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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Tue Aug 02 2011 - 20:07:40 EDT
UN misled by sacked worker, claims mosque
By PETER NG’ETICH pngetich@ke.nationmedia.com
*
*The Daily Nation KE August 2 2011
A mosque at the centre of claims that it was funding al Shabaab terrorists
has accused the UN of relying on evidence from a sacked employee to condemn
it.
Pumwani Riyadha
Mosque<http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Kenyan+mosque+admits+past+link+to+Shabaab+banker+/-/1056/1211254/-/oo14dt/-/index.html>Committee
(PRMC) said in a statement on Tuesday that the former employee
misled UN consultant Babatunde Taiwo, who had sought information about the
institution.
“An arms group expert with the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea
sought audience with PRMC and the facts were laid bare to him.
“But he has been gathering his so-called intelligence from a person of
questionable character who we sacked,” said Mr Wabillahi Tawfiq, an official
of the mosque in Majengo, Nairobi.
He added: “The former employee was sacked for continuously engaging in
drinking binges, which is against the basic teachings of Islam.
“It is thus shocking to find out that Mr Taiwo went ahead to publish
intelligence gathered through a person of questionable character.”
Mr Tawfiq accused Mr Taiwo and the media of malice and misleading the
public.
“As the management committee of the mosque, we wish to assure Kenyans that
the people of Pumwani and Majengo in particular who worship at PRMC have no
association whatsoever with al Shabaab or any other terrorist association,”
he said.
Mr Tawfiq said Tourism Minister Najib Balala and Nominated MP Amina Abdallah
donated Sh200,000 and Sh500,000 respectively towards the construction of the
mosque.
“PRMC currently has a multi-million shilling project to reconstruct its
mosque which is nearing completion.
“Several fund raising activities attended by among others minister Balala in
September 2009 raised Sh1.75 million...These funds were wholly used in the
mosque reconstruction and evidence to the effect is available,” the
statement said.
He said Ms Abdallah pledged Sh500,000, which she honoured in February 2011.
He challenged those with evidence on alleged al Shabaab funding to present
it to the authorities.
On Sunday, the mosque said ‘Amiir’ Ahmad Iman, a suspected al Shabaab
financier, was once an official of the building committee, but left in 2009
without notice.
The UN report says Amiir funnelled funds from the mosque and Muslim Youth
Council to al Shabaab. The report also identifies Eastleigh, Nairobi, as the
hub for recruiting al Shabaab militants.
It identified Mr Abdirahman Abdi alias Salawat as the leader of the group.
He has two Kenyan passports (No. A739601 and A183790) under the name Abdi
Warsame Dirie.
The UN report says Salawat works with Mr Abdullahi Abdinur Mohamed alias
Topolino. The two are alleged to have rented a hotel in Eastleigh for
Sh350,000 per month until late 2008.
The hotel is alleged to have been used to house illegal Somali immigrants
and al Qaeda recruits in transit to Europe.
The report says Topolino admitted that the hotel served as a hub for buying
and selling passports and illegal procurement of visas.
He described it as the work of immigration brokers know as *mukalas*, but
denied that such services were extended to al Shabaab members or their
families.
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