Al Shabaab Still stopping food from UN World Food Program

29,000 children died of Starvation in Somalia in the last 90 days, and al Shabaab is denying food from the UN world Food Program from getting to children under al Shabaab's care. They are allowing food from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) into at least some al Shabaab controlled areas . What you won't read in the story below is that the ICRC has a division called the International Red Crescent which flies an Islamic symbol.

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GENEVA/NAIROBI (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) almost doubled its budget for Somali aid Thursday but said it would not be able to help U.N. food supplies get through to starving Somalis.

ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said his independent agency was boosting its emergency operation to help 1.1 million people in the famine-stricken country and was asking donors for an extra 67 million Swiss francs ($86 million) in 2011.

He said the ICRC had good access to southern Somalia, much of which is controlled by Islamist militants, with two supply routes through Somali ports and one overland from Kenya, but the humanitarian organization needed more supplies.

That contrasts with the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), which has the food but says it cannot reach more than two million Somalis in the worst-hit areas because the militant group al Shabaab has blocked access to most aid agencies.

"It's crucial that you can ensure access and have capacity to operate big food pipelines," Kellenberger told a news conference in Geneva.

He said the U.N. food agency normally used partner organizations to distribute its food aid, but it was very difficult for them to get access, and the ICRC would not distribute aid on behalf of other agencies.

"The ICRC is an independent agency, for reasons you'll understand, for its protection," said Kellenberger, a former senior Swiss diplomat.

"And I think that's important for its perception, for its personality, especially in delicate contexts like this. I have also to add that there would also be certain logistic problems."

The ICRC has not given al Shabaab any payment, taxes or concessions to get access, Kellenberger added.

EXPLORING ALL AVENUES

David Orr, a WFP spokesman in Nairobi, declined to respond to Kellenberger's comments specifically.

"WFP is exploring all avenues with all partners and exploring all channels to get access to those in need closest to the epicenter of the famine," Orr said.

Earlier this week, Washington relaxed the rules imposed on charities operating in al Shabaab-controlled regions in a bid to boost the amount of relief reaching those areas.

Bruce Wharton, deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said Thursday it would be a mistake to second-guess whether some aid would inevitably end up in the hands of al Shabaab.

"What we would like is for all of the food assistance to go to the innocent people who are desperately in need and for none of it to go to al Shabaab. But I think that we all recognize that the imperative right now is to save lives," Wharton told a news conference by telephone from Washington.

An ICRC spokeswoman said the situation in southern Somalia was worsening, with more than 20 percent of children under five in an emergency condition because of severe acute malnutrition.

Caught between conflict and famine, hundreds of refugees are flooding into Mogadishu every day -- more than 100,000 people have arrived in the capital in the last two months -- only to stumble into a raging insurgency.

In the Badbaado camp, a city of makeshift shacks home to almost 30,000 displaced people outside Mogadishu, Kalthuma Hassan mourned her three children, all of whom had succumbed to malnutrition. The last died in her arms early Thursday.

"All those trucks of food have been parked here for days. They say they cannot distribute for security reasons. We cannot work it out -- maybe they want to sell the food after we die of hunger. I am afraid I will die before Ramadan ends," Hassan said, sobbing quietly.

"Foreign and local people visit you everyday. They take your photos, officials promise you food, medicine, but in fact we are just dying," she said.

Jon Brause, an official at the U.S. government's aid agency, said despite the easing of rules, it was still not safe for aid agencies to go into southern Somalia.

Kellenberger said the ICRC might be willing to accept U.N. food aid if really necessary.

"In the end the over-riding objective must be to help as many people as possible and whenever certain arrangements have to be made -- in a moment where if they were not made there would be losses in human terms -- I think certainly I would show a certain flexibility."

The Rest @ Zimbio by Reuters

Al Shabaab Withdraws from Mogadishu Somalia

MOGADISHU – In a new development in the burning horn of Africa nation, al-Shabaab Islamist group pulled out on Saturday, August 6, outside the Somali capital of Mogadishu for the first time in the recent months.

"The Somali government welcomes the success attained by the Somali government forces backed by AMISOM (peacekeepers) who defeated the enemy of al-Shabaab," President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed told a press conference, BBC reported.

Somalia has sunk into abyss over the deadly fighting between government troops and militants of Al-Qaeda-inspired Al-Shabab militants.

Over the past months, African Union peacekeepers and government forces have been contained to small areas of the capital.

The Rest @ Islam Online

Recently they have been battling the rebels in a bid to secure delivery routes for emergency supplies of food, water and medication.

Affected by war waged by al-Shabaab Islamists against transitional federal government and draught, more than 100,000 Somalis have fled from the lack of rain in their country to shelter in Dadaab refugee camp.

Government spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman told Reuters the rebel pullout from Mogadishu was a "golden day" for Somalia.

"For the last (four) years Mogadishu has experienced atrocities at the hands of terrorists," Osman said.

“But today they are out.”

Somalia has lacked an effective government since the ouster of former president Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

More than 14 attempts to restore a functional government have since failed.

The UN agency says that the fighting has displaced over 23,000 people from the city over the past few weeks alone.

About 200,000 civilians are believed to have fled the continuing violence in Mogadishu thus far this year, the UN affirms.

Military Tactics

The Qaeda-inspired group denied withdrawing from Mogadishu, describing the move as a "change of military tactics".

"We have abandoned Mogadishu but we remain in other towns," Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, al-Shabaab spokesman said on the al-Shabaab-run Andalus radio station, Reuters reported on Saturday.

Al Shabaab has never previously entirely abandoned Mogadishu during the course of a four-year insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of people.

Rage added that their troops would hold their positions elsewhere.

"We aren't leaving you, but we have changed our tactics," Rage said.

“Every one of you will feel the change in every corner and every street in Mogadishu. We will defend you and continue the fighting.”

Analysts believe it is too early to predict a better, calmer future for the war-torn capital.

“It seems very premature to be putting this down as a victory seeing that al-Shabab have vowed to fight on in Mogadishu but with different tactics,” Will Ross, BBC’s East Africa correspondent, wrote on the BBC.

“They say they are going to switch to guerrilla tactics, so we could now see more suicide bombings, more grenade attacks and perhaps the use of more landmines.”

“These kind of triumphant noises were made at the end of 2006 when the Islamists withdrew, only f

AQIM's Abdelkahar Belhadj Killed in ROute to Car Bombing in ALgeria

ALGIERS: Algerian security forces killed a top member of an Al-Qaeda regional offshoot and two accomplices who were trying to reach Algiers aboard a car laden with explosives, a government official said Thursday.

The official said Abdelkahar Belhadj, son of former Islamic leader Ali Belhadj, was killed Monday as he was heading for the capital Algiers with a small group of Islamic extremists and that they were plotting a bomb attack.

Belhadj, born in 1988, joined Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in 2006 and took the battle name of “Mouawia,” in tribute to one of the companions of the Prophet Mohammad.

Belhadj’s father had been deputy leader of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), whose armed wing tried to overthrow the government in a bloody civil war from 1992 to the early 2000s.

The government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Belhadj was “riding a grey Hyundai Atos” with two other people, one of whom was wearing a belt of explosives.

The Islamists clashed with security forces who tried to force them to stop and shot at their car, which exploded, a source in the security forces told AFP. “Three soldiers were wounded.”

“It’s confirmed. It is the son of Ali Belhadj who has been killed. There has been DNA identification of the body” of Abdelkahar Belhadj, the government source said.

But Abdelkahar’s uncle Abdelhamid Belhadj, saying he was a spokesman for Ali Belhadj, told AFP: “We are unaware of reports that he is dead.”

“The security forces already told us that they would let us know in the event of his death,” he added.

“We have had no phone calls from the security forces.”

The daily Ennahar, quoting reliable sources, Wednesday reported the death of the man, during a bloody incident about 60 kilometers east of the capital.

Ahead of the holy month of Ramadan next month, security forces have been stepping up security around the country. Ennahar’s security expert Mohammad Mokaddem said “several attacks have been foiled and at least 15 terrorists plotting attacks have been arrested recently.”

A spectacular suicide bombing raid on July 16 which targeted a police station in Bordj Menaiel which was claimed by AQIM, claimed two lives and left 14 people injured.



Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Jul-29/Top-AQIM-member-killed-in-Algeria-government-official.ashx#ixzz1U9g5eSAM
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)

Viktor Bout Trial set for October 2011

By Bob Van Voris - Aug 2, 2011 11:34 AM CT

Viktor Bout, who is accused of conspiring to sell weapons to a Colombian terrorist group, lost a second bid to have the charges thrown out.
U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan today rejected Bout’s arguments that the U.S. unfairly targeted him for prosecution and illegally extradited him from Thailand. Last month, Scheindlin rejected Bout’s attempt to have the case dismissed on jurisdictional grounds.
Bout was arrested in 2008 in Bangkok by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents in a sting operation. The government said undercover agents told Bout they were buying weapons for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, including surface-to-air missiles, armor-piercing rocket launchers and machine guns.

Bout, a Russian citizen, argued in court papers that he was “vindictively targeted for prosecution” because the U.S. Defense Department was allegedly embarrassed by reports in 2006 that companies Bout controlled were supplying U.S. armed forces in Iraq.

“I am now looking forward to trial in October, where I’m confident it will become clear that this was a completely DEA- created sting and that Mr. Bout never intended to transport arms to them,” Bout’s lawyer, Albert Dayan said.

The Rest @ Bloomberg

The case is U.S. v. Bout, 08-cr-0365, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

Bob Van Voris in Manhattan federal court at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net

Ikhwan Thinking after the Arab Spring

The post-revolutionary Muslim Brotherhood is facing unprecedented challenges. The movement has been excluded from the legal polity for decades, and has been subject to cycles of partial toleration and periodic repression, causing both organisational and intellectual distortions.

It responded to repression through constructing a broad and vague intellectual formula that guaranteed wide social support, reflecting a decision to compromise ideological clarity for the sake of organizational existence.

Over the course of history, four different schools of thought came to coexist within the Muslim Brotherhood. First is the founder’s school; a relatively modernist school of thought that existed on the margins of Al-Azhar in the early 20th century and was championed by Muhammad Abduh. It rejects the authority of turath (accumulated heritage of Islamic sciences), and calls for the return to Quran and Sunnah and practicing ijtihad (innovation in Islamic jurisprudence) whilst being only guided by ideas in turath.

Second is the traditionalist school, championed by Al-Azhar’s long history of scholarship. It is characterised by heavy reliance on turath and acceptance of the full authenticity of the four main Sunni schools of jurisprudence. The school also promotes the notion of “balanced identity”, arguing that each individual belongs to different circles of affiliation, including mazhab (school of jurisprudence), tariqa (Sufi order), theological school, hometown, profession, guild, family and others. Sophisticated and interlinked affiliations created societal harmony and diversity, and led Islamists to seek gradual customisable reform that responds to societal diversity and does not provide a blueprint, one-size-fits-all manifesto for (re)Islamisation.

Named after the infamous Sayyid Qutb, Qutbism, the third school, is characterised by its highly politicised and revolutionary interpretation of Quran that divides peoples into those who belong to/support Islam/Islamism, and those who oppose it. It relies on historical incidents from the prophet’s biography (mainly conflicts between Muslims and pagans) to construct a framework for managing the relation between Islamists and their societal counterparts, and between the Muslim world and other civilisations. The school emphasises the necessity of developing a detached vanguard that focuses on recruitment and empowering the organisation while postponing all intellectual questions. While hardcore Qutbism opens doors for political violence, Muslim Brotherhood Qutbis follow a demilitarised version of the ideology, clearly distancing themselves from notions of takfir (disbelief) and violence.

The Salafi/Wahabi school made its way to the Muslim Brotherhood (and to the broader Egyptian society) in the 1970s. It is a modernist Islamist ideology that has minimal respect for turath, and is characterised by a conservative, rigid, and rather materialist understanding of Sharia law, low levels of tolerance and the focus on superficial/external components of religion.

Salafi and Qutbi acceptance of notions like democracy and diversity are minimal, and they believe in a strong, broad central state that plays a major role in public morality.

With a wide ideological formula, only four principles keep the Muslim Brotherhood united as an organisation; namely,

1. A belief that Islam is an all-encompassing system;
2. Rejecting violence as a means for political change;
3. Accepting democracy;
4. Accepting political pluralism. It is noteworthy that while accepted in principle, these notions mean different things for different members.[Editor's note: Taaqiyya Alert]

Organisationally, the Muslim Brotherhood responded to repression primarily through centralising decision-making and decentralising decision execution —both designed to sustain unity. The former component was intended to keep disputes contained in limited domains, and capitalise on leadership’s historical legacy to dictate compromises whenever necessary, while the latter was intended to overcome possible consequences of security crackdowns, to create a sense of belonging and empowerment amongst members, and to develop members’ executive capabilities.

As the revolution opened wide doors for the inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood into the polity, the group will move from identity to reform politics. The construction of a political programme requires moving beyond areas of organisational consensus to others of diversity and dispute. With Islam being understood as a value system and a limited set of legislation pertaining to the public sphere, different political programmes could be drafted from the group’s ideology, with different tendencies and political orientations. Some Muslim Brotherhood members are starting to realise the inevitability of political disputes as a real polity emerges and serious political challenges arise.

The Brotherhood has already announced it will establish the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), a declaration met with scepticism from intellectuals and Brotherhood reformers alike. They argue that limiting the broad school of thought to a single political manifestation will inevitably fail, and is harmful for the religious cause the group was founded to serve. Instead, they call for the group’s retreat from the political to civic domain, and allowing the emergence of various political manifestations instead.

So far, the Muslim Brotherhood leadership is rejecting these calls. The group’s chief declared a ban on joining political parties other the FJP. Rather short sighted, the decision will fail to silence emerging diversities from within the group, as diversity is an essential product of freedom. Different organisational measures currently employed to discourage members from leaving the group are failing, as numerous dissidents are already challenging the leadership’s decision and joining other existing parties or establishing their own. As new political questions emerge, the numbers will inevitably increase, and it will be the leadership’s decision to either dismiss dissidents or accept political diversity. Either way, the FJP will cease to act as the sole manifestation of the Muslim Brotherhood, even if it retains monopoly over organisational representation.

With a legacy of diverse ideological orientations and strategic inconsistencies, the Muslim Brotherhood is currently faced by questions more threatening to its very existence than was oppression.

• The context of freedom will undermine dominant organisational rhetoric calling for unity at the cost of diversity.
• As the emergence of various political manifestations seems inevitable, the Brotherhood’s leadership will decide to either allow diversity through a flexible organisation, or disallow it though a rigid one, leading to numerous splits.
• Either way, continued political inclusion and freedom will lead to transcending the phenomenon of political Islamism as it currently exists, and its re-emergence in more sophisticated and more diverse forms.

The Rest @ Ahram Online

Somaliland Foreign Minister's Son With Al Shabaab

(Added October 2nd, 2011

Dated July 25th, 2011

"Somaliland's current foreign minister Mohamed Abdillahi Omar has sent his son to join Al-Shabaab and to support Ahmed Abdi Godane, the leader of Al-Shabaab.

• The young son of Somaliland's foreign minister who has joined Al-Shabaab was qouted saying "his father encouraged him to support the activities of uncle Ahmed Abdi Godane".
• Keep in mind the young man did not say his father sent him to support Islam but to support "the activities of uncle Ahmed Abdi Godane"

The Rest @ Terror Free Somali

Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom

Naser Jason Abdo was arrested at America’s Best Value Inn on South Fort Hood Street in Killeen, TX only about 3 miles from the front gate at Foot Hood on an outstanding warrant for child pornography and for being AWOL (absent without leave) from Fort Campbell, Ky.

When his hotel room was searched police found a lot more than child porn. Fox News reported,

Authorities said they found two clocks, spools of auto wire, Winchester .40 caliber ammunition and a handgun in a backpack, according to court documents. They also discovered an article titled “Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom,” the same title of a how-to article featured in Inspire, the English-language magazine by the terror group based in Yemen, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.