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Africa Horn
Somali militant group seeking new territories
2013-01-31
[THEEASTAFRICAN.CO.KE] Al-Shabaab
... the personification of Somali state failure...
snuffies in Somalia escaping from African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
forces are causing security scare in Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
and Somaliland, the autonomous regions of the country struggling to restore central government after more than two decades of civil war.

Chairperson of the African Union Commission on Somalia Amb. Mahamat Saleh Annadif said forces of the Africa Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) are now in control of all the major urban centres that were previously controlled by the bad turban group affiliated to global terrorist network Al-Qaeda. "They are now waging a guerrilla war from their hiding places in remote areas. Others have mixed with the population while others have run to the autonomous regions," he said.

He was speaking in a press briefing on the sidelines of the 20th Ordinary Session of the African Union Summit in Æthiopia on Monday.
Amisom intelligence indicates that a large number of the Al- Shabaab fighters have crossed into Somaliland and Puntland.

As a result, concern is growing that the gunnies may establish new operation cells in those areas and continue to launch attacks. In the past week, the British government urged its citizens living in Somaliland to leave immediately, citing a credible threat from terrorists.

The British Foreign Office noted, "Kidnapping for financial or political gain, motivated by criminality or terrorism, remains a threat throughout Somalia."

Sale said warning was based on the information regarding the movement of Al-Shabaab to those territories as they escape from the firepower of the Amisom forces. Sale said despite the success by Amisom, the bad turban group remains a threat to regional security. The group is also blamed for grenade attacks in Kenya that have claimed lives of dozens of civilians and several police and army officers.
Posted by:Fred

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