United States Designates Somalia's al-Shabab as a Terrorist Group

[Som@li]

By Peter Clottey

Washington, D.C.

19 March 2008

 

Clottey Interview With James Swan - Download (MP3)

Clottey Interview With James Swan - Listen (MP3)

 

 

The United States government has classified al-Shabaab, an Islamic militant group based in Somalia, as a terrorist organization. This comes after the group reportedly committed various acts of terrorism, including beheading three government soldiers during an ambush on a checkpoint outside the capital, Mogadishu and praising Osama Bin Laden in the process. The militant group recently claimed responsibility for a series of bombings and attacks on Somali government and Ethiopian soldiers.

 

James Swan is Deputy Assistant secretary of State for African Affairs. From Washington, he tells reporter Peter Clottey the terrorist group’s presence in Somalia is detrimental to the ordinary Somali.

 

“This group known as al-Shabab has been designated a foreign terrorist organization after a very careful review of information concerning this group. There are documented indications of their close links to al Qaeda, including a number of senior officials in this group who have trained with al Qaeda. They’ve issued statements praising Osama Bin Laden, inviting foreign fighters to come to Somalia. And so for a host of reasons after a very careful review, this group has been designated a foreign organization by the United States,” Swan pointed out.

 

He said the militant group’s presence in Somalia poses a significant danger to Somalis.

 

“I think that is very much correct. We see this organization as a threat to the Somali people. The organization has conducted a number of attacks whose victims have been principally Somalis. Moreover, the group is an impediment, and it’s violent acts have proven an impediment to the reconciliation process in Somalia that in our view is essential to the restoration of peace, stability and prosperity of the country,” he said.

 

Swan said the US government has plans underway to stop the terrorist group’s negative influence.

 

“We believe this designation as a foreign terrorist organization will allow additional tools to be applied to constrain and curtail the activities of what is known as the al-Shabab. Under the provisions of the foreign terrorist organization designation, there would be additional restrictions on financial transfers to al-Shabab. There will be further restrictions on access to property and other resources that they may have, and there will be provisions on travel and immigration for example to the United States. So there are a host of provisions under the foreign terrorist designation that would further limit the activities of al-Shabab. And then more generally, we believe that the designation formally of this organization as a foreign terrorist organization will bring additional publics attention to al- Shabab and help underscore and signal the importance of curtailing its activities,” Swan noted.

 

Somalia has not had a stable central government since the overthrow of President Siad Bare in bloody coup de’tat in 1991.

[Som@li]

U.S. puts Somali Islamist group on terrorism list

Tue 18 Mar 2008, 18:20 GMT

 

[-] Text [+] By C. Bryson Hull

 

NAIROBI, March 18 (Reuters) - The United States has formally designated Somalia's al Shabaab militants a foreign terrorist organisation to increase pressure on what Washington says is al Qaeda's main link in the Horn of Africa nation.

 

The al Shabaab is the militant wing of the Somalia Islamic Courts Council that took over most of southern Somalia for the second half of 2006, until Somalia's interim government and its Ethiopian military allies routed the group in a two-week war.

 

The group, whose leader Aden Hashi Farah Ayro survived a U.S. airstrike in January 2007, is thought by security experts to be leading an insurgency that has killed 6,500 people since last year.

 

The designation put the Shabaab alongside groups such as al Qaeda, Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Palestinian Hamas group and Lebanon's Hezbollah.

 

"I hereby designate that organisation and its aliases as a foreign terrorist organisation," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a notice published on Tuesday in the U.S. government's Federal Register.

 

The designation allows Washington to freeze the assets of any person or group linked to al Shabaab, another tool to go alongside military and intelligence efforts that have led to four U.S. military strikes in Somalia in the last 14 months.

 

"U.S. financial institutions can get assets of anyone involved and block them and prevent any material support getting to them," said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We will be reaching out to other governments to get them to implement similar provisions."

 

Al Shabaab has adopted Iraq-style tactics, including assassinations and roadside bombs and has claimed at least one suicide bombing -- unheard of in Somalia's moderate Sufi Islamic customs.

 

"VIOLENT, BRUTAL GROUP"

 

"Al-Shabaab is a violent and brutal extremist group with a number of individuals affiliated with al Qaeda," the State Department said in a statement released in Washington.

 

"The designation will raise awareness of al-Shabaab's activities and help undercut the group's ability to threaten targets in and destabilize the Horn of Africa region," it added.

 

Western security officials and diplomats say Ayro trained with al Qaeda in Afghanistan and has provided shelter to al Qaeda operatives involved in 1998 and 2002 bomb attacks in neighboring Kenya.

 

They say the al Shabaab, under Ayro's command, has been responsible for killing aid workers and journalists, the desecration of an Italian colonial-era cemetery in 2004 and scores of attacks during the insurgency.

 

That has always been Washington's concern in the absence of an effective central government in Somalia since the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, and

 

It was the second time Washington has moved to freeze assets of Somalis on terrorism grounds. Ayro's mentor, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, was one of 189 people or entities "linked to terrorism" whose assets were frozen by the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

 

The two are among six members or associates of al Qaeda thought by the United States to be in Somalia.

 

In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a report on Somalia which said there were indications that "international terrorists have sought safe haven in the Hiraan and Juba districts, considered to be the stronghold of (Islamic Courts Union or ICU) extremist elements."

 

The Security Council will discuss the report on Thursday and diplomats said it would again consider possibly sending a U.N. peacekeeping force, a move supported by South Africa but which permanent council members Britain and France are wary of.

 

"The security situation remains volatile throughout the country," Ban said.

 

The United Nations has not itself confirmed the existence of "terrorist cells" in Somalia, but Ban's report raised the concern that "the longer law and order is absent from Somalia, the greater the chance that international terrorists will use its territory as a safe haven." (Additional reporting by Mark Trevelyan in London and Arshad Mohammed in Washington, Editing by Matthew Tostevin and David Storey) (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ )

 

© Reuters 2008. All Rights Reserved. | Learn more about Reuters

[Che -Guevara]

What does this change exactly other than justifying US AC-130 gunships excursions into Somali airspace.

[Geel_jire]

this is more of a compliment than anything else....... Hamas a democratically elected party is considered 'Terrorists' by the U.S ...... as far as im concerned al-shabaab are in good company.

 

U.S is just like Ethiopia.......... bombing tuulooyin yar-yar in the name of targeting terrorists ...... what they have to say has absolutely no value.

[Koora-Tuunshe]

^Conspiracy theory.

 

ONLF will be have been placed in a list of terrorist groups if it were violating the laws of morality like the Al-shayaadiin who burn and drag dead bodies and mercilessly behead hard working low-level civil servants.

[Som@li]

Al Shabab are voilent, Barbaric, and like warlords, danger to Somalis,warning to their supporters in here,you can be detained for supporting terrorists.

[Jacpher]

^On top of that using religion as a tool.

 

D I S G U S T I N G

[Jacaylbaro]

yaa is dhaama horta ,,,,, Alshabaab walaa Altfg they're both terrorists.

 

Maybe dhowaan in tfg lagu dari doono liiska argagixisada ,,

[rudy-Diiriye]

i will take shabab anyday than uncle liar's tfg or bush brainless wardogs... no comparisons there.

 

shababs r defending their country... a natural god given right.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

This group known as al-Shabab has been designated a

foreign terrorist organization

after a very careful review of information concerning this group.

And Xabashada are designed as? Benevolent, local aid organization? "Foreign terrorist organization" kulahaa.

[N.O.R.F]

This looks fishy. The US may now get involved 'hand-on' rather than from a distance.

 

Dabshid iyo Jimcaale, haye,,,,

[Jacaylbaro]

Originally posted by Dabshid:

Al Shabab are voilent, Barbaric, and like warlords, danger to Somalis,

Bal xabashidana ka sheekee niyow ,,,

[Som@li]

Saxb Xabashidana waa ka darantahay, but here Al Shabab is in question.

 

North, What is ur view of Al Shabaab?

[N.O.R.F]

Freedom fighters mate!

[Fabregas]

The U.S.A has been at war with this group with over 5 years and now they designate them as a terror group, lol. SO Mr Northerner, the U.S has already been very involved. From training Somali agents, to aerial bombardment to gathering intelligence and training for the Ethiopians. The only thing that has been stopping them from a full out dagaal is probably the commitements in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now they are financing the building of the Bosasa, where they want to land " anything". Berbera is in line to become a US airbase. Djibouti already, US troops in the OcADEN and ditto NFD. Qarax and dagaal could spread to more and more cities in Somalia!

 

 

QUOTE:ONLF will be have been placed in a list of terrorist groups if it were violating the laws of morality like the Al-shayaadiin who burn and drag dead bodies and mercilessly behead hard working low-level civil servants.

 

 

The O.N.L.F targets employees of the Habasha government in the Ocaden. They also call themselves civil servants, troops and ministers. In fact, many of the times when you here " O.N.L.F killed Ethiopians", it's mostly local Somali mecenaries( of the T.F.G mould). But the Islamic Liberation Movement of the Ocaden has clashed with the ONLF. Some say this partly due to the US war on terror programme and even that US helicopters attacked the Islamic Front in the Ocaden. So you have the name Islam, whether or not you drag dead bodies or blow up people in Bosaso( like Alshabaab did): you will have gathered enemies in Washington. Though I doubt this latest move will change alot in Somalia. It will probably have more of an effect on those that fund Alshabaab linked groups from Abroad! tolow should I erase my SOL posts and change my avatar?