Local Somalis fear terror group has lured six missing men

Young Torontonians last heard from in Kenya, across border from al Shabaab's home base

As many as six young men from Toronto's Somali community have vanished in the past two weeks, sparking fears they have slipped off to the Horn of Africa to join the outlawed al Shabaab group.An officer from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service met Wednesday night with relatives of one of the missing men, trying to determine if the former York University student had entered Somalia from bordering Kenya.Later, after the CSIS agent left her Markham home, the man's cousin told the Star the 25-year-old left Canada on Oct. 10 with his aunt to visit an ailing grandmother in Nairobi. Then last Friday she got a call from her aunt (who had raised the cousins in Canada) saying he had disappeared."At this point we have no idea," she said. "There had been nothing in his behaviour that would have worried us."Community members and the RCMP have warned there's a risk of youths from Toronto's large Somali diaspora being lured to Mogadishu through al Shabaab's online recruiting of Westerners.In the United States, as many as 20 Americans have left the Minneapolis area to join al Shabaab, which both Canada and the U.S. have designated a terrorist group. One of them carried out a suicide bombing.
Administrators of Toronto's Abu Huraira Centre, a mosque near Highway 404 and Sheppard Ave. E. where the six reportedly worshipped on occasion, contacted authorities after learning from their families and others in the Somali community of their disappearance."We are concerned," said administrator Omar Kireh, adding he is cooperating fully with authorities and offering support to the parents, whom he described as "devastated.""What we know is that a (few) guys have gone missing from the Toronto area. Where are they? And where did they go? That will come later."Kireh would not say if he knew any of the men, fearing he might "jeopardize the investigation," and refused to speculate whether they had joined al Shabaab.
"People talk about that, but right now we don't know where they are. ... As far as we know, those guys are travelling like any other person."In an effort to stop young men from becoming radicalized, Kireh said the mosque works with parents and the community. But, he added, it's not always known what goes on in the minds of young men: "You can't watch their hearts."
Ahmed Gure, who runs the Somali news website Hiiraan Online, said the families learned the six had left Canada only after the fact."Otherwise they would not allow these kids to leave," said Gure. "We heard they made a phone call from Kenya to their families. They said they are in Kenya, they're good. We cannot confirm it, but we think they're probably going to Somalia."
Ahmed Hussen, president of the Canadian Somali Congress, said he is still waiting to get all the facts about the situation, but fears the news could provoke a backlash against a community that's already vulnerable."We want to assure the rest of the Canadian society that the Somali community is a peaceful community," said Hussen, who travelled from Ottawa to Toronto to discuss the issue with local Somalis. "If it's proven that some young men have gone to fight in Somalia, then it's an issue of serious concern to us," he said.Both CSIS and the RCMP have been monitoring the Somali community since al Shabaab was created in 2006.Al Shabaab – translated as "The Youth" – was a violent offshoot of the Islamic Courts Union, which took control of Mogadishu in 2006.While the ICU brought stability to the anarchic capital after 15 years of war there were fears about the group's strict adherence to Sharia law. Comparisons were made to the Taliban, prompting Ethiopia, with U.S. approval, to invade Somalia in December 2006.
That invasion?? please.. The Invention did not quash the movement; in fact, the unpopular presence of the Ethiopian troops only bolstered al Shabaab's ranks. Even with Ethiopians gone and a new government in place, al Shabaab has started attracting foreign recruits. Earlier this year, it pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda, although evidence of direct ties between the organizations is questionable.In a recent interview with the Star, Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed conceded he was concerned about the recruiting of foreign fighters, but said he believes al Shabaab is no longer popular among war-weary Somalis.During a trip to Minneapolis, he offered condolences to the families of the American youths who had joined al Shabaab, saying they were "victims themselves while victimizing others."
With files from Paul Moloney
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/727904--local-somalis-fear-terror-group-has-lured-six-missing-men