Al-Qaeda's East Africa network 'regrouping and rearming in northern Somalia'

By Mike Pflanz, Garowe, Puntland

Al-Qaeda's network in East Africa is regrouping and rearming in northern Somalia, suggesting that it could recover from a series of defeats in the south, according to the president of the region.

New recruits belonging to Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebel group

 If the extremists manage to regroup in this mountainous region, they could attack Ethiopia or Kenya, both of which have deployed troops in Somalia, he told The Daily Telegraph.

Al-Shabaab, the Somali Islamist movement which has merged with al-Qaeda, was expelled from the capital, Mogadishu, and much of the south earlier this year. Instead of this being a decisive setback, however, the evidence suggests that key figures have moved northwards to Puntland, a self-governing area covering 130,000 square miles of northern Somalia. Last week, two Islamist commanders and nine fighters were arrested in this region.

Abdirahman Farole, the president of Puntland, said that the successful offensive mounted by African Union forces against al-Shabaab in and around Mogadishu had caused a "spillover" of extremists into his area.

Among the 11 al-Shabaab operatives who were arrested in Puntland is the alleged leader of its assassination squad. "They were found with new weapons, arms and ammunition, and, apart from two of them, they were not local, they came from all across Somalia," said Mr Farole.

"It is not hard to understand that their goal was to connect with others we fear are already here, after the spillover from the fighting in the south."

The two alleged commanders have been named as Abu Hafsa, supposedly al-Shabaab's head of assassinations, and Abdirizak Hussein Tahlil, an alleged logistics expert.

Puntland's security forces also seized guns, ammunition, suicide jackets, hand grenades, fuses and explosives. But al-Shabaab said that it did not recognise either name and denied any of its senior fighters was missing.

Kenya blast in Somali area of Nairobi, Eastleigh

The blast happened as commuters were going home after work

One person has been killed and eight others wounded in a blast in a mainly Somali neighbourhood in Kenya's capital Nairobi, police say.

A roadside bomb exploded during rush hour traffic in the Eastleigh neighbourhood on Wednesday evening, police said.

Last month, a grenade blast in Eastleigh left seven people dead.

Kenya accuses Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militant group of trying to destabilise the country.

Reuters news agency reports that its correspondent at the explosion site saw pools of blood on the ground, as the wounded were swiftly moved away.

"The explosion was caused by a roadside bomb which had been placed in a hole in the ground," Nairobi police chief Moses Nyakwama told the AFP news agency.

"No arrests have been made yet, and investigations are already under way," he added.

Al-Shabab has not yet commented on the blast.

Last month, Kenya accused the group of launching a grenade attack on a bus in Eastleigh, killing seven people.

The attack triggered riots in the area, as angry youths burnt and looted Somali-owned shops.

Kenya's government has blamed al-Shabab for a spate of explosions and kidnappings on its territory.

Kenya last year sent its troops to fight al-Shabab in Somalia - they have now joined the 18,000-strong African Union (AU) force supporting the UN-backed government.

Source: BBC News

Somali aid crisis 'critical' but chance for change: UN

Displaced people move belongings during floods in Mogadishu at the weekend (AFP/File, Abdurashid Abdulle Abikar)

Displaced people move belongings during floods in Mogadishu at the weekend (AFP/File, Abdurashid Abdulle Abikar)

The humanitarian crisis in Somalia remains "critical" but there is hope for improvement after major security and political changes in the war-torn country, United Nations officials said Tuesday.

Speaking at the launch of a $1.3 billion appeal to support 3.8 million Somalis in the year ahead -- meaning about half the country is in need -- officials noted it was the first time such an project was launched in longtime warzone capital.

"The humanitarian situation in Somalia remains critical," said Stefano Porretti, acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, adding that the situation remains one of the largest crises in the world.

However, a string of territorial losses by Al-Qaeda linked Shebab insurgents -- who place draconian restrictions on foreign aid -- as well as a new government in Mogadishu offered hope for change.

"The improvement in the food security situation and the new security and political landscape present opportunities to break the cycle of recurring crises brought on by drought and conflict," he said.

In 2011, famine in the country caused by extreme drought exacerbated by conflict caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people and affected more than four million people, according to the UN.

The appeal is an increase of the 2012 call for $1.1 billion, of which $668 million was actually provided.

Over a million Somalis are displaced inside the country while over a million are refugees in neighbouring nations, according to UN figures.

Somalia has been in political chaos and deprived of an effective central government since the fall of President Siad Barre in 1991.

However, a new administration took office in September, ending eight years of transitional rule by a corruption-riddled government.

In recent months, the 17,000-strong African Union force, fighting alongside government troops and Ethiopian soldiers, have wrested a string of key towns off the extremist Shebab.

Source:  AFP

'So happy I had a brother': Boys meet as friends, discover they are siblings

By Wendy Grossman Kantor

Isaac Pettet-Nolting, left, and Dakotah Zimmer

Every summer, Dawn Nolting buys her 12-year-old son Isaac a pool pass, and drops him off to swim with his friends. In June, Isaac was hanging out, when he met a friend-of-a-friend, 13-year-old Dakotah Zimmer. The kids at the pool in Washington, Mo., noticed that Isaac and Dakotah looked an awful lot alike – they have the same hands, the same feet, the same nose, the same haircut –- they even walk alike.
           
Someone asked if they were brothers. Dakotah said he had a brother he had never met who was adopted by a woman named Dawn. “That’s my mom’s name,” Isaac said.
           
That night, Isaac sat on the edge of his mom’s bed, and asked if they could talk.
           
“He looked at me with his big, black eyes and asked, ‘Mom, am I adopted?’” recalls Dawn, 42, a manager at a dry-cleaning company. “I said, ‘What makes you think that?’ And he said, ‘Because I think I found my brother.’”
           
Dawn told her son it was true  and they both burst into tears.
           
“I just cried and cried and cried,” Isaac tells TODAY.com. “I was so happy that I had a brother. I always asked for one.”

Dawn says she had been trying to work up the courage to tell Isaac he was adopted. She had spoken to friends and her pastor wondering: when is the right time? She knew she was going to have to tell him soon, because next year the boys will be at the same school. But, she hadn’t found the right words to explain their story.

When Isaac was a newborn, Dawn was on her way to dinner with her ex-husband and their then 11-year-old daughter, Krystyn. They ran into a friend of Dawn’s ex who invited them to come meet his girlfriend and new baby boy.

Isaac’s biological mother was a teenage mom with a 1-year-old son and a newborn boy. “She just looked overwhelmed,” Dawn says. “My motherly instincts kicked in. I said, ‘You need a break.’”

Dawn understands what the mom was going through – she was a single mother herself when she was 19. “I know the struggles, I know the heartache,” she says. Dawn offered to take the 9-day-old baby boy home with her.
 
“She was relieved,” Dawn remembers. “It was like the world had been lifted.”
 
A single mom, Dawn wasn’t planning to have another child, but, she immediately fell in love with Isaac.
 
The biological mother did call and visit often, but never took him home again, Dawn says.

 A few months later, Isaac’s biological mother and grandmother visited Dawn and said that the mom was pregnant again. She wanted what was best for her son, and asked if Dawn would adopt Isaac. She did. The adoption was finalized when he was 18 months old.

 Isaac’s biological mother died in the spring of 2007 – and within a year, his biological father died too. His older brother Dakotah and 10-year-old sister, Ashley, now live with their maternal grandmother, Debi Bay in Augusta, Mo. Their grandmother always told them they had a brother – she didn’t keep it a secret.

After the boys met, Dawn called their grandmother and arranged for them to hang out.

 “I knew it was gonna happen sooner or later,” says Debi Bay, 56. “It didn’t surprise me that much. I’m just surprised the way they ran into each other. I’m glad they got to meet.”

The boys celebrated their birthdays together this fall. Now the boys spend weekends sleeping over, playing Xbox, riding bikes and skateboarding.

“You can just tell they’re brothers,” Dawn says. “It’s the strongest bond that I’ve ever seen. It’s like they were never separated. For being apart for 10 years and 20 minutes away, they picked up right where they left off.”

Isaac Nolting, 12, and Dakotah Zimmer, 13, were horsing around at a swimming pool when a friend remarked they looked like brothers. That night, Isaac asked his mother if he was adopted and discovered that Dakotah is, in fact, his older brother. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports on the unlikely reunion.



Source: Today

Al-Shabaab militias warn Dutch Parliament over blasphemy

By ABDULKADIR KHALIF

Binnenhof, Hofvijver and flag of the Netherlands, The Hague (Netherlands) - Markus Bernet

Al-Shabaab plans to strike the Dutch Parliament, after the country’s legislators abolished blasphemy.

Announcing the decision last Friday, Sheikh Fuád Mohamed Khalaf Shongole, the Chief propagandist of the radical Islamist group in Somalia, warned that the consequences of the legislator’s decision will be major.

He was reacting to a recent decision by the Dutch Parliament that insulting God will no longer be a crime in the Netherlands, revoking a decades-old blasphemy law from the statute books.

Nobody can portray the figure of Allah (God),” said Sheikh Shongole through the media supporting his movement. “We are going to respond to such decision.”

But hardliner clergyman did not specify the kind of action the Al-Qaeda linked movement would take.

In 2011, a court in the Netherlands ruled that Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders had the right to criticise Islam.

In the past, Al-Shabaab stalwarts issued threats to neighbouring countries that contributed forces to help the Somali Government battle Islamist insurgents.

Somalia's performing arts industry in dire need of support

By Barkhad Dahir in Hargeisa

Stage actor and singer Ahmed Saleban Bide says Somali artists need funding and training to bring the nation's performing arts industry back to life. [Barkhad Dahir/Sabahi]

Ahmed Saleban Bide, a 69-year-old Somali artist, recounts his promising artistic career over 20 years ago when he had a good income and reputation, as well as steady government support.

But when the Somali central government collapsed in 1991, the entertainment industry was brought to a standstill, says Bide, who performed in more than 40 plays throughout the country during his career.

In an interview with Sabahi, Bide spoke about the future of the arts in Somalia and the dire need of support artists need to bring the industry back to its former glory.

Sabahi: Tell us about yourself.

Ahmed Saleban Bide: My parents told me I was born in Hargeisa in 1943. Our family was [financially] comfortable and had livestock in the countryside. We lived in the city because my father was an officer working for the British colonialists, and he took part in World War II.

Sabahi: When did you begin working as an artist?

Bide: During school breaks we held small parties at which debates or plays were performed. Those presentations were my first performances.

From 1964, I was officially part of and worked with the arts and literary community. I was a member of the literary unit of Radio Hargeisa, and I later transferred to Mogadishu. Every week, our literary team at Radio Hargeisa and Radio Mogadishu used to create at least four plays. The plays were small ones called "radio plays", and were mostly to entertain the public.

Sabahi: Tell us about the differences between the old days when the industry was at its peak and its current state.

Bide: Under the civilian government, we had theatres and every town had a venue for the performing arts. For example, Hargeisa had a theatre and the radio station had a large hall that could be used for rehearsal. Later, when the military took over the country, the government expanded the performing arts in every town. It was called "sermonising", and every town had it. Hargeisa and Mogadishu each had two large theatres.
That time cannot be compared to this one, as the collapse greatly affected the performing arts. The performing arts community is afflicted by poverty and does not have expertise, equipment or recording venues. Artists also do not have unions to connect them or advocate for their interests.

Sabahi: Previously, when plays were performed, were there any regulations that required governmental compliance?

Bide: Yes, plays had a censorship board that included religious scholars, the military, the local government and the central government. The selected board would evaluate the play for indecent content or anything that was against religion, culture, the people and the common good. Such content would be banned.

Afterwards, the censored play, with a formal clearance letter from the government, was publicly performed for the people.

Sabahi: What themes did you address in plays?

Bide: Every play that we performed was for the general public, so everyone would find something [that resonated with them]. Some people only looked for the comedic and entertainment parts, others for the romantic parts, some liked the wisdom and others enjoyed the cultural aspects of the play. Each play addressed various subjects; however, most of what we made was about Somali culture and heritage.

Sabahi: What are Somalis watching today?

Bide: There are Turkish, Arab and Indian films, some of which have been translated into Somali. That is what is popular now because the [Somali] performing arts community does not have the venues to produce plays. We also lack [financial] support from the government or anyone else.

Sabahi: So the Somali society is hooked on foreign films?

Bide: Yes. I believe this issue brings about a lot of cultural changes, and it is altering our society. [Foreign films] include things that are not in our culture.

[Before the civil war] foreign films were available in separate cinemas, but in the old days, we did not get this many. People were connected to artists who followed their own culture.
Sabahi: What are the challenges facing Somali performing arts?

Bide: Today's performers are mostly [Somalis] who live abroad, and I applaud the role they have played [in keeping Somali entertainment alive]. In 2010, I attended the Somali Week Festival that takes place annually in London, and I met many good songwriters. However, the performing arts community lacks governmental support, a review board, and unions to organise it. New performers should be connected to veteran artists so they can learn from them. There is also lot of talent inside the country [that needs to be developed].

Sabahi: The theatre in Mogadishu has been re-opened, and the theatre in Hargeisa is being re-built. Is this part of reviving the performing arts?

Bide: It is a huge part of it. Some people have the wrong perception of theatres. [Beyond entertainment] theatres serve as "the people's house". A theatre can host government meetings, artistic performances, and religious lectures. A [functioning] theatre is a necessity for the country.

Businessman Omer Aided is rebuilding the Hargeisa theatre. He has achieved great progress. I would urge other Somalis who can afford it and anyone who can offer support to rebuild theatres in every town so that people can have entertainment. If that is achieved, performers will be able to [use their artistry] to promote peace and advance progress.

Source: Sabahi

MPS embraces students’ Somali heritage with new class offerings

 

Minneapolis Public Schools may very well be the first school district in the nation to offer Somali language classes to high school students. At South High School, where MPS' Somali classes are offered, nearly 60 students are registered in two class periods, one that focuses on Somali language and another on culture. "Somali language is an important element of one's identity," said Dahir Hassan, Somali language and heritage teacher at South. "If you don't speak the language, it is hard to claim that identity."

Heritage language and culture classes devote a portion of the school day to providing instruction in students' home language and culture. The goals of the program are to maintain and expand students' language resources and to strengthen immigrant students' connection to their home culture and community. According to the Minnesota Historical Society, in 2010 there were an estimated 60,000 Somalis living in Minnesota, the largest Somali population of any state in the U.S. MPS has over 2,800 students who speak the language at home.

MPS leaders responded to parent requests to offer heritage language classes for Somali students. "When I met with Somali parents last year at community engagement events, they made it clear that heritage language instruction was a priority for them," said Dr. Bernadeia Johnson, superintendent of schools. "The academic value is undeniable, so I was determined to see it become a reality for our students."

According to Janice Kittok, world language content lead in the Multilingual Department, students who learn languages also learn valuable skills like patience, discipline and study habits that can transfer to other subjects. "Being bilingual is an invaluable asset for any path a student may choose in life," Kittok said.

"I learn something new every day," said Fartun, a 12th-grader in the class. Fartun has one Somali parent and one Yemeni parent. "I may speak Somali at home but I want to know how to read and write at an academic level," she said. "It is important to me because it is my language and my culture."

Students who learn heritage language and culture develop a broader world perspective, delving into cultural, historical and geographical knowledge of their home country and the world. "When I was my students' age in Africa, I didn't have any sense of value for my own culture," said Hassan. "After going abroad I realized that in order to learn about other cultures, I had to first understand my own. My hope for this class is that the students will learn the tools to not only be proud of where they came from, but to be successful global citizens."

Source: Insight News