Al Shabaab Counter Attacks in Kenya

A series of explosions at a bus station in the Kenyan capital Nairobi has killed at least three people and wounded 40 others, the Kenyan Red Cross has said.

The Red Cross reported on its official twitter account that eight out of the 40 injured admitted to hospital on Saturday, are in a critical condition.

Witnesses reported that people in a moving car hurled three grenades at the terminal in Nairobi, Charles Owinom the police spokesman, said. Witnesses told the Reuters news agency they believed there had been up to four blasts, but there was no official confirmation of multiple explosions.




Kenyan police immediately blamed the Somali group al-Shabab for the attacks.

"This is a cowardly act by al-Shabab elements," Charles Owino, police spokesman told reporters at the bus station.

"But we will not relent in the war. We will get them and we will continue with the war."

Kenyan troops are currently fighting the Shebab in neighbouring Somalia. "We can confirm that indeed three people have been killed, 21 injured," he added.

The blasts are the latest in a string of small arms, bomb and grenade attacks that have killed scores of people since Kenya sent troops across the border into neighboring Somalia in October.

During those attacks, grenades were thrown into a bar and another bus station, both not far from the scene of Saturday's attack, killing one person and wounding more than 20.

The Rest @ al Jazera

Al Shabaab suffers 100 Dead at Dalayat, Southern Somalia

Nairobi — At least 100 fighters including eight top Al-Shabaab commanders have been killed in the latest battle in a town northeast of Badhade, Somalia, officials said on Friday. Military spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir said the Kenyan helicopter gunships on Friday hit at Al-Shabaab positions, which included 200 Al-Shabaab fighters, one of the largest concentrations of the Al-Shabaab fighters, killing at least 100 fighters and destroying nine technicals and nine trucks used by the fighters.

He said the Kenyan troops advanced into the town of Badhade and Hayo in Southern Somalia, boosting their chances for a successful battle for the port of Kismayu and the town of Afmadhow, a provincial capital and a key hub of the Al-Shabaab, which is one of the main ultimate targets of the operation. 'The operation is likely to shape the future of the operation,' Major Chirchir said in his official Twitter account, minutes after the air-strikes.

The military said the Al-Shabaab fighters were concentrated in the town of Dalayat, from where its top commanders planned a counter attack on the town of Badhade. Chirchir said,

•  'Al-Shabaab strength (was) estimated at over 200. 
• The KDF (Kenya Defense Forces) gunships destroyed Al-Shabaab at Dalayat,' a key transit point from the sea frequently used by the group to re-stock its military supplies.
• The KDF military officials also said other attacks against the Al-Shabaab locations took place at Badhade at around 16:45 East African time and a battle damage assessment was still ongoing. 
• Kenyan troops have been on the ground in Somalia since Oct. 16, 2011 against the Al-Shabaab militants, which have been mounting armed incursions into Kenya.

The Rest @ AllAFrica

Explosives Captured in Ifo Section of Dadaad Refuge Camp,Kenya

Kenyan police seized landmines and homemade explosive devices Friday in Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp and site of several attacks and blasts in recent months.

"This is a major breakthrough in our investigations because we have been looking for the source of the explosive materials used here.

• We conducted a raid and recovered nine landmines," said regional police chief Leo Nyongesa.
• "We also recovered other improvised explosive devices,"
•  three women were being questioned.
• The explosives were found in the Ifo section of the Dadaab complex in northern Kenya, home to some 450,000 mainly Somali refugees seeking shelter from drought, hunger and conflict.

Dadaab, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Somalia, is in a border region that has seen a surge in attacks since Nairobi sent troops into its neighbour in October to battle Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents.

The attacks are often blamed by the authorities on sympathisers of Shebab militants, who control large parts of central and southern Somalia.

• Gunmen seized two Spaniards working for Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) from Dadaab in October and are thought to have taken them to Somalia.

The Rest @ AllAfrica

Scotland Yard to Work With Kenya Investigating Al Shabaab Terror Network

London — A team from the Scotland Yard has been sent to help Kenyan authorities investigate a terror network after a British national was arrested on allegations that he is an explosives expert for the Somali militant group al-Shabaab.

Kenyan police arrested the suspect, who has not been named, in the coastal city of Mombasa, last week. Seven other suspects were also arrested and accused of plotting to carry out attacks in Kenya during the holiday season, a peak time for tourism in the country.


Kenya's anti-terrorism police reportedly raided the suspect's house and seized material and chemicals used for making explosives, including dynamite, detonators and timers, according to the Daily Nation, which first reported the involvement of Scotland Yard.

Police officers also questioned the suspect's wife, a Kenyan of Somali origin.

A Kenyan police spokesman told The Daily Telegraph the name of the suspect was being withheld until Kenyan and British investigators synchronise the case.

Foreign Office sources told The Telegraph that a Briton was "involved" with a group of individuals found with bomb-making equipment in Mombassa. They could not confirm whether the individual was in Kenyan custody.

Scotland Yard sources said a team from the Metropolitan Police Counter-Terrorism Command had already arrived in Kenya to help the local police.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "British counter-terrorism officials have offered assistance to the Kenyans in this case and a team from the Metropolitan Police is deploying to Kenya to assist in the investigation."

MI5 and MI6 have become aware of an increasing number of young British men arriving in the East African country in order to cross the porous land border into Somalia.

In Somalia they have been joining up with the al-Qaeda affiliated group al-Shabaab and there have been concerns that they could return to Britain to launch suicide attacks.

Three suspected British al-Shabaab members who had arrived in Kenya through Mombasa were arrested in Garissa County in the North East of the country in May.

The three men were of Bangladeshi origin but holding British passports, according to reports.

The Rest @ AllAfrica.com

Al Shabaab Arrests Elders in Bardhere Town in Gedo

Bardhere — The Al-Qaeda inspired militants of Al-shabab have early morning on Thursday detained a number of prominent elders in Gedo province southern strongholds of Somalia, according to witnesses and residents.

• Local residents indicated that Al-shabab fighters seized several elders, including a well-known community chief from their houses in their strong held-Bardhere town in Gedo region, which is located close to Somalia's border with neighboring Kenya.
• Mahamud Arahay, one of the intellectuals in Somalia's southern Gedo region confirmed to Shabelle Media in Mogadishu by the telephone, that elders were arrested by Al-shabab militants, while they were departing to El-gadud village in the same region, he added the reason behind the arrests is unclear so far.
• "The imprisoned local elders are not absolutely involved the country's politics or link with one of power struggling sides, they are impartial peace lovers and this is a part of problems against civilians committed in by Al-shabab fighters." Mr.Arahay. 
• Al-shabab fighters have not yet commented about the arrests in Gedo region of Somalia.

The Rest by the Shabelle Media Network. @AllAfrica.com

Al Shabaab Money Laundering Results in the Closing of Hawala in the US

Nairobi — Humanitarian groups in Somalia have raised the red flag as foreign banks prepare to pull out of money transfer business as the world seeks to paralyse Al-Shabaab operations.

Franklin Bank -- the last of the US financial institutions in the unregulated money transfer business (hawala) in Somalia -- plans to suspend money wiring services this week, putting at stake millions of dollars remitted from abroad.


Last week, Oxfam Group and the American Refugee Committee said the decision would disrupt aid from family members and well-wishers abroad, affecting 250,000 Somalis in need of urgent life-saving assistance.

"This is the worst time for this service to stop. Any gaps with remittance flows in the middle of the famine could be disastrous," Shannon Scribner, Oxfam America's humanitarian policy manager, said, adding that the $100 million in worth of remittances from US that is received each year in Somalia will be affected.

Franklin took the decision two weeks ago to ditch hawala, an unregulated money transfer service, at the end of this month saying it violates US counterterrorism financing regulations crafted after the September 11, 2001 al-Qaida bombings.

"The US government should give assurances to the bank that there will be no legal ramifications of providing this service to Somalis in need," Ms Scribner said. Under hawala which is widely practised in Islamic countries, a recipient simply claims money from a broker in home city on promise that the sender has deposited similar amount with another hawala broker abroad.

This way, currency worth billions of shillings is exchanged across borders without any documentation as the parties rely on trust embedded in Islamic law to conduct the business.In war-torn Somalia where many residents do not have bank accounts, hawala services have thrived.

In Nairobi, the growing number of hawala merchants in Eastleigh estate is seen as the channel through which billions of shillings sent by Somalis living in the diaspora has found its way into Kenya's real-estate segment.

The Rest @ AllAfrica

Ethiopias Support of Kenya's Offensive is a Mistake

Ethiopia seems to have moved back into to Somalia 's West to support Kenya's offensive. in the South.
This is a mistake, a failure to recognize the history between Ethiopia and Somalia.

Al Shabaab promptly held recruiting rally's in the areas they still hold, inviting the boys that remain to join the tradition of their ancestors and fight against the invading Ethiopians.This will give energy to a dying Al Shabaab. The Same effect could have been gained by moving many Ethiopian troops up to the border to prevent al Shabaab from escaping to the East,,,,,

-Shimron Issachar

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(Reuters) - Scores of Ethiopian military vehicles pushed at least 80 km into neighboring Somalia on Saturday, residents said, five weeks after Kenya entered Somalia to fight Islamist militants it blames for a wave of kidnappings on its soil.

"The Ethiopian troops, which are in convoys of armored vehicles, come to us today, crossing from Balanbale district on the border," Gabobe Adan, an elder in the town of Guriel told Reuters.

• "They were in about 28 trucks and armed battle wagons - the armed vehicles are very big."
• Other residents told Reuters that the Ethiopians had set up a base in Guriel and moved troops to other towns nearby.

A spokesman for the Ethiopian government, Shimeles Kemal, would neither confirm nor deny the reports. Another Ethiopian official told Reuters that an Ethiopian move to support the Kenyan assault on the al Shabaab group was likely.

Senior Kenyan government ministers have shuttled around the east Africa region this week and travelled to the Gulf to drum up political and financial support for a coordinated campaign to rout the al Qaeda-linked rebels.

Although Ethiopian troops regularly cross the border with Somalia, and it has admitted opening "humanitarian corridors" into the country that it says are for food relief, residents said the numbers and locations of the troops was unusual.

Ethiopia entered Somalia in 2006, with tacit U.S. backing, to oust another Islamist movement that had taken control of the capital Mogadishu and large swathes of the country.

Its army set up a base in Guriel during that operation.

The presence of the Ethiopian troops was hugely unpopular with Somalis, and with some analysts saying it was fanning support for new militant groups, they withdrew in early 2009.

(Writing by Barry Malone; Additional reporting by Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa and Sahra Abdi in Nairobi)

The Rest @ Reuters

Al Shabaab Raid Kenya Navy Ships Near Madhawa Island

Mugadisho — A group of armed of Somalia's Islamist militant group Al-shabab on four speed boats reportedly launched a massive attack on a fleet of Kenyan naval warships, burning one the warships, according to reliable sources on Sunday.

Witnesses said, that the 20 minute attack on Kenyan warships happened Madhawa Island, an island in southern coast of Somalia, causing damages not casualties.

Neither Kenya nor Al-shabab has made comments about the attack on the Kenyan Warships on Sunday in the lawless coastal territories of Somalia, but it is the first assault on Kenyan warships by Al-shabab since Kenya has sent last month troops and tanks into Somalia to root out the threat of Al-shabab militants on its national security and tourism.

The Rest @ The Rest @ AllAfrica.com

A Oil Export Base in Kismayo?

 It is the middle of the night in Eastleigh, a district of Nairobi mainly occupied by the Somali community. Jamal Sharif has not slept for 48 hours, steadily chewing miraa stems, which contain a mild amphetamine that dispels fatigue and makes people talkative.

Sharif is terrified the rest of Kenya might "attack and kill" Somali residents, and even those of Somali extraction. Operation Linda Nchi (Protect the Nation), which Kenya launched in mid-October, is already yielding poisonous fruit.

The army sent about 2,000 men across the border into Somalia to combat Islamist al-Shabaab insurgents who control much of the south. Al-Shabaab has promised to respond with attacks inside Kenya, endangering the Somali community, particularly in poor areas where lynching is commonplace. There have been a number of attacks.

There is more to operation Linda Nchi than just an incursion by a powerful neighbour. Until now Kenya has supported the Somali transitional federal government, which is backed by Ugandan and Burundian troops belonging to the African Mission in Somalia (Amison), and the US, without becoming directly involved.

Under rules set by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, formed by Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda, no other country is empowered to launch a military intervention in Somalia.

Several sources agree, however, that the Kenyan intervention plan was discussed and decided in 2010, then finalised with input from western partners, including the US and to a lesser extent France. Nairobi seems to have seized on kidnappings of foreign nationals by Somali groups on Kenyan territory as an excuse to launch an operation ready and waiting.

The final decision, taken precipitously, apparently surprised allies of Kenya, such as Ethiopia, which also has plans to intervene in Somalia. It is thought that both countries want to carve out zones of influence. Nairobi plans to set up a semi-autonomous region, Jubaland. A puppet government would be used to control resources and facilities, starting with Kismayo, a port used by smuggling networks with Kenyan links, according to a UN report published in July.

If the Kenyan army took control of Kismayo and established a satellite region in Jubaland, who would run it? The former Somali defence minister, a French-educated anthropologist, Mohamed Abdi Mohamed, seemed a good choice. In April he formed the Azania group, made up of Somali soldiers belonging to the Ogaden clan and trained by Nairobi at Isiolo in Kenya.

• But plans for Azania have been cut down. Equipped by Nairobi with arms supplied by China, as revealed by WikiLeaks cables, Azania's 3,000-strong force did not live up to expectations in the field.
• Ethiopia also objected to an Ogadeni principality being established on its doorstep: Addis Ababa is already combating a rebellion led by the Ogaden National Liberation Front, which finds recruits among this clan. 
• So the task of governing Kismayo will be allotted to other influential clans, primarily the Marehan, and the most powerful armed groups in the region, in particular the Ras Kamboni militia, former Islamist combatants who have been "turned round" to fight al-Shabaab.

However, if Kenya does capture Kismayo, another solution is now being considered. Amisom forces from Mogadishu could be deployed there, at which juncture Kenyan troops could join the ranks of the African Union force. This would also pave the way for a major infrastructure project in the region. Lamu, Kenya's traditional port, mainly used for luxury tourism until now, would be converted into an oil terminal, providing an outlet for the as yet unexploited oilfields of southern Sudan and northern Kenya. Radiating out from Lamu, a rail and road network would connect Ethiopia and Sudan to the Indian Ocean.

This scheme, which is still under study, would be supported by almost $10bn in Chinese investments. But it is obviously not compatible with a zone of insecurity maintained by al-Shabaab.

However, the advance by the Kenyan military is not going as well as hoped: it rained steadily for the first fortnight of the intervention and heavy vehicles were bogged down.

The Rest @ the Guardian
This article was originally published in Le Monde

Kenya Navy Burns Somali Pirate Skill

Al Shabaab Attacks in Kenya

French and Kenya Attacks in Somalia Support Al Shabaab's Warrior Culture

The international community is counterattacking against al Shabaab, but the methods in use right now will give al Shabaab life, when the group was starving in place, about to become irrelevant. Now, they will work the Jihadi online networks, call on their al Qaeda recruiters, and Ikhwan funders, and be revived.

Al Shabaab is a warrior cult. Their culture fades when their is no enemy to fight. In the Somalia regions where al Shabaab has ruled, their administration became increasingly oppressive against the people they rule because their warriors had no one to fight. They had to manufacture crises to justify the existence of their fighters.

Eroding the foundations of War in Somalia

1.  Hunt the all Qaeda Culture Carriers, leave the people and Muslims alone.
2.  Develop a simple Clan-based government, with a federal military subject to the central government, structured to de-emphasize clan roots. This gives their warriors a place to go and  strip the local clans of their fighters; perhaps give them AU or UN missions to support.
3.  Put a plan in place to get this done, with a time table.Include a legislative agenda, keep the promises you make.

Every warrior cult in history either took over the world or were wiped out
-Shimron Issachar

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A FRENCH fighter jet struck a rebel base near the militias-bastion port city of Kismayu yesterday, as Kenyan and Somali troops edged closer to another town hoping to strike a quick blow against al Shabaab. The French naval gunship bombarded the town of Kuday, south of Kismayu on Saturday. France joined the operation against the al Shabaab, a few days after pledging to support the push by Kenya to rid Somalia of the rebel group.

• Frenchwoman Marie Dedieu is among four tourists and aid workers who were abducted by people linked to al-Shabaab. 
• She died after her captors withheld her medication for cancer and heart problems. 
• The gang later asked to be paid to release her body. 
• "A jet bombarded an al Shabaab base near the port. It dropped a huge shell, flew past, came and then dropped another shell," Kismayu resident Mahmoud Hassan told Reuters. 
• "The whole town shook. We've never heard anything like it. Everyone ran away," he said.

A labourer at the harbour said the militants had ordered people to run to their homes. "Al Shabaab fighters deserted the port but besieged the areas around the base," Hared Ali told Reuters. An al Shabaab official who declined to be named said a Kenyan jet had also struck two bases in Kismayu. "There were no casualties. We fired at the plane after the second bombardment and it has not come back," the senior official told Reuters from southern Somalia.

The US yesterday said it was discussing how to assist Kenya militarily and financially in its fight against al-Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia. "We are talking with the Kenyans right now to figure out where they need help," US ambassador Scott Gration told the Financial Times in an interview at his residence in Nairobi. "We are looking to see how, as an ally in this conflict on terrorism, can we help the Kenyans," said Ambassador Gration, a former Air Force fighter pilot and presidential adviser, adding that the US is considering assisting with training and equipment.

The rebels have meanwhile reinforced their defences in the town of Afmadow, a strategic transit point for goods trafficked illegally through Kismayu, al Shabaab's centre of operations. Foreign Minister Moses Wetang'ula said al Shabaab militants were on the run after Kenya deployed more troops and struck rebel targets by air to secure its border from the rebels.

Wetang'ula said the military was making gains against the insurgents in southern Somalia. "We've made tremendous progress and al Shabaab are definitely on the run. They are looking weaker by the day," he told reporters after an emergency meeting of regional group Igad in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

Somalia government troops say the aim of the operation is to rid Kismayu of the militants, which, if achieved, would wipe out their base for logistics and recruitment. "We have so far captured Qoqani, just 120km (75 miles) west of Kismayu, where we are heading to," said Gen Yusuf Hussen Dhumal, commander of Somali government troops near Afmadow. "Our troops in Taabto and Hayo have also moved near Afmadow and are just 7km away. We wish in the coming two days to reach Afmadow ... Kenyan convoys are also with us," he told Reuters.

Residents said convoys of armoured vehicles and trucks carrying weaponry, food supplies and tents were seen leaving four military camps in Isiolo in northern Kenya on Friday and heading towards the border. Kenya says it has not encountered any resistance from the rebels and that the militias are on the run and getting weaker, but any attempt to take Afmadow, where the rebels have massed and dug trenches, could result in a significant ground battle.

Residents in Afmadow, where the rebels have hunkered down, said they heard air strikes overnight. "There are al Shabaab fighters between Hayo and Afmadow and currently it is a frontline," Afmadow resident Abdirahim Ali Abukar told Reuters. "We heard heavy bombardments yesterday afternoon and throughout the night ... but we don't know the specific area and the casualties," he said.

A Somali colonel confirmed "bombardment operations" had taken place after heavy rain hampered the ground troops' advance. "Today we have killed eight al Shabaab fighters, including four foreigners in a bombardment in Kolbio," Yusuf Abdi told Reuters, referring to a town just taken by Kenyan troops, along with the town of Oddo.

On Saturday, the Kenyan military said it had moved beyond Oddo and that it had launched an air strike on Munarani, 10 km from Oddo, hitting an al Shabaab command centre. Kenya is the latest of Somalia's neighbours to intervene militarily in a country that has not had an effective government for 20 years. The militants have vowed to bring the "flames of war" into Kenya if Nairobi refuses to withdraw its troops.

The threat of reprisal prompted the US embassy in Kenya to warn its citizens of a possible "imminent threat", with attacks possibly targeting prominent Kenyan facilities and places where foreigners tend to gather like malls and nightclubs. The British government also issued fresh travel advisory against its citizens in Kenyan over fears of terrorist attacks.

• The Foreign Office claims it has credible information that Kenya could be a victim of terrorism over the ongoing war in Somalia. "In late October we were aware of credible information suggesting the threat of a terrorist attack in Kenya," the statement on the website says. 
• The UK claims that Kenyan institutions could be targeted as could places where foreigners gather and advice its citizens against all but essential visits. "There is a high threat from terrorism in Kenya. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers."

 Regional group Igad expressed its support for Kenya's operation in Somalia and urged the UN Security Council to impose a no-fly zone on parts of Somalia and a blockade on Kismayu, the southern port city that serves as the rebels' nerve centre. Prime Minister Raila Odinga meanwhile called on the international community to support Kenya's war against the al Shaabab.

Speaking in Voi during a public rally, Raila criticised the international community for non-commitment to the war against al Shabaab. "We are not interested in empty talk but what we need is a hands-on approach from the international community. This is the time to know Kenya's real friends," he said. He called on the United Nations to support Kenya's bid to dismantle the al Shabaab group which he described as dangerous to the region's security.


the Rest @ AllAfrica

Somali Khatt Smugglers Bring Underage Girls to Makhalis in Kenya for the Sex Trade

At least 50 girls, aged between ten and 15, are sold every week to tour operators and tourist hotels at Sh60,000 each as sex workers and to star in pornographic movies, a report claims. The report released on Tuesday by the International Peace Institute (IPI) says that the girls are trafficked or smuggled to Nairobi from North Eastern Province and Somalia.

The estimation of the number of girls smuggled per week comes from a non-governmental organisation Womankind Kenya, which is based in Garissa.

• "Vehicles that transport miraa  [also called khat, a narcotic weed chewed widely in Somalia] from Kenya to Somalia return loaded with young girls and women, who end up in brothels in Nairobi or who are shipped to Mombasa and destinations outside Kenya," the report says.
• The report titled Termites at Work: Transitional Organised Crime and State Erosion in Kenya was compiled by IPI executive director Mr Peter Gastrow.
• The report says the girls are taken to massage parlours or beauty shops, where contacts from tour operators and hotels come to select the ones they wish to take as sex workers.
• "Tour operators and hotel workers also operate as traffickers and brokers," the report alleges.
• The report says the trafficked children are then taken to scheduled villas in Mombasa where sex tourism thrives.

"The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has estimated that about 10,000 people are trafficked into Coast Province each year," the report says.

Mombasa is a destination for people trafficked from as far as Uganda, Somalia, Tanzania and Ethiopia.

In Kenya, those who control the networks involved in trafficking of humans or smuggling migrants use supermarkets, foreign exchange bureaus and electronic shops as cover for the human trafficking business, the report says.

• The report claims that most traffickers are Somalis and those who head and control the network are known as makhalis.

Code of silence

• In Nairobi and Garissa, the report claims that some traffickers operate as travel agents for airlines. "They pay taxes for their legitimate businesses to ensure that they do not attract queries from Government authorities," the report says.
• The report claims that a code of silence exists among the makhalis and their agents and contacts. "Only other agents, brokers, corrupt senior police officers, and their lawyers know what they do behind their veneer of law abiding upright citizen," the report claims.
• There are at least five to ten makhalis in northern Kenya and in Eastleigh in Nairobi.

They each control a loosely structured network, which they run independently from each other.
By Athman Amran

The Rest @ Standard Media (Kenya)

Somali Pirates and al Shabaab Raid Kenya, Kidnapp disabled Woman at Manda

Somali
(Reuters) - Kenya said on Monday the weekend kidnapping of a French woman was a serious provocation by Somalia's Islamist al Shabaab group which threatens the east African country's multi-million dollar tourism industry.

Internal Security Minister George Saitoti also warned that those behind the kidnapping "and all others who are trying to provoke Kenya have made a big mistake and will live to regret it."

In the second such kidnapping in recent weeks, gunmen stormed the private home of 66-year-old, wheelchair-bound Marie Dedieu on the northern coast island of Manda on Saturday.

They then grabbed and carried her to a waiting boat that crossed into Somalia, where the al Qaeda-allied rebels are in control of large swathes of the south and center.

Analysts and diplomats in the region had warned that Somali pirates were likely to turn to softer targets, such as tourists in Kenya, in response to more robust defense of merchant vessels by private security guards.

• Early last month, gunmen attacked British tourists at a camp resort a short speedboat ride away from northern Kenya's Lamu archipelago, killing a man and kidnapping his wife.
• Last week, fighting also erupted on the Somali-Kenyan border, raising pressure on Kenya's authorities to beef up their defenses against cross-border and sea-based attacks which threaten to hit a tourism industry that earned 74 billion shillings ($737 million) in 2010.

"This is a serious provocation on Kenya's territorial integrity by the al-Shabaab with negative effects on the tourism industry and generally also on our own investment," Saitoti told reporters.

"SPEEDBOATS DISABLED"

Saitoti announced increased security measures near Lamu, an island resort town which is about 100 kilometers from the Somali border, including 24-hour aerial surveillance and the deployment of additional navy vessels.

"All entry and departures by boats will be regulated through a common security point," he said, adding that any speedboats defying orders to stop would be "disabled," without elaborating on the measures.

Hotel operators fear tourists may cancel their bookings due to governments' travel warnings, threatening a sector which is a leading foreign exchange earner and employs many Kenyans.

About a 100 people took to the streets of Lamu to protest against the government's lax security measures and called for greater cooperation with British and French security forces to prevent a repeat of the kidnappings.

"Kenyan police should employ us locals to patrol the water because we can swim and we know the area," said Pius Ndung'a, a construction worker who joined the protest in Lamu.

Dedieu's kidnappers escaped with their hostage after a maritime gun battle with Kenyan security forces, in which Saitoti said two kidnappers had been shot dead.

"The disabled French woman is here and she is very fine, we are keeping her between lower Juba and middle, we are not al Shabaab and we are looking for ransom money," a former al Shabaab fighter who operates with a pirate group in the southern port town of Kismayu told Reuters.


"We have not agreed how much yet. Some of us are waiting to take her in to a different zone," he said. 

Reuters could not independently verify his account.

HOSTAGE "VERY SICK"

Film director Elie Chouraqui, who owns a house near Dedieu, appealed for her friend's release.

"The kidnappers must understand that she is very sick and needs urgent help," Chouraqui was quoted in Le Parisien newspaper as saying.

The protesters slammed the government for failing to provide adequate resources to the local navy base.

"It is unbelievable that we have the Kenyan navy base here and yet we don't even have a boat. We want the Kenyan government and international governments to protect us more," hotel-owner Muhidin Athman said as he marched by the port.

The demonstrators also urged French and British tourists not to shun the palm-fringed archipelago, despite travel warnings by both governments who have asked their citizens to avoid all but essential travel within 150 km (90 miles) of the Somali border.

"We love France. We love Britain. We want them to stay," one placard held aloft by a protester said.

France already has eight hostages held overseas, including one in Somalia who is a member of France's secret service.

On Monday, beaches in the area were empty with one boatman saying he had not ferried any tourists for the last five days.

During a typical high season which runs through October, the white-sand beaches are dotted with tourists who water-ski, snorkel and fish in the turquoise waters and others who stroll along the shore enjoying the Indian Ocean sun. ($1 = 100.400 Kenyan Shillings)

(Additional reporting by Flora Bagenal in Lamu and John Irish in Paris; Writing by Yara Bayoumy)

The Rest @ Reuters

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
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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

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.)

Al Qaeda's Africa Express-Three arested

On the trafficking route from Sudan to Somalia, three Low level gun runners have been arrested in Moroto, Uganda. They may know the logistician running the supply chain.

Three men two other Kenyans have been arrested in Moroto for alleged arms trafficking. They are Peter Amadoi from Kitale Kenya, Loito Madelynoroto, Uganda. from Lokiliyama in Kenya and Ben Okello, a resident of Pallisa district.

Read more: http://ugandaradionetwork.com/a/story., Kenyaphp?s=36280#ixzz1W9HtmSUl

Hassan Mahat Omar Designated as Terrorist by OFAC

Hassan Mahat Omar

The Treasury designation also included Hassan Mahat Omar, a previously unknown Shabaab leader who operates from Nairobi, Kenya.

• Omar is described as a "a key figure in al Shabaab's efforts to recruit new members and raise funds"
• "an ideological leader of al Shabaab."
• He also "exercises leadership and decision-making authority in al Shabaab's internal political and operational decisions."
• Omar operates from a mosque in the Eastleigh section of Nairobi, where he serves as "a key leader."
• Omar and other Shabaab leaders use the Eastleigh mosque to "raise funds, recruit and disseminate propaganda on behalf of al Shabaab."

As a religious leader, Omar has used his position to issue fatwas, or edicts, in favor of Shabaab. His fatwas "have provided al-Shabaab with the religious justification to wage jihad against Somalia's Transitional Federal Government."

The Rest @ The Long War Journal

Shabaab Still Refuse Aid Agencies as Vlilages Die of Drought

Thousands of Somalis trek to Ethiopia every day, but camps are now also forming inside Somalia itself. Camps of people fleeing East Africa's worsening drought have started forming inside Somalia, says medical aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres. One camp had more than doubled in size in a matter of days, and now holds around 5,000 people.

The aid agency can provide medical help, but has no food to give them.

Until now Somalis have been pouring across the borders to Ethiopia and Kenya, arriving at giant refugee camps which are severely overcrowded.

Joe Belliveau of MSF told the BBC the development of camps inside Somalia was a "most desperate and vulnerable moment."

This is a rare glimpse of the situation inside Somalia itself.

MSF is one of a few aid agencies still managing to operate in those areas of Somalia controlled by the militant Islamist group, al al-Shabab.

Continue reading the main story

"Just about a week ago, the number there was about three hundred families in that camp. Within the space of a few days that has jumped to eight hundred families," he said.

Mr Belliveau explained that when people left their homes and their wider families and begun to cluster in camps it indicated that their ability to cope had been exhausted.

"And that's why you see such an outflux also into Ethiopia and Somalia because people have just reached the point, which is the most scary point, where they no longer are able to cope with backup measures for survival," he said.

Mr Belliveau said the recent statement by al-Shabab lifting its ban on aid agencies working in areas it controls was welcome, but so far it had made no difference on the ground.

MSF is having the greatest difficulty in getting permission from al-Shabab to airlift materials into Somalia and bring in expatriate staff.

By Martin Plaut
Africa editor, BBC World Service

The Rest @The BBC

Kenya captures three from al shabaab in the NE part of Kenya ferrying bomb materials back into Somalia to make bombs. They are now being interrogated.....

-Shimron Issachar

By Noor Ali

ISIOLO, Kenya (Reuters) - Kenyan police said on Saturday they had arrested three Somali al Shabaab rebels in the nation's northeast and seized bomb making materials, a day after giving an alert on possible attacks during Easter.

Twice hit by al Qaeda attacks, Kenya is wary of its lawless neighbour Somalia and is among countries in the region supporting the fight against the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab.

On Thursday, police said they had information that al Shabaab planned to carry out attacks in heavily populated areas during the Easter holidays.

North Eastern Province police commander Leo Nyongesa told Reuters three rebels who were arrested as they ferried the materials from Kenya had sneaked in from Somalia and had been under surveillance.

"We have made a major breakthrough. Three al Shabaab rebels have been arrested inside Kenya. They were going back to Somalia with materials which they had come to collect in order to make bombs," he said by phone.

Nyongesa said the three were being interrogated and were likely to be transferred to the capital Nairobi for further questioning by anti-terrorism personnel.

Al Shabaab, which has waged an insurgency against Somalia's Western-backed government, claimed responsibility for twin bombings in Kampala as football fans watched the finals of the World Cup tournament on television in July, killing 79.

The insurgents have threatened to strike Kenya, east Africa's biggest economy, with an assault

similar to the attack on Kampala.

The Rest @ Reuters