Al Shabaab Continue Jihad in the Face of Famine - Somali Children dieing in their zone

One analyst posed the rhetorical question: "How, precisely, does allowing hundreds of thousands of captive fellow Muslims to starve advance any Islamic or Somali cause?"

It is about control. A weakened population of citizens who must devote all of their energy to securing their next rations is in no position to fight back. By controlling access to aid, al-Shabaab keeps the remaining population at its mercy, and the group can attempt to purge the country of its enemies, real and imagined, and Christians, to whom it has denied aid.

For its part, al-Shabaab has consistently denied the famine exists, calling it a conspiracy to drive Somalis toward "Christian" influences.

"Islamist Shebaab push starving Somalis back into famine zone," from Agence France-Presse, September 23:

Somalia’s Al Qaeda-linked rebels said yesterday they were moving over 12,000 starving families back into famine zones they had fled, where the UN has warned they will die without help.
Draconian aid restrictions imposed by the extremist Shebaab are blamed for turning harsh drought across the Horn of Africa into famine in the areas they control, with 750,000 people at risk of death in coming months, the UN has said.
“The mujahedeen fighters, in their bid to help people displaced by drought, started working on plans to send them back home where they will be assisted, God willing,” said Sheik Mahad Abu-Safiya, a senior Shebaab official.
The families, estimated to number at least 50,000 people, were “taken back to their homes with packages to feed them for three months,” he added. Witnesses said the packages included rice, maize and cooking oil.
However, the Shebaab have refused most international assistance, and blocked people fleeing drought and famine in the Bay and Bakool regions from travelling in search of aid to Mogadishu, where relief efforts are centred.
Crowded trucks began moving people late on Wednesday from camps in and around the Shebaab-held town of Baidoa back to their original villages, up to 50km southwest of the town, officials and witnesses said.
“The process has started and we have moved the first of the 12,000 displaced families to their original locations,” Mohamed Walid, another Shebaab official, told reporters.
“Most of the displaced people were moved from a big camp at Baidoa airport, they were taken on long trucks,” said witness Osmail Mohamed.
“I have seen people returning onboard trucks with food distributed to them by the Shebaab,” said Abdulahi Derow, who said the food they were given was “enough for a month.”
Local aid workers said the Shebaab had ordered them to help move people back to the villages they had fled from.
“The Shebaab group started sending people back to their homes, and gave them some food,” said one Somali aid worker said, asking not to be named. “But people are still in need of help.”
Shebaab fighters last month pulled out of positions in the war-torn capital Mogadishu where they were battling the weak Western-backed government, but they still control swathes of south and central Somalia.
The UN has declared six regions in south Somalia famine zones, the majority in Shebaab-controlled areas.
Drought, high food prices and fighting in Somalia have increased the number of those in need of humanitarian assistance across the Horn of Africa to 13.3mn, according to the UN.
Access to Shebaab areas is a major concern, with a group of 20 international and Somali aid agencies calling on Wednesday for talks with the Shebab to create “free passage of assistance.”
The agencies warned the situation was the worst they had ever seen in decades of work in Somalia, and was expected to deteriorate further with rains next month likely to worsen conditions for disease.
“Never before have we faced such acute suffering with so many lives at stake,” they warned in a joint letter. “Somalia is at a turning point.”
Ken Menkhaus, professor at Davidson College in the US state of North Carolina, called for a “diplomatic surge” from the “West and the Islamic world” to ensure both the Shebaab and the Western-backed government allow access to affected people.
Writing in a paper yesterday for the Washington-based Enough pressure group, Menkhaus called the Shebaab an “Islamic Khmer Rouge, in which an armed group with a deeply twisted interpretation of the faith presides over the mass deaths of its own people.”
The Shebaab “must be made to justify its policy to Islamic leaders and scholars,” Menkhaus added.
One would think there would be a wave of outrage and outpouring of assistance from nearby Islamic countries. Perhaps what Mogadishu needs to do is find a way to blame Israel.

“How, precisely, does allowing hundreds of thousands of captive fellow Muslims to starve advance any Islamic or Somali cause?”

The Rest @ Jihad Watch

Drone Down in Kismayu, Possibly Undamaged

The incident over the weekend came as residents cited an increase in the frequency of drones flying over Kismayu in the past few weeks.

The U.S. embassy in Nairobi declined to comment immediately.

"This plane was a spy for the American government and by the will of Allah, it crashed near the airport," al Shabaab official Sheikh Ibrahim Guled told Reuters on Monday.

"We did not target it but it fell down," he said, although the group's radio station in Kismayu said the drone was shot down by its militants as it patrolled above the airport.

A Kismayu resident, who gave his name as Ali Gab, also confirmed he saw the crashed drone.

"I saw the plane at the police station ... We did not see any damage on it," he said, suggesting a technical fault may have caused the crash.

The United States has authorized covert operations in the Horn of Africa nation in the past. U.S. special forces killed one of east Africa's top al Qaeda militants, Kenyan-born Saleh Ali Nabhan, in southern Somalia in September 2009.

U.S. officials have said they have a list of suspects they believe are in Somalia and constantly monitor the country with a view to striking if any are spotted.

Last week The Washington Post reported the United States was building a ring of secret drone bases in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian peninsula as part of an aggressive campaign against al Qaeda affiliates in the anarchic Somali state and crisis-hit Yemen.

The article said Washington had flown drones over Somalia and Yemen from bases in the African nation of Djibouti. Classified U.S. diplomatic cables show that unmanned aircraft have also conducted missions over Somalia from the Seychelles.

(Reporting by Sahra Abdi in Nairobi; writing by Yara Bayoumy; editing by Richard Lough)

The Rest @ Reuters

5 Algerians In Basque, in Spain Arrested for Supporting AQIM

In light of recent arrests of AQIM connected Algerians in  the Basque area of Spain, I am Wondering About connections between AQIM , ETA and the Basque Separatist movement. Any Comments?


-Shimron Issachar

************************

By CIARAN GILES, Associated Press – 9 hours ago
MADRID (AP) — Spanish police arrested five Algerians on Tuesday suspected of helping finance an al-Qaida-linked terror group in North Africa.

The arrests took place in four towns in the northern Basque and Navarra regions, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

The five are suspected of giving logistical and financial support to members of the radical Islamist group al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, which operates in Algeria.

AQIM grew out of the armed groups fighting the Algerian government in the 1990s after elections were canceled by the military in 1991 to stave off a victory for an Islamist political party. The group declared allegiance to al-Qaida in 2006 and changed its name, starting a renewed campaign of bombings and kidnappings across the Sahara.

The group currently holds four French hostages and French officials have called it the biggest terror threat to France and its interests.

The Spanish statement said the five arrested also maintained contacts with other radical Islamists in France, Italy and Switzerland and seized a large amount of documents and computer material.
They were named as Mohamed Talbi, Hakim Anniche, Mounir Aoudache, Abdelghaffour Bensaoula and Ahmed Benchohra, between 36 and 49 years old.
Dozens of suspected radical Islamic militants have been arrested in Spain since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York and Washington, and again after the 2004 commuter train bombings in Madrid.

The Rest @ AP

AQIM Recruits in Morocco Aim at Europe

Morocco smashes three-member Al Qaeda-linked network

RABAT Morocco said on Friday it had broken up a three-man cell with links to Al Qaeda, while Mali’s intelligence officials say the group is seeking to infiltrate into Morocco to facilitate attacks inside Europe.

Al Qaeda’s North Africa branch “is looking through all available means” to develop a network in Morocco, both to “destabilise the country, but also to more easily attack Europe”, said a report from Mali’s security services, seen by AFP.

Morocco explained that the group it identified planned to carry out attacks on security headquarters and western interests in the country.

“The members of this cell intended to join camps of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) outside Morocco to undergo military training with the aim of returning to the kingdom to carry out criminal acts,” the interior ministry said.

Mali’s intelligence report noted that Morocco had, up to now, successfully thwarted any infiltration by AQIM, but the group is nevertheless resolved to penetrate the kingdom.

A Moroccan security source said the uncovered AQIM cell was “very dangerous”, adding that it was “the first time AQIM is implicated in a planned operation inside Morocco”.

Morocco said the cell called the Al Battar Squadron, “included a former detainee under anti-terrorist legislation, and was headed by one of the most active individuals on jihadist Internet sites with links to the Al Qaeda network”.

“This individual had close relations with terrorist organisations in Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya and Iraq,” a ministry statement added.

The interior ministry said: “The members of this cell were in constant contact with the leadership of AQIM with the aim of obtaining the weapons necessary for carrying out their criminal project in the country and of coordinating their operations in line with the objectives of this terrorist organisation.”

Mali’s report said that to combat AQIM’s expansionist plans, the region’s security services must boost cooperation, and that “the fight cannot only be left to Algeria”.

The report noted Niger, Nigeria and Chad as countries with whom ties must be strengthened.

“The contacts between Boko Haram of Nigeria and AQIM must lead Mali’s government to diversify its relations and its methods of combat,” the report said.

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for an August 26 attack on the United Nations compound in the Nigerian capital Abuja that killed at least 23.

AQIM has organised a series of attacks and kidnappings from its bases in northern Mali, notably against foreigners. Along with Niger and Mauritania, Mali is the country most affected by the group’s activities to date.

On Friday, at least one person died and several others were injured when their car drove over a landmine in a northern Mali forest where AQIM was known to operate, security officials said.

The Rest @ Oman Tribune

West Africans Ask the UN For Help to Stop Piracy and Trafficking

West Africans Call For UN Involvement against Piracy

Tuesday, 27 September 2011, 12:16 pm
Press Release: United Nations
West African Officials Call For Greater UN Involvement in Fight against Piracy

New York, Sep 26 2011 - Top West African officials are calling for greater United Nations and international support to prevent the region’s coasts from becoming a haven for pirates and to fight growing drug and arms trafficking.

“The evils of drug trafficking, piracy, trafficking of illicit goods and arms trafficking have reared their ugly heads across the sub-region,” Gambian Vice President Isatou Njie-Saidy told the General Assembly at the start of the fifth day of its annual general debate. “The nature and extent of these crimes call for swift international action to nip them in the bud before it is too late.

“As these crimes feed on each other and sow the seeds of terror, economic sabotage and the collapse of social order, we must pool our resources together in the areas of detection, surveillance, law enforcement and prosecution in order to deny the culprits safe havens.

“In order to do this, we must come together and agree on a framework for cooperation with the support of the international community. We look forward to greater United Nations engagement with regional and subregional leaders and organizations in stamping out these menaces.”

Togolese Prime Minister Gilbert Fossoun-Houngbo referred to recent acts of piracy off the coasts of Togo and Benin. “At a time when the West African region is witnessing a resurgence of violence due to drugs and terrorism, our coasts cannot be allowed to be taken hostage by pirates,” he told the Assembly on Saturday, calling for closer cooperation between all countries to confront the new phenomenon.

“The crises and conflicts, the threats to international peace and security, such as piracy, cyber-crime and drug trafficking, which undermine efforts to consolidate peace in the world, must impel the international community to rethink the UN role in the context of security and economic and social development.”

At the end of last month the Security Council voiced concern over increasing piracy, armed robbery and reported hostage-taking in the Gulf of Guinea, saying the crimes were having an adverse impact on security, trade and other economic activities in the sub-region.

Mr. Fossoun-Houngbo also called for urgent UN and international steps to confront the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa where tens of thousands of people have already starved to death and 13.3 million people are threatened.

Both officials called for reform of the 15-member Security Council, expanding it and making it more representative of the regions of the world and correct what Mr. Fossoun-Houngbo called “flagrant and unacceptable injustices,” and Ms. Njie-Saidy termed “the glaring under-representation of Africa.”

“Africa needs to be adequately and properly represented and we will not give up on what is a very legitimate demand. What is even more appalling is that negotiations are progressing at snail’s pace,” she said, stressing that reform is long overdue, “and the lack of it is undermining the credibility of the organ and the legitimacy of its decisions.”

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

AQIM's New SA-7s Are Not "Point and Shoot" Weapons

The following article suggests that recently pilfered Libya surface to air anti-aircraft missiles must be maintained carefully, and require unique battery systems that Al Qaeda groups in Africa do not have. There are reports that they may be looking for weapons manuals in Arabic.

REUTERS
Anti-Gaddafi fighters stand on Soviet-made SCUD missile outside a village near Sirte, one of Muammar Gaddafi's last remaining strongholds.
Thousands of surface-to-air missiles pillaged in Libya pose less of a risk than feared as most militant groups in sub-Saharan Africa lack the knowhow and the equipment to fire them, experts say.

The Soviet-made SA-7 is a man-portable low-altitude missile with a high explosive and passive infrared homing device that could pose a nightmare in the Sahel where an Al-Qaeda affiliate, among other groups, is active.

While some fear they could be used to target commercial flights if they fell into the wrong hands, others say that using them is not so simple and that they could turn out to be just scrap metal, if not properly stored.

The arsenal of toppled Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi comprised about 20 000 such missiles, initially manufactured in the former Soviet Union since 1972 and then in other east European countries, according to experts.

Several informed sources said many of them had found their way to clandestine markets in sub-Saharan Africa, where they could be offered to groups such as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

“We have got wind of the fact that they are looking for instruction manuals in Arabic,” a French anti-terrorism expert told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“But there is nothing to indicate that these missiles are in a functional state. And using them is more difficult than it would seem.”

Another expert, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “We know that Tuareg arms traffickers have got their hands on Libyan SA-7 missiles. But they are going to have serious maintainence problems.”

“For a start, these missiles can only be used with thermal batteries, which need to be recharged. We do not think AQIM has the necessary networks to get these.”

The cylindrical 9B17 thermal battery allows the seeker to track the target by detecting infrared radiation and then hit targets up to an altitude of 4500 metres (14 850 feet).

The missiles and batteries are usually stored separately.

Following Gaddafi's ouster, journalists who were able to access some of his armouries saw empty missile crates with their contents looted, but the batteries had been left behind.

A top US general recently said the United States and the international community believe Libya's new rulers are responsible for preventing weapons proliferation in a region battling terrorism.

General Carter Ham, the head of the Africa command, Africom, said there was “a threat of the proliferation of the weapons from Libya and we are greatly concerned... about small arms, rifles and weapons similar to that, but also explosives and shoulder-fired air defence systems.”

Nearby Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger - all large but mainly poor countries - are prey to attacks by AQIM, which is battling the military in the Sahel nations, has taken Western hostages and is held to be engaged in arms trafficking.

Matthew Schroeder, the manager of the Arms Sales Monitoring Project at the Washington-based Federation of American Scientists, downplayed the fears of the missiles wrecking havoc.

“These missiles have in theory a shelf life of 10 to 20 years. But lots of these missiles are old, some may not function properly. And if they are not handled properly, they can be damaged,” he said.

“It's not good for these weapons to be taken out of their crates and thrown in the back of a truck. It's not like an AK series rifle, you know.”

And using them was not child's play, he said.

“They do require some training. It's not as simple as it's often portrayed. If you're a trained operator, it's not complicated, but specially with the older ones, in order to be reasonably confident you're going to hit the target you've got to know what you are doing.”

In July last year, he wrote an article for the specialised magazine Foreign Policy entitled “Stop Panicking About the Stingers” in which he tried to calm fears that insurgents in Afghanistan, who had got hold of the heat-seeking missiles, could use them against US planes.

“In the recent conflict in Afghanistan, I don't know of any report of a Stinger missile used since 2001,” he said. “I don't know of any downed plane as a result of Stingers. It also depends on the storage conditions.” - AFP

The Rest @ AFP

Salafi Islamic Terrorism in Imbaba, Giza Egypt

9th May 2011

Dear friends,

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Thank you very much for your messages and prayers for us as we go through this difficult time.

With great sadness, I would like to tell you about the tragic situation in Imbaba, Giza. Imbaba is a densely populated area, a few kilometres south of Cairo. Over the past two days, there have been clashes in this area between Christians and Muslims. The outcome ofthe clashes was the death of 12 people, and more than 232 injured. Moreover, several houses and shops were burnt, cars were destroyed, and the church of st. Mary, in the same area, was completely burnt.

The clashes started because of a rumour that a Christian woman who converted to Islam was being hidden by Mar Mina Coptic Orthodox Church. As a result of this rumour, a group of Muslim fundamentalists that belong to the Salafi sect gathered around the church, and wanted to go inside to search for this woman. Young people from the church prevented them from entering, because they were afraid that they may burn the church as it happened a few weeks ago in Sole, Giza.

As a result, more Muslim people came and after praying in the street, they started to shout "Islamic, Islamic." The Christians shouted back "with our spirit and blood, we are ready to defend the cross." There were attempts from moderate Muslims and the church priests to calm down the demonstrators on both sides, but these attempts failed.

Soon after this, some of the demonstrators started shooting and throwing Molotov cocktails. The army arrived and things became quieter. However, early the next morning, some extremist Muslims came and burned several blocks of flats and shops owned by Christians.

Yesterday, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar called for an emergency meeting of Beth EI-Eila (the House of the Family), a newly formed group which includes the heads of Christian denominations and several Muslim leaders and the Grand Imam.

We all agreed that this incident should be taken very seriously by the authorities, and that those who caused these destructive clashes must be brought to justice. It is worth mentioning that previous clashes between Christians and Muslims have always been solved through community reconciliation. The meeting also appointed a committee to go and visit Imbaba, and report back. I was one of this committee, and we spent eight hours today visiting and listening, and then writing a report to the wider committee.

The damage we saw was indescribable. The area looked as if it was a battlefield, because of the many tanks and soldiers. I was moved by the story of one of the guards of St. Mary's Church, who refused to denounce Jesus Christ and as a result, his throat was slit. This is at least the fifth tragic incident since the first day of the year, when a church was bombed in Alexandria. There is no doubt that inter-religious tension is growing in Egypt, and this needs a real strategic plan to combat it. This is what we are trying to do through Beth El-Eila.

I very much appreciate your prayers so that the Lord may transform this difficult situation.

We all hope that Egypt will be a safe place for all Egyptians.

May the Lord bless you!

Yours in Christ,

Author intentionally left blank

Rebels Attack Ivory Coast from Liberia

It appears that a new conflict has erupted in Ivory Coast, most likely rebel mercenaries in the employ of former President Laurent Gbagbo, who was forcibly removed from office this year after he lost the election and refused to leave.

We are concerned that this is just the begging, unless ECOWAS or someone else begins to patrol that border. What is clear is that a new rebel force is being hired, trained, and armed inside Liberia in a remote area, an area very difficult to monitor. Watch to see who is bringing in the arms and by what means.

-Shimron Issachar

**********

At least 15 people have been killed in an attack on the Ivory Coast's armed forces in the country's southwest, according to state television.

The state-run RTI network said on Saturday the attack happened overnight on Thursday and it appeared the assailants had come across the Liberian border into the Tai region of Ivory Coast.

The attack caught the soldiers by surprise, RTI reported

"Members of the FRCI [Republican Forces of Ivory Coast] were attacked by surprise. The toll from the attack was 15 dead," RTI said, adding that reinforcements were being sent to the porous and densely forested border region.

Leon Alla Kouakou, the Ivorian military spokesman, confirmed there had been an attack in Tai, but did not provide details.

In July, West African leaders urged the United Nations and ECOWAS, the regional bloc, to step up monitoring of the Liberia-Ivory Coast border after signs that mercenaries had been operating there since April.

The leaders of Guinea, Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Sierra Leone said at the time that insecurity on the
Liberia-Ivory Coast border represented a threat to the entire West African region.

• The government has said Liberian mercenaries were hired by supporters of Laurent Gbagbo, a former president, during the four-month post-election conflict which ended with his capture and arrest in April.

The FRCI was the name given to forces that battled to remove Gbagbo and allow Alassane Ouattara, the current president of the Ivory Coast, to assume power after winning last November's presidential election.

Gbagbo disputed the election result, sparking the conflict.

The Rests @ Al Jazira

AQIM Plans to Target Africa Oil Field Staff Aircraft with SA-7s

AQIM : Al-Qaeda plans to attack oil firms in North Africa
Posted by Admin on 2011/9/16 17:00:00 (90 reads) News by the same author
Algerian newspaper el-Khabar has reported of a specific al-Qaeda threat to US and British oil companies operating in Sahel and North Africa following US reports that the terrorist network has acquired Russian anti-aircraft rockets during the Libyan conflict.

US security forces have reportedly sent an email to US embassies in the Sahel Region and North Africa, in addition to oil companies operating in these region, after receiving confirmed information that al-Qaeda has acquired huge number of surface-to-air rockets which the group intends to use in attacks on oilfield staff from US and British companies working in the Sahara.

“The email says that terrorists plan to attack these companies, precisely planes carrying the staff working in the oil fields,” the newspaper quoted a source.

The newspaper said that the terrorists aim to target mainly staff rather than oil field infrastructure. The newspaper also said that major services companies operating in the drilling and the exploration sectors have received the email and forwarded it to their security contractors.

The notice has already reportedly spread concern among companies operating in these region, and also those looking to take part in the reconstruction of Libya.

The news paper said the rockets smuggled are SAM7 and SAM5 handheld Russian surface-to-air rockets, capable of shooting down civilian aircraft.

By Abdelghani Henni

Friday, 16 September 2011 5:37


The Rest @ World Analysis net

Gaddafi Loyalsts Flee in Vast Numbers and May Destabilize Niger, CHAD, Sudan

• More than 150,000 people have already fled Libya into the northern part of Niger, which is mostly desert. 
• Security sources in Chad to Libya’s southeast cite arrivals of arms in the northern Tibesti mountains inhabited by Toubou rebels, and say the population of the Faya-Largeau, the main town of the region, has been swollen by Chadians fleeing Libya.
•  Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim has returned to neighbouring Sudan from his Libyan refuge, upsetting the delicate peace on the Chad-Sudan border.

*************************************

Long bedevilled by coups, rebellions and other home-grown troubles, Libya’s African neighbours have been landed with a new set of woes imported fresh from someone else’s war.

The arrival in Niger of 32 fleeing Muammar Gaddafi loyalists - including one of the ousted Libyan leader’s sons - in recent days is already a diplomatic headache for the government.

Yet that may just be a precursor to developments that would scare off foreign investment and further unsettle a region that is already a base for Al Qaeda-linked militants.

• Lacking the military might and technology to secure its northern borders, Niger this week warned that the Libyan conflict could turn into the next security and humanitarian crisis to afflict the drought-prone former French colony."We need your help and support on both scores,” Prime Minister Brigi Rafini appealed to local ambassadors during talks in the capital Niamey this week.
• More than 150,000 people have already fled Libya into the northern part of Niger, which is mostly desert. 
• Nigeriens and other sub-Saharan Africans have for years sought work in oil-rich Libya, where average income per head is 20 times Niger’s.
• Among them are gangs of local Tuareg nomads who were hired to fight on Gaddafi’s side and which in the past weeks have been spotted returning to their encampments in northern Niger.
• While the numbers so far are small, Niamey’s main worry is that a final capitulation of Gaddafi forces will drive thousands more of his Tuareg fighters back over the border to a country where they have for years led a string of rebellions.

“The Sahelo-Saharan strip is already insecure, with the activities of terrorists and drug traffickers. Now we seeing the return of young men with no source of employment but who know how to handle weapons,” said Ahmet Haidara, a parliamentarian in Niger’s north, said.

“We didn’t want this war but now we have to deal as best we can with the negative consequences,” said Haidara, who heads a Tuareg committee in contact with Libya’s new National Transitional Council rulers.

Aside from arms coming back with the Tuaregs, governments in the region believe trafficked weapons from Libya have fallen into the hands of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) allies behind a series of kidnappings of Westerners and other crime.

“Businesses operating in the region will face increased criminality and insecurity in the coming months as a result of the influx of arms and armed individuals or groups,” forecast Roddy Barclay, Africa analyst at London-based Control Risks.

That would not only make humanitarian work tougher, but be bad news for companies such as Areva, whose uranium mines in the northern town of Arlit supply France’s nuclear sector. The target of an AQIM hostage-taking a year ago, Areva began returning its expatriate workers to northern Niger in July under tightened security. Citing the increased measures, an Areva spokesman said the company was ready for all eventualities.

Neighbouring Mali, where AQIM is thought still to be holding a group of four French hostages from the Arlit kidnappings, faces the same set of concerns as Niger.

It too is seeing a recent respite from a rebellion launched on its soil by Tuaregs, whom one senior military source linked to new signs of a trade in weapons trafficked from Libya. Others fear an opportunity for AQIM.

“The influx of arms into the region cannot but strengthen AQIM,” Burkinabe parliamentarian Melegue Traore said at talks on regional security and other issues in Niamey this week.

“It’s a golden opportunity for them - I’m sure the West didn’t think it would be like this,” he added.
Security sources in Chad to Libya’s southeast cite arrivals of arms in the northern Tibesti mountains inhabited by Toubou rebels, and say the population of the Faya-Largeau, the main town of the region, has been swollen by Chadians fleeing Libya.

But their main concern is the return of Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim to neighbouring Sudan from his Libyan refuge, upsetting the delicate peace on the Chad-Sudan border.

“Chad, which has a non-aggression pact with Sudan, has put its troops on alert in case Sudanese rebels try to enter Chad,” said one of the security sources.

Events in Libya over coming days could well determine how big an impact is seen on stability in the fragile region.

For now, the hand-wringing in Niamey over what to do with the Gaddafi loyalists - including his son Saadi - highlights the challenges facing governments which had learned how to live with Gaddafi’s mix of irksome meddling and erratic generosity.

Niger has stressed the Libyans are under surveillance rather than detention, as they are not being sought for arrest and so are being granted refuge on humanitarian grounds.

That stance might appease the local politicians who have sampled Gaddafi’s generosity, but would be tested if Libya’s new leaders and the West push for the fugitives to be handed over - particularly given Niger’s reliance on foreign aid.

While many African states have only begrudgingly recognised Libya’s National Transitional Council, whose members are largely unknown south of the Sahara, some analysts argue they will fare better after Gaddafi’s fall.

“With the Gaddafi regime no longer playing regional governments off against each other, co-operation on issues such as border control, counter-narcotics and the creation of a regional task-force should face less disruption,” argued Control Risks’ Barclay. – Reuters

By Mark John/Niamey, Niger

The Rest @ Gulf Times

Gaddafi Loyalsts Flee in Vast Numbers and May Destabilise Niger, CHAD, Sudan

• More than 150,000 people have already fled Libya into the northern part of Niger, which is mostly desert. 
• Security sources in Chad to Libya’s southeast cite arrivals of arms in the northern Tibesti mountains inhabited by Toubou rebels, and say the population of the Faya-Largeau, the main town of the region, has been swollen by Chadians fleeing Libya.
•  Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim has returned to neighbouring Sudan from his Libyan refuge, upsetting the delicate peace on the Chad-Sudan border.

*************************************

Long bedevilled by coups, rebellions and other home-grown troubles, Libya’s African neighbours have been landed with a new set of woes imported fresh from someone else’s war.

The arrival in Niger of 32 fleeing Muammar Gaddafi loyalists - including one of the ousted Libyan leader’s sons - in recent days is already a diplomatic headache for the government.

Yet that may just be a precursor to developments that would scare off foreign investment and further unsettle a region that is already a base for Al Qaeda-linked militants.

• Lacking the military might and technology to secure its northern borders, Niger this week warned that the Libyan conflict could turn into the next security and humanitarian crisis to afflict the drought-prone former French colony."We need your help and support on both scores,” Prime Minister Brigi Rafini appealed to local ambassadors during talks in the capital Niamey this week.
• More than 150,000 people have already fled Libya into the northern part of Niger, which is mostly desert. 
• Nigeriens and other sub-Saharan Africans have for years sought work in oil-rich Libya, where average income per head is 20 times Niger’s.
• Among them are gangs of local Tuareg nomads who were hired to fight on Gaddafi’s side and which in the past weeks have been spotted returning to their encampments in northern Niger.
• While the numbers so far are small, Niamey’s main worry is that a final capitulation of Gaddafi forces will drive thousands more of his Tuareg fighters back over the border to a country where they have for years led a string of rebellions.

“The Sahelo-Saharan strip is already insecure, with the activities of terrorists and drug traffickers. Now we seeing the return of young men with no source of employment but who know how to handle weapons,” said Ahmet Haidara, a parliamentarian in Niger’s north, said.

“We didn’t want this war but now we have to deal as best we can with the negative consequences,” said Haidara, who heads a Tuareg committee in contact with Libya’s new National Transitional Council rulers.

Aside from arms coming back with the Tuaregs, governments in the region believe trafficked weapons from Libya have fallen into the hands of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) allies behind a series of kidnappings of Westerners and other crime.

“Businesses operating in the region will face increased criminality and insecurity in the coming months as a result of the influx of arms and armed individuals or groups,” forecast Roddy Barclay, Africa analyst at London-based Control Risks.

That would not only make humanitarian work tougher, but be bad news for companies such as Areva, whose uranium mines in the northern town of Arlit supply France’s nuclear sector. The target of an AQIM hostage-taking a year ago, Areva began returning its expatriate workers to northern Niger in July under tightened security. Citing the increased measures, an Areva spokesman said the company was ready for all eventualities.

Neighbouring Mali, where AQIM is thought still to be holding a group of four French hostages from the Arlit kidnappings, faces the same set of concerns as Niger.

It too is seeing a recent respite from a rebellion launched on its soil by Tuaregs, whom one senior military source linked to new signs of a trade in weapons trafficked from Libya. Others fear an opportunity for AQIM.

“The influx of arms into the region cannot but strengthen AQIM,” Burkinabe parliamentarian Melegue Traore said at talks on regional security and other issues in Niamey this week.

“It’s a golden opportunity for them - I’m sure the West didn’t think it would be like this,” he added.
Security sources in Chad to Libya’s southeast cite arrivals of arms in the northern Tibesti mountains inhabited by Toubou rebels, and say the population of the Faya-Largeau, the main town of the region, has been swollen by Chadians fleeing Libya.

But their main concern is the return of Darfur rebel leader Khalil Ibrahim to neighbouring Sudan from his Libyan refuge, upsetting the delicate peace on the Chad-Sudan border.

“Chad, which has a non-aggression pact with Sudan, has put its troops on alert in case Sudanese rebels try to enter Chad,” said one of the security sources.

Events in Libya over coming days could well determine how big an impact is seen on stability in the fragile region.

For now, the hand-wringing in Niamey over what to do with the Gaddafi loyalists - including his son Saadi - highlights the challenges facing governments which had learned how to live with Gaddafi’s mix of irksome meddling and erratic generosity.

Niger has stressed the Libyans are under surveillance rather than detention, as they are not being sought for arrest and so are being granted refuge on humanitarian grounds.

That stance might appease the local politicians who have sampled Gaddafi’s generosity, but would be tested if Libya’s new leaders and the West push for the fugitives to be handed over - particularly given Niger’s reliance on foreign aid.

While many African states have only begrudgingly recognised Libya’s National Transitional Council, whose members are largely unknown south of the Sahara, some analysts argue they will fare better after Gaddafi’s fall.

“With the Gaddafi regime no longer playing regional governments off against each other, co-operation on issues such as border control, counter-narcotics and the creation of a regional task-force should face less disruption,” argued Control Risks’ Barclay. – Reuters

By Mark John/Niamey, Niger

The Rest @ Gulf Times

Kidnapped Areva Officials Still Missing in Niger, Africa 1 year later

NIAMEY — Four Frenchmen held by Al Qaeda's North African franchise on Friday marked a year since their capture, with negotiations for their release complicated by the fallout of the Libyan chaos.

On September 16 last year, seven people were snatched by the radical group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Arlit, a uranium mining town in northern Niger.

Amomg them was a senior employee with the French mining group Areva and his wife. The other five, employed by an Areva subcontractor, included three Frenchmen as well as a Togolese and a Malagasy.

On February 24, the woman and the two Africans were released at a desert spot close to where the borders of Niger, Mali and Algeria meet.

However Daniel Larribe, Thierry Dole, Marc Feret and Pierre Legrand are still being held by AQIM and their families are demanding more tangible efforts to secure their release.

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, whose country is also affected by the activities of the Al Qaeda-affiliated group, said earlier this week he thought the hostages were still alive.

"All state agencies have been mobilised since the very first day and are doing everything they can for our compatriots to recover their freedom," the French foreign ministry said Thursday.

"We're in contact with the kidnappers, physically, by phone and through intermediaries," one mediator told AFP recently.

Some sources even predict the hostages could be freed soon.

AQIM does not appear to have modified its demands since it released a video of the hostages "begging" Nicolas Sarkozy to pull his troops out of Afghanistan, something the French president promptly ruled out.

However, France has since announced its intention to withdraw around a quarter of its forces by the end of 2012, a decision believed to have been welcomed by AQIM.

Another of the hostage-takers' demands is the payment of a staggering 90 million euros (125 million dollars), which Paris has also officially rejected.

The situation is fluid in Niger, where two other French nationals were kidnapped in the capital Niamey earlier this year before being executed in Mali.

Areva's expatriate contingent, which had been sent home after last year's kidnapping, however returned to Arlit in July after France and Niger agreed to beef up security.

The new element affecting regional security is the change of regime in Libya, where Western-backed rebels toppled Moamer Kadhafi.

Neighbouring countries and security experts have expressed fears that chaos in Libya would scatter Kadhafi's arsenal across the region and eventually give AQIM access to new and more sophisticated weapons.

"We used to focus mainly on AQIM, now we have to watch everything at the same time," a Nigerien army officer stationed in the north explained.

The Rest @ AFP

Global Al Qaeda and AQIM Leaders Trying to Set Up Libya Network

Al-Qaeda plans to gain a foothold in Libya and develop its network by taking advantage of chaos enveloping the country in the wake of Moammar Qaddafi’s ouster, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.
“It’s safe to say that it’s one of their goals to try and set up some sort of a footprint and network internally… playing for the long haul,” said the official on condition of anonymity.

“Right now they probably play it safe but in the long term that’s something we are worried about.”
Qaddafi, wanted for alleged crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, remains in hiding but many of his inner circle and a son have fled to neighboring Niger, while Libya’s new rulers tackle the aftermath of a more than six-months uprising.

“We’re concerned that Al-Qaeda could try to take advantage of the situation,” the Pentagon official said.
“Al-Qaeda’s leadership and AQIM (Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) leadership has expressed an interest in getting involved and playing a role. They see that as an opportunity,” he added.
A two-day meeting on security in Africa’s Sahel desert region earlier this month ruled out any foreign military intervention to counter an Al-Qaeda threat exacerbated by the war in Libya.
The conference in Algiers was dominated by fears that an influx of weapons from Libya could benefit AQIM.
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The Rest @ Update News (Canada)

Intel Gathering Sites

Yhe following visitors are a sample os significant visitation to this article of interest about the LEt. Visitors typically have a strong pattern of  Intel aware intel Gathiering at other sites, including above aveage free utility Spyder activity.

-Shimron Issachar

15 Sep
01:45:40
Firefox 3.6
WinXP
1024x768

Dakar,
Senegal
Sonatel (41.82.128.244) [Label IP Address]
Shimron Letters: Ahmadbhai-144@yahoo.com" a Let contact?
www.google.com.om — (City Financial Ltd Turkey) contact email 2011 @yahoo.cn -scam -fraud -spam

14 Sep
14:38:20
IE 8.0
WinXP
1024x768

Lahore,
Punjab,
Pakistan
Mpls Infrastructure (182.177.214.78) [Label IP Address]
Shimron Letters: Ahmadbhai-144@yahoo.com" a Let contact?
www.ask.com — usama-ghazi@yahoo.com

14 Sep
13:27:53
Opera
SymbianOS
234x301

Quezon City,
Philippines
Globe Telecoms (203.177.42.214) [Label IP Address]
Shimron Letters: Ahmadbhai-144@yahoo.com" a Let contact?
(No referring link)

14 Sep
13:17:12
Opera
SymbianOS
234x301

Quezon City,
Philippines
Globe Telecoms (203.177.42.214) [Label IP Address]
Shimron Letters: Ahmadbhai-144@yahoo.com" a Let contact?
www.google.com — andria abdulnaser@yhoo.com

14 Sep
11:17:56
Chrome 3.0
Win7
1440x900

Sulaimani,
Diyala,
Iraq
Alsrad Distributed Layer Network For Wimax (212.126.108.135) [Label IP Address]
Shimron Letters: Ahmadbhai-144@yahoo.com" a Let contact?
(No referring link)

14 Sep
11:02:06
Google Wireless Transcoder

Burkina Faso
Gateway Communications Ips (217.113.66.180) [Label IP Address]
shimronletters.blogspot.com/2011/05/ahmadbhai-144yahoocom-let-contact.html
(No referring link)

13 Sep
19:11:12
Opera
SymbianOS
234x282

Pakistan
(42.83.85.19) [Label IP Address]
Shimron Letters: Ahmadbhai-144@yahoo.com" a Let contact?
(No referring link)

13 Sep
18:04:53
Firefox 3.6
WinXP
1024x768

Dakar,
Senegal
Sonatel (41.82.71.122) [Label IP Address]
Shimron Letters: Ahmadbhai-144@yahoo.com" a Let contact?
www.google.co.in — oman companies names alimuhamed@yahoo.com september 2011 #8

12 Sep
16:20:03
Opera
SymbianOS
234x274

Nairobi,
Nairobi Area,
Kenya
Safaricom (41.80.199.105) [Label IP Address]
Shimron Letters: Ahmadbhai-144@yahoo.com" a Let contact?
(No referring link)

12 Sep
00:54:41
IE 8.0
Win7
1366x768

Togo
Cafe Informatique Et Telecommunications (80.248.79.84) [Label IP Address]
Shimron Letters: Ahmadbhai-144@yahoo.com" a Let contact?
search.yahoo.com — +144 @YAHOO.COM

11 Sep
07:32:29
Opera
SymbianOS
234x320

Quezon City,
Philippines
Globe Telecoms (203.177.42.214) [Label IP Address]
Shimron Letters: Ahmadbhai-144@yahoo.com" a Let contact?
(No referring link)

10 Sep
14:31:56
Firefox 3.6
Win7
1366x768

Dakar,
Senegal
Sonatel (41.214.111.85) [Label IP Address]
Shimron Letters: Ahmadbhai-144@yahoo.com" a Let contact?
www.google.sn — mansor.esmail@yahoo.com

7 Sep
17:12:21
Google Wireless Transcoder

United States
Level 3 Communications (65.57.245.11) [Label IP Address]
shimronletters.blogspot.com/2011/05/ahmadbhai-144yahoocom-let-contact.html
(No referring link)

7 Sep
16:50:30
Google Wireless Transcoder

United States
Level 3 Communications (65.57.245.11) [Label IP Address]
shimronletters.blogspot.com/2011/05/ahmadbhai-144yahoocom-let-contact.html
(No referring link)

7 Sep
11:55:40
Google Wireless Transcoder

Addis Abeba,
Ethiopia
Ethiopian Telecommuncation Corporation (213.55.98.249) E IP Hopping Wireless Crawler
shimronletters.blogspot.com/2011/05/ahmadbhai-144yahoocom-let-contact.html
(No referring link)

7 Sep
07:50:06
Google Wireless Transcoder

Lahore,
Punjab,
Pakistan
Mobilink Is Working To Implement Mpls Based (119.160.126.99) [Label IP Address]
shimronletters.blogspot.com/2011/05/ahmadbhai-144yahoocom-let-contact.html
(No referring link)

7 Sep
06:55:22
Firefox 3.6
WinXP
1024x768

Dakar,
Senegal
Sonatel (41.82.138.160) [Label IP Address]
Shimron Letters: Ahmadbhai-144@yahoo.com" a Let contact?
www.google.sn — abdul.alsaad@yahoo.com #7

Khartoum Votes to Extend State of Emregency

September 12, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese parliament on Monday endorsed the extension of the state of emergency in the border state of Blue Nile and also approved the military campaign undertaken by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) against the fighters from the Sudan People Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N).

The chairman of the national assembly's special session Ismail al-Haj Moussa announced the decision by the legislative body concurring with president Omer Hassan al-Bashir's imposition of emergency law this month.

Moussa said the parliament called on the government to continue the “military resolution of the insurgency irrespective of any talks”.

But MP Mohamed Al-Hassan al-Amin from the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) objected to the indefinite extension of the emergency state saying it is unconstitutional.

Al-Amin said that article 211 of the constitution states that the state of emergency can only be extended for a specified amount of time.

However, he was countered by the parliament speaker Ahmed Ibrahim al-Tahir who said that his objections were raised after the resolution was already adopted.

Fighting broke out this month in the Blue Nile state between SAF and SPLM-N but circumstances regarding who started it remain unclear.

The Blue Nile governor Malik Agar who is also the head of SPLM-N was removed by Bashir and declared a fugitive by other Sudanese officials.

This follows fighting in South Kordofan last June between government forces and SPLM-N units led by former deputy governor Abdel-Aziz al-Hilu.

Bashir rejected a framework agreement on cessation of hostilities in South Kordofan that was mediated by an African Union panel despite being signed by one of his key aides.

The Sudanese parliament expressed its total rejection of any foreign interference and urged the government not to bow to any pressure» exerted to stop the military campaign.

Meanwhile the defense minister Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein told the national assembly that the SPLM-N forces have sustained heavy losses in the Blue Nile. He said that the SPLM-N lost around a 100 fighters including seven officers as well scores of injuries and POW's.

He also disclosed that SPLM-N made several attempts to take over the town of Geissan most recently a few days ago with the participation of a battalion from the Republic of South Sudan. Hussein stressed that SAF is imposing a blockade Kabbanat region where he said SPLM-N units have assembled.

At today's session MP's shouted slogans describing Agar as a “traitor” and vowed not to negotiate with him.

Last week the United States special envoy to Sudan Princeton Lyman said the situation in the border States is “very dangerous”.

"The two sides are not still talking to each other. That means the situation remains very dangerous. Fighting is going on," Lyman said after meeting Sudan's Foreign Minister, Ali Ahmed Karti, and other officials.

Lyman also criticized Khartoum's decision to close down SPLM-N offices.

"If there is going to be a discussion and political talks, who are you going to talk to? Of course you are going to talk to the SPLM-North. It's a major political party in Sudan. Closing down offices does not help," he said.

The US official also warned Sudan that the normalization of ties process is in danger given the humanitarian situation in the two states.

Tensions have mounted in Blue Nile and other territories along Sudan's poorly-defined border with South Sudan since the south declared independence in July.

The territories are all still home to tens of thousands of people from ethnic groups that sided with the south during decades of civil war that led up to independence.

The Rest @ Sudan Tribune

The Al Shabaab Raanbo Pirate Group Connection

Unknown assailants recently raided a Kenya Seaside Resport  25 km or so south of the Somali Border, near the al Shabaab held city of  Ras Kamboni. (The article below ) suggests that Judith Tebbutt was kidnapped by the Somali Raanbow Pirate Group.

Analysis

It is unlikely that al Shabaab directed this action. Though al Shabaab controls the port of Kismayo, where it receives significant resupply by ship and by air, pirates are not under the direct control of al Shabaab. Somali pirate groups operate as independent criminal families. They pay a "tax" to al Shabaab ( in this case). In addition, they pay al Shabaab for armed protection when the pirates are on land.

Therefore, it is likely the kidnapping into Kenya was a Somali Pirate fund raising enterprise, unknown to al Shabaab. It is also likely that when the pirates showed up in Kismayo with Judith Tebutt, al Shabaab leadership did the following:

• Negotiated a "percentage" of what ever ransom will be derived from Judith Tebutt's capture
• Escorted the pirates and Judith to a secure location
• Decided whether they wanted to take credit for the incursion
• Will soon issue a press release

They will either say that they had nothing to do with the Kenya incursion and know knowing of Judith Tebbutt's where abouts ( a half-truth) or they will take credit for the planning and war of further Kenya incursions.

In summary, this was entirely a Somali pirate criminal enterprise. al Shababb is just a contractor  getting paid to protect them, much like the FARC is paid to protect other criminal families in the Americas and in West Africa. 

-Shimron Issachar
*************************
Reliable sources in Kismayo, the capital city of Somalia's Lower Juba region controlled by the Islamic militant group al-Shabaab, told Somalia Report late on Tuesday that the British woman abducted from Kenya will be presented to the media by the militants after arriving in the port city on Monday - although a senior official told Reuters the insurgent group was not involved in the kidnapping.

Judith Tebbutt, from Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom, was kidnapped late Saturday night after Somali gunmen broke into her luxury Kiwayu Safari Village hut, killing her husband, David, and whisking her away by boat in her nightclothes.

Two speedboats with several masked gunmen arrived at the Kismayo seaport late on Monday, according to a port worker who spoke to Somalia Report.

All the port workers were ordered to vacate the area as the gunmen arrived by boat, according to the laborer, who requested to be called Dhegnas.

• “We are yet not sure how many people were on the two speedboats. 
• We saw scores of masked gunmen and later some of my friends told me that there was a white hostage in one of the boats," said Dhegnas. 
• “We were banned from coming closer to the sea port area, but about 40 minutes later we saw four Toyota Hilux Surfs leaving from the Kismayo port to the other parts of the city."

While the movements and reports could point to the presence of the hostage, al-Shabaab is paranoid about security, and often clears out locals when moving senior leaders under high security.

Sources in Kismayo told Somalia Report that the group’s officials in Kismayo are prepared to present Mrs. Tebbutt, who reportedly suffers from hearing loss, to the world at a press conference to demonstrate their reach into Kenya.

Not us, say al-Shabaab

However, a senior al-Shabaab officer told Reuters news agency that the insurgent group was not involved in the kidnapping.

• "Al-Shabaab has not abducted any Briton from Kenya. 
• We believe bandits carried out the attack," an unnamed official told the news agency. 
• “We shall release a statement later that al-Shabaab is not involved.”

Another al-Shabaab official told Reuters that Tebbutt had indeed been brought to Kismayo, but that her location was now unknown. The official said a pirate-funded militia had carried out the raid and would ask for a ransom – a plan opposed by al-Shabaab.

• Somali shippers based in Mombasa, Kenya, told Somalia Report the attack was carried out by the Raanbow pirate group in collaboration with al-Shabaab, and that the woman was initially taken to the island of Koyama, which is part of the Bajuni archipelago stretching south from Kismayo. 

The pirate group was believed to have been involved in the hijacking of three Indian seamen from a fishing boat anchored off Kiunga, Lamu two years ago

The Rest @ Somali Report

Black Market Disaster Relief Food Widely for Sale in Somalia

As humanitarian aid flows into Somalia in increasing quantities to feed over three million people suffering the effects of a famine that the UN says has killed tens of thousands, allegations of widespread aid diversion have been rife.

• Local militias and government soldiers have raided camps, killing Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as they make off with food aid
• World Food Programme contractors have faced accusations of skimming maize off the top for sale on the local market, most notably in an article published last month by the Associated Press.

Somalia Report deployed a team of journalists to spend several weeks looking into the issue, which is particularly pertinent given that the UN and US sent a peacekeeping force into Somalia during the 1992 famine to secure aid being looted by warlords (a repeat of such actions is extremely unlikely).

Looting from camps

The direct theft of aid from camps is well-documented and impossible for the Transitional Federal Government to dispute.

• There have been over half-a-dozen cases of armed men, often in government uniform, shooting IDPs and stealing. 
• The government claims that, for the most part, these looters are freelance militia or members of militant Islamist group al-Shabaab in uniform, although it has admitted to several cases where its own men were guilty.

“The government has a zero tolerance policy towards corruption or crimes against food aid. Several people have already been convicted and sentenced for looting in Bakara Market,” the government said in a statement after the AP story, also denying there was any evidence aid diversion was taking place on the scale AP journalist Katharine Houreld reported.

Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali announced the creation of a special force to protect aid deliveries and distribution in camps. According to IDPs, though, they are still not receiving any protection.

“We do not receive enough aid to feed our children even though it is widely seen and sold in the open market,” Abdiyow Aden, an IDP from Bakol region, living in Mogadishu’s Tawakal camp, told Somalia Report.

Early this week, IDPs in Waberi protested against militias stealing aid after a government soldier opened fire in the camp, killing more than ten people.

“The theft of aid is continuing more than before,” Mahad Mohamoud, an elderly man in the Waberi camp, told Somalia Report.

• A foreman at a camp, who wished to remain anonymous, said that militia had been hired to protect camps, but they were the very people who had previously been stealing aid.
• “The militias do not belong to a certain warlord - most are affiliated to clans dominating the area where the camp is located,” he told Somalia Report on condition of anonymity. 
• “If you do not hire them, IDPs and aid are in danger.”

Camp administrators are also accused of getting in on the act. Another source in a camp said that up to half of ration cards intended for IDPs are withheld, and the aid sold on.

“I came here last week and got nothing,” Batulo Nasir, who said she left her two children dead by the road as she trekked to a camp in Hamar Jajab, told Somalia Report. “Some people who run the area told me they will help me but so far there is no action.”

Independent analyst Omar Abdulle says that the sheer scale of the hunger means that soldiers and camp leaders are being driven to steal aid, for personal use or sale.“The troops’ families are also in need of food,” he told Somalia Report. “Even on the frontline, Somali military forces may loot food aid because of the scale of the humanitarian crises in the country.”

Alleged contractor theft

• WFP contractors are also accused of diverting aid even before it reaches camps, with dozens of activists, IDPs and local traders lining up to deliver accusations, most of which cannot be verified. 
• One of the most popular accusations is that a group of government and business individuals from the Warsangali sub-clan are operating under an umbrella called Warsan Star. 
• Somalia Report was given a list of names of these people, and others, but is withholding it due to a lack of any real evidence of involvement.

The WFP says it has distributed over 13,000 metric tons of food to Somalia since July, with around 40,000 metric tons expected to be delivered in the coming months, to feed 1.9 million people. The AP believes a significant amount of this aid is being diverted before it reaches the intended recipients, a claim many local activists believe to be true, with some even saying over 50% of aid goes missing after it arrives in Mogadishu’s port on vessels that are escorted by the European Union’s anti-piracy naval force.
“Aid is stolen after its shipment from the port to the IDP camp,” Abdulahi Mohamed Osman, an activist and local aid coordinator, told Somalia Report.

• Bille Abdi Hussein, a shopkeeper in the KM4 area, said traders were encouraged to profit from stolen aid.“A few months ago a friend of mind, whom I do not want to name, came to me and informed me that if I had $15,000 I could make a booming business here in Mogadishu,” he told Somalia Report. 
• “You have to go to WFP sub-contractors and their stock-keepers whenever they are in the capital. For example if you tell them you need to get 40 sacks of maize, then stock keepers may take the money from the dealer.”
• Aden Qoley, aid coordinator at the interior ministry, told reporters in Mogadishu this week there is evidence food aid is not being managed properly.

What is clear is that aid is being sold in large quantities in stores around Mogadishu.
A Somalia Report correspondent observed aid being sold by local traders in Hamar Weyne and Hamar Jajab districts. Our correspondent witnessed three trucks carrying food aid marked with the WFP stamp arrive nearby the Afar-Irdod police station in Hamar Weyne. The food, consisting of 50-kilogram sacks of maize and five-liter containers of oil, was divided amongst four stores.
A businesswoman who requested to be called Sahra Yusuf told Somalia Report that the food was bought by Hamar Weyne traders from areas near the KM4 junction.
“Here, the buying and selling of food aid has never been secret,” she said. “It has been going on for years.”
Some key locations where aid is sold (non-exhaustive) follows:

A cluster of stores consisting of six wide rooms, next the Ex-UK Embassy building in Hamar Jajab district. It is close to the sea port, and locals say that shortly after vessels have delivered aid, five or six trucks turn up at the store laden with WFP aid. Businessmen in the area say one truck goes for $6-7,000.
Opposite Afar-Irdod police station in Hamar Weyne there are three stores. One is always open for the sale of WFP maize and oil. Abdi Karin, who rents the store space, says he can sell once sack of maize for $21.5. A container of cooking oil costs $30.5 in Hamar Weyne market.
On Haw-Tako road, also near the police station, there are two stores which store looted aid, next to Hotel Muno. More than 300 sacks of WFP food aid were seen on sale recently, according to a local businessman.

According to Hamar Weyne trader Ismail Hashi, it is easy to get your hands on stolen aid for a good price – particularly food looted from camps, which needs to be got rid of quickly. The aid normally changes hands under the cloak of darkness.
“It is for sale, it is open to everybody,” local businessman Muse told Somalia Report. “WFP sub-contractors, camp leaders and government administrators in Hamar Weyne are aware of this.”
The AP had this to say in its article:

The AP found eight sites where aid food was being sold in bulk and numerous smaller stores. Among the items being sold were corn, grain, and Plumpy'nut — a specially fortified peanut butter designed for starving children.

WFP spokeswoman Challiss McDonough said that the only recorded case it had of theft was looting at a food distribution point on August 5, but said the organization treats “all and any allegations with the utmost seriousness and will deploy all means available to recover the losses and will hold those responsible to account.”

• All contractors are thoroughly screened to ensure theft does not happen, she said.
• “Since July 2011, WFP has begun again to work with seven former WFP cooperating partners in Mogadishu,” she told Somalia Report. “All partners are subject to strict screening to prove they have a history of providing the services required and the ability to perform the job specifications.”

Separating the aid that has been stolen and that which has been sold by IDPs can be difficult. Monetization of aid is a phenomenon that has been recorded in every area worldwide where aid has been distributed, and is driven by the needs of IDPs to buy basic goods not provided in food deliveries. Aid agencies accept this, although none of them will reveal their estimates of what percentage of aid gets onto markets in this manner.

“WFP has zero tolerance for any food misuse and takes all reports of our food for sale on markets very seriously but there are often legitimate and understandable reasons for some food being sold by beneficiaries,” said McDonough. “For example, a beneficiary may need to buy medicine or soap. WFP does not have a percentage for this but believes it to be very small indeed compared to the vast amount of food that reaches those in need of food assistance.”

For example,

• Somalia Report followed up on a tip that looted aid was delivered from a warehouse behind the Nasa Hablod hotel to markets in Seybiyano and Hamar Weyne, especially a shop called Geedi in Seybiyano. 
• However, our correspondent found 20 sacks of maize for sale (at $21 each), which traders around the store saw they saw being sold to the store by individual IDPs looking to cash in.

Tony Burns, operations director for local NGO SAACID, which delivers wet food to IDPs through feeding kitchens in Mogadishu, said he believed the majority of the aid on the market was sold directly by IDPs, and that the scale was exaggerated. He believes less than 1% of aid is being diverted.

“There has always been a strong barter trade in donated food - families need more than food, so they sell some or all for cash to buy other goods and services,” he told Somalia Report. “Concomitantly, the marginalised in Somali society cannot secure food for long periods, as it will be looted by militias – so they sell food for cash, which can much more easily be hidden.”

• “If people have to travel any distance to collect food, they will need to sell it, as they cannot risk it being stolen on the way home,” he added. “These reasons are much more likely for food to be in the markets than diversion.”
• Burns said the amount of aid reaching the market from IDPs would shoot up in the coming months.

“If you think you have seen food in the markets now, wait for a few weeks,” he said. “The recipients of the WFP distributions in the coming weeks will sell a lot of what they receive.”

Specific allegations

SAACID was one of the organizations named in the AP report as being involved in the theft of aid.

• The AP cited eight businessmen as saying they bought food from WFP contractor, Abdulkadir Mohamed Nur, known as Enow. 
• They also said that Enow’s wife, Khadija, was the head of SAACID, implying that he was using his contacts to get aid from the organization.
• However, Enow has been suspended by WFP since early last year – his only contract is drilling boreholes for the AU peacekeeping mission - while Khadija has not been country director of SAACID since 1997. 
• AP later issued a correction about Enow contracting for the WFP.

Khadija has not had any formal links with the organization - other than registering SACCID International in the US in 2008 and doing small-scale fundraising as a favor - since 1997, when she quit as country director, Burns said. Raha Janaqow has been country director since Khadija left.

Enow also issued a statement saying his company DEEQA Construction & Water Well Drilling Co. Ltd had not been involved with WFP since March 2010 and that the AP’s accusations the businessmen had paid money into his Dahabshiil account to secure stolen aid were untrue.

“The 'Mogadishu warehouse' operated by DEEQA (not mentioned in the AP story) is empty of food, and has been so for 16 months,” he said. “The allegation that I am selling WFP food from warehouses around the city is therefore baseless. Indeed, DEEQA's only warehouse in the Abdiaziz area of Mogadishu was destroyed during fighting in the city and looted - even its roof was taken. DEEQA does not have any other food warehouse in Mogadishu.”

Yet accusations against SAACID and Enow persist. The agency's name was mentioned by four traders Somalia Report spoke to, all of whom said there was a clan-based mafia linked with the aid agency running aid theft (which could suggest malicious rumors spread by rivals from other clans).

The site behind Nasa Hablod hotel was mentioned in the AP report as one of the hotspots for stolen aid to be sold, but Burns says this and the other claims are nonsense.

“The allegations have no substance at all,” he said. “Most of it is the recycled 2010 allegations that the UN has retracted. SAACID monitors our district partners, who implement the programme. DRC has monitors at all our sites and warehouses on a daily basis. WFP’s third-party monitors regularly visit our kitchen sites and warehouses.”

The site behind Nasa Hablod is a grinding and milling site, where SAACID has a temporary warehouse for the milled corn meal, before it goes on to the kitchen sites, and the land does not belong to Enow, but the government, Burns said (the AP reported that Enow was selling aid from the warehouse, not that he owned it).

“How many layers on monitoring do you need to have to accept that the program is delivering the agreed outputs? If we were not delivering, the best indicator for diversion would be the recipients themselves," he said. "They would be demonstrating and making it abundantly clear to everyone that we were stealing food. “
Janaqow also rejected the accusations, saying she has no links whatsoever with Enow.

“I’m very disappointed with the AP story in which it was stated that SAACID has been involved in stolen food aid,” she told Somalia Report. “Such a story was not exhaustive, and shameful.”

SAACID gave Somalia Report full access to its warehouses, administration offices and feeding sites in Mogadishu, including its main warehouse and the second grinding warehouse behind the Nasa Hablod hotel.

The storekeepers said they had over 21,000 sacks of maize and over 4,000 containers of cooking oil. The warehouse behind Nasa Hablod transports wet food to 16 sites across Mogadishu, and carries 2-3 days of stock.


Somalia Report, while admittedly on an accompanied and organized visit, saw no signs of irregularities. Equally, people living around the area were not able to provide any evidence, often confusing the movements of trucks carrying food aid along the road between the sea port and KM4 with trucks supposedly taking aid from the warehouse.

SAACID said companies with direct WFP deals were responsible for transporting both wet and dry maize, and that it had nothing to do with the movement of aid. SAACID signs a WFP Way Bill to confirm receipt of stock from companies, then hires independent truckers to take wet food to the feeding centers, it said. Our correspondent trailed several trucks, and once again was not able to find any hard evidence of aid theft.
Specific allegations were also made against Ahmed Makaran, Commissioner of Waberi district in Mogadishu, but he denied any wrongdoing.

“We are not involved in the corruption and stealing of food aid intended for the drought-stricken people; instead we support them and carry out nightly routine security patrols around the camps in our district,” he told Somalia Report.

We will not publish other names accused of wrongdoing due to a lack of evidence, and the refusal of those implicated to respond to the allegations.

The Rest @ Somalia Report

Al Sabaab Weapons Review

Look closely at these weapons

Turkish Aid Welcomed by al Shabaab in Somali Drought

Turkish Aid Officials Meet with Al-Shabaab leaders this week.

Somali officials welcomed a delegation from Turkey as a Turkish ship carrying 250 tons of food aid for drought affected Somalis arrived in Mogadishu’s sea port and Turkish relief officials met with al-Shabaab in Lower Shabelle.

The head of the Turkish Humanitarian Aid Foundation (IHH), Sardash Jam, his deputy, Mr. Murad, and the head of the Turkish Airways, Dr. Jampl Kutiki, along with 210 other Turkish delegates arrived at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport.

• “We have decided to help our brothers and sisters who have been crippled by prolonged drought and war in the recent years. 
• We know that many internally displaced families were coming here to Mogadishu from the neighboring regions of Bay, Bakol and Lower Shabelle where famine has been reported,” said IHH Chairman Sardash Jam.
• Somalia’s Prime Minister Dr. Abdiwali Mohamed Ali welcomed the Turkish delegates at the airport and then traveled with some of them to witness the arrival of supplies, including food aid, medical equipment, tents, blankets at the sea port.
• “On behalf of Somali government, I would like to thank the Turkish government leaders, including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has already visited Mogadishu while accompanied by a large delegation from his country,” said the prime minister at the sea port.
• He added that the Somalis are grateful to their 'unforgettable Turkish brothers and sister' for their committed support.
• Dr. Jampl Kutiki promised that Turkish planes, like Turkish Airways, will continue to travel into Mogadishu.

Turkish officials reach al-Shabaab areas

Meanwhile reliable information obtained by Somalia Report confirmed late on Monday that the IHH Deputy Chairman, Mr. Murad, along with 2 other Turkish officials have reached al-Shabaab controlled N50 IDPs camp Aala-Yasir in the Lower Shabelle region.

• Source confirmed that the Turks met with al-Shabaab official, Sheekh Hassan Abu- Ayman, who is responsible for the Bay and Bakol regions.
• The Turkish members moved from government controlled areas of Mogadishu through Sarkuusta Checkpoint near the Ex-control Checkpoint in the southwest area of the capital. Somali government troops reportedly escorted the Turkish delegates until they reached Sarkuusta.
• From there the Turkish delegates managed to travel into the rebel held areas. 
• According to the same source, the Turkish aid workers were escorted by a large, armed convoy believed to be carrying some al-Shabaab fighters.

The IHH members are reportedly in the al-Shabaab camps to observe, but sources told Somalia Report that the members addressed hundreds of IDPs at the Aala-Yasir camp.

Al-Shabaab has not officially commented on the trip.

The Rest @ Somalia Report

Lamu Kenya Shooting: UK Advises Aginst Travel within 30 km of Somali Border

NAIROBI (BNO NEWS) -- A British tourist was shot dead and his wife kidnapped from a Kenyan resort, the British Foreign Office said on Sunday.

The married couple were attacked overnight at a beach resort north of Lamu, near the Kenya-Somalia border, a Foreign Office spokesperson said in a statement. According to the BBC, Kenyan officials said a policeman saw six men taking away a woman in a boat.

A BBC reporter said that, since the tourist resort is near Somalia, Somali pirates could be involved. Meanwhile, a source said Islamist group al-Shabab could also be involved.

The Foreign Office said it is working with Kenyan authorities to establish further details about the attack. It also said it had sent a consular team from the High Commission in Nairobi to the area.

"We are working to secure the safe and swift release of the British National who has been kidnapped and ask those involved to show compassion and release the individual immediately," the office stated.

It continued to advise against all but essential travel to within 30 kilometers (18 miles) of Kenya's border with Somalia. It added that there have been previous attacks by Somali militia into Kenya. In July 2009, three aid workers were kidnapped, and two Western nuns in November 2008.

(Copyright 2011 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: sales@bnonews.com.)

Venezuela under Sanctions for Equipping FARC

Chavez Protests Sanctions for Helping FARC

ARACAS — President Hugo Chavez challenged US President Barack Obama to prove US claims that four senior Venezuelan officials are involved in drugs and arms trafficking, as the foreign ministry formally protested US sanctions on the officials.

Washington on Thursday accused the Venezuelan officials of aiding the leftist Colombian guerrilla group FARC and put them on a list of narcotics kingpins subject to sanctions.

"I challenge president Obama to show proof of this outrage," Chavez told reporters at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.

The US move "is part of the Yankee empire's determination to place Venezuela one day on the list of failed states or ... countries that support terrorism," Chavez said.

Washington identified the men as Major General Cliver Alcala; ruling party lawmaker Freddy Bernal; Amilcar Figueroa, a delegate to the Latin American Parliament; and intelligence official Ramon Madriz.

Chavez said he spoke out to "defend the honor of these four compatriots who were unjustly named on the list."
Venezuelan authorities delivered a note of protest over the sanctions to the US embassy's charge d'affairs Kelly Keiderling on Friday, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Relations have been tense between the two countries for years, and the countries have not exchanged ambassadors since late 2010.

The US Treasury Department action on Thursday authorizes the seizure of any assets the four men may have in the United States and prohibits US citizens from doing business with them.

The four were targeted for "acting for or on behalf of the narco-terrorist organization the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), often in direct support of its narcotics and arms trafficking activities," the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The head of the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control described the four as "key facilitators of arms, security, training and other assistance in support of the FARC's operations in Venezuela."

The Rest @  Shimron Letters

Al Shabaab Bans the Somali Language for Arabic, Force Parents to Teach Jihad to Children

al Shabaab has begun a campaign to impose the Arabic language on the population, not only over English, but over the Somali language.

Jihad causes poverty. "Somali militants order schools to teach Arabic," from Reuters, September 7:

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's al Shabaab rebels have banned English from schools in the southern port city of Kismayu they control and demanded teachers switch the curriculum to include Arabic and Islamic studies.
The latest edict shows the disconnect between the al Qaeda-allied rebels intent on stamping harsh laws on areas they control, and Somali leaders who have agreed to hold an election next year even though the internationally backed government barely controls any territory beyond the capital.

The new school ruling also comes just days after the rebels ordered businesses on the outskirts of Mogadishu to rip down posters in English and Somali and replace them with Arabic ones.

Jihad has always been a vehicle for Arab imperialism interwoven with Islamic supremacism: how, for example, did Libya become an "Arab" country, whose official language is Arabic? And there is Sudanese president Bashir's own campaign of cultural and linguistic Arabization.

Teachers in Kismayu said al Shabaab ordered the syllabus be changed from the beginning of this month after a week of meetings between the two parties.

• "We used to teach the students Kenyan, Sudanese or Malaysian curricula which are written in English so that students can understand the material when they reach university, " Mahmud Ali, headmaster of Mohamed Jamac secondary and primary school in Kismayu, told Reuters by phone.
• "But now we can't teach because we have to change everything, including our teachers who are mostly Kenyan and don't speak Arabic. We also used to teach students Somali literature, we don't know what to do now," he said.
• The southern port city of Kismayu has about six secondary schools that teach in English, while most of the primary schools already teach in Arabic.
• Al Shabaab have in the past sought to recruit school children to join a holy war against Somalia's government and its allies. They have already banned English and science studies in other parts of southern Somalia.

In a statement posted on al Shabaab's website, the militants said they took this step because they felt students were learning values in Christian and Hindu curriculums that they said were against Islamic sharia principles.

The hardline group, which bans music, movies and soccer, adheres to its own harsh interpretation of sharia law. They have also beheaded people and amputated limbs as punishment.

"The reason we want to impose this is to eradicate every curriculum against the Islamic sharia and we want to promote Islamic studies. We will take steps to control the educational system of our children," the group said in a statement.

"Parents have to make sure they teach their children the principles of Islamic jihad," said the group, which wants to impose its version of sharia law on all of Somalia....

The Rest @ Jihad Watch

Money Laundering Networks Being Reestablished

TBDA suggests that visitors who have a history of interest in both Islamist Activity and Islamic finance systems may be attempting to rebuild financial distribution networks, post Usama Ben Laden.

Gadaffi's Libya was Stable if not Free.
It may be that his fall disrupted established Islamist money laundering networks that even he did not know about

The searches are characterized by:

• Avoidance of  Sanctioned countries, banks and businesses
• Interest in Banks who cooperate with Sanctions in principle but not in practice
• Searches are coming from Islamist friendly businesses, not banks

There seems to be special interest in:

• African Arabian Islamic Bank, 
• Monrovia. 
• Liechtenstein 
• Arinco Arab Investment Company
• Vaduz. Islamic Banking System Finance S.A. 

• Vaduz. Luxembourg 

• Bahamas Dar al Mal al Islami
• Nassau Islamic Investment Company Ltd
• Nassau, Masraf Faisal Islamic Bank & Trust
•  Bahamas Ltd. Bahrain  

• Albaraka Islamic Investment Bank, Manama, 
• Bahrain Islamic Bank, Manama, 
• Bahrain Islamic Investment Company, Manama, 
• Islamic Investment Company of the Gulf, Masraf 
• Faisal al Islami, Bahrain. 

• Islamic Bank of Bangladesh Ltd,

• Dhaka. Denmark Islamic Bank International of Denmark, Copenhagen

• Egypt Albaraka Nile Valley Company, Cairo, 
• Arab Investment Bank (Islamic Banking Operations), Cairo., 
• Bank Misr (Islamic Branches), Cairo, 
• Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt, Cairo, 
• General Investment Company, Cairo, 
• Islamic International Bank for Investment and Development, Cairo, 
• Islamic Investment and Development Company, Cairo, 
• Nasir Social Bank, Cairo. 

• Guinea Islamic Investment Company of Guinea, Conakry, 

• Masraf Faisal al Islami of Guinea, Conakry. 

• India Baitun Nasr Urban Cooperative Society, Bombay. 

• Jordan Islamic Investment House Company Ltd Amman, Jordan 
• Finance House, Amman, Jordan 
• Islamic Bank for Finance and Investment, Amman.   Jordan

• Faisal Islamic Bank of Kibris, (Turkish Cyprus) 
• Lefkosa. Kuwait Al Tukhaim International Exchange Company, Safat.,
•  Kuwait Finance House, Safat. 

• Vaduz, Islamic Banking System Finance S.A. 
• Vaduz. Luxembourg Islamic Finance House, Universal Holding S.A.

• Malaysia Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad, Kuala Lumpur, 
• Pilgrims Management and Fund Board, Kuala Lumpur. 

• Mauritania Albaraka Islamic Bank, Mauritania. 
• Niger Faisal Islamic Bank of Niger, Niamy. 

• Philippines Philippine Amanah Bank, Zamboanga. Qatar 
• Islamic Exchange and Investment Company, Doha, Qatar 
• Islamic Bank. Saudi Arabia 
• Albaraka Investment and Development Company, Jeddah, 
• Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah. 

• Senegal Faisal Islamic Bank of Senegal, Dakar, 
• Islamic Investment Company of Senegal, Dakar.

• South Africa JAAME Ltd, Durban.  

• Bank al Baraka al Sudani, Khartoum, 
• Faisal Islamic Bank of Sudan, Khartoum, 
• Islamic Bank of Western Sudan, Khartoum, 
• Islamic Cooperative Development Bank, Khartoum, 
• Islamic Investment Company of Sudan, Khartoum, 
• Sudan Islamic Bank, Khartoum, 
• Tadamun Islamic Bank, Khartoum, 
• Jersey - The Islamic Investment Company, St Helier,

he Bailiwick of Jersey ( /ˈdʒɜrzi/, French: [ʒɛʁzɛ]; Jèrriais: Jèrri) is a British Crown Dependency^[6] off the coast ofNormandy, France.^[7] As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq^[8] and other rocks and reefs.

Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey are often referred to as 'the Channel Islands' but they are not a constitutional or political unit. The three Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man each has a separate relationship to the British Crown.^[9] They are not part of the United Kingdom.^[10] The United Kingdom is constitutionally responsible for the defence of Jersey.^[11] Jersey is not a part of the European Union but has a special relationship with it, being treated as part of the European Community for the purposes of free trade in goods.

• Masraf Faisal al Islami, St Helier. 

Switzerland

• Dar al Mal al Islami, Geneva., 
• Islamic Investment Company Ltd, Geneva, 
• Shariah Investment Services, PIG, Geneva. 

• Arabian Thai Investment Company Ltd, Bangkok.

•  Bank al Tamwil al Saudi al Tunisi. 

• Albaraka Turkish Finance House, Istanbul,
•  Faisal Finance Institution, Istanbul. 

• U.A.E. Dubai Islamic Bank, Dubai, 

• Islamic Investment Company Ltd, Sharjah. U.K. 
• Albaraka International Ltd, London, 
• Albaraka Investment Co. Ltd, London, 
• Al Rajhi Company for Islamic Investment Ltd, London, 
• Islamic Finance House Public Ltd Co., London.