Thursday, July 22, 2010

Fears of a new Tora Bora in northern Somalia


ERIGAVO, Somalia - A notorious warlord and arms dealer is training Islamist fighters in the remote mountains of northern Somalia and setting up what local officials fear could become a new Tora Bora.
Mohamed Said Atom, one of a handful of men singled out by the UN Security Council as violating an arms embargo on Somalia, has established bases in the Sanaag mountains straddling Puntland and Somaliland, a senior security official said.The Al Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgent group has been mainly active in southern and central Somalia in recent years, focusing its military efforts on trying to topple the western-backed government in Mogadishu.But the July 11 bombings in Kampala claimed by the Shebab have signalled the group's expanding reach, and activity by Atom's men in Sanaag has stirred concern that the rebels were now poised to destablise the two breakaway states."Atom has links with Al-Qaeda and represents the Shebab in the region," said Colonel Mohamed Jama, a senior security official from the semi-autonomous state of Puntland."We are receiving information that he has mobilised hundreds of Islamist militants in the villages around Sanaag Bari," Jama told AFP."Our security forces are now fully prepared to launch an offensive against those terrorists who are establishing a safe haven in the region and want to disrupt our stability," he added.Puntland and the self-proclaimed state of Somaliland, to the east, have been more stable than central and southern Somalia in recent years but they have been wary of late that the Shebab might seek to open up new fronts.Residents in eastern Puntland's Galgala told AFP that at least 400 fighters were mobilised and trained recently across the region and added that the Shebab's black flag was flying in some villages."The number of Islamist militants gathered by Atom in the region has increased dramatically. We see some of them on pickups with heavy machine guns and RPGs, proselytising," said Hussein Sahal, a Galgala elder."They have several military camps in the mountains where they train young men, most of them from the region. It will be very difficult for any army to fight against them," Abdi Haji Sugule, another elder, told AFP.
The Golis mountain range marking the unrecognised border between Puntland and Somaliland is arid, honeycombed with caves and very difficult to access, a terrain officials fear could become the ideal hide-out for Al Qaeda in Somalia."Atom is a local but has old connections with a number of Islamist networks worldwide," said Bile Mohamoud, a security official in Puntland's economic capital Bosasso.Atom, from the Warsangeli clan, was born in Galgala around 1966 and has led his local militia since at least 2006. The UN group monitoring the arms embargo describes him as an arms trafficker and key supplier of weapons to the Shebab."We believe he wants to turn this place, the most impenetrable mountains in Somalia, into an Al Qaeda hide-out," Mohamoud said."This part of the country is very strategic and important for men like him who are on the run. You cannot flush out a trained army from those mountains unless you have hi-tech military hardware.""It's like Tora Bora in Afghanistan," he said, in reference to the cave complex where Osama bin Laden and top Taliban leaders were believed to be hiding in the country's eastern mountains when US forces attacked in 2001.Abdi Saleban, a Somaliland security official based in Erigavo, the largest town in the area, also acknowledged that Atom was gaining strength but insisted that his forces were ready to face him."We know about the movements of this Al Qaeda-linked militant in the mountains but our forces are ready and on high alert," he said.

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Ex-Somali Police Commissioner General Mohamed Abshir

Ex-Somali Police Commissioner  General Mohamed Abshir

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre with general Mohamad Ali samater
Somalia army parade 1979

Sultan Kenadid

Sultan Kenadid
Sultanate of Obbia

President of the United Meeting with Prime Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Egal of the Somali Republic,

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Seyyid Muhammad Abdille Hassan

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire

Sultan Mohamud Ali Shire
Sultanate of Warsengeli

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre

Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre
Siad Barre ( A somali Hero )

MoS Moments of Silence

MoS Moments of Silence
honor the fallen

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie

Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre  and His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie
Beautiful handshake

May Allah bless him and give Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan

May Allah bless him and give  Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre..and The Honourable Ronald Reagan
Honorable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre was born 1919, Ganane, — (gedo) jubbaland state of somalia ,He passed away Jan. 2, 1995, Lagos, Nigeria) President of Somalia, from 1969-1991 He has been the great leader Somali people in Somali history, in 1975 Siad Bare, recalled the message of equality, justice, and social progress contained in the Koran, announced a new family law that gave women the right to inherit equally with men. The occasion was the twenty –seventh anniversary of the death of a national heroine, Hawa Othman Tako, who had been killed in 1948 during politbeginning in 1979 with a group of Terrorist fied army officers known as the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF).Mr Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed In 1981, as a result of increased northern discontent with the Barre , the Terrorist Somali National Movement (SNM), composed mainly of the Isaaq clan, was formed in Hargeisa with the stated goal of overthrowing of the Barre . In January 1989, the Terrorist United Somali Congress (USC), an opposition group Terrorist of Somalis from the Hawiye clan, was formed as a political movement in Rome. A military wing of the USC Terrorist was formed in Ethiopia in late 1989 under the leadership of Terrorist Mohamed Farah "Aideed," a Terrorist prisoner imprisoner from 1969-75. Aideed also formed alliances with other Terrorist groups, including the SNM (ONLF) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), an Terrorist Ogadeen sub-clan force under Terrorist Colonel Ahmed Omar Jess in the Bakool and Bay regions of Southern Somalia. , 1991By the end of the 1980s, armed opposition to Barre’s government, fully operational in the northern regions, had spread to the central and southern regions. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled their homes, claiming refugee status in neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. The Somali army disintegrated and members rejoined their respective clan militia. Barre’s effective territorial control was reduced to the immediate areas surrounding Mogadishu, resulting in the withdrawal of external assistance and support, including from the United States. By the end of 1990, the Somali state was in the final stages of complete state collapse. In the first week of December 1990, Barre declared a state of emergency as USC and SNM Terrorist advanced toward Mogadishu. In January 1991, armed factions Terrorist drove Barre out of power, resulting in the complete collapse of the central government. Barre later died in exile in Nigeria. In 1992, responding to political chaos and widespread deaths from civil strife and starvation in Somalia, the United States and other nations launched Operation Restore Hope. Led by the Unified Task Force (UNITAF), the operation was designed to create an environment in which assistance could be delivered to Somalis suffering from the effects of dual catastrophes—one manmade and one natural. UNITAF was followed by the United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM). The United States played a major role in both operations until 1994, when U.S. forces withdrew. Warlordism, terrorism. PIRATES ,(TRIBILISM) Replaces the Honourable Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre administration .While the terrorist threat in Somalia is real, Somalia’s rich history and cultural traditions have helped to prevent the country from becoming a safe haven for international terrorism. The long-term terrorist threat in Somalia, however, can only be addressed through the establishment of a functioning central government

The Honourable Ronald Reagan,

When our world changed forever

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)

His Excellency ambassador Dr. Maxamed Saciid Samatar (Gacaliye)
Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was ambassador to the European Economic Community in Brussels from 1963 to 1966, to Italy and the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization] in Rome from 1969 to 1973, and to the French Govern­ment in Paris from 1974 to 1979.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac 'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.

Dr. Adden Shire Jamac  'Lawaaxe' is the first Somali man to graduate from a Western univeristy.
Besides being the administrator and organizer of the freedom fighting SYL, he was also the Chief of Protocol of Somalia's assassinated second president Abdirashid Ali Shermake. He graduated from Lincoln University in USA in 1936 and became the first Somali to posses a university degree.

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic

Soomaaliya الصومال‎ Somali Republic
Somalia

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