GARISSA, Kenya, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Chaos in Somalia is spilling over its borders, fuelling a climate of suspicion in Kenya's remote northeast where recruiters have been seeking new jihadists to send into battle.Western security agencies say Somalia has become a haven for foreign jihadists and local Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda who are plotting attacks across the region and beyond.Somalis fleeing the civil war are crossing the frontier into Kenya at a rate of 7,000 a month.That has piled pressure on the government and aid agencies to shelter them, and has also seen the emergence of groups that local security officials say are linked to Somalia's rebels.Police said 10 young Kenyan men were arrested last month after being recruited by two bogus charities to go to Somalia and fight for al Shabaab militants. Washington describes al Shabaab as al Qaeda's proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state.Somalia's U.N.-backed administration is battling several insurgent groups including al Shabaab. It controls just pockets of the central region and a few parts of the capital Mogadishu.Sheikh Abdullahi Dahir Shurie, a respected Muslim cleric in northeastern Kenya's Ijara district, said it was upsetting that so many Kenyan youths had been "misled" into believing fighting for the rebels in Somalia was a religiously sanctioned jihad."Some have been recruited, others were killed there," he said. "We must protect those who remain and stop these lies."RINGLEADERS FLEDA Kenyan intelligence officer who declined to be named said last month's arrests in Eastleigh, a mainly Somali suburb of the capital Nairobi, were made after months of investigation.He said the officials in charge of both "charities", which purported to provide humanitarian relief in Somalia, had fled."We took our time, gathered information in Kenya and Somalia and interviewed communities who are supposed to be assisted (by the charities)," the officer told Reuters. "But they all said that the two organisations were owned and operated by al Shabaab and were used to raise funds and coordinate their activities."On the Somali border, where the Kenyan authorities have boosted their security forces, Sheikh Shurie said he and other moderate clerics were embracing a government programme to try to stop al Shabaab's ideology from gaining a local foothold...more..http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL2514617
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
FEATURE-Somali militants seek fighters in northeast Kenya
GARISSA, Kenya, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Chaos in Somalia is spilling over its borders, fuelling a climate of suspicion in Kenya's remote northeast where recruiters have been seeking new jihadists to send into battle.Western security agencies say Somalia has become a haven for foreign jihadists and local Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda who are plotting attacks across the region and beyond.Somalis fleeing the civil war are crossing the frontier into Kenya at a rate of 7,000 a month.That has piled pressure on the government and aid agencies to shelter them, and has also seen the emergence of groups that local security officials say are linked to Somalia's rebels.Police said 10 young Kenyan men were arrested last month after being recruited by two bogus charities to go to Somalia and fight for al Shabaab militants. Washington describes al Shabaab as al Qaeda's proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state.Somalia's U.N.-backed administration is battling several insurgent groups including al Shabaab. It controls just pockets of the central region and a few parts of the capital Mogadishu.Sheikh Abdullahi Dahir Shurie, a respected Muslim cleric in northeastern Kenya's Ijara district, said it was upsetting that so many Kenyan youths had been "misled" into believing fighting for the rebels in Somalia was a religiously sanctioned jihad."Some have been recruited, others were killed there," he said. "We must protect those who remain and stop these lies."RINGLEADERS FLEDA Kenyan intelligence officer who declined to be named said last month's arrests in Eastleigh, a mainly Somali suburb of the capital Nairobi, were made after months of investigation.He said the officials in charge of both "charities", which purported to provide humanitarian relief in Somalia, had fled."We took our time, gathered information in Kenya and Somalia and interviewed communities who are supposed to be assisted (by the charities)," the officer told Reuters. "But they all said that the two organisations were owned and operated by al Shabaab and were used to raise funds and coordinate their activities."On the Somali border, where the Kenyan authorities have boosted their security forces, Sheikh Shurie said he and other moderate clerics were embracing a government programme to try to stop al Shabaab's ideology from gaining a local foothold...more..http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL2514617
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