Liibaan Posted July 17, 2009 Somalia: President Asks Somali-Americans to Shun Islamists 14 July 2009 Mogadishu — Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed called on all Somalis living in America not to engage in the activities of Al-Shabaab, the Islamist rebel organisation. His plea comes at a time when fresh fighting erupted between Transitional forces and Islamist rebels. "I call on the Somali-American community not to send their youth to Somalia to fight alongside Al-Shabaab," he said in a press briefing Sunday. Somalis began arriving in the United States in significant numbers after the U.S. intervention in Somalia's humanitarian crisis in 1992. American media reports say last year, a group of Somali-Americans left Minneapolis and are feared to have been recruited into Al-Shabaab. Shirwa Ahmed a 27-year-old Somali-American living in his adopted home state of Minnesota had been radicalized by the Al-Shabaab before travelling to Somalia and blowing up himself and 29 others in October 2008. The president showed concern over the high number of Somalis coming from America to support Al- Shabaab's activities. "I am saying to those young men from abroad: 'Your families fled your home to America because of insecurity. You should not return here to ferment violence against your people,'" he said. The US homeland security website acknowledges that Somalis are indeed moving in large numbers to Somalia to support the terror movement's activities. Somalia: President Asks Somali-Americans to Shun Islamists Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
