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/

Somalia: Sh. Shirif and Sharmaarke Should Resign

Sh. Shirif would do himself and the people of Mogadishu (he controls Villa Somalia and its surroundings) a great service in resigning after the 12/03 attacks on Shaamow Hotel, which claimed the death of scores of civilians and members of the government alike.


The solemn duty of Shirif/Sharmaarke administration should be the protection of the Somali people. In that case, both leaders failed to live up to that level. They demonstrated their inability to curb the violence in Mogadishu let alone in other parts of the country.

Seventy people were killed including the late minister Omar Hashi in a suicide attack in Beledwayne Hotel in June 18, 2009. In September of this year, just three months after, the headquarters of AMISOM was targeted by a suicide bomber, where the dead was included a high level military official in the Somali side and the second in command of the AMISON, who also was the head of the Burundian peacekeepers, among other were killed by truck filled with explosive devices.

Today, peace is what the residents of Mogadishu need the most. Unfortunately the two most incompetents leaders Somalia ever saw can’t deliver ten percent of the peace the people are in need of. Therefore, they should come to their best of sense and resign, if there is anything to resign from.

Furthermore, Obama administration recently announced the deployment of more troops in Afghanistan. Why I mention that? Because more troops means more pressure on terrorists hiding in Afghanistan. Given Pakistan’s crackdown of terrorists in its soil, Somalia will be the ideal target for any escaping member of Al Qaeda or Taliban to consider. Every factor that made Afghanistan a terrorist hotspot is also available in Somalia today; lack of strong central government, alias like Al-itihad, Al-islaah, Al- takfiir, Al-shabaab...Etc, are running a great size of the southern part of the nation, where the escaping terrorist can find a safe haven.

Some believe, the attacks like the latest on Shaamow Hotel, are the likes that take place in Pakistan, as an injured reporter told the VOA. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the engineers of the attacks in Pakistan’s universities, mosques, government building and on other public infrastructure are now operating in Mogadishu freely.
Finally, due to the growing insecurity in Mogadishu, the suicide attacks and its casualties mentioned above and the incompetence of Shirif and Sharmaarke, the Somali people should be given yet another chance to rescue their nation with the leadership of competent, experienced and perhaps well respected individual. The country is crying out loud for change, and this time change for the better is the theme.

Source:somaliweyn.org