Somali head admits militant gains

[Idris16]

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed has said Islamist insurgents now control most of the country, and have advanced to the edge of Mogadishu.

Mr Yusuf said there was no effective government in Somalia, and that insurgents were now able to carry out attacks in the capital at will.

The president was speaking to Somali parliamentarians in Kenya, a day after talks on forming a new cabinet failed.

Last month, regional grouping Igad set a deadline of 12 November for a deal.

The mandate of the Transitional Government of Somalia (TFG), formed in late 2004, is set to expire in August 2009.

Call for unity

President Yusuf was at his gloomiest on Saturday, addressing Somali MPs in neighbouring Kenya.

The government controls Mogadishu and Baidoa and people are killed there every day

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed

He said the Islamist insurgency, which looked as though it had been crushed two years ago following intervention by the Ethiopian army, was now as strong as ever.

Members of the al-Shabab group now controlled most of the country and had advanced to the suburbs of Mogadishu, as well as Baidoa, the home town of the parliament, he said.

"The government controls Mogadishu and Baidoa and people are killed there every day," Mr Yusuf told the meeting in Nairobi.

"Islamists have taken over everywhere else, so if I ask you parliamentarians: do you know the situation we face? Who causes all these problems? We are to blame."


Mr Yusuf said the al-Shabab group now controlled most of the country

President Yusuf lamented that at this vital time when unity is needed, talks on forming a new transitional government had ended in failure.

He and Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein have been unable to agree on the make-up of a new cabinet, missing a deadline issued by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Igad) last month.

In the meantime members of al-Shabab, which the US believes to be linked to al-Qaeda, have consolidated their hold on southern Somalia, meting out punishments on the population based on their interpretation of Islamic law.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7731839.stm

 

[Idris16]

I.C.U and Al-shabab towards the capital

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf has admitted Islamist insurgents now control most of the country and raised the prospect his government could completely collapse.

Islamist fighters have been slowly advancing on the capital, raising the stakes in their two-year rebellion and undermining fragile U.N.-brokered peace talks to end 17 years of chaos in the Horn of Africa nation.


"Most of the country is in the hands of Islamists and we are only in Mogadishu and Baidoa, where there is daily war," Yusuf told some of his legislators in neighbouring Kenya on Saturday.

His remarks were aired by Somali media late on Saturday.

"We, ourselves, are behind the problems and we are accountable in this world and in the hereafter. Islamists have been capturing all towns and now control Elasha. It is every man for himself if the government collapses.

"The Islamists kill city cleaners, they will not spare legislators," Yusuf said.

Elasha is only 15 km (9 miles) south of Mogadishu.

The insurgents have been enforcing a strict form of Islamic law in areas they capture. On Saturday, they whipped 32 people for taking part in a traditional dance in rebel-held territory south of the capital.

Yusuf blamed his government's ineffectiveness partly to disagreements between him and Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.

HUMANITARIAN DISASTER

Regional head of states held a Somali crisis meeting at the end of October and demanded the four-year administration name a new cabinet within 15 days.

"The prime minister gave me a list of new cabinet ministers but I do not know how to approve names of those who destroyed our government when the constructive ones were excluded," Yusuf told the legislators.

"We have no government (ministers) and we should go back to our country very quickly and establish a government."

Yusuf is in Nairobi to meet MPs who remained after the regional meeting. Some analysts said he lobbied them to vote against the list of ministers the prime minister forwarded to him when the matter was tabled in parliament.

Islamists ruled Mogadishu and most of south Somalia for half of 2006. Allied Ethiopian and Somali government forces toppled them but they have waged an Iraq-style guerrilla campaign since then, gradually taking back territory.

As when they controlled the capital in 2006, the Islamists are again providing much-needed security in many areas but are unpopular with many moderate Muslims in Somalia for also imposing fundamentalist practices.

The turmoil in Somalia has caused instability across the Horn of Africa, fuelling one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters and triggering a wave of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden, a vital shipping lane for trade between Europe and Asia.

http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnJOE4AF04N.html

 

[Idris16]

Warlord-government on the verge of collapse according to Warlord Yusuf

Yusuf said his government only had control of the capital and the southwestern town of Baidoa, which is the seat of Parliament.

"Imagine how the country's future will be if al-Shabab takes (control of Somalia). It is really at risk," the president said, referring to one of the Islamic groups that has recently made significant territorial gains.

In its latest offensive, al-Shabab on Saturday seized without resistance the port town of Barawe, 110 miles (180 kilometers) southwest of Mogadishu.

The Somali government is close to collapse because disputes within its ranks have allowed armed Islamic insurgents to take control of much of the country, the president said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7OaI4_kjeHA-o4UhlmP7vlWmrrwD94FV4880

 

[Veritas]

Double post?

 

[zahrany]

:salam2:
We Somalians need to unite
may Allah make our country
a better country to live
and every other muslim countries:tti_sister:
jzakallah 4 sharing

 

[Idris16]

Double post?

:salam2:
Well i only posted some articles abt the somali conflict from different news. They are the same but are different.

:salam2:
We Somalians need to unite
may Allah make our country
a better country to live
and every other muslim countries:tti_sister:
jzakallah 4 sharing

Yes we need to be united but we were united in 2006 but unfortunately there were some warlords who didn't like the idea to have an islamic state, and they used the excuse to say that's not islamic what they are doing and they said many times they have ties with al-qaeda. But i smell victory in 2009. Ameen to ur dua.

 

[abuayesha]

Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed has said Islamist insurgents now control most of the country, and have advanced to the edge of Mogadishu.

"Islamists have taken over everywhere else, so if I ask you parliamentarians: do you know the situation we face? Who causes all these problems? We are to blame."

Emphasis from my side!

Who is this President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed? Name looks like a Muslim. But his utterance "Islamist insurgents" looks like Zionist. Please forgive me for using the word Zionist. How could he use Islam with insurgency? If he is a Muslim, then he is bringing back the period of Jahiliyyah to his country.

How could he unite the divided country because he himself divide branding a group "Islamist insurgents". He can brand any group insurgent if the group terrorize the inhabitants. He cannot brand Islaam as a terrorist religion. So, dear Somali brothers and sisters, beware of this man!

Wassalaam

 

[Zaynab123]

Emphasis from my side!

Who is this President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed? Name looks like a Muslim. But his utterance "Islamist insurgents" looks like Zionist. Please forgive me for using the word Zionist. How could he use Islam with insurgency? If he is a Muslim, then he is bringing back the period of Jahiliyyah to his country.

How could he unite the divided country because he himself divide branding a group "Islamist insurgents". He can brand any group insurgent if the group terrorize the inhabitants. He cannot brand Islaam as a terrorist religion. So, dear Somali brothers and sisters, beware of this man!

Wassalaam

Asalamu alaykum

you are right, his name is so beautiful but remeber name doesn't follow who you are but it's the heart. that man is evil. he is selfish all he cares about is him as a president but he doesn't care about the lives of innocent people who die everyday in SOMALIA. i like how you used the word ZIONIST to describe him. may Allah subhana wata'ala guide him and if not may Allah take him away from us. amiin

wasalam

 

[Zaynab123]

:salam2:
Well i only posted some articles abt the somali conflict from different news. They are the same but are different.




Yes we need to be united but we were united in 2006 but unfortunately there were some warlords who didn't like the idea to have an islamic state, and they used the excuse to say that's not islamic what they are doing and they said many times they have ties with al-qaeda. But i smell victory in 2009. Ameen to ur dua.

Asalamu alaykum

Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!
VICTORY SOON INSHA ALLAH!

wasalam