Saying no to extremism

Somali leaders, police to warn youth about dangers of terrorism recruitment

A first-of-its-kind meeting in Columbus this week aims to steer young Somalis away from Islamic radicalism while alerting their parents that someone is trying to recruit their children.

Federal law-enforcement officials and Columbus police are bringing in two experts from a British-based counterextremist research group to speak to hundreds of local Somalis on Thursday.

The conference is a sign of just how serious law-enforcement officials and Somali groups are about the threat that terrorist groups are actively seeking members here to join their cause.

“Extremists are worse than 10,000 gangs,” said Mussa Farah, a local Somali leader and a member of the Columbus Community Relations Commission. Why? Because they are trained to kill large numbers of people, Farah said.

Officials in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, home to the country’s largest Somali population, have not held a meeting such as this.

“We want to see how (Columbus’) goes,” said Jeanne Cooney, director of community relations for the U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis.


The experts coming to Columbus are from the Quilliam Foundation, which says it uses former members of extremist organizations to show how groups exploit and groom vulnerable youths and how they try to use Islam as a radicalizing political ideology.

“We’re trying to undermine the framework,” said Ghaffar Hussain, one of the scheduled speakers. Hussain is a British native who joined a nonviolent radical Islamic group in the United Kingdom when he was younger.

In a phone interview from London, Hussain said alienated, isolated youths who feel they don’t fit in with their communities or families can be susceptible to recruitment.

Another indication is a sudden change in friends, said Jibril Hirsi, executive director of SomaliCAN, a local advocacy and outreach organization.

Cooney said the Internet and YouTube are prime recruitment tools.


Groups, she said, tout “the purported honor obtained by returning to Somalia and fighting on behalf of al-Shabab.”

That’s the al-Qaida-

linked group fighting to take over Somalia. It is training young terrorists there while working to recruit more members.

Are extremists coming to the U.S. to recruit as well?

“I think the feeling among law enforcement is that you would be naive to think that no one is ever here,” Cooney said.

The local Somali community is working to protect its youths, said Fred Alverson, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Columbus. “They want to keep young people on the straight and narrow.”

Columbus has the nation’s second-largest Somali community, with estimates ranging from 15,000 to 80,000.

Thursday’s meeting will come on the heels of four federal indictments in Minnesota, Alabama and California last month that charged 14 people with providing money, people and services to al-Shabab.

The Minnesota case said an unnamed, unindicted conspirator in Columbus helped one of those charged with soliciting money for the poor and then sending the donations to terrorists in Somalia.

Thursday’s meeting was in the works before then. Officials from the U.S. attorney’s office, FBI, Franklin County sheriff’s office and Columbus police have been meeting regularly with Somali leaders to build relations and share information.

Local Somali leaders have been asking people to attend Thursday’s meeting. Some are reluctant, Hirsi said, fearing they’ll be associated with radicalization by attending.

Others are skeptical of the government’s motives, said Mike Brooks, special agent in the FBI’s Cincinnati office, which covers Columbus.

Ahmed Adan, a 27-year-old communication student at Ohio State University, said he thinks the event will help awaken some youths to what is going on.

“You can be used as a young, energetic person. You can be directed in a violent way,” Adan said.

mferenchik@dispatch.com

Source: www.dispatch.com