ETHIOPIA: It is in the minority regime's interest to perpetuate the bloody crisis in Somalia

October 01, 2010

The minority regime´s paranoia is reflected in the writings that it posts on Walta Information Center, the official Ethiopian government site and the ranting of its representatives at the UN General Assembly in New York. The daily commentary about Eritrea, its government and activities in Eritrea, even visits by foreign dignitaries such as the recent visit by Lynn Pascoe, the U.N. Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs, is also evident of its obsession with Eritrea. Lately, its paranoia about Eritrea stems from the fear that the international community´s search for other viable and sustainable solutions for Somalia would mean taking a second look at Eritrea´s position on Somalia.

The minority regime´s growing paranoia was in full display at the United Nations where world leaders were gathered. There were two issues that dominated the discourse- Sudan and the upcoming referendum was one of them and the other was the ongoing crisis in Somalia. Ethiopia´s representatives threw tantrums when they found out that Eritrea was invited to participate in the international forum on Somalia. They created such a ruckus that UN officials were dumbfounded by the childish and immature actions, so unbecoming of diplomats. The minority regime´s diplomats continue to embarrass Ethiopians at every forum and they did again at the UN. In addition to diverting attention from the issues in Somalia and misrepresenting the facts about Somalia, the regime was hell bent on keeping Eritrea out of any international discussions on Somalia.

If any state is to be barred from discussions on finding solutions for the crisis in Somalis, it should be those countries that are responsible for the chaos and mayhem that defines Somalia today and topping that list would be Ethiopia, a country that has gone to war with Somalia three times. Ethiopia has scuttled every opportunity for peace in Somalia by arming opposing factions for the last 16 years. It was the December 2006 US-backed Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia that has created the greatest humanitarian disaster in the history of Somalia. Somalia's infrastructures (schools, hospitals, markets) are in ruins and thousands of Somalis (mostly women and children) have been forced to flee away from their homes and villages and over 25000 innocent Somalis have been killed. Including Ethiopia in consultations about Somalia is akin to inviting Osama Bin Laden to a meeting on counter terrorism...more..

ETHIOPIA: It is in the minority regime's interest to perpetuate the bloody crisis in Somalia

Somalia ::Islamists face off in deepening rifts. Is Shabab at war within itself?

Mogadishu(tf.sf) The Alshabaab rebel group has failed to heal a growing rift among senior leaders of their group, following a crucial meeting in Mogadishu to stem a threatening differing views based on clan and political power, Somalijournal has learnt.During a eight-hour meeting in Mogadishu‘s Suqaholaha area, the two rebel leaders Ahmed Abdi Godane who is the current leader of the group and his second in command Sheikh Mukhtar Robow have faced off on getting solutions for dying young boys mainly from Robow’s hometown of Baidoa to fruitless fighting and Godane’s proposal to keep them onboard and at last walked out of the meeting with anger."The grounds for this deepening rift is just about politics, their failure of solution is indicating how bad the group is weakening time after time for the failed Ramadan war" Abdullahi Nor Ghelle, a Somali political analyst told Somalijournal "In terms of the contentious matter, its not easy to overcome differences and to initiate a new beginning on political and popular levels," he said yesterday.The group has vowed all out war against the Somali government and the African Union peacekeeping forces, but inherited more death and painful shelling which disheartened many young and older fighters who instead came back with dead colleagues and deafened ones for the sharp shelling by the AU tanks.Robow also clashed with his hometown elders who lost many young boys for him to fight alongside Alshabaab on the whereabouts of their mostly dead and badly wounded boys.The other resentment of the group also bagun when the AlShabaab‘s leader, Ahmad Godane alias Abu-Zubayr, appointed a man hailing from his clan as a cashier to control the money they collect from the business people in southern Somalia. Reports confirm that Robow abu Mansur, a high ranking official in Al-Shabab, became furious when Abu-Zubayr appointed leaders for Bay and Bakool regions which is Robow’s hometowns a men who are not hail from those regions.Ahmad Godane is said to have faced some difficulties from the foreigners who now support Robow Abu-Mansur. The foreigners called on Ahmad Godane to leave the country for other countries with which has close relationship in order to resolve the rift among Al-Shabab Islamists.Meanwhile Somalia's information minister, Abdirahman Omar Osman , has said that his government was ready to welcome any defectors from Alshabaab."We are renewing our call to the international community to assist the transitional government and the AU peacekeepers in order to restore peace in country,"Yarisow said. By Abdi Mohamed Somalijournal

Somalia at War – Between Radical Islam and Tribal Politics

Somalia Caretaker Prime Minister honors Graduates from Qamar Memorial Institute

(Mogadishu, 30 September 2010): The Caretaker Prime Minister, Hon. Abdiwahid Elmi Gonjeh and Minister of Women and Child Development, Hon. Fowzia Mohamed Sheik attended this morning a ceremony to honor a new batch of graduates from Qamar Memorial Institute for Women Development. The Institute is run by the Ministry of Women Development and Family Care.Certificates were awarded to 37 students who have completed four-month computer literacy and six-month business administration programs; 35 of them were female. The program will open a door of opportunity for these girls who may serve as office managers where they can be role models for other girls.The Institute is free of charge as most of these students are from financially challenged families. They are either orphans or from camps of the Internally Displaced People in Mogadishu. Hon. Fowzia said:"We had no idea what a great impact this program would have on the life of these students. But we have noted they are in position to earn their livelihood decently. I believe education is the best means to empower women.“It is our responsibility to make sure girls get free and quality education, which is such a heavy task. But we will do what we can despite limited resources.”The Caretaker Prime Minister said:“I would like to express my appreciation for the great work by the Ministry of Women Development and Family Care. I see your work can make a great difference and allow us to empower women who can change the lives of their families and giving them dignity, hope and opportunity.I hope the young nationals integrate successfully into the public and private sectors and I am pleased to be part of the graduation ceremony of one of the very first batches."
About the Institute
Qamar Memorial Institute for Women Development was established on 10th December 2009, just 8 days after when a suicide bomber killed 4 ministers including Qamar Adan, late Minister of Health, among other nationals. The number of students in the Institute is 401, of which 92% is female. The courses offered by the Institute are: business administration, computer literacy, arts, and home economics.As the Institute celebrates its first year in December this year, the gradation is a testimony of achievements and is demonstrating its ability as a major contributor to the progress of women in Somalia.
END Ministry of Information, Mogadishu

The Curse Of Good Intentions

September 30, 2010: The fighting in Mogadishu continues, although more and more of the casualties are from the use of mortar fire against civilian targets. There are hundreds of casualties a week, with a hundred or so dead. The 7,000 AU (African Union) peacekeepers are on the offensive against the Islamic radical groups, which has increased the violence. The AU is sending reinforcements, so the level of violence will probably increase. Al Shabaab has been negotiating, without success so far, with rival terror group Hizbul Islam, to form a coalition. Some al Shabaab factions favor the use of foreign Islamic radicals, while Hizbul Islam and many in al Shabaab (and nearly all Somalis) oppose this. The pro-al Qaeda faction in al Shabaab is dominant, in part because of the money and manpower (several hundred foreigners) they have received from al Qaeda. The Transitional National Government (TNG) is also very hostile to foreign terrorists, but cannot cooperate with the anti-al Qaeda al Shabaab factions and Hizbul Islam, because of disagreements over using Islamic law to rule Somalia.
Pirates are increasingly active off the coast of the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts. In the last few days, an Indian freighter and Iranian dhow (wooden cargo ship) were taken. But anti-piracy patrol warships freed the Iranian ship. The coast guards of these two countries are aggressively going after pirates, opening fire quickly if a boat of armed men is encountered. Currently, about 20 ships and over 300 sailors are held by the pirates. Western nations have donated nearly $10 million to Kenya and Seychelles to set up piracy courts. Nearly a hundred pirates have been prosecuted, usually getting sentences of five years in prison.
The United States is seeking to use cash, weapons and economic aid to Somaliland and Puntland in an attempt to make the governments of these two statelets stronger and better able to resist the pirates and Islamic radical groups (al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam). But the problem is that these two mini-states exist only because they have managed to work out cooperative deals among the clans in the territory now known as Somaliland and Puntland. The clan dominating the government in each mini-state will control the aid from the United States, try and keep most of the loot for themselves, and oppose any effort to channel aid directly to the clans. Thus the aid strategy could tear these two states apart. This is a common problem in undeveloped nations where the national government is a shaky compromise between independent-minded tribal groups. American diplomats and aid officials are trying to negotiate a deal that will avoid a disaster.
September 26, 2010: An unidentified helicopter fired on al Shabaab gunmen in the coastal village of Marka (just south of Mogadishu). The helicopter could not be identified and no foreign nation claimed responsibility.
September 25, 2010: The Sufi militia group ASWJ (Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca) has withdrawn from the TNG, angered at the corruption and failure to keep promises (ASWJ was supposed to get five ministerial posts.)

Ethiopia's Meles urges speedy replacement of Somalia PM

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Wednesday called for the quick appointment of the Somalia premier after Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke resigned from his post earlier this month.
The Ethiopian leader met Somalia President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed here on Wednesday after Sharif recently named a caretaker prime minister to stand in before elections.
"Meles stressed the need to hold the election soon," the state-run Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) said, adding that he "pointed out that the election... would help stop the unsolicited pressure being exerted by the Shebab," referring to the extremist Islamist movement.
Sharif and Sharmarke had been at odds over a new constitution to replace the interim charter that expires in 2011. The president wanted a referendum on the issue, but the premier argued it was not possible due to lack of security.
Sharif also blamed his premier for failing to root out the Al Qaeda-linked Shebab rebels battling to overthrow the Western-backed government.
Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006 to topple the Islamist movement that gave birth to the Shebab movement that today controls about 80 percent of the country. It pulled its troops out in early 2009.
Meles said he would send the forces back in the "unlikely scenario" of peacekeeping troops from the African Union's mission in Somalia (AMISOM), who are propping up the government, needing rescue.

Memo from Mogadishu

A Ugandan peacekeeper takes position in Somalia on Monday. PHOTO BY RISDEL KASASIRA
 Daily Monitor Reporter Risdel Kasasira is embedded with Ugandan peacekeeping contingent with the African Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) where they are fending off attacks from terror outfit al Shabaab in defence of the Transitional Federal Government. He narrates.

On Monday and Tuesday, the peacekeepers kept engaging the militants in Mogadishu, with the insurgents losing more ground to the Ugandans. In the one week of fighting now, the al Shabaab militants have been pushed farther west.
El hind, Juba Hotel and the Coca Cola factory are the frontline-with heavy gunfire rocking the place. The AMISOM troops have mounted heavy weaponry on top of buildings facing Bakara Market, a stronghold of al Shabaab.
Maj. Anthony Lukwago Mbusi, the Ugandan commander of the detach that captured buildings formerly occupied by a Coco Cola factory, said al Shabaab were using the place to shell the Sea Port and Kilometre 4, which are under UPDF control.
“We captured this place because they were mounting mortars on top of this building to attack our positions and we will push them further,” he said.

Change in tactics
He said because of pressure, the al Shabaab had changed strategy: “On Sunday they started planting bombs in the buildings they lost to our forces but we are aware of their new strategy.”
With trenches dub by al Shabaab dotting the Juba Hotel compound, this is without mistake, a real frontline. “It was meant to prevent UPDF advancement to Bakara Market,” says Maj. Mbusi.
From the hotel, the Ugandan troops, lying behind sand bags, continue firing at al Shabaab positions. On the floor is dry blood—which one UPDF officer told Daily Monitor—was shed by Somali insurgents on September 24 during a heavy exchange.
On Monday, when I visited the frontline at El-hindi, below the parliamentary building, the AMSOM troops had a rare ally—the Suna Warijama group—a recent convert to the transitional government coalition.
The commander of the Hawl-wadaag sector, Maj. David Matua, who is based at the Somali parliament, said the al Shabaab snipers were using El-hindi to fire at the presidential palace.
“If we had enough troops, it would not take us weeks to flush them out of those positions because to render them useless, we must secure places under our control,” he said.
On Tuesday, the Burundian forces were flanking Bakara Market from the south and were yesterday metres to the market.
More troops
Col. Sylvere Mutsinda, whose forces were camped at the former Mogadishu Hospital, which is now dilapidated, said they occupied the place after Transitional Government Forces withdrew because of al Shabaab gunfire.
The AMISOM spokesperson, Maj. Ba-Hoku Barigye, said if they had 20,000 troops, they would take over Mogadishu within two days. “We cannot continue advancing if we don’t have enough troops because the first priority is our bases which must be fully guarded,” he said.
Currently, there are about 8,000 AMISOM troops drawn largely from Uganda and Burun

At General Assembly, Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of spoiling peace efforts in Somalia

Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin

29 September 2010 – Ethiopia today accused Eritrea of continuing to undermine efforts to restore peace and stability in Somalia by arming insurgents battling the transitional Government in Mogadishu and urged the Security Council to strictly enforce existing sanctions against Eritrea“Despite the sanctions, Eritrea is still the principal architect of the complicated situation in Somalia by training, arming and nurturing the extremist elements such as Al Shabaab and Hisbul Islam who are causing havoc in the country today,” Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said in his statement to the General Assembly’s high-level debate.In a resolution in January last year, the Council imposed an arms embargo on Eritrea and a travel ban and an assets freeze on Eritrean political and military leaders who violated the embargo or provided support to armed opposition groups destabilizing Somalia.The resolution followed a request by the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the African Union (AU) for the Council to take such action.“The time, therefore, is long overdue for the Security Council to take resolute action and see to it that its decisions are complied with if we are to maintain the integrity of the decisions of our organizations,” Mr. Mesfin said.Yesterday, Eritrea’s Foreign Minister Osman Saleh told the General Assembly that the UN “continues to ignore” Ethiopia’s failure to comply with the ruling of an international commission that delineated the border between the two countries after their 1998-2000 war.“While the United Nations grapples with Sudan and Somalia, it continues to ignore grave consequences of Ethiopia’s continued occupation of sovereign Eritrean territory, eight years after the ruling of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC), and three years after the Commission ended its work by depositing in the United Nations the demarcated boundary between the two countries,” said Mr. Saleh.To end the border war, both parties agreed to abide by the ruling of the border commission, which was reached in April 2002. However, Ethiopia's rejection of the decision stalled the physical demarcation of the border in 2003.“Ethiopia’s illegal occupation and the United Nations silence, which mean the continuation of the conflict, is exacting a heavy price on the peoples of Eritrea and Ethiopia and complicating the regional situation.
“I wish to remind the United Nations that Eritrea awaits responsible and urgent action to end Ethiopia’s violation of international law and its threat to regional peace and security,” Mr. Saleh told the General Assembly’s high-level debate.Meanwhile, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had a meeting yesterday with Mr. Mesfin during which they discussed regional peace and security, including the situations in Somalia and Sudan. They also discussed Ethiopia’s support of UN climate change initiatives and the country’s commendable progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to end extreme poverty by 2015.Mr. Ban also met with Mr. Saleh and thanked Eritrea for its participation in the MDG summit last week and in the General Assembly high-level debate.The Secretary-General and Mr. Saleh discussed, among other issues, peace and security challenges in the Horn of Africa, including in Somalia and Sudan, and the agreement on the border dispute between Eritrea and Djibouti, mediated by Qatar.Mr. Ban encouraged Mr. Saleh to continue to engage the UN on all matters relevant to Eritrea. UN

US man faces terror charges for support of Somalia's Al-Shebab, DOJ press release

DOJ press release
CHICAGO — A US man arrested hours before he was scheduled to travel to Somalia to fight with a terrorist group against "infidels" has been indicted on two terror charges, officials said Thursday.
Shaker Masri, 27, had allegedly been "espousing increasingly violent views to an individual he befriended in early 2009, and later began to openly express a desire to participate in a 'jihad' and to fight against what he characterized as 'infidels,'" the Justice Department said.
Masi, who was born in Alabama and now lives in Chicago, allegedly "hoped to join the specially designated terrorist group Al-Shebab and commit a suicide attack targeting 'infidels,'" the Justice Department said.
Masi, who has been held without bail since his August arrest, was indicted by a grand jury on the charge of attempting to provide material support to the Al-Qaeda-linked group.
He was also indicted on the charge of trying to provide material support, and cover it up, to someone attempting or conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction outside the United States.
At least two dozen Americans have gone to Somalia to fight in its civil war in recent years, FBI Director Robert Muller said last week.
Scores more like Masi have been arrested in the United States for attempting to participate in or support the two-decade long civil war which has virtually brought Somalia to its knees.
Some 7,200 troops in a poorly equipped African Union mission (AMISOM) are all that stops Shebab taking over the Somali capital.
The United Nations warned earlier this month that Shebab insurgents are a serious international security threat and made a new appeal for the nation's transitional government to end its squabbling.

AP Interview: Interpol head warns of Somali threat. Interpol says Somalia to pose bigger terror threat than Afghanistan. Analysts: Europe plot reveals al Qaeda adapting

Analysts: Europe plot reveals al Qaeda adapting
BRUSSELS — Somalia and other African nations could soon pose more of a terrorist threat than Afghanistan, Interpol's secretary general warned Thursday.
In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Ronald K. Noble said many Somali militants had received training in Afghanistan and Pakistan and were using their homeland now as a base to seed terror. Somalia has been without a functioning government for about two decades, allowing Islamic militants to flourish.
Al-Shabab, an al-Qaida-linked movement which claimed responsibility for attacks in Uganda's capital that killed 76 people during the World Cup final, has been at the heart of the Islamist insurgency in Somalia.
"For us, we believe that 'the Afghanistan' in the next five to 10 years will be Somalia and those parts of Africa (countries in the north and west)," the New Jersey native told the AP at a security conference in Brussels.
Noble's comments came as more details emerged Thursday of terror plot against Europe — one that Pakistani officials said involved eight Germans and two British brothers and one that prompted a surge in CIA drone missile strikes against suspected al-Qaida hideouts in Pakistan. One of the Britons allegedly died in one of the strikes earlier this month.
Pakistan, Britain and Germany are now tracking the suspects and intercepting their phone calls, a Pakistani official told the AP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information to the media.

The official is part of an intelligence team that has been tracking the two British brothers of Pakistani origin for nearly a year and the Germans for more than six months.
He said the suspects are hiding in North Waziristan, a Pakistani tribal region where militancy is rife and where the U.S. has focused many of its drone-fired missile strikes. British officials have said the plot is still active.
"They have been making calls to Germany and London," the Pakistani official said. "They have been talking about and looking for facilitators and logistics they need there to carry out terror strikes."
Noble declined to comment on Interpol's role in tracking down potential suspects in the plot, saying the investigation was ongoing. He did, however, say one the biggest challenges for law enforcement officials was having countries check passenger passport details against national and Interpol databases.
Out of the nearly 1 billion passengers who traveled through airports last year, some 600 million were never checked against the Interpol database — a gap that could have allowed terrorists to enter multiple countries, he said.
Many countries simply lack the political will or resources to join databases, he said.
Noble said Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, also was of growing concern.
The group on Thursday released its first video of a group of hostages that was seized two weeks ago in Niger.
The terrorist group has invaded large swaths of the desert region spanning portions of Mauritania, Mali, Niger and Algeria. Famous tourists spots like Timbuktu, in Mali, are now on the no-go list of several embassies, including the U.S. and France.
In Europe and the United States, meanwhile, an increase in homegrown militants and suspects who had never appeared on the radar as potential threats were "unsettling and dangerous" new trends, Noble said.
Still, he said he believed it was right to warn citizens of potential or thwarted terror plots.
"You know, there has been a long-standing debate within the intelligence community and the anti-terrorist community about how informed the citizens really should be about potential terrorist attacks or foiled terrorist attacks," he said.
"I'm on the side of getting the public informed, keeping the public informed and trusting that the public by and large wants to help us prevent terrorist activities, not support terrorist activity."
Interpol is an organization that links law enforcement agencies in 188 countries to help cross-border policing and efforts to tackle major crime. ap

Thanks to Siad Barre and his nationalist government

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

This is a letter to Siad Barre, from one of his admirers, may he rest in peace and may God bless his patriotic soul. I was born in March 1991, two months after your government was overthrown, Somalia was destroyed and various rebel groups based in the primitive clan system was struggling for power. The most of my family was fleeing for their lives from Mogadishu.

October 21, 1969 there was a heroic revolution which you liberated the Somali people from a regime of, tribalist, corrupt, incompetent, traitor, politicians ho hadn’t done anything for the Somali nation.

You gave the Somali language a written script, and every time I write or read on Somali your legacy is alive.

Under your rule Somalia got free modern education, so the Somali people could get knowledge and participate in building of the country and getting the proud Somali people out of ignorance, the proportion of people who could read and write increased from 12% to 70%! In 1975 you gave the Somali women’s the recognition and equality they deserved, it was an impotent step in the long history of progress under you rule. In 1977,you created a great and proud Somali army who was able to liberate the occupied West Somalia, if the Russian and the Cubans had not supported the enemies of the Somali people the dream of Somaliweyn had became reality. You build a great health care system, you build roads, and you made Mogadishu to one of the most beautiful city in the World. Since you left us, the animals of USC, SNM, SSDF, SPM, destroyed the Somali republic, we all became refugees, our fish has been stolen and our waters has been dump place for humanity, the mooryaans of USC murded and raped the Somali people, the traitors of SSDF has now created Puntland an habashi slave state, the terrorists of SNM has done the same just with a fantasyland. We the Somali People miss you, we were something with you and animals with out you, 20 years since you left Somalia and we don’t have the brain to create any kind of law or order, the health care and education systems is destroyed, our women’s lives in the middle age, the enemies of the Somali people is controlling Somalia.

Mohamed Yusuf a Somali student in Denmark

E-mail: mohamedyusuflive.dk@live.dk

Clan Rivalry Complicates Terrorism Fight in Puntland

Photo: AFP Abdurahman Mohamed Farole, president of Somalia's northern breakaway state of Puntland speaks in Apr 2009 at a press conference in Nairobi (file photo)

The United States says it is planning to boost ties with Somalia's two autonomous regions - Somaliland and Puntland - in an effort to restore stability in the south and to curb the spread of Islamic extremism. Some analysts say the move, however, may end up increasing violence and instability in Puntland.In late July, Puntland government forces began fighting with militants loyal to an Islamist factional leader based in the remote and mountainous Sanaag and western Bari regions of northern Somalia.
Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole said the assault was a counter-terrorism operation, targeting the terrorist leader of the Puntland cell of al-Qaida, Mohamed Siad Atom. The Puntland government has linked Atom to numerous kidnappings, bombings, and assassinations in the region since 2008.In March, the U.N. Monitoring group for Somalia said it believed Atom was one of the principle suppliers of arms and ammunitions for al-Shabab, an al-Qaida affiliate that controls much of southern Somalia. A month later, the United States Treasury Department froze Atom's assets and those of a nearly dozen other suspected Islamist militants in Somalia. But the leaders of the Warsangeli, a sub-clan of the larger Somali Darod tribe, say the conflict in the north is not about entirely about terrorism. They say it also is about long-held political and economic grievances the Warsangeli have had against the Puntland government since the region declared autonomy in 1998.
Somalia observer Stig Jarle Hansen of the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research in Oslo said if the United States is planning to assist the Puntland government in its fight against Atom, it will need to approach the situation with extreme caution."The danger is that you could suppress the Warsangeli in a drastic way," said Hansen. "Or you could act in a way that mobilizes the Warsangeli to the Shabab side. So, you can make your predictions come true through your own actions."The leadership of the Puntland government is dominated by members of the Majeerten sub-clan of the Darod, and there has long been a simmering power struggle between the two sub-clans for control of Puntland's lucrative commercial hub, Bosasso.The rivalry between the sub-clans boiled over into a bloody confrontation in 2006, when Mohamed Said Atom's militia attacked Puntland security forces to protest exploration rights the government gave to an Australian mining company in the mineral-rich Sanaag and western Bari regions. The Warsangeli said the deal was struck without its permission. In recent years, the Warsangeli, and other Darod sub-clans in Puntland have complained bitterly about the Puntland Intelligence Service, a counter-terrorism organization created in 2001, and which receives considerable support from the United States. The clan makeup of the powerful service is predominantly Majeerten, and the organization has been accused of working to empower one clan at the expense of others.
Somalia observers warn a narrowly-focused U.S. engagement with the Puntland government, specifically in the counter-terrorism field, could unintentionally spark an inter-clan war. They say the conflict then could be exploited by al-Shabab to expand its influence into the far reaches of northern Somalia.VOA
President Faroole fumbled the ball!!!
Galgala: Farole’s Waterloo
Africa Oil war has impacted communities in Galgala, Balanbal and places in the Ogaden
Somalia's once stable Puntland hit by insurgency
SOMALIA: Prominent Somali Legislator speaks about Puntland’s oil deal and the uprooted Galgala community . In related news Puntland pirates join the Galgala fight

mareehan back in Muqdishu for the First time, Since 1991 Overthrow of Somali Government. Today mareehan are on Leadership positions on Somali Central Federal government : Hawiye (usc) , The Somali Secessionist , al-Qaeda's agenda ,Outside Interest Goups and Somali Genocide Missiona has Failed

Ethiopia's Meles urges speedy replacement of Somalia PM

There no doubt in my mind . Me and many people believe that  Mareehan They're the Only True Patriot of  Republic of Somalia
mareehan peoble survivor from  Hawiye Genocide against them  past 20 years. Looking back destruction of somalia.. 
Shariif  from Hawiye (usc)  with somali   Secessionist  are the one of the biggest anti-mareehan  in Somalia ,
Resurrecting the Land of Milk and Honey

we have report from  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi Advice to President Sharif's  to nominate for the position  Somalia prime minister to Current caretaker prime minister  Goonjeex . shareef  also gat he same advice from  Representatives of 45 nations and international bodies met in Madrid

This marked the first time since Siad Barre in 1991 that mareehan are in driving seat. in Somali government . Somali Police Commissioner Gen. Ali Hassan Loyan  was the only Members Come From  Jubbaland regions, except  General Yussuf Hussein-( Dhumal)Top Somali Military Commander  .he  cited  the only  reason for his resignation  "government corruption " accused the national government of ignoring the army.  Obviously this could never happen, We believe thet , without being forced to do so. with ASWJ leaving the TFG .Moderate Islamist group walks out of Somali govt  we dont think Shariif has any other choice but to select Goonjeex not for his outstanding efforts in Mogadishu since he took office,but for his tribal relations with ASWJ. TFG needs them to ASWJ and the man to bring them back is Goonjeex. because hails from Abudwaq town in central Somalia Birthplace of the Organization

Somalia has been plagued by anarchy since  hawiye  warlords ousted    Honourable .Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre. in 1991. Pirates are active in its coastal waters and have driven up shipping costs in the Gulf of Aden.Al Shabaab has waged a three-year insurgency against the fragile transitional government and it controls much of Mogadishu and huge tracts of southern and central Somalia.

Al-shabaab burns Somali currencies

The hard-line group, al shabaab has burnt down a huge amount of Somali shillings belonging to businessmen in Kuntu-waray area of the lower shabelle region on Tuesday. The group says that they will punish the Somali businessmen who possess the burnt cash.

"Those businessmen brought the region the fake money, if you try and bring in the region this kind of money again, we are not going to shoot you, but will behead you", Sheikh Mohamed Abdalla the Shabaab’s provincial chairman strongly repeated those words in front of hundreds of crowds in the district.

Al shabaab officials have collected a lot of money from the parts of the region entering every shop in the city of Kuntuwaray, According to residents. The militants said that this collected of money was fake money and blamed the transitional federal government of Somalia for that.Somalia has been plagued by anarchy since  hawiye  warlords ousted    Honourable .Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre. in 1991. Pirates are active in its coastal waters and have driven up shipping costs in the Gulf of Aden.Al Shabaab has waged a three-year insurgency against the fragile transitional government and it controls much of Mogadishu and huge tracts of southern and central Somalia.

Some Harsh Words for al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militant from caretaker prime minister Abdi Wahid Goonjeeh : C/Waaxid Goonjeex “Horta Al-Shabaab yay yihiin, yaa hogaamiya, xagee loogu hagaagaa…”

shabaab leadar on the left

Sii hayaha xilka Ra’iisul wasaaraha Soomaaliya Md. C/Waaxid Cilmi Goonjeex ayaa sheegay in natiijada kulamada New York iyo Madrid ay yihiin kuwo faaiido u leh dadka iyo dalka Soomaaliyeed, Beesha Caalamkana ay muujisay taageerada ay u hayso Dowladda KMG ah.
“Damaca Ra’iisul wasaaraha cusub ee la filayo waa igu jiraa, balse ma ogi xilkaasi cid loo magacaabi doono” ayuu yiri Sii hayaha xilka Ra’iisul wasaaraha Soomaaliya.

C/Waaxid Cilmi Goonjeex waxa uu sheegay in Ra’iisul wasaaraha cusub looga fadhiyo soo celida Ammaanka iyo tayanta ciidamada oo hela Tashiilaadkooda oo dhan, islamarkaana uu noqdaa mid wadaniyad leh oo abuura ilo dhaqaalo oo caalami ah, buuxin karana baahidaasi.
“Horta Al-Shabaab yay yihiin, yaa hogaamiya, xagee loogu hagaagaa, heshiis ma ogol yihiin, taasi waa maya, waa dad aaminsan hadaf aan muuqan oo ay ku jiraan Ajaanib, oo aan lahayn xuduud, una haystaana in Dhulka Ilaah abuuray oo aan la kala lahayn, sitana calan gooni ah, ayna wataan rag ay amiiro u yaqaaniin, islamarkaana Ajnabi u dooran kara inuu madaxweyne ka noqdo Soomaaliya” ayuu yiri  Md. Goonjeex oo sheegay in ficilka Al-shabaab  in xoog lagu maquuniyo maahee aysan jirin heshiis iyo wadahadal ay ogol yihiin.
Md. Goonjeex oo u waramaayay Radio Muqdisho ayaa sheegay in xukuumadda cusub ee la dhisi doono ay dejin doonto qorshaha isbadal ee xiliga dhow, taasoo sida la rajaynaayo ku talaabsan doonta waxqabad muuqda.

caretaker prime minister actually has more power than the president given the current circumstance of somalia.because he heils from marehan clan The only  clan in south  waging war  fight against Somali Jehadest on  two Different Front. Jubaland State of Somalia and Somali Central State aka suffi . A Sufi militia defending parts of Somalia's central regions from al-Qaida-linked ...Dhusamareb,  Abudwaq,dhabad ,Galinsoor and Balanbal in the Galgadud region. he is from town of  Abudwaq

INTERVIEW-Somali rebel merger talks halt but will go on -leader

MOGADISHU, Sept 29 (Reuters) - Merger talks between Somalia's leading rebel groups are on hold but will resume, an insurgent leader said on Wednesday, warning that their fight against foreign troops in the country would continue.
Hizbul Islam has waged a three-year insurgency alongside al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group, but the two have had their differences in southern Somalia. The groups have held discussions on combining forces against Somalia's government, which is backed by foreign troops but whose authority the rebels have confined to a few blocks of the war-scarred capital Mogadishu. "The dialogue on unification between Hizbul Islam and al Shabaab is still going on although it has halted at its third stage," Hizbul Islam leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys told Reuters. "It is not so important to mention the reason for the current standstill or the bone of contention but I hope we shall reach comprehensive agreement, whether it takes a short while or a long time." In the last few weeks, the rebels have stepped up their fight in the coastal capital Mogadishu in the hope of toppling the western-backed transitional administration, which is propped up by an African Union peacekeeping mission, AMISOM. FOREIGN FORCE The AU wants to increase its force in the lawless nation to 20,000 troops from nearly 8,000. Representatives of foreign governments and international bodies meeting in Madrid this week said they noted the AU's desire to strengthen the force. "Meetings in New York and Madrid about Somalia sponsored by UN and the Somali Contact Group are against the actual desire of the Somali people," Aweys told Reuters by telephone. "We believe Somalia belongs to Somalis and they have a right to decide their destiny. So we condemn the outcome of the conferences particularly the support of AMISOM and deployment of further AU troops because AMISOM's presence will not bring any solution to Somalia's situation." The presence of the AU troops in Mogadishu has angered the rebels and some Somalis, who see the deployment as interference. Soldiers from Burundi and Uganda guard the port and airport and shield President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed from attack but are often the target of rebel strikes. Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for bomb attacks in Uganda in July that killed over 70 people, which it said were in retaliation for the country's deployment in Somalia. "AU always talks of 75 people killed in the Ugandan explosions but never the dozens of Somali people dying almost daily in shelling from their AMISOM forces," Aweys said. "We shall not lay down weapons and our struggle will not stop because this will make it easy for the colonial powers to carry out their wishes."

UK terrorists trained in Somalia

The head of the British security service MI5 has warned that the United Kingdom faces a growing threat of terrorist attacks from British residents trained in Somalia and from dissident Irish republicans. Jonathan Evans, in a speech in London recently, also made it plain that in the security service's view the government must maintain special control orders for terror suspects in its forthcoming review of anti-terror laws. "The government cannot absolve itself of the responsibility to protect its citizens just because the criminal law cannot, in particular circumstances, serve the purposes," Evans said. He added that the potential danger to Britain of extremists influenced by al-Qaeda had shifted to Somalia from the tribal areas of Pakistan, which now accounts for half, rather than 75%, of all terror plots linked to Britain. Evans said "a significant number of UK residents" were training in al- Shabaab camps to fight in the insurgency in Somalia. "I am concerned that it's only a matter of time before we see terrorism on our streets inspired by those who are today fighting alongside al-Shabaab." UK residents training and fighting in Somalia are thought to number more than 100. They are believed to be of various origins, including Pakistani, Bangladeshi and West African. MI6, Britain’s secret intelligence service, is also increasingly concerned about the spread of al-Qaeda-inspired jihadists across Africa, according to counterterrorist officials. "Al-Shabaab, an Islamist militia in Somalia, is closely aligned with al-Qaeda, and Somalia shows many of the characteristics that made Afghanistan so dangerous a seedbed for terrorism in the period before the fall of the Taliban," Evans said. British officials believe Somalia is now a more serious base for potential attacks on the UK than Yemen where an al-Qaeda affiliate developed the "underpants bomb" that failed to blow up an aircraft. Evans also warned of more "signs of coordination and cooperation" between dissident republican splinter groups in Northern Ireland. They had mounted or planned 30 attacks so far this year, as against just over 20 for all of 2009, mainly targeted at the security services, he said, describing the dissidents' political base as "small and localised". Their support is believed to amount to about 600 individuals, including former members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Evans also warned of the potential for a terror attack during the 2012 Olympics. He delivered a clear message to the coalition government, which before the election threatened to cast off many anti-terror laws on the grounds that they threatened civil liberties.He said he preferred to face criticism when there was no prosecution than see a plot come to fruition because MI5 had not acted soon enough. -- Guardian New

Treasury Seeks To Cast A Wider Net For Terrorists

The Treasury Department will soon publish new rules that would pave the way for tracking all of the money transfers coming in and out of the U.S. As envisioned, the Treasury Department would take all that information, feed it into a giant database, analyze it, and then ferret out patterns associated with terrorism financing. Experts say it isn't clear it is going to work.
Juan Zarate, the first assistant secretary of the Treasury for terrorism financing in the Bush administration, said the new regulations, which would require banks and financial services companies — like Western Union — to automatically provide money-transfer data on all their transactions, are controversial.
"A big debate and an important debate was whether or not we should formulate a new system that allowed for capturing more data and doing it in a way that is more automated," he said. "This is part of an ongoing debate. It is a serious change that has implications for civil liberties as well as what kind of access the government can expect to this kind of financial data."
Plan Criticized
The Treasury has released the new rules for a yearlong public commentary period. Some critics — from financial executives to civil liberties advocates — are already crying foul. They say the Treasury Department is seeking the financial equivalent of data mining.
Data mining has become the third rail of intelligence surveillance. It gathers massive amounts of information and often perfectly innocent people are caught up in the sweeps. In the case of traditional data mining, this had to do with gathering up e-mails and telephone conversations and other personal information to find patterns that might reveal unknown terrorists.
The concern is that the new Treasury regulations will essentially do the same thing, but with money transfers and bank records. Right now, financial institutions are only required to report transfers that are more than $10,000 — that amounts to about 14 million transactions a year. They also regularly file suspicious activity reports with the Treasury when they think something untoward might be happening. Adding every electronic transfer to that pool of information would vastly increase the data the Treasury would be collecting.
"Now you throw on top of it millions and millions of transfers that have no connection to any criminal activity at the start, and there is a real good question as to whether or not data will be held properly, will be protected and will be useful," Zarate said. "You have to ask whether you are adding more hay to the haystack as officials try to find needles in that haystack."
'A Mess Actually To Pursue It'
Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, says the new rules are a mistake and show just how scattershot U.S. terrorism investigations have become.
"When you gather information in this fashion, it generally suggests the government doesn't know quite what it is looking for," Rotenberg said. "So it gathers as much information as it can obtain and then makes a determination afterwards about where to pursue investigations, and I think we've learned this is not an effective strategy."
Rotenberg says European bankers and financial institutions are already complaining. They have resisted U.S. data requests in the past, saying they violate privacy laws in Europe. This proposal, Rotenberg says, makes an already strained relationship that much worse.
"It is quite a mess actually to pursue this," he said. "And I wonder if they might reconsider and withdraw it."
Plan's Supporters
That said, the Treasury Department's proposal does have some supporters. One of them is Eric Lewis, partner at Baach Robinson & Lewis in Washington. His law firm specializes in terrorism financing and money laundering cases. He says criminals and terrorists make end runs against current regulations with such frequency the practices actually have nicknames.
"What you often see happening is a practice known as smurfing; that is where you have people sending money below the reporting threshold," he said. "Smurfing like the little blue character on the cartoon, but not nearly so cute."
Lewis says criminals will send funds to the U.S. in 10 $9,999 increments to avoid detection. The new proposals would help prevent that from happening because all the transfers would be reported regardless of their size.
The new rules would also allow the Treasury to cast a wider net over an informal remittance system that has been at the center of a number of terrorist plots in this country. It is called hawala and is particularly popular in South Asia and Somalia. It basically uses brokers in the U.S. and overseas who can move money with just a phone call. Someone can simply walk into a hawala shop and ask to have $1,000 sent to, for example, Karachi, Pakistan. For a fee, the broker calls someone in Pakistan who makes the money available for pickup on the other end. It is all perfectly legal, but the amounts they work in are generally small, so they haven’t been automatically tracked.
The would-be Times Square bomber financed his plot using small hawala money transfers. So did the Sept. 11 hijackers.
The Treasury is hoping its new rules will make that kind of terrorism financing harder and alert it to these transfers at the beginning of a plot instead of after the fact. Treasury officials expect there will be hearings and more discussion on the new rules they are proposing. NPR

Al Shabab leader Ahmed Godane aka Sheik Mokhtar Abu-Zubeyr is From Somaliland Region of Somalia

 

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Kenya moves to cut off funding for al-Shabaab

AFP I NATION Somali women carry weapons during a demonstration organised by the islamist Al-Shabaab group which is fighting the Somali government in Suqa Holaha neighbourhood of Mogadishu, on July 5. The Kenya government has moved to cut off funding for the group. 

Kenya is moving to tighten financial screws on Nairobi-based businessmen suspected of bank rolling Somalia insurgency group al-Shabaab.The Central Bank of Kenya has directed all banks to monitor the financial transactions of the businessmen who are on a United Nations blacklist.

Known as UN 1267, the list contains names of all the rebel sympathisers who are said to be financing their battle for the control of Mogadishu.The insurgents, said to be closely linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror group, already control large swathes of the lawless country.

They have been battling forces of the weak Transitional Federal Government which is backed by an African Union Peace mission comprised mostly of Ugandan and Burundian soldiers.

CBK says all banks and financial institutions are required to regularly check the UN list as part of their Anti-Money Laundering efforts and make quarterly reports to it .In April 2010, the United Nations Security Council listed a number of individuals and one entity as the main financiers of conflict in Somalia in contravention of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1884 of 2008.

The list includes Yasin Ali Baynala, Hassan Dahir Aweys, Hassan Abdullahi Hersi Al Turki, Ahmed Abdi Mohamed, Faud Mohamed Khalaf, Bashir Mohamed Mohamoud, Mohamed Said and Fares Mohammed Mana’a.In October 2009, a UN agency began investigating three Somalia businessmen with diverse business interests in Kenya on allegations of funding al Shabaab.These included Abdulkadir Enos, Abukar Umar Adanu and Mohammed Deylaf .The CBK memo to banks was sent on August 9 by the Banking Supervision Division. It directs the financial institutions to monitor and report suspicious movement of large amounts of money out of the country or to individuals and institutions.

The banks and financial institutions are required to inform the CBK about any transaction amounting to $10,000 (Sh800,000) or more.The memo tells banks to ‘‘review all existing accounts with the object of ensuring that none of the accounts domiciled in the institutions is linked to any of the designated individuals or entities.”It was sent to Chief Executives of commercial banks, non-financial institutions and mortgage finance companies.As a member of the United Nations, Kenya has signed many international treaties on money laundering.In the memo, the CBK calls on all institutions to comply with the requirements of these treaties.“The Central Bank further advises institutions to ensure that they conduct enhanced Customer Due Diligence when dealing with High Risk Customers.”

The banks were expected to submit their first returns in September to confirm if they comply with the requirements.The memo comes hardly two months after CBK and the Kenya Revenue Authority jointly conducted a major operation on more than126 foreign exchange bureaus in Kenya to see if they comply with the regulations.dailynation

UN envoy for Somalia calls for coordinated strategy against maritime piracy

28 September 2010 – The United Nations envoy for Somalia today called for a coordinated political, military and development strategy to combat the scourge of piracy off the Horn of African country’s coastline, saying ad hoc measures to tackle the problem are unlikely to succeed. “I would say the work of the CG [International Contact Group on Somalia – ICG] on piracy, the TFG’s [Transitional Federal Government] own piracy task force, military action and development in security and humanitarian sectors all be woven into the overall construct of a solution for Somalia as a whole,” said Augustine Mahiga, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, addressing the contact group meeting in Madrid.
He said all measures against piracy must be aligned with the Djibouti peace agreement, a process designed to restore peace and stability in Somalia through the reestablishment of State institutions in the country, which has been without a fully functional government since 1991 and has been ravaged by factional warfare.
“The international community’s desire to end the scourge of piracy, supported by the TFG must be delivered as part of, and not independent from, a package of balanced measures that contribute to the political stability of Somalia,” Mr. Mahiga said.
He said the international anti-piracy task force that has deployed a fleet of warships in a bid to prevent piracy in the Indian Ocean must support and complement Somalia’s the overall security arrangement.
“The various naval task forces need to take cognizance of the Somali political environment and their work to engage with Somali administrations needs to contribute to the wider work done in the political field and development work by agencies such as UNODC [UN Office on Drugs and Crime] and UNDP [UN Development Programme],” said Mr. Mahiga.
“Maritime operations need to be also coordinated with land operations by AMISOM [African Union (AU) peacekeeping force in Somalia] and national security forces. Proposed maritime operations by the AU and IGAD [the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development] off the coast of Somalia and its key ports need to be coordinated and de-conflicted with activity by coalition naval forces,” he added.
He pointed out that programmes to rehabilitate areas affected by piracy to provide alternative economic opportunities to those engaging in piracy are key to a long-term solution to the problem.
“Balance and coordination is required between programmes, and maximum advantage made to promote development in the coastal region to re-establish traditional economic, industrial and agricultural activity and to offer alternative livelihoods to those currently engaged in piracy and piracy support activity,” Mr. Mahiga said.
At the end of the ICG meeting, delegates thanked countries that have sent their naval forces to deter acts on piracy in the Indian Ocean and those States that have agreed to receive suspected pirates captured at sea for prosecution.
“The issue of maritime security off the coast of Somalia was highlighted not just of piracy but trafficking, the movement of arms and human trafficking,” they said in the final communiqué.
The delegates also urged the TFG to urgently develop a roadmap that outlines the management of the remaining transition period within two months.
“This roadmap should reflect a prioritized comprehensive strategy with political objectives and timelines, supported by security activities, as well as reconstruction and development priorities including a budget for the remaining period,” the ICG communiqué stated.
It said the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS) should coordinate the international support to the TFG strategy, including developing an action plan as soon as possible.
“The Group agreed that UNPOS should revitalize the existing coordination mechanisms such as the High Level Committee (HLC) to lead the coordination and monitoring of the peace process. This roadmap will be funded through existing programmes, funds or through a designated trust fund for the implementation of the defined priority tasks,” it added.
The ICG meeting was attended by representatives from Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Burundi, Canada, China, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Norway, Russia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, the United Kingdom, the United States, Yemen, the African Union, the European Union, IGAD, the League of Arab States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the World Bank, and the UN.

Who Attacked al-Shabab? The Rebel Leader Speaks: TIME Magazine Just Became Propaganda Mouthpiece for Somali Jehadest

Members of al-Shabab patrol the streets of Mogadishu on Sept. 10, 2010, during the first day of 'Id al-Fitr

Who attacked Somalia's al-Shabab on Sunday? At about 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 26, a mysterious helicopter opened fire on a meeting of top leaders of the increasingly ambitious al-Shabab rebel organization, which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist group. The group's leader, Sheik Muktar Abdirahman Godane, told TIME in an interview on Monday that he was present at the meeting in the Somali town of Merca and watched as the helicopter, which he said was either gray or olive green, approached from the sea, circled and fired on the house where the meeting was taking place. None of the foreign military powers with ships off the Somali coast have taken credit for the strike. "The helicopter was there for about 20 minutes in the air of Merca, and then it left," Godane told TIME. "We are now investigating the ammunition that it fired."
Godane, who rarely speaks to Western media, said that seven al-Shabab leaders had gathered at a house belonging to one of the group's local members to try to resolve a power dispute that had arisen between Godane and Sheik Muktar Robow, another al-Shabab leader, over strategy and control of the organization. Godane refused to say whether anyone was killed or injured in the attack, which was first reported by the New York Times. (The Times stated that no one was hurt.) Godane said al-Shabab closed off the town after the attack and prevented anyone from leaving, to try to learn if someone in the area had informed on the meeting. Mobile-phone communication was also cut off. (Is al-Shabab a local or a global threat?)
Officials from the U.S. and the European Union, which have warships patrolling off the Somali coast, denied deploying the helicopter. "I can tell you we don't have any troops in that vicinity at all," Major Bryan Purtell, spokesman for the U.S. military's Special Operations Command Africa, told the Associated Press. The African Union also said it was not involved. That is likely, because the A.U. forces in Somalia are notoriously undermanned and underfunded and have no air power at all. "You made me have the laugh of the year," Major Barigye Bahoku told the AP. "There is no way the African Union force can be involved in such a strike. We don't have helicopters — any air capacity whatsoever." (How did al-Shabab emerge from Somalia's chaos?)
The attack is not unprecedented. In September 2009, an American strike team killed al-Qaeda suspect Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan in Somalia. Nabhan was allegedly involved in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya. He was also suspected in the bombing of an Israeli hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2002 and the failed attempt to shoot down an airliner leaving Mombasa the same day. Still, it would be highly unusual for any military force to send a single helicopter to attack the al-Shabab leadership.
Al-Shabab has been increasingly active over a wider geographical range in recent months and is believed to have forged closer ties to al-Qaeda, receiving funding, training and fighters from the group. At the same time, its chief rival, the U.S.-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG), has become weaker and weaker, riven by internal squabbling, corruption and mismanagement. Last week, TFG Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke resigned under pressure from President Sheik Sharif Ahmed in what was largely seen as a turf battle. The TFG suffered another serious setback over the weekend when a moderate Islamic group, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa, withdrew its support for the government. The group said it had lost faith in the TFG. (Could al-Shabab topple Somalia's government?)
Sharif's government now controls only a few acres of territory in Mogadishu, while al-Shabab's influence has spread; it now controls much of Somalia's south, including the port of Kismayu, where it earns much of its revenue. The group took control of Merca, down the coast from Mogadishu, in 2008. (Comment on this story.)
In the interview with TIME, Godane said al-Shabab was doing well thanks to donations and income. "We get funding from different sources," he said. "A rich Muslim may wish to fund the jihad for the sake of Allah. We have supporters throughout the world." He reserved his harshest words for the U.S., which he said was powerless to get rid of al-Shabab despite Washington's funding of the TFG and its involvement in strikes like the one that killed Nabhan last year. "Only Allah can remove us," he said. "America cannot remove anything. They are enemy of Allah, and they will taste his punishment if they don't ask for forgiveness." Time

CIA steps up drone attacks in Pakistan amid fear of al-Qaeda terror in Europe

A sharply escalated campaign of CIA drone strikes in Pakistan is aimed in part at al-Qaeda units suspected of planning terrorist attacks on targets in Europe, a threat that U.S. officials described as "credible but not specific" enough to allow authorities to anticipate precisely where or when a strike might occur
The intensified bombing of targets in North and South Waziristan represents an expansion of the secret drone program from its origins as a weapon used in a selective hunt for high-ranking operatives to one now delivering a barrage of strikes in the hopes of disrupting a still-murky plot.
A U.S. official said that President Obama and congressional leaders have been briefed extensively on the European threat in recent weeks and that the warnings are considered ominous enough to warrant preemptive strikes.
American intelligence agencies have had "to work backwards, with your starting point being individuals you believe are involved in plotting, even when you don't have the full outlines of the plot itself," the U.S. official said. "That's why we have been striking - with precision - people and facilities that are part of these conspiracies."
U.S. officials said that intelligence about potential pending attacks has not indicated that the plots are aimed at targets in the United States. Still, officials alluded to significant security precautions.

A senior administration official said that the president "has held multiple sessions with his CT [counterterrorism] and homeland teams in recent weeks to review this and other threat reporting and to make sure that all appropriate steps were being taken to protect the American people."
The flurry of drone strikes continued Tuesday amid reports of a new attack by pilotless Predator or Reaper aircraft on a Taliban compound near Wana in South Waziristan. If confirmed, it would bring the total number of drone attacks in September to 21, far outstripping the previous monthly record of 12 strikes, reached in January, according to numbers compiled by the Web site Long War Journal.
Several U.S. officials interviewed would not speak publicly about the campaign, or the intelligence behind the fears over a European terror plot. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said in a statement Tuesday: "We know al-Qaeda wants to attack Europe and the United States. We continue to work closely with our European allies on the threat from international terrorism, including al-Qaeda."
The U.S. has shared intelligence with European allies in recent days, Clapper said, and is working with "our key partners in order to disrupt terrorist plotting, identify and take action against potential operatives, and strengthen our defenses against potential threats."
The link between the stepped-up campaign of drone strikes and the potential European attacks was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. U.S. officials said, however, that there are multiple factors behind the escalated campaign, including expanded latitude from the Obama administration to punish a militant network that has carried out attacks in Afghanistan and is believed to be sheltering al-Qaeda.
The Haqqani network has long been considered by U.S. officials to be a proxy force for Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence directorate. The United States has prodded Pakistan to confront the group, to little avail.
"There is a recognition that the Pakistanis can't do anything there and won't," a second U.S. official said. As a result, the official said, U.S. forces and the CIA have been given "a green light to go after Haqqani."
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official said "there has been a lot of noise in the system" pointing to an al-Qaeda plot against targets in European countries including France, Germany and Britain.
Mounting anxiety has prompted European authorities to take a series of precautionary steps in recent days, including the evacuation on Tuesday of the Eiffel Tower in Paris for the second time in as many weeks.
ABC News reported that information about the European plot had been based to a large extent on the interrogation of a suspected German terrorist now being held in U.S. custody at Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
U.S. officials confirmed that there is a detainee at Bagram who had been captured in that country and holds a German passport, but they played down any connection between the prisoner and the stepped-up drone campaign. Washington Post

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