advance."Al Shabaab militiamen pulled out of our village before dawn. We were woken by the sound of their battle wagons," another resident, Halima Hassan, told Reuters."Now a large number of government soldiers and Ethiopian forces are everywhere in the west of Baladwayne. They seem to be establishing a new base."Officials in Addis Ababa routinely deny that Ethiopian soldiers are on Somali soil, although they say they are providing security advice and training for Somalia's forces.Ethiopia invaded its Horn of Africa neighbour with tacit U.S. support at the end of 2006 to oust an Islamist movement that was running the capital Mogadishu and much of the south.The Ethiopian military officially withdrew in January, and Somali government leaders declined to comment on reports of their return. Local residents in Baladwayne said Ethiopian forces had been camped a few kilometres (miles) away for months.The international community wants to bolster the U.N.-backed government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, which is fighting insurgents controlling most central and southern regions.Violence has killed more than 18,000 Somalis since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.4 million from their homes.That has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies. The number of people needing help has leapt 17.5 percent in a year to 3.76 million, or half the population.
BBC NEWS Africa Ethiopia seizes town in Somalia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8228503.stm

Friday, August 28, 2009

New Zawahiri Video: The Main Battle is Now in Pakistan

new al Qaeda video featuring Ayman al-Zawahiri released today depicts the central fight in the global Salafi jihad as now being waged in Pakistan rather than in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Somalia.
It accuses Pakistan of being agents of the "Crusaders" and chastises Pakistanis for not backing the Taliban. Zawhiri makes the claim that the Islamic Republic of Pakistan isn't really Islamic.
The crux of the video seems to be to exhort Pakistanis to support al Qaeda and the Taliban.
The video may be evidence that recent U.S. strikes against high value targets in Pakistan have been working. These strikes have mostly targeted the Pakistani Taliban who are closely aligned with and supported by al Qaeda...more..http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/198628.php

In Somalia, troops for peace end up at war

African Union soldiers contend with a vague and underfunded mission with no cease-fire to enforce. Among the troops who have died, some apparently succumbed to illness due to malnutrition.Reporting from Mogadishu, Somalia - When a mystery illness swept through the African Union peacekeeping mission here, killing six soldiers and sickening dozens, doctors were stumped.With help from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they ruled out swine flu, tropical infection, rat-borne bacteria and even deliberate poisoning, as claimed by Somalia's insurgents.But the culprit, doctors fear, is just as alarming: beriberi, a vitamin-deficiency disorder typically only seen in famines. Simply put, African Union soldiers appear to have died from a form of malnutrition.It's the starkest example yet of how the mission in Somalia, which is authorized by the United Nations and largely funded by Washington, has become one of the most dangerous, yet least supported, peacekeeping operations in the world.More than two years after the AU launched its effort to try to turn around this Horn of Africa nation, only 5,000 of the pledged 8,000 troops are on the ground, nearly all from Uganda and Burundi. Experts say even the full 8,000 would be half of what's really needed.While the new commander says he is intent on taking a tougher stance against insurgents who have growing ties to Al Qaeda, his force only covers about eight square miles -- roughly one-third of Mogadishu, an area that includes the capital's airport, seaport and a cluster of buildings around the presidential palace that are occupied by the weak, internationally backed government.The mission's projected $800-million-a-year budget has never been fully funded, with the U.S. contributing about $200 million this year. Funding shortfalls have forced commanders to depend also on donations, such as the new hospital building paid for by Britain and food rations from the U.N...more..http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-somalia-peacekeepers29-2009aug29,0,964713.story

Somalia president meets Qatar leader

DOHA, Qatar Aug 28 (TF.SF) - The president of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has met with the leaders of Qatar’s government in the capital Doha, Radio Garowe reports.Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, who became president of Somalia in January, met privately with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamid bin Khalifa al-Thani, at the State House in the Qatari capital, Doha.The Somali president’s delegation, which flew from Mogadishu on Thursday, included Foreign Minister Ali “Jangeli” Ahmed and Fisheries Minister Abdirahman Ibbi, officials said.No official reports emerged from the meetings, but President Sheikh Sharif has traveled to African and Arab countries seeking financial and technical support to boost the fragile TFG, which controls pockets of Mogadishu.Islamist insurgent factions, namely Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam, control large swathes of the Horn of Africa country and dominate many districts in Mogadishu. The insurgency threatens to overthrow Somalia’s Western-backed interim government, which was established in 2004.Some reports said President Sheikh Sharif will also travel to a number of Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, Libya and Egypt.

Somali militants recruit in Nairobi slum

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- A slum in the Kenyan capital nicknamed Little Mogadishu because of the influx of Somali refugees has become a center for militant groups. Islamists are recruiting young men, and sometimes children, in the Eastleigh district of Nairobi, an elderly sheikh told The Christian Science Monitor. He did not want his name used.
The sheikh said one woman found her 12-year-old son training to be a suicide bomber. He told the newspaper she would have been killed if she had tried to remove him. "These young men have no ID papers, no future," he said. "The only future they see is blowing themselves up and going to heaven." In the latest turn in Somalia's civil war, Islamist groups are fighting a weak interim government that has international support. The major recruiter in Nairobi is Al Shabab, a group believed to be affiliated with al-Qaida. "Al Shabab has been able at different moments to bring a number of people in Eastleigh to fight in Somalia," said Roland Marchal, a senior research fellow at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris. "It's very likely that a number of economic operators in Eastleigh try to collect money and support this organization."

No illegal arms in the city says police spokesman

The Somali police department has declared, and warned that no more illegal rifles can be carried on the streets of the capital Mogadishu, and has also warned government soldiers and other ordinary people, not to carry arms in the city unless they are performing assigned duty or patrolling. “in the past couple of months we have been seeing government soldiers wearing civilian cloths and arms in their hands, so hence we shall not be enduring that, and from today henceforth any soldier who is seen carrying rifle without the knowledge of the government or his concerned department will face the justice likewise there are special soldiers called Dervish will be patrolling the streets to deal with any irregularities ” said the spokesman of the Somali Police Lieutenant Colonel Abdullahi Hassan Barise speaking to mogadishu radio. The spokesman Barise has also added that the government will take total responsibility of protecting its people, and there will be no more government soldiers forcefully taking people’s property such as cell phones. Mr. Barise has urged the government rivals to observer the month of Ramadan, and added that if they are attacked they will not just watch, but instead response. However this statement from the Somali police spokesman coincides at a time when there had been series of clashes between the Somali government and its opponent’s in the city.

Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a Forces Capture a Murderer in Central Somalia,also Night curfew imposed in the east of Baladweyn town

Somalia — The Islamist forces of Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a administration have captured a murderer man who killed his brother-in-law in Abudwak town in Galgudud region, officials told Shabelle radio on Friday.
Reports say that man had killed his brother-in-law after the murderer's sister; the wife of the dead man told him accusations against her husband which caused to attack his brother-in-law and kill him with a knife...more..http://allafrica.com/stories/200908280651.html
Night curfew imposed in the east of Baladweyn town
The Somali government officials at Baladweyn town the capital of Hiran region in central Somalia had overnight imposed night time curfew in the east of Baladweyn, when of course the movement of the people is high during the month of Ramadan.
Reports from the ground says that the residents of Baladweyn town were contented with the night hours curfew, for they said that the month of Ramadan is a month of forgiveness, and wished to be adhered to the mosque, and seriously worship their God.
On the other hand reliable sources say that there are new arrivals of Ethiopian troops who have came to strengthen, their fellow Ethiopian troops who are stationed at Kalabeyrka intersection, and the main objective of these Ethiopian troops at Kalabeyrka intersection is not manifest.
“It is the month of Ramadan it is a month in which the Holy Quran was reveled, it is a month of worship, so therefore we the civilians we don’t want to server in the hands of the armed parts, please stop fighting upon us” said Halima Noor a mother of 5 orphans speaking to Somaliweyn radio on Friday morning.
Baladweyn is town is rather like the capital Mogadishu, because some parts of it is under the control of the Islamists who are against the government while some sections of it is controlled by the government itself.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Somali Militants Find Haven In Kenya’s ‘Little Mogadishu’

Eastleigh, Kenya - The streets of Eastleigh, a Somali enclave of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, are crowded and dirty. Sewage and rotting garbage flow through gullies. Police are virtually nonexistent; restaurants are locked, even when open, for safety reasons; and guns are readily available for sale at the market. No one ever said "Little Mogadishu" was paradise, but now the sprawling neighborhood has become a hub of financing and recruiting for militant Islamists waging holy war in neighboring Somalia, according to residents, security analysts, and diplomats. "Those who kill people in Somalia are also here – scattered all over the place," says an elderly Sufi Muslim sheikh matter-of-factly. "This is the hotspot of the Somali fundamentalism.... They are recruiting right here in Nairobi." In the latest chapter in a civil war that has raged since 1991, Somalia's radical insurgents this week rejected the Western-backed transitional government's call for a cease-fire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Militant and moderate Islamists are battling for control of the rubble-strewn streets of Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, fighting that has forced more than 1.4 million people to flee their homes and caused what the United Nations on Wednesday called the country's worst humanitarian crisis in 18 years of war.
But here in Eastleigh, the war takes a different form. Little Mogadishu has become a port through which Somali insurgents raise money and recruit fighters, especially for the militant group, Al Shabab, which has been labeled an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist organization by the US government. "What we know is that Al Shabab is very popular in Eastleigh," says Roland Marchal, senior research fellow at the Paris-based National Center for Scientific Research. "Al Shabab has been able at different moments to bring a number of people in Eastleigh to fight in Somalia. It's very likely that a number of economic operators in Eastleigh try to collect money and support this organization."
Why young Somali-Kenyans join militants
Outside a small green-gated home in Eastleigh, the elderly sheikh – who declined to be named due to the grave threat to anyone talking about Somali militant operations – says agents of Somali insurgents have recruited from across the country dozens of Somali-Kenyans, most in their early 20s, who are missing and presumed dead in Somalia. Though their parents were moderate, a lack of employment or alternatives led them to become students of madrassas (religious schools), where they adopted more extreme ideologies, he says. (Read our in-depth story: How one youth was drawn to jihad in Somalia.)
Estimates of the number of recruited Kenyans range from dozens to thousands, most – but not all – Somali-Kenyans. The insurgency benefits from an effective recruitment network that works out of Eastleigh. Diplomats say recruiters use a combination of money and brainwashing to pull in the youths, many of them from refugee camps and areas along the Somali border. ..more..http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0826/p06s02-woaf.html

Escaped French hostage arrives in France,Kidnapped agent tells of midnight freedom dash in Somalia,Somalia hostage tells of escape

PARIS — A French agent who escaped after being held hostage by Islamist rebels in Somalia arrived back in France on Thursday, an official with knowledge of the operation told AFP.
The security advisor, one of two French agents kidnapped in Mogadishu on July 14, arrived in Paris at around 1:30 pm (1130 GMT) on board a special flight from Djibouti, where France has a major military base, he said.The former hostage presented himself to African Union peacekeepers at Somalia's presidential palace on Wednesday, explaining that he had slipped past sleeping guards from the Hezb al-Islam militia to make his escape.French officials have not formally identified the former hostage beyond describing him as a government employee who was part of a two-man advance team in Mogadishu to help set up a Somali presidential security detail.He has identified himself in interviews with several media outlets since his apparent escape as 40-year-old Marc Aubriere, although it is thought possible that he gave a fake name.Official sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that "Aubriere" is an agent with the French overseas intelligence agency, the General Directorate of External Security or DGSE.Having returned to France he will now be "debriefed" by the agency's specialists about the circumstances of his kidnap.The second agent is still missing and understood to be in the hands of a second Islamist group, the Shebab, which on Wednesday said that an Islamic Sharia court would decide his eventual fate.An Islamist official in Somalia claimed that a ransom was paid for the freed hostage, but both the French government and the agent himself have denied that and insist he escaped through his own means.
French hostage escapes from habar-gidir hawiye Terrorist kidnappers
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-somalia-escape27-2009aug27,0,2867644.story

Kidnapped agent tells of midnight freedom dash in Somalia

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10593662
Somalia hostage tells of escape
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8222835.stm

Al Qaeda moving to Somalia

MOGADISHU (TF.SF)—Pakistani foreign minister said Thursday al Qaeda adherents were moving from Pakistan and heading to Somalia. Rehman Malik, Pakistani foreign minister told BBC on Thursday that Pakistani security forces were winning in the fighting against Pakistani, Taliban militants and that forced them to run away from the region.
He said Pakistani troops were committed to end the fighting and chase the Islamist militants out of Pakistan. Al Shabaab militant group, which is fighting against the fragile Somali government led by Islamist president Sharif Sheik Ahmed, gets more fighters from Pakistani militants.
Mr. Rehman Malik said al Qaeda supporters who became frightened were now heading to Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Al Shabaab admitted that foreign fighters were fighting alongside their militias. The al Qaeda proxy group in Somalia is fighting for topple Sharif’s government and impose their version of Islamic Sharia in the country.

Related stores in the past
The Jawa Report: Al Qaeda Moving from Pakistan to Somalia and Yemen
Somalia and al-Qaeda: Implications for the War on Terrorism
http://www.heritage.org/research/homelandsecurity/bg1526.cfm

Trio accused of plot to attack army base denied bail

THREE men accused of planning a terror attack on the Holsworthy army base in Sydney have been denied bail.Melbourne magistrate Peter Reardon said this afternoon that Saney Edow Aweys, Nayef El Sayed and Yacub Khayre had not demonstrated the exceptional circumstances required to be released on bail.The three men have been charged with conspiring to plan a terrorist attack. Mr Aweys also faces charges of preparing to go to Somalia to engage in conflict and helping another man travel there to fight in the civil war.Two other men, Abdirahman Mohamud Ahmed and Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, have also been charged over the terror plot but did not apply for bail.Four of the five men were arrested in Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police dawn raids on 19 properties in Melbourne on August 4.Lawyers or the men had argued during the four-day bail hearing that their clients were in lockdown for 18 hours a day at the state's highest secure unit at Barwon Prison and they faced significant delay of two years before their trial would be heard.They also argued the case against the three men was not strong.Mr Reardon said he was not persuaded that the evidence presented by the prosecution and the Australian Federal Police was weak but did say he was concerned about the onerous jail conditions.,,more..http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25989334-2702,00.html

Sarkozy warns African Al-Qaeda ,We will mobilise to support Africa faced with the growing threat from Al-Qaeda

France will not let Al-Qaeda acquire a foothold in Africa, President Nicolas Sarkozy warned on Wednesday, vowing that Paris would help fight the extremist group.
Mali moves on Al-Qaeda base
Somalis ‘trained by Al-Qaeda’
Al-Qaeda claims Algiers bombs
"We will mobilise to support Africa faced with the growing threat from Al-Qaeda, whether in the Sahel or in Somalia," Sarkozy said in a foreign policy speech to French ambassadors in Paris.
"What happened these past months in Mali, in Niger and Mauritania is a very clear signal," he said, referring to a string of incidents targeting Western interests in north and west Africa.
"France will not let Al-Qaeda set up a sanctuary on our doorstep in Africa. That message, too, must be clearly heard."
The Islamist network’s north African wing, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), has recently extended its operations from Algeria into neighbouring states.
The Al-Qaeda branch grew out of Algeria’s radical Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat and has repeatedly threatened French targets.
The group claimed responsibility for an August 8 suicide bombing near the French embassy in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, in which two French gendarmes were lightly wounded.
It also claimed the kidnapping of six Westerners in Niger and Mali late last year.

US Navy: Pirates fire on US helicopter,Raw Video: Pirates Fire at U.S. Navy Helicopter

AP) — DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The U.S. Navy says pirates holding a hijacked ship off the coast of Somalia fired at one of its helicopters making a routine surveillance flight over the ship.
The Navy says pirates Wednesday morning fired a large caliber weapon at the helicopter which is based on the USS Chancellorsville. At the time the helicopter was flying over a Taiwanese-flagged vessel called the Win Far, south of the Somali port town of Hobyo.
The Navy said in a statement Thursday that no rounds of ammunition struck the helicopter and no injuries resulted from the incident.

Pirates captured Win Far and its 30-member crew in April.
Somali pirates fire at U.S. helicopter, Navy says
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/08/27/somalia.us.pirates/
Raw Video: Pirates Fire at U.S. Navy Helicopter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=868XuUpcVv4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsomalifans%2Enet%2F&feature=player_embedded

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

ANOTHER French James Bond:Marc Aubriere Agent 'escapes' terrorists in Somalia - by walking to safety using stars for navigation

The two French agents were in the country to train Somali government forces, which are fighting Islamist militiamen. Militants had said the two would be tried under Islamic law for alleged spying and conspiracy against Islam. Aubriere's adventures follow the extraordinary tale of escape by Frenchman Herve Jaugbert, anex-naval officer, who alleges the Dubai secret police threatened to insert needles up his nose and that he was about to be thrown in jail for a crime he didn't commit. He stepped into a full-length diving suit, complete with breathing equipment, before adding padding to cover the shape of the kit. Then he donned a burkha, headed to the ocean, swam to a police boat to disable its engine, then drove a dinghi to international waters.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1209245/ANOTHER-French-James-Bond-Agent-escapes-insurgents-Somalia--walking-safety-using-stars-navigation.html#ixzz377O0lqTT

Conflicting reports over Frenchman's escape From Habar-gidir Hawiye Jehadist ,Exclusive Pictures His Departure,

(TF.SF )exclusive pictures Mogadishu: A French security agent kidnapped by insurgents in Somalia last month was a free man Wednesday and under protection at the presidential palace, officials said.There were conflicting reports over whether the man escaped or was released and whether he had killed three of his captors. The fate of another French security agent kidnapped with him was not immediately clear.Farhan Asanyo, a Somali military officer, told The Associated Press that the man came up to government soldiers early yesterday, identified himself and said he had escaped after killing three of his captors.But the French Foreign Ministry said "his liberation came about without violence, contrary to certain information provided locally." The ministry statement made no mention of an escape, leaving open the possibility that there were negotiations to free him. The agent is safe at the palace and "in a good mood," said Abdul Qadi Hussain Wehliye, the assistant information secretary of Somalia's presidential palace. Wehliye said the agent had escaped his captors did not mention any killings.The two French agents were abducted in July from a hotel in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, then split up between the rebel groups Al Shabab and its ally Hizbul Islam.The French agents were in the country to train Somali government forces, which are fighting Islamist militiamen. Militants had said the two would be tried under Islamic law for alleged spying and conspiracy against Islam. Foreigners rarely travel to Somalia, which is among the most dangerous countries in the world. AP

some background information
We Told You So
The Evil Hawiye habar-gidir hawiye Behind the Kidnapping.
Details on habar-gidir hawiye Terrorist kidnapped Two French men...French kidnapped for cash not politics: Somali minister
Sharia trial for habab-gidir hawiye shabaab hold hostages

Islamists in Kismayo on the verge to fight between them

KISMAYO (TF.SF)—The Islamists in Kismayo are on the verge to fight in the town after al Shabaab rejected to hand over the power. jubaland region, Sources say Raskamboni,Hassan Al-Turki wing one of the Islamist Insurgents fighting against the Somali government wanted to take over the leadership of Kismayo administration, but Terrorist Al-Shabab refused to do so. Letters reading that there was no any administration were seen in the town and the letters were written by Raskamboni Insurgent group Ogaden clan (ONLF)Terrorist . The leader of the administration in Kismayo is from al Shabaab and his deputy is from Raskamboni. When they were forming the administration in August 2008, al Shabaab promised they would hand over the leadership of the administration to Raskamoni after one year, but they have now rejected to hand over when the time of promise ended.
Reports from the town say tension is high and the two groups are on the verge to fight between in the town. Sheik Hassan Yacqub Ali, the spoikesman of the administration denied Wednesday that there was a dispute about the leadership of the town between the Islamist groups.al Shabaab designated Somali alQaeda,The governor of the region Abubakar Al-saylici aka Sheekh Abuu-Bakar Al-Zeylici Top terrorist commander ,they call him boss boss.is From Somaliland so does the Terrorist Al-Shabab Abdi Godane also named Sheik Mokhtar Abu-Zubeyr aka Mukhtaar C/raxmaan The Overall shabaab Leaders, they are from Isaq clan, one of the dominant clan in northern . Somalia: Somaliland
tribal enclave of sepretist Somaliland ,