From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Fri Sep 18 2009 - 14:54:04 EDT
Emboldened Al-Shabab Warns Djibouti Not to Send Troops to Somalia
By Alan Boswell
Nairobi
18 September 2009
A day after a brazen suicide attack in the African Union peacekeeper
base in Mogadishu, Somali rebel Islamic group al-Shabab threatens
neighboring Djibouti that a similar fate awaits its troops should they
be sent to Somalia. The attack Thursday killed 21.
The spokesman for the radical Islamist militant group al-Shabab, Sheikh
Ali Mohamud Rage, warned the government of Djibouti against sending any
forces to Somalia as part of the African Union peacekeeping mission in
Somalia, known as AMISOM.
He says that their troops should expect the same reception given to the
Ugandan and Burundian soldiers killed Thursday if they too enter the
country. Rage asserts that his group is already angered by the access to
Djibouti's airports and seaports given to foreign governments.
Earlier this month the Djibouti ambassador to the U.S. told VOA's Somali
service that it would be sending troops to Somalia to serve in AMISOM,
though the ambassador declined to say how many or when.
The AMISOM spokesman in Nairobi has confirmed to VOA that the suicide
bombings Thursday successfully attacked a senior meeting between
AMISOM's military leadership and officials of the Western-backed
transitional federal government.
Seventeen peacekeepers were killed as well as four Somali civilians, who
were inside the military base for the meeting. The spokesman for the
prime minister of Somalia told reporters Friday that the high-level
government officials were killed and wounded in the attack.
Among the dead in the blasts was deputy commander of the AMISOM forces
and the top Burundian officer in Somalia, General Juvenal Niyoyunguruza.
The head general, a Ugandan, was wounded.
Subsequent mortar attacks in the capital city later Wednesday reportedly
killed at least 19 civilians.
The two vehicles used by the suicide attackers carried the United
Nations logo on their sides. The Somali government claims that the
vehicles were likely two of eight stolen U.N. cars believed to have
fallen in the hands of the Islamic rebels.
AMISOM says that the two vehicles were allowed in to the compound
because they were marked U.N. cars. Once inside, one of the cars flew to
the nearby petrol station and blew up, and the other one exploded inside
the base near the Mogadishu airport.
The United Nations was not part of the high level meeting.
The successful execution of such a boldly planned strike is a clear blow
to the government led by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, which has
lost significant ground to the Islamic opposition fighters. It is
unclear whether al-Shabab specifically planned the attack with full
knowledge of the meeting taking place.
Many on the government side used to fight side-by-side with current
rebel fighters as part of the Islamic insurgency against Ethiopia's 2006
invasion, and weaponry is believed to pass easily through the government
army's hands to the opposition fighters.
Djibouti, a former French colony, is 60 percent made up of ethnic
Somalis and is heavily Muslim. The country hosted the peace meetings
that eventually led to the formation of the transitional government and
the election of President Sharif, a former leader of the Islamic
insurgency, earlier this year.
A group of Islamic rebels, including al-Shabab, have rejected the
U.N.-backed deal and holds that the government is illegitimate. The
opposition fighters now control most of Mogadishu as well as much of the
country.
The AMISOM forces in Somalia are composed of about 5,000 Ugandan and
Burundian troops.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-09-18-voa45.cfm
The Burundian deputy commander for the AMISOM contingent in Somalia
Major General Juvenal Niyonguruza (file photo)
<http://www.voanews.com/english/images/afp_burundi_juvenal_niyonguruza_2
10_28May09.jpg>
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----