Somalia has not gone away, just emptying
We and the media focus on the piracy off the Somalia coast, no doubt as it is safer to report on and few reporters venture into Somalia today. Here is an exception a grim report on the people trapped there and seeking to leave - for the "settled" north aka as Somaliland and beyond. Now if this could be used in Info Ops against Al-Shabaab on You Tube plus - to show what their rule means I would applaud.
The link:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...litia-refugees - with a six minute video (yes not guaranteed to be viewable).
Somalia: not piracy catch all thread
Moderators Note
I have combined several small threads on non-piracy aspects of Somalia just as it makes sense.
Al-Shabaab say no to UN food
I trust someone will use this apparent decision by Al-Shabaab to bar UN food supplies to Somalia as an illustration of the care for the masses Al-Shabaab shows.
The report:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...ss_world/wires
Quote:
On Sunday, al-Shabab said it would prohibit the U.N.'s World Food Program from distributing food in areas under its control because it says the food undercuts farmers selling recently harvested crops.
It also accused the agency of handing out food unfit for human consumption and of secretly supporting "apostates," or those who have renounced Islam.
I wonder how much local food is being produced and from faraway will it be enough?
Land piracy grabs UN food trucks
Self-explanatory and occurred in Puntland (from a large scale map):http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8545485.stm
Quote:
New land tactics being employed by Somali pirates may be a cause for concern, a UN spokesman told the BBC. Peter Smerdon said three trucks and their drivers were being held in the pirate town of Eyl after delivering food aid last week in central Somalia.
No wonder Somalis want to exit and WFP has problems getting funding. Will Somalia be the first country to have no people?
Somalia: not piracy catch all thread
AEI Somalia Online Briefing
From SWJ Blog (with fuller details)
Via E-mail: Please join American Enterprise Institute Resident Scholar, and Director of the Critical Threats Project, Frederick W. Kagan on Monday, April 5, 2010 from 1:30 to 2:30 pm for a live online video briefing on the terror threat from Somalia. Also contributing to the discussion will be Critical Threats Analyst Christopher Harnisch who will discuss the Somali terror group al Shabaab.
While American efforts to combat international terrorism continue to focus on the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, other regions have become safe havens for militant Islamist groups. This terror threat became a reality when an operative of an al Qaeda franchise based in Yemen tried to blow up a Detroit-bound plane with nearly three hundred people on board, on Christmas Day 2009.
Today, a terror threat is growing in Somalia, across from Yemen on the Gulf of Aden. A militant Islamist group called al Shabaab (resembling a hybrid of al Qaeda and the Taliban) has explicitly threatened to attack the United States. This terror group has established radical Islamist administrations that govern large parts of southern Somalia – more territory than any other militant Islamist group in the world. It operates terrorist training camps, views itself as part of the global jihad led by Osama bin Laden, has dozens of operatives from the United States and Europe, and has followed through on previous threats made against Somali targets. The threat posed by al Shabaab is real and imminent, and Americans should not be surprised if the group tries to attack the U.S.
CFR report Somalia - A new approach
I would be interested in what the rest of you think.
It is very close to my position, which is not always quite how other council members see things.
Somalia - A new approach by Bronwyn Bruton
I'm not a CFR fan but I do agree with that
monograph. The American penchant for 'fixing' things is not at all helpful in many cases...
Interesting attack by Al Shabab
JarodParker,
This is a very interesting development and I am afraid one that might eventually lead to a large-scale military intervention. The fear for a while now has been that Al Shabab would begin operations outside of Somalia. Kenya was the most likely target according to experts but the Uganda attack makes a lot of sense given the number of troops from Uganda intervening in Somalia.
I am growing increasingly worried that this or a number of other triggers are developing that will prompt a president to intervene again in Somalia. Please note I am not advocating sitting on our hands in the Somalia case. My fear revolves around the proclivity for the response to be pre-ordained as a large-scale coin or stability operation. There are other options which need to be considered, and in my opinion, implemented first.
Cheers
DC
Guards for Somali Leader Join Islamists
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rex Brynen
It doesn't help, of course, that not all of the TFG troops are sure what side they are on, or necessarily care!
As I was saying.... :wry:
Quote:
Guards for Somali Leader Join Islamists
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and MOHAMED IBRAHIM
New York Times, 22 July 2010
NAIROBI, Kenya — Somali officials acknowledged on Thursday that members of Somalia’s presidential guard had defected to the Shabab, the radical Islamist insurgent group that claimed responsibility for the recent bombings in Uganda that killed more than 70 people watching the final game of the World Cup.
The defection of some of the president’s best-trained men is the latest setback for Somalia’s beleaguered transitional government, which has lost important pieces of territory in the past few days. Insurgents are now 300 yards — a rifle shot away — from the presidential palace.
...