At least three lawmakers have been assassinated in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland in recent months, increasing fears that radical Islamist insurgents in the south may be expanding their effort to weaken the government in Puntland. One regional analyst says so far, there is no evidence to suggest that the violence in Puntland is being orchestrated or carried out by al-Qaida-linked militants in southern Somalia.
Earlier this week, unidentified gunmen shot and killed a lawmaker in the northern port town of Bosasso, marking the third time in recent months that a member of Puntland parliament has been targeted for assassination.
On January 6, another lawmaker was gunned down in Bosasso and two months before that, gunmen assassinated a lawmaker in the Puntland capital, Garowe.
Residents say since the region declared autonomy from the rest of Somalia in 1998, there is little precedent for the level and frequency of violence against Puntland government officials as is the case now. In the past two years, assassins, including a suicide bomber, have killed several senior police and military officials, and targeted government ministers.
According to International Crisis Group's regional analyst E.J. Hogendoorn, there is little doubt as to who may be carrying out these attacks.
"There is a fairly strong undercurrent of radicalized individuals living in Puntland, who have targeted Puntland officials over time," said Hogendoorn. "They have been repressed and probably more radicalized by successive Puntland administrations and they are lashing out. And the reason they are attacking members of parliament at the moment is because they are soft targets. Other officials have increased their security and they are now going after people who do not have as good a security."
Islamic fundamentalists emerged as a militarized group after the downfall of Somalia's last government in 1991. The militant al-Itihaad al-Islamiya group was dominated by members of the southern-based Hawiye clan, and in Puntland, al-Itihaad could not fully secure the popular support it needed to strengthen their position in a region dominated by the Darod, a rival clan.
In the early 1990s, Abdullahi Yusuf, a Darod military strongman who later became president of Puntland, led a bloody military campaign against the Islamist movement. Al-Itihaad was defeated in Puntland and forced to retreat from all major towns in the region, including Garowe and Bosasso.
Hogendoorn says with the growing power and influence of al-Shabab in the south, there are indications that radicals in Puntland are seizing the opportunity to challenge Puntland's secular authorities.
"The precursor to al-Shabab, al-Itihaad - they were not driven out. They were just driven underground," said Hogendoorn. "Most likely, they communicate with elements of al-Shabab in south-central Somalia. What we have no idea is whether or not this violence is being coordinated by al-Shabab. From my perspective, I have a hard time believing that. I think it is people within Puntland, who are taking the initiative to target the government and try to undermine it."
Al-Shabab militants, who proclaim allegiance to al-Qaida, currently control large areas of southern Somalia and most districts in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. In recent months, the group, listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and Australia, has captured international attention by recruiting fighters from the Somali Diaspora in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
But al-Shabab has a de-centralized leadership structure, which Hogendoorn says may hinder al-Shabab's ability to coordinate activities with other militant groups.
Source:voanews.com/
Showing posts with label Will U.S. troops?. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Will U.S. troops?. Show all posts
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Human Rights Watch and a “deteriorating human rights trajectory”
The US secretary of State, Hillary Clinton feels that there needs to be more liberty regarding speech online and internet companies like Google, should not support "politically-motivated censorship."
The Security Council meeting on Somalia last week
The United Nations Security Council was briefed on the situation in Somalia on Thursday January 14th, after UN Secretary-General, Ban ki-Moon, presented his latest report on Somalia to the Council. The Council also heard the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Mr. Ould-Abdallah, and the meeting was also addressed by representatives of the African Union and the Arab League as well as Somalia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. As we detailed in the last Week in the Horn, the Secretary-General recommended a continuation of his current strategy to protect the Government and AMISOM, and invited the Council to renew the authorization of the UN Political Office for Somalia and AMISOM. The main emphasis of Mr. Ould-Abdullah’s message to the Council was that the Somali Government had made significant progress in recent months and deserved greater commitment and assistance from the UN and international partners. He called on the international community to translate its political and verbal support into the necessary material assistance. His recommendations included coordinated international policy objectives, a clear signal to extremists, increased international support for AMISOM, and an integrated UN approach. He emphasized that a failure to act now in a decisive manner would dramatically increase the ultimate costs of resolving the problems of Somalia.
The African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, Mr. Ramtane Lamamra, told the Council that 2009 had been a difficult year for Somalia. The enemies of peace and reconciliation had stepped up their aggression to try to undo the Djibouti Peace Process. Commissioner Lamamra said the link between Al-Shabaab and international jihadism had been confirmed as had Al-Shabaab’s relations with Al Qaeda. There had been an influx of foreign fighters into Somalia leading to an upsurge in terrorist activities. Equally, the past year had also seen positive momentum in terms of the rebirth of the state and the expansion of the Government. He pointed out that although AMISOM had lost twice as many soldiers in 2009 as over the whole of its previous existence, it had also been reinforced in size, capacity and experience. Its mandate had been extended on January 8th by the AU Peace and Security Council for another twelve months. He called on the Security Council to extend its authorization of AMISOM, and repeated the request of the Peace and Security Council that AMISOM should be integrated into a UN peacekeeping operation for Somalia. Commissioner Lamamra also underlined the need to impose a no-fly zone as well as control of Somalia’s sea ports to deny extremists the use of Somalia's air and maritime space, and help resolve the problem of piracy which was fueling extremism.
The Permanent Observer of the League of Arab States to the UN, Mr. Yahya Mahmassani, described the crisis in Somalia as the main challenge to peace and security in the Horn of Africa. He said inaction by the international community had contributed to a further worsening of the situation. The solution must be based on the Djibouti process, and AMISOM should be given full support. He said the Arab League called on states and regional groups to participate and help complete AMISOM deployment, including the provision of financial and logistical support. He also urged closer cooperation among humanitarian agencies to meet the challenge of humanitarian assistance. He noted that while the international community should be mindful of the need to end piracy, it was also necessary for the Security Council to take the necessary measures to tackle the root causes, among which he included the absence of strong state institutions.
The Permanent Representative of Somalia to the UN, Mr. Elmi Ahmed Duale, also stressed the importance of security to the Council. Without it, he said, meaningful progress in economy and development would be difficult to achieve. He emphasized the need to rebuild Somali national security forces, and to strengthen AMISOM and make it an integral part of a larger UN peacekeeping effort. He pointed out that the Government had received only a small portion of the pledges made in Brussels last April, and appealed urgently for states to release their pledged contributions. He said the Government’s strategy for 2010 would focus on reconciliation, security, the international conference on recovery and reconstruction, and effective cooperation with neighboring states. He said the Government considered the three-phase incremental approach by the UN might prove inadequate, given the dire humanitarian situation. What Somalia needed now was not a ‘light United Nations footprint’ but a heavy one.
These briefings preceded a closed session of the Council, but member states did express similar views in support of the TFG and of AMISOM as well as their concern about the situation in Somalia which it was agreed needed closer, more coordinated and concrete support to produce further improvement. It was decided to hold a follow-up session on Somalia before the end of the month when the Council is expected to produce another resolution on Somalia. The Council is, in fact, scheduled to consider the future status of AMISOM on January 28th. The UN authorization for AMISOM expires on January 31st as does the current UN support package for the Mission.
Human Rights Watch and a “deteriorating human rights trajectory”
On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch published its World Report 2010, covering human rights around the world in 2009. In his introductory essay, Director Kenneth Roth argues that the effectiveness of the human rights movement to exert pressure on governments has grown enormously in recent years and, as a result, there was a growing reaction from abusive governments which had been particularly intense last year, with numerous attacks on human rights monitors. Mr. Roth said the way to stop this was for governments to make human rights a central part of their diplomacy, “to make respecting human rights the bedrock of their diplomacy”. In an assumption of righteousness, ignoring the ongoing international discussion and even dissension over the issue, the introduction attacks African states for refusing to support the ICC’s controversial arrest warrant against President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan. It claims many African democracies even chose the comfort of regional solidarity rather than staking out a credible position of principle in support of international justice.
In this context, we have to say that the credibility of Human Rights Watch is itself an issue, certainly in its report on Ethiopia. Its country summary repeatedly suggests Ethiopia is “on a deteriorating human rights trajectory”, sliding “towards deeper repression”, that the space for independent civil society “already extremely narrow, shrank dramatically in 2009”, and a “worsening human rights record” is sliding “deeper into repression”. It talks about “measures to control the elections in 2010” though, not surprisingly, none of these are specified – there are, in fact, none to specify.
One can of course argue about how much human rights may or may not have improved, but it is surprising that Human Rights Watch chose totally to ignore the single most significant development in the electoral process in Ethiopia last year. This was the signing of a Code of Conduct for Political Parties, negotiated by 65 political parties, and its subsequent adoption into law. This by any standards is an impressive document, binding political parties, candidates, members and supporters of political parties to ensure that elections are guided by ethical rules of conduct, and are transparent, free, fair, peaceful, democratic, legitimate and acceptable to the voters. The Code lays down the regulations for the National Electoral Board, the mass media, and the judiciary, and their ability to function independently and impartially, free of all party pressures. It lays out the details for fair utilization by all parties of government resources for the election; and underlines the responsibility of the parties for a successful election. A procedure for grievances is provided and a Joint Council of Political Parties is being set up to implement the Code.
The Code was signed last November so there can be no excuse for Human Rights Watch to have ignored it. Similarly, one might note that Engineer Hailu Shawel, one of those most involved in the problems of 2005, was a central figure in the drafting of the Code. These are surely promising developments by any standards. Aren’t they at least worth a mention, however brief? It is frankly dishonest (and certainly unfair) to talk about a deteriorating trajectory and efforts to control the elections while making no reference to the Code which is a major development to the contrary. Similarly, although the report does indicate that Human Rights Watch has for the first time been prepared to read one of the reports of Ethiopia’s Human Rights Commission (a new Commissioner, Ambassador Tiruneh Zena, was approved by acclamation by all parties in Parliament last week), the reference is no more than disparaging. It all suggests that Human Rights Watch has no interest in, and no time for, any promising developments, that its criticisms in fact are not made in good faith. At this point we can’t go into further detail about this issue or Human Rights Watch’s repeated failures to evaluate recent legislation with any care, though it did, grudgingly, allow that the 2008 media law was an improvement. The Asset Registration and Anti-Corruption bill might have been worth a mention? Its largely inaccurate assertions about the provisions of the recent civil society and anti-terrorist laws need more space and time to respond.
Two other points do however need to be raised. Human Rights Watch refers, rather ungenerously, to the inquiry that the Ethiopian government did “purport to launch” into allegations of serious abuses by the military against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) in the Somali Regional State. These were, in fact, allegations made in one of Human Rights Watch’s own reports. Human Rights Watch says the inquiry was sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, lacked independence and concluded no serious abuses took place. That is not strictly true. The inquiry, which was independent, actually found that many of the allegations were unsubstantiated, and lacking in substance or proof. Numerous villages that Human Rights Watch claimed to have been burnt down were found to be undamaged, and a significant number of people, described as killed or tortured, were found alive and unharmed. It also found that Human Rights Watch had ignored many abuses committed by the ONLF. The inquiry concluded that Human Rights Watch’s methodology, which involved no effort to investigate on the ground, and its evaluation of allegations made by dissidents in exile, were seriously flawed. Human Rights Watch has still to respond to the questions raised about its own procedures and practices.
The second point is that Human Rights Watch in the country summary on Ethiopia, as on a number of other countries, complains that major donors are unwilling to confront countries over what Human Rights Watch claims is a worsening human rights record. In the case of Ethiopia, it is particularly critical of the UK. Human Rights Watch argues that donors remain silent for fear that Ethiopia would discontinue or scale back their bilateral aid and development programs. This is an unusually bizarre suggestion, particularly since there is another very obvious reason why major donors say little – it may be that they do not entirely agree with Human Rights Watch. Given some of the errors and mistakes Human Rights Watch has perpetrated over the years that would hardly be a surprise.
Source:waltainfo.com/
The Security Council meeting on Somalia last week
The United Nations Security Council was briefed on the situation in Somalia on Thursday January 14th, after UN Secretary-General, Ban ki-Moon, presented his latest report on Somalia to the Council. The Council also heard the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, Mr. Ould-Abdallah, and the meeting was also addressed by representatives of the African Union and the Arab League as well as Somalia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. As we detailed in the last Week in the Horn, the Secretary-General recommended a continuation of his current strategy to protect the Government and AMISOM, and invited the Council to renew the authorization of the UN Political Office for Somalia and AMISOM. The main emphasis of Mr. Ould-Abdullah’s message to the Council was that the Somali Government had made significant progress in recent months and deserved greater commitment and assistance from the UN and international partners. He called on the international community to translate its political and verbal support into the necessary material assistance. His recommendations included coordinated international policy objectives, a clear signal to extremists, increased international support for AMISOM, and an integrated UN approach. He emphasized that a failure to act now in a decisive manner would dramatically increase the ultimate costs of resolving the problems of Somalia.
The African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security, Mr. Ramtane Lamamra, told the Council that 2009 had been a difficult year for Somalia. The enemies of peace and reconciliation had stepped up their aggression to try to undo the Djibouti Peace Process. Commissioner Lamamra said the link between Al-Shabaab and international jihadism had been confirmed as had Al-Shabaab’s relations with Al Qaeda. There had been an influx of foreign fighters into Somalia leading to an upsurge in terrorist activities. Equally, the past year had also seen positive momentum in terms of the rebirth of the state and the expansion of the Government. He pointed out that although AMISOM had lost twice as many soldiers in 2009 as over the whole of its previous existence, it had also been reinforced in size, capacity and experience. Its mandate had been extended on January 8th by the AU Peace and Security Council for another twelve months. He called on the Security Council to extend its authorization of AMISOM, and repeated the request of the Peace and Security Council that AMISOM should be integrated into a UN peacekeeping operation for Somalia. Commissioner Lamamra also underlined the need to impose a no-fly zone as well as control of Somalia’s sea ports to deny extremists the use of Somalia's air and maritime space, and help resolve the problem of piracy which was fueling extremism.
The Permanent Observer of the League of Arab States to the UN, Mr. Yahya Mahmassani, described the crisis in Somalia as the main challenge to peace and security in the Horn of Africa. He said inaction by the international community had contributed to a further worsening of the situation. The solution must be based on the Djibouti process, and AMISOM should be given full support. He said the Arab League called on states and regional groups to participate and help complete AMISOM deployment, including the provision of financial and logistical support. He also urged closer cooperation among humanitarian agencies to meet the challenge of humanitarian assistance. He noted that while the international community should be mindful of the need to end piracy, it was also necessary for the Security Council to take the necessary measures to tackle the root causes, among which he included the absence of strong state institutions.
The Permanent Representative of Somalia to the UN, Mr. Elmi Ahmed Duale, also stressed the importance of security to the Council. Without it, he said, meaningful progress in economy and development would be difficult to achieve. He emphasized the need to rebuild Somali national security forces, and to strengthen AMISOM and make it an integral part of a larger UN peacekeeping effort. He pointed out that the Government had received only a small portion of the pledges made in Brussels last April, and appealed urgently for states to release their pledged contributions. He said the Government’s strategy for 2010 would focus on reconciliation, security, the international conference on recovery and reconstruction, and effective cooperation with neighboring states. He said the Government considered the three-phase incremental approach by the UN might prove inadequate, given the dire humanitarian situation. What Somalia needed now was not a ‘light United Nations footprint’ but a heavy one.
These briefings preceded a closed session of the Council, but member states did express similar views in support of the TFG and of AMISOM as well as their concern about the situation in Somalia which it was agreed needed closer, more coordinated and concrete support to produce further improvement. It was decided to hold a follow-up session on Somalia before the end of the month when the Council is expected to produce another resolution on Somalia. The Council is, in fact, scheduled to consider the future status of AMISOM on January 28th. The UN authorization for AMISOM expires on January 31st as does the current UN support package for the Mission.
Human Rights Watch and a “deteriorating human rights trajectory”
On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch published its World Report 2010, covering human rights around the world in 2009. In his introductory essay, Director Kenneth Roth argues that the effectiveness of the human rights movement to exert pressure on governments has grown enormously in recent years and, as a result, there was a growing reaction from abusive governments which had been particularly intense last year, with numerous attacks on human rights monitors. Mr. Roth said the way to stop this was for governments to make human rights a central part of their diplomacy, “to make respecting human rights the bedrock of their diplomacy”. In an assumption of righteousness, ignoring the ongoing international discussion and even dissension over the issue, the introduction attacks African states for refusing to support the ICC’s controversial arrest warrant against President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan. It claims many African democracies even chose the comfort of regional solidarity rather than staking out a credible position of principle in support of international justice.
In this context, we have to say that the credibility of Human Rights Watch is itself an issue, certainly in its report on Ethiopia. Its country summary repeatedly suggests Ethiopia is “on a deteriorating human rights trajectory”, sliding “towards deeper repression”, that the space for independent civil society “already extremely narrow, shrank dramatically in 2009”, and a “worsening human rights record” is sliding “deeper into repression”. It talks about “measures to control the elections in 2010” though, not surprisingly, none of these are specified – there are, in fact, none to specify.
One can of course argue about how much human rights may or may not have improved, but it is surprising that Human Rights Watch chose totally to ignore the single most significant development in the electoral process in Ethiopia last year. This was the signing of a Code of Conduct for Political Parties, negotiated by 65 political parties, and its subsequent adoption into law. This by any standards is an impressive document, binding political parties, candidates, members and supporters of political parties to ensure that elections are guided by ethical rules of conduct, and are transparent, free, fair, peaceful, democratic, legitimate and acceptable to the voters. The Code lays down the regulations for the National Electoral Board, the mass media, and the judiciary, and their ability to function independently and impartially, free of all party pressures. It lays out the details for fair utilization by all parties of government resources for the election; and underlines the responsibility of the parties for a successful election. A procedure for grievances is provided and a Joint Council of Political Parties is being set up to implement the Code.
The Code was signed last November so there can be no excuse for Human Rights Watch to have ignored it. Similarly, one might note that Engineer Hailu Shawel, one of those most involved in the problems of 2005, was a central figure in the drafting of the Code. These are surely promising developments by any standards. Aren’t they at least worth a mention, however brief? It is frankly dishonest (and certainly unfair) to talk about a deteriorating trajectory and efforts to control the elections while making no reference to the Code which is a major development to the contrary. Similarly, although the report does indicate that Human Rights Watch has for the first time been prepared to read one of the reports of Ethiopia’s Human Rights Commission (a new Commissioner, Ambassador Tiruneh Zena, was approved by acclamation by all parties in Parliament last week), the reference is no more than disparaging. It all suggests that Human Rights Watch has no interest in, and no time for, any promising developments, that its criticisms in fact are not made in good faith. At this point we can’t go into further detail about this issue or Human Rights Watch’s repeated failures to evaluate recent legislation with any care, though it did, grudgingly, allow that the 2008 media law was an improvement. The Asset Registration and Anti-Corruption bill might have been worth a mention? Its largely inaccurate assertions about the provisions of the recent civil society and anti-terrorist laws need more space and time to respond.
Two other points do however need to be raised. Human Rights Watch refers, rather ungenerously, to the inquiry that the Ethiopian government did “purport to launch” into allegations of serious abuses by the military against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) in the Somali Regional State. These were, in fact, allegations made in one of Human Rights Watch’s own reports. Human Rights Watch says the inquiry was sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, lacked independence and concluded no serious abuses took place. That is not strictly true. The inquiry, which was independent, actually found that many of the allegations were unsubstantiated, and lacking in substance or proof. Numerous villages that Human Rights Watch claimed to have been burnt down were found to be undamaged, and a significant number of people, described as killed or tortured, were found alive and unharmed. It also found that Human Rights Watch had ignored many abuses committed by the ONLF. The inquiry concluded that Human Rights Watch’s methodology, which involved no effort to investigate on the ground, and its evaluation of allegations made by dissidents in exile, were seriously flawed. Human Rights Watch has still to respond to the questions raised about its own procedures and practices.
The second point is that Human Rights Watch in the country summary on Ethiopia, as on a number of other countries, complains that major donors are unwilling to confront countries over what Human Rights Watch claims is a worsening human rights record. In the case of Ethiopia, it is particularly critical of the UK. Human Rights Watch argues that donors remain silent for fear that Ethiopia would discontinue or scale back their bilateral aid and development programs. This is an unusually bizarre suggestion, particularly since there is another very obvious reason why major donors say little – it may be that they do not entirely agree with Human Rights Watch. Given some of the errors and mistakes Human Rights Watch has perpetrated over the years that would hardly be a surprise.
Source:waltainfo.com/
Ex-Convicts From U.S. Said to Join Yemen Radicals
WASHINGTON — Some American former convicts who converted to Islam in prison have moved to Yemen and a few may have joined extremist groups there, according to a new Senate report.
The report, from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says that as many as 36 American Muslims who were prisoners have moved to Yemen in recent months, ostensibly to study Arabic, and that several of them have “dropped off the radar” and may have connected to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The report warns that Americans recruited in Yemen or Somalia may pose a particular threat, since they can operate freely inside the United States.
American intelligence and counterterrorism officials, though, said they thought the report’s claim about former prisoners was exaggerated. A law enforcement official confirmed that some of them had traveled to Yemen — perhaps one or two dozen over the past several years — intending to study Arabic or Islam. The official said the former convicts did not appear to be part of any organized recruitment effort, however, and few are known to have connections with extremists.
Yemen has come under increased scrutiny from American counterterrorism agencies since November, after it emerged that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., had exchanged e-mail messages with Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Yemeni-American cleric in hiding in Yemen. The focus intensified after the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25 by a Nigerian man who allegedly was trained and supplied with explosives in Yemen.
The Senate report, written by the committee’s Democratic staff, said the government was “on heightened alert because of the potential threat from extremists carrying American passports and the related challenges involved in detecting and stopping homegrown operatives.”
With the United States putting Al Qaeda under intense pressure in Pakistan, some fighters have moved to join militant groups in Yemen and Somalia, as well as in North Africa and Southeast Asia, the report said. “These groups may have only an informal connection with Al Qaeda’s leadership in Pakistan, but they often share common goals,” Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the committee’s Democratic chairman, wrote in a letter accompanying the report.
The report notes that members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, appeared at an antigovernment rally in southern Yemen last month. In video later shown on Al Jazeera television, a militant told the crowd that the group’s war was with the United States, not the Yemeni Army.
In addition to the American former prisoners in Yemen, the report said there were about 10 other Americans not of Yemeni ancestry who have also moved there, married Yemeni women and adopted a radical form of Islam. None in that group, however, appear to have sought terrorist training, the report said.
In nearby Somalia, the Senate report recounted, news reports told of Somali-Americans traveling to join a militant group, the Shabab. It also described Americans caught entering Somalia from Djibouti.
An immigration official in Djibouti said that he had recently turned away two Somali-Americans trying to cross into Somalia, because he thought they might be trying to link up with the Shabab. Two others were arrested and prosecuted in Djibouti for entering illegally.
The possibility that American prisons could become an incubator for radical Islam has long been raised by experts on terrorism, and a few Muslim prison chaplains in United States prisons have been accused of having extremist views. To date, only a handful of alleged terrorist plots, none of them successful, have involved American Muslims who are former prisoners.
Three American Muslims were convicted for a 2005 plot to attack Jewish institutions and military bases around Los Angeles that was said to have been concocted inside New Folsom Prison, near Sacramento. Michael Finton, who converted to Islam while imprisoned in Illinois from 1999 to 2005, was charged last year with trying to blow up the federal courthouse in Springfield, Ill.
And four former New York state prisoners, at least two of whom converted to Islam in prison, were accused last year of plotting to attack synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes.
A. J. Sabree, a corrections official in Georgia and a Muslim, who worked for years as a prison chaplain, said he had never heard of Muslim former prisoners moving to Yemen. Erik Kriss, a spokesman for the New York State prison system, which employs about 40 imams to counsel inmates, said officials there were not aware of the phenomenon.
Mr. Kriss cautioned against equating conversion in prison to Islam, which is relatively common, to radicalization.
“We do not have any evidence of anything resembling widespread terrorist-inspired radicalization or recruiting,” he said. “But we recognize the potential and therefore remain vigilant in guarding against it.”
Source:nytimes.com/
The report, from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says that as many as 36 American Muslims who were prisoners have moved to Yemen in recent months, ostensibly to study Arabic, and that several of them have “dropped off the radar” and may have connected to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The report warns that Americans recruited in Yemen or Somalia may pose a particular threat, since they can operate freely inside the United States.
American intelligence and counterterrorism officials, though, said they thought the report’s claim about former prisoners was exaggerated. A law enforcement official confirmed that some of them had traveled to Yemen — perhaps one or two dozen over the past several years — intending to study Arabic or Islam. The official said the former convicts did not appear to be part of any organized recruitment effort, however, and few are known to have connections with extremists.
Yemen has come under increased scrutiny from American counterterrorism agencies since November, after it emerged that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., had exchanged e-mail messages with Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Yemeni-American cleric in hiding in Yemen. The focus intensified after the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25 by a Nigerian man who allegedly was trained and supplied with explosives in Yemen.
The Senate report, written by the committee’s Democratic staff, said the government was “on heightened alert because of the potential threat from extremists carrying American passports and the related challenges involved in detecting and stopping homegrown operatives.”
With the United States putting Al Qaeda under intense pressure in Pakistan, some fighters have moved to join militant groups in Yemen and Somalia, as well as in North Africa and Southeast Asia, the report said. “These groups may have only an informal connection with Al Qaeda’s leadership in Pakistan, but they often share common goals,” Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the committee’s Democratic chairman, wrote in a letter accompanying the report.
The report notes that members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, appeared at an antigovernment rally in southern Yemen last month. In video later shown on Al Jazeera television, a militant told the crowd that the group’s war was with the United States, not the Yemeni Army.
In addition to the American former prisoners in Yemen, the report said there were about 10 other Americans not of Yemeni ancestry who have also moved there, married Yemeni women and adopted a radical form of Islam. None in that group, however, appear to have sought terrorist training, the report said.
In nearby Somalia, the Senate report recounted, news reports told of Somali-Americans traveling to join a militant group, the Shabab. It also described Americans caught entering Somalia from Djibouti.
An immigration official in Djibouti said that he had recently turned away two Somali-Americans trying to cross into Somalia, because he thought they might be trying to link up with the Shabab. Two others were arrested and prosecuted in Djibouti for entering illegally.
The possibility that American prisons could become an incubator for radical Islam has long been raised by experts on terrorism, and a few Muslim prison chaplains in United States prisons have been accused of having extremist views. To date, only a handful of alleged terrorist plots, none of them successful, have involved American Muslims who are former prisoners.
Three American Muslims were convicted for a 2005 plot to attack Jewish institutions and military bases around Los Angeles that was said to have been concocted inside New Folsom Prison, near Sacramento. Michael Finton, who converted to Islam while imprisoned in Illinois from 1999 to 2005, was charged last year with trying to blow up the federal courthouse in Springfield, Ill.
And four former New York state prisoners, at least two of whom converted to Islam in prison, were accused last year of plotting to attack synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes.
A. J. Sabree, a corrections official in Georgia and a Muslim, who worked for years as a prison chaplain, said he had never heard of Muslim former prisoners moving to Yemen. Erik Kriss, a spokesman for the New York State prison system, which employs about 40 imams to counsel inmates, said officials there were not aware of the phenomenon.
Mr. Kriss cautioned against equating conversion in prison to Islam, which is relatively common, to radicalization.
“We do not have any evidence of anything resembling widespread terrorist-inspired radicalization or recruiting,” he said. “But we recognize the potential and therefore remain vigilant in guarding against it.”
Source:nytimes.com/
Somalia: Weekly Humanitarian Bulletin No. 3, 15 - 22 Jan 2010
Field reports indicate that parts of Somaliland and Puntland that did not receive sufficient rainfall during the Deyr season (October-December) are experiencing water shortages both for humans and livestock. Reports from Somaliland say that abnormal population and livestock movements have been observed from north-western regions towards Sool region in search of pasture and water. Additionally, dry conditions are prevailing with extreme cold weather, as low as 1 degree centigrade recorded in Wajaale and Borama towns in Awdal region, while Hargeysa and Burco towns have been experiencing between 4 and 5 degrees.
Insecurity and displacement
Incident involving a humanitarian organisation
On 16 January, the body of a man who was working with a local NGO was found abandoned on a road in Mogadishu. Officials from the NGO confirmed the incident but could not immediately establish the motive of his murder. Four other staff members, who were taken away with the dead man by unknown people, are still missing. The NGO is the main implementer of the wet feeding programme (cooked meals) in Mogadishu.
Belet Weyne
Fresh fighting was reported early 22 January between Hisbul Islam and Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa in Bardere about 20km northeast of Belet Weyne, Hiraan. Both sides exchanged heavy gunfire and, the number of casualties was not immediately established. On 9 January, the two groups clashed over control of the town killing at least 30 people and injuring more than 50 others. According to UNHCR 22,700 people were displaced.
Gaalkacyo
On 16 January, gunmen attacked three independent radio stations in Gaalkacyo injuring four people including three journalists and damaging equipment in the stations. The assailants reportedly threw explosive devices into the three stations.
Mogadishu
On 17 and 18 January, at least 12 people were killed and scores of others injured when fighting broke out in parts of the city between insurgents and TFG forces. Mortar shells hit a section of the Bakara market killing five civilians, while another shell hit a passenger vehicle killing three and injuring nine other people.
Source:eliefweb.int/
Insecurity and displacement
Incident involving a humanitarian organisation
On 16 January, the body of a man who was working with a local NGO was found abandoned on a road in Mogadishu. Officials from the NGO confirmed the incident but could not immediately establish the motive of his murder. Four other staff members, who were taken away with the dead man by unknown people, are still missing. The NGO is the main implementer of the wet feeding programme (cooked meals) in Mogadishu.
Belet Weyne
Fresh fighting was reported early 22 January between Hisbul Islam and Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa in Bardere about 20km northeast of Belet Weyne, Hiraan. Both sides exchanged heavy gunfire and, the number of casualties was not immediately established. On 9 January, the two groups clashed over control of the town killing at least 30 people and injuring more than 50 others. According to UNHCR 22,700 people were displaced.
Gaalkacyo
On 16 January, gunmen attacked three independent radio stations in Gaalkacyo injuring four people including three journalists and damaging equipment in the stations. The assailants reportedly threw explosive devices into the three stations.
Mogadishu
On 17 and 18 January, at least 12 people were killed and scores of others injured when fighting broke out in parts of the city between insurgents and TFG forces. Mortar shells hit a section of the Bakara market killing five civilians, while another shell hit a passenger vehicle killing three and injuring nine other people.
Source:eliefweb.int/
Make Somalia a Priority
Last month, a Somali man who had lived in Denmark dressed himself in women’s clothes, positioned himself at a graduation ceremony in Mogadishu and then blew himself up. He killed 22 people, including three government ministers and many young medical graduates and professors, who had hoped to dedicate their lives to the alleviation of suffering in Somalia.
The terrible events of Dec. 3 reverberated around the world. Somali doctors, information technology and engineering graduates, alongside their families, began the morning full of hope and pride, yet many were not to see the sun set that day. They were among the brightest and the best of Somalia, and so were the ministers who lost their lives.
But as the recent events in Aarhus, Denmark, Mogadishu and over the skies of Detroit on Dec. 25 show, the current situation in Somalia and across the Gulf of Aden in Yemen not only threatens the lives of Somalis, but also people beyond its borders.
However, Somalia is not the ultimate failed state of popular perception. Its people are resilient and manage to survive in conditions that are probably well beyond the imagination of most readers. In Mogadishu, a city of two million, people carry on, despite the fighting, the shelling, the displacement. Over 100 Somali-led reconciliation processes have taken place at local and regional levels since 1991 — and they’ve proved the basis for stability in Somaliland, Puntland and Galmudug state in central Somalia.
While Somali reconciliation and mediation efforts will be the key to sustainable peace and stability, the international community — including the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the African Union, the Arab League, the European Union and the United Nations — has an important role to play. Somalia and Yemen must be properly on the agenda at the London conference at the end of this month.
As 2010 unfolds, our collective vision should be to see the beginnings of a secure, stable and prosperous Somalia, at peace with itself and its neighbors, where its citizens can go about their lives in safety and provide for their families with confidence and dignity. Let us strive for a resurgent, tolerant society, built on respect for traditional Somali cultural and religious values.
The Transitional Federal Government, as its name suggests, is a temporary structure for developing the environment necessary to achieve this objective. It is a transitional mechanism that will enable the people to decide for themselves how they want to be governed, free from outside interference and coercion.
The transitional government’s principle purpose is to prepare the way for the establishment of legitimate and accountable public institutions. (We have already taken the initiative and hired Price Waterhouse Coopers to ensure the accountability of international donor funds.) These institutions will form the basis of a stable, representative government that can begin to alleviate the trauma of the last 20 years.
We will achieve this by building professional, representative security forces; creating transparent and accountable public institutions based on the principles of civic responsibility and good governance; developing a fair and impartial judicial system; and increasing economic opportunity through investment, training, health and education.
Given the complex and extremely difficult circumstances that recent events have so graphically illustrated, achieving all this will be an extraordinary challenge. It will require the combined effort of the whole Somali people, as well as assistance from outside. Only in partnership with all Somalis and the support of the international community will success be possible. It will take time, determination and patience but it can be done. Let us all take up this challenge. Let 2010 be the start of something new.
Source:nytimes.com/
The terrible events of Dec. 3 reverberated around the world. Somali doctors, information technology and engineering graduates, alongside their families, began the morning full of hope and pride, yet many were not to see the sun set that day. They were among the brightest and the best of Somalia, and so were the ministers who lost their lives.
But as the recent events in Aarhus, Denmark, Mogadishu and over the skies of Detroit on Dec. 25 show, the current situation in Somalia and across the Gulf of Aden in Yemen not only threatens the lives of Somalis, but also people beyond its borders.
However, Somalia is not the ultimate failed state of popular perception. Its people are resilient and manage to survive in conditions that are probably well beyond the imagination of most readers. In Mogadishu, a city of two million, people carry on, despite the fighting, the shelling, the displacement. Over 100 Somali-led reconciliation processes have taken place at local and regional levels since 1991 — and they’ve proved the basis for stability in Somaliland, Puntland and Galmudug state in central Somalia.
While Somali reconciliation and mediation efforts will be the key to sustainable peace and stability, the international community — including the Organization of the Islamic Conference, the African Union, the Arab League, the European Union and the United Nations — has an important role to play. Somalia and Yemen must be properly on the agenda at the London conference at the end of this month.
As 2010 unfolds, our collective vision should be to see the beginnings of a secure, stable and prosperous Somalia, at peace with itself and its neighbors, where its citizens can go about their lives in safety and provide for their families with confidence and dignity. Let us strive for a resurgent, tolerant society, built on respect for traditional Somali cultural and religious values.
The Transitional Federal Government, as its name suggests, is a temporary structure for developing the environment necessary to achieve this objective. It is a transitional mechanism that will enable the people to decide for themselves how they want to be governed, free from outside interference and coercion.
The transitional government’s principle purpose is to prepare the way for the establishment of legitimate and accountable public institutions. (We have already taken the initiative and hired Price Waterhouse Coopers to ensure the accountability of international donor funds.) These institutions will form the basis of a stable, representative government that can begin to alleviate the trauma of the last 20 years.
We will achieve this by building professional, representative security forces; creating transparent and accountable public institutions based on the principles of civic responsibility and good governance; developing a fair and impartial judicial system; and increasing economic opportunity through investment, training, health and education.
Given the complex and extremely difficult circumstances that recent events have so graphically illustrated, achieving all this will be an extraordinary challenge. It will require the combined effort of the whole Somali people, as well as assistance from outside. Only in partnership with all Somalis and the support of the international community will success be possible. It will take time, determination and patience but it can be done. Let us all take up this challenge. Let 2010 be the start of something new.
Source:nytimes.com/
Will U.S. troops leave Haiti too soon?
While past humanitarian missions, most notably in Somalia in the 1990s, have morphed into protracted — and bloody — "peacemaking" exercises, experts say there are many reasons that Haiti is unlikely to turn into a quagmire for U.S. forces.
If anything, said a half-dozen officials with long experience in humanitarian relief and peacekeeping operations, the danger is that the troops, ships and helicopters will leave too soon, before security is re-established. With ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Obama administration has little appetite for an extended military mission in the Caribbean.
"The risk is the opposite: that they will leave too quickly, and we will have chaos," said Andrew Natsios, who led the U.S. Agency for International Development from 2001 to 2005. "They've got their hands full in Iraq, Afghanistan-Pakistan. The U.S. military does not want to do this, in terms of anything beyond the humanitarian response."
The Haiti earthquake Jan. 12 devastated the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, left as many as 200,000 dead and crippled both an existing U.N. peacekeeping mission and the country's government.
There are about 13,000 U.S. military personnel in Haiti — roughly 4,000 ashore and 9,000 aboard ship — and that number will grow to 17,000 to 18,000 by this weekend with the arrival of a second Marine Expeditionary Unit, said Marine Col. David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman. Twenty-two ships and 66 military helicopters are participating in the relief effort, he said.
Lapan said, "There hasn't been an impact to this point" on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, although military planners are keeping a close eye on the flow of forces.
If all goes as planned, U.S. troops will begin departing after United Nations agencies and private aid groups are ready to fully take on the task of recovery and rebuilding. A U.N. peacekeeping force, which is being enlarged with 2,000 more peacekeepers and 1,500 policemen, will provide security alongside Haitian security forces.
"As we get through this initial crisis, as those other organizations bring up their capacity, we will work with all those organizations to determine when the right time is to transition our capabilities out of Haiti," Air Force Gen. Douglas Fraser, the commander of the military's Southern Command, said Thursday.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon has spelled out the details of when and how that will happen, however.
Large-scale violence, which has been sporadic so far, or thousands of desperate Haitians taking to the seas to try to reach U.S. shores could upend the Obama administration's plans.
It also remains to be seen who'll coordinate the task of rebuilding Haiti, which will take years, cost billions of dollars and involve hundreds of agencies and charities.
Private aid groups have complained that the U.S. military has wrested too much control of the relief effort.
"There's a lot of pitfalls to all this well-meaning compassion," said Elizabeth Ferris, an expert on humanitarian issues at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, a research center.
The U.S. military's role "is still not clear to me," Ferris said, questioning whether American forces are focused on their own security, setting up logistics supply lines or directly delivering relief supplies. Once international and nongovernment agencies stand up their operations, "are there plans for it to exit in a reasonable period of time?" she asked.
The United States and the U.N. signed an agreement Friday clarifying the world body's lead role in earthquake relief efforts, the Reuters news agency reported.
A senior State Department official said the chances of Somalia-like "mission creep," with U.S. forces staying in Haiti as political arbiters, "are zero. ... What's the strategic rationale?"
Who'll lead the huge reconstruction effort "is a reasonable question," however, said the official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity in order to speak more frankly.
The United States has a long, troubled history of intervention in Haiti. U.S. Marines occupied the country from 1915 to 1934. President Bill Clinton sent in U.S. troops in 1994 to restore democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. A decade later, U.S. Marines were back as part of an international stabilization force sent in after Aristide fled the capital.
James Dobbins, who was Clinton's special envoy to Haiti and helped organize the 1994 intervention, said he didn't foresee a lengthy stay for U.S. forces in the wake of the earthquake. Haiti's long-standing political tensions have been muted since Aristide departed, he said.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission, despite losing 70 staff members in the earthquake and having its headquarters collapse, is well-established in Haiti and has a clear job mandate, Dobbins and other specialists said.
"Ideally, I'd like to see U.S. troops stay as part of the U.N. force ... but I don't think that's likely to happen because of our other priorities," Dobbins said.
Source:mcclatchydc.com/
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