Shabelle Media: Somali Military movement seen in north Beledwen, Ethiopians on they way
The transitional government of Somalia have started military movement in north of Beledweyn town of Hiran region, just [as] the people have fears of Ethiopian troops to reach at the region in central Somalia, witnesses said on Tuesday.
Reports from Beledweyn town of Hiran region say that the troops of the transitional government of Somalia had made military movement at Kala-beyrka intersection, Ba’da and Jila’le, all villages in the north of Beledweyn town on Tuesday morning.
Sources indicate that the troops of the government were planning to seize the control of whole of Hiran region which is currently controlled by the Islamist fighters of Al-shabab adding that the government soldiers with their officers had closed doors of the business movement of the villages in the area
Other reports from Beledweyn town say that more Ethiopian troops were expected to reach in the parts of Hiran region and from Fere-fer town in the Somali region under the control of Ethiopia.
We had tried to contact with officials of the transitional government of Somalia to know more about the proposals of the government in the region, but it was not possible for us to contact with them through the telephone.
The fears that Ethiopian troops to arrive at Hiran region comes as more other Ethiopian troops had poured into the border between Ethiopia and Somalia of Galgudud region in central Somalia.
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Biyokulule zooms in on Sh. Sharif's about face wrt Ethiopian military intervention into Somali affairs comparing 2006 to the present.
On Monday,
“Somalia is in the hands of Al-Qaeda and extremist groups. The whole issue needs urgent treatment,” [Sh. Sharif] told leaders from the six-nation Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in Addis Ababa.
“I would like to tell you that Somalia is going through its most dangerous phase in recent times and we are asking for intensified efforts in order to set up an effective military strategy,” he added.
He's begged like this before and, other than tons of guns and such, no direct foreign military presence ever materialized. This time, however, H.S.M. is closer than ever to taking over Mogadishu and the TFG and their Ethiopian handlers are getting very nervous. Last week saw reports of Ethiopian military officials visiting Mogadishu before the IGAD summit over the weekend.
From the resulting IGAD Summit communique,
The Summit:
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3. Underlines that the conflict in Somalia is not a conflict among the Somalis but between the people of Somalia and international terrorist groups;
4. Emphasizes the need for an urgent and robust response by international community led by the UN Security Council, to arrest the escalating danger facing Somalia and the sub-Region and reiterates its previous call to the UN to convert AMISOM into a UN peace keeping operation without delay;
5. Decides that a sustainable and reliable funding mechanism to be established and managed jointly by AMISOM, UNPOS, IGAD and the TFG for sustainment of the security forces upon development and deployment in Somalia;
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7. Regrets that the approved level of AMISOM troops has not been achieved thus far; and decides to deploy 2000 peacekeepers under AMISOM to Somalia immediately; and further calls upon the AU Commission to mobilize the necessary resources, logistics and equipment for the deployment;
8. Decides to work with all parties including AMISOM and UN Security Council to raise 20,000 troops to be deployed throughout the country. In this regard, Summit Embraces the need to mobilize Somali forces internally with possible intervention by neighboring countries including approaching the East African Community (EAC) and empower them with resources and equipment;
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11. Decides to render support to the TFG Security institutions by providing inter alia training of troops and trainers, establishment of joint command and providing experts;
12. .. Calls upon AMISOM, UNPOS and IGAD to establish in Mogadishu an operational level coordination mechanism to strengthen and harmonize their support to the TFG in the areas of training, establishment of command and control structure;
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19. Calls upon AU Member states that have not contributed troops to render financial and material support to Somalia;
VOA: IGAD Incapable of Resolving Somali Crisis, Says Analyst
A Somali political analyst told VOA the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional organization, is incapable of resolving the ongoing crisis in Somalia.
Afyare Abdi Elmi, a professor of international affairs at Qatar University, said there are reasons to believe that Ethiopia is making efforts to inject itself into the ongoing Somali peace process by using IGAD’s mandate to achieve its objective.
“IGAD to me is a very weak regional organization, which is often dominated by the regional power, which is Ethiopia. So, basically, Ethiopia is trying to re-insert itself by using IGAD and it is trying to dominate the peace process in general,” he said.
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“It (IGAD) cannot pay even its own budget, let alone resolve the conflicts that are taking place in the region. So, it’s almost impossible to even expect as little as helping the region or, perhaps, some of the countries within the region,” Elmi said.
He further said that whenever a regional power such as Ethiopia tries to push its agenda in the Horn of Africa region, it usually uses IGAD as an instrument to attain its objective...
...and those of others. The declaration that "the conflict in Somalia is not a conflict among the Somalis but between the people of Somalia and international terrorist groups" is a falsehood that is primarily aimed at the U.S., giving it a local stamp of approval to step up overt support for the regime they helped install in Villa Somalia. With the election looming in Ethiopia, PM Meles isn't likely to incur the risks and costs of sending large numbers of troops back into Somalia.
Shabait: Eritrea's Submission To The Security Council On Peace And Justice In Somalia
Somalia's problems may have indigenous or local origins. But this is only part of the story. Perceived geopolitical considerations• by major powers and regional actors, military involvement of external forces, misrepresentation of Somali political realities in the aftermath of September 11, and the failure of several ill-conceived peace initiatives have further compounded the internal commotion.
The crisis that we see unfolding today is the byproduct of all these complications. Clearly, the complexity of the situation and the multiplicity of the actors cannot be a reason to absolve the main internal and external players who have willfully exacerbated the crisis in Somalia to induce gross and unparalleled sufferings on its population. Eritrea maintains that the UN Security Council ought to launch a comprehensive investigation of the crisis in Somalia from its origins through its truncated evolution with a view to finding a durable solution and ending impunity.
In Eritrea's views, those who bear prime responsibility for the immense sufferings of the Somali people are: i) Somalia's warlords; ii) Somalia's immediate neighbors; and iii) the misguided policies of successive US Administrations.
i) Somalia's Warlords:
Somalia's warlords are primarily responsible for the turmoil and mayhem that has seized Somalia since 1991. The practices of flagrant extortion, banditry; piracy and wanton killing of civilians and ransacking of their property are war crimes that cannot be justified by the absence and fragmentation of central political authority.
ii) Somalia's Immediate Neighbors:
a) Ethiopia: Among Somalia's immediate neighbors, Ethiopia bears highest responsibility for its intermittent military invasions of Somalia and other deliberate acts aimed at destabilizing the country in order to make it fragile and divided. Ethiopia's motivations emanate from historical animosity between the two countries - Ethiopia and Somalia had gone to war twice (1964 and 1977) prior to the current crisis - on account of the Ogaden. Ethiopia used this historical baggage and its domestic internal problems to work relentlessly since 1991 to bring about the fragmentation of Somalia. Ethiopia was instrumental in encouraging the unilateral separation of Somali-land without due process of law and popular plebiscite. Furthermore, Ethiopia violated UN Security Council Resolution 1725 (2006) to invade Somalia at the end of 2006. Ethiopia's invasion was responsible for the displacement of around half a million Somalis and the death and maiming of thousands. It must be borne in mind that Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia represented a clear act of aggression and violation of international law.
b) Kenya and Djibouti: These two governments are also increasingly involved in exacerbating the current crisis in Somalia. Both countries have historically had strained relations with independent Somalia since the 1960s because of their adjoining regions and territories (French Somali-land (Djibouti) and the Northern Eastern District in Kenya) invariably inhabited by ethnic Somalis and which were incorporated - in constitutional terms - by the newly independent Somalia. With the encouragement of the United States, both Kenya and Djibouti have increasingly augmented their involvements in the internal affairs of Somalia in the recent years further polarizing and poisoning the Somali political landscape.
c) The Misguided Policies of the United States: In 1992, the Bush Administration decided to intervene in Somalia under "humanitarian" considerations. At the time, many in the region, including Eritrea, had voiced their reservations about an external military intervention that was not predicated on a well thought-out peace formula. US military presence in Somalia came to an abrupt end when a mission by US forces to capture General Aideed was ambushed and several US army men killed and brutally dragged in the streets of Mogadishu. The United States was largely absent from the Somali political arena until the recent times. But its recent interventions under the rubric of "combating terrorism" have not only been counterproductive but have contributed to worsening the situation in Somalia. The United States provided financial support to notorious warlords in 2006 in its ill-conceived efforts to counter-balance the growing influence of the Union of Islamic Courts. Washington then pushed Ethiopia to invade Somalia in contravention of international law and UN Security Resolutions. In the past years since then, US jet bombers and drones have carried out several aerial bombings in Somalia and also provided arms, further inflaming the situation.
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Another attack on the weaker of the two foreign fighters in Mogadishu,
Shabelle Media: Al-shabab, AMISOM fight in Mogadishu
Reports say that the fighting broke out as Harakat Al-shabab Mujahideen fighters attacked the base of the Burundian troops [in Kuliyada Jalle Siyad] and exchanged heavy gunfire with heavy shelling that affected civilians in the areas.
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All the movement of the traffic, people and business had returned normal on Friday morning and the latest reports from the area say that the situation of the warring zones returned normal.
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AP quotes the Kenyan FM Wetangula hoping to put pressure on the U.S. for a more overt presence in Somalia:
Veteran insurgents from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have relocated to the chaotic country of Somalia in large enough numbers to spark worry inside the international community, Kenya's foreign minister said Thursday.
Calling the situation in Somalia "very, very dire," Moses M. Wetangula said the militants have relocated to Kenya's northern neighbor because of the safehaven offered by a country with no functioning government.
"There have been Afghans, there have been Pakistanis, there have been certain Middle Eastern nationalities, quite a number. Intelligence reports indicate that there's quite a cocktail of them," Wetangula told The Associated Press.
"We can't quite quantify them. It's simply not possible in a situation such as that, but there are sufficient numbers to worry us and worry the international community," he said.
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Military officials at U.S. Africa Command, the Germany-based headquarters of U.S. military activities in Africa, have told the AP previously there is evidence that fighters from the Afghanistan-Pakistan conflict have relocated to Somalia, but that it was less clear whether militants from Iraq had moved into the Horn of Africa nation.
Al-Shabab also has recruited Somali nationals living in the United States, Britain and other European countries, Wetangula noted.
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Wetangula said he does not believe the United States is doing enough to help the Somali situation, and that greater American involvement could reduce the flow of arms into the country, reduce pirate attacks and increase regional stability.
"The levels of engagement of the United States, the levels of commitment, have been below our expectations. America, remember, enjoys the status currently of the only superpower, expected to have the capacity to do some of the things countries with limited capacity like ourselves cannot do, including enforcing Security Council resolutions," he said.
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"We have been appealing to them to help the government of the TFG (Transitional Federal Government) with equipment, logistics," the foreign minister said. "They may be helping but I don't think they are helping enough to make a difference."
A U.S. official said he couldn't immediately comment on Wetangula's views but that the State Department would soon release a statement.
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[Somalia] has always suffered from a lack of coordination, a lack of a unified security command and a lack of resources, Kenya's foreign minister said. But he said the country has dropped off the international community's radar and may need a high profile personality to spearhead the issue, he said.
The East African bloc of nations known as IGAD are considering former Ghana President John Kufuor, former Tanzania President Benjamin Mkapa, or former Botswana President Festus Mogae to take on the role, Wetangula said.
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Excerpts from a commentary/analysis republished at Mareeg Online, Ethiopian has unfinished business in Somalia
Like Iraq before 2003, the US has had in mind to invade and impose its own rule with any price, because of the unfinished business from the previous administration Bill Clinton and George Bush snr. Similarly the Ethiopians which had been humiliated in Somalia in 2006-2008, so there is now another opportunity through IGAD mirror to finish its unfinished business in Somalia.
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Sheikh Sharif who is the current TFG president, was the leading figures of the opposition forces under the ICU, today he is on the different side he is doing the same as his predecessor, Abdullahi Yusuf. Sh Sharif and his Islamic Union Court (ICU) encircled Baidoa town which was the temporary seat of the TFG and was guarded by 3000 Ethiopian forces and it was then the only city that the ICU was missing from their control. Abdullahi Yusuf through the TFG parliament, which at the time led by Sharif Hassan tabled a motion to invite the IGAD forces to Somalia to rescue the TFG from the ICU siege, within hours the Ethiopian tanks was crossing in hundreds from the border to Somalia, the US spy aircrafts was hovering around Mogadishu and Baidoa.
That was then, today the same scenario is being repeated, only Mr Yusuf has gone after Ethiopian dumped him. Today Sh Sharif is the president and the Somali Islamic forces circled him around his presidential place the only root he has is the airport and the port which is guarded by few thousands of AMISOM. Interestingly, the kingmaker Sharif Hassan has been again elected the same so-called “parliamentarian” who are mostly warlords and Ethiopians agents just two weeks ago.
It’s not a coincidence the becoming of Sharif Hassan the speaker of the so-called “TFG parliament”, the reshuffle of the TFG cabinets to include some of the Ethiopians most trusted persons in Somali politics and the convening of the IGAD extra-ordinary meeting to decide again the fate of the Southern Somali people.
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Ethiopians do not want a Muslim nation that is ruled in Sharia law its backdoor that in future influences the large Ethiopian Muslim populations living in her country in particular the Oromo and Somali regions, it simple as that, they prefer to install any of its own Somali puppets with any price as the US did in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Somalis sees the Ethiopians as the new crusaders in East Africa, because their strong relationship with US and Israel and the spread of Christian evangelistic movements in the Ethiopian political elite, which produced more violent politicians, like Zenawi, Mesfin and Simon Berket. The US evangelist churches have directly donated to the current ruling party and praised the Ethiopian PM his war against the Muslim Somalia.
The other simmering pot is the renewed conflict of the Nile water, the Egyptian politically supported the Somali people even until the ICU in order to weaken the Ethiopian regime, and the Ethiopians are banishing the Somalis for that. The tit-for-tat between Egypt and Ethiopia of the use of Nile waters can potentially escalate to military confrontation, as the Egyptian said that it will not discount using forces against any nation that tries to divert the Nile waters. Israeli companies are investing four large dam that will eventually allow the Egyptian to get less than 45% of the share of the Nile waters. Similarly, the Ugandan and Kenyan are same boat as Ethiopians, which is why the IGAD is the today’s Ethiopian mirror.
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The comeback of the Ethiopian forces will definitely increase the muscles of Islamic movements without any doubt...
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In 2006 Ethiopian invasion of Southern Somalia was participated about 30000 of its forces, US Special Forces and Marines, CIA, FBI and M16 as well Kenyan security forces. That was then, if they are coming under the AMISOM helmet as they claim to be peacekeeper which is not true from the beginning they will be stationed in around Hiiraan or Bakool or Galgaduud region where there still Ethiopian followers remain. That will alleviate some of pressure facing the Sharif’s TFG in Mogadishu from the Islamic fighters.
Mogadishu stalemate will not change much in the short term at least the next 6-8 months and a scenario the current TFG does not want to hear, as its terms expires in August 2011 in which then the Ethiopian regimes wishes to install one of its confident agents currently serving ministers in the TFG as the next president.
If the Ethiopians introduces large forces then that will give some room to the TFG, however, the TFG cannot stand alone for foreseeable future unless it strengths its military to at least 80,000 a number which Ethiopians does not allow to happen to its back door. Ethiopians secretly legislated that Somalia forces cannot increase from 12000 military and 10000 police, any assistance should come from her in a form of emergency. This is the lesson that every potential TFG leader that works under Ethiopian radar needs to learn, this is why Somalia under the directives of Ethiopia will not move from “Transitional”.
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Many in the US foreign policy experts on Africa has suggested the Obama administration to talk to Al-Shabab as they enjoying some legitimacy in the ground. Somalia is not the 2km that the TFG control which only about 50000 people live, the bulk of Somalia population are living in areas controlled by Alshabab and Hisbul Islam. If the US talked to Taliban and Iraqi Sahwa (awakening) group of Iraq why not to Al-Shabab. Every negotiation can fail or succeed depending the conditions at the time, will the US need to talk to Al-Shabab, I would recommend so, in order to end the enmity of the Horn Africa and the Somalian people to breath from this unending chaos.
Al-Shabab should also need to re-evaluate their position and give a room for talk, the current stalemate cannot end in militarily alone, they should come with some bright ideas that does not endanger the peace and order they already installed in the regions and cities they control as well their follow Muslims. They must take into account that they cannot shoulder the problems of Ummah around the globe by themselves alone.
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Shabelle Media: Spokesman: ‘warlords are claiming Ahlu Sunna to get posts’
Abu Yusuf Al-Qadi, the spokesman of the Islamist clerics of Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a has denounced the transitional government of Somalia once again disproving that members of the newly elected ministers were representing the clerics of Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a.
Abu Yusuf had talked more about the deal between the transitional government and Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a clerics in an interview with Shabelle radio saying there were no members of them among the newly elected ministers of the cabinet pointing out that people claiming the name of Ahlu Sunna had been appointed those posts adding that the elected ones were warlords who committed crimes in the country.
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..Sheik Abu Yusuf Al-qadi asserted that there had no been any one representing Ahlu Sunna and was member of the newly elected ministers of Somalia requesting from the international community to intervene the matter.
“We are requesting from the international community to know and see that the government had violated the deal signed. It is lie the reports saying that Ahlu Sunna is part of the newly elected ministers,” said Abu Qadi.
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From a commentary by the TFG's envoy to the U.S., The upshot of political subjugation
If I could think of any tactfully discreet and diplomatically clear way to describe the outcome of the 15th Extraordinary Session of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government on Somalia without compromising the essence of my message, I would have simply chosen that approach. Therefore, going crude is the appropriate way:
As a patched up political charade destined to embolden the very extremist elements that it is intended to subdue and push Somalia deep into anarchy and destruction, the resolution passed in that session is haphazardly imprudent and wildly dangerous.
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The timing does indeed raise certain questions, if not suspicions.
The wounds from the brutal two year Ethiopian occupation that killed over 20,000 Somalis and gave al-Shabab its current status are still nightmarishly fresh.
Mind you, the current TFG is a coalition government made up of those who ushered in Ethiopia and those who resisted the occupation. However, it is no secret that this coalition is already hanging from a cliff as a number of cabinet members representing the Islamist side have been killed, sacked or pressured out since the Djibouti agreement.
The scale is clearly lopsided as individual ministers regardless of their competence and productivity were unabashedly replaced in the recent controversial TFG reshuffle while other questionable characters are awarded key positions. And as the argument goes: two decades later, Ethiopia still micromanages Somalia's internal political affairs as became apparent in the TFG agreement with the ever-morphing Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah.
Understandably Ethiopia has certain security concerns; and these concerns should be addressed through the appropriate channels. It is in the best interest of Somalia to forge a peace treaty reflecting national and regional security threats and the future economic opportunities with Ethiopia and other neighbours. However, Somalia should allow no foreign entities - states or non-states - to exploit its weak position and dictate their political wish-list to it or infringe its sovereignty.
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WSJ: Somalia hires U.S. Lawyers to Recover Money Stashed Abroad by Past Regimes
The cash-strapped Somali government is searching to recover funds locked in bank accounts around the world, in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy and fund a battle that has accelerated in recent days against an al Qaeda-backed [sic] insurgency.
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To keep itself running, Mr. Ahmed's government is trying to replenish its coffers a few million dollars at a time. Previous Somali regimes have left at least $100 million in overseas accounts—nearly enough to keep the government running for a year—according to people familiar with the matter.
"It was something very important, to return the Somali republic's frozen assets," said a Somali official who is familiar with the effort. "It could help restore the country's lost life."
The missing funds were stashed away in U.S. and European bank accounts under the last strong federal government—led by Mohamed Siad Barre nearly 20 years ago—and the last government, of President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who resigned in 2008.
Ali Amalow, the head of the central bank under Mr. Barre, kept a detailed roster of the funds, and brushed off attempts by various warlords to retrieve the money when Mr. Barre's regime collapsed in 1991.
For the past two decades, Mr. Amalow has worked with banks to ensure that the accounts couldn't be accessed by anyone until an established central government could claim them, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Mr. Amalow declined to comment. Somali officials familiar with the matter said the president had instructed them not to discuss the matter publicly until it was concluded, but some shared details on condition of anonymity.
Last year, President Ahmed appointed Mr. Amalow to lead the effort to recover the funds. The government contracted Maryland-based law firm Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker, P.A., to help recover the assets, according to a copy of the agreement between the two parties that was seen by The Wall Street Journal.
A representative of Shulman Rogers confirmed that the firm was working to recover assets on behalf of the Somali government. The firm has experience in tracing and recovering assets, often for companies or wealthy individuals.
Work on recovering the money began in earnest in February. At least $1.5 million has been recovered from European banks so far, according to a Somali government official familiar with the process. He declined to offer further details.
The Somali government needed help collecting the funds because many of the accounts have become dormant.
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A U.S. State Department spokesman didn't respond to requests for comment on the collection effort.
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So far, I am only seeing this story reported by AFP, which raises the question of legitimacy, esp being based entirely on quotes by anon sources and the implication of AQ intermediaries
Somalia's top Islamist leaders in unity talks
The leaders of Somalia's two Islamist movements met for talks aimed at joining forces against the Western-backed government they are fighting to overthrow, officials said Saturday.
Abdi Mohamud Godane, also known as Abu-Zubeyr, the leader of the Al-Qaeda inspired Shebab group held talks with Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the head of the more political Hezb al-Islam militants in Mogadishu Friday.
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"The two leaders... met yesterday and discussed a broad unity agreement in order to launch a big offensive against the African invaders and their apostate government," a senior Shebab official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Abu-Zubeyr and Sheikh Aweys will reach their final agreement to bring fighters from both groups in the same barracks in the coming days so as to eliminate the enemy of Allah from the country," the official said.
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A Hezb al-Islam official confirmed the meeting by the two Islamist leaders.
"The leaders of the two groups met and the result will be large offensives to eradicate the invading forces from the country," said Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim.
It was however unclear when the planned offensive would begin.
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Other Islamist officials said foreign fighters attended Friday's meeting but declined to give details.
"I cannot tell you how many they were because the meeting was behind closed doors, but some Al-Qaeda foreign fighters were present to give advice on the importance of unity between the two groups," said an Islamist official who refused to be named.
"They were mediating between the two groups," he added.
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Shabelle Media: Kenyan military forces deployed to Somali border
Many Kenyan military forces were deployed to the border between Somalia and Kenya and closed the movement of the traffic between Mandere and Balad-Hawo districts near the border, witnesses said on Sunday.
Reports say that the Kenyan officials said that the closure of the border between the two neighboring Somalia and Kenya was aimed to assure and tighten the security of the borer between the two countries.
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More other Kenyan troops had also been reportedly deployed to the border that Kenya has with Dobley town of Lower Jubba region in southern Somalia which is a stronghold of Al-shabab organization.
Balad-hawo and Dobley districts are in southern of Somalia and controlled by administrations loyal to Al-shabab in Jubba regions.
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