Af-Pak region remains nerve centre of al-Qaeda: US

Washington, Jan 21 (PTI) Despite its alarming expansion in countries like Yemen and Somalia, al-Qaeda and its leaders remain in the tribal areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan making it their nerve centre, Obama Administration's top counter-terrorism official said today.

"Al-Qaeda, the beating heart of the global network remains located in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region," Garry Reid, Deputy Assistant Defence Secretary for Special Operation and Combating Terrorism, told US lawmakers.

"The President has made clear that the mission of the United States in Afghanistan-Pakistan is to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda and prevent its return to both countries," he said.

Despite the setbacks al-Qaeda has suffered, the Taliban and other extremist groups continue to provide it with support and it thus remains a capable and dangerous enemy, Reid noted.

Source:ptinews.com/

Somalia: Top UN delegation lands in Puntland state in Somalia

A high delegation from Human Rights Watch spearheaded by Dr. Shamsul Bari has reached in the semiautonomous state of Puntland in eastern Somalia in a mission to asses the fact on the ground after there has been instability in the region in the past couple of months.

“During my days in Puntland I will have meet some officials in the administration of Puntland and as well have deep discussions with the different sectors of the community including, the civil society and the humanitarian organizations, and we shall be mainly focusing on the humanitarian situation in the region as whole” said Shamsul Bari speaking to Somaliweyn Website on Friday.

On the other hand Dr. Abdi Hassan Jimale the constitution Minister of Puntland speaking to one of the local radio stations in Mogadishu has confirmed the presence of the UN delegation.

“In fact the arrival of the UN delegation in Puntland was very significant, and I hope all what we have discussed upon will be fruitful” said the Minister.

Puntland state has been lately experiencing instability in the region and some two nights ago a Member of Parliament of Puntland was gunned down in Bossaso town. Somaliweyn English News Desk.

Mohammed Omar Hussein+2521-5519235 shiinetown@hotail.com

Source:somaliweyn.org/

Al-Shabaab Threatens to Attack Kenya

Theories have emerged that Jamaican cleric Abdullah Al-Faisal is still in Kenya hidden in un-known place, sources told Newstime Africa. On Thursday, a court in Kenya heard that the controversial cleric had been flown to his native country in a chartered Gulfstream jet. The preacher was due to be produced before court on Thursday morning but the judge in the case pushed the matter to 2.30pm. When the matter came up, the office of the Attorney General asked for about 20 minutes to verify his whereabouts and later informed the court that the cleric was outside Kenya borders. His lawyers have since demanded a detailed information and documentation on his deportation and the officials who accompanied him.


Al-Shabaab - Threatens to attack Kenya
Faisal was due to appear in the High Court on Thursday following a suit filed by a Kenyan Muslim rights group against both his detention and planned deportation. This was the third attempt to deport him in a one month. Tanzania authorities refused to have him in their country and later Nigerian refused to have him en-route Banjul, Gambia. Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang Wednesday admitted that the government had been frustrated in its bid to deport him after the US threatened to ban any air line that attempts to fly him.

Senior government officials made contradicting remarks on his whereabouts and deportation. Government spokesman Alfred Mutua told reporters that Al-Faisal had left the country on Thursday morning. Muslim rights group officials insist Al-Faisal is still in the country. Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula had said earlier this week that the cleric would be out of the country by Thursday by any mean possible. Immigration Minister latter said the cleric was still in the country hours after a senior official had indicated that Al-Faisal was in a plane planned to re-fuel in Moscow headed to Jamaica.

The cleric was arrested in Mombasa, the heart of Muslim in Kenya on New Year eve at a local mosque. His passports indicate that he footed Kenya on December 9 through a Kenya-Tanzania border. A planned demo in Mombasa was on Thursday called off but a section of Muslim youths strongly hold that the protest will go on today after Friday prayers. Similar protests in Nairobi left at least 7 people dead and several injured as protestors clashed with police. Protester waved an Al-Shabaab associated flag.Over 1,000 hundred people including 16 legislatures, mainly of Somalia origin, have been arrested in the swoops across the country.

The Kenyan police crackdown followed a violent protest in Nairobi against the detention of Jamaican Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal. Most lacks United Nations High Commission for Refugees vetting documents. Immigration ministry told legislatures to registers as refugees if they want to enjoy peace in Kenya.Islamist official in Somalia have accused the Kenya troops of planning an invasion of territories under the group’s control, vowing to defend their “country” to the last drop of blood. “God willing we will arrive in Nairobi, we will enter Nairobi, God willing we will enter … will hit, hit until we kill, weapons we have, praise be to God, they are enough,” goes a recorded song posted on Al-Shabaab website.

Al-Shabaab militants recently captured the Lower Jubba region in southern Somalia from Hizbul Islam, their former allies. Witnesses say Kenya has deployed more troops near a Kenya-Somalia border town, Dhobley where militants have taken control. An administrator at the region told reporters that Kenya has provoked the militants by sending troops there. Confrontation is feared between the two groups. Al-Faisal was deported from Britain in 2007 for preaching hatred and urging his followers to kill Jews, Hindus and Westerners.

Source:newstimeafrica.com/

Action against Qaeda in Pakistan forcing terrorists into Yemen, Somalia: Brown

LONDON: Extremists squeezed out of Pakistan and Afghanistan will emerge in struggling states like Yemen and Somalia, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Sunday.

After the US and Britain agreed to finance a special counter-terror unit in Yemen, Brown said battling the “murderous ideology” of extremist Muslims would likely become “a feature of this decade”.

Brown also wants a bigger peacekeeping force in Somalia to tackle violent radicalism in the region.

“The weakness of Al Qaeda in Pakistan has forced people out of Pakistan and forced them into Yemen and Somalia,” Brown told BBC television.

Taking on the Al Qaeda terror network in the Tribal Areas has dispersed their organisation and limited their abilities in Afghanistan, he said. “Of course, that means that other centres will appear but they will not have the strength that Al Qaeda had in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“We’ve got to be vigilant in every part of the world where there is a failed state or a failing state which creates space for a terrorist group to operate.”

Though London and Washington have pledged to help the Yemeni authorities improve their counter-terror efforts, Brown said it was also a “battle for hearts and minds”.

“We’ve got to be very careful who we’re supporting and what we’re giving them support to do,” he added. Britain has called an international meeting on combating extremism in Yemen for London on January 28.

Brown said the Yemen sessions of the conference would help Sanaa “develop the means and will” to tackle extremism.

“Yemen has been recognised, like Somalia, to be one of the areas where we’ve got to not only keep an eye on but we’ve got to do more,” Brown said. afp

Source:dailytimes.com.pk/