Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Deadly journey: Minneapolis to Mogadishu

Minneapolis is very different from Mogadishu. Yet it is home to the largest group of Somali refugees in the country - more than 60,000 of them. It may seem like an odd place to settle if you are from the Horn of Africa.

In autumn, Minnesota is cold and grey; in winter it is almost too cold to venture out.But unlike Somalia, there is no civil war here, no children walking around with guns, no warlords and none of the grinding poverty.So it seemed like a safe place for Zeinab Bihi to raise her son, Burhan, or so she thought.On 4 November 2008, the 17-year-old went missing from their Minneapolis apartment.









Burhan Hassan

Burhan's mother believes he was murdered by militants in Somali

Zeinab describes the day: first Burhan's school called to say he had missed class; she phoned around to see if he was with friends, or at the mosque; then she checked his bedroom and found that his laptop, passport and clothes were missing. She contacted the police.Burhan had gone to Somalia. His mother was shocked. She still is."He was a young kid, he doesn't know Somalia, he doesn't speak Somali. He didn't know anything that was going on over there!"And the news didn't get any better. Six months after leaving home, Burhan was dead. His mother believes he was murdered by militants as he tried to escape from their clutches. The same Islamic extremists who she believes had recruited him and others in Minneapolis.









Jamal Bana

Jamal's mother found out he was dead via a Somali websit

Zeinab tells me that Burhan was shot because he refused to take part in a suicide mission. "They gave him the order to explode himself and he refused," she says. Sitting beside her is Abayte Ahmed, another mother who has lost her child. She found out her son Jamal was dead when her husband saw a picture of him on a Somali website.Jamal was lying dead on the ground and had been shot in the head.These teenagers probably knew more than they let on to their mothers about the situation in Somalia.At the time they left, Islamist militants were trying to wrest control of the country from government forces backed by the Ethiopian army, which had invaded Somalia with the tacit support of the US.And Burhan and Jamal were not alone. Over the past 18 months as many as 20 young Somali men have left the comfort of their new home in America to return to a war-torn Somalia.

FBI investigation

As a result, the FBI has now launched "one of its most significant terrorism investigations since 9/11". But the investigation is not born out of a fear of what is happening in Somalia itself.It is more to do with the fear that young Somali men with American passports will return to the US to commit acts of terrorism.FBI agent EK Wilson admits "there's no credible, specific threat that their intent is to return to the US to carry out a terrorist attack on US soil", before adding "but we can't rule it out".









Inside a mosque

Most Minneapolis mosques do not want to talk about al-Shabaa

Attention has focused on one group in particular: al-Shabab. In Arabic it means "the youth". Sounds innocuous enough, but it is a radical Islamist organisation with links to al-Qaeda and listed by the US state department as a terrorist group. Evidence of al-Shabab's activities on the ground are hard to find in Minneapolis.But, you can see its presence on the internet where it has posted videos.The propaganda carries a distinctly anti-American message, but it is also clearly designed to appeal to young Muslim men who have grown up in the West. Burhan's uncle, Abdirizak Bihi - who is also a Somali community organiser - says al-Shabab is working hard behind the scenes, recruiting and raising money for one-way trips to Somalia. Mr Bihi says that reports of 20 missing Somali men are just the "tip of the iceberg".Most mosques in Minneapolis do not want to talk to the media about al-Shabab.But some imams have taken a stand against the group's extreme views and co-operated with the authorities. There is, however, also a sense in the community that the problem has been exaggerated.One young Somali man at a mosque told me he thought the investigation was being pursued for domestic political reasons - to show that the authorities were treating any potential terrorist threat seriously.In his words, to give the impression that "things are under control". That is scant comfort to the families of the missing.They are still searching for answers. Why did young Somali men - who had grown up in America with a bright future before them - suddenly leave home? And why did they never come back? SOURCE:news.bbc. "Glad To See Main Stream Media. ... finally picked up the story a long time after it..

Some Background

Sixth American jihadists from Minn get killed in Somalia ernment

ID’s of 11 Missing Somali Jihadist Men Released

FBI raids Minneapolis travel agency in connection with terror probe.Travel Agency Used by Missing Somalis

Fifth American jihadists From Minneapolis, MN - Terrorist Mohamoud Hassan, 23, a student at the University of Minnesota Dies in Somalia

Government displays the body of foreign fighter

American Teen 17-year-old Burhan Hassan killed in Somalia,Group Linked to Al Qaeda May Have Killed Minnesota Man Recruited in Somalia,

Youth Still Haunt Minnesota Somalis

Recruited for jihad? What happened to Mustafa Ali?

FBI: Mpls. man likely first U.S. citizen suicide bomber

FBI director raises Minneapolis terror connection

Suicide car bomb kills 30 in Somali capital not 14

Recruited For Jihad? About 20 young Somali-American men in Minneapolis have recently vanished.

Somalis in U.S. draw FBI attention

Somalis may be leaving Minn. for jihad

Teen disappears: 'Mom, I'm in Somalia'

Somalis Leaving U.S. for Jihad

Missing Somalis’ families speak up

Jihad Recruiting Effort May Explain Missing Somalis in Minneapolis Area

KSTP-TV: Twin Cities man behind suicide bombing in Somalia

The Missing: Somali Men Off Twin Cities Streets, Back in Somalia

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Ex-Somali Police Commissioner General Mohamed Abshir

Ex-Somali Police Commissioner  General Mohamed Abshir

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater
Somalia army parade 1979

Sultan Kenadid

Sultan Kenadid
Sultanate of Obbia

President of the United Meeting with Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal of the Somali Republic,

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire
Sultanate of Warsengeli

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre
Siad Barre ( A somali Hero )

MoS Moments of Silence

MoS Moments of Silence
honor the fallen

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre  and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie
Beautiful handshake

May Allah bless him and give Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan

May Allah bless him and give  Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan
Honorable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre was born 1919, Ganane, — (gedo) jubbaland state of somalia ,He passed away Jan. 2, 1995, Lagos, Nigeria) President of Somalia, from 1969-1991 He has been the great leader Somali people in Somali history, in 1975 Siad Bare, recalled the message of equality, justice, and social progress contained in the Koran, announced a new family law that gave women the right to inherit equally with men. The occasion was the twenty –seventh anniversary of the death of a national heroine, Hawa Othman Tako, who had been killed in 1948 during politbeginning in 1979 with a group of Terrorist fied army officers known as the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF).Mr Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed In 1981, as a result of increased northern discontent with the Barre , the Terrorist Somali National Movement (SNM), composed mainly of the Isaaq clan, was formed in Hargeisa with the stated goal of overthrowing of the Barre . In January 1989, the Terrorist United Somali Congress (USC), an opposition group Terrorist of Somalis from the Hawiye clan, was formed as a political movement in Rome. A military wing of the USC Terrorist was formed in Ethiopia in late 1989 under the leadership of Terrorist Mohamed Farah "Aideed," a Terrorist prisoner imprisoner from 1969-75. Aideed also formed alliances with other Terrorist groups, including the SNM (ONLF) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), an Terrorist Ogadeen sub-clan force under Terrorist Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess in the Bakool and Bay regions of Southern Somalia. , 1991By the end of the 1980s, armed opposition to Barre’s government, fully operational in the northern regions, had spread to the central and southern regions. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled their homes, claiming refugee status in neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. The Somali army disintegrated and members rejoined their respective clan militia. Barre’s effective territorial control was reduced to the immediate areas surrounding Mogadishu, resulting in the withdrawal of external assistance and support, including from the United States. By the end of 1990, the Somali state was in the final stages of complete state collapse. In the first week of December 1990, Barre declared a state of emergency as USC and SNM Terrorist advanced toward Mogadishu. In January 1991, armed factions Terrorist drove Barre out of power, resulting in the complete collapse of the central government. Barre later died in exile in Nigeria. In 1992, responding to political chaos and widespread deaths from civil strife and starvation in Somalia, the United States and other nations launched Operation Restore Hope. Led by the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the operation was designed to create an environment in which assistance could be delivered to Somalis suffering from the effects of dual catastrophes—one manmade and one natural. UNITAF was followed by the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM). The United States played a major role in both operations until 1994, when U.S. forces withdrew. Warlordism, terrorism. PIRATES ,(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

The Honourable Ronald Reagan,

When our world changed forever

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)
Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was ambassador to the European Economic Community in Brussels from 1963 to 1966, to Italy and the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] in Rome from 1969 to 1973, and to the French Govern­ment in Paris from 1974 to 1979.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac 'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac  'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.
Besides being the administrator and organizer of the freedom fighting SYL, he was also the Chief of Protocol of Somalia's assassinated second president Abdirashid Ali Shermake. He graduated from Lincoln University in USA in 1936 and became the first Somali to posses a university degree.

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic
Somalia

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The Foundation is dedicated to networking like-minded Somalis opposed to the terrorist insurgency that is plaguing our beloved homeland and informing the international public at large about what is really happening throughout the Horn of Africa region.

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We Are Winning the War on Terrorism in Horn of Africa

The threat is from violent extremists who are a small minority of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims, the threat is real. They distort Islam. They kill man, woman and child; Christian and Hindu, Jew and Muslim. They seek to create a repressive caliphate. To defeat this enemy, we must understand who we are fighting against, and what we are fighting for.

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