From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sat Jul 10 2010 - 17:20:48 EDT
INTERVIEW-Somali leader worried by foreign jihadists
Sat Jul 10, 2010 10:01am GMT
* Says foreign fighter numbers rising
* Government unable to carry out its duties
By Ibrahim Mohamed
MOGADISHU, July 10 (Reuters) - Somalia's embattled president urged regional
powers to step up the fight against the growing number of foreign fighters
he said are joining the ranks of Islamist insurgents in the Horn of Africa
nation.
Days after neighbouring nations promised to deploy an extra 2,000
peacekeepers to the anarchic country, President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said the
swelling number of militants posed a growing threat to regional security.
"Somalia is at risk from the growing number of foreign militants (here). We
cannot turn a blind eye. Things have gone beyond a level we can tolerate so
there is an urgent need for international or regional help," he told Reuters
late on Friday.
Foreign investors in Kenya, east Africa's largest economy which shares a
largely porous border with Somalia, cite the Islamist insurgency as a
serious concern.
Western diplomats and security officials fear Islamist extremists could use
Somalia as a launch pad for attacks across the volatile region and further
afield.
Ahmed said his government, which controls little more than a few blocks in
the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and is heavily dependent on an African Union
peacekeeping force to ensure a semblance of security, was unable to carry
out its functions.
"My government can do little to forge its institutional duties because of
constant attacks," he said.
Earlier this week, the regional bloc IGAD vowed to boost AU troop numbers to
more than 8,000 but said they eventually wanted a 20,000-strong force,
including United Nation blue helmets.
"The IGAD leaders have agreed that Somalia can no longer remain as it is,
because every country in the region, including Ethiopia, will face the
terrorist threat," Ahmed said in an interview.
Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia in 2006 to oust an Islamist movement from
Mogadishu. That sparked the Islamist insurgency which still rages.
Hardline Islamist group al Shabaab, which claims links to al Qaeda, has
previously threatened to attack Ethiopia and Kenya, as well as Uganda and
Burundi which have sent peacekeepers to prop up Ahmed's struggling
administration.
It is not yet clear whether Ethiopia, an IGAD member along with Kenya,
Uganda, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia, will send peacekeepers.
For now, a U.N. resolution prevents Somalia's immediate neighbours from
contributing troops, although regional leaders have suggested the ban should
be reconsidered.
In southern Somalia's coastal town of Kismayu, local al Shabaab commanders
and residents say the Islamists are on a massive recruitment drive.
"They are getting hundreds of volunteers who are joining them because there
is no work and they (rebels) pay some money," resident Ali Yusuf told
Reuters.
"Everyone we recruit we send to a training camp. Inside the camp he will get
a weapon and ammunition," said one al Shabaab fighter who did not want to be
named.
More than 21,000 Somalis have been killed since the insurgency began in
2007, while about three million people, almost a third of the population,
are dependent on aid. (Additional reporting by Sahra Abdi in Nairobi;
Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Jon Hemming)
C Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
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