US says A-Qaeda radicals lead Somali Islamists + preperation for war?? western media.

[General Duke]

US says Qaeda radicals lead Somali Islamists

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Somali Islamists, who are in charge of the capital and other key areas, are becoming more radical and under growing control from an al Qaeda cell in East Africa, the top US diplomat for Africa said Thursday.

 

US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer told reporters that US hopes a more moderate group might emerge to lead the group had not materialized.

 

"The Council of Islamic Courts is now controlled by al Qaeda cell individuals, East Africa al Qaeda cell individuals. The top layer of the court are extremists. They are terrorists," Frazer said.

 

"They are killing nuns, they have killed children and they are calling for a jihad (holy war)," she added.

 

The Islamists, who seized the capital, Mogadishu, in June and are vying with the weak transitional government for control of the lawless country, have strongly denied having foreign fighters in their ranks.

 

Washington believes at least three of the plotters behind the 1998 US Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya are in Somalia. The head of the Council of the Islamic Courts, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, is on UN and US terrorist lists.

 

The United States has had contact with more moderate members of the courts and would continue to do so, she said.

 

"There are many moderate officials within it but the moderates are not emerging as they could get their heads taken off, literally," said Frazer.

 

She also said an East African al Qaeda cell was providing logistics to the Islamists and training to its young Islamic fighters.

 

Last month, Washington warned US citizens that "terrorist threats" were emanating from extremist elements in Somalia.

 

Somali Islamists later dismissed as fake two letters purportedly signed by Aweys that led to the US warning.

 

Frazer said funding for the courts came from countries such as Eritrea, Yemen, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, adding the United States was putting pressure on those nations "at the highest levels."

 

The militant group al Qaeda was held responsible for the September 11, 2001, bombings against the United States.

 

Asked whether Washington was planning military action against al Qaeda activists in Somalia, where US forces withdrew in March 1994 after the death of 18 US soldiers, Frazer said, "That's not the plan we have on the table."

 

She said what was important was for the Islamists to reopen dialogue with the weak transitional government in the southern town of Baidoa.

 

Last week, the United Nations authorized an African force to protect the transitional government, a move some fear could lead to an all-out regional war.

 

"The possibility of the regionalization of the conflict in Somalia has been there from the outset and continues to be there," Frazer said.

 

Somalia's Islamist movement has threatened to attack Ethiopian troops backing the Horn of Africa nation's interim government unless they leave within days, a threat the United States has called irresponsible.

[General Duke]

Civilians flee Somali town as government and Islamist rebels prepare for war

 

 

· Ethiopian troops backing prime minister

· US and African Union call for resumption of dialogue

 

 

Xan Rice, east Africa correspondent, and Simon Tisdall

Friday December 15, 2006

The Guardian

 

 

Somali recruits line up at a training camp. Photograph: Jerome Delay/AP

 

Hundreds of civilians were reported to be fleeing their homes in central Somalia yesterday as the prospect of a war between Islamist militants and government forces, backed by Ethiopian troops and artillery, appeared to draw closer.

The exodus was under way in the area around Baidoa, the last big town under the control of the western-backed transitional government. Baidoa is under siege on three sides by fighters from the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) movement and rival forces are reportedly only a few miles apart in some places.

 

 

The UIC, which controls the capital Mogadishu and most of southern Somalia, has given Ethiopia until Tuesday to withdraw its troops from the country. If it fails to do so the Islamists, who are backed by Ethiopia's enemy, Eritrea, say they will attack. Ethiopia, which officially denies having combat troops in Somalia, has rejected the ultimatum.

Western diplomats are seeking ways to bring the Islamists and the Somali government together but little progress has been made. "We still have a tiny window of opportunity to avert war," said a European diplomat in Nairobi yesterday. "But it needs a huge effort ... to get both sides talking."

 

The US, which tacitly backs Ethiopia's intervention, pushed through a UN security council resolution this month authorising an African protection force to enter Somalia in support of the government. The UIC responded by calling for jihad against any foreign forces sent to the country. The US embassy in Nairobi condemned the UIC's ultimatum yesterday as "irresponsible" and called for negotiations to resume. "Given the existing, heightened tensions in Somalia, this ultimatum further destabilises the situation and undermines international and regional efforts to encourage credible dialogue," the US statement said.

 

The African Union also voiced alarm yesterday, calling on members to urgently contribute troops to the protection force.

 

"Somalia has remained a non-state and we have allowed things to rot," said Alpha Oumar Konare, the AU's chairman. "Obviously we are not going to wage war. But there can be no balanced dialogue if the transitional government is not helped and supported." The UN's envoy, François Lonsény Fall, urged a quick resumption of the so-called Khartoum dialogue that stalled in the autumn. Those talks are due to resume on Tuesday.

 

But hopes that conflict can be avoided faded after Ali Mohamed Gedi, Somalia's prime minister, said war seemed inevitable and his troops were ready for the fight. Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's prime minister, said his country hoped to avoid war but complained that it was being attacked by the UIC and its Ethiopian Muslim allies. "Since last summer the Islamic Courts have been training and equipping and smuggling armed elements - hundreds of them - into Ethiopia and they have clashed with the security services," Mr Zenawi said recently.

 

While the two-year-old government has failed to win support from the Somali population, the Islamists have widespread approval. Having kicked the warlords out of Mogadishu in June, and brought order to the city for the first time in 15 years, they quickly spread their influence. Ethiopia is distrusted by most Somalis, who are wary of foreign intervention.

 

The Islamists' rise also worries the US, which accuses them of links to al-Qaida. In a bid to slow the courts' progress Washington backed the Mogadishu warlords against them - unsuccessfully.

[Taliban]

Originally posted by General Duke:

US Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer told reporters that US hopes a more moderate group might emerge to lead the group had not materialized.

 

"The Council of Islamic Courts is now controlled by al Qaeda cell individuals, East Africa al Qaeda cell individuals. The top layer of the court are extremists. They are terrorists," Frazer said.

 

"They are killing nuns, they have killed children and they are calling for a jihad (holy war)," she added.

Isn't Jendayi Frazer the disgraced US official who was rebuffed by Sudan's Omar Al-Bashir? She has gone too far to claim Muslims are calling for jihad. What does she want? Permission from the US to call for jihad? And what are her allegations based on? The same source that claimed Iraq had connections with al Qaeda and possessed weapons of mass destructions? The question is; will this time work? Highly unlikely. The US is working on exit strategy from Iraq and Afghanistan; what does it thinks it can accomplish in Somalia where it was already humiliated in the 90's?

[Oromia]

She is trying to mobilize the Ethiopians and ,of course, thier slaves like Duke and A/Y.

[General Duke]

^^^Oromia, no need to get tasty, the US are beating their drums, what ever for?

[Abwaan]

Wax la sheego ayaa la waayey.

[mantra]

Originally posted by Oromia:

She is trying to mobilize the Ethiopians and ,of course, thier slaves like Duke and A/Y.

 

 

Duke I cant help but notice how you take everything personally (as well you should), I don't see why anyone should show you an ounce of respect after posting this stupid article..US says al-qaeda radicals lead Islamists! :eek:

well hey let's fight ourselves, coz the US says so.. let's invite our starving neighbours and shoot each other up because these somali men are obviously linked to a fictional character in the mountains of tora bora! let's bloody finish each other off coz big brother America says we should..and when there's no one else left to fight, let's find another MJ and have him lead what's left of Somalia because quite obviously they're the only one's fit to lead us all... this is what i've deduced from your character so far..so...am I right or am I right?

[Suldaanka]

I am sure Ms Frazer was speaking not from her head but from her other end when she uttered those irresponsible words.

 

The US has so far only convinced itself to ever commit more blunder as far as Somalia is concerned. They are running like a headless chicken which just lost its head in the most unlikely of circumstances.

 

All signs say that they will get shamed for the Third time in a row. The first time, their dead was dragged on the streets of Mogadishu like trash.

 

The second time, they were taught what "Shock and Awe" is all about when their puppets were taken out of the picture in lightening flash. The US was left bewildered and they were left with jaws touching the ground in Awe and Shock.

 

And it looks like the third time will even be worse. All signs lead to a very shameful ending for the US.

 

1. The resolution they put all their eggs on has not materialised and Frazier's words "Is too late" (Love it)

 

2. They realised the IGAD (read Ethiopia) that was supposed to invade Somalia was effectively excluded from the list... and their last luck (Uganda) has changed its mind

 

3. Now they are running around like a headless chicken trying to convince other Africans (namely South Africa) to send troops fast... which is most likely not gonna happen.

 

And now, Al Qaeda is in Somalia is their last resort. What a predicament they found themselves in.