The EastAfrican has learnt that the European Union and the United Nations Security Council have signed packages that will see increased financing and logistics flowing to the peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
The EU is tightlipped about the level of its support — “I don’t want to make any declarations about that,” said EU ambassador to Uganda Vincent de Visscher.
To the annoyance of countries such as Uganda and Burundi, which were the first to put troops on the ground in Mogadishu, the promise of money has now caught the attention of countries that failed to deliver on their promises for troops.
Now they want to deploy small teams [to the force headquarters in Mogadishu] to manage the mission’s logistics.
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While some diplomatic sources within the EU zone feigned ignorance about the support, other sources said the support coming from the EU‘s security department is a sensitive security matter about which publicity could make EU citizens targets for terror attacks.
It is understood that the EU has committed itself to providing funds for the training of Somalia’s security forces and extension of humanitarian assistance to civilians.
Some 2,000 recruits to the Somali national army will be trained in Uganda.
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The EU money will be channelled through Amisom’s logistical base in Nairobi.
The UN is expected to provide logistical support, such as fuel, vehicle maintenance, food and drugs to the peacekeeping force.
United Nations General Assembly (Dec. 10): General Assembly adopts 28 draft texts on Fourth Committee's recommendation
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Following action on its Fourth Committee texts, the Assembly adopted the resolution on Financing of the activities arising from Security Council resolution 1863. By its terms, the Assembly appropriated $75.64 million to the Special Account for the support provided to the African Union Mission in Somalia for the 2008/9 period, and $213.58 million for the 2009/10 period, inclusive of $138.80 million previously authorized by the Assembly at the sixty-third session and in addition to $6.10 million previously appropriated, also at the sixty-third session.
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Monkey see, monkey do...
Radio France Internationale: Training for Afghanistan in the Horn of Africa
French soldiers in Djibouti train for Afghanistan and keep an eye on Africa.
Twelve special forces commandos arrived first. They landed at Arta, a barren patch of Djibouti's jagged coastline some 80km from the capital city. After scrambling from their boats they climbed the hills quickly towards the area's only radio mast.
A brick was attached to its base and a loud explosion rocked the spectators nearby; that was the signal for the army to storm the beach.
This was a rare demonstration of France's armed forces in action in the Horn of Africa.
The exercise, seen as crucial for battle preparedness in a region infamous for its fractious politics, included all the country's military sectors - sea, land and air.
As desert tanks zoomed onto the shore Mirage jets criss-crossed the open sky. Meanwhile, land troops were dispatched from the mouths of armoured personnel carriers and helicopters airlifted artillery guns onto the ground.
"It's a show of force. It shows what France is able to do militarily," said one army officer.
The troops taking part are a contingent of a 2,500-strong force based in Djibouti. Originally built in the colonial era to balance Britain's regional base in Aden, it now sits across from America's Camp Lermonier.
In recent years French troops in Djibouti have been involved in a number of humanitarian and military missions in Africa. They helped reinforce the UN brigade patrolling Côte d'Ivoire and last year provided logistical and tactical help to Djiboutian soldiers warding off an attack from neighbouring Eritrea.
For the time being, the first theatre of combat these troops will see is Afghanistan, where France is part of the Nato contingent. The mountainous, arid countryside closely resembles Djibouti's own undulating moonscape.
"In addition to keeping our own forces we have to help the African peacekeepers tackle the problems themselves," said Commandant Etienne du Fayet, spokesperson for the French army in Djibouti. "For example, French officers are going to be training a contingent in Uganda next February and we are also going to Ethiopia."
That's part of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's new military policy in Africa which focuses on trying to build up indigenous military organizations and thus avoid direct intervention.
deja vu?
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Guardian UK: Briton Mohammed Ezzouek was held in Somalia as an al-Qaida suspect: his interrogators were British: Mohammed Ezzouek, a victim of rendition from Kenya to Somalia, says UK agents were complicit in his torture
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"I said to them what about my family? No one knows whether I'm dead or alive. Can I make a call to them?" They said: 'No you can't.' It was then that I realised what these people were about."
He was shown photographs of alleged terrorists and asked if he knew them. "They asked me about the 1998 Kenya-Tanzania bombings. I said I remembered exactly where I was during the bombings – I was in secondary school. They were so desperate to pin anything on anyone."
The Kenyan security services also subjected him to interrogations that started at sunrise and were repeated every couple of hours. One Kenyan agent suggested: "Maybe we're being too nice to you. Maybe, Mohammed, if we bring other people to you, you will co-operate, people who will make you talk."
As the questioning progressed and Ezzouek became increasingly anxious, unable to eat and fearing for his sanity, a senior British intelligence agent who identified herself as "Frances" arrived from London. The questioning became more threatening. Fran ces told Ezzouek nobody knew where he was and that "anything could have happened to him".
"She said how would you like it if the Kenyans were to take you to the Somalia/Ethiopia border, within sight of an Ethiopian checkpoint and then leave you to sort yourself out?" It was a terrifying threat, given that Ezzouek had fled the Ethiopians in the first place.
Frances became increasingly angry that Ezzouek was sticking to his story. "She said: 'Look, Mohammed, I did not come all the way from London to Nairobi to hear you say you went to Somalia for an Islamic education. There are serious people back home who are going to be unhappy with this explanation.' I said: 'What do you want me to tell you?' She said: 'I want you to tell me you went to Somalia to fight with those terrorists.'"
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Looking back, Ezzouek says he now realises the British agents stopped quizzing the four of them only when they realised Janjua had managed to contact his family in Britain. From that moment, the four were no longer invisible.
"That's when they stopped interrogating us," he said. "I didn't know that was why at the time. If Sha [Janjua] hadn't made the phone call, we would have ended up in Ethiopia or somewhere else. The agents were so angry with him when they found out he had made the call. They said 'You've ruined everything, you don't know what you've done.'"
After three days in Baidoa, a British Foreign Office official arrived and took the four back to Britain where they were released without charge.
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Now, in a landmark move, [the UK-based Prisoner Rights group] Reprieve is to launch legal proceedings, seeking a judicial review into the policies governing the actions of British intelligence agents when interviewing detainees abroad.
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As part of the legal challenge, Reprieve and its lawyers, Leigh Day & Co, have submitted numerous examples of what they allege are the security services' complicity in the ill treatment, rendition and torture of British and foreign nationals up to 2008, suggesting the policy changes introduced by the government had little effect.
The case of Ezzouek, and the three other Britons known collectively as the "Nairobi Four", will form part of the legal challenge, as will well-known cases such as that of Binyam Mohamed, who was allegedly tortured in Morocco, during which he answered questions sent to his interrogators by British intelligence.
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Military forces shelling residential areas during the middle of the night? Blatant war crime, right? Dont' hold your breath...
Garowe Online: AMISOM shell Mogadishu districts
African Union peacekeeping troops in Somalia, AMISOM have reportedly shelled several parts of the restive capital Mogadishu, causing the deaths of civilians, eyewitnesses said.
The shelling and heavy bombardment, which happened on Monday night and concentrated in Mogadishu’s northern districts of Daynile and Hodan, erupted after rebel fighters carried out attacks on the troops’ base in Mogadishu’s Warshadaha road.
According to eyewitnesses, the bodies of four civilians including an old man were seen on Tuesday in the neighbourhoods while at least five others injured.
Although Somali and AU officials have not commented about the midnight shelling, the act becomes one of its kinds with the peacekeepers using heavy machines to target the civilian areas.
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Al-Sharq al-Awsat Online: Youths Movement denies intelligence reports its present amir has been replaced.
an authoritative source in the Youths Movement denied to “Al-Sharq al-Awsat” what he called the false rumors about replacing the movement`s current amir Shaykh Abd-al-Rahman Abu-al-Zubayr and appointing the Comoran Fadil Abdallah [aka Fazul Mohammed] from Al-Qa`ida organization in his place.
The source, which asked to remain unidentified, said in a telephone contact from somewhere in Mogadishu: Abu-al-Zubayr continues his work as the movement`s amir and reports that he has been changed and replaced by another person are absolutely baseless.
He added: “We do not know who this Fadil is and he has no connection with the movement organizationally, politically, or administratively. The movement`s enemies sometimes fabricate false information and reiterate it to the media.”
He then pointed out that the movement`s amir congratulated, in what was his last public appearance, the Somali people and Muslims on the second day of the blessed Id Al-Adha through a voice message broadcast by all the local media mediums.
But the same source refused to answer questions about the presence of foreign fighters inside the movement`s ranks and pointed out that he did not have the authority to talk about this issue to the media.
He added that the movement`s amir has no need to appear in public and the media and denied again the rumors that he has been replaced and said a videotape might be released within two months to reply tacitly to these reports but he does not want to go into these details at present for security and political reasons.
What are the odds that the Long War Journal will not pass that information along to their readership as acceptingly as Bill disseminated the original propaganda based on one Waaga Cusub Media story?
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Pana: AU authorises maritime, air defence fighters for AMISOM
The African Union's Peace and Security Department has approved plans to train more peacekeepers serving in its Mission in Somalia on maritime security and air defence capabilities to better protect war-ravaged Somalia.
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African countries contributing troops to the African Union Peacekeeping Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) held a strategy meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Monday, where they agreed that the Mission still lacked basic elements such as air defence.
"The meeting observed that there exist operational limitations to the performance of AMISOM in the areas of maritime and air defence capabilities, and called for ass istance in building the Mission's capabilities in this respect," an AU statement said Tuesday.
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The AU meeting, chaired by the Commissioner for Peace and Security Ramtane Lamamra, noted that the continued inability of AMISOM to reach its authorised strength continues to be a serious challenge.
Lamamra said the recruitment and training programme of Somali Security Forces should be given more impetus in order to be able to cope effectively with the security situation in Somalia.
The ministers and representatives of the troop contributing countries at the meeting, including Burundi, Uganda and Djibouti, also emphasized the need to adequately train, equip, sustain and retain Somali Security Forces in the current circumstances.
They proposed that a study of new requirements necessary for AMISOM to fulfil its objectives, including the added aspect of training of Somali Security Forces, be carried out.
Air Defence? They barely control the airport, seaport & presidential villa. Is this a pretext for the CIA & AFRICOM stepping up the use of the hunter drones in Southern Somalia?
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Shabelle Media Center: More Ethiopian troops reach in central Somalia
Hundreds of Ethiopian troops have reportedly reached at Kalaber intersection about 25 km north of Beledweyne town in central Somalia, witnesses said on Saturday.
Residents say the Ethiopian troops armed with armed vehicles and other military trucks made a base in Kalaber, a strategic junction that connects central and southern regions of Somalia.
The Ethiopian troops left from Ferfer in eastern Ethiopia and crossed the border early on Saturday. Former Somali government officials are following the Ethiopian troops.
Garowe Online: Ethiopian troops back in Somalia
Heavily armed Ethiopian troops with several army trucks have reportedly crossed the border into central Somali regions of Hiran and Galgadud, residents and reports said.
Residents of Balanbale town in central Galgadud region said they have seen Ethiopian military forces backed by army vehicles in the outskirts of the town.
One resident said the troops have dug trenches in positions without prior notice of the elders.
Ethiopian troops have also crossed the border and reached Kalabeyr town in Hiran region, about 22km (14 miles) from the Somali-Ethiopian border, according to locals.
A resident told Garowe Online “a lot of troops arrived in the area on early Saturday and have started making military manoeuvring.”
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Shabelle Media Center: Heavy shelling kills 3, injures 24 others in Mogadishu
at least 3 civilian have been killed and 24 others have been injured after several heavy shelling targeted to many different districts and neighborhoods in Mogadishu in the capital, witnesses told Shabelle radio on Sunday.
Most of the mortar shells landed at Ged ja’el neighborhood in Wardhigley district in Mogadishu and Shabelle’s main centre in Bakara market, killing a civilian, wounding 13 others a ccording to Shabelle’s Muno Mohamud Nor.
Residents said that were more other districts which affected the shelling like Raderka and Gubta neighborhoods in Mogadishu where more people were also wounded in today’s shelling.
Sources said that the emergency traffic which took part the deployment of the wounded people adding that more than 20 people were rushed to the hospitals in Mogadishu.
Shabelle’s journalists expressed surprise when heavy shell targeted to the main centre of Shabelle Media Network in Mogadishu and it unclear so far the main reason that the station of Shabelle and all the other areas in the capital were bombed today.
: TFG minister ‘Shebelle radio works with Al-shabab’
Sheik Yusuf Mohamed Si’ad known as (Inda’adde), the state minister of the Transitional Federal Government for defense affairs has Monday denounced Shabelle radio and Television and said that it works with Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen.
The minister said in an interview with Shabelle radio that journalists and the local FM radios support the Islamist fighters of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen for the shelling and clashes between the two sides in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Sheik Yusuf had mainly attacked in his interview to Shablle radio and also some of the journalists operating in the capital staying that they support the Islamist forces of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen with the fighting between the transitional Federal Government backing by AMISOM and the Islamist fighters in the capital.
The minister of state of the TFG Sheik Yusuf Mohamed Si’ad had especially pointed out that and reiterated that Shabelle is the only media and instrument that Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen use for the fighting in Mogadishu.
Asked about yesterday’s fighting in out of the capital, the minister replied that it was what the reporters exaggerated through media adding that particularly pointed media is is also under the control of Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen.
It is not the first time that the TFG officials denounce or attacks the local FM radios orally, but the statement of Sheik Yusuf Inda’adde seems that it is part of the bitter words against the local FM radios, whose reporters are working and tolerating the difficulties in the country.
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Despite the fact that Harakat al-Shabaab Mujahideen has never been a monolithic front,
Mareeg Online: Al Shabaab splits into two groups
Al Shabaab militants have reportedly spitted into groups after they have disagreed a formation of what they called an Islamic government, Sources said on Saturday.
The group was busy for the last two months of forming an “Islamic government” but they disagreed and a prominent group left.
The sources say a group from Hawiye and Digil &Mirifle clans left and united under a new name of Milatu Ibrahim and formed a base in Karan District in north Mogadishu.
The other group led by Ahmed Abdi Godane who is from Isak clan in northern Somali made a base in Dayniile District in the capital.
Most of the foreign militants joined the new group of Milatu Ibrahim.
Garowe Online adds
Ideologial differences splits Somalia's Al-Shabaab
Somalia’s hardliner insurgent group of Al-Shabaab is reportedly divided into splinter groups after ideological differences broke out among its top leadership.
Top officials who declined to be named have told Garowe Online that one group led by Sheikh Mukhtar Robeo Ali Abu Mansur, a top Al-Shabaab official in Southern Somalia is reportedly advocating for changes in the group’s ideology to allow talks with rival parties in order to end the conflict in the war-torn country.
The other group led by Al-Shabaab Amir Sheikh Mukhtar Abdirahman Abu Subeyr who has the backing of about 1,200 foreign Jihadists, is reported to be in favour of escalation of the conflict ‘until they erect an Islamic government in Somalia’.
If true, this is a smart move for Robow
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