Somalia thread for the week ending December 6

After disappearing in the media since the report that he was also taken during Operation Celestial Balance a few months ago, a new article in Uganda's New Vision claims that Abu Mansur Al-Amriki now "heads the finance and payroll department of the foreign fighters".

Somali militants recruit Ugandans

UGANDANS are among the foreigner militants fighting alongside Al Shabaab to overthrow the Somali government, the African Union Mission in Somalia has said.

The AU special representative for Somalia, Wafula Wamunyinyi, also listed Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, America, Tanzania, Kenya and Sudan as countries where Al Shabaab has recruited.

Speaking at the opening of a confidence building workshop for the Somali peacekeeping mission, dubbed AMISOM, yesterday, Wafula pointed out that the presence of Al Qaeda in Somalia is real and the world should be put on notice.

He observed that the managers and operational commanders of Al Shabaab belong to Qaeda.

“If we don’t put our hands together, Al Qaeda will take over Somalia considering the grip they have on the country,” Wafula said.

“With the involvement of foreign fighters, we need to adopt a new approach towards the conflict in Somalia, away from the perception that these are clans fighting.”

...

The AU official said Al Shabaab foreign fighters are estimated to be 1,200, half of whom are said to be Kenyans.

Wafula listed the foreigners holding important positions within Al Shabaab as Sheikh Mohamed Abu Faid, a Saudi Arabia born who is the financier and current “manager” of the group, while Abu Musa Mombasa is the head of security and training operations.

Mombasa reportedly arrived recently from Pakistan to replace Saleh AIi Nabhan who was killed in US military operations.

Abu Mansur Al-Amriki, an American, heads the finance and payroll department of the foreign fighters, while Mohamoud Mujajir, a Sudanese, is in charge of recruitment of Suicide bombers, he said.

Also on the list is Ahmed Abdi Godane, an al-Qaeda graduate from Afghanistan, and Abu Suleiman Al-Banadiri, a Somali of Yemeni descent.

Wafula said AMISOM has been able to collect valuable information about the fundamentalists through intelligence gathering and defectors. Several militants have also been killed, he added.

...

The two-day conference is intended to create awareness among the media and civil society organisations in current and potential troop contributing countries.

Create awareness? Or, shape perceptions & influence coverage in an effort to build support for additional bodies to keep the unpaid Ugandans & Burundian conscripts company?

[update: this is from a report on the conference reproduced at Hiiraan Online December 31, confirming that agenda]

The entire event was aimed to explore mechanisms of influencing public opinion and support for African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM) in Somalia, especially in current and potential Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs).

The forum sought to enable citizens—through gatekeepers—from the TCCs to appreciate the roles, responsibilities and contributions of their troops to the peace process in Somalia and its far-reaching implications for the African continent. It also aimed to explore mechanisms of influencing public policy in the current and potential TCCs with a view to generating more troops for the mission.

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Missed this one from last week...

Spanish Secret Service Got Fooled - Lost One Million Dollars - Endangers Scientists

Three Spanish agents from the National Center of Inteligencia (CNI), disguised as "anthropologists", tried to buy the freedom of the three Spanish sailors - two Gallicians and a Basque - of FV ALAKRANA, which the Somali pirates said they kept on land to be exchanged for two Somalis in prison in Spain, the Spanish newspaper EL Mundo revealed.

The Spanish agents met in the town of Hobyo with a contact they were told by the French secret services to be someone holding a high position in the Somali Ministry of Defence.

They closed the deal for one million dollars, paid the money and they waited in vain for the sailors. The pact never materialized and the fake Government stooge, who "was perfectly dressed and wore a gray suit ", disappeared - with the one million dollar.

The Spanish agents received support and cover of the French secret services and the Americans.

The agents of the CNI had been one week in Djibuti trying to enter Somalia and finally they crossed the border under the cover of being three anthropologists, who dedicated themselves to the study of that country.

...

The CNI centre did neither confirm nor deny the story of the tricked three agents, while an investigation by the cabinet is said to be under way.

Other sources in Somalia confirmed the story of the tricked Spanish agents, but said that there was besides the French also a link to a Ukrainian connection.

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More to support that observation that the conference in Uganda was focused on influencing coverage

AFP: Somalia force 'let down' by troop no-shows

The head of the African Union's troubled Somalia peacekeeping force expressed frustration on Wednesday at the failure of countries to honour troop commitments.

Speaking in Uganda, one of only two nations to have contributed troops to the AMISOM force, Wafula Wamunyinyi said the threat posed by Islamist insurgents had been exaggerated, scaring off countries from deployments.

"We feel really frustrated and let down that several African nations have not honoured their commitment to send troops, but the media have made it difficult for them to deploy," said Wamunyinyi, AMISOM's acting chief.

"And nobody seems to appreciate the AMISOM has accomplished a lot"...

From a separate AFP article, No peace for the peacekeepers in Somalia

In a khaki tent shielded by sandbags, four Ugandan officers are watching "Black Hawk Down," the Hollywood account of the devastating ambush of US troops in the chaotic streets of Mogadishu.

It's maybe not the ideal cinematic fare when you are a peacekeeper supposed to be maintaining some semblance of stability in the lawless Somali capital, where life is cheap and international troops come under daily fire.

That doesn't seem to bother these officers, almost transfixed in front of the screen in the mess where they came to grab a cup of milky tea.

"They know they don't have enough forces to engage us and move us back one foot," said Major Ba-Hoku Barigye, part of an African Union force shoring up President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed's government against Islamist fighters.

"Our major achievement is that we have been able to demystify the idea that Somalia is a no-go area," he boasted.

"Three years after (deployment) we're still here, and I'm sure we will be here for three more years."

...

"Without us the transitional government would collapse immediately," said one colonel, whose men in forward positions regularly come under gunshot and mortar fire.

...

Pinned up across the base is a directive to the troops to, despite the attack, make every effort to ensure Somalis are not left feeling isolated.

"We could have done better but remember that we are the only peacekeeping mission with the same risks as Afghanistan or Iraq," said Major Barigye.

"I'm convinced this mission can be achieved in less than a year," he added. "It's just a question of capacities and human power."

The force lacks both manpower and equipment, he said.

...

Every now and then there's a buzz overhead. US drones are watching and monitoring.

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Some important points in the following analysis that you won't find in most Western reporting,

ISN: Assessing Somalia’s Terror Threat

Taking into account the enduring state failure and the rise of radical Islamic movements that now control most parts of south/central Somalia, many ask if the country might resemble Afghanistan in the 1990s, becoming a save haven and training ground for jihadists from Somalia’s huge diaspora and others.

In fact, this is a question Osama Bin Laden himself was already contemplating when he was looking for his next stop after leaving Khartoum in 1996. It is said that the Somali clan militias were too untrustworthy to provide security, and the country’s Islamist groups were left in the cold by al-Qaida’s global vision, leading bin Laden to opt for Afghanistan instead.

Bin Laden’s conclusions might still hold true today. “Due to poor infrastructure and the prevalence of local warlords and the hundreds of concomitant armed checkpoints, moving men, information and material is slow and requires the frequent payments of bribes [making] Somalia a costly and difficult place for outsiders to operate,” Bill Braniff, FBI program manager and instructor at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, told ISN Security Watch.

In addition, “many of the most well-established Islamist training camps are not Salafi-jihadi training camps, but camps run by nationalist Islamists that want to see an Islamist government in Somalia for all ethnic Somalis. These nationalist camps are championed by pragmatic, seasoned Somali leaders who do not want to see Somalis become the cannon fodder of an abstract and cosmic foreign ideology, nor do they want to see al-Qaida or its affiliated al-Shabaab organization undermine their chance of political primacy in Somalia,” Braniff said.

In contrast to the Taliban, which at a certain point fought for al-Qaida, ... the nationalist Islamists in Somalia share their training infrastructure with al-Shabaab for pragmatic reasons.

“If al-Shabaab is seen as a liability moving forward, however, these erstwhile benefactors will not feel obliged to continue hosting Shabaab if they are strong enough to desist,” Braniff said.

Talking to ISN Security Watch, Michael A Weinstein, professor at Purdue University in the US state of Indiana, makes clear that al-Shabaab can not be seen as a unit: “It is, after all, a Somali group and shares the standard characteristics of Somali political groups (decentralization), although it is more ideologically coherent than its competitors.”

While it is difficult to determine with certainty the leadership structure, one thing appears to be clear: “It is not a top-down, hierarchical organization with a predictable chain of command. Wherever the group is dominant, its local leaders have a great deal of latitude and have alliances with local sub-clans,” Weinstein said.

Overall, al-Shabaab represents a rather complex picture - therein resembling the current state of Somalia itself, which is a country in open conflict between factions of armed Islamist opposition groups, Islamists outside the armed opposition with their own militias, clan families, sub-clans, regional power centers, micro-political interests at the local level, legitimate and criminal business interests, and the Transitional Federal Government as just one armed actor among many others.

Al-Shabaab has a clan dimension - its western wing is aligned with the Rahanweyne, its eastern wing with the Hawiye and Darod - but its ideology of transnational jihad and pan-Islamism is fairly well fixed for Somali standards.

According to Weinstein, al-Shabaab’s western and eastern branches have different agendas: “The western branch, centered in the Rahanweyne regions of Bay and Bakool, is associated with Sheikh Mukhtar Robow’s strategy of consolidation and building functioning authorities as a prelude to extension of Islamist emirates. The eastern branch, extending to the Jubba regions to the south and through the central regions, especially Middle Shabelle, to the north, is led by Sheikh Godane with a more militant transnationalist agenda, although I believe the greatest concentration is on Somalia.”

Besides al-Shabaab, the other important Islamist movement on a regional level is Hizbul Islam. It represents the usual Somali movement: It has been and remains nationalist, and is a coalition of resistance groups based on clan membership, in particular Darod Ogaden (Ras Kambooni Group), Darod (Muskar Anole Group) and Hawiye (the faction dominated by Sheikh Aweys). With the exception of the Ras Kambooni Group, the only transnational design concerns the Ethiopian Ogaden region.

...

..the increased movements of young members of the Somali diaspora to fight in their country of origin have to be put into context. Most of the 20 Americans joined al-Shabaab in 2007 and 2008 when Somalia’s ‘Christian’ archenemy Ethiopia invaded and subsequently occupied the country with US encouragement and logistical help.

Al-Shabaab was perceived as the only resistance force willing and able to confront the Ethiopian military, thereby developing a large domestic constituency as well as strong support from the diaspora. With the Ethiopian troop withdrawal, this polarizing effect of foreign occupation led to diminished grievances, making it ever more difficult for al-Shabaab to motivate members of the diaspora to join their fight.

...

..according to Braniff, a strong rationale based on cost benefit analysis might prevent al-Shabaab from terror attacks abroad, referring to the large Somali diaspora: “Remittances provide 10 times the income than does the next closest industry in Somalia, so the world's largest humanitarian crisis would be infinitely worse should foreign governments prevent Somali communities from sending money back home. As a result, any nationalist actor would have to be willing to risk societal suicide should they decide to attack western interests directly.”

If true, this might be an indicator that fighters coming from the Somali diaspora - who are still small in numbers compared to those from ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan - might rather resemble the men that fought in Afghanistan in the 1980s and returned home after 1989. Although several were identified of those who started military activity again in their homelands, most just reverted to their civilian life.

In spite of this, there might be an intrinsic dynamic directly linked to the attention the conflict in Somalia gets in the context of the global war on terror and the motivation of foreigners to sacrifice their lives for a higher cause in Somalia.

As Roland Marchal, senior research fellow at the National Center of Scientific Research in Paris, points out to ISN Security Watch, “[there is] also missing an international attention to Somalia that would provide a reward for foreigners to get involved in Somalia. The success of [Somalia becoming a training ground for jihadists] will be limited up to the time Somalia becomes the place for a major confrontation against the West.”

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Garowe Online: Top Somali senior officers dismissed

Somali military and police commanders have been forced to vacate their offices for failure to curb the rampant insurgency in the war-torn Somalia, sources close to the government told Garowe Online.

Somali police commander General Abdi Hassan Awale and the military commander General Yusuf Hussein Osman have been blamed for doing little about the current security situation in the country, however their dismissal is not yet publicised.

Reports say General Abdi Hassan is expected to be named Somali ambassador to the one of the West Africa countries, while the fate of the General Yussuf is unknown.

There is no one who was named for the positions of the Somali police and military commanders, however the move comes as the government outlines new program meant to carry out national census on the number of Somali TFG police and military troops.

After his election early this year, Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh named General Yusuf the Military chief after dismissing the former who served in the government Ex-president Abdullahi Yussuf. In the reshuffle, General Abdi Awale was returned as the police commanders

Analysts say the latest dismissal can only be accounted for hidden war within the embattled government with the move expected to rattle the shaky political grounds.

Senior Somali government officials led by President Sheikh Sharif and Prime Minister Omar Ali Sharmake are now discussing who will replace the two commanders.

Press TV adds

The Somali president is to dismiss two top military commanders who failed to solve their disagreement with him, amid fears that the move would cause more tension.

Somali troops had been deployed to the roads to important government buildings in Mogadishu on Wednesday before the move over concerns about more unrest, the Press TV correspondent reported.

General Abdi Hassan Awale is set to hand in his resignation to Somali President Sheik Sharif Ahmed.

He has noted that chaos will soon return to Mogadishu when the news of his resignation spreads in the capital.

Gen. Yusuf Ahmed Dhumal, Chief of Staff of Somalia's Military, is also set to leave the capital amid fear that he might use military force to confront the government.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Somali president dressed in military fatigues, addressed the government soldiers and encouraging them to defend the sovereignty of the country and restore peace and stability.

The president vowed that he would not take off his military uniform till he restored law and order to the country.

Photos of Sharif in his military garb can be found here. In addition to his stick, check out the age of the assembled soldiers.

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One more on the conference in Uganda,

Xinhua: AU official calls for urgent deployment of peacekeepers in Somalia

The African Union (AU) representative in Somalia on Wednesday called for an urgent deployment of peacekeepers in the country to prevent the possible relocation of al Qaida following planned attacks on their bases in Afghanistan.

Wafula Wamunyinyi, AU Deputy Special Representative for Somalia told Xinhua in an interview that as the United States and Britain deploy more troops to Afghanistan, the al Qaida network is most likely to relocate to volatile Somalia where it has already had links with the Islamist forces fighting against the government.

"The Africans who feel they are secure or they can not be affected by this threat will feel it when they get attacked. But we don't want to wait until they are attacked," he added.

Wamunyinyi was speaking on the sidelines of the opening of a two-day meeting of current and potential troop contributing countries to the African Union Mission in Somalia.

He said African countries must deploy peacekeepers in Somalia to avoid such a scenario, which is likely to destabilize the region and the continent.

...

The meeting which was aimed at building confidence among current and potential troop contributing countries drew 47 participants from Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Malawi, and Somalia.

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A tragic turn for what should have been a joyous occasion

Garowe Online: Deadly suicide bombing kills four Somali ministers

At least 17 people, including four Somali ministers and two journalists have been killed and over 60 others injured in deadly suicide bomb blast that ripped through a function in Somalia’s restive capital of Mogadishu, Radio Garowe reports.

According to witnesses, a ‘lady’ suicide bomber detonated explosives near the VIP lounge where the top government officials, who attended the graduation ceremony for Banadir University, were seated.

The dead ministers are Health Minister Qamar Aden Ali, High and lower Education Ministers Pro. Ibrahim Hassan Adoow, Abdullahi Wayel, Sports and youth Minister Saleman Olad Robleh. [correction as of 2009.12.04: The Sports and Youth Minister was not killed but is listed as critically injured.]

“The explosion happened at the podium at the time when Pro. Mohamed Warsame was delivering his speech,” Mohamed Liban, one of the graduates told Garowe Online.

The dead journalists are Mahamed Amin Adan Abdulle of Shabele Radio and Hassan Ali Hassan [Fantastic], Al Arabiya television Mogadishu director.

Duniyo Ali Mahamed, the head of Medina hospital’s staffs said more than 60 wounded people, most of them graduates have been admitted in the hospital.

Shabelle Media: Shebelle’s reporter lose his life in suicide blast in Mogadishu

Mohamed Amin Aden Abdulle, Shabelle’s reporter and Hassan Zubeyr Haji “Fantastic” Al-arabia TV photographer and former technician of Shabelle and Yasir Mari, a Somali freelance were killed in the explosion and more others including Mohamed Aweys Mudey, program producer of Somaliweyn radio, Omar Faruq, Reuters’ photographer and one of Universal TV cameraman were wounded in the blast.

The reporter died instantly when shrapnel from the blast hit him on the head.

All the staff of Shabelle radio and television got shock when they heard the death of Mohamed Amin Aden Abdulle and rushed to Shamo hotel where the accident took place after blast and took him between pieces of dead bodies who scattered in the hotel and died in blast.

Deceased Mohamed Amin was buried in Mogadishu.

Mohamed Amin was 25, he ... had joined Shabelle radio and Television in mid 2009.

Reporters Without Borders: At least two journalists killed and seven others wounded in Mogadishu suicide bombing

According to the information obtained by Reporters Without Borders, at least seven journalists were injured by the blast...

Inner City Press: UN Decries Somali Bombing, Lobbies for Army Figure, U.S. Lobbied for Omar Jamar?

As the UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Thursday afternoon on a Presidential Statement condemning the suicide bombing in Mogadishu earlier in the day ... there was more mundane intrigue about a Somali from Minnesota just appointed to represent the country's Transitional Federal Government at the UN.

Inner City Press has received a variety of critique from Omar Jamal, both from Somalia and the diaspora in the U.S. and elsewhere. A sample analysis is online here. But outside the Council on Thursday, it emerged that Mr. Jamal's critics are in the UN as well, and blame the United States government for his appointment.

But if the U.S. is pulling strings for the TFG, why was Somalia's vote on human rights in the Third Committee recently cast for Kim Jong-il's North Korea? It is explained historically: North Korea helped the Arab world in previous battles with Israel.

The UN, too, is ordering Mogadishu moves. It is reported that the UN urged President Shaykh Sharif Shaykh Ahmad to reverse his firing of the police commissioner, Abdi Hasan Awale a/k/a Qeybdid

Relatedly,

Mareeg Online: UN delegation visits Mogadishu

Delegation from the United Nations has visited Somalia’s capital Mogadishu and met government ministries, officials said on Thursday.

The delegation led by Deputy UN Envoy to Somali, Charles Patrie, arrived in Mogadishu on Wednesday and held a press conference in the centre of the Ministry of Information.

Patrie said he was glad to visit the Somali capital Mogadishu and praised the Information minister of his efforts of reopening Radio Mogadishu.

He added that they came to Mogadishu to pave the way for International Contact Group meeting in Jiddah Saudi Arabia which is due to be held in the middle of this month.

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Shabelle Media: Rival political sides condemn yesterday’s deadly attack in Mogadishu

the rival political sides of Somalia have unanimously condemned yesterday’s deadly bomb attack targeted to Shamo hotel..

TFG president Sharif Sheik Ahmed said that they were very sorry what had happened yesterday pointing out that the explosion was what he described foreign ideology and strongly condemned it and sent his deep condolence to the relatives of the people died in the blast.

Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen had also criticized the bomb attack which resulted in more casualties of deaths, injuries and the loss of the properties.

Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage known as (Sheik Ali Dere), the spokesman of the Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen has sent condolence to the parents of those who lost their lives in the explosion adding that they were not involved what happened.

Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, head of the Islamic organization of Hisbul Islam also joined those who sent their condolence messages to the people whose people lost in yesterdays’ bomb attack adding that he was so sorry about it.

The TFG has exploited the opportunity to lay the blame on al-Qai'dah in an official press release:

Prime Minister Sharmarke added that, “Al Qaeda’s terror campaign in Somalia has gone on for a long time and their latest cowardly act proves that the terrorists passed a red line.”

The Transitional Federal Government of Somalia calls on the international community and the friends of Somalia to stand with us in our struggle to resist Al Qaeda and its evil offshoots.

Unlike earlier profile suicide attacks, so far no party has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Reuters: Somali rebels deny they carried out suicide bombing

A spokesman for Somalia's al Shabaab rebels denied on Friday that the group was behind a suicide bombing at a medical graduation ceremony that killed at least 22 people, including three government ministers.

...

Suspicion had immediately fallen on the hard-line al Shabaab group, which is battling the Western-backed government to impose its harsh interpretation of Islamic law across the country.

"We declare that al Shabaab did not mastermind that explosion ... we believe it is a plot by the government itself," al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told reporters. "It is not in the nature of al Shabaab to target innocent people."

Rage said serious political rifts had emerged between senior figures in President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's administration, which controls little more than a few strategic areas of the capital.

"You know there is a power struggle ... that has been going on a long time," the insurgent spokesman said.

"We know some so-called government officials left the scene of the explosion just minutes before the attack. That is why it is clear that they were behind the killing."

...

The U.N special envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, said insurgents had been behind most of the recent high profile acts of violence to afflict the nation.

"I think it is outrageous to suggest now that behind this killing is not the same group that killed the security minister, that attacked AMISOM (peacekeepers), that has stoned women and children to death," he told Reuters by telephone from Tokyo.

And I think it is outrageous that Ould-Abdallah is still taken seriously

SMC: Al-Shabab categorically denies involved in suicide attack in Mogadishu

The spokesman of Al-Shabab has strongly denounced the attack and called it a cowardly one, and has sent message of condolence to the families and the relatives of those who have deceased in the suicide attack.

“On behalf of Al-Shabab movement, I am hereby sending my condolence to the families and the next of kin of the dead people who have died on yesterday’s attack, I pray for them mercy in the hereafter I am hereby saying loud and clear that we are absolutely not involved in that attack, may God rest their lives in eternal peace Amen” said the spokesman of Al-Shabab Sheikh Ali Dere in a press conference in the capital Mogadishu.

The spokesman of Al-Shabab has also added in his press conference that the Somali government itself is behind in the attack.

From a Reuters piece Thursday

In the days ahead of Thursday's attack, residents said the government had apparently been planning a new offensive against the rebels in the capital and elsewhere.

Observers say the assault was to use a number of Somali troops trained abroad by Western experts.

These troops had recently been sent back to Mogadishu specifically to prepare and carry out the offensive, the observers say. An attack might have come at an awkward time for Shabaab, because it is currently engaged in fighting a rival Islamist group, Hizbul Islam, for control of the lucrative southern port of Kismayu and its surrounding territories.

Besides denting government morale by showing the insurgents' ability to strike the TFG at will, Thursday's bombing may divert the government's attention from its reported plans, leading to their delay.

The bombing will certainly heighten the TFG's frustration over delayed pledges of military and financial support from Western donors.

One critic writing at an AEI website even goes so far as to surmise that

the choice of targeting a college and education official is important is because it may indicate al Shabaab’s growing interest in influencing Somalia’s education sector.

...

The December 3 attack may highlight al Shabaab’s desire to gain greater influence in the education sector by means of intimidation.

which of course, as fallacious reasoning goes, inevitably arrives at the conclusion that

the connection between al Shabaab’s September warning about textbooks and its December attack suggest that the group’s threats and warnings cannot be dismissed lightly – and the group has made many indications that it would like to strike beyond Somalia’s borders.

That reminds me of a couple stories earlier this week that didn't get as much play as the sensational ones involving threats by Islamists in Southern Somalia against Kenya recieved.

Garowe Online: Somalia's Al-Shabaab denies attack against Kenya

Somalia’s Al-Shabab authority in southern Jubba regions denied on Tuesday that they will carry out aggressions on Kenya.

Sheikh Abdifitah Ibrahim Ali, Al-Shabaab official told the local media that the rebel group will not carry out any attacks against Kenya because their neighbour is not harassing them.

"We are keeping the security of the districts we captured from Hizbul Islam and we will be establishing authorities different from our enemy…..there is no danger facing us from Kenya," said Sheikh Abdifitah

Ali said his group will only keep peace along border between Somalia and Kenya, adding that the early Al-Shabaab warnings against Kenya were ‘just verbal’.

Al-Shabaab authority in Jubba regions has early warned Kenya to withdrawal all its forces along the border.

SMC: Al-Shabab says they are not intending to attack Kenya

he administration of Al-Shabab in the southern Jubbah regions in Somalia, a vigorous Islamist movement in Somalia has on Tuesday said that they have pardoned their opponent Hizbul-Islam and is not intending to crossover the boarder between Kenya and Somalia and yet not willing to attack Kenya.

Al-Shabab also sent warning message to the government of Nairobi to abstain from the uncertain politics of Somalia and to keenly observe the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

...

Eventually Sheikh Abdi Fatah has wrapped up his press conference and reiterated that they are not intending or planning to attack Kenya, however he has added that if Kenyan government does the slightest aggression in the boarder between the two countries they will carryout reprisal attack in full swing.

Back to Thursday's suicide bombing,

WRT general coverage of Somalia, I have found the reporting of The Christian Science Monitor to be especially slanted and dishonest. Propaganda really, for the most part. Here's their article on the bombing that occurred that ran on the same day:

Al Shabab blamed for Somalia bombing. Is Al Qaeda's influence rising?

A suicide bombing at a Somali student graduation ceremony which killed three government ministers and at least 16 other civilians on Thursday bore Al Qaeda's hallmark and further endangered the future of the country's wobbling administration, analysts says.

A man strapped with explosives and disguised as a woman apparently gained free access to what was supposed to be one of the few parts of Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, that was safe for the country's government.

But Thursday's strike appears to be the latest in a fresh offensive by Al Shabab, deploying tactics that Somalia-watchers say have been imported directly from Al Qaeda.

US government officials are convinced that Osama bin Laden's terror organization is strengthening its links to its Somali proxy – in part by by sending trainers to the Horn of Africa to instruct new jihadists there.

Here is a link to what is reported to be some pictures of all that remains of the suicide bomber, upper torso essentially - be warned upfront - it's very grisly. Notice the beard and short-sleeve shirt?

So how was this person disguised as a woman? A full veil, maybe? Is that even something you would expect to see inside the TFG's so-called secured zone?

With all of the media coverage at the ceremony, perhaps some photographic evidence of the bomber's identity will surface.

Continuing w/ the CSM piece,

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing. But at a news conference, Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh blamed Al Shabab, an Islamist insurgent group, which some analysts say has growing links to Al Qaeda and which is battling Somalia's Western-backed government.

...

"This is the third in a series of strikes on supposedly secure locations and shows both the very difficult security situation for the government, and the fact that Al Shabab has very good intelligence," says EJ Hogendoorn, the International Crisis Group's project director for the Horn of Africa.

That intelligence is what should worry the West the most. "It is a foregone conclusion", says Mr. Hogendoorn, that Al Shabab has sympathizers within the transitional federal government (TFG).

"The TFG is just too large and dispersed, with too many marriages of convenience holding it together, for it to be able to guard against leaks of information," he says.

What level of intelligence was actually required here? Was the graduation ceremony classified? Methinks the ICG official is leaking on the reporter's leg while telling him it's raining.

"It's just going to cut back any confidence anyone – civilians, the government, its international supporters – may have had that anything can be done by the Somalis themselves against Al Shabab," says a Western diplomat in Kenya who specializes in Somalia.

...and step up the pressure & calls for additional International military forces, perhaps?

One more article on that conference in Uganda,

Daily Nation: Mogadishu shunned by Africans

Somalia’s tragic story could not have been more vividly told than at a seminar in Kampala hosted by the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (Accord) attended by commanders of the Amisom peace-keeping force and the force’s managers based.

...

Expressing his frustration, Felix Kulayigye, spokesman of the Uganda Defence Forces said: “We have a conflict in Somalia and countries want to know what they can gain before sending troops.”

Bad publicity is the main problem Amisom faces in Somalia and is the main reason more countries have not been forthcoming with troops.

...

The opening remarks were made by Mr Wafula Wamunyinyi, the AU’s deputy Special Representative for Somalia and the force Commander in Mogadishu, Gen N. Mugisha.

Mr Wamunyinyi, who is currently the acting head of Amisom, told of hostility towards his officers by the media in Mogadishu. “When we are attacked, the media does not show any sympathy, we are portrayed as the enemy of the people in Somalia.”

Though the meeting called to show the Press both from inside and outside Somalia what Amisom does, it boiled down mainly into an exchange between AU officers from Addis Ababa and Nairobi, the UN support office for Amisom and Ugandan and Burundian officers currently serving or formerly based in Mogadishu.

It was just another tragic phase in attempts by the international community to restore order to this troubled country.

You knew this was coming...

Garowe Online: Somalia calls for international help

Somalia’s president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has called on international community and neighbouring [countries] to assist in preventing the powerful insurgents from taking over the war-torn Somalia.

Sharif said his embattled government is unable to thwart any attacks targeted on top government officials, stressing that Thursday’s suicide attack in Mogadishu’s Shamo hotel is just tip of the iceberg for the extremists who are determined to topple his government.

“We are asking the world powers and neighbouring countries to intervene and stop extremists from taking over Somalia,” said the president who was speaking at the funeral of three slain ministers.

He warned that if the world fails to intervene, then the country will be used by Al-Qeada to carry out its global operations.

On the other hand, Somali Prime Minster Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said the security situation in his war-torn country is worst than Afghanistan, calling on the world to shift its focus to Somalia.

“Somalia is worst than Afghanistan, so we are telling the world to help us to restore stability in the country,” he told reporters.

Apparently the transitional PM Sharmarke found time to send off a letter to the Times Online -- Barack Obama’s Afghan vision can work for Somalia -- once again begging the Brits to intervene in Somalia's affairs:

Sir, Clare Lockhart’s article (“At last. Obama’s vision offers hope for all sides”, Opinion, Dec 3) marks a sea change in international support to troubled countries. What is so startling is that all the conclusions are as true about Somalia as they are about Afghanistan.

We accept that after 20 years without government, the situation in Somalia will appear beyond repair but the reality is very different. Piracy and the growth of Islamic extremism are not the natural state of being. They are but symptoms of an underlying malaise — the absence of government and hope.

Regional stability is increasingly at stake as Islamic extremism and the piracy problem grows and my government is working hard with your Foreign and Commonwealth Office to present and initiate our Somali lead strategy that will help the Somali people themselves to bring Somalia back from the brink.

The help we need is first in the restoration of both effective government and the training of national security forces required to secure peace and enforce laws.

Second, in restoring and enforcing Somalia’s economic exclusion zone so that Somalia can use its vast potential wealth in fish, oil and gas to fund its own future. Our fishermen currently watch as other countries plunder our waters. While we condemn it outright, it is no wonder these angry and desperate people resort to “fishing” for ships instead.

And third, in launching a large- scale civil affairs programme to train our young people and establish legitimate commercial livelihoods.

You have employed these same principles to great effect in other conflict-ridden countries (that harbour terrorists threatening UK national security) such as Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan, so why not here too? The irony is that it would cost only a quarter of what is being spent right now on the warships trying to combat piracy, to fund our plan and actually solve the problems rather than simply chasing them round the Indian Ocean.

Omar Sharmarke
Prime Minister, Transitional Federal Government of Somalia

This follows up on his October 28 address before an audience at Chatham House

SMC quotes the transitional President speaking at the burial ceremony, claiming

“Merely the Somali government cannot eliminate, and handle the problems of these people we need the international support, there are foreigners from the other end of the world, who are also well trained, who are partaking the instability in the country”

the other end of the world, eh?

Garowe Online: Ex-Somali leader condemns Mogadishu blast, accuse Al-Shabaab

The former President of Somalia Abdi Kassim Salat Hassan has strongly
condemned the Thursday’s gruesome suicide attack in Mogadishu hotel, which killed dozens including Somali ministers, Journalists and doctors.

...

“The doers of the evil act are Somali foes, who were keen on killing the country’s intellectuals,” said the former Somali leader while in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, sending his condolences to the families and friends of the victims.

Hassan said the group behind the attack was same one who killed former
Somali security minister, adding that the act was foreign-masterminded with Ethiopia and US playing crucial role.

“First, I am holding responsible the same group that killed Somali security Minister Omar Aden Hashi. Second, is the Ethiopian and American agents who were specially deployed in the country,” he noted.

...

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, however, the suspicion has fall on Somali insurgent Al-Shabaab group, who have since denied it.

Interestingly, Time posted an article on the very same day as the bombing which claimed

The al Shabaab militia, a rebel group linked to al-Qaeda, quickly claimed responsibility for the attack. In an interview with TIME, a man who identified himself as Sheikh Abdifatah, a senior al Shabaab official in Mogadishu, said the group had targeted the ceremony as part of its war on the U.S.-backed Transitional Federal Government. More attacks are to come, he warned. "We did not target the students —our target was the TFG, and each day and every hour we will keep fighting ... Our goal is to target the enemy of Allah. We will never give up pursuing the enemy of Allah.

Sheikh who? Is that the same as Sheikh Abdi Fatah Ibrahim Ali, the individual identified as "the vice Chairman of the department of information for Al-Shabab" in an SMC article cited earlier in this thread? Or Abdifatah Ibrahim Shaweye, the deputy mayor of Mogadishu/deputy governor of Banadir region? Why no mention at all of this in Somali media? Or the official denial by Rage? Why Time, which has a history of providing cover for CIA operatives & agents (including stringers)?

The Time article then adds another quote from their reported interview:

Sheikh Abdifatah, the al Shabaab official, says that the group had indeed received funding from al-Qaeda, along with other financers. He said the group does not distinguish between foreign or Somali fighters, so long as they seek the same goal. "We are in international Jihad against the enemies of Allah, so here on the ground we are all the same — we do not say this is al-Qaeda, this is foreign. We are all the same," he said. "Our next step is to continue the jihad until the foreign troops and TFG is removed together from the country."

If one accepts the Time report at face value, that this source and his claims are legit, will they then also pay heed to what that second quote explicitly states - that this 'jihad' will end once foreign troops and the foreign-imposed govt is removed from Somalia and that there is no identification w/ "al-Qaeda"? Or will that message get rejected b/c it doesn't fit into an already-formed narrative?

-- -- --

Well, now that earlier Garowe Online headline is correct

AFP: 4th minister dies of wounds

SOMALI Sports Minister Suleyman Olad Roble died on Saturday in Nairobi of wounds sustained during a devastating suicide attack at a graduation in Mogadishu two days earlier, diplomatic sources said.

...

'The minister died of his injuries at Aga Khan hospital,' a Somali diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. Roble had been transferred to Nairobi on Thursday with serious wounds.

His death brings to 24 the total number of people killed in the bombing, one of the worst ever to rock a country which has been mired in civil conflict since 1991. Three journalists were also among the dead.

The internationally-backed government blamed the Islamist insurgency but both the Al Qaeda-linked Shebab and their Hezb al-Islam allies denied any involvement, instead pointing to rivalries within state security.

-- -- --

Garowe Online: Somalia gets new military, police commanders

Somali government has named new military and police chiefs to lead the embattled forces in the fight against the powerful insurgents.

Gen. Ali Mahamed Hassan [Madobe] is the new police chief, replacing Gen. Abdi Hassan Awale [Qaybdid] while Gen. Mahamed Gelle Kahiye is taking over Military from sacked Gen. Yussuf Hussein Osman [Dhumaal].

The decision was reached at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke held in Mogadishu.

...

Reports said the Somali PM was enthralled by the potentials of the two new Generals, who together with the predecessors were not around the meeting place

...

The two new chiefs are yet to comment about the appointment.

The embattled Somali government has recently sacked Somali military and police commanders for failure to curb the rampant insurgency in the war-torn country.

However, hundreds of people who support the ousted chiefs have shown their anger through demonstrations in parts of the restive capital shortly after they received the announcement.

An important fact here that the Garowe Online article omits but as Mareeg Online points out

Ali Mohamed Hassan held the post of the police chief before under the administration of former president Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.

AP adds another important context left out by both of those media

The Somali government replaced its police and army chiefs Sunday ahead of a planned military offensive, the Somali information minister said.

...

[Government spokesman Abdi Haji] Gobdoon said the two had failed to restore security to Somalia and the new appointments were part of a plan to strengthen the security institutions ahead of a military operation. His comments marked the first public confirmation of a planned military push against the insurgents.

National security minister Abdulahi Mohamed Ali said, "This is a part of a national plan to activate the army and the security institutions ahead of intended government military operations to restore law and order."

-- -- --

Shabelle Media: Former president says he called Ugandan president to halt shelling

The former Transitional National Government (TNG) president Dr. Abdikasin Salad Hassan who is currently in Cairo has Sunday said that he called for the Ugandan president to halt shelling in the civilian populated areas in the Somalia capital Mogadishu.

Dr. Abdikasin said he sent a letter to President Yuweri Muzenveni requesting that the African Union troops especially those from his country Uganda to stop targeting the areas of the civilians as fighting against the Islamist fighters who are greatly against their presence in the country.

The president said in an interview with Shabelle’s Mohamed Bashir Hashi that the Ugandan troops started targeting heavy weapons and shelling to the residential areas since the Ethiopian troops left the country.

On the other hand Dr. Abdikasin Salad said that the explosions in the country are often masterminded by Ethiopia and the United States of America whom he accused that they did not want any peace and stability in Somalia.