From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun Jan 17 2010 - 06:58:00 EST
Somalia and Yemen 'swapping militants'
By Martin Plaut
BBC Africa analyst
Sunday, 17 January 2010
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A radical Somali Islamist group fighting to overthrow the government in
Somalia says it is exchanging fighters with rebels in Yemen.
An al-Shabab spokesman told the BBC the group was sending forces to Yemen
and receiving fighters in return because of its close links with the
country.
Yemen has come under scrutiny after last month's failed US airliner attack
was linked to militants in the country.
Al-Shabab controls swathes of southern and central Somalia.
Its ideology is based on a much more radical form of Islam than is
traditionally practiced in Somalia, and the movement is accused of being an
ally of al-Qaeda.
Al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Raage portrayed al-Shabab as no more
than the organised arm of Islamic resistance to Western oppression.
He denied formal links with groups like al-Qaeda.
"What is al-Qaeda?" the Sheikh asked. "It is Muslim people who are massacred
in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and other Islamic countries like Yemen."
A Muslim is the brother of other Muslims, he said, "so we and al-Qaeda share
the Muslim faith and are fighting for freedom. That's all we share."
Sheikh Raage rules out talking to Somalia's Western-backed government,
saying this can only take place when African Union forces present in the
country leave.
He also warned that if American troops are ever sent to Somalia they will
end up dead.
"They will suffer the same fate they did in 1993, when they were dragged
through the streets of Mogadishu," he said.
Al-Shabab's message is one of unremitting hostility to Somalia's government
and any form of Western involvement in the country.
"We are on that road, and we will be on that road for the rest of our
lives," said the sheikh.
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