U.S. Extends Reevaluation of Security Threats to Yemen and Somalia

Somali-born geography professor Abdi Samatar of the University of Minnesota says that the intensification of fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt by Nigerian-born Umar Abdulmutallab have helped shift the focus of conflict to al-Qaida in the Arabian peninsula, particularly to Yemen. But he notes that reports of recent arms shipments from Yemeni rebels to Somalia’s Islamist al-Shabab fighters have so far had little impact on the rebel insurgency against Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG).



CIA

“I don’t think that the amount of weapons that are going from Yemen through al-Qaida to al-Shabab is significant. Shabab has many other sources of weapons, both in the domestic market, and, remember, Somalia has one of the largest small weapons markets in Mogadishu itself,” he said.

Despite al-Shabab claims of sending fighters to help al-Qaida resist Yemeni and foreign-assisted efforts to quash its insurgency, Professor Samatar says a Somali presence in Yemen is limited to longtime refugees who have lived in northern Yemen for decades, but not a significant infusion of terrorists or resistance fighters.

“Containing refugees and others in particular localities I don’t think is going to be a significant element in tackling the terror matter,” he noted.

As for Yemenis operating in Somalia, Samatar says the security threat is also low. But he does acknowledge that the stepped up fighting in Afghanistan and Pakistan have expanded the arena of doing battle with al-Qaida back to the Gulf region, where it was extremely active ten years ago.

“The military pressures in Pakistan and Afghanistan are having a significant effect on al-Qaida’s ability to further decentralize itself so that they cannot be holed in one particular locality. And this is a fact that should be taken into account in both Somalia and in Yemen,” he observed.

Does this mean a more intensified struggle in Somalia at this point? Samatar says not as far as expecting an infusion of fighters from Yemen to add to Somalia’s woes. He says al-Shabab continues to lead insurgents’ attempts to bring down the internationally endorsed TFG.



AP
Islamist al-Shabab fighters conduct military exercise in northern Mogadishu's Suqaholaha neighborhood, 01 Jan 2010

“I think Shabab controls much of southern Somalia at the present, and in the last week or so, they have had military celebrations in Mogadishu itself, to show the caliber of their troops and the size of their troops. So they are already what they are, and they control what’s left of Somalia….small strips in south Mogadishu and a few other pockets. And I just don’t think further pressures are going to make any difference in those spots because those are where the African Union forces are, and I don’t think al-Shabab will have the wherewithal to confront them head-on,” he said.


Al-Shabab insurgents control much of southern Somalia, including the city of Kismayo.

The answer to U.S. and British efforts to bring greater stability to both Somalia and Yemen can be found in new initiatives to democratize both countries rather than focusing on the anti-terror threat, according to Professor Samatar. He warns that stepped up foreign military involvement can foment resentment among local populations in both countries, which have long been discontent with the authoritarian qualities of their own failed states’ leaderships.

“I think the Somali people would welcome a very genuine support from the United (States) government to help themselves rebuild their country. I think the project that the United States helped take part in in Djibouti, which ultimately produced the Transitional Federal Government was both illegitimate and incompetent. And so what the Somali people are looking for is support from Britain and the United States people and governments that are genuinely democratic, that will support civil society, and Islamic movement that is also democratic,” he maintains.

Samatar asserts that Yemeni and Somali resentment are stirred up against western interference when it is being engineered to serve outside interests.

“Genuine democratization of the political process in Somalia, pushing the Transitional Federal Government into becoming more inclusive, more accountable, more effective, and bringing on board people with capacity who are Somalis who can deliver for the local population, if the U.S. and Britain push things in that direction, the Somali people will genuinely welcome that, in my opinion,” he noted.

Source:voanews.com/

EU set to OK Somali troop plan

Brussels - EU foreign ministers will on Monday give the green light for European instructors to train some 2 000 Somali soldiers to reinforce the embryonic government army, diplomatic sources said.

"The plan is to train 2 000 members of the Somali security forces in Uganda, one diplomat said on Friday.

The operation, in which around 100 European military personnel will take part, could begin in May, another diplomat said, adding that it had not yet been determined which EU nations would contribute, on a voluntary basis.

"We are in the process of discussing the national contributions," he said.

Somalia has been gripped by civil wars and insurgencies and bereft of stable government since the overthrow of President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Uganda was chosen because its troops constitute the lion's share of the African Union mission in Somalia, AMISOM.

Off the coast of Somalia, the EU is running an anti-piracy mission in the waters of the Gulf of Aden, but senior officials say the real way to combat the problem is on Somali territory.

The EU has given substantial political support to the interim government, as well as funding the AMISOM mission.

The idea was discussed by EU defence ministers in November with France and Spain in particular strongly in favour.

The European foreign ministers on Monday will also discuss "what equipment, and pay the Somali troops will need", a diplomat said.

source:news24.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/

Arrest at Somalia airport probed

MOGADISHU, Somalia - U.S. officials are investigating a Somalian man's alleged attempt to board a flight last month carrying chemicals, liquid, and a syringe in a case bearing chilling echoes of the plot to blow up a Detroit-bound jet on Christmas Day.
Terrorism analysts said the arrest in Mogadishu, the Somalian capital, could prove highly valuable for the Detroit investigation if the incidents turn out to be linked.

The Somali was arrested by African Union peacekeeping troops Nov. 13 before boarding the Daallo Airlines plane bound for the northern Somalian city of Hargeisa, then to Djibouti and Dubai.

"We don't know whether he's linked with al-Qaeda or other foreign organizations, but his actions were the acts of a terrorist. We caught him redhanded," said a Somalian police spokesman, Abdulahi Hassan Barise.

A Nairobi-based diplomat said the incident had similarities to the attempted attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253, in that the Somali was said to have a syringe, liquid, and powdered chemicals - tools similar to those used by the Nigerian suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, on the Detroit-bound plane. The diplomat spoke on condition he not be identified.

Barigye Bahoku, spokesman for the African Union military force in Mogadishu, said the materials could have caused an explosion that would have resulted in cabin decompression.

For the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight, Abdulmutallab allegedly hid explosive PETN in a condom or condom-like bag below his torso. In the Somalian case, the powdered material smelled of ammonia, and samples were sent to London for testing, Bahoku said.

The case drew little attention before the Christmas incident, but yesterday U.S. officials began to investigate any possible links between them. None would speak on the record.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said U.S. investigators were working with Somalian authorities. He said linking the case to Friday's "would be speculative at this point."

Thomas Sanderson, a security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the Somalian suspect was extremely valuable for U.S. investigators, who will compare his statements with Abdulmutallab
The suspect is in Somalian custody, said Barise, the police spokesman.

There is no certainty the two men were trained by the same group, Sanderson said, but he said he thought the similarities were "probably an indicator that more than just two people have been trained and prepared and ordered or convinced to carry out individual acts of terrorism."

U.S. investigators say Abdulmutallab told them he received training and instructions from al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen, which Western officials say is a jumping-off point for foreign fighters slipping into Somalia. Large swaths of Somalia are controlled by an al-Qaeda-linked insurgent group, al-Shabab.

Abdulmutallab is charged with trying to destroy an aircraft. If the Somalian suspect was planning anything similar, it wasn't known what his specific target might have been. Most passengers on Daallo's Mogadishu route are Somali. The carrier's Web site calls it the national airline of Somalia's neighbor Djibouti.

About 1,800 U.S. troops are stationed in Djibouti. Dubai would offer the greatest range of westbound flights along the route in question.

A Somalian security official involved in the Mogadishu arrest said the suspect had a 2.2-pound package of chemical powder and a container of liquid chemicals, and was the last passenger in line to try to board.

His name was not released, but the security official gave it as Abdi Hassan Abdi and said he was middle-aged. Stock said the name he got was Abdi Hassan Abdullah.

Once the chemicals and syringe were detected, the suspect tried to bribe the team that detained him, the security official said.

Source:philly.com/

Swedish artist receives telephone threat from Somalia

Stockholm - A Swedish artist who angered Muslims in 2007 for his caricature of the Prophet Mohammed as a dog said Monday he had received two threatening phone calls from Somalia.

Lars Vilks said a man who spoke poor Swedish asked him if he was aware of what had happened in neighbouring Denmark to newspaper cartoonist Kurt Westergaard who late Friday survived an attack on his home.

Westergaard's controversial cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban was one of 12 images published in September 2005 by Jyllands-Posten. The cartoons sparked outrage among Muslims and violent protests worldwide in early 2006.

Late Friday a Somali-born man armed with an axe and a knife broke into Westergaard's home in western Denmark but was arrested by police alerted by the cartoonist who sought refuge in a specially secured room.

'I said, of course I knew about it,' Vilks told the online edition of the Helsingborgs Dagblad newspaper.

The man said several times 'they were coming' before the call ended, Vilks said. He filed a complaint with police later Monday.

Vilks established that the phone number on his display was from Somalia.

The Swedish artist in 2007 received several threats and a bounty of 100,000 dollars was placed on his head by an Iraq-based insurgency group after his caricature was published.

Source:monstersandcritics.com/

SOMALIA: Hospital desperate for specialists

MOGADISHU, 21 January 2010 (IRIN) - As conflict continues in Somalia, the main hospital in Mogadishu, the capital, lacks orthopedic specialists to handle the increasing number of patients with broken limbs, a doctor has said.

"Currently, the patients with the most serious injuries are mostly young; 30 of them require specialized treatment that is not available in the country," Mohamed Yusuf, the director-general of Madina Hospital, told IRIN. "Since 2009, we have seen hundreds of patients requiring orthopedic treatment but very few of them can afford specialized treatment; 98 percent of the patients are too poor."

Mogadishu has borne the brunt of the fighting in Somalia, which pits an opposition Islamist group against government troops. The country has been conflict-ridden since 1991 when President Siad Barre was ousted. Although a transitional government is in place, fighting continues in Mogadishu as well as in southern and central parts of the country.

Yusuf said 95 percent of the patients treated in Madina were victims of gunshots and artillery shelling. Of these, he said, 45 percent have limb injuries; 9 percent have chest wounds, 8 percent head injuries and 8 percent stomach injuries.

"We treat and sometimes operate on those with stomach wounds but injuries of the legs are problematic to treat here because we don't have an experienced orthopedic doctor to reconstruct broken bones," Yusuf said. "The most difficult cases involve injuries where a bullet hit the bone, causing fragmentation. Reconstruction using special metal is required but at the moment we do not have a doctor specializing in this sector in the country."

Yusuf said the International Committee of the Red Cross was the main agency supporting Madina and supplying medicine but the availability of specialist doctors remained a challenge: "The only foreign doctors here are from Qatar, working in the maternity sector."

At the same time, Yusuf said the number of injured children was increasing. Most of them, he said, were victims of mortar shelling and since there was no orthopedic expertise available locally, many ended up becoming disabled.

Habiba Ahmed, 41, mother of a nine-year-old boy with spinal injuries, told IRIN: "My child has been suffering for almost four months now, parts of his bones are missing; he was injured when a mortar hit our home. I have come to Madina Hospital for him to be treated but I am told he requires treatment outside the country, which I cannot afford. My child remains disabled."

A report released by Amnesty International on 21 January says indiscriminate attacks in 2009 by all parties to the armed conflict resulted in thousands of civilians killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.

The UN estimates that at least 1.5 million Somalis are internally displaced while 3.7 million require humanitarian aid.

Source:irinnews.org/

Rival Islamists Fight for Town in Somalia

MOGADISHU, Somalia — Shabab rebels, who control most of Somalia with allied Islamist groups, on Saturday attacked a town lost to moderate Islamists about a year ago.

It appeared late Saturday that the moderate Islamists had kept control of the town, Dusa Marreb, in central Somalia, although the Shabab earlier claimed victory. The battles killed 10 people, witnesses said.

The two groups have been fighting each other elsewhere in Somalia for months. The group that had been controlling Dusa Marreb, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama, had chased out the Shabab in December 2008 and vowed to challenge the Shabab in other areas to “restore stability and harmony in Somalia and achieve a genuine government of national unity.”

Residents of the town say they evacuated it when they heard gunfire early Saturday morning.

“I and my children immediately fled outside the town,” Khadiija Ali said. “I was preparing breakfast for my family, when the bullet sound shocked me. We were not expecting such fight.”

The assault came a day after the Shabab, which have increasing ties with Al Qaeda, tried to attract international media attention by vowing to send fighters to help insurgents in Yemen.

The United States has been helping the Yemeni government combat a branch of Al Qaeda, an effort that is likely to continue, with President Obama saying Saturday that the group sponsored the attempt on Dec. 25 to bring down a jet bound for the United States.

Western governments have been hoping that Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama and other moderate Islamists can repel Somalia’s increasingly powerful extremists. Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama, a Sufi militia, has been one of the more successful groups in fighting the Shabab, who are fearsome fighters.

The weak transitional government in Somalia controls a small enclave in Mogadishu, the capital, under the protection of African Union peacekeeping troops.

Source:nytimes.com/