The military wing of Somalia's Islamist movement plans to intensify its offensive against government troops and their Ethiopian allies, a senior commander said on Sunday.
In his first comments to Reuters since going into hiding a year ago, Muktar Ali Robow said al-Shabab had killed nearly 500 Ethiopian soldiers and would fight until foreign troops left the Horn of Africa country.
"We are now planning to launch the most enormous attacks on the government and Ethiopian main positions. We will allow no foreign forces in our land," Robow said in a phone interview.
"In the past days the infidel troops of Ethiopians along with their puppets and al-Shawab al-Mujahideen have fought heavily in Mogadishu. We have raided the enemies' military bases showering them with mortar shells," he said, referring to his "Movement of Young Mujahideen" faction.
Robow did not give away his location, but said he was in the southern Bay province of Somalia.
Also known as "Abu Mansoor", Robow was the Islamic Courts' deputy defence secretary before the movement that ruled Mogadishu and most of south Somalia for six months was ousted by allied Somali-Ethiopian forces in the New Year.
His al-Shabab has since spearheaded an Iraq-style insurgency, waging near-daily roadside bombings, grenade attacks and shootings against government and Ethiopian positions.
The conflict has killed 6 000 civilians this year, according to a local human rights group, and forced hundreds of thousands to abandon their homes and livelihoods in what the United Nations calls Africa's worst humanitarian crisis.
Support
Robow said Somalis backed the insurgency and denied reports his fighters were shelling Mogadishu's main Bakara market.
"We are financially and morally supported by the population," he said. "We have the people's allegiance. We would never shell Bakara. But the Ethiopians know that the market is the main source of revenue for the Somali people. They needed justifications to destroy that source."
Robow also dismissed reports al-Shabab had recruited boy soldiers to fight. "It is not Islamic, even our Prophet, Muhammad ... did not send youngsters to jihad. We do not arm children with bombs or grenades to go into a war."
Robow dismissed as "lies" a report by Ethiopian Information Minister Berhan Hailu that 75 al-Shabab fighters were killed in a surprise attack on their secret hideout this week.
He urged new Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein to quit and said his group's intention was to rule Somalia by sharia law.
"When we force Ethiopia to withdraw its troops from our country, its traitors will follow and the people will be able to embrace an Islamic government," he said.
"Democracy is not right. They call it democracy when a man marries another man and a woman marries another woman. How can such things be allowed to happen?"
The Somalia Islamic Courts Council (Sicc) had run widely despised warlords, who enjoyed United States backing, out of Mogadishu in June 2006 with decisive victories.
Many Somalis credited Robow's Sicc with bringing a semblance of order to the capital Mogadishu. But its attempts to enforce strict sharia law in the moderate Muslim country drew rumblings of discontent after they banned Bollywood films and khat, a mild narcotic leaf chewed throughout the Horn.
Somalia has been plagued by anarchy since warlords toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. The interim government's efforts to restore central rule have largely been paralysed by infighting and the Islamist-led insurgency. - Reuters
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Bomb wounds 12 soldiers near Somali Parliament
15 December 2007 03:48
A roadside bomb wounded at least 12 Somali soldiers in Baidoa and two people were killed in violence in Mogadishu on Saturday.
The attacks in the capital and the south-central town hosting Somalia's Parliament came after two days of fighting in Mogadishu between allied Somali-Ethiopian forces and Islamist insurgents.
"A remote-controlled roadside bomb targeted a military pick-up truck," said police officer Aden Moalim in Baidoa. "At least 12 soldiers guarding the road to parliament, including one Ethiopian, were hurt."
In the capital, two people died after grenades were hurled at government troops patrolling Bakara Market, triggering a gun battle.
A local journalist who asked not to be named said he saw the insurgents execute one blindfolded captive during the clash while the second victim was killed by crossfire.
"I and a few other people witnessed the killing of a blindfolded man who was shot dead by six young men armed with pistols," the journalist said. "Some people were saying the man was suspected of spying for government forces."
A police spokesperson said several weapons caches had been seized since Friday during government operations in Bakara, which contains an open-air weapons bazaar.
Four suspected insurgents were killed on Friday after being seen firing mortars, he said, and several others were arrested.
At least 25 people have been killed in the capital since Thursday when mortar bombs damaged parts of Bakara and sustained fighting broke out in other parts of the city. Many Somalis say the insurgents -- remnants of a hardline sharia courts groups chased out of the city a year ago -- have become increasingly confident in recent months while the interim government has been hobbled by infighting.
The government says the rebels are backed by 4 500 foreign jihadists from Afghanistan, Chechnya and the Middle East.
Fighting in Mogadishu has killed nearly 6 000 civilians this year and uprooted about 720 000 more, a local rights group says. The United Nations says the humanitarian crisis in Somalia is Africa's worst. - Reuters 2007
A roadside bomb wounded at least 12 Somali soldiers in Baidoa and two people were killed in violence in Mogadishu on Saturday.
The attacks in the capital and the south-central town hosting Somalia's Parliament came after two days of fighting in Mogadishu between allied Somali-Ethiopian forces and Islamist insurgents.
"A remote-controlled roadside bomb targeted a military pick-up truck," said police officer Aden Moalim in Baidoa. "At least 12 soldiers guarding the road to parliament, including one Ethiopian, were hurt."
In the capital, two people died after grenades were hurled at government troops patrolling Bakara Market, triggering a gun battle.
A local journalist who asked not to be named said he saw the insurgents execute one blindfolded captive during the clash while the second victim was killed by crossfire.
"I and a few other people witnessed the killing of a blindfolded man who was shot dead by six young men armed with pistols," the journalist said. "Some people were saying the man was suspected of spying for government forces."
A police spokesperson said several weapons caches had been seized since Friday during government operations in Bakara, which contains an open-air weapons bazaar.
Four suspected insurgents were killed on Friday after being seen firing mortars, he said, and several others were arrested.
At least 25 people have been killed in the capital since Thursday when mortar bombs damaged parts of Bakara and sustained fighting broke out in other parts of the city. Many Somalis say the insurgents -- remnants of a hardline sharia courts groups chased out of the city a year ago -- have become increasingly confident in recent months while the interim government has been hobbled by infighting.
The government says the rebels are backed by 4 500 foreign jihadists from Afghanistan, Chechnya and the Middle East.
Fighting in Mogadishu has killed nearly 6 000 civilians this year and uprooted about 720 000 more, a local rights group says. The United Nations says the humanitarian crisis in Somalia is Africa's worst. - Reuters 2007
Friday, December 7, 2007
Partial list of Meles Zenawi's Crimes - From file
2007:
According to U.N. reports on Ogaden, EPEDF is committing the Worst Humanitarian Crisis in Africa. Persistent and
reliable reports emanating from the Ogaden region of Ethiopia clearly affirmed the alarming state of human rights abuse
in the whole area. The reports show that the security and armed forces of the EPRDF have carried out arbitrary killings
and numerous arrests grossly violating the human rights of the people in the region.
2005:
Members of an Ethiopian inquiry team charged with investigating violent mass demonstration following the May 2005
elections and separate protests about ballot fraud in November 2005 announced that 193 civilians were killed by
Ethiopian security forces during the violence, nearly three times the official number reported by the government. Zenawi
reportedly told the inquiry team to alter its report in July, just two days before the group had planned to present its
findings to the Ethiopian Parliament. At least two members of the 10-person panel have since fled from Ethiopia.
Furthermore, over 100 journalists, lawmakers and human rights activists were initially charged with treason following the
mass protests in 2005 even though some have been granted amnesty by EPRDF
According to U.N. reports on Ogaden, EPEDF is committing the Worst Humanitarian Crisis in Africa. Persistent and
reliable reports emanating from the Ogaden region of Ethiopia clearly affirmed the alarming state of human rights abuse
in the whole area. The reports show that the security and armed forces of the EPRDF have carried out arbitrary killings
and numerous arrests grossly violating the human rights of the people in the region.
2005:
Members of an Ethiopian inquiry team charged with investigating violent mass demonstration following the May 2005
elections and separate protests about ballot fraud in November 2005 announced that 193 civilians were killed by
Ethiopian security forces during the violence, nearly three times the official number reported by the government. Zenawi
reportedly told the inquiry team to alter its report in July, just two days before the group had planned to present its
findings to the Ethiopian Parliament. At least two members of the 10-person panel have since fled from Ethiopia.
Furthermore, over 100 journalists, lawmakers and human rights activists were initially charged with treason following the
mass protests in 2005 even though some have been granted amnesty by EPRDF
Ethiopia expels UK, Australian aid staff
ADDIS ABABA, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Ethiopia has expelled an Australian and a Briton working for Save the Children UK on accusations of diverting food aid to rebels in the troubled Ogaden region, officials and aid sources said on Friday.
The Ethiopian army has this year been carrying out an offensive against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebel movement in the remote eastern region bordering Somalia.
Several aid organisations were ordered out in July, but the Ethiopian government has since then relaxed restrictions, and licensed the United Nations and 19 agencies to work there amid fears of a humanitarian crisis fuelled by the fighting.
Government sources said the pair had abused their position.
"The two foreigners were expelled because they were involved in an attempt to divert food aid to rebels," one told Reuters.
The worst-hit areas in the conflict have been the most difficult for aid workers to access.
Save the Children -- which has been working in Ethiopia since 1932, and runs education, livestock and sanitation projects in Ogaden -- gave no version of events on Friday.
But aid workers in Addis Ababa confirmed the pair's exit.
"They have been working in Ogaden on business visas, but were then refused additional work permits and asked to leave," said one humanitarian worker, who asked not to be named. (Reporting by Barry Malone and Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Catherine Evans)
The Ethiopian army has this year been carrying out an offensive against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebel movement in the remote eastern region bordering Somalia.
Several aid organisations were ordered out in July, but the Ethiopian government has since then relaxed restrictions, and licensed the United Nations and 19 agencies to work there amid fears of a humanitarian crisis fuelled by the fighting.
Government sources said the pair had abused their position.
"The two foreigners were expelled because they were involved in an attempt to divert food aid to rebels," one told Reuters.
The worst-hit areas in the conflict have been the most difficult for aid workers to access.
Save the Children -- which has been working in Ethiopia since 1932, and runs education, livestock and sanitation projects in Ogaden -- gave no version of events on Friday.
But aid workers in Addis Ababa confirmed the pair's exit.
"They have been working in Ogaden on business visas, but were then refused additional work permits and asked to leave," said one humanitarian worker, who asked not to be named. (Reporting by Barry Malone and Tsegaye Tadesse; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Catherine Evans)
Quebec family accused of human trafficking wants RCMP apology
A Laval couple is demanding a public apology from the RCMP after they were arrested earlier this year in what the Mounties called Canada's first case of human trafficking.
All charges laid against Nichan Manoukian and his wife, Manoudshag Saryboyadjian, were dropped Thursday following an investigation into their alleged exploitation of their Ethiopian nanny.
The Quebec Crown said it was dropping charges against the couple based on the appearance of new facts.
The good news was little consolation to the couple, who said they were treated as though they were already guilty. "[Police] took our mug shots with numbers as though we were criminals," Manoukian said.
The couple maintained their nanny was treated like a member of the family throughout the eight years she worked for them — in Quebec and in Lebanon.
The nanny went out when she wanted, used the phone as much as she liked, had the keys to the front door and knew the code to the burglar alarm, Saryboyadjian said Friday.
The high-profile investigation exacted a toll on the couple, who are subject to dirty stares in public, Saryboyadjian said. "This story has taken 10 years off our life," she said.
A public apology could start the mending the family needs now, she said.
The couple was arrested in May when the RCMP held a news conference to explain the charges against the couple.
The Mounties alleged the Ethiopian nanny was practically a slave. "She couldn't get out, she couldn't have access to her papers, and the only time she could get out was with the couple, the persons who hired her," said Const. Magdala Turpin at the time.
The RCMP insists it was just doing its job when it followed up in its investigation.
The nanny — whose name hasn't been released — received refugee status shortly after the allegations were made, the couple's lawyer said.
All charges laid against Nichan Manoukian and his wife, Manoudshag Saryboyadjian, were dropped Thursday following an investigation into their alleged exploitation of their Ethiopian nanny.
The Quebec Crown said it was dropping charges against the couple based on the appearance of new facts.
The good news was little consolation to the couple, who said they were treated as though they were already guilty. "[Police] took our mug shots with numbers as though we were criminals," Manoukian said.
The couple maintained their nanny was treated like a member of the family throughout the eight years she worked for them — in Quebec and in Lebanon.
The nanny went out when she wanted, used the phone as much as she liked, had the keys to the front door and knew the code to the burglar alarm, Saryboyadjian said Friday.
The high-profile investigation exacted a toll on the couple, who are subject to dirty stares in public, Saryboyadjian said. "This story has taken 10 years off our life," she said.
A public apology could start the mending the family needs now, she said.
The couple was arrested in May when the RCMP held a news conference to explain the charges against the couple.
The Mounties alleged the Ethiopian nanny was practically a slave. "She couldn't get out, she couldn't have access to her papers, and the only time she could get out was with the couple, the persons who hired her," said Const. Magdala Turpin at the time.
The RCMP insists it was just doing its job when it followed up in its investigation.
The nanny — whose name hasn't been released — received refugee status shortly after the allegations were made, the couple's lawyer said.
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