NASSIR Posted November 14, 2007 Somali INSURGENTS target AU force Somali insurgent leader Sheikh Aden Hashi Ayrow has ordered fighters to attack African Union troops based in the capital, Mogadishu. He also asked foreign fighters to join his al-Shabab group's war against the foreign forces in an audio clip posted on Somali websites. President Abdullahi Yusuf blames the militant group for the recent violence. Uganda has some 1,700 soldiers in Somalia as part of the planned 8,000-strong AU peacekeeping mission. About 80 people have died this week. The Ugandan military have dismissed the threat. Their spokesman, Major Felix Kulaigye, said the peacekeepers will not withdraw and will defend themselves if necessary. al-Shabab is the militant wing of the Union of Islamic Courts, which controlled Mogadishu for six months last year before being ousted by advancing Ethiopian troops. In Mogadishu, Ethiopian and government troops have been conducting a door-to-door search for the insurgents in the capital over the past week sparking deadly clashes. Worst defeat The United Nations says some 170,000 people have fled the violence this week and hundreds others have been injured in the crossfire. Al-Shabab's Sheikh Ayrow said it was an obligation of all Muslims in Somalia to wage war against Ethiopian and Ugandan forces. "To us the Ugandans, Ethiopians and Americans are all the same, they have invaded us and I am telling the Mujahidin [fighters], Ugandans must be one of our priorities," a tough talking Sheikh Ayrow said in the audio on Dayniile website. He said Ethiopians had failed in their mission and were now facing their worst defeat. Last week, masked armed men in Mogadishu dragged bodies believed to be those of Ethiopian soldiers killed during clashes with the insurgent groups. On Tuesday, President Yusuf called on Mogadishu residents to join Somali and Ethiopian troops in the fight against the al-Shabab insurgents who are living among them. The insurgents have been targeting government and Ethiopian troops but are yet to launch attacks on the Ugandan soldiers. The al-Shabab militant group claims to have links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Last week UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, ruled out plans to deploy peacekeepers to Somalia saying it was not a viable option. Source: BBC, Nov 14, 2007 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fabregas Posted November 14, 2007 I would have thought that the sentiments he aired in the last part of his audio would have grabbed the headlines and it woud have made great propoganda for his enemies. Also he seems to be raising the stakes against the group in Asmara, by clearing the objectives of his group which differ from those in Asmara..... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seekknowledge Posted November 14, 2007 Just like Ethiopia and Eritrea Al Qaeda is using this poor guy to kill his own people. If these so called muslims care about our people why they didn't help us all this time? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NASSIR Posted November 14, 2007 As I said before, these INSURGENTS seeking for clan hegemony will never make peace with anyone. Top leader of Somali Islamic forces urges fighters to turn guns on AU peacekeepers By MALKHADIR M. MUHUMED NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Islamic insurgents in Somalia should turn their weapons on African Union peacekeepers in the war-battered Horn of Africa nation, according to a recording attributed to a top leader of the insurgents. The recording posted on a Web site was of a speaker identified as Aden Hashi Ayro, who's believed to have received al-Qaida training in Afghanistan and is on the U.S. State Department's list of suspected terrorists, saying hundreds of Ugandan troops sent to Somalia to help foster peace should be treated the same as Ethiopian troops sent in to bolster the Somali government. Late last year, the Ethiopians helped the government oust Ayro's Islamic movement, which had controlled the Somali capital. The speaker spoke in Ayro's distinctive voice. Comments attributed to him are rare. "Uganda has invaded us. So the Ugandan army are like the Ethiopians. We will kill Ugandan army, we will kill their officials, we will destroy their cars and we will kill their politicians by the permission of God," the speaker identified as Ayro says in an audio recording posted on a popular militant Web site Tuesday. "I urge the (holy warriors) to make the Ugandan army their first aim." Ugandan military officials in Somalia couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Ayro is a top military commander of the Islamic forces, who have vowed to wage an Iraq-style insurgency after Ethiopian and government troops ousted the Islamic group. No top insurgent leader is known to have directed fighters to attack the 1,800-strong Ugandan force, which began arriving in March. The Ugandan troops are mandated to protect key installations, such the seaport, airport and the presidential palace but several times have carried out security patrols in the capital.Five Ugandans have been killed and several wounded in clashes with insurgents, but the Ethiopians have been the insurgents' main targets. The African Union has said it aims for a 8,000-troop force for Somalia, but no other country has yet joined the force, due to a lack of funding and logistical difficulties. In Nigeria Wednesday, Nigerian army spokesman Col. Solomon Giwa-Amu said his country was ready to send a battalion -- about 700 soldiers -- to Somalia, but that the government had not yet given the final go-ahead. Thousands of Somalis have been killed in the crossfire of fighting between Ethiopian troops and Islamic insurgents this year. Fighting flared again in recent weeks as government and allied troops launched an operation targeting the insurgents. Gunfire and explosions are now a daily fixture in Mogadishu, where many markets and businesses are closed. Aid groups have also borne harassment from all sides, hindering efforts to help an estimated 850,000 Somalis forced from their homes by fighting, including 450,000 who have fled Mogadishu this year alone. The arid Horn of Africa nation has not had a functioning government since a group of warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, then turned their heavily armed supporters on each other. The country is flooded with weapons and divided between warring clans. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fabregas Posted November 15, 2007 Caamir, do u seriously believe that this man Ceyrow his after clan hegemony? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
