Britons held in Somali clash

[NGONGE]

Britons held in Somali clashDANIEL MCGRORY· Seven suspects seized as they fled · Captives could be sent to Guantanamo

 

 

Several British terror suspects have been captured during the fighting in Somalia, it was claimed yesterday. At least seven Britons are said to have been picked up as they fled with fighters from the Islamic movement when they were forced out of the capital, Mogadishu. The men, all carrying British passports and including one said to have been badly wounded, are reportedly being held by Ethiopian troops.

 

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said last night that it was still waiting to check the identities of the men and establish what the Ethiopian authorities intend to do with them. The fear is that they could be handed over to American forces and some then taken to Guantanamo Bay or other US prison camps if they are thought to have strong links with al-Qaeda. The British authorities are expected to ask for the men to be deported to Britain, where they can be prosecuted under new terror laws if there is any evidence of their association with al-Qaeda or taking part in terror operations abroad. Last week, the voice of al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was posted on a website used by Islamic militants encouraging sympathisers from the West to join a campaign of suicide bombings and guerrilla warfare in Somalia. British officials say that they will also investigate claims yesterday from Ethiopia’s rulers that Somali families living in Britain have been funding the Islamist militia. The role of the British fighters was disclosed yesterday by Meles Zenawi, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, whose troops led the attacks that routed the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC). The UIC denies that it has links with al-Qaeda. Mr Meles said that the Britons were found among units of the Islamic militia as well as Canadians and other Westerners in what he described as an “international brigade”. The Foreign Office said: “We take these reports very seriously and will do everything we can to look into them.” A spokesman said: “We are in constant touch with the Ethiopian and Somalian governments, but we have not yet been given any documentation or the names of those allegedly involved.” Mr Meles told Le Monde, the French newspaper, that “many international terrorists are dead in Somalia”. He said: “Photographs have been taken and passports from different countries have been collected. We have injured people coming from Yemen, Pakistan, Sudan and the United Kingdom.” Hussein Mohammad Adeed, his deputy, also claimed that Britons were among those killed, but he gave neither names nor the exact number who died. He refused to reveal whether any of the Britons had been caught up in the US air attacks over the past two days. Mr Hussein said that the Britons were captured while they were trying to flee through territory controlled by al-Qaeda sympathisers. The captured Britons were all “al-Qaeda indoctrinated”. Security sources in East Africa told The Times that the Ethiopians were claiming to be holding seven British passport-holders. All the men are understood to have joint UK/Somali nationality. The problem for the British authorities is that, because of the violence, they do not have any diplomatic presence in Somalia. Mr Hussein did not give any estimate of how many Britons joined up with the UIC, nor how many British passport-holders he believed were still being sheltered in what he claimed were al-Qaeda camps bordering Kenya and on small islands. He said that the search for British and other Western militants would continue. There are claims that one of the Britons was taken from a hospital that was raided by Ethiopian troops. A Western aid worker, who did not want to be named, said that the Ethiopians forced their way into the hospital in Dinsoor and demanded that staff hand over all the files and documents belonging to “international patients”. The aid worker claimed that the troops removed a number of injured foreigners, but he did not know the nationalities. In an interview with More4 News, Mr Hussein identified Britain as a “major source of funding for the Islamic militants”. He said that his Government “wants to open negotiations with Somali refugees — particularly in London”, who, he claims, are the main channel of funding for the UIC. A recent report by a United Nations monitoring group said in November that “in recent months fundraising by the Somali diaspora in the UK has resulted in donations through the hawala [banking] system of an estimated $1.1 million”. The report added that another $300,000 (£150,000) came from Somali families in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. To Britain, however, the movement of militants is of far greater concern than the flow of cash, which Treasury officials suggested last night was not as important to the Islamic movement in Somalia as the Ethiopian officials claimed.

 

British security authorities have been trying to keep a watch on the handful of British jihadists of Somali and East African backgrounds who have been smuggled into terror training camps in the jungles and swamps along the border with Kenya. Western agents have been unable to infiltrate these networks.

 

Source

[NGONGE]

Aided is just a big mouth, isn’t he? He’s talking about the money that was sent to the ICU from the UK and elsewhere and trying to say that these people were funding terror!

 

If you have dual nationality do not bother going to Somalia anytime soon. Meles and Aideed both think you’re a terrorist.

 

Have you sent any money home recently? Boohoo! Terrorist sympathiser.

[Paragon]

^^ Lol. The fella is nuts. The money he is talking about is the one collected for the floods victims, which obviously had to pass through the hands of the then authority, the ICU. I am not sure about his remarks as the guy is known to spew nonsense every time he speaks. If I were a journalist, a prominent question I would have asked him would be: do you want the flood victims to die of starvation because you object to helping them, just like your father used hunger and famine to punish the people of Baidoa in the early 1990s?

[Valenteenah.]

WTF? So, Somalis with other nationalities are foreigners now? And the monthly bill to the families back home has become 'funding for T-activities'? What a joke. Are these people for real?

 

Just how many books have been written about remittances to Somalia, and Africa in general, from communities in the Diaspora? It's what funds the economies of many third world countries. Nothing hidden or dodgy about it.

 

The spin and propaganda are just killing me.

[NGONGE]

^^^ Not just that.

Anyone that went to Somalia during the Christmas holidays and happened to be caught up in the recent fighting can’t leave the country now. If they try, the Ethiopians will arrest them for the simple fact that they have a British passport! Heh.

[NGONGE]

d/p

[Som@li]

Somalis with ONLY foriegn passports can not go to SOMALIA without permit from the somali embassies across the world. and Aideed is the internal minister, give him some respect

 

Dhaska waa inaan ka hufaa madooba dheerihii shendada iigu jiray.DAHAB la asley.

[Valenteenah.]

^^ LoL @ Somali Embassies. Where are they then?

 

NG: That's a mighty bummer. The Ethiopians must have taken classes from the American Institute of Stubidhity.

[N.O.R.F]

Better get those helmets out again reer UK, its about to rain Somalis in the British media! This time you will may have Bashir Goth to contend with

[Som@li]

Somali embassies, You dont have one in UK?, here in Abu DHabi, it is old, rusty,but still functional.

 

Northerner, How u doing bro? Everything Ok at Dubai?

[N.O.R.F]

Ha saxib, i'm limping around the office but i have never heard of going to Somali embassy if you dont hold a Somali passport. Where did you get this from?

[Valenteenah.]

^ Perhaps the only embassy exists in Abu Dhabi? Although I can't think of what it could offer.

[Xoogsade]

^ I would rather walk into an Ethiopian Embassy and ask Visa to Muqdisho. They will eventaully know when I left the US and landed in muqdisho Airport. Zenawi is more reliable when it comes to saving your skin than the stooges protected by him in Muqdisho who weren't aware the country was bombed by the US. We are the Sixth region of Ethiopia for now.

[N.O.R.F]

The UAE Embassy offers alot for Somalis to be honest. I went to the one in Oman and met a few 'dignitries',,,,,,

[Som@li]

Most of the people coming from Somalia this week have been scrutinized and some arrested,best practise to stay away since things come down.

 

@Office now, working late?