Reuters
BRUSSELS — European Union (EU) experts say the US is pushing for deployment of a regional peacekeeping force in Somalia and this could trigger a wider war in the region, European commission sources said on Tuesday.
However, a US state department official in Washington said: “The whole premise that the US wants to forcibly impose an outside peacekeeping mission on to that situation in Somalia, that is 100% false.” The official declined to be named.
The commission sources said its department for African development had warned EU governments that such a deployment could give cover for a larger military operation against the Islamists who control Mogadishu.
The warning said a peacekeeping operation without the consent of all sides would be seen as an “invading force” and exacerbate the risk of conflict.
A United Nations Security Council committee is considering what action to take after receiving a report last week that there were extensive illegal arms flows into Somalia, both to the Islamic Courts Union and to the shaky interim government.
The sources said US officials had drafted a document calling for a partial lifting of the arms embargo and the deployment of a regional peacekeeping force.
One EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some members shared Brussels’ misgivings but Britain and France were reluctant to oppose the US due to the “terrorism issue”.
European Commission experts were also concerned the EU could come under pressure to fund a regional force through its Africa Peace Facility. The African Union has requested €15m for the mission.
US officials have said the administration is considering several ideas for Somalia, possibly including a regional force. The US has made it clear that neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia and Eritrea should not be allowed to interfere in Somali affairs.
The Brussels experts say a regional force could legitimise an Ethiopian military presence denied by Addis Ababa, and undermine EU-backed efforts to reach a political settlement. For more story...
Ethiopian deaths spark fears of devastating war (Independent)
By Leonard Doyle, Foreign Editor
Published: 23 November 2006
First two Ethiopian trucks were destroyed by land mines, then Islamic fighters opened fire on the convoy, which witnesses said was made up of more than 80 vehicles and headed for Baidoa, the headquarters of Somalia's transitional government.
By the time it was over six Ethiopian soldiers were dead, and as many as 20 injured, in a battle that many predict will be the opening salvo in a devastating regional war.
The shootout last Sunday - the first known battle between the forces jockeying for control in Somalia - could have devastating consequences for up to 12 countries, while bringing George Bush's War on Terror to the Horn of Africa. Washington and its Ethiopan ally like to paint the Islamic Courts as a terrorist umbrella backed up with thousands of jihadi fighters. However, the spreading crisis now threatens to draw in a wide array of belligerents, including hardline jihadi fighters and al Qaida operatives.
The Islamic Courts are a loose coalition of Islamists - including many moderates - drawn from the country's Hawiye clan, the most powerful group in southern Somalia, and have a well trained militia and independent sources of funding.
The movement's reputation for strict Islamic code was underscored this week, when nearly 100 people were arrested for watching a film in Merka, a seaside town about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Mogadishu.
Yesterday hundreds of Ethiopian troops were seen patrolling a road leading to Somalia's transitional government headquarters after the brief but intense firefight in the area this week. Ethiopia has vowed to "crush" the Islamic Courts movement, which has ousted the country's government set up under UN auspices two years ago.
Ethiopia says it has sent "military advisers" - not soldiers - into Somalia. But the country's Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, has promised to send tens of thousands of troops across the border if the Council of Islamic Courts attacks.
Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew the country's dictator and turned on each other. Formed with the help of the UN two years ago, the current administration has failed to assert any real control outside the southern town of Baidoa.
The rise of the Islamic Courts, and the prominence of jihadi Islamists within the organisation, has sent shock waves through the international community. Washington says the Courts are shielding al Qaida terrorists responsible for bombing its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Kenya is alarmed by links between the Courts and its own Islamic dissidents. Ethiopia sees the courts as a direct threat and a proxy for its enemy Eritrea.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia have also for decades vied to ensure Somalia is little more than a satellite state.
A report prepared for the US State Department by the former US ambassador to Ethiopia and Somalia, Prof David Shinn, warns that 12 countries could be drawn into the conflict.
The report has underscored the reality that the perennial bloodshed and instability in Somalia is a product of a ferocious regional power struggle.
Source: The Independent
Published: 23 November 2006
First two Ethiopian trucks were destroyed by land mines, then Islamic fighters opened fire on the convoy, which witnesses said was made up of more than 80 vehicles and headed for Baidoa, the headquarters of Somalia's transitional government.
By the time it was over six Ethiopian soldiers were dead, and as many as 20 injured, in a battle that many predict will be the opening salvo in a devastating regional war.
The shootout last Sunday - the first known battle between the forces jockeying for control in Somalia - could have devastating consequences for up to 12 countries, while bringing George Bush's War on Terror to the Horn of Africa. Washington and its Ethiopan ally like to paint the Islamic Courts as a terrorist umbrella backed up with thousands of jihadi fighters. However, the spreading crisis now threatens to draw in a wide array of belligerents, including hardline jihadi fighters and al Qaida operatives.
The Islamic Courts are a loose coalition of Islamists - including many moderates - drawn from the country's Hawiye clan, the most powerful group in southern Somalia, and have a well trained militia and independent sources of funding.
The movement's reputation for strict Islamic code was underscored this week, when nearly 100 people were arrested for watching a film in Merka, a seaside town about 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Mogadishu.
Yesterday hundreds of Ethiopian troops were seen patrolling a road leading to Somalia's transitional government headquarters after the brief but intense firefight in the area this week. Ethiopia has vowed to "crush" the Islamic Courts movement, which has ousted the country's government set up under UN auspices two years ago.
Ethiopia says it has sent "military advisers" - not soldiers - into Somalia. But the country's Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, has promised to send tens of thousands of troops across the border if the Council of Islamic Courts attacks.
Somalia has not had an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew the country's dictator and turned on each other. Formed with the help of the UN two years ago, the current administration has failed to assert any real control outside the southern town of Baidoa.
The rise of the Islamic Courts, and the prominence of jihadi Islamists within the organisation, has sent shock waves through the international community. Washington says the Courts are shielding al Qaida terrorists responsible for bombing its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Kenya is alarmed by links between the Courts and its own Islamic dissidents. Ethiopia sees the courts as a direct threat and a proxy for its enemy Eritrea.
Egypt and Saudi Arabia have also for decades vied to ensure Somalia is little more than a satellite state.
A report prepared for the US State Department by the former US ambassador to Ethiopia and Somalia, Prof David Shinn, warns that 12 countries could be drawn into the conflict.
The report has underscored the reality that the perennial bloodshed and instability in Somalia is a product of a ferocious regional power struggle.
Source: The Independent
The Rise of an Islamist Somalia
By Daniel Mandel
New York Post November 16, 2006
Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, fell to the pro-al Qaeda Supreme Council of Islamic Courts back in June. As the group gradually takes control of the rest of the country, the U.S. government still can't decide what to do about it.
That America is loath to intervene in Somalia is easy to understand; U.S. forces got a bloody nose there in 1993 at the hands of Somali warlord Mohammed Farrah Aideed (the "Black Hawk Down" episode). But "hands off" seems pretty foolish, too - for the Islamic Courts is not just another gang like the conglomerate of warlords it defeated in June; it's an al Qaeda ally.
Its chief is Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, who has been on the official U.S. list of global terrorists since November 2001. Aweys headed the Courts' precursor in the '90s, the al Ittihad al Islamiya, which was funded by al Qaeda, and he's one of one of three men wanted in connection with the 1998 al Qaeda bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
It was armed thugs under the command of an al Qaeda-trained Aweys protégé, Aden Hashi 'Ayro, who gunned down Sister Leonella Sgorbati in Mogadishu on Sept. 17 - after another Islamic Courts cleric, Sheik Abubukar Hassan Malin, called for Pope Benedict's murder for the pontiff's remarks on Islam.
Western nations continue to disburse humanitarian aid in Somalia - but Mideast states send jihadists and the money to arm them. Afghan, Kashmiri, Pakistani, Palestinian and Syrian fighters are entering the country. Money from that estimable American ally, Saudi Arabia, is the Islamic Courts' chief source of funds.
The old, fractious, largely unarmed but internationally recognized Transitional Federal Government is still holding out in parts of the country. Its president, Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed, even survived a Sept. 18 suicide car bombing (Somalia's first) that killed six of his officials. But the Courts are now poised to launch an offensive against the remnants of the prior government in the inland city of Baidoa.
What is America doing? Begging Islamic Court-backing neighbors (like Eritrea) not to "destabilize" the situation. The State Department's spokesman, Sean McCormack, reassures us brightly that it is "working with the Arab League" - that is, with those munificent Saudis and others - to somehow form a coalition between the failing government and the Islamic Courts.
In other words, the State Department is pressing for successful rebels to join with the government they're fighting to replace. State's efforts may explain why the speaker of the Somali parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden, recently made a beeline to Mogadishu to come to terms with the Islamic Courts, without consulting President Ahmed or anyone else, a move that might cause the legal government to collapse altogether.
The United States, in short, is wasting time and talent working with dubious allies to entrench an al Qaeda ally. Instead, it should be orchestrating the forces at its disposal to eliminate the Islamic Courts before the group subjugates a country strategically located at the Horn of Africa - only a boat ride from Yemen and thus the Mideast's gateway to black Africa.
The U.S. military is stretched by other commitments, but the 1,600-strong Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa is based in nearby Djibouti, with Marines, special-operations forces, civil-affairs teams and a U.S. and international naval task force. And next-door Ethiopia has a military force with experience fighting Somali Islamists, having destroyed the al Ittihad al Islamiya in the mid-'90s. In July, Aweys called for a jihad against the Ethiopian forces, estimated at 4,000 strong, who are reported to be preparing to defend Baidoa against the Courts' attack.
But all this will amount to little without purposeful American direction - instead of diplomatic myopia and an empty "peace process."
Daniel Mandel is a fellow in history at Melbourne University.
Source: Frontpagemag.com.
New York Post November 16, 2006
Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, fell to the pro-al Qaeda Supreme Council of Islamic Courts back in June. As the group gradually takes control of the rest of the country, the U.S. government still can't decide what to do about it.
That America is loath to intervene in Somalia is easy to understand; U.S. forces got a bloody nose there in 1993 at the hands of Somali warlord Mohammed Farrah Aideed (the "Black Hawk Down" episode). But "hands off" seems pretty foolish, too - for the Islamic Courts is not just another gang like the conglomerate of warlords it defeated in June; it's an al Qaeda ally.
Its chief is Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, who has been on the official U.S. list of global terrorists since November 2001. Aweys headed the Courts' precursor in the '90s, the al Ittihad al Islamiya, which was funded by al Qaeda, and he's one of one of three men wanted in connection with the 1998 al Qaeda bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
It was armed thugs under the command of an al Qaeda-trained Aweys protégé, Aden Hashi 'Ayro, who gunned down Sister Leonella Sgorbati in Mogadishu on Sept. 17 - after another Islamic Courts cleric, Sheik Abubukar Hassan Malin, called for Pope Benedict's murder for the pontiff's remarks on Islam.
Western nations continue to disburse humanitarian aid in Somalia - but Mideast states send jihadists and the money to arm them. Afghan, Kashmiri, Pakistani, Palestinian and Syrian fighters are entering the country. Money from that estimable American ally, Saudi Arabia, is the Islamic Courts' chief source of funds.
The old, fractious, largely unarmed but internationally recognized Transitional Federal Government is still holding out in parts of the country. Its president, Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed, even survived a Sept. 18 suicide car bombing (Somalia's first) that killed six of his officials. But the Courts are now poised to launch an offensive against the remnants of the prior government in the inland city of Baidoa.
What is America doing? Begging Islamic Court-backing neighbors (like Eritrea) not to "destabilize" the situation. The State Department's spokesman, Sean McCormack, reassures us brightly that it is "working with the Arab League" - that is, with those munificent Saudis and others - to somehow form a coalition between the failing government and the Islamic Courts.
In other words, the State Department is pressing for successful rebels to join with the government they're fighting to replace. State's efforts may explain why the speaker of the Somali parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden, recently made a beeline to Mogadishu to come to terms with the Islamic Courts, without consulting President Ahmed or anyone else, a move that might cause the legal government to collapse altogether.
The United States, in short, is wasting time and talent working with dubious allies to entrench an al Qaeda ally. Instead, it should be orchestrating the forces at its disposal to eliminate the Islamic Courts before the group subjugates a country strategically located at the Horn of Africa - only a boat ride from Yemen and thus the Mideast's gateway to black Africa.
The U.S. military is stretched by other commitments, but the 1,600-strong Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa is based in nearby Djibouti, with Marines, special-operations forces, civil-affairs teams and a U.S. and international naval task force. And next-door Ethiopia has a military force with experience fighting Somali Islamists, having destroyed the al Ittihad al Islamiya in the mid-'90s. In July, Aweys called for a jihad against the Ethiopian forces, estimated at 4,000 strong, who are reported to be preparing to defend Baidoa against the Courts' attack.
But all this will amount to little without purposeful American direction - instead of diplomatic myopia and an empty "peace process."
Daniel Mandel is a fellow in history at Melbourne University.
Source: Frontpagemag.com.
Somali leaders and diplomats search for a way to avoid war (International Herald Tribune)
AIROBI, Kenya: Cool seasonal rains have slowed the march to war between Somalia's Islamic militants and the secular government, but in the weeks ahead the tropical sun will break through the clouds, dry the muddy roads, shrink the flooded rivers and, many fear, ignite a civil war.
There have been minor skirmishes in the past few weeks. After 20 years of neglect, Somalia's road system is in tatters and virtually impassable when it rains. That means neither side can move troops or maintain supply lines. No one wants to fight in the mud.
Diplomats are trying to take advantage of the military stalemate to break the diplomatic deadlock. When the rains end, the fighting could begin. Read more ...
There have been minor skirmishes in the past few weeks. After 20 years of neglect, Somalia's road system is in tatters and virtually impassable when it rains. That means neither side can move troops or maintain supply lines. No one wants to fight in the mud.
Diplomats are trying to take advantage of the military stalemate to break the diplomatic deadlock. When the rains end, the fighting could begin. Read more ...
United States issues warning of terrorist attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia (e Canada Now)
The United States embassy located in Nairobi, Kenya has issued a warning that “extremists from Somalia” are planning to launch suicide bomb attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia. The warning comes as the U.S. says it has received information that specifically mentions the use of suicide bombers that will blow up “prominent landmarks” inside of Ethiopia and Kenya.
The Department of State has said that they are concerned “about terrorists in Somalia with links to outside terrorist groups.”
“These threats specifically mention the execution of suicide explosions in prominent landmarks within Kenya and Ethiopia. [The] terrorist threats [are] emanating from extremist elements within Somalia which target Kenya, Ethiopia and other surrounding countries,” said the statement.
The statement addes that all Americans need to “be vigilant” and to use “extreme caution” while traveling in any of those areas of Africa.
Source: E Canada Now
The Department of State has said that they are concerned “about terrorists in Somalia with links to outside terrorist groups.”
“These threats specifically mention the execution of suicide explosions in prominent landmarks within Kenya and Ethiopia. [The] terrorist threats [are] emanating from extremist elements within Somalia which target Kenya, Ethiopia and other surrounding countries,” said the statement.
The statement addes that all Americans need to “be vigilant” and to use “extreme caution” while traveling in any of those areas of Africa.
Source: E Canada Now
Somali Islamists make war "inevitable"- Ethiopia (Sudan Tribune)
Nov 2, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopia has warned that neighboring Somalia’s powerful Islamist movement was "making conflict inevitable" by refusing to meet the country’s weak government for peace talks.
In a blunt assessment of the situation in Somalia delivered a day after negotiations collapsed in Sudan, the Ethiopian foreign ministry blamed "extremist" Islamists for the failure of the talks and looming war.
"The extremists who are setting the tone are not for peace. Rather they are making conflict inevitable," said ministry spokesman Solomon Abebe.
"From the peace talks, we can understand that the extremists are not serious about peace," he told AFP.
Abebe accused the Islamists of deception by refusing to meet with the government until Ethiopian troops, who they alleged are in Somalia, withdraw.
"They have used it to buy time and their excuse is (a) lame excuse," he said. He maintained that the Islamists had repeatedly violated two earlier accords with the government by continuing to expand their territory.
Solomon also chided the international community for failing to address the alleged threat posed by the Islamists, whose supreme leader is designated a "terrorist" by the United States for alleged Al-Qaeda links.
"The international community ... didn’t take the challenge seriously," he said. Full story..
In a blunt assessment of the situation in Somalia delivered a day after negotiations collapsed in Sudan, the Ethiopian foreign ministry blamed "extremist" Islamists for the failure of the talks and looming war.
"The extremists who are setting the tone are not for peace. Rather they are making conflict inevitable," said ministry spokesman Solomon Abebe.
"From the peace talks, we can understand that the extremists are not serious about peace," he told AFP.
Abebe accused the Islamists of deception by refusing to meet with the government until Ethiopian troops, who they alleged are in Somalia, withdraw.
"They have used it to buy time and their excuse is (a) lame excuse," he said. He maintained that the Islamists had repeatedly violated two earlier accords with the government by continuing to expand their territory.
Solomon also chided the international community for failing to address the alleged threat posed by the Islamists, whose supreme leader is designated a "terrorist" by the United States for alleged Al-Qaeda links.
"The international community ... didn’t take the challenge seriously," he said. Full story..
African Taliban threatens Ethiopia
The African Taliban are upset that during recent talks the Somali government and the rest of the world did not submit to their will. So in order to convince Ethiopia and other Christians to get in line, they will try their favorite tactic, blowing shit up.
International Herald Tribune:NAIROBI, Kenya: Extremists in Somalia have threatened to carry out suicide bombings in the Horn of Africa, the U.S. embassy in Nairobi said Thursday, the latest sign that the chaos in Somalia could engulf this volatile region.
The embassy, in a warning to Americans living or traveling in Kenya, said it has received reports of "extremist elements" targeting Kenya, Ethiopia and "surrounding countries," which it did not name.
"These threats specifically mention the execution of suicide explosions in prominent landmarks within Kenya and Ethiopia. American citizens are advised to remain vigilant and to use extreme caution when frequenting prominent public places," the statement said. A spokeswoman at the embassy said she had not seen the warning and could not comment.
Suicide attacks are exceedingly rare in Somalia. In September, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf narrowly escaped a suicide car bomb; that was believed to be the first time such a tactic was used in the country…
…The U.S. embassy's warning came one day after talks collapsed between Somalia's official government and the Islamic group, which has taken over the capital, Mogadishu, and much of the country's south since June. The government, meanwhile, controls only the western city of Baidoa.
A leading member of the militia Thursday blamed Ethiopia for the breakdown.
Oh, and it's not just blow up anything, they want to blow up, you know, civilians and tourists. But they promise to murder Ethiopian civilians and tourists in a peaceful introspective sort of way. Islam demands no less.
Remember for the African Taliban (and most Islamic Radicals), their hirabah is always the other guys fault. They thought they might have been wrong once but they were mistaken.
Source: The Jawa Report
International Herald Tribune:NAIROBI, Kenya: Extremists in Somalia have threatened to carry out suicide bombings in the Horn of Africa, the U.S. embassy in Nairobi said Thursday, the latest sign that the chaos in Somalia could engulf this volatile region.
The embassy, in a warning to Americans living or traveling in Kenya, said it has received reports of "extremist elements" targeting Kenya, Ethiopia and "surrounding countries," which it did not name.
"These threats specifically mention the execution of suicide explosions in prominent landmarks within Kenya and Ethiopia. American citizens are advised to remain vigilant and to use extreme caution when frequenting prominent public places," the statement said. A spokeswoman at the embassy said she had not seen the warning and could not comment.
Suicide attacks are exceedingly rare in Somalia. In September, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf narrowly escaped a suicide car bomb; that was believed to be the first time such a tactic was used in the country…
…The U.S. embassy's warning came one day after talks collapsed between Somalia's official government and the Islamic group, which has taken over the capital, Mogadishu, and much of the country's south since June. The government, meanwhile, controls only the western city of Baidoa.
A leading member of the militia Thursday blamed Ethiopia for the breakdown.
Oh, and it's not just blow up anything, they want to blow up, you know, civilians and tourists. But they promise to murder Ethiopian civilians and tourists in a peaceful introspective sort of way. Islam demands no less.
Remember for the African Taliban (and most Islamic Radicals), their hirabah is always the other guys fault. They thought they might have been wrong once but they were mistaken.
Source: The Jawa Report
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