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Somalia: 9 gunmen die in Somali court attack; toll at 16

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MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Nine al-Shabab militants, most wearing suicide vests, stormed Somalia’s main court complex on Sunday while the Supreme Court was in session, firing a barrage of bullets during a running gun battle with security forces that lasted two hours, officials said. A preliminary death toll stood at 16, including all nine attackers.

The assault was the most serious in the city since al-Shabab militants were forced out of the capital in August 2011. Al-Shababcontrols far less territory today than in years past, and its influence appears to be on the decline, but Sunday’s attack proved the militants are still capable of pulling off well-planned and audacious assaults.

The attack on the Supreme Court complex began at around 12:30 p.m., sparking running battles with police and army forces. Two bomb blasts were heard and gunmen were seen on a court building roof firing shots, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said. Police officer Hassan Abdulahi said he saw five dead bodies lying at the entrance to the court.

The militants took an unknown number of hostages during the siege. Many other government workers and civilians in the court complex — a confusing labyrinth of buildings and rooms — hid while fearing for their lives.

Western officials knew militants had been planning something major. The British Foreign Office on Friday released a travel warning for Somalia that warned of a high threat of terrorism. “We continue to believe that terrorists are in the final stages of planning attacks in Mogadishu,” it said.

The complex and sustained nature of the assault on the court system suggested militants hoped to inflict severe casualties. Later, a suicide car bomber rammed a vehicle carrying Turkish citizens.

On a Twitter feed believed to belong to the militants, al-Shabab appeared to take credit for the attack. A posting said five militants from the “Martyrdom Brigade” took part in the “daring” attack.

Interior Minister Abdikarim Hussein Guled said nine militants attacked the court complex, and that six of them detonated suicide vests. Three others were shot and killed during the assault, he said. Guled said he couldn’t immediately provide an overall death toll that included government officials and civilians.

Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon said the “pointless and pathetic act” would have no effect on the government’s commitment to progress. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said Somalia is moving forward but the enemy of Somalia and “of all mankind” is trying to prevent the country from prospering.

“I want the terrorist to know that our country, Somalia, is moving and will keep moving forward and will not be prevented to achieve the ultimate noble goal, a peaceful and stable Somalia, by a few desperate terrorists,” Mohamud said.

Ugandan troops stationed in Mogadishu as part of the African Union force arrived at the scene and began taking up sniper positions on rooftops.

The Supreme Court was in session and the court’s chief justice may have been the target of the assault, said a Western official who had been speaking to Somali officials. The official spoke on condition he wasn’t identified because he wasn’t authorized to release the information.

The gunmen took hostages in the complex’s main courtroom and forced their way into other rooms in the complex, said another police officer, Abdinasir Nor. The number of hostages wasn’t immediately known.

The court complex is a confusing maze of buildings and rooms, allowing for plenty of places to hide but also for many places for gunmen to take hostages. The armed men forced their way inside the complex and immediately set off an explosion, said Yusuf Abdi, who was near the court when the attack happened.

About two hours after the assault began, survivors of the attack began coming out of the court complex. Some were crying and others held their heads in their hands.

“I never expected to make it out alive today,” said Halima Geddi, who fled the court complex about two hours after the attack. She said she had taken cover behind an outer wall. “There is no peace. No one protects us. I came to see my boy who was supposed to be tried here.”

At about 3 p.m. a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a car carrying Turkish citizens to the airport, said Mohamed Anjeh, a police commander.

Mogadishu’s main government center is heavily guarded with multiple security checks. However, the security at the court complex is not nearly as strong. The Ugandan troops who arrived on scene began pushing back on-lookers shortly after the attack began.

Most militant attacks in Mogadishu are blamed on fighters from al-Shabab, the al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist rebel group in Somalia. Al-Shabab ruled Mogadishu from roughly 2006 until August 2011, when African Union and Somali forces pushed them out of the city. Since then the al-Shabab extremists have launched suicide bombings on the capital city every few weeks.

Despite those intermittent attacks, Mogadishu is generally considered more peaceful today than most of the previous seven years.

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 Source: AP

Somali piracy ‘to return if no solution on land’

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Staff
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Navy patrols and armed guards on ships have helped quash once rampant Somali piracy, but without political solutions onshore attacks will likely return, the World Bank warned Thursday. While the number of pirate attacks from Somalia are at a three-year low, costly measures including patrols by international warships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean are not a long-term solution to the problem, the bank said in a report. “These are only effective as long as they remain in place: they would have to be permanent to prevent any resurgence of piracy,” said report co-author Quy-Toan Do. “Because of the high cost of these counter-measures, in the long run they may simply be unsustainable.” Naval patrols include both US and European Union operations. Instead, more efforts should be made to tackle the problem on land with a shift of attention from the “perpetrators to the enablers of piracy”, noting that a long term solution is “first and foremost political”. “Pirates rely on onshore support to conduct negotiations and to secure safe access to coastal territories,” the report read, released in the Somali capital Mogadishu. “In turn, politically powerful figures capture large portions of the profits associated with piracy,” it added, calculating that between $315-385 million has been paid in ransoms since 2005. But the cost to world trade is even greater, the report said, noting that while an estimated $53 million was paid on average annually in ransoms since 2005, that was dwarfed by the estimated $18 billion yearly loss to the world economy in terms of increased cost of trade. Pirate attacks targeted a key route for shipping controlling the Gulf of Aden leading towards the Suez Canal, although attacks have been launched as far as 3,655 kilometres (2,277 miles) from the Somali coast in the Indian Ocean. But finding political solutions onshore is far from easy. Somalia’s weak government — defended by a 17,000-strong African Union force — does not control the key areas where pirates operate, which are largely along the northern coast in the autonomous Puntland region. “Allegations of corruption, including collusion with or protection of pirates, have hung over all levels of the Puntland administration, local through regional,” the report said. But changing the situation on the ground — in one of the most dangerous regions for aid workers in the world — is no easy task. While total development and humanitarian assistance to Somalia totals around $750 million a year, the “amounts pale in comparison to the vast sums spent on ‘defensive’ and security measures” the report read. “Somali analysts often interpret the discrepancy as a policy of containment, rather than development, driven by fear of pirates and terrorists,” it added. The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) still warns that Somalia’s waters remain extremely high-risk, while some pirates have turned to land-based kidnapping and banditry instead. Five boats and 77 hostages are still held by Somali pirates, according to the IMB. Source:AFP

Somalia strives to shake off “failed state” tag

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Staff
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By Abdi Sheikh and Richard Lough

MOGADISHU/NAIROBI (Reuters) – Western powers are in early talks on writing off Somalia’s debt, a big shift for a country that was long branded a failed state and has with help scored successes against al Qaeda-linked rebels and piracy.

Just two years ago, Islamist militants and African peacekeepers fought daily street battles in Mogadishu.

Now the city is rid of insurgents, though still vulnerable to attack, and the government’s focus is on bolstering security, rooting out corruption and imposing the rule of law.

Foreign diplomats point to a determination to re-enter the international fold under President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, elected last year in the country’s first vote for decades.

This is welcome progress for regional states whose economies have been rattled by their neighbor’s instability and for Western capitals which long worried Somalia provides a base for militant Islam to flourish unchecked.

“A couple of years ago all the talk was about humanitarian disasters, piracy and terrorism,” said a Somalia-focused senior Western diplomat based in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. “Now we’re talking about an arrears process.”

Mohamud had made it clear Somalia should not be seen as a basket case and wants to change donors’ attitudes, envoys said.

Discussion about debts suggest that change is happening. Somalia’s arrears stood at around $2.2 billion in 2010, World Bank data showed, peanuts in international terms but daunting when domestic revenues are forecast at $54 million in 2013.

Washington, London and Brussels are among those which have formally recognized the government for the first time since civil war erupted in 1991. Diplomats say it is high in ambition but hamstrung by a lack of funds, manpower and expertise.

“This is a better government on every level,” said a U.N. diplomat in Nairobi. “They’re more responsive, more interested in what they’re doing and they’re not feathering their own nests.”

WEAKEST EBB

Security worries persist. Britain warned this week of imminent attacks in Mogadishu and al Shabaab militants have claimed several suicide bombings in past months, more than two years after they were driven out of the capital.

Their fighters still control swathes of the countryside, but an African Union force has forced them out of most cities and the Islamist group is now at its weakest ebb in the six years since it emerged amid anarchy as a fighting force.

The 17,600-strong African force includes troops from Uganda, Burundi and Kenya. Nairobi is worried by a surge in bombings, kidnappings and grenade attacks on its soil that it blames on the Somali militants and their sympathizers.

Mogadishu’s mortar-blasted facades and refugee camps tell of chaos inflicted by clan warlords and then Islamists after dictator Mohammed Siad Barre’s overthrow set off civil war.

But now its rubble-strewn streets are choked with traffic and constructions sites point to a new confidence. Well-dressed Somali men from the diaspora hold their girlfriends’ hands in public – impossible when the strict Islamists were in charge.

“Mogadishu is now like other cities in the world,” said Hassan Hashi, an elder from Dusamareb in central Somalia.

But he said the government still struggled to exert influence in the provinces. In a country divided along clan faultlines, the government’s relationship with the regions is delicate and often uneasy under a fledgling federal system.

Strips of Somalia’s coast remain infested with pirates, even if they stage fewer successful attacks now due to the greater use of armed guards, increasingly aggressive naval action and slight improvements in law and order onshore.

“The other parts of the country are dark,” said Hashi. “Mogadishu, which is the heart of Somalia, has recovered but the other regions, the limbs, are still paralyzed.”

A political newcomer, Mohamud’s election was hailed by many as a vote for change, but seven months on some grumble.

“He promised to improve security but it has not yet happened,” said shopkeeper Halima Bile from Baidoa, which relies on foreign rather than local forces for protection from the rebels. “I don’t know when Somalia will become a real country.”

MOVING BACK

But Western powers are no longer dealing with Somalia as a failed state. Humanitarian aid is still essential, but now they have an interlocutor in the government which increasingly pushes visitors to meet in Villa Somalia, the presidential palace, instead of behind the fortified fences of Mogadishu’s airport.

“By treating them as a normal state we’re signaling things are really beginning to change,” said the European Union’s envoy Michele Cervone d’Urso, who is still based in Nairobi but spends more time in Somalia. “Of course, it is step by step.”

Some U.N. officials and aid workers are also slowly moving out of Kenya to Somalia, and diplomats will not be far behind.

Britain plans to open an embassy in Mogadishu by the end of July, and other Western powers who left in the early 1990s may follow. It will join others such as Turkey, Sudan and Yemen.

Recognizing Mohamud’s government may open the way for more Western aid and funds from World Bank and International Monetary Fund, vital for services like health, education and security.

But Somalia still has a way to go to build foreign confidence. Asked whether direct budgetary support was a possibility, the Western diplomat said: “Not for a long time.”

“I wouldn’t say it is a functioning government. It lacks capacity at all levels,” he added.

But the West is providing more support. Britain says it plans to use its presidency of G8 nations to urge the World Bank and others to re-engage with Somalia.

Almost half Somalia’s $2.2 billion of external debt is owed to the IMF, World Bank and African Development Bank. Those debts must be clear before further support is offered.

The World Bank’s lead economist on Somalia, Paolo Zacchia, said there was no quick fix but that the bank was looking at acting as swiftly as possible to “stabilize the government”.

Others also want to avoid missing an opportunity to prevent a slip back into anarchy. “We have to bank these opportunities otherwise they will slide backwards,” the Western diplomat said. “The gains made are incredibly fragile.”

(Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Jason Webb)

Source:Reuters

Somalia: US Clears Way to Arm, Train Somali Forces

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Staff
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President Barack Obama cleared the way Monday for the U.S. to arm and train Somali forces, taking a step toward normal relations with the East African nation as it works to build confidence in its newly recognized government.

In a memo to Secretary of State John Kerry, Obama said he has determined that supplying defense equipment and services “will strengthen the security of the United States and promote world peace.” The move doesn’t immediately provide new assistance to Somalia, but allows Kerry to consider taking that step in the future.

Somalia is trying to preserve fragile progress toward establishing its first functional government after two decades of chaos. The U.S. formally recognized the African nation’s new government in January — the first time the U.S. had recognized a Somali government since 1991, when warlords overthrew longtime dictator Siad Barre and then turned on one another.

“The United States is committed to being a long-term partner in assisting the defense forces in Somalia defense to become a professional military force,” said National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.

A relative peace has returned to Somalia’s war-battered capital of Mogadishu since African Union forces ousted al-Shabab — a militant group loosely associated with al-Qaida — from the city over 18 months ago. But al-Shabab rebels are not yet defeated, and the U.S. remains concerned about the threat the group could pose to the region’s stability. The U.S. designated al-Shabab a terrorist group in 2008.

Obama’s decision was not tied to any new threat assessment in Somalia, said a senior administration official, who was not authorized to discuss security assessments publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The move follows a decision by the U.N. Security Council, after an appeal from Somali officials, to partially suspend the arms embargo on Somalia for 12 months. The council preserved a ban on exports of a list of heavy military hardware, including surface-to-air missiles, anti-tank guided weapons and night-vision weapons.

The U.S. government has provided funds and training to African Union forces fighting al-Shabab in Somalia, and has also provided more than $133 million to Somalia since 2007 in security sector assistance, intended to help the country build up and professionalize its security forces. Obama’s memorandum on Friday opens the door for military-to-military relations, allowing the U.S. to provide equipment, training and other assistance directly to Somalia’s government and military.

Source: ABC OTUS News

Somalia:Mogadishu music festival helps city move past sounds of war, where militants once banned song

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Staff
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MOGADISHU, Somalia – Fueled by the high-volume music and fast-talking rappers, the Somali crowd danced, shouted and sang. Mogadishu’s first music festival in decades acted as another step in moving past a city soundscape once filled with gunfire and mortar shells.

The Reconciliation Music Festival was organized by a Somali rap group who moved overseas, Waayaha Cusub. Last week’s performances attracted international artists to a capital city that until recently was music-free.

The militant group al-Shabab ruled Mogadishu from 2006 until the fighters were forced out in August 2011. No lyrical stanzas were allowed in al-Shabab-controlled areas, and the al-Qaida linked militants banned music as a “sin” punishable by public flogging.

Two years ago, an al-Shabab spokesman threatened Waayaha Cusub after it produced a song disparaging the militants’ rule and its penchant for killing civilians.

“We want to change the world’s impression toward Mogadishu as a dangerous city,” rapper Shine Akhiyar told the crowd from the stage. “Mogadishu is more peaceful than many cities considered peaceful. Through music, we are committed to fight extremism.”

For the cheering audience in this seaside capital, the winds of change were audible.

“It’s a great night,” said Abdishakur Ali, a 17-year-old who was standing among his dancing peers. “I have never seen something like this. It’s a nice one. We are tired of war.”

Music is gradually returning but Somalia still has a long way to go to regain its rich cultural past. The packed open-air venues of the 1980s have been bombed to rubble or occupied by squatters. The music has changed too. Gone are the songs about love and romance. Instead, new tracks explore the struggle for peace.

The foreign and Somali musicians also had a private showing with an audience that in the past may have wished them dead — a group of militant defectors now participating in a government-sponsored rehabilitation program. To the musicians’ surprise, many former fighters — some of them still in their early teens — immediately began to dance.

“The most important achievement of our festival really was to rap and sing alongside former fighters and child soldiers,” said Daniel Gerstle, an American musician from Ohio.

 Source: Associated Press

Somalia:My response regarding the article “Turkish aid vessel set sail for Somalia”

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@ Cade-Somali,

You have said “this Turkish freindship is not more than a geo-political role.”

Unfortunately, neither you have understood the good intentions of Turkish people nor the Turkish government ruled by the Islamic moderate AK Party (The Justice and the Development Party).  Clearly, you have little readings on International politics and highly influenced by the conspiracy theorists who believe there must be some hidden agenda because no good can or should occur without a secret agenda.

First, let me answer a common question that has been often raised in forums and probably confused so many Somalian natives or diapora about the recent collaboration of the Turkish State.  Why Turkey and why all of a sudden?  It is not all of a sudden.  Since the establishment of Turkish Republic in 1923 from the ruins of great Ottoman Muslim Empire, Turkey was ruled by highly autocratic socialist/facist governments backed by the Turkish Military.  Turkey has suffered the devastating results of the broken empire for decades; after that, it was the World War II. Although Turkey did not participate in the War and encountered the European nations such as Britain to fight on their side against the Soviets (spread of Marxism) and the Germans (nazi-facism), the nation suffered economically for the following decades.  Right after the World War II, there was the expansion of Marxism, the fear of Soviet occupation and the effects of the Cold War between the East and the West.  Turkey was in the epicenter of the Cold War.  The global conditions influenced the domestic politic and the political powers in addition to ASALA Armenian terror activities in the 1980s and the PKK Kurdish terror activities since 1970s.  As a result, Turkey has never become a stable nation until the election of 2002 when the AK Party was overwhelmingly and democratically elected into the power.  The first 6 years of it, there were multiple attempts to overthrow the democratically elected government by the political parties, media groups, financial institutions and educational centers run or controlled by the fascist/socialists backed by the military with the similar agenda.  They believed with their hearths and minds that there were two groups of people in Turkey: the elite and the working class(mostly made up by Muslims).

Although Turkish people are secualar,the conservatives make up the majority in Turkey; 65-70% versus 30-35% the ultra secular(the Kemalists) and socialists/marxists.  Turks are finally enjoying some stability although not quite yet for the first time since 2008.  Turkish economy has blosommed since the AK Party got into power in 2002.  Its economy and export quadrapled during this ten year period.

Turks have great pride.  They see that they have achieved great things in the past creating so many great and long lasting empires and nations, the Ottoman Empire is the last of them in a very unstable geography.  The Turkish Muslims are very proud of their religion and believe it is the teachings of their religion that allowed them to succeed.  Whenever they strayed away from their beliefs, they have also suffered.  Under the leadership of the AK Party and Tayyip Erdogan,a very proud Muslim, they believe they can contribute to the volatile world in a positive way where we all can live in peace.  They believe Muslims have the responsibility to change the negative perception of the world about Islam.  For that, the Muslims need to act according to the teachings of Islamic belief: Muslims must form true brotherhood.

As a young kid, I remember, like millions, I would watch the heartbreaking tv footages about the suffering in Africa, suffering of Africans and particularly Muslim children and women due to drought and starvation.  We all were highly affected by those tv footages.  We all cried for them.  Unfortunately, we were also helpless.  We had so much trouble at home! We, ourselves, were not living in decent conditions and how could we help to others. Neverthless, we helped what we could but it went unnoticeable in a world the West dictate everything including writing and propagading their views on the Western controlled media.  All the good things could come only through Christinaity and the Western Nations because they were the civilized nations and there was the rest  (remember, how they expanden in Africa and their criminal activities were justified?)

Now, we are in 2013.  Turkey wants to be a dominant force not only in the region but in the world, again.  They know they can do it.  Turkish people and the state do not want to be ignored or mistreated by the West, their largest trade partners, who approach Turkey with a carrot and stick.  Turkey believes they need to expand and find new economic partners.  But also, Turks believe they have responsibility to protect and improve the conditions of Muslims all over the world.  Turks believe there is necessity for the establishment of Islamic alliance in real sense.  Only, then they can change the negative perceptions about Islam and Muslims while they can also be dominant force in the world against the other expanding forces: the U.S. The EU, China and Russia.  Otherwise, they all be irrelevant!  Turkey believes Turks and Muslims can be relevant again  ONLY if they unite and form brotherhood and economic partnership.

Turkey has been expanding its economic activities in the Central Asian regions where there are 6 more Turkish Republics were formed following the break up of the Soviet Union. Turkey has increased its economic partnership with its neighbors including its most ardent enemies, Greece, and other Ottoman controlled European and Middle Eastern states. Beyond all that there is great Africa with whom Turkey has historical ties that goes back to 16th century.

As a result, for those who believe in conspiracy teories, I suggest you study Turkish history, Turkish people, and the effects of global economy, and how to build and survive strong land long-lasting economic and political partnership in the global world.

Turkish humanitarian aid is no different than its approach to Greece or elsewhere. With its limited resources due to decades-old financial debt to international organization, Turks want to aid nations in difficulties as much as possible.  Such moves can bring nations closer to each other.  When the earthquake happened in Turkey in the late 90s, Greeks send an aid team.  The following year, Greece had similar natural disaster and Turkey did the same.  Following that, two nations has got closer more than ever before since the independence of Greece from the Ottoman Empire.  Similarly, Turkey, while wanting to aid her muslim bretherens in Somalia also want to establish stronger ties with Somalia and Somali people that will benefit both nations.

Look, no nation can help another one forever unless they can facilitate the resources somehow to pay the cost.  So there is nothing wrong if Turkey or else want to aid Somalia to be a financially independent nation by investing in the country.  It will create jobs for the locals and improve their lives while those who take risk and aid Somalia at a very difficult time.  As you all agree, Somalia needs to be independent rather than seeking aid continously so that they can determine their own future.  Unless, Somalia is secure, the western companies will not settle in Somalia.

In regards to the competition between Iran and Turkey mentioned in some other websites, I do not believe it is a concern for Turkey as much as it is for Iran.  Iran has political agenda, mainly.  Although Iran’s largest trade partner is Turkey, it is alinated from the civilized world whereas Turkey has great relations with the U.S, the EU, the Middle Eastern nations including Israel.  Turkey believes in positivity while Iranian government acts in the opposite direction.  While Turkey support soverign nations, Iran supports the terror groups or illegitimate governments within those nations.  I remember Iran was a big threat for Turkey following the Iranian revolution as Iran began exporting its staunch religious views to neigboring nations including Turkey.  The democratic and economic improvements in Turkey now made Turkey the biggest threat for the survival of the Ayatollah regime of Iran.  The Iranian regime fears that Turkish democracy will topple the Iranian regime because more and more Iranian are questioning why Iran can’t be like Turkey where everyone can live their lives freely.

Moreover, Iran has been losing friends one after another.  They are one of the two majority Shia government, Iraq is the other one.  They know they only can  expand in the unstable states such as Somalia as they did in Lebanon.  It does not matter for Turkey as to whether Somalia stays as a Shia or Sunni state.  Turkey’s largest trade partner after the EU, is Iran; thus, Turkey can do business with Shia Somalia as well if it comes to that.  But, Turkey wants Somalia to set example to the rest of Africa.  Now, we all are convinced that neither the U.N nor the western nations such as the U.S. and the EU states can bring stability to Somalia.  Turkey has nothing to lose by trying its own method that has succeeded in Turkey.  The numbers of major constructions Turkish AK Party has done in all over Turkey is immense.  The things that were said “impossible” for decades became reality within a few years.  So many major projects have been completed in a short span of time.  It is amazing!  Turks now have the confidence the replicate that development elsewhere.  Venezuelan goevenrment signed an agreement with Turkish state to build 500,000 homes.  Airports, thousands of miles of roads, railroads, tunnels, subways, metros, bridges have been built and are being built in Turkey only in ten years.  Turks believe they can replicate it in Somalia.

So, it is time we stop looking for conspiracies but believe in ourselves and the good intentions of others, Turkey in Somalia case, to move forward.  God willing, with hope, Somalia will achieve great things. Turks will be providing as much support as they are capable and Somalians need.

Peace and Salaam.

By Anthony Keane

Terrorists planning Somali attacks, UK government warns

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Staff
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Terrorists are in the final stages of planning attacks in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, the British government has warned.

Concerns about a possible attack were highlighted in a statement issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), which already advises against all travel to Somalia.

The Foreign Office’s website states that attacks in and around Mogadishu continue to be carried out by al-Shabaab, a terrorist group, and others opposed to the Somali government.

Attacks in the past have targeted government institutions, hotels, restaurants and public transport, including the international airport.

An FCO spokesperson said: “We have amended our travel advice for Somalia. Our advice makes clear that there continues to be a high threat from terrorism and that the FCO believes that terrorists are in the final stages of planning attacks in Mogadishu. We advise against all travel to all parts of Somalia.”

“The safety of British nationals abroad is a major concern for the FCO. We therefore attach great importance to providing information about personal safety and security overseas, including an assessment of the level of threat from terrorism, to enable people to make informed decisions about travel.”

Security in Mogadishu has improved greatly since a military offensive drove Islamist rebels allied to al-Qaida out of the city in August 2011. But bombings and assassinations blamed on militants still occur often.

Last month, a suicide car bomber killed at least 10 people near Mogadishu’s presidential palace in an explosion that police said was aimed at a senior security official.

The attacker blew up his car while driving along a boulevard that runs between the palace and the national theatre.

In late September, al-Shabaab withdrew from the southern Indian Ocean port of Kismayu, its last major urban bastion in the east African state, signalling its demise as a quasi-conventional military force, but it pledged to step up a campaign of suicide bombings and hit-and-run attacks.

Source: Guardian

Somalia Travel Advice Change

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Staff
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FCO warns that it believes terrorists are in the final stage of planning attacks in Mogadishu.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice on Somalia has been changed to reflect concerns about a terrorist attack in Mogadishu.

An FCO spokesperson says:

We have amended our Travel Advice for Somalia. Our advice makes clear that there continues to be a high threat from terrorism and that the FCO believes that terrorists are in the final stages of planning attacks in Mogadishu. We advise against all travel to all parts of Somalia. See the GOV.UK website for further details.

The safety of British Nationals abroad is a major concern for the FCO. We therefore attach great importance to providing information about personal safety and security overseas, including an assessment of the level of threat from terrorism, to enable people to make informed decisions about travel.

Further information

UK and Somalia website

Follow @fcoTravel for the latest travel updates

Find the Foreign Office on Twitter, Facebook & Google+.

 

Understanding Somalia

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The scenario has changed with Turkish involvement in Somalia, in a way that prompts me to ask what it is that the Turks have done differently, to win over the hearts of the people of Somalia.

The battle of Mogadishu in 1993 between the United States forces and the Somali militiamen loyal to the self-proclaimed president Mohamed Farrah Aidid, led to the killing of eighteen Americans and the downing of a US helicopter, the Black Hawk, with RPG’s (rocket-propelled grenades)  by Aidid men. This was the bloodiest battle involving US troops since the Vietnam War and remained so until the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004.

Somalis did not believe that the Americans came to Somalia to secure a safe environment or for humanitarian operations: but they believed that they were using the humanitarian crisis as a cover for exploiting the natural resources of the country and to serve their political purposes in the region by having power where the former Soviet Union had once been influential.

The failure of the UNOSOM II mission certainly had a significant impact in US foreign policy; we saw what a lesson it was, as well as the profoundly negative impact of this failure on the worsening conditions in Somalia. Any triumph attached to defeating one of the most powerful countries in the world, conversely only gave the war lords a stronger reason to continue fighting, believing that they were impregnable. This in turn led the country into a series of civil wars, the invasion of Ethiopia, piracy, terrorist activities and ultimately its notoriety as a fallen state.

In my view Somalia has been isolated for twenty years as a sort of punishment for humiliating the Americans, while they used it as a test case of a failing state, recently invoked for example in the fears expressed by some world commentators that Syria may became ‘the new Somalia’.

Somalia was used as an experiment for every sort of corruption you could imagine: illegal fishing, dumping chemical toxic waste, fuelling and supporting terrorist groups like al Shabab and other war lords, using the country as an arms trafficking hub to serve the political and economic purposes of other countries, mainly their neighbours. Somalia was on stand-by for any dirty jobs needing to be done.

Due to the invasion of Somalia and the neglect the country has suffered for twenty years, Somalis have lost faith, hope and trust in the international community. It was never safe for foreigners to travel around in Somalia unless if they had armed bodyguards around them for protection. The only people who used to be pleased to see foreigners were the kidnappers, so they could use them for their own advantage. Especially in Mogadishu, you didn’t expect to see foreigners walking with confidence.

However, the scenario has changed with Turkish involvement in Somalia, in a way that prompts me to ask what it is that the Turks have done differently, to win over the hearts of the people of Somalia.

Two years ago when famine hit East Africa, the Prime Minister of Turkey Tayyip Erdoğan was the first leader to visit Mogadishu with his family in twenty years. Mr Erdogan told the BBC that they wanted to refute the notion that the city was a no-go area. Single-handed, he thus succeeded in again bringing the attention of the international community and the media to a country torn by war and desperately in need of help.

His visit to the country had a huge effect on the Somali community. They felt that finally they would not be allowed to suffer in silence and that this time, help wouldn’t be confined to food aid that would just prevent the Somali people from to starving to death but that perhaps it would offer more help than that for the future. His physical and emotional support has touched the hearts of many people and been seen as very genuine.

In Somalia it is important to show that you are sincere in your dealings with others. In my country, what you see is what you get, and I believe that this is what the Turks managed to understand from the beginning. Turkey’s rising role in Africa has brought good fortune to Somalia, by bringing some peace, stability and above all hope to a nation brought to its knees by civil war.

In Mogadishu now you will see a Turkish flag fly next to the Somali flag whereever you go. Somali people genuinely love the Turkish people and want them in their country. They have become a sort of comfort.  One of my friends in Mogadishu said to me, ‘Now Turkish people are part of our daily lives, everywhere you go you will see Turkish people moving around the town without any security, building hospitals, treating casualties, and if there are any accidents you will see ambulances driven by Turkish people rushing to the rescue’. She adds, ‘they are the only foreigners who you see driving cars, swimming at the beach, playing football and building the country side by side with Somali’s. They believe in us more than we believe in ourselves. And they are determined to be part of a modern Somalia.’

The commitment the Turkish government has given to Somalia has helped to bind the two countries together. Turkey is the only country in the world that has engaged their locals to help Somalis rebuild their country. If things continue in this way, Somalia will become a success story: a dead country brought back to life, by the Turks

By Amal Ahmed

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About the author

Amal Ahmed works in the technology department at the Guardian. She has also trained as a video producer, made several films for the Guardian’s website and written articles for Alquds Alarabi newspaper, London.

US militant in Somalia still waging ‘jihad’ against US

By
Staff
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0

American-born Islamic militant Omar Hamami remains committed to waging jihad against US interests, he said in an interview published on Thursday, despite a $5 million bounty that Washington placed on his head.

Hamami, who has parted ways with fellow Al-Shebab militants in Somalia, told the Danger Room website that he nevertheless remains committed to armed struggle against the United States.

“I believe in attacking US interests everywhere,” he told Danger Room in a running dialogue on Twitter. “No 2nd thoughts and no turning back.”

Nicknamed “the rapping jihadist” for his work enlisting Shebab recruits through his English-language rap songs and videos, Hamami, 28, is a former resident of Alabama who moved to Somalia in 2006.

Also known as Abu Mansoor al-Amriki or “the American,” Hamami late last year announced his split from the insurgents, who he says now want to kill him.

Now the most prominent American jihadi left alive, Hamami told Danger Room that he is aware “my life may be in danger” as Washington targets Islamist militants overseas, including those with US citizenship.

Tweeting from an undisclosed location in Somalia, the militant — who now spends his days online denouncing his former Islamist colleagues as corrupt — refers to himself as the “former poster boy” of the group.

He told Danger Room that he also spends his time in Somalia growing vegetables, helping his wives around the house, and trolling his former Shebab colleagues on Twitter, under the handle @abumamerican.

Born in 1984 to a Syrian Muslim immigrant father and a white Protestant mother, Hamami was raised as a Christian but began to feel estranged from his upbringing as teenager before moving to Somalia.

Hamami was indicted in 2009 by an Alabama district court for providing support to a terrorist organization, and two years later he was placed on a US Treasury blacklist freezing all his assets in the United States. In November, his name was posted on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list.

He and another militant, Jehad Mostafa, last month were named under the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program for their ties to the Al-Qaeda linked Shebab.

He served as a military commander under Mostafa, a former resident of San Diego, California, who left for Somalia in 2005.

Source: AFP

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