MikeN -
I agree with the “grain of salt” approach on this also without more corroboration.
Lets try and keep our heads on about this…
[quote]Somalia official issues beheading threat
By MOHAMED SHEIKH NOR, Associated Press Writer
Last Updated 9:35 am PST Wednesday, December 6, 2006
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) - Residents of a southern Somalia town who do not pray five times a day will be beheaded, an Islamic courts official said Wednesday, adding the edict will be implemented in three days.
Public places such as shops and tea houses in Bulo Burto, about 124 miles northeast of the capital, Mogadishu, should be closed during prayer time and no one should be on the streets, said Sheik Hussein Barre Rage, the chairman of the town’s Islamic court.
Those who do not follow this edict “will definitely be beheaded according to Islamic law,” Rage told The Associated Press by phone. “As Muslims, we should practice Islam fully, not in part, and that is what our religion enjoins us to do.”
He said that the courts are announcing the edict over loudspeakers in the town.
The decision is not binding on courts in other towns.
Somalia’s Islamic courts have made varying interpretations of Quranic law, some applying a more strict and radical version of Islamic law than others.
As a result of such disparate variations, residents in the capital of Mogadishu complained, forcing the Council of Islamic Courts officials in October to set up an appeals court with better-educated judges.
The Council of Islamic Courts have swept through most of southern Somalia since taking over Mogadishu in June.
Their sometimes strict and often severe interpretation of Islam has raised the specter of Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime, and contrasts with the moderate Islam that has dominated Somali culture for centuries.
Some of the courts have introduced public executions, floggings of convicts, bans on women swimming at Mogadishu’s public beaches, and the sale and chewing of khat, a leafy stimulant consumed across the Horn of Africa and in the Middle East.
Associated Press Writer Salad Duhul in Mogadishu, Somalia contributed to this report.
dwb.sacbee.com/24hour/religion/s … 5663c.html[/quote]
An African site with fairly recent coverage of events in Somalia and the region.
“Afrol News is an independent news agency, established in 2000. We exclusively cover the African continent, in English, Spanish, French and in Portuguese.”
[quote]Al Qaeda offensive repulsed in Somalia
afrol News, 21 December - The Political Secretary at Somali Mission to the United Nations has said that Somalia’s transitional federal government repulsed the offensive by warmongering jihadists of al Qaeda in Somalia. Omar Jamal’s comments came on the heels of a heavy artillery fighting that ensued between militia loyal to the Islamic Courts Union and forces of transitional government yesterday.
The fighting took place just 45 kilometres from Baidoa, the seat of the transitional government, with both sides claiming to have gained the upper hand.
Following the intervention of the European Union’s (EU) Commissioner for Development, Louis Michel, the two warring parties agreed to return to peace talks in Sudanese capital Khartoum, although no date has been fixed.
“This is not the first time the Islamists in Somali said one thing, and did right the opposite,” the Somali envoy declared in a statement today, dispelling reports from some quarters that the Interim President Abdullahi Yusuf has left Baidoa for security reasons.
Mr Jamal said he had spoken to President Yusuf this morning, who confirmed that he is still in his Baidoa office.
Somalia’s internationally recognised transitional government increasingly refers to the Mogadishu-based Islamist movement as an al Qaeda group, after it was revealed that the Somali Islamists have recruited radical jihadists from abroad to join their fight to take over the country. al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has also appealed on behalf of the Mogadishu group at least twice, saying Muslims should go to Somalia to assist in the fighting.
The Baidoa-based government, on the other hand, has been able to recruit massive aid from neighbouring Ethiopia, which has sent troops and arms to Somalia to protect President Yusuf’s government. This support is however very controversial in Somalia, as most Somalis regard Ethiopia as the country’s historic enemy.
Meanwhile, religious leaders in Africa called on Somalia’s warring factions to broker peace and return to negotiation table as a solution to the 16-year long war that still claims several lives on a daily basis in the country.
At a press conference in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, the group representing African religious bodies of national, regional and international levels, urged the international community to apply the regional initiative that called for the establishment of a government of national unity in the country - the only way to avoid a full-blown war in Somalia.
“We call upon all actors in the Somalia arena to practice maximum restraint and to exert all pressure on the parties to cease any further escalation in the already volatile environment,” Agnes Abuom, a representative of the World Council of Churches told the press."
afrol.com/articles/23455[/quote]
Meanwhile the world’s super cop is too busy in a domestic up north to answer the call for help, or indeed deal with the very organsiation behind why it kick started it’s war on somethings they don’t like.
HG
Whatever are you on about?
Is this some mysterious Ozzie/Hong Kong crypto?
Speak clearly man…who knows…you might actually be saying something relevant.
It’s a pity the US is too busy in the likes of Iraq or disinterested in Somalia like Fred Smith to do anything about it. Especially given the presence of Al Qaeda, which after is directly responsible for 9-11.
Better?
Sorry, just kicked of a week of hols.
HG
Its being observed…very closely. This one is on a lot of screens; but its not exactly been off the ‘screens’ for quite a long time.
I’m just keeping this thread going for…“perspective.”
From The Ethiopian Reporter
[quote] Foreigners in the frontlines
By Namrud Berhane
Camouflaged UIC fighter
As fighting that erupted on Wednesday continues in Somalia between the Transitional Federal Government and the Union of Islamic Courts, reports are indicating that the Islamic courts’ front lines are full of foreign fighters.
“‘Hundreds’ of foreign-born fighters are fighting alongside Islamic courts’ forces in battles around Idale and Deynunay villages, with more foreign fighters being deployed to the frontlines,” news sources from within Somalia are reporting.
Two days before the fighting began Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) Ali Mohamed Ghedi had said that 5,000 foreigners were fighting alongside the Islamic courts that control a swath of land in Southern Somalia.
Thousands are reported to have fled their homes on Friday as the two antagonists waged battle at two flash points- Idale and Deynunay where exchanged artillery shells and mortars.
Bodies were seen lying around the areas where the fighting took place.
Both sides accuse each other for instigating the conflict and both claim to have inflicted major damage on the other.
While figures are being given on the number of causalities of the three day skirmish no independent body has been able to confirm the actual number of dead and wounded on both sides.
Last month, a UN panel of experts had reported that Afghani, Pakistani, Egyptian and predominantly Eritrean fighters were in Mogadishu.
It also accused Ethiopia of sending in its troops in support of the interim government which is based in Baidowa.
All countries have denied involvement in Somalia.
Ethiopia however has said that it has sent in some hundred military trainers at the request of the Somali government.
Prime Minister Meles denied in Parliament and during press statements that his government has fighting troops in Somalia.
The panel of arms and financial experts, who were mandated by the UN to monitor an arms embargo on the country, said that foreign troops were also involved during the fighting that saw Kismayo fall to the Islamic courts. The port town was intended as an entry point for an IGAD peace keeping troops.
The recent drive by the UIC, according to some observers is to topple the TFG prior to the arrival of peacekeepers.
A UN resolution two weeks ago allowed the deployment of peacekeeping troops into Somalia.
Recently, Somalia’s Prime Minister said that Nigeria has promised him 1,800 troops along with supplies and political support.
Attempts to bring the two sides on the negotiating table have failed as the UIC persistently put preconditions that “invading Ethiopian troops” withdraw from Somalia.
The latest attempt was made this week by Louis Michelle the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Development.
While both sides have agreed to resume in Khartoum, fighting still continues near Baidowa.
The Ethiopian Reporter[/quote]
Story also in the The East African
Hey there Mr. Cowboy, where is “Somolia”? You do your topics no favours with your atrocious spelling.
That area of Africa is also generically known as the Horn of Africa. You should use that term instead of the one in your title if you really have trouble spelling “Somalia”.
Or Google it. I am surprised that one so proficient at quoting sources has repeated trouble with the correct spelling of names. Your version of al Qaeda, “al Qieda” hasn’t caught on either.
Don’t your subscriptions to Guns n Ammo or Vietnam Vets Are Never Wrong come with a dictionary?
Merry Christmas
BroonAddisAbaba
[quote=“BroonAle”]Hey there Mr. Cowboy, where is “Somolia”? You do your topics no favours with your atrocious spelling.
That area of Africa is also generically known as the Horn of Africa. You should use that term instead of the one in your title if you really have trouble spelling “Somalia”.
Or Google it. I am surprised that one so proficient at quoting sources has repeated trouble with the correct spelling of names. Your version of al Qaeda, “al Qieda” hasn’t caught on either.
Don’t your subscriptions to Guns n Ammo or Vietnam Vets Are Never Wrong come with a dictionary?
Merry Christmas
BroonAddisAbaba[/quote]Stick with teeching engrish. maybe the kidies will be impressed with pithy, yet irrelevant, comments.
And a very Merry Christmas to You & Yours. :candycane:
That “Horny” part of Africa.
A couple of more recent items:
[quote]Ethiopia launches airstrikes in Somalia
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Ethiopian fighter jets pounded several Somali towns held by a powerful Islamic militia, a sharp escalation in violence that threatens to engulf the volatile Horn of Africa in widespread violence.
Ethiopia confirmed the attacks, the first time it has acknowledged that its troops were fighting in Somalia, though witnesses have reported their presence for weeks.
The airstrikes hit the strategic town of Belet Weyne on the Ethiopian border and surrounding villages up to 12 miles away, said Sheik Mohamoud Ibrahim Suley, an official with Somalia’s Council of Islamic Courts. A resident of Belet Weyne — Ayanle Husein Abdi — said the strikes hit a strategic road and a recruiting center.
Ethiopia said it was acting to defend itself.
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061224/ap_on_re_af/somalia[/quote]
And from the at the BBC:(with impecable spulling, except for the excessive insertion of the letter “u”)
[quote]Ethiopia admits Somalia offensive
Ethiopia has confirmed that its troops are fighting Islamic militiamen that control much of Somalia.
Ethiopia’s information minister said his country’s forces had launched “self-defensive measures” against the Islamic Courts Union (UIC).
Ethiopia had previously admitted to sending only army trainers to Somalia.
In the latest fighting between the UIC and the weak, Ethiopian-backed government, air strikes and shelling are being reported in border areas.
Eyewitnesses said Ethiopian fighters were bombarding the UIC-held town of Beledweyne near the border, on the fifth day of renewed fighting.
“The enemy of Allah has started bombing our civilians,” Sheikh Hassan Derrow told AFP news agency.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6207427.stm[/quote]
Lovely. Nice to see that both sides are embracing the spirit of their respective holiday seasons.
Gift wrapped AK47s for the men and land mine stocking stuffers for all the little boys and girls.
Ho-ho-ho
[quote=“TainanCowboy”][quote=“BroonAle”]Hey there Mr. Cowboy, where is “Somolia”? You do your topics no favours with your atrocious spelling.
That area of Africa is also generically known as the Horn of Africa. You should use that term instead of the one in your title if you really have trouble spelling “Somalia”.
Or Google it. I am surprised that one so proficient at quoting sources has repeated trouble with the correct spelling of names. Your version of al Qaeda, “al Qieda” hasn’t caught on either.
Don’t your subscriptions to Guns n Ammo or Vietnam Vets Are Never Wrong come with a dictionary?
Merry Christmas
BroonAddisAbaba[/quote]Stick with teeching engrish. maybe the kidies will be impressed with pithy, yet irrelevant, comments.
And a very Merry Christmas to You & Yours. :candycane:[/quote]
Haha. You so funny and yet so way off the mark with the profession. What are “kidies” by the way? Anyway, I certainly won’t be engaging a consultancy outfit with links to conservative discussion sites. You assume that when you get pulled on your crap speeling, that that person is a teacher. Haha. And it isn’t irrelevant…it was in YOUR thread title. Haha.
Merry Christmas to you and all your buddies in the old folks home. 
BroonArthritic
[quote=“BroonAle”]Anyway, I certainly won’t be engaging a consultancy outfit with links to conservative discussion sites. You assume that when you get pulled on your crap speeling, that that person is a teacher. Haha. And it isn’t irrelevant…it was in YOUR thread title. Haha.
Merry Christmas to you and all your buddies in the old folks home.
BroonArthritic[/quote]I am deeply saddened by this news…truly…deeply saddened.
I shall console myself by opening a very fine vintage this p.m. in hopes of reviving my shattered dreams…so sad…so very very sad…
Do come around the home tonight, we are having our annual wheelchair kick-boxing tournament. Quite fun to see us old geezers in our robes & slippers flailing about.
Prizes to all and mashed potatoes afterwards…Here Nursey! Nursey!.. :dance: :cluck:
[quote=“TainanCowboy”][quote=“BroonAle”]Anyway, I certainly won’t be engaging a consultancy outfit with links to conservative discussion sites. You assume that when you get pulled on your crap speeling, that that person is a teacher. Haha. And it isn’t irrelevant…it was in YOUR thread title. Haha.
Merry Christmas to you and all your buddies in the old folks home.
BroonArthritic[/quote]I am deeply saddened by this news…truly…deeply saddened.
I shall console myself by opening a very fine vintage this p.m. in hopes of reviving my shattered dreams…so sad…so very very sad…
Do come around the home tonight, we are having our annual wheelchair kick-boxing tournament. Quite fun to see us old geezers in our robes & slippers flailing about.
Prizes to all and mashed potatoes afterwards…Here Nursey! Nursey!.. :dance: :cluck:[/quote]
You enjoy yours and I’ll enjoy my Dow’s 1985 with a spot of cheese (or a Republican foreign policy strategy paper)
Don’t break those colostomy bags.
BroonAlzheimer’s
From Bill Roggio and his blog "The Fourth Rail as well as www.somalinet.com comes this news.
[quote]The Fall of the Islamic Courts
The Somalia Battlefield on 12/25/2006.
Aweys, Sharif, resign; the TFG and Ethiopian forces are on the outskirts of Mogadishu
Nine days after the onset of open warfare between the al-Qaeda backed Islamic Courts and the Ethiopian backed Transitional Federal Government, the Islamic Courts have surrendered. “After having crucial and urgent meeting tonight in the capital, the leaders of executive and Shura councils of Islamic Courts Union and deputy leader of executive council of ICU, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Sheik Abdirahman Janaqow resigned and issued a joint press statement over the current situation in Somalia particular in Mogadishu,” reports SomaliNet"
billroggio.com/archives/2006/12/ … e_isla.php[/quote]
I don’t think will be the end of hostilities, but it is welcome news at this point.
[quote]The Somali president, Abdullahi Yusuf, has called for immediate military and financial help in the wake of the fighting between Ethiopian-backed government troops and the ousted Islamist leadership, which has left many parts of the country unstable.
The meeting, which discussed security issues as well as whether to send UN-approved peacekeepers and aid to the country, was held just hours after a purported audio tape by al-Qaida’s deputy leader urged Somali Islamists to launch an Iraq-style guerrilla campaign against Ethiopian forces in the country.[/quote]
guardian.co.uk/international … 48,00.html
QUICK!!! SEND IN THE UN!
[quote]
“You must ambush, mine, raid and (carry out) martyrdom campaigns so that you can wipe them out,” Ayman al-Zawahri, deputy to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, said in his message posted on a website used by militant Islamic groups.
“As happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, when the world’s strongest power was defeated by the campaigns of the mujahideen, troops going to heaven so its slaves shall be defeated on the Muslim lands of Somalia,” he said.
The message gives credence to US accusations that the Islamists are linked to al-Qaida, a charge the Islamists denied. US warships are currently guarding the Somali coast to make sure suspected terrorists do not leave the country. Kenya has also closed its border crossing to Somali refugees fleeing the country, leading to concern from international aid agencies.[/quote]
And who will the UN ask to launch a few cruise missiles? 
Or is this another non-issue for them?
New SG of the UN, yer up!
As posted on:Posted: Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:47 pm
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Its being observed…very closely. This one is on a lot of screens; but its not exactly been off the ‘screens’ for quite a long time.
I’m just keeping this thread going for…“perspective.”[/quote]
More on this:
[quote]U.S. intelligence quietly backed Ethiopia in war against Somalia
Special to World Tribune.com, GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT.COM
Monday, January 8, 2007
The Bush administration balked at deploying U.S. forces to Somalia where Al Qaida-aligned forces were gaining the upper hand last year. But the administration found a willing subcontractor: Ethiopia.
Western diplomatic sources said the U.S. intelligence community has been working with Ethiopia in its drive against the Council of Islamic Courts militia which effectively took control of Somalia in late 2006. The United States has promised to replenish equipment, munitions and other supplies for the current offensive against Somalia.
“The U.S. does not have the troops to threaten Al Qaida in Somalia,” a diplomat said. “But Ethiopia has the numbers and the interests to stop an Al Qaida regime. Washington has been quietly helping Ethiopia, although the big payback will come later on after the dust settles.”
Washington has kept its support under wraps for fear of angering Saudi Arabia. The Saudis, despite their fight against Al Qaida at home, have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the so-called Council of Islamic Courts militia, led by an Al Qaida fugitive.
The source said the administration has used Israel to help coordinate Ethiopia’s military needs in the current offensive against Somalia. Israel has long been a quiet but reliable military ally of Ethiopia and has supplied unmanned aerial vehicles and other systems to the African state.
The Ethiopian offensive has been effective in dislodging Al Qaida from Mogadishu, Kismayo and other strongholds. Ethiopian troops backed by fighter-jets have pounded Al Qaida positions, reversing what had been expected to be an Islamic takeover.
The Ethiopian offensive has allowed the return of the transitional government — recognized by the United Nations and United States — to Mogadishu. But Al Qaida is expected to revert to an insurgency war similar to that in Iraq. Al Qaida is believed to have left behind around 2,000 fighters — many of them trained in Afghanistan and Iraq — with lots of weapons in the Somali capital.
(from geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy%2Ddirect/ )
Subscription site)[/quote]
New in this a.m. is on an USAF AC-130 gunship strike on Al Quieda operstives mixed in with the Islamicists in southern Somalia.
Further details on the strike in souther Somalia:
[quote]U.S. Hunts al Qaeda in Somalia
Richard Miniter, January 8, 2007 8:11 PM
SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES
Spotted by Predator drone aircraft and sprayed with high-calibre bullets by an U.S. Air Force AC-130 gunship, the U.S. military is hunting al Qaeda operatives in the southern toe of Somalia, according to CBS News.
Special Forces Command (or SOCOM) has yet to confirm that the terrorists responsible for the August 7, 1998 embassy bombings—which killed 12 American diplomats and some 211 Africans—were slain in today’s strike.
If the gunship’s rounds were on target, it is a major setback for al Qaeda in Africa. Following last year’s sweep by the Kenyans and activities in the Coromos Islands (off the coast of Kenya and Somalia), combined with efforts by the Algerians, Moroccans, Ethiopians, and (yes) Sudanese, the terrorist network is now under major pressure. It will be hard for al Qaeda to find a battle-hardened veteran to command its combat operations or a seasoned financier to move its money. Yes, they will find someone. But not all “leaders” are of equal skill and terrorist cells are sensitive to the quality of their leadership.
This air strike is also a helpful reminder to people who were worried that Iraq was a distraction from the war on terror. Special Forces Command is operating in some 55 countries against al Qaeda right now, a senior defense official told me recently.
Only the media, not the military, has been distracted.
The strike also highlights a development which largely escaped the notice of Congress and the public: Africa is becoming a major battleground in the war on terror, especially the sahel, a dry band that south of the Sahara that stretches from the Erg Iguidi of Mauritania, across Mali,Niger,Chad, Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea, to Somalia’s litter-strewn shores. Sahel is Arabic for margin and the region has long been at the margin of Western thinking.
But not so for the radical Salafis. Wahabbi missionaries have canvassed this dry belt for almost two decades, transforming the Islamic practice of the region and sending record numbers of its residents on pilgrimage to Mecca. Al Qaeda, its allies and affiliates, have not been far behind.
Covert and overt activities in the Sahel have been on rise since 2003. This is why one of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s last acts from to create America’s first-ever Africa Command (or AFRICOM in military speak). Previously African operations, such as a 2003 air strike on an al Qaeda ally in Northern Chad, were run out of European Command, or EUCOM.
This air strike is the shape of things to come.
UPDATE: In about one hour, a cabinet member of the new Somalia government will arrive at my house. I will let you know what the permanent secretary for international cooperation (and former chief of staff to Somalia’s president) has to add to this developing story.
SECOND UPDATE: Dahir Jibreel came by in the company of Pajamas correspondent Daveed Gartenstein-Ross. Here are some quick notes from our four-hour conversation. Daveed will follow with a longer, more in-depth piece shortly.
Yesterday’s AC-130 strike was not the first time that American fixed-wing aircraft have swooped down over Somalia to deliver death blows to al Qaeda-allied Islamic Courts Union. Jibreel, speaking for the government of Somalia, confirmed that the U.S. planes and helicopters “flying anonymously” having been striking targets since the start of the Ethiopian surge against the ICU last month.
Indeed, Jabreel said, the U.S. and Ethiopia seemed to have been planning the military incursion for several months. He said that he saw U.S. military planes and soldiers at Wajer, a strategic air strip in Kenya, some 45 days before the Ethiopians launched their headline-making offensive.
CIA and senior military commanders from the U.S. Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa (JTF-HOA) met with the Transitional Federal Government president more than two months ago to lay out a campaign to crush the ICU, Jabreel said.
In addition, General Abizaid met with the Somalian president in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Adaba, in December.
U.S. officials, including senior CIA and military officers, met to review the campaign’s progress with Somalia’s president five days ago in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa.
And this is a real scoop: Operating on the ground in Somalia, Jabreel added, U.S. special forces and CIA paramilitary officers helped aircraft pinpoint targets.
The U.S. forces are based in Camp Lemonier in the former French colony of Djibouti, a tiny Muslim nation perched on the Red Sea.
The Somalia official also believes that the U.S. may use fighters to strike the last ICU-al Qaeda stronghold—reducing the possibility of the ICU launching an insurgent campaign.
Richard Minter.com[/quote]
Two years on and… well, more of the same. Save that the Ethiopians have had enough. Save for the pirates, and another two lost years of privation and death.
Have conditions improved?
Are the Islamists any less likely to emerge victorious?
Was there any point to this?
[quote=“BBC”]Ethiopian troops have withdrawn from their main bases in the Somali capital two years after they intervened in Mogadishu, reports say.
There were scenes of jubilation among Mogadishu residents as the troops left.
[b]
The troops entered Somalia in 2006 to help government forces oust Islamists, who again control much of the country.
A small African Union peacekeeping force provides security in Mogadishu but analysts say it is not strong enough to withstand the Islamists. [/b]
[…]
The withdrawal was part of a peace plan agreed by the government and moderate Islamists in October which required a pull-out in late November last year. [/quote]