Anti-Jihadist Ethiopian-backed Mostly Marehan Clan Ahlu Sunna wal-Jamaa forces to join Somali National Army

The pro-government Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa militia (ASWJ) will integrate into the Somali National Army, UN-funded Radio Bar-Kulan reported Friday (November 30th).


Galgadud Governor Ahmed Yusuf Hassan said that a preliminary agreement has been reached between the two sides, and the Somali government will soon send an envoy to begin the process.



More than 1,000 ASWJ fighters are prepared and ready join government forces, Hassan said. The ASWJ administration currently controls several towns and villages in the Galgadud and gedo regions.

Anti-Jihadist Ethiopian-backed Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa militia  most of the members hail from Marehan Clan

THIS is how "community outreach" is done

   

THIS is how "community outreach" is done - THIS is how the govt. can generate credibility for its operations: EXPLAIN what their job is ...as federal law enforcement, as national security people, as parents, as citizens, as law abiding Muslims.

The speaker photographed here is RCMP Superintendent and Head of the National Security Section, "O" Division, Doug Best. He giving the intro at a recent "information session" at a local Muslim place of worship. ALSO present: local Toronto Police to explain to youth why they get stopped and searched and how to handle it in a way best for both the police and the youth plus other issues like guns N gangs. ALSO present: the Canada Border Services Agency to show examples of smuggling, how they search your bags, what questions they ask upon entry and why.

This specific congregation is Salafi inclined, with the Imam hailing from Yemen. The majority of congregants are of African background, including Somalia, Ghana, Pakistan and Yemen. It went VERY VERY well.

via -Mubin Shaikh
Ph.D Student / Faculty at University of Liverpool tudied Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism at Macquarie UniversityLives in Toronto, Ontario

Ethiopia Promises Support to Rebuild Somalia

ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia says it will support Somalia by re-establishing the country's institutions and training its defense forces. These promises were made during the first state visit of Somalia’s newly elected president to Ethiopia. New Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on Wednesday in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Hailemariam pledged Ethiopia’s support to rebuild the neighboring country, which has endured more than 20 years of chaos and war.“Ethiopia, with our experience in institution building for the last twenty years, we are ready to support the Somali government and civil service reforms... So we need to re-establish with the Somali government these institutions together, with the little capacity but with strong desire," said Hailemariam.Somalia has requested help in rebuilding its institutions because the new government is setting up a federation, which is the governing system also used by Ethiopia.

Hailemariam further promised support for Somalia’s agriculture sector by sending professionals to help restart production.Ethiopia will also train officers of Somalia’s defense force. Somali President Mohamud says security remains a prime concern for the country.“Security is the first and foremost priority of Somalia, and then followed by judiciary system and the public finance management," said Mohamud. "These three are the top priority, but security has been and is the priority number one for Somalia.”

President Mohamud said he believes the militant group al-Shabab is defeated and that their fighters are on the run. Ethiopia helped African Union and Somali government forces retake major Somali cities and towns from the Islamist group.Mohamud said his government is looking at ways of reintegrating al-Shabab fighters into society. But the president reminded non-Somali al-Shabab fighters that there is no place for them in his country.

"As a Somali government, we have no relationship and we don’t have one and we do not intend to have on with the foreign fighters in Somalia," said Mohamud. "The only option open for them is to leave the country, to let them go where they come from. If they don’t go, then its our responsibility to create an environment that makes them go.”

Ethiopian forces are still deployed in parts of Somalia to fight al-Shabab and secure stability. Ethiopia’s troops are expected to remain in those areas until African Union troops take over.

Media-Savvy Militants Lure Foreigners for 'Holy War' in Somalia

update on Briton stars in Somali terror videos


LONDON — The Islamist militant group al-Shabab in Somalia has lost much ground in recent months to African Union and government forces. But analysts warn that al-Shabab is fighting an increasingly sophisticated media war, and is actively recruiting foreign fighters to join its ranks.

With sophisticated graphics - and shot in high quality - this is a video produced by the media arm of al-Shabab called "Inspire the Believers."

The footage cuts to a man sitting on a beach. A scarf covers his face. He introduces himself as Abu Dujana and says he is from Britain; he has a distinct London accent.

“I’d like to use my time to talk about the blessings of living in one of the lands of Jihad. First of all, before some of us came here, we were living in a society where the people were enslaved by their desires," he said.

Abu Dujana is one of a series of foreigners appearing on this video who have purportedly gone to fight for al-Shabab in Somalia. Others are from Sweden, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya. They are trying to lure others to follow.

“For us, a chance to fight for our beliefs is the best thing that can happen to us in this world. And the fact that we may be killed in this path is nothing but a glad tiding," said Dujana.

The video - over 30 minutes long - is part of a series produced by al-Shabab aimed at a Western audience.

Shiraz Maher, of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization at Kings College London, says the group is emulating and even surpassing al-Qaida's propaganda tactics.

“It’s producing high quality videos with great production values, in the way that we’ve seen al-Qaida do in the past… They’re using Twitter to engage with Muslims around the world to offer instant rebuttal, instant analysis of world events," he said.

Other videos use a ‘news’ style - with another British-accented male narrating and interviewing fighters. One is called "Mogadishu - The Crusaders’ Graveyard." It was produced in 2011 before African Union troops re-took the capital from Al Shabab.

“The Mujahedeen on their part vowed to crush the Crusaders, and with the permission of Allah managed to raise the banners of Tawheed [Islam] on top of their tanks.” - Excerpt from "Mogadishu - The Crusaders’ Graveyard."

Shiraz Maher says it’s difficult to put an exact figure on numbers of foreign fighters.

“For a number of years, al-Shabab was able to recruit openly in the United States, was able to raise funds openly and in essence put down roots, establishing the infrastructure of people and ideology and material in those communities, long before law enforcement proscribed it," he said.

The effort by al-Shabab to recruit overseas could be a sign of its falling support among the Somali population, says Valentina Soria, of London-based analyst group the Royal United Services Institute.

“The humanitarian crisis in 2011, actually they [al-Shabab] were thought to be somehow to blame for not having let through the humanitarian groups and NGOs and actually the population has suffered greatly for that," she said.

Soria says the operating space for al-Shabab is being squeezed by African Union forces.

“There have been great territorial gains but those gains haven’t been as yet translated into long term political success and this will remain the challenge for the new government in Somalia," she said.

Terror analysts say the West should consider how to fight the propaganda war against Islamist groups like al-Shabab as well as winning territory on the ground...via voa

Lights, Camera, Jihad: Al Shabaab's Western Media Strategy: A new ICSR report

up date on How al-Shabaab Targets Western Youth

In recent years, dozens of young Muslims from Europe and North America have gone to Somalia to fight with the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab. While the threat that al-Shabaab poses to the West can easily be overstated, its outreach to Muslims living in Europe and the United States has been very successful.

Through a combination of primary source analysis and background interviews in East Africa, together with a quantitative review of the group's Twitter output, ICSR's latest report -- Lights, Camera, Jihad: Al Shabaab's Western Media Strategy -- explains how al-Shabaab markets itself to Muslims in the West. ..Link to report and podcast for the launch last week:

some background information

Somali community ... hates al Shabab': Abdirizak Bihi testifies about the disappearance of Somali American ( chilling testimony )

Abdisalan Hussein Ali, 22 years old From Minneapolis MN.American Identified as Bomber in Attack on African Union in Somalia aka abdi Salaam al-Muhajir, carried out Somalia suicide bombing, Islamists claim

 

Minneapolis Somalis Played Key Role in al-Shabaab Investigation

 

Witness: US man gave $500 to help a local recruit of al-Shabab terror group in Somalia

Al-Qaeda's East Africa network 'regrouping and rearming in northern Somalia'

Al-Qaeda's network in East Africa is regrouping and rearming in northern Somalia, suggesting that it could recover from a series of defeats in the south, according to the president of the region.

If the extremists manage to regroup in this mountainous region, they could attack Ethiopia or Kenya, both of which have deployed troops in Somalia, he told The Daily Telegraph.

Al-Shabaab, the Somali Islamist movement which has merged with al-Qaeda, was expelled from the capital, Mogadishu, and much of the south earlier this year. Instead of this being a decisive setback, however, the evidence suggests that key figures have moved northwards to Puntland, a self-governing area covering 130,000 square miles of northern Somalia. Last week, two Islamist commanders and nine fighters were arrested in this region.

Abdirahman Farole, the president of Puntland, said that the successful offensive mounted by African Union forces against al-Shabaab in and around Mogadishu had caused a "spillover" of extremists into his area. Among the 11 al-Shabaab operatives who were arrested in Puntland is the alleged leader of its assassination squad. "They were found with new weapons, arms and ammunition, and, apart from two of them, they were not local, they came from all across Somalia," said Mr Farole. "It is not hard to understand that their goal was to connect with others we fear are already here, after the spillover from the fighting in the south."

The two alleged commanders have been named as Abu Hafsa, supposedly al-Shabaab's head of assassinations, and Abdirizak Hussein Tahlil, an alleged logistics expert. Puntland's security forces also seized guns, ammunition, suicide jackets, hand grenades, fuses and explosives. But al-Shabaab said that it did not recognise either name and denied any of its senior fighters was missing. The arrests appeared to confirm that the network's commanders are fleeing to Puntland's mountainous hinterland after setbacks, notably the loss of the port of Kismayo in September.

Puntland's coastline lies opposite Yemen, the home of the group "al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula", which is believed to have armed and financed al-Shabaab. In the past two months alone, the authorities have intercepted two boats heading from Yemen to Puntland laden with weapons. "Our preoccupation is that in addition to fighting piracy, this spillover from the problems of south Somalia to us in the north will drain our resources and be very detrimental to regional security," added Mr Farole.

He spoke to The Daily Telegraph after opening a new ministry of justice in Garowe, the capital of Puntland. This facility was constructed entirely with British money. The Foreign Office has spent more than £1.5 million through the UN on building the ministry and expanding Puntland's prisons. This should enable any Somali pirates arrested by international forces, including the Royal Navy, to be handed over to Puntland.

"The Somali criminal justice system lacks the infrastructure, personnel and legal framework to conduct fair and efficient trials and to ensure humane and secure imprisonment," said Yuri Fedotov, UNODC's executive director, who became one of the most senior UN figures to visit Puntland.

"So long as this remains the case, crime will continue to flourish."

At the new prison complex outside the town, Mahad Mohammed Hersi, one of dozens of junior prison officer whose training was paid for with British, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and Finnish aid, was completing his morning's lessons.

"It's my expectation that from this training I will get not only a good job, but a good job that also helps my country because I will be enforcing the law," said Mr Hersi, 23.

"I don't agree that there is no rule of law here, or no security or no peace. If that is true, we would not be here. It's not like you think it is." Criminals linked to al-Shabaab and convicted of terrorism would be "kept here safely just like the pirates", he said.

Border fight injures four, several dead

MANDERA, KENYA: At least four Kenyans were injured when a mortar fired from Bulohawo town in Somalia landed on a residential house in Mandera Town.Bulohawo neighbours Mandera Town. The incident happened on Saturday when heavy fighting broke out between Al-Shabaab militants and Somalia troops.

Reports said at least 12 people, most of them fighters were killed in the latest clashes inside Somalia.The fighting lasted into the evening, locals and military said adding the militants were later driven out of the town.The four were treated and discharged from a local hospital on Saturday evening.North Eastern police boss Philip Tuimur said there was calm in the town on Sunday after the incident and that the injured sustained “small bruises”.Residents said tension remained high in Mandera with more security personnel being mobilized there as the fighting went on.

The militants were trying to take control of Bulohawo months after they were driven away from there.“We heard several explosions from the Somalia town which is few kilometers away but today it is quiet,” said a resident on the phone.The attack appeared to have come as a surprise, with the militants having been forced out of their major strongholds by troops from the African Union force AMISOM.The Amisom troops who include Kenyans are in control of most of the places where the militants had been in charge.

Reports indicate the militants are planning to launch fresh attacks on the troops in efforts to retake the control of their former bases.Security agents revealed they are on alert in the wake of warnings of attacks locally by remnants of the gang.“We urge Kenyans at large to be vigilant. Be it in a bar, bus, church, school, supermarket or on the road because they are planning to hit us,” said Nairobi police boss Moses Ombati.

A series of terror related attacks have happened in the country in the past months, which have claimed many lives and left others with serious wounds. The latest incident happened in Eastleigh in Nairobi where ten passengers were killed in an explosion on a mini-bus.Meanwhile, a special parliamentary committee constituted to probe this week's Garissa chaos is holed up in meetings to discuss security issues in the town.

Somali forces kill top al-Shabaab commander

Mogadishu (terrorfreesomalia)The Somalia National Army (SNA), backed by itsintelligence and the Police force, have conducted a raid on Sokohola and killed the overall al-Shabaab commander for Gupta, Sokohola, and Huluwai areas.

The al-Shabaab fighters put up a fight, but their commander, who residents identified as Guludupu, was killed on spot, while 16 militants were captured and an assortment of ammunition recovered in the Thursday night raid.

They included 16 submachine guns and four pistols. Sokohola, a Mogadishu suburb, has been a concentration area of al-Shabaab cells, terrorising civilians around Mogadishu, the Somalia capital city.

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) — Uganda contingent commander, Brig. Michael Ondoga commended the Somali security forces for “excellence in their operations.”

“The Somali national security forces are doing a commendable job in the pacification process of Somalia. As AMISOM, we are committed in giving them support to restore calm in Somalia. We congratulate them in this successful operation which will bring more peace in Mogadishu,” Ondoga said.

Brig. Ondoga, according to a statement issued by the Ugandan contingent spokesperson, Maj. Henry Obbo, pointed out that SNA successful raid on al-Shaban was a manifestation of the ever improving capability of the Somali forces.

Ondoga, who is in-charge of Sector One AMISOM operations, added that he was confident that one day, the Somalis themselves will be able to take full charge of their own security.The SNA operation comes three days after Ugandan and Somali forces seized 11 high explosive bombs meant for terrorism from Sokohola.

The twin swoop on Sokohola by AU and Somali forces, in two months, brings the tally of arms seized to over 30 explosives, 16 submachine guns and 14 pistols.al-shabaab militants, who are allied to the global terror organisation Al-Qaeda, have been on the back foot since August last year when they were dislodged from Mogadishu.

They have since lost a string of towns, where they had sought safe haven and charged exorbitant illegal taxes to fund their operations.Somalia has seen anarchy since 1991, when  Siad Barre was deposed. The Horn of Africa nation has seen bloodletting with extremists and terrorists taking the country at intervals and instilling terror among Somalis.

The AU deployed AMISOM in 2007, with Uganda taking the key role. It was followed by Burundi, Sierra Leone and Djibouti.The peacekeepers were mandated by the UN Security Council to defend the transition government and key installations like the State House, Parliament and the Sea Port.

AMISOM was further empowered to monitor the security situation in areas of operation and to provide technical assistance to stabilisation efforts, including helping to build capabilities of the Somali security forces.

Source:http://www.newvision.co.ug

War on Al-shabab Fighters

'My Take' Everybody knew what the soldiers did was wrong,  But There  it's not wrong to hate terrorists who are trying to kill our troops-and us...this is the behavior of “a few bad apples”

Citizen TV has obtained exclusive footage of what appears to be Kenya Defence forces soldiers beating some suspects in some unknown location to extract information from them. The soldiers are seen to be caning and speaking to suspects in Kiswahili demanding information. Although citizen TV obtained the footage in Garissa and was initially meant to believe the suspects could have been part of those involved in the killing of KDF soldiers in the town last week, KDF insists that the footage was obtained inside Somalia and that the suspects were believed to be al-shabaab sympathizers insiders plotting to cause terror attacks.

Security forces in Somalia’s capital carry out operations , killing Al Qaeda terrorist and seizure of materials (Thanksgiving operation) hunt wild turkey Jihadists in Somalia

Mogadishu (TerrorFreeSomalia )—Somali security officials say they have arrested over twenty suspected Al shabab affiliates with their guns during a crackdown in Mogadishu on Thursday, November 22, 2012.

Khalif Ahmed Eric, chief of Somali security forces in Banadir region, told journalists in the capital that a tip-off has led the forces to the arrest of 20 Al shabab  jihadists gents who have been hiding in Suqa-Holaha vicinity, north of Mogadishu.

Mr. Eric noted that the detained Al shabab members were seized in a dawn sweep in parts of northern Mogadishu, where insecurity acts reported over the past few weeks.

Witnesses said several fighters have been killed during armed clashes between the Government troops and Al shabab in the area on Wednesday night as locals were sleeping.

 The move followed after the killings and attacks against civilians, media workers and government soldiers and officials happened in the capital. H\T RADIO MOGADISHU

Somalia: How Al Shabaab Is Losing the Battle, but Maybe Winning the War

Analysis

The Somali militant group al-Shabaab is currently losing ferocious battles against Kenyan troops in Southern Somalia - part of an African Union peacekeeping mission. However, they are winning a strategic war back in Kenya; this is the battle for hearts and minds.

On Sunday, a blast likely carried out by al-Shabaab sleeper cells in Nairobi killed seven Kenyans on a minibus. Soon after, a machete-wielding mob of angry Kenyans descended on the capital's Eastleigh or "Little Mogadishu" neighborhood. They pillaged shops, burned cars and left dozens of people injured.

In Garissa, near the boarder with Somalia, the scenes were much uglier. After unknown assailants killed three Kenyan soldiers, the Kenyan Defense Force (KDF), using brute force, went on the rampage, setting the local market on fire. In doing so, they deprived the local community of their main source of living.

Members of the Kenyan parliament, who represent Garrisa constituencies, even allege that the KDF forces have raped some women and tortured many innocent people in the area following the pandemonium. Livid, and feeling profoundly insulted, they're now calling for an urgent investigation, and even suggesting that international help is needed for their protection.

Ethnic Somalis, irrespective of which passport they carry, have become a target for armed thugs across Kenya. Fear, guilt by association and a sense of 'otherness' have now enveloped the millions of Somalis living in the country, all of which is good news for al-Shabaab.

This hysteria is playing right into the militant's playbook. As the Kenyan columnist Macharia Gaitho has aptly observed, "lashing out indiscriminately at Somalis is as foolish as it is self-defeating. The mad bombers must be laughing themselves silly having succeeded in turning Kenyan against Kenyan."

Having lost the conventional war, the al-Qaeda-linked fighters are now on a mission to engage in a different kind of battle - one that requires no guns but plenty of highly manipulative techniques.

The Kenyan government appears woefully unprepared and frighteningly fragile. Just four months away from a national election that could see the country finally shed the memory its 2007/2008 post election violence, it can't afford to marginalize one of its largest minorities. Come March next year, the Somali vote could prove decisive. Unlike their war-weary cousins in Somalia, Somali-Kenyans are highly educated and invariably sophisticated. They won't accept being treated as second-class citizens.

As a frequent visitor to Kenya, I often notice how the country is institutionally pre-occupied with an intense competition over who succeeds President Mwai Kibaki. Rival tribes are jostling for power, which would've been fine if the security apparatus had the capacity to untangle itself from politics.

The events of the last few days could prove to be a turning point for Kenya. While the country has been able to decimate al-Shabaab fighters in southern Somalia, its shocking failure to protect its own ethnic Somalis (and Somali refugees) constitutes a defeat in the strategic war on hearts and minds. Al-Shabaab has in the past exploited the Somali people when they have felt most victimized. Already, the Shabaab's effective propaganda machine is hard at work, trying to turn a largely unsuspecting community into a hostile unit.

If Kenya fails to turn the tables against the Shabaab by fiercely protecting the Somali community from the mob justice that befell it, then it's hard to see how Kenya can ultimately win this developing war within.

Abdi Aynte is a journalist researcher.

Al Shabaab Implicated in Garissa Violence. Residents suspect al-Shabaab present in town

Intelligence reports by the North Eastern Provincial Security and Intelligence Committee have implicated a wanted man said to be an Al Shabaab operative in Garissa for organizing attacks on security officers. The report further accuses politicians of fueling the chaos in the town.

The reports from the Provincial and Intelligence Committee (PSIC) and the District Security and Intelligence Committee(DSIC) which have been sent to the Internal Security permanent secretary Mutea Iringo dated November 20 and November 19, however differ on the sequence of events preceding the violence that have rocked the town since three Kenya Defence Force soldiers were gunned down by armed men as they repaired tires.

Intelligence officers allege that "Abdi Mohammed Farah aka Maash is a suspected Al Shabaab head of Intelligence in Garissa and is believed to have coordinated the recent attacks in Garissa and refugee camps" the PSIC report says.

" Intelligence indicates that there is a planned huge demonstration with support from politicians against alleged police brutality. PSIC is seating to review the situation and way forward," the PSIC report which the Star saw says.

Garissa County Commissioner M. A Maalim in his report says that the violence erupted after three KDF soldiers namely Lance Corporal John Wachira Wang'ombe, of 5KA, Senior Private Anthony Mucheka and senior Private David Erman Ekala all drivers were shot dead by terrorists.

"This lead to security personnel in town avenging their anger on the resident of the town by punishing the people collectively and by the end of the day 62 people were injured of which one was referred to Nairobi, several business premises burnt down and totally destroyed rendering the business community to be poor.," the report said.

He alleged that security situation has been worsening especially in Garissa where around nine soldiers have been killed and one business man is in critical condition after he was shot and left to die.

The violence continued for the second day during which seventeen people were injured. Reports of rapes cases could not be verified from the police and the hospital.

The PSIC on the other hand says that violence erupted after a group of youth who were on the roof tops of a a building belonging to a prominent businessman engaged police in a hoot out and attempted to block security agents from collecting the bodies of the three soldiers.

" Youths engaged security personnel in fire exchange from rooftop of a four storey building belonging to a local businessman," the report says.
The PSIC report on the incident says that meetings held on July 31, 2012, October 2 2012 and November 5 2012 had instructed the DSIC to over see the destruction of kiosks and other illegal structures which were being used to criminals.
"Youths engaged security personnel in fire exchange from rooftops of the four storey building belonging to a prominent local businessman. Illegal kiosks along Kismayu road used by criminals were torched. Structures cleared are bordering KDF camp, Garissa primary, all the way to Garissa Provincial Hospital," the report signed by F. O OUMA for the North Eastern Provincial Commissioner says.
KDF Information Operations Officer Colonel Cyrus Oguna yesterday clarified that KDF soldiers had not engaged in any violence on Garissa residents as is being alleged.
" After the killing of the three soldiers, the commander sent a team to secure the military equipment. KDF knows it mandate and it does not include engaging citizens. The operation conducted in the village was done by police who were accompanied by the two soldiers who escaped from the attackers because they had seen them. When no weapon was recovered or arrests made KDF personnel retreated. The next day a small group of locals attacked the KDF camp but the soldiers only took positions for the fifteen minutes it happened. But as it happened, chaos erupted in the town where no KDF soldier were deployed. The hotel alleged to have been burnt KDF is not anywhere near where the attack happened. Those accusing KDF off breach of human rights, violence and rape are trying to undermine the gains the military has done to secure this country," Col Oguna said yesterday.
KDF said that immediately after receiving the information about the attack on the soldiers, a team was dispatched to coordinate the recovery of the truck and bodies of the murder soldiers.
They then provided a cordon around the village in which the attackers were reported to have entered but only the police entered and conducted a search to flush out the criminals.
Meanwhile, Garissa County Commissioner Mohammed Maalim has reassured area residents of calm following last two days chaotic scenes where members of the public were terrorized by KDF soldiers following the killings of three of their colleagues by unknown criminals.
Maalim who was addressing the press from his office appealed to Kenyans to remain calm as the government was pursuing criminals who have led to the deaths of nine police officers and three KDF soldiers since first of July this year.
He blamed criminals for causing despondency in town between security agents and members of the public but said their days were numbered.
The Commissioner took issue with a section of area youths who were creating inter tribal animosity between various communities in town saying that security agents are pursuing them and will be brought to justice.
The administrator said the county had enough police officers to take charge of security saying that no more KDF soldiers will be involved in pursuing criminals.

Residents suspect al-Shabaab present in town 

 To Garissa and it is an open question; is al-Shabaab in town? As life slowly resumes to normal questions abound over the killing of three KDF soldiers and before that, the killing of policemen and the slaughter of worshippers in the North Eastern town. And as NTV's Nimrod Taabu reports, some residents bravely admit that al-Shabaab elements live among them.

 

Eritrea and Somalia the past and the future

Interesting reflections on Eritrea & Somalia relations

Eritrea and Somalia the past and the future By Abdul Sharif

Having met so many people from the Horn of Africa nation of Eritrea,a country that has so much lessons to contribute to rebuilding Somalia.Eritrea's heroic and unique independence struggle was one the foremost things that surprised me about this country.

In 2012 Eritreans celebrated there 21 anniversary of the independence,which was won after heavy sacrifices and after a fierce and longstanding war of liberation which lasted 30 years.

Against all odds,because the challenges were insurmountable, notably if you put into consideration the international legality represented in UN resolutions and the organisation of African Unity charter which made the dream of the Eritrean independence almost impossible.

As I was writing this post,I was also have a chat with my Hooyo(mother)about Eritrea and she told me should would always see the Eritrean community in Mogadishu's Hodan district in the 1980's,with whom she used to exchange views on the continues independence struggle back in Eritrea.

Somalia was a strong supporter of Eritrean nationalism, including Isaias Afewerki’s Eritrean People’s Liberation Front. Somalia is clearly a friend of Eritrea even though some might disagree.I was absolutely astonished by the many anti-Eritrea rhetoric specially talking about it's support to Al-Shabaab. There are evidence Eritrea has supported Al-Shabaab,but that shouldn't be the center of Somalis and Eritreans relationships.Somalis were there for Eritrea during it's struggle for independence from Ethiopia.

During the time of the Eritrean liberation,Somalia's president Said Barre supported the rebel groups who were fighting against the Ethiopian govt,the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).Barre's regime even want as far as letting EPLF members use Somali passports,& letting them station in Mogadishu.

Somalia's new government has not so far made any decision to start negotiations with Eritrea or to restore relations.But there has been reports and rumors that Eritrea requested Turkey to help it reconcile with the Somali government led my President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Mogadishu and Asmara should pursue a political dialogue on issues of common interest and on issues of concern to both parties.At the same time,it should be noted that the basic idea of helping resolve the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict peacefully would be helpful for Somalia and the Horn of Africa.

We Somalis and Eritreans, have so many things in common. What unite us is bonds of common history, the same political challenges, similar social and cultural background and have the same aspirations.

Both our communities in Diaspora are facing the same challenges and preoccupations, we need to cooperate, to exchange views and experiences and coordinate our efforts to make our voice heard and to reassert our presence. ...via Africathinker

Security Council Considers Situation in Somalia - Security Council, 6867th meeting

Playful Glances

Playful Glances

Briton stars in Somali terror videos

Terrorists in Somalia have produced a series of full-length documentaries featuring a masked narrator with a British accent as part of a publicity drive designed to attract Western recruits

The videos feature suicide bombers, the corpses of African peace keepers and describe military operations by the militant group al-Shabaab, which is closely linked to al-Qaeda. The footage is the latest addition to a well-oiled media machine which has attracted nearly 16,000 followers to its English-language Twitter account since it was set up last December. It is unclear whether the reporter is the same man behind the Twitter account and a press office that has churned out online press releases giving updates on battles and “martyred” fighters in recent months.

MI5 is concerned that the conflict has drawn in dozens of young Britons and last September Jonathan Evans, the director general of MI5, warned that it was “only a matter of time before we see terrorism on our streets inspired by those who are today fighting alongside al-Shabaab.” Earlier this year three men from East London were jailed for channeling thousands of pounds to three associates who are still with militants in the East African conflict zone.

Samantha Lewthwaite, the widow of 7/7 bomber Jermaine Lindsay, is also thought to be with al-Shabaab in Somalia. In the first 32-minute video released by al-Shabaab’s media arm, al-Kataib, last November, called “The Burundian Bloodbath” the reporter, dressed in army fatigues, visits the scene of a battle in which he claims 101 soldiers died. Carrying a microphone, he compares the battle at Dayniile with the “glorious battles that took place in the early days of Islam between truth and falsehood” and interviews al-Shabaab fighters who took part. Another 23-minute video called “Battlefront el-Wak - repelling the Kenyan proxies” was released in February. The film shows a battle on September 16 last year between al-Shabaab and the Kenyan backed Azania Militia in the border town of el-Wak before the full-scale invasion by Kenyan troops in October. The video is dedicated to the “martyr” Anwar al-Awlaki, one of the leaders of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP) who was killed in a drone attack in Yemen last September. In the latest 43-minute video, “In the Shade of the Shariah”, first released in May, the same reporter visits Baidoa, a city taken by al-Shabaab militants from Ethiopian soldiers in 2009 before its recapture in February. The video features a clip of a suicide bomber called Abu Ayoub from “Europe” who speaks in English. The reporter praises him as one of “dozens of young men who had left behind the comfort of their homes and families in Europe and the United States in order to take part in the jihad against the Ethiopian invaders.” The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) at King’s College London is to publish a report this week on al-Shabaab’s Western media strategy which highlights al-Kataib’s use of slick and professional production values to appeal to young men in the West and provide an alternative to mainstream media. The report says the videos “aim to present the group’s version of events, motivate recruits and establish an alternative narrative - where the mainstream media might report losses, al-Shabaab records victories.”

The authors say that a “combination of fortuity and ingenuity has allowed al-Shabaab to cultivate a highly potent message which has succeeded in helping to seduce scores of Western Muslims into supporting its cause.” Two shorter videos have featured young British men – a suicide video from 2007 featuring Ahmed Hussein Ahmed, and a video called ‘Inspire the Believers’ in 2010 which featured Abu Dujana calling for more recruits. A number of Americans have also traveled to Somalia to join al-Shabaab and one of their most powerful media assets has been a rapping propagandist called Omar Shafik Hammami, known as Abu Mansoor al-Amriki, who has appeared in a series of videos including a lengthy sermon last year called “Lessons learned.”  via
Telegraph

The man pictured here is an American who organized AlShabab operatives out of the Galmudug region of Somalia

update on Puntland says arrests al Shabaab members, seizes explosives


we've heard one of the Al-Shabaab agents who was arrested is an American citizen.

Ameerah Haq, the United Nations's Under Secretary General Field Missions Somalia visit (Video)

Ameerah Haq, the United Nations's (UN) Under Secretary General for Field Missions today (13 November) made her first visit to Somalia, and congratulated the newly elected President Sheikh Mohamud on the country's recent political accomplishments.

Haq met with the president in Mogadishu at the Villa Somalia where they had discussions on nation building and the security situation in the country.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ameera Haq, Under Secretary General for the Department of Field Support, United Nations:

"This is a great moment of hope for Somalia, a new government is installed, a new parliament is installed, I think today or tomorrow the parliament will meet with the cabinet and it was a great opportunity to speak to him about what he sees as the realization of the nation building here in Somalia, his plans for development, his plans and concerns about security and what the immediate short term, but building short-term into the medium and long-term goal."

For over two decades, Somalia was engulfed in civil war, which left hundreds of thousands killed. In 2007 the African Union Mission in Somalia was formed with the backing and support of the United Nations. The troops from Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti and Kenya have been battling Al-Shabaab militias and have pushed them out of most of the major cities in the country.

SOUNDBITE (English), Ameera Haq, Under Secretary General for the Department of Field Support, United Nations:

"We will continue to provide the support to AMISOM, we discussed really the credit that goes to AMISOM with respect to the great price that they have paid in the loss of lives to bring Somalia to where it is now."

During her visit Haq also met with the head of UN political Mission to Somalia, SRSG Mahiga and AMISOM Deputy Force Commander Maj-Gen Simon Karanja together with mission personnel from UNSOA, the field support operations whose mandate it is to deliver a logistics capacity support package to AMISOM.

She took a tour of the compound and had an opportunity to talk to the personnel who have contributed to the success of the mission.

Ameerah Haq, the United Nations's Under Secretary General for Field Missions today made her first visit to Somalia, and congratulated the newly elected President Sheikh Mohamud on the country’s recent political accomplishments. AU/UN IST

Somalia Citizens laud AMISOM

Beautiful Somalia in everyway

IPS – Tough Foreign Policy Challenges for Somalia’s “Iron Lady” | Inter Press Service

IPS – Tough Foreign Policy Challenges for Somalia’s “Iron Lady” | Inter Press Service

Ohio Mall Terrorism Defendant Deported to Somalia

A Somali immigrant who federal prosecutors say plotted to attack an Ohio shopping mall has been deported to Somalia.


Nuradin Abdi completed his prison sentence in August and was in federal custody in Louisiana while final preparations were made to return him to Somalia.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday confirmed the deportation.
Abdi's sister, Kaltun Karani, says the family is happy that Abdi is a free man.

The Justice Department accused Abdi of suggesting a plan to shoot up an unidentified Columbus shopping mall during an August 2002 meeting at a coffee shop with two friends, both of whom were later convicted of terrorism charges.

Early reports indicated the threat might also have included bombing a mall.

Kenya violence enters second day

GARISSA, Kenya — Violence broke out for a second day in Kenya's restive northeast on Tuesday with eight people shot and wounded, a day after security forces went on the rampage.

Several others were also hospitalised, some of them after being beaten by clubs by security forces in a crackdown following the killing of three colleagues in Garissa, a garrison town near the border with war-torn Somalia.

"This morning, Kenya Red Cross rescued four males, four females and two children, eight of them being gunshot casualties," it said in a statement, adding that 34 other casualties were taken to Garissa hospital.

Musa Mohamed, a doctor at Garissa hospital, said that "at least 15 people were admitted this morning with various injuries."

Garissa's main market was torched during the violence that broke out Monday, after unknown gunmen killed three soldiers in town, sparking a security crackdown that sparked violent protests.

The killings were the latest in a string of grenade and gun attacks, often blamed on members or sympathisers of Somalia's Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents.

The Shebab have vowed revenge after Kenya invaded southern Somalia last year to attack the Islamist fighters.

Small scuffles were also reported in the Nairobi's predominantly ethnic Somali Eastleigh district, but on a far smaller scale than Monday when street battles took place after a bomb blast on a bus on Sunday that killed nine people

Somali ambassador "Toto scam"

                       Beware of  Fraud and Scam Artists Nur Hassan Hussein

The stable Nomentano, closed two years ago after a sexual assault, it would have been leased for 18 years to an Italian company that deals with tourism.,Nur Hassan Hussein To endorse all of the Somali ambassador in Italy,

The Somali embassy in Rome as the Trevi Fountain. With the ambassador in Mogadishu trying to emulate "Toto scam", that more than 50 years ago trying to sell one of the symbols of the capital to a naive Italian American. This time, however, according to the complaint lodged by two Italian-Somali Associations, the reality seems to have passed the fantasy: the Embassy of Nomentano for years in a state of neglect, it would in fact been granted lease to an Italian company that takes care of tourism.And to endorse the multimillion-dollar contract would have been just Nur Hassan Hussein, the Somali ambassador to Italy.

 LOOK AT THE PHOTOS

The diplomat, like all its counterparts, has no power to rent the embassy of which he is a mere custody and whose ownership belongs to the state of Somalia. Hussein in accordance with its legal and Dual Douglas Maurizio Calo would not have given any green light to the contract.

Fiday afternoon, however, "some unknown" turned up outside the embassy on Via dei Villini, trying to "break the lock" of the entrance gates to "the beginning of renovations."  group of Somalis living in Italy and members of associations Ancis (National Association of Community Italo-Somali) and Migrating, already alerted in the hours before he locked the workers, denouncing the fact immediately.  The paper argues that Hussein had "leased the building for 18 years," resulting in the "loss of his extraterritoriality and changing its intended use. The whole "in the absence of a resolution" of the Ministry of Finance of Somalia, as confirmed in the complaint sent to the Prosecutor's Office, the Town Hall II of the City of Rome, the Capitol and the Service of Legal Affairs of the Foreign Ministry.

 one of the most exclusive areas of Rome, was closed in 1991 (its offices were moved by the Gracchi) after the fall of Siad Barre and then plunged into a state of disrepair, becoming a refuge dormitory for foreigners .. In February 2011, the building jumped to the news when a twenty, drawn in the stable, suffered a sexual assault by two Somalis that there risiedevano.L 'former embassy was evacuated and its walled entrance to avoid new jobs.

 The ambassador, when asked about whether he "explained to be abroad and returned to Italy in five days," said Shukri Said, spokesman Migrate.But in the meantime, the hypothesis that the embassy can be transformed into a hotel has sparked the ire of Somalis in Rome finding a stir among the media in Mogadishu..via  Gruppo Editoriale L’Espresso

Puntland says arrests al Shabaab members, seizes explosives

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somalia's northern region of Puntland, which up to now has been spared violence fuelled by Islamist fighters, said on Sunday its security forces had arrested two suspected members of the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militant group.

Puntland's president has said the militants, squeezed out of their urban strongholds further south, were moving north towards his semi-autonomous region, a relatively peaceful area.

The government said in a statement security forces on Saturday arrested a man known as Abu Hafsa, whom they said was al Shabaab's head of assassinations. A second man, Abdirizak Hussein Tahlil, identified as an al Shabaab logistics officer, was also arrested.

The statement said Puntland forces had also seized suicide jackets, hand grenades, explosive powder, as well as wires, fuses and remote controls during the raid in Galkayo.

Al Shabaab denied the arrests.

"None of our men has been arrested and we don't know people by these names. They also claimed they seized our weapons. All this is propaganda to get funds from Westerners," Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's spokesman for military operations, told Reuters on Sunday.

The government in an email attached pictures of the explosives it said it had seized, as well as pictures of who it said were the al Shabaab members.Under pressure from African Union peacekeeping troops and Somali government forces, al Shabaab has lost many of its major urban strongholds in south-central Somalia since it launched a rebellion against the Western-backed government in 2007.

Al Shabaab withdrew from the capital Mogadishu in August last year and lost their last major bastion of Kismayu seven weeks ago. Officials say many fighters have taken up positions in the mountains west of Bossaso in Puntland.

But in an audio statement posted on al Shabaab-linked websites, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, al Shabaab's spokesman, claimed the militant group still controlled most of southern and central Somalia. "Even babies know that we don't need to go to Puntland's hills," he said.Puntland authorities have captured two shipments of explosives from Yemen in the past few months in incidents that have raised concern about the possible cooperation between Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and al Shabaab, which formally merged with al Qaeda earlier this year.Puntland spans the relatively calm north of Somalia and has largely escaped the worst of Somalia's upheaval of the last 20 years. It has been showcased by foreign powers advocating a loose federal political system in Somalia as a solution to its troubles.

The area is also rich in energy resources and is being sized up by oil explorers. However, Puntland's authorities have said there is increasing insecurity, which it blames on al Shabaab.

Puntland says arrests al Shabaab members, seizes explosives

Rising xenophobia against Somalis in Kenya

Kenyans turned on Somalis and attacked their shops, blaming them for Sunday's blast [AFP]

                                               bbc pics
update on Bus bomb kills six in Kenya, blamed on al-Shabaab rebels

Twenty-one victims from Sunday’s explosion of a minibus in Nairobi’s Somali-dominated Eastleigh suburb popularly known as “little Mogadishu” are still recuperating at the country’s main hospital, Kenyatta national hospital.

I went to visit them. They had head, arm and leg injuries. Some had burns. At least eight people died in the hospital ward from that deadly explosion that ripped apart the minibus. Three people especially caught my eye.

Three-year-old Kennedy Mbuvi was crying in pain. He had a fractured leg. He was playing by the bus terminal when the minibus exploded. For two hours following the blast his desperate mother did not know where he was. She finally traced him to the hospital.

Five beds away from Kennedy is Ahmed Abdi, a Kenyan Somali who was also crying in pain. He had leg injuries. He was walking home when the explosion knocked him off his feet.

At the far end of the ward, a Somali. Immediately after the blast an angry mob tried to lynch him. He was rescued by police.

The three - a non-Somali child, a Kenyan Somali and an ethnic Somali – all victims.

The attacks –and they’ve been many since Kenya’s army went into Somalia to battle the armed group al-Shabab last October - have been indiscriminate, devastating in equal measure non-Somalis and Somalis.

Yet, you get a very deep sense of growing xenophobia against Somalis be they refugees or even Kenyan Somalis.

The attacks are carried out by a few elements. People know this, but out of frustration or maybe even just ignorance, they want to blame something - someone they can see, not some group that is just a word to them.

You don’t need much to see what is mutating. Some in Kenya are translating the war on al-Shabab as a war on Somalis. They have little adequate background on who al-Shabab are. They do not have much sympathy anymore of the reasons why hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled from Somalia in the first place.

The country’s leadership sometimes does not help. When the grenade and improvised bomb attacks begun in October last year, the then internal security deputy minister, the late Orwa Ojode, referred to al-Shabab as a snake whose tail may be in Somalia but the head is in Eastleigh and it must be decapitated. The statement was seriously faulted as irresponsible and with the ability to raise serious reprisals.

It did raise tensions and following every attack, fingers have been pointed at al-Shabab and by extension the Somali community – whether or not anybody has claimed responsibility.

The clashes that have rocked Eastleigh in recently just go to show the deep mistrust between non-Somalis and ethnic or even Kenyan Somalis. Buildings owned by Somalis are pelted with stones and looted. We have heard reports of Somalis being beaten up. After the Sunday explosion the media reported on Somalis being forced out of public service vehicles.

The police themselves frequently carry out massive swoops – arresting anyone who looks like a Somali.

Don’t get me wrong –I’m not saying that the security arm should not do its job. It’s a known fact that Eastleigh is a conduit for small arms. Police have on many occasions recovered explosive materials, grenades and guns in the homes or shops of some.

It’s also a known fact that Eastleigh as well as other areas across the country where many Somalis live have been used to harbour sympathisers or even al-Shabab combatants.

But actions that seem to target a whole community do not help ethnic cohesion in any way.

There needs to be a delicate balance when trying to weed out the chaff from the wheat. It’s not easy – but with good intelligence it can be done.

The harder task perhaps is trying to tell an angry non-Somali whose child has died from a grenade explosion and who needs someone to blame that not all Somalis are al-Shabab fighters or sympathisers.

A month ago, after another grenade attack on a Sunday school killed a child, there was heavy fighting in Eastleigh. Police arrested many Somalis including four journalists who had gone to report on the blast.

I spoke to one of the journalists then. He told me that he fled from Mogadishu in 2009 and that the al-Shabab administration that controlled Mogadishu at the time tortured and detained him.

“We are suffering just like everyone else. We suffered the same fate in Somalia. This is where we thought we’d be safe and now we're not, is there no reprieve? I don’t blame Kenyans for suspecting us – but they must not stereotype,” he told me.

More bomb attacks in Kenya will most likely translate to more ethnic clashes, maybe even worse than we’ve witnessed before.

The government needs to step up and stem out this growing xenophobic attitude before it’s too late.

Rising xenophobia against Somalis in Kenya - Al Jazeera Blogs

Somalia’s new government : It mustn’t be business as usual (It is vital that the new government controls the country’s ports and trade)

                                            the true map of somalia

SOOTY new shadow has been cast over Somalia’s port city of Kismayo since the militias of the violent Islamist movement, the Shabab, were chased out two months ago. Piled up all over the quay and at the entrances to the city, which is the economic hub of southern Somalia, are dark towers of sacks that locals are calling “skyscrapers of charcoal”.

For the past seven months the UN has banned the export of the black stuff. Its trade was an economic mainstay of the Shabab when it controlled Kismayo, earning as much as $50m a year in the taxes levied by the militia, according to the UN. The charcoal business has in any case devastated Somalia’s mangrove forests. During the embargo, the kilns kept burning and a vast stockpile was amassed. Since the end of September, when Kenyan forces under the banner of the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) took control of the city, local pressure to lift the ban has grown.

The question of what to do with the charcoal, perhaps worth $40m, could affect the fate of Somalia’s new government. Somali businessmen, who want to load the sacks onto waiting ships and sell them in the Gulf states, argue that “you can’t turn charcoal back into trees”. Others say the traders will turn back to Shabab if they cannot sell their wares. Indeed, quite a few of them still support the Islamists anyway.

Somalia’s new president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, a civil-rights man whose election has prompted hopeful talk of a “Somali spring”, is trying to stop the export. He wants time to put in place and bolster new port authorities to channel revenues back to the central bank that was emptied by the outgone corrupt regime. If the new man cannot extend his writ to Somalia’s second city and his opponents get fresh funds, his government will lose authority almost before its reign has begun.

With a coastline of 2,500km (1,553 miles) enwrapping the Horn of Africa, any effective Somali government needs to control its ports, which served as entry points for the weapons and contraband that sustained both the warlords and the Shabab. Under their rule, Kismayo traders bought sugar, which was smuggled into northern Kenya, and sold charcoal. But this lucrative contraband trade was shut down by an international blockade of the port during the battle with the Shabab.

Influential Kenyans now want to reopen it. Kenya’s intervention in Somalia has been fostered by two prominent ethnic-Somali Kenyans, Farah Maalim Mohamed, now deputy speaker of Kenya’s parliament, and Mohamed Yusuf Haji, Kenya’s defence minister. Their allies in Somalia’s Ogadeni clan ran the Ras Kamboni militia that played a big part in pushing out the Shabab. The militia’s leader, Ahmed Mohamed Islaam (known as “Madobe”), now expects his pay-off with charcoal, cash and control of a new semi-autonomous state to be called Jubaland. “Promises have been made,” says a diplomat in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. A dozen ships laden with charcoal have already sailed, according to sources in Kismayo’s port.

At present the port is run by a chaotic security committee on which Kenyans, Ethiopians and several competing Somali clan factions all joust. A presidential delegation from Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, up the coast from Kismayo, was turned away when it tried to visit. At a recent meeting of the UN Security Council, Kenya, along with other governments from the region, argued in vain for the arms and charcoal embargoes to be lifted.

The two main taps that have fed corruption in Somalia have been smuggling and foreign aid. For the first time in many years an administration in Mogadishu seems willing to let foreign donors have a measure of joint control over spending. The new government also wants America and Britain, which have paid for much of Amisom’s war on the Shabab, to use their influence to restrain the charcoal-trading Kenyans. “If they’re going to allow it all to go back to business as usual,” says a member of Somalia’s fragile new government, “what have they done all this for?” via economist

Security Red Alert In Kenya, Opportunities Identified by Terrorists and Enemy Operatives

The geo-strategic and geopolitical value of Kenya poses significant military-economic threats to foreign powers like Britain and the United States, two countries often fond of micro-managing the country politik.

When Kenya defense forces in late October defeated Al-Shabaab militants in Southern Somalia besides capturing the strategic port city of Kismayu, military and intelligence experts were quick to accept the fact Kenya geopolitical muscle was higher.

American and British intelligence and military strategists may have felt humbled by the events in Somalia where a modestly equipped and financially capable second ‘World’ African country had done what US and the NATO besides AMISOM had failed to do in decades.

Throughout President Kibaki’s regime Kenya has isolated these global powers from its trade and government procurement to cushion itself from being economically and politically shortchanged.

Kenya has rapidly developed in the past ten years with infrastructure, trade,and technology being key drivers of increased income per capita, making more Kenyan’s economically capable while the national economy grew better.

Nairobi has not only paid the United Nations all its debts but also scored significantly well in democracy, governance, and socioeconomically making it the envy of the East and Central African region and a hot spot for investors.

Unfortunately, the killing of 50 police officers, and the gunning down of 3 military officers on Monday 19th November 2012 unravels a mystery of foreign plots to destabilize Kenya through a policy of a poor internal security service.

Killing of police officers en-masse creates a public policy that even the civillians are better trained and informed to handle security operations.

Killing of soldiers creates the public policy that even though they destroyed Al-Shabaab, the soldiers were not super-humans who can solve every security problem in Kenya, hence, they are expendable too.

The strategy deployed in Kenya is to make the civilian identify the police force and the military, besides the intelligence service, as incapable,unavailable, and unreliable, hence, the civilian has to take collective responsibility to secure him and his community against security threats.

Geopolitical Implications and Ramifications of Foreign Power Play

Kenya has conducted audits on the region and arbitrated peace treaties in Sudan, Somalia, and now Central Africa, a process which has exposed the rot in international relations to its intelligence system thus attracting enemies.

With the relatively good economy, military muscle, and a geopolitical strength that is coupled well by its Geo-strategic value to East and Central Africa, Kenya’s new status of the regional superpower dwarfs efforts of superpowers like America in DR Congo, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda making the British and Americans insignificant to the region.

Nairobi has been busy working on modalities to increase trade relations across east and central Africa while the Americans and the British have been working hard to re-establish their authority in regional geopolitics.

This conflict of interest allows players including other actors to identify opportunities in the Circe spell to deploy strategies that will destabilize Kenya and ruin the strategic gains it has made in the past decade.

Opportunities Identified by Terrorists and Enemy Operatives

This is a terror alert and a warning to economic and national security intelligence service that the republic of Kenya faces a critical security threat through a strategy that aims at weakening the internal security to an extent that citizens might take up the role of police.

In media coverage of social activities in Kenya, young men have been identified wearing police uniform look-a-likes, while many social gatherings including sports fares have players parading and saluting like the police.

In Eastleigh, christian youths and Muslim youths have started a religious war stoked by terrorist attacks with the non-Muslim residents insisting the Somali’s are behind the terrorism.

Failure by the internal security apparatus to intercept the violence that left 2 dead further discredits the internal security system and the intelligence service as being incapable and unavailable to mitigate threats on the national security.

The killing of over 50 police officers in Suguta valley at Baragoi created a public policy of a tactless police force and a completely un-informed intelligence service.

The constant re-emergence of Mungiki conflict in Kirinyaga district, the only area Mungiki was defeated and shunned is a strategy deployed to raise the Mungiki ante wherein if it succeeds in manifesting and occupying Kirinyaga, it will have conquered the Kikuyu community and will significantly call the shots through intimidation in the coming presidential election.

In Kisumu, emergence of gangs that maraud and engage in criminal activity including murder signals an escalation of proxy political violence to intimidate and cause violence in the area.

Eastleigh violence poses the most significant threat so far whereby, if the violence escalates, the terrorist operatives will use the violence as camouflage to move equipment and resources closer to key targets identified in previous intelligence reports including CBD sky-crappers.

Ethnic politics and social media based ethnic violence has been confirmed by Strategic Intelligence service with the embers of this online violence about to explode into real violence during the election time.

Terror Warning

With the insecurity problem becoming nascent, we advice that the Eastleigh area be under watch since terrorist cells operating from there have been activated.

Improvised explosive devices maybe under assembly to be deployed in the coming two weeks as the terrorists critically analyze security lapses for a window of opportunity to launch the terrorist attack on a major installation, a major building in the capital, a hotel, transport facility including a bus headed to Mombasa, Garissa, or Western Kenya, or even a major church.

Politically, we advice intelligence services to critically identify characters and association of all presidential aspirants both locally and internationally to cross-examine their intents, activities and connections so as to identify how deployment of strategies aimed at using the insecurity problem to their advantage.  via Strategic Intelligence News