Somalia resistance forces fighting the US-backed Transitional Federal Government. The president of the TFG recently visited the US seeking assistance for the continuation of his government.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Somalia: Clashes kill 10 people in Mogadishu
19 Nov 19, 2010 - 3:34:43 PM
Heavy clashes between Somali government troops backed by African Union forces and al-Shabab fighters have left at least 10 people dead and 20 others wounded in Mogadishu, Radio Garowe reports.
Several people -- mostly soldiers -- lost their lives late on Wednesday night when al-Shabab fighters launched an attack against Somali soldiers in Mogadishu's northern district of Boondheere.
According to the witnesses, many residents fled from the town after the battle began and most of those killed were militia members.
Somali ambulance workers said some twenty people sustained injuries after several mortar shells landed in the resident places.
Al-Shabaab official claimed to unveil the attacks that African Union troops/AMISOM planned against their strongest rebel. No statement from the government side about the combat.
Over the past two decades, up to one million people have lost their lives in fighting between rival factions and due to famine and disease.
There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Somalia. Over 300,000 of the IDPs are sheltered in Mogadishu.
Most of the displaced live in poor and degrading conditions on makeshift sites in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The horn of Africa country has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
GAROWE ONLINE
Burundi president calls for more troops to Somalia
Nov 19, 2010 - 3:28:21 PM
Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza called to contribute more troops to join Burundi and Uganda, which are the two troops contributing nations to AMISOM, increasingly being attacked by insurgents, Radio Garowe reports.
Speaking in the close meeting of four-day conference in the Burundian capital Bujumbura, Nkurunziza urged to strengthening security in the war- torn state of the Horn of Africa.
Burundi, as a partner with the African Union is ready war against deadly insurgency led by the Al Qaeda-inspired group "Al Shabaab and coordinate the efforts of the International Community in Somalia," said the President.
He said the review of the AMISOM mandate would make it possible for the peacekeeping troops to better defend themselves and hunt down the enemy in the event of attacks.
Uganda and Burundi are the only countries that have contributed troops to the African Union peacekeeping mission in war-torn Somalia.
Currently, the AU peacekeeping contingent has about 4,500 troops on the ground --- and is struggling to overcome Al Shabaab, a self-declared Al Qaeda affiliate.
The Somali transitional government backed by AU, which has long promised to launch a major offensive against insurgents, controls only a few streets of Mogadishu.
GAROWE ONLINE
Three in California charged with aiding Somalia's Shebab
Nov 3, 2010 - 4:25:55 PM
WASHINGTON--Three California residents were indicted on charges of providing funding and other aid for the Shebab, a Somali-based Islamist group linked to Al-Qaeda, US authorities said Tuesday.
The Justice Department said an indictment named San Diego residents Basaaly Saeed Moalin, Mohamed Mohamed Mohamud and Issa Doreh.
They were charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to kill in a foreign country and related offenses, said the US attorney for the southern district of California, Laura Duffy.
According to the indictment handed up on October 22, the three conspired to provide money to Shebab, a group designated by Washington as a foreign terrorist organization and which is accused of using assassinations, improvised explosive devices, suicide bombings and other tactics of intimidation and violence to undermine Somalia's transitional government.
The indictment also said the three were working with Moalim Aden Hashi Ayro, said to be Al-Qaeda's military leader in Somalia, who was killed by a US air strike in May 2008.
Ayro requested money from Moalin, who then coordinated the fundraising efforts and money transfers with Mohamud and Doreh, according to a Justice Department statment.
The indictment alleges that after Ayrow's death, the conspirators continued to transfer money from San Diego to Somalia "to fund terrorist activities."
Officials said FBI agents arrested Moalin on Sunday at San Diego International Airport, shortly before he was scheduled to board a flight. The next day the other two suspects were arrest in in San Diego.
On Tuesday a federal magistrate ordered Moalin held without bail pending a detention hearing scheduled for Friday. Mohamud and Doreh are expected to appear for arraignment Wednesday.
The Shebab, an Islamist extremist group that controls most of central and western Somalia, has claimed responsibility for the attacks in Uganda's capital on July 11 that killed 76 people gathered to watch the World Cup final.
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