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French journalists embedded in recent counter terror operations in the Sahael region of Africa claim to have been briefed that AQIM has warned of upcoming surface-to-air missile attacks against commercial aircraft. Though it is buried deep in the following story, the timing of such a warning is important. Salafist teachings tell Mujahdin to warn the oppressors so that they may repent. Al Qaeda organizations and their affiliates have consistently given repentance warnings before they introduced a new methods of warfare. This may indicated that AQIM has resolved their SA-7 training and battery issues.
- Shimron Issachar
****************************
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Regional cooperation is needed in the fight against al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb but many potential allies are content to point fingers, a specialist said.
Heavy weaponry lost during the Libyan war is in the hands of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, French newspaper France 24 reports. Its journalists were embedded recently with a counter-terrorism unit in the deserts of Mauritania.
The report said Mauritanian officials say AQIM now has surface-to-air missiles in its possession that can down a commercial airliner.
Mauritania declared parts of its desert a demilitarized zone in 2008 to combat terrorist groups like AQIM, the North African branch of al-Qaida.
Authorities there said, however, that close cooperation between countries in the region is the only effective strategy against AQIM.
Mohamed Mahmoud Adoulmaaly, a newspaper editor and AQIM specialist, told France 24, however, that regionally cooperation was unlikely.
"Algeria spends it's time warning against the French presence and not giving any support, same goes for Niger," he said. "The interests of these countries are all totally divergent."
AQIM took responsibility for a September attack on the Cherchell Military Academy in Algeria that left 16 students and two civilians dead. Washington had earlier acknowledged that AQIM had issued threats against chartered planes in Algeria.
U.S. counter-terrorism officials told reporters during a recent background briefing that "these regional nodes are the way of the future" for al-Qaida.
The Rest @ UPI
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Another Minnesota Mujahadeen Becomes a Suicide Bomber in Somalia
One of two suicide bombers who blew themselves up during an attack on peacekeepers in Somalia was an American, the country’s Islamist leadership claimed on Sunday.
In a post on a Somali website popular with the al-Shabaab insurgency, Abdusalam al-Muhajir said that he left the US to fight with militants two years ago but now “wanted to die as a martyr”.
He and his accomplice disguised themselves as Somali government soldiers, allowing them to get close to an African Union position before troops there became suspicious and opened fire.
The two men then detonated explosive vests they were wearing. At least two AU soldiers were wounded in the attack, on Saturday morning, although al-Shabaab claimed six were killed.
The Rest @ Vinienco
In an online video released on Sunday and recorded before he died, al-Muhajir said that he was born in Somalia but that his family fled with him to the US when he was two-years-old.
He had an American accent and used both Islamic religious terminology and US street slang as he urged Muslims to carry out attacks against what he called “unbelievers”.
In a post on a Somali website popular with the al-Shabaab insurgency, Abdusalam al-Muhajir said that he left the US to fight with militants two years ago but now “wanted to die as a martyr”.
He and his accomplice disguised themselves as Somali government soldiers, allowing them to get close to an African Union position before troops there became suspicious and opened fire.
The two men then detonated explosive vests they were wearing. At least two AU soldiers were wounded in the attack, on Saturday morning, although al-Shabaab claimed six were killed.
The Rest @ Vinienco
In an online video released on Sunday and recorded before he died, al-Muhajir said that he was born in Somalia but that his family fled with him to the US when he was two-years-old.
He had an American accent and used both Islamic religious terminology and US street slang as he urged Muslims to carry out attacks against what he called “unbelievers”.
Friday, October 28, 2011
The US in Africa
With the US announcing that 100 troops will be sent to help combat the Lord's Resistance Army, Gary K. Busch unpacks the history of US intervention in Africa - and points to recent oil discoveries in East Africa as the real reason for the military intervention.
US President Barack Obama said on Friday 14 October 2011 that 100 troops would help Uganda track down Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel chief Joseph Kony and other senior LRA leaders. This is interesting, indeed, but it is not news. The US has been among those who have been fighting LRA for over 15 years without any discernible success. The fight against the LRA has brought together in the US Congress a consensus from all wings of the political process - from one extreme to the other. The legislation was sponsored by Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold and involved almost every humanitarian NGO and outraged citizen groups arrayed against the depredations of the LRA.
The US has a very poor track record in attacking the LRA. An earlier US military co-involvement with Uganda's army - Operation Lighting Thunder - in December 2008, was a disastrous failure, leading to additional massacres of Congolese civilians. There's not a single place in Africa where US military intervention has resulted in a favourable resolution and restoration of peace and stability. It is not for the want of trying.
There are around 2,500 service personnel permanently stationed at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. The Camp supports approximately 2,500 US, joint and allied forces military and civilian personnel and US Department of Defense contractors. Additionally, the base provides employment for approximately 1,200 local and third country nation workers. Camp Lemonnier provides, operates and sustains and supports regional and combatant command requirements; and enables operations in the Horn of Africa and nearby.
THE US IS AT WAR IN AFRICA
The US is at war in Africa. It has been at war as an integral part of the Cold War. It has had practical experience in African wars. America has been fighting wars in Africa since the 1950s - in Angola, the DRC, Somalia, the Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Morocco, Libya, Djibouti to name but a few counties. In some countries they used US troops, but in most cases the US financed, armed and supervised the support of indigenous forces. In its support of the anti- MPLA forces in Angola it sent arms and equipment to the UNITA opposition.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Larry Devlin of the CIA was an unofficial Minister of Mobutu's government; the US ran its own air force in the Congo at WIGMO. US airmen supported the South African forces in Kwando, Fort Doppies and Encana bases in the Caprivi from WIGMO. At these bases one could also find soldiers from Southern Rhodesia (in their DC3s) and German, French, Portuguese and other NATO troops.
One of the largest of these bases was at Wheelus Field, in Libya. Wheelus Air Base was located on the Mediterranean coast, just east of Tripoli, Libya. With its 4,600 Americans, the US Ambassador to Libya once called it 'a Little America'. During the Korean War, Wheelus was used by the US Strategic Air Command, later becoming a primary training ground for NATO forces. Strategic Air Command bomber deployments to Wheelus began on 16 November 1950. Wheelus became a vital link in SAC war plans for use as a bomber, tanker refuelling and recon-fighter base. The US left in 1970.
Another giant base was Kagnew Field in Asmara. The base was established in 1943 as an army radio station, home to the US Army's 4th Detachment of the Second Signal Service Battalion. Kagnew Station became home for over 5,000 American citizens at a time during its peak years of operation during the 1960s. Kagnew Station operated until 29 April 1977, when the last Americans left Kagnew Station.
However, with the end of the Cold War, the US has found itself fighting a much more difficult and insidious war; the war with Al Qaida. This is much less of a war that involves military might and prowess. It is a war against the spread of drug dealing, illicit diamonds, illicit gold and the sheltering of Salafists (Islamic militants) who use these methods to acquire cash which has sustained the Al Qaida organisation throughout the world. The political dichotomy between the Muslim North in Africa and the Christian/Animist South is not only a religious conflict. It is a conflict between organised international crime and states seeking to maintain their legitimacy.
There are now several 'narco-states' in Africa. The first to fall was Guinea-Bissau, where scores of Colombian cartel leaders moved in to virtually take over the state. Every day an estimated one tonne of pure Colombian cocaine is thought to be transiting through the mainland's mangrove swamps and the chain of islands that make up Guinea-Bissau, most of it en route to Europe This drug trade is spreading like wildfire in West Africa, offering remuneration to African leaders, generals or warlords well in excess of anything these Africans could hope to earn in normal commerce.
This burgeoning drug business was an offshoot of the political, economic and military connections which were made by Al Qaida in pursuit of their takeover of the 'blood diamond' business in West Africa.
Now the battle is with Al-Qaida in the Maghreb (AQIM) which combines drug and diamond smuggling with terrorist acts. This battle has required a lot of troops on the ground, as advisers and trainers, as well as teams of DEA agents across West Africa.
BACKGROUND TO AFRICOM
These are not unique examples. According to a US Congressional Research Service Study[1] published in November 2010, Washington has dispatched anywhere between hundreds and several thousand combat troops, dozens of fighter planes and warships to buttress client dictatorships or to unseat adversarial regimes in dozens of countries, almost on a yearly basis. The record shows that US armed forces intervened in Africa 47 times prior to the current LRA endeavour.[2] The countries suffering one or more US military intervention include the Congo, Zaire, Libya, Chad, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Rwanda, Liberia, Central African Republic, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea.
Between the mid 1950's to the end of the 1970's, only four overt military operations were recorded, though large-scale proxy and clandestine military operations were pervasive. Under Reagan-Bush Sr. (1980-1991) military intervention accelerated, rising to eight, not counting the large scale clandestine 'special forces' and proxy wars in Southern Africa. Under the Clinton regime, US militarised intervention in Africa took off. Between 1992 and 2000, 17 armed incursions took place, including a large-scale invasion of Somalia and military backing for the Rwanda genocidal regime. Clinton intervened in Liberia, Gabon, Congo and Sierra Leone to prop up long standing troubled regimes. He bombed the Sudan and dispatched military personnel to Kenya and Ethiopia to back proxy clients assaulting Somalia. Under Bush Jr. 15 US military interventions took place, mainly in Central and East Africa.
Most of US African outreach is disproportionally built on military links to client military chiefs. The Pentagon has military ties with 53 African countries (including Libya prior to the current attack). Washington's efforts to militarise Africa and turn its armies into proxy mercenaries in protecting property and fighting terrorists were accelerated after 9/11.[3]
The Bush Administration announced in 2002 that Africa was a 'strategic priority in fighting terrorism'.[4] Henceforth, US foreign policy strategists, with the backing of both liberal and neoconservative congress people, moved to centralise and coordinate a military policy on a continent wide basis forming the African Command (AFRICOM). The latter organises African armies, euphemistically called 'co-operative partnerships', to conduct neo-colonial wars based on bilateral agreements (Uganda, Burundi, etc.) as well as 'multi-lateral' links with the Organisation of African Unity.[5]
The Rest @ AllAfrica ...
US President Barack Obama said on Friday 14 October 2011 that 100 troops would help Uganda track down Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel chief Joseph Kony and other senior LRA leaders. This is interesting, indeed, but it is not news. The US has been among those who have been fighting LRA for over 15 years without any discernible success. The fight against the LRA has brought together in the US Congress a consensus from all wings of the political process - from one extreme to the other. The legislation was sponsored by Senators John McCain and Russ Feingold and involved almost every humanitarian NGO and outraged citizen groups arrayed against the depredations of the LRA.
The US has a very poor track record in attacking the LRA. An earlier US military co-involvement with Uganda's army - Operation Lighting Thunder - in December 2008, was a disastrous failure, leading to additional massacres of Congolese civilians. There's not a single place in Africa where US military intervention has resulted in a favourable resolution and restoration of peace and stability. It is not for the want of trying.
There are around 2,500 service personnel permanently stationed at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. The Camp supports approximately 2,500 US, joint and allied forces military and civilian personnel and US Department of Defense contractors. Additionally, the base provides employment for approximately 1,200 local and third country nation workers. Camp Lemonnier provides, operates and sustains and supports regional and combatant command requirements; and enables operations in the Horn of Africa and nearby.
- There are around 320 additional Special Forces personnel operating in West Africa, including three teams in the Niger Delta.
- The upsurge of Boko Haram violence in Northern Nigeria has attracted more.
- Others are working, with the Marines, in training exercises across Africa.
- There are three 'Psychops' groups operating in East Africa, especially in Kenya's Northeast Frontier.
THE US IS AT WAR IN AFRICA
The US is at war in Africa. It has been at war as an integral part of the Cold War. It has had practical experience in African wars. America has been fighting wars in Africa since the 1950s - in Angola, the DRC, Somalia, the Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Morocco, Libya, Djibouti to name but a few counties. In some countries they used US troops, but in most cases the US financed, armed and supervised the support of indigenous forces. In its support of the anti- MPLA forces in Angola it sent arms and equipment to the UNITA opposition.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Larry Devlin of the CIA was an unofficial Minister of Mobutu's government; the US ran its own air force in the Congo at WIGMO. US airmen supported the South African forces in Kwando, Fort Doppies and Encana bases in the Caprivi from WIGMO. At these bases one could also find soldiers from Southern Rhodesia (in their DC3s) and German, French, Portuguese and other NATO troops.
One of the largest of these bases was at Wheelus Field, in Libya. Wheelus Air Base was located on the Mediterranean coast, just east of Tripoli, Libya. With its 4,600 Americans, the US Ambassador to Libya once called it 'a Little America'. During the Korean War, Wheelus was used by the US Strategic Air Command, later becoming a primary training ground for NATO forces. Strategic Air Command bomber deployments to Wheelus began on 16 November 1950. Wheelus became a vital link in SAC war plans for use as a bomber, tanker refuelling and recon-fighter base. The US left in 1970.
Another giant base was Kagnew Field in Asmara. The base was established in 1943 as an army radio station, home to the US Army's 4th Detachment of the Second Signal Service Battalion. Kagnew Station became home for over 5,000 American citizens at a time during its peak years of operation during the 1960s. Kagnew Station operated until 29 April 1977, when the last Americans left Kagnew Station.
However, with the end of the Cold War, the US has found itself fighting a much more difficult and insidious war; the war with Al Qaida. This is much less of a war that involves military might and prowess. It is a war against the spread of drug dealing, illicit diamonds, illicit gold and the sheltering of Salafists (Islamic militants) who use these methods to acquire cash which has sustained the Al Qaida organisation throughout the world. The political dichotomy between the Muslim North in Africa and the Christian/Animist South is not only a religious conflict. It is a conflict between organised international crime and states seeking to maintain their legitimacy.
There are now several 'narco-states' in Africa. The first to fall was Guinea-Bissau, where scores of Colombian cartel leaders moved in to virtually take over the state. Every day an estimated one tonne of pure Colombian cocaine is thought to be transiting through the mainland's mangrove swamps and the chain of islands that make up Guinea-Bissau, most of it en route to Europe This drug trade is spreading like wildfire in West Africa, offering remuneration to African leaders, generals or warlords well in excess of anything these Africans could hope to earn in normal commerce.
This burgeoning drug business was an offshoot of the political, economic and military connections which were made by Al Qaida in pursuit of their takeover of the 'blood diamond' business in West Africa.
- During the civil wars in Sierra Leone the Revolutionary United Front ('RUF') took over the diamond fields in the country; initially at Kono. The diamonds were mined by RUF rebels, who became infamous during Sierra Leone's civil war for hacking off the arms and legs of civilians and abducting thousands of children and forcing them to fight as combatants.
- The country's alluvial diamond fields, some of the richest in the world, were the principal prize in the civil war, and they were under RUF control for years.
- Small packets of diamonds, often wrapped in rags or plastic sheets, were taken by senior RUF commanders across the porous Liberian border to Monrovia, where they were exchanged for briefcases of cash brought by diamond dealers who flew several times a month from Belgium to Monrovia, returning to Pelikaanstraat in Antwerp.
Now the battle is with Al-Qaida in the Maghreb (AQIM) which combines drug and diamond smuggling with terrorist acts. This battle has required a lot of troops on the ground, as advisers and trainers, as well as teams of DEA agents across West Africa.
BACKGROUND TO AFRICOM
These are not unique examples. According to a US Congressional Research Service Study[1] published in November 2010, Washington has dispatched anywhere between hundreds and several thousand combat troops, dozens of fighter planes and warships to buttress client dictatorships or to unseat adversarial regimes in dozens of countries, almost on a yearly basis. The record shows that US armed forces intervened in Africa 47 times prior to the current LRA endeavour.[2] The countries suffering one or more US military intervention include the Congo, Zaire, Libya, Chad, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Rwanda, Liberia, Central African Republic, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea.
Between the mid 1950's to the end of the 1970's, only four overt military operations were recorded, though large-scale proxy and clandestine military operations were pervasive. Under Reagan-Bush Sr. (1980-1991) military intervention accelerated, rising to eight, not counting the large scale clandestine 'special forces' and proxy wars in Southern Africa. Under the Clinton regime, US militarised intervention in Africa took off. Between 1992 and 2000, 17 armed incursions took place, including a large-scale invasion of Somalia and military backing for the Rwanda genocidal regime. Clinton intervened in Liberia, Gabon, Congo and Sierra Leone to prop up long standing troubled regimes. He bombed the Sudan and dispatched military personnel to Kenya and Ethiopia to back proxy clients assaulting Somalia. Under Bush Jr. 15 US military interventions took place, mainly in Central and East Africa.
Most of US African outreach is disproportionally built on military links to client military chiefs. The Pentagon has military ties with 53 African countries (including Libya prior to the current attack). Washington's efforts to militarise Africa and turn its armies into proxy mercenaries in protecting property and fighting terrorists were accelerated after 9/11.[3]
The Bush Administration announced in 2002 that Africa was a 'strategic priority in fighting terrorism'.[4] Henceforth, US foreign policy strategists, with the backing of both liberal and neoconservative congress people, moved to centralise and coordinate a military policy on a continent wide basis forming the African Command (AFRICOM). The latter organises African armies, euphemistically called 'co-operative partnerships', to conduct neo-colonial wars based on bilateral agreements (Uganda, Burundi, etc.) as well as 'multi-lateral' links with the Organisation of African Unity.[5]
The Rest @ AllAfrica ...
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
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
*********************************
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.
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.
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
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
*********************************
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
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Kenya and Somali TFG Forces Raid al Shabaab in Southern Somalia
Kenyan troops have crossed into Somalia and have driven out al-Shabab fighters from two bases near the border in a joint operation with Somali soldiers, according to a Somali military commander.
The Rest @ Longar Journal
- Kenya has said it will hunt the fighters they accuse of being behind several recent kidnappings of foreigners.
- Abdi Yusuf, a senior Somali military commander, said on Sunday that fighter jets struck two al-Shabab bases in southern Somalia, but could not confirm if the aircraft belonged to Kenya. "There have been air strikes in al-Shabab bases near Afmadow late yesterday and today.
- We are heading towards Afmadow now. Al-Shabab have already vacated the town," he said.
- Alfred Mutua, the Kenyan government spokesman, said that its troops had entered southern Somalia to fight the al-Shabab, who it says are responsible for attacks on its territory.
- In response, al-Shabab called on Somalis to rally and attack the Kenyan troops. "Kenya violated the territorial rights of Somalia by entering our holy land, but I assure you that they will return disappointed, God willing,"
- Sheikh Hassan Turki, a senior al-Shabab leader, said. "Mujahideen fighters will force them to test the pain of the bullets." Turki called on Somalis to stand united against "this blood-thirsty enemy that has crossed into our territories and the apostate Somali militants helping them".
- In response to Kenya's deployment of forces in Somalia, Shabaab spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage warned that Shabaab would retaliate with suicide bombings in Kenya, saying "[R]emember what happened in Uganda's capital," a reference to the 2010 Shabaab suicide attacks in Kampala that killed 76 people, according to The Associated Press.
- Kenya's decision to send troops into Somalia is interesting, as the Kenyan military has hitherto been cautious and largely stayed out of the fight in Somalia, with the exception of some border clashes with Shabaab.
- If Kenyan forces are in Qooqaani, and are moving toward Afmadow, then they've moved about 40-50 miles inside Somali territory.
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