Al-Shabaab Planned to Bomb East AFrica Clubs On New Year's Day

Kenya: Al-Shabaab 'Had Planned to Bomb Popular Clubs On New Year's Day'
20 March 2011

Share:Nairobi — On New Year's Eve, as Kenyans partied to usher in 2011, security agencies were having a nightmare. There was credible intelligence that terrorists were likely to strike at some party joints on the stroke of midnight.

The authorities had intercepted this communication, but they did not have the finer details. Two hours to midnight, a contact in the terror network called, saying an al-Shabaab strike was imminent.

The contact did not elaborate, but said that this was the message from one of the Mombasa-based overlords. A source in the police circles said they had learnt of the plot by midday on December 31.

Intelligence gathered by the police, the anti-terror squad and the CID showed that the al-Qaeda-backed Somali militant group had planned simultaneous attacks in:

• Uganda's Kampala,
• Kenya's Malindi and Mombasa,
• Burundi's Bujumbura

The targets in Kenya were said to be a popular casino in Malindi and two nightclubs in Mombasa. Without raising the alarm, security agencies maintained a tight vigil on these places.

Other prominent clubs and hotels in Nairobi and at the Coast were also put under increased surveillance. Somehow, Kenya survived.

According to an insider familiar with the recent terrorist activities in the Horn of Africa, the strategy used by the security agents was to make the militants aware that their plan had leaked.
They do this by identifying a fringe member of the group and telling him to pass the message to the leaders.

"That way, they panic and they can quickly change plans the way they did by bombing Kampala Coach in Nairobi (instead of a target in Kampala), after the Uganda authorities issued an alert and stepped up their vigilance," said the source who cannot be named.

Or they simply shelve the plan, the way they did with strikes planned at the height of the controversy surrounding the fiery Jamaican cleric, Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal."

Back to the New Year's Eve al-Shabaab plot. Uganda too, had put in place elaborate measures since the Kampala Coach attack on December 20.

The country has been on al-Shabaab's revenge list following its move to send troops to beef up the African Union peace-keeping mission in war-torn Somalia.
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It was attacked on July 11, when an Islamist militant exploded bombs in two Kampala venues as soccer fans watched the finals of the World Cup being played in South Africa, killing 80 people and injuring scores of others.

Revenge list

• On December 29, three people suspected of being members of al-Shabaab were arrested as they attempted to enter Uganda from Kenya.
• But Burundi, also on al- Shabaab's revenge list because of the AU troops in Somalia, was unlucky.
• On New Year's Day, a grenade exploded in Bujumbura, killing three people and wounding three others.
• Army spokesman Gaspard Baratuza was quoted saying that another grenade went off at Buyenzi in the outskirts of Bujumbura. One person died and five were seriously injured.

For now, the threat of the al-Shabaab militants striking remains real within the region based on the porous border between Kenya and Somalia and the influx of refuge

Rest @ All Africa

al Shabaab moves Jihad into Bihororo Burundi

Bujumbura, Feb 8 : Burundian police have arrested eight Pakistani Muslim preachers in a mosque in the central province of Gitega, according to police and local officials.

A group of eight people calling themselves Pakistani Muslim preachers arrived two days ago and started holding unauthorised meetings, day and night, in the Bihororo mosque," the Daily Times quoted local official Alexis Manirakiza, as saying.

"Residents became suspicious at the presence of these foreigners in a remote area at a time when there is a terror threat from Somali rebels and they informed the police," he added.

A police officer said on the condition of anonymity that all the eight were travelling to the African nation on Pakistani passports."

We're investigating to find out exactly who they are and what they were doing in this part of the world without informing the security services or the administrative authorities," the officer said.

The arrests came less than a week after the US Embassy in Burundi warned its citizens in the central African country that terror organisations, including Somalia's al Qaeda-inspired Shebab, could carry out terror attacks in February.

Security measures have been stepped up in Burundi since last week, with soldiers and police patrolling the streets of the capital.

The Rest @ ANI , via Jihadwatch

18 Burundian Soldiers Get Mystery Illness In Mogadishu

Nairobi — Six Burundian soldiers are still admitted at a Nairobi hospital with symptoms of an unidentified illness, an African Union official said on Tuesday.

Gaffel Nkolokosa, spokesman for the AU envoy to Somalia, said 12 soldiers have recovered and had travelled back to Burundi.

"The medical team from the African Union and Burundi Government is investigating the cause of the illness in the contingent," said Gaffel Nkolokosa, who declined to speculate on the cause of the illness or what the symptoms were.

According to the African Union Mission for Somalia in Nairobi, the soldiers were evacuated from Mogadishu three weeks ago and brought to Kenya for further treatment after exhibiting similar symptoms.

An official at the Burundi Embassy admitted there were some Burundian soldiers in hospital but declined to comment further on the matter saying he was not authorised to speak to the press.

There are 43,000 [I think he means 4,300-Shimron]-soldiers from Burundi and Uganda in Mogadishu defending key sites and helping government sources fight off regular attacks from hardline insurgents.


The Rest @ The Nation by way of All Africa


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Uganda Send More Troops to Somalia

Mar 29, 2009 - 9:10:08 AM
By JULIUS BARIGABA

In the wake of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) withdrawal from a three-month operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kampala has quietly deployed another 1,000 soldiers in conflict-ravaged Somalia, The EastAfrican has learnt.

Senior army officers in Kampala confirmed last week that at least 1,000 troops have been on Somali territory for over a week now, despite growing concerns that the presence in Somalia of Uganda’s army poses a serious terrorist danger to the country.

“We’ve completed deployment of another battalion. We now have two battalions standing in Somalia,” said General Aronda Nyakairima, UPDF Chief of Defence Forces.

Army spokesman Major Felix Kulayigye added that this is an “augmentation force” deployed at the request of the African Union.

In the same sprit, Burundi, the other country that has an AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia, will also send more troops to reinforce its contingent.

With 1,600 UPDF soldiers already in place, the new force brings to 2,600 the number of Ugandan troops in the Horn of Africa country.

But apart from being done swiftly — and without parliamentary approval — this recent deployment is surrounded by a number of other curious developments, top of which is the recent visit of new Somali President Sheikh Ahmed Sharif to Kampala, and more critically, the call ostensibly issued by terror mastermind Osama bin Laden to overthrow Sharif.

The death threat came just days after the Somali leader’s visit to Kampala, long suspected to be a target of Islamist terrorists because it is seen as an agent of Anglo-American interests in the Horn of Africa — Uganda was after all the first country to send troops to Somalia in 2007. The threats to Mr Sharif, and his allies should be a cause for alarm, but Gen Nyakairima says the army is unfazed.

“We have been hearing about bin Laden’s threats for a long time. He was living with (LRA leader) Joseph Kony in 1995 and 1996 in the Sudan. He will not stop us, because we have been invited by the international community and Africa union (AU).”

During Mr Sharif’s visit, it emerged that Uganda had been secretly training nearly 600 Somali nationals on Ugandan territory, under a programme jointly funded by the AU and Kampala. The trainees have passed out and are now deployed alongside the Ugandan troops in Somalia, sources said.
Apparently, bin Laden accuses Mr Sharif of taking inducements from the Americans in Nairobi.

Analysts say the Kampala visit was to persuade Mr Sharif to align himself with the Western agenda. A product of the Islamic courts, Mr Sharif is seen as a different kettle of fish from his “progressive” predecessor Abdullahi Yusuf, who was seen as more pro-West

Mr Yusuf was removed after he sacked his Prime Minister early this year, setting the stage for his own removal and the re-emergence of Mr Sharif, who as leader of the Islamic Courts Union that was responsible for the six-months administration that successfully restored calm to Mogadishu in 2007 before being thrown out by US-backed Ethiopian forces.

This is not the first time Uganda is training Somali troops, having earlier concluded training of another special unit of 100. Such actions are said to have annoyed radical Islamist al-Shabaab militia elements in Somalia, hence the concerns over terror attacks against Uganda.

For instance, early this month, a Russian-made private plane, an Ilyushin-76, plunged into Lake Victoria 10 kilometres south of Entebbe Airport, from where it had just taken off, killing all 11 people on board.

The plane was supposed to deliver “water purifiers” to the peacekeepers in Mogadishu, but its crash has since elicited loaded comments from government officials who said they “cannot rule out terrorism.”

Days after the crash, the Russian news agency ITAR-TASS quoted the plane’s owner as saying it had been hit by a rocket from a grenade launcher or a Stinger missile.

On board the plane were South African nationals, Ugandans, a Russian and a senior Burundi army officer who was returning to peacekeeping duties in Mogadishu. Only Burundi and Uganda have sent peacekeeping forces to Somalia.

But the army spokesman said the UPDF presence in Somalia cannot be linked with the plane crash until the black box and flight data are retrieved from the fuselage, which is still embedded in the mud of the lakebed.

“Do not link the two. The crash is an accident until the black box is found,” said Major Kulaigye. “This is not the first time terrorists have threatened this region; as a peacekeeping force, we are on the lookout.”

But a Muslim scholar Imam Kasozi said that by deploying more troops, Uganda was signalling that “we are now preparing for war” against al-Shabaab.

“Let’s not forget, we went into Somalia on behalf of the US, which two years ago paid Uganda $10 million to enable the troops to travel to Mogadishu. But two years later, is there any peace to keep in Mogadishu? No. It means they are now preparing for war.”

The UPDF says Uganda’s peacekeeping mission to Somalia has lost only seven soldiers since the first day of deployment in 2007.

A member of the African Union and the Inter Governmental Authority on Development, Uganda was the only country to send troops — even though more than six countries had committed to do so — raising questions over its motivation for rushing in where other AU member states feared to tread.
The answer came during President Sharif’s visit when Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said, “You can’t see your neighbour in a problem and you remain silent.”

Mid this month, UPDF pulled out of Congo, where the army had been carrying out aerial and ground assaults since December 14, 2008 in pursuit of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels

This appears reading to have freed up the extra UPDF troops for the AU mission. With its continuing focus on Somalia, Kampala is trying to consolidate its image as the region’s most forthright peacekeeper against all odds.

Via VOA
Original Source: The East African (Kenya)

Burundi PeaceKeepers in Somalia

By Aweys Yusuf and Abdi Sheikh

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A first contingent of 100 peacekeepers from Burundi deployed in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Sunday, hours after fighting between Islamist rebels and government forces killed at least four people.

The arrival of the Burundian soldiers in the rubble-strewn city marked the first phase of long-delayed support for 1,600 Ugandan troops who began work in March as the vanguard of a planned 8,000-strong African Union (AU) mission.

"One hundred peacekeepers from Burundi have just landed here," Captain Paddy Ankunda, the AU force spokesman, told Reuters at Mogadishu's heavily guarded international airport.

Burundi's government had pledged to send about 1,700 troops to Somalia's capital. They were meant to arrive in July, but their deployment was repeatedly delayed.

In Burundi's capital, Bujumbura, an army spokesman said the rest of the contingent of two battalions of 850 soldiers each should be on the ground within the next two weeks.

"The team went to prepare the ground for the rest of the troops," Colonel Adolphe Manirakiza told Reuters.

Without support, the Ugandans have been restricted to guarding Mogadishu's sea and air ports and presidential palace, as well as providing security for top government officials.

Fierce battles broke out overnight in northern neighbourhoods of the city as Islamist-led insurgents attacked government security forces and their Ethiopian allies.


The Rest @ Reuters Africa