more TFG2 propaganda willingly disseminated in the western media

reuters uncritically published this one

Government shows body of Afghani national

MOGADISHU, July 11 (Reuters) - Clashes between Islamist insurgents and Somali troops killed at least 20 people on Saturday including a senior police officer and a foreign militant in the heaviest fighting for a week, residents said.

...

The government showed the body of what it said was an Afghani national fighting with Hizbul Islam, an umbrella opposition group led by hardline Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys.

"He was an Afghani senior commander with the anti-peace men fighting the government. He has his country's passport," military spokesman Farhan Arsanyo told Reuters.

"We captured others from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen, and we shall display them soon."

an associated press article expressed a little more skepticism

16 killed in Somalia, including alleged foreign fighter

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A foreign fighter and a top government security official are among 16 people killed in Saturday's fighting between UN-backed government forces and Islamist insurgents in the north of the capital, a Somali official said.

Presidential information officer Abdulkhadir Wehliye said the foreign fighter is believed to be Bangladeshi because of identity documents found on the body.

An Associated Press reporter saw the body of the man, who appeared to be of non-African origin, displayed at the presidential palace on a stretcher.

There are believed to be hundreds of foreign jihadi fighters in Somalia supporting an Islamic insurgency. Government officials have claimed there are thousands of foreigners fighting against them but most analysts dismiss this as a ploy to wring cash and support for the international community, which is worried about the failed state becoming a haven for al Qaeda-linked terrorists.

mareeg online was one of the somali media services to actually provide a picture "of the man, who appeared to be of non-African origin"

Government displays the body of foreign fighter

MOGADISHU(Mareeg)—Somali government has displayed the body of “a foreign fighter” in Villa Somalia, the presidential palace on Saturday.

A spokesman for the military of the Somali government, Farhan Asanyo, showed reporters the body of a white man which he described as a fighter from Afghanistan.

Farhan said the fighter was killed in fierce fighting between the Islamist forces and the government soldiers which took place in Abdi Azizi district in Mogadishu early on Saturday.

the mareeg article also adds that

Separately, foreign fighters addressed hundreds of people in Mogadishu’s Heliwa district in the north of the capital on Friday afternoon where al Shabaab has a main base and said they came to Somalia to help the Somali Islamists to form an Islamic government through out Somalia.

Witnesses said the foreign Islamist fighters spoke to the people in English and Arabic and some of them claimed they were from Britain and the United States of America.

no kidding. that's because, as has been pointed out repeatedly in the previous incarnation of africa comments, members of the somali diaspora have still been returning to their country to defend it against foreign occupation, which now includes both the TFG2 and its AMISOM support forces.

and it turns out that the reported "Afghani senior commander" was a kid from minneapolis

Minneapolis Somali man killed in homeland

A third Minneapolis Somali man has been killed in his homeland, community leaders said Saturday, his family having learned his fate by stumbling onto a website that contained photos of his bloody corpse.

While the body was identified only as that of a "foreign jihadist" or "fighter," a closeup of the face left Jamal Bana's mother with no doubt. The young man had been shot through the temple.

...

Bihi said Bana's body was placed on a stretcher in the presidential palace in Mogadishu. He said Bana was initially identified as a "foreign jihadist" from Bangladesh, and then later, from Afghanistan.

He said the family has heard that Jamal may have been killed in the fighting that has overwhelmed Mogadishu, but also may have been shot after having been taken captive.

there are many photos available which make it clear that this is same individual

abc news did its part to disseminate official fabrications from the well-fed PM of the TFG2, omar sharmarke, in the following story posted on thursday

Somalia 'Uncontrollable' Because of Al Qaeda Influx, PM Says

NAIROBI - Calling Somalia "the new front for Al Qaeda and extremists groups," Prime Minister Omar Shamarke warns that without more support from the international community, the country's fragile government may fall to an increasingly radicalized insurgency.

In an interview with ABC News, Prime Minister Shamarke says the ongoing violence in the war-torn country has taken a decidedly international turn. A large in flow of Al Qaeda-backed foreign fighters coming into Somalia has made the country "uncontrollable," says the Prime Minister. He says his moderate Islamist government, which has been in power for less than six months, needs international help to make it a fair fight.

"We don't have an edge in terms of capability and that's why we have requested this international emergency help to salvage the country," says Shamarke. "We cannot prevail on these extremist groups when they have Ak-47s, and other weapons and we only have Ak-47s."

what about those mortars that indiscriminately take out lives in & around the bakara market and other neighborhoods?

the rest of the article is a mess, with abc news adding its own propaganda to mislead the reader

Reports of young men roaming the streets with clubs, machetes and guns as well as mortar fire targeting civilian areas deemed friendly to the government have forced families to flee, sometimes relocating more than once.

this creates the impression that the so-called govt has popular support inside mogadishu. it doesn't. it's popular outside somalia, largely by non-somalis.

and it omits the reality that ever since yusuf rode into mogadishu on ethiopian tanks, TFG/TFG2 forces have been waging counterinsurgency operations against areas considered strongholds for the opposition, which is the majority of districts in mogadishu. these include all of the aforementioned tactics, sometimes with official notice to evacuate before operations commence, but not usually.

Those that stay must live by al-Shabaab's rules, a strict interpretation of sharia Islamic law. Last month four young men reportedly had their hands and feet cut off as punishment for stealing cell phones.

The group has pledged its allegiance to Al Qaeda numerous times.

again, harakat al-shabaab mujahideen is not the only opposition force in somalia. it's not even a unified, centralized milita. there is a widespread belief in somalia that sharia is necessary to protect against corruption & brutality after years of not having a centralized government & any semblance of peace. essentially to provide stability & security, though there are other reasons too.

harakat al-shabaab mujahideen, again, are a decentralized movement of various militias. the stmt that "The group has pledged its allegiance to Al Qaeda numerous times" is disinformation & can be easily disproven. i have linked to several stmts from the movement's previous official spokesperson, mukhtar robow, that make it very clear that, as islamists in the broader sense, AQ members are viewed as brothers, but that's it. the two al jazeera interviews are worth reviewing on that matter. i do realize there are other provocative stmts made by individuals claiming to speak for somalis, but they come across as bluster or agent provocateurs, if not simply fabrications, and i don't take them seriously. pledging allegiance? hardly.

on the amputations, the young men each had one hand & one foot cut off - not their "hands and feet". and the charge was more than just stealing cell phones - breaking into people's homes & stealing property and i read that they were also dealing in stolen weapons.

The Prime Minister says he believes that [his govt's overthrow] would be disastrous, not just for Somalia, but for the entire world. "It would turn the country into a safe haven where people could actually organize attacks in the EU, in the United Stations, in Asian Countries in African countries," he said. "I think the consequences are unimaginable."

and it's not just his imagination that needs help... anyone know where the "united stations" is and why someone would be wanting to organize attacks on it?

and it's not just the obese PM that is full of cock-and-bull, there's the garrulously annoying foreign minister, mohamed abdilahi omaar, also making a wild spin in a VOA distortion

Somalia's Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdilahi Omaar warned that radical Islamist fighters are arriving by the thousands.

"The current war in Somalia is a foreign war, led and supported by from outside the country," he said. "The leaders and the commanders of the armies are foreign, money comes from outside, ideology and political intentions, and programs are foreign based."

as in all good propaganda, there has to be an element of the truth for it to be effective. the foreign minister's claims are actually true - when looked at from a 180 degree angle.

the VOA piece ends with this paragraph, making up a definitive dollar figure from i don't know where (the anon "senior state department official" in last month's backgrounder never gave that number)

The United States recently delivered a $10 million package of weapons and training to Somali government forces. But military experts say it will take much more, including air and naval capability, to stop the well-trained and well-financed foreign fighters.

"air and naval capability" for whom is the question