The Observer: Somali terrorists trained in Uganda
The UPDF has been shaken by the discovery that some of the battle-hardened Al Shabaab militants it is fighting in the volatile Somalia were trained here at home.
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The UPDF has been secretly training Somali forces at Bihanga Military Training School in the Western Uganda district of Ibanda. The Observer has been told that the UPDF was shocked when it discovered that one of the Al Shabaab fighters killed in the recent fighting near Medina Hospital in Mogadishu was one of those trained by the Ugandan army at Bihanga.
Another Islamist fighter who was injured in the same fighting was also Uganda-trained, raising fear that the UPDF was unknowingly training fighters for Al Shabaab, a suspected extension of Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda.
“AMISOM has discovered that one [of the Islamist fighters] who died and one of the injured were trained by UPDF,” our source in Somalia said.
He added that this had confirmed fears that some of the Somalis trained in Uganda had turned their guns on the peace-keeping troops. According to this source, the injured Al Shabaab fighter who is now undergoing treatment at the UPDF’s field hospital in Mogadishu, would be interrogated after his recovery.
Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye, the Army Spokesman, told The Observer that he was not surprised that some of the Somali forces trained in Uganda had defected to Al Shabaab and turned the guns against their trainers. “If Jesus was betrayed by his own disciples, how about human beings?” he asked.
Kulayigye explained that the Somalis are being trained at Bihanga under the African Union mandate. Since 2007, one and a half battalions have been trained there.
“It is to build capacity for the peace team. We have trained Somali police and so has Kenya and other neighbouring countries,” Kulayigye said in a brief phone interview on Saturday.
The development comes hot on the heels of another revelation by the African Union Special Representative for Somalia, Wafula Wamunyinyi, that some of the Al Shabaab fighters were actually Ugandans.
Very provocative choice of analogies there for the army spokesman...
Shifting alliances in Somalia is nothing surprising, nor it the notion that the rush to find bodies to train lends plenty of opportunity for anyone interested in securing arms and intel.
As pointed out before in other reports, the majority of what get labeled as an influx of "foreign fighters" in Somalia come from Kenya and Uganda. And are usually ethnic Somalis.
What always seems to get (conveniently) left out of most narratives are the roughly 5,000 foreign fighters, mostly Ugandan, actually already occupying part of the capital under foreign leadership, working on the behalf of foreigner interests.
Understand that and maybe the context of regional support for lesser Jihad inside Somalia makes a little more sense. Especially considering the UPDF's Jesus complex.
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Given the announcement last week of Monday's convening of parliament, this response is hardly surprising.
Mareeg Online: Mortars attacked at parliament session in Mogadishu
Heavy mortars have been fired to a parliament session in Mogadishu on Monday and the government soldiers fired back mortars killing two civilians in populated areas under the control of the militants, witnesses say.
17 people including three journalists have been injured in the mortars that have been exchanged in parts of the capital.
Abdirahman Yasin Ali, the director of VOD radio in Mogadishu was wounded and his wife was killed when three mortar shells struck at the radio headquarters in Mogadishu.
About 15 civilians were killed and 25 others were injured in Mogadishu on Sunday after mortars were fired to a police celebration ceremony in the capital by Islamist rebels.
The government soldiers fired back heavy mortars which killed most civilians in Bakaro Market in Mogadishu. (sic)
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In the December 6th weekly thread I raised skepticism on the story of the suicide bomber at the Banadir University graduation ceremony and specifically the bearded individual being identified at the time as the culprit. I remarked that"[w]ith all of the media coverage at the ceremony, perhaps some photographic evidence of the bomber's identity will surface."
In his latest analysis/commentary, The Bomber is alive: - Shamo carnage revisited [pdf] [txt], the writer Abdikarim Haji Abdi Buh cites evidence that has surfaced in the following weeks that supports that initial skepticism and leaves us, currently, with more questions than answers.
As the dust settled and the emotions subsided the Somalis as well the other concerned people are out there to peace together the information that is coming out from different sources in their quest to get the real picture of how this horrendous action took place and who is to blame for the atrocity which shocked the nation and rocked further the security concerns of the already suspicious countries in the neighbourhood. The international as well as the local media is inundated with the scary news that a young Danish citizen of Somali origin disguised as a woman blew himself up and took with him so many innocent lives – parents, doctors, teachers, politicians and some friends and acquaintances of the graduates.
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A few hours after the explosion, as surviving graduates and other citizens were grappling with death and destruction the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) broke the news to the world that a Danish youngster was behind the bombing of the Hotel and then the government went mute. The government did not produce any significant evidence to support its claim other than a picture of what appears to be one of the casualties who was martyred as a consequence of the savage bombing. There were many pictures depicting the barbarity of the slaughter and the scale of the devastation was beyond description. Some of the bodies were completely shattered, others cut into half and some lost body parts.
The news so far collected from independent sources is in stark contrast to the claim of the government. Pictures rolled out from some of the survived cameras and published on the net and the witness statements from the survivors including Dr. Dufle who was at the podium at the time of the explosion paints completely a different scenario. The pictures taken just before the bomb went off shows the Danish youth sitting among the guest of honour dressed casually in black striped summer T shirt neither in black Burkah nor wearing anything that can conceal a suicide bomber’s vest.
We may not find the truth and the full truth for some time but one thing is certain – security lapse from the TFG side and false accusation of a dead man. It is not possible that the alleged bomber went out and came back disguised as women unless the congregation were all blind and dumb.It is also equally incomprehensible that no one saw the bomber in action as it is very unlikely to miss a person who is blowing out himself in front of every one. The information so far in hand only points to one cause – a planted bomb detonated by remote control.
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As you can see from the picture that the guy who is supposed to be the bomber looks cool and relaxed at the front row which is reserved for the guests of honour.
He also appears little sleepy or bored which is not the type of emotions one should rationally expect from a person who is sure to die in 20 minutes. He is wearing a thin sort of a casual black stripe shirt which is the same shirt his body was found in after the explosion. No suicide bombers’ vests or a veil was recovered from the scene and no one of the multitude of survivals so far attested to have seen the alleged women in black and even Dr. Dufle who was at the podium, which gives a full view of the venue, failed to conclusively point out whether it was a planted bomb or a suicide bomber - listen this Dr. Dufle’s witness statement. The Danish intelligence is still investigating the allegation made against their citizen but said to have already scrapped the TFG’s version as it can’t hold water.
The information from the alleged bomber’s father, a graduate from the Somali National University’s faculty of agriculture, and that of the hotel staffs are the only palatable information so far in the public domain. It is confirmed from different and independent sources that his wife was about to deliver a baby in Marka, that he was a guest at hotel Shamo and the picture demonstrates beyond any doubt that he was invited by a friend as his father repeatedly claimed. [e.g., Suicide bomber’s father calls his son scapegoat]
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It is a common knowledge that the alleged bomber’s body, Mr. Abdirahman, lay unclaimed for nearly a day as he was an unknown man in Mogadishu which also indicates that his friends to have died too in the explosion. It is also known that the Hotel Staff, not the security people, identified him as a guest from Qoryooley which is near Marka Town. The fallen man unknown to many due to the fact that he wasn’t a local person is transformed in to the ultimate suicide bomber – hate figure of the century with out taking stock of the situation. A dead man without relatives around is an opportunity the TFG media vultures can hardly miss to take advantage. Please do listen to Character reference of Mr. Abdirahman on a Radio based in Denmark made by the community leader of the Somalis in Copenhagen - Denmark.
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Who ever executed this operation must have planted the bomb inside the premises preferably hidden in a disguised form under the tables set aside to accommodate TFG Ministers and officials or amalgamated in to the decorations of the hall. It is very likely that the operative detonated the bomb by remote control while he/she was sitting in the back rows or adjacent room to the hall where he/she can monitor with confidence the movement and seating of the participants – the rector was in one of those adjacent room with a reporter at the time the bomb went off.
It was a premeditated mass murder inflicted on the Somalis where it hurts most but can any one say who was behind it? The Al Shabab, Hisbi Al-Islam, Ahlu Sunna wal Jama, the TFG, Ethiopian intelligence operatives, CIA operatives, Israeli hounds and Iranian sympathisers to mention a few who have factions within factions to such a degree that the left of the faction doesn’t know what the right of the same faction is up to.
In conclusion I say; not everyone whom dogs bark at is a thief – we have only a word of mouth from one faction against the word from another faction with no material substance. The majority of the people are beginning to doubt the TFG’s version that the bomber is dead, and do think that the bomber is alive and laughing at us but only God knows who the real culprit is!
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AFP: Guantanamo 'hell on Earth', says Somali detainee
HARGEISA, Somalia — A Somali just home from eight years in the US jail at Guantanamo Bay told AFP the prison was "hell on Earth", and alleged torture there had scarred some of his fellow inmates.
Mohamed Saleban Bare, who arrived in his hometown of Hargeisa on Saturday, said he was innocent of any charges that would have caused security forces to arrest him in Pakistan in 2001 and transfer him to the US jail via Afghanistan.
"Guantanamo Bay is like hell on Earth," he said in an interview Monday with an AFP reporter who visited him at his hotel in Hargeisa, capital of the northern breakaway state of Somaliland.
"I don't feel normal yet but I thank Allah for keeping me alive and free from the physical and mental sufferings of some of my friends," he said.
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Bare, 44, was among a dozen Guantanamo detainees from Afghanistan, Yemen and the breakaway Somalia region who were sent home at the weekend, bringing the number of detainees at the "war on terror" prison in Cuba to below 200.
He and another Somali, 45-year-old Osmail Mohamed Arale, were handed over to their relatives in Hargeisa by the International Representative Committee of the Red Cross in the presence of Somaliland authorities.
"Some of my colleagues in the prison lost their sight, some lost their limbs and others ended up mentally disturbed. I'm OK compared to them," he said.
Bare said he was picked up in the Pakistani port city of Karachi in December 2001, weeks after the United States launched its "war on terror" following the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York.
He claims he had been there for some time with several relatives who had fled the violence in Somalia and were hoping to find asylum in a western state.
After about four months he was transferred to US military prisons in Kandahar and Bagram in Afghanistan, he said.
"At Bagram and Kandahar, the situation was harsh but when we were transferred to Guantanamo the torture tactics changed. They use a kind of psychological torture that kills you mentally," he said.
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"Guantanamo is a place of humiliation for Muslims. All the inmates are Muslims but they (Americans) claim the prison is for terrorists. Why don't they arrest non-Muslims belonging to these so-called terror groups?"
"No human rights convention stands in Guantanamo. Interrogators force inmates to confess crimes they didn't commit by torturing them and sullying their religion," Bare said.
"They would throw Korans into the toilet and raise the volume of their music during prayers," he recounted.
Bare said the US authorities had never told him why he was arrested.
"They used to ask many questions, most of them relating to my background like what I was doing in Somalia and about the people I know. It was all about suspicions and not a clear case," he said.
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SMC: Somali Fishermen grumbling over foreign vessels
The Fishermen in the semiautonomous region of Puntland are seriously complaining over the foreign vessels which are collecting the Somali sea resources in mass.
Abdulkadir Musse Isse the Chairman of the Fishermen in Eastern Somalia, giving an interview to one of the local radio stations in Mogadishu has urged the authority of Puntland to react the illegal fishing which the foreign vessels are doing in the Somali waters.
“We have great problem with the foreign vessels which are in our waters, they are claiming that they are fighting agonist pirates, but the major problem is that they cannot differentiate who is pirate and who is no, and whenever we go for fishing with the territory of out waters they open us with water coming from pipes of maybe 250 caliper thinking that we are the very pirates which they were assigned to fight with, and they chase us back, I have also witnessed them taking the fish in our water their mission in the water is not to protect pirates from the vessels, but instead doing their own likes” said the chairman of the fishermen in eastern Somalia.
Sorta related, here's the U.S. State Department's very selective use of criteria for explaining away what Somalis have been complaining about for years. Note the omission of illegal dumping as an explanation for the capture of chemical tankers and other container ships.
Setting the Record Straight: No Justification for Piracy off the Coast of Somalia
Pirates who prey on international shipping along the Horn of Africa and even more distant waters have claimed that their actions are motivated by illegal fishing in Somali waters. This is a spurious justification for criminal behavior.
* The United States and the international community stand with Somalia in countering illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing wherever it occurs. [see previous story]
* Pirates continue to conduct violent attacks up to 1,000 miles and more from Somalia’s shores on private yachts, passenger cruise liners, and commercial vessels such as tankers and container ships that are clearly not involved in fishing.
* The pirates are typically armed with military assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, and are equipped with sophisticated global positioning devices and satellite phones. Their criminality is financed by individuals hoping to receive millions of dollars in ransom for the crews and ships that are seized successfully.
* Innocent mariners have been killed and wounded during some assaults. Others remain hostage for weeks or months as their pirate captors bargain for their freedom.
* Piracy also harms millions of Somalis and others throughout East Africa who rely upon food assistance from the United States and the World Food Program, which is delivered by ships that have been menaced and even seized on occasion by these sea-borne criminals.
* The United States understands that piracy’s roots are on shore, and supports a comprehensive approach to address poverty, governance, and instability in Somalia, conditions that are conducive to piracy.
* This approach should include strategies for economic development, pressuring local governance to take action against known pirate havens, and environmental conservation and fisheries management, including protection of sovereign fishing rights. Ultimately, restoring the rule of law will help the Somali Transitional Federal Government to bring pirates and other armed criminals to justice.
The United States and 44 other nations and seven international organizations, including the International Maritime Organization and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, are working together through the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia to develop and implement anti-piracy measures.
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SMC: Hizbul-Islam warriors apprehend over 60 bandits
The fighters of an Islamists faction of Hizbul-Islam in Somalia have apprehended over 60 bandits in a clearing bandits operation which they have conducted in the areas between lower shabelle and Bay regions in southwest of the Somali capital Mogadishu.
“in the past couple of weeks there have been bandits who used to frequently ambush the travelers, who were traveling between lower shabelle and Bay regions, and we have been our offices in these two regions have been as well receiving that there were bandits who ambush the travelers on the road between these two regions, and eventually we have planed for an operation to eradicate these bandits from the road and on Saturday we have apprehended more than 60 of these bandits, and now they are detained in jails in Burhakaba district” said Mohammed Ibrahim Indabuur an officer from Hizbul-Islam giving an interview to one of the local radio stations in Mogadishu overnight.
The officer has also added that they will continue such operations of fighting against bandits until the road becomes safer for the travelers to use.
This is not the first time for the fighters of Hizbul-Islam to fight with bandits harming the travelers using the road between lower shabelle and Bay regions..
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What to say about the UN sanctions against Eritrea other than that it's pretty obvious whom it benefits. Interestingly, last year the UN Monitoring Group On Somalia report pointed out that Yemen was the number one supplier of weapons in Somalia -- "Commercial imports, mainly from Yemen, remain the most consistent source of arms, ammunition and military material to Somalia" -- but they're apparently playing along w/ the so-called war on terror nowadays so they get a pass. Anyway, 2009 likely saw them take a backseat in the quantity of arms supplied to Somalia to the U.S., but what are the chances that the next Monitoring Group report will give much ink to that. The pariah is Eritrea because it doesn't play along with the agenda of its neighbors and foreign powers in their designs on the HOA. Spoils their plans, one might say...
And speaking of arms shipments from Yemen,
Radio Gaalkacyo: Boats carrying arms for Somali hardline group docks at southern port
Reports reaching us from the port town of Kismaayo town, the provincial town of Lower Jubba region, say that two small boats carrying weapons for the Islamists of Al-Shabab docked at Buurgaabo port in the region.
Reports further say that the fighters of the group have arrived the area with dozens of battle wagons and surrounded the port before off-loading the arms.
Reliable source say that the two boats carried weapons, medical supplies, tents and other equipment, it is not yet clear where those boats came from despite some independent source indicating that the two boats came from Yemen.
Put on your thinking caps now for this one...
July 29, 2009
al Jazeera: US threatens Eritrea with sanctions
The United States has threatened to impose sanctions on Eritrea unless it ends its support for Somali opposition fighters.
"There is a very short window for Eritrea to signal, through its actions, that it wishes [for] a better relationship with the United States and indeed the wider international community," Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said on Wednesday.
The administration of Barack Obama, the US president, is "deeply concerned and very frustrated" with Eritrea over its "arming, supporting, funding" of fighters who have launched attacks on Somali government targets, she told the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
"It is unacceptable and we will not tolerate it," she said.
"The United States, and the new administration, had hoped and frankly continues to hope that there may be a window for improved relations with Eritrea, that Eritrea may step back" from policies that fan unrest in Somalia, she said.
Should Eritrea continue with its policies in regard to Somalia, the United States could "in short order" consider steps that include "potentially, sanctions," in concert with African allies and the United Nations, Rice said.
December 23, 2009
Remarks by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, on MONUC, Sudan and Eritrea at the Security Council Stakeout
..I want to talk about the resolution we just adopted imposing sanctions on Eritrea. This was an African initiative.
While IGAD and AU members Ethiopia & Uganda started publicly campaigning this past summer -- under whatever inspiration -- to very selectively "impose sanctions against all those foreign actors, both within and outside the region, specially Eritrea, providing support to the armed groups engaged in destabilization activities in Somalia" [pdf], the final push came, as usual, from the U.S., which lined up support from the UK and Russia to enable a draft resolution to eventually pass through w/ China abstaining & Libya casting the sole no vote.
The December 23rd press release from the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, A Shameful Day for the United Nations, makes some valid points
The fact of the matter is this resolution was originally conceived and feverishly executed by the United States. Britain, and especially Uganda, were co-opted as sponsors of the resolution for purposes of deceitful packaging. The US Mission to the UN further tried to invoke a resolution of the African Union to disguise the real culprit. But in the end, this cover did not work. As it happened, the US Ambassador to the UN was ultimately forced to come out of the closet and cajole UN Member States to adopt the resolution willy-nilly.
Setting aside the misguided policies of the US Administration in the Horn of Africa region and the loathsome personal agenda of the US Ambassador to the UN who could not hide her obsession to “punish Eritrea” and “break its arrogance”, what are the accusations leveled against Eritrea? How do these accusations square with the provisions of the UN Charter? Does the heavy-handed process pursued in this case conform to the modalities and precedents of the UN Security Council in imposing sanctions against a Member State?
1. It must be stressed that the accusations against Eritrea for involvement in Somalia have never been substantiated or verified. Many Member States objected to the draft resolution in the early days precisely for these reasons though they acquiesced to US pressure later. The Somalia Monitoring Group had previously accused Eritrea for “supplying arms to those opposing the TFG”. This clause was later dropped quietly and the revised version indicts Eritrea for “providing political, financial, and logistical support to armed groups engaged in undermining peace and reconciliation in Somalia”. As pointed out earlier, these allegations were, again, not explained or substantiated. Indeed, how can Eritrea provide logistical support to armed groups in Somalia when it does not have a contiguous border with that country? The allegation of financial support is equally tenuous. Eritrea has neither the political will nor the financial clout to bankroll armed groups in Somalia. As for the accusations of political support, it is well-known that Eritrea has not recognized the TFG for cogent and well-thought out reasons. This was also the case with the externally established previous TFGs installed in Mogadishu without the consent of the Somali people. Eritrea’s impartial and balanced position emanates from its profound desire to contribute to a durable and sustainable solution to the crisis in Somalia. These political considerations aside, the fundamental legal issue at hand is whether this matter of purely sovereign national jurisdiction can be misconstrued as a subject of UN Security Council concern. Is it the mandate of the Security Council to punish any Member State on account of the political views it holds or the diplomatic choices it makes? Has the Security Council ever imposed sanctions against one or more countries because they have not recognized Kosovo, Abkhazia, or South Ossetia? Does controversy on matters of this nature empower the UN Security Council to take punitive measures against a defenseless country arbitrarily?
2. The resolution refers to the “decision of the 13th Assembly of the African Union in Sirte, calling on the Council to impose sanctions against Eritrea”. Again, this assertion is replete with distortions and half-truths. As underlined earlier, the resolution was co-sponsored by Uganda in its individual capacity. It was not tabled, but on the contrary, vehemently opposed by Libya which is the current Chair of the AU and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. More importantly, the UN Security Council’s function is not to rubber-stamp resolutions adopted by a regional organization when invoking Chapter VII of the UN Charter to impose sanctions against a Member State but to do so independently and only on the basis of incontrovertible facts and law.
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Security Council Resolution 1907(2009) is thus not based on law and incontrovertible facts. The United States has simply employed its preponderant influence to ram through unjustifiable sanctions against a small country. What is shameful is that the United States has been allowed to use the platform and authority of the United Nations to perpetrate injustices against the people and Government of Eritrea; for the second time in recent history. What is shameful is that other major powers in the UN Security Council cannot go beyond expressing their disappointment, mostly in private meetings, to check the excesses of Washington. What is shameful is that the United States can turn the tables and victimize an innocent nation for the very crimes that it is responsible for in the first place. Because the truth is, the United States is mostly responsible for the mayhem and suffering that is bedeviling Somalia today. Indeed, it is common knowledge that as intractable as the Somali crisis is, there were real hopes of a turnaround for the better in 2006. For reasons that defy reason, the Bush Administration then acted to roll back those promising developments to instigate and support Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia. That single debacle claimed the lives of thousands of innocent Somalis, made half a million people homeless and aggravated the humanitarian crisis in Somalia to unprecedented levels. But then, the Security Council is not taking action on the basis of justice and legality. It is taking action on the basis of the existing power balance in a largely unipolar world. This does not bode well for international justice and peace. This is why today is a shameful day for the United Nations.
