Band Aid and UNHCR link up again to help Somali and Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia

Somali refugees at a water outlet in Ethiopia. Band Aid's donation will help provide fresh water for refugees in Aw-Barre camp. (UNHCR)

Band Aid and UNHCR link up again to help Somali and Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia
From UNHCR.org
Friday, 17 September 2010

LONDON, United Kingdom, September 17 (UNHCR) – The Band Aid Charitable Trust set up by rock music legends Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in 1985 has given £55,000 (US$86,000) to UNHCR to help Somali refugees in eastern Ethiopia.

The grant will be used to construct a gravity-fed pipeline to provide a regular supply of fresh water to refugees in the Aw-Barre camp, which hosts some 13,000 Somalis who have fled their conflict-torn country. Some 30,000 Ethiopians living nearby will also benefit from the project.

The provision of clean water will have benefits for public health and personal hygiene. It will also have a positive gender impact as women and girls will no longer have to run the risk of being attacked or raped while collecting water outside the camp. They will also now have more time to spend on education or income-generation activities.

Claire Palmer, a fund-raiser for UNHCR in London, welcomed the collaboration and noted that "this project marks the rekindling of a relationship between UNHCR and The Band Aid Charitable Trust that began in the mid-80s when Band Aid supported UNHCR with funds to provide emergency humanitarian aid for Sudanese and Somali refugees living in Ethiopia."

The Band Aid Charitable Trust was set up to handle and allocate funds raised by the song, "Do They Know It's Christmas?," which was performed by a superband brought together by Geldof of the Boomtown Rats and Ure from Ultravox.

Led by the two men, the group featured artists such as Phil Collins, Sir Paul McCartney, Boy George, Bono, Paul Weller, George Michael, Sting and David Bowie. It became a massive charts hit. New versions of the song were released in 1989 and 2004.

Al-Qaeda trained foreigners help fuel Somalia uprising

Al-Qaida trained foreigners help fuel Somalia uprising
Report by Sudarsan Raghavan, The Washington Post
Dated Wednesday, 09 June 2010:

Foreign fighters trained in Afghanistan are gaining influence inside Somalia's al-Shabab militia, fueling a radical Islamist insurgency with ties to Osama bin Laden, according to Somali intelligence officials, former al-Shabab fighters and analysts.

The foreigners, who include Pakistanis and Arabs, are inspiring the Somali militants to import al-Qaida's ideology and brutal tactics from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. A significant number of Americans are also being drawn to the Somali conflict. Two New Jersey men were arrested Sunday in New York City and charged with planning to travel to Somalia to join al-Shabab.

In April, suicide bombers drove a white truck filled with explosives into an African Union peacekeepers base, mirroring recent bombings in Baghdad or Kabul. Within hours, a grainy photo emerged on local websites of a young, gap-toothed man clutching a sign in Arabic over the words "Distributed by al-Shabab." It declared the operation revenge for the U.S.-aided killings of Abu Ayyub al Masri and Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the top leaders of the insurgent group al-Qaida in Iraq.

"The foreign jihadists were once in the shadows," said Rashid Abdi, a Somalia analyst in Nairobi with the International Crisis Group, a conflict research organization. "Now, there is no doubt they have taken control of the movement."

Foreigners are increasingly foot soldiers in Somalia as well.

The two New Jersey suspects, Mohamed Mahmood Alessa, 20, and Carlos Eduardo Almonte, 24, appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in Newark on charges of conspiring to kill, maim and kidnap people outside the United States.

In September, a Somali American from Seattle drove a truck bomb into an African Union base in Mogadishu, killing 21 peacekeepers. In December, a Dane of Somali descent blew himself up at a hotel in the capital, killing 24 people, including three government ministers.

In February, al-Shabab formally declared ties to al-Qaida. The militia has received praise from bin Laden and radical Yemeni American cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, who has been linked to the suspect in last year's shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, and the suspect in an attempted attack aboard a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day. Mr. Aulaqi has been cited as an inspiration by the Pakistani American held in last month's attempted bombing in Times Square.

Al-Shabab's main rival, Hezb-i-Islam, also has proclaimed bin Laden welcome. "We are both fighting the Christian invaders in Somalia," said group spokesman Mohamed Osman Aruz, referring to the West and to Somalia's mostly Christian neighbors who back the government.

The rise of the foreign fighters suggests a growing internationalization of the conflict, part of a trend emerging from Yemen to Mali, where al-Qaida's regional affiliates are showing increasing ambitions nearly a decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Today, U.S. officials consider the vast, ungoverned lands of the Arabian Peninsula and Africa the second-biggest terrorism threat after Afghanistan and Pakistan. As the United States focuses its military muscle in those regions, there is concern that more al-Qaeda-linked fighters could migrate to this part of the world.

"The lesson of the last 10 to 15 years of counterterrorism is that, as pressure goes on the network in one place, it moves elsewhere," former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said during a recent visit to Cameroon's capital, Yaounde.

Somalia is where the United States and the West are quietly engaged in the most ambitious effort outside the theaters of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq to halt the spread of radical Islam and al-Qaida's influence. The United States and its allies are providing weapons, training, intelligence and logistical support to the fragile government.

They are also funding the African Union peacekeeping force that protects -- many say props up -- the government. Yet al-Shabab, or "The Youth" in Arabic, now controls large patches of south and central Somalia. The government, divided by political infighting, controls less than five square miles in Mogadishu.

In the capital, al-Qaida-inspired tactics have altered the landscape. Hotels are tucked behind steel gates. Peacekeepers use high-tech gadgets to frisk visitors for explosive belts. Ordinary Somalis avoid empty, parked cars.

The foreign fighters in Somalia number 300 to 1,200, according to Somali and U.S. intelligence estimates. Most are from neighboring countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Yemen and Sudan. But they include Afghans, Pakistanis and Arabs, say former al-Shabab fighters.

At least 20 Somali Americans have joined the militia, including a top field commander, Omar Hammami, an Alabama native whose nom de guerre is Abu Mansoor al-Ameriki. He has starred in propaganda videos to attract more foreign fighters.

[ Credit: This report can be found reprinted online at Post-Gazette:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10160/1064187-82.stm ]

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Ethiopia rebels Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) 'capture towns'

Note, the reports could not be verified and Ethiopia has in the past dismissed rebel accounts of military gains.

From BBC News at 10:29 GMT, Saturday, 14 November 2009:
Ethiopia rebels 'capture towns'

Ethnic-Somali rebels in the south-east of Ethiopia say they have launched an offensive against government forces and captured several towns.

The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said it began attacking on several fronts on Tuesday.

The separatists said a "significant number" of Ethiopian troops had been killed and their equipment captured.

The reports could not be verified and Ethiopia has in the past dismissed rebel accounts of military gains.

"The operation involved thousands of ONLF troops and resulted in two days of heavy fighting," an ONLF statement said.

The group added that its forces had been "warmly welcomed" in the towns it claimed to have captured - Obolka, Hamaro, Higlaaley, Yucub, Galadiid, Boodhaano and Gunogabo.

The ONLF, formed in 1984, is fighting for the independence of ethnic Somalis in the oil-rich Ogaden region.

It says the Somali-speaking population has been marginalised by Addis Ababa.

Fighting has escalated over the past two years following an ONLF attack on a Chinese-run oil exploration field.

More than 70 people died in the attack, including Ethiopian guards and Chinese workers.

Addis Ababa calls the rebels "terrorists" and has cut off all access to the region.

However, watchdogs have accused the Ethiopian government of human rights violations.

Pirates tow Saudi oil-tanker to Somali port with US Navy in pursuit - Islamist terrorists on brink of taking Mogadisu where govt is on its last legs

Excerpt from today's Snowmail by Jon Snow, Channel 4 News, UK:

INDIAN OCEAN ANARCHY

Now they've captured an oil-tanker. The Somali pirates who've been hijacking ships and ransoming them for millions have claimed their biggest prize so far.

This ship is apparently Saudi, though the foreign office has confirmed that a couple of Brits are on board. Reports are pretty hazy. At one point, it looked like the ship had been freed, but the latest report suggest it's being towed to a Somali port.

We report on the maritime anarchy that now prevails off the east coast of Africa, matched by the anarchy in Somalia itself where Islamist rebels are on the brink of taking control of Mogadishu, and the government is on its last legs.

Visit Channel 4 News website for today's 7pm news report.
- - -

Excerpt from today's Newsnight email by Jeremy Paxman, BBC2, UK:

PIRATES

Somali pirates have hijacked a giant Saudi owned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean which was travelling towards the US. The vessel is now heading towards the Somali coast, with the US navy in pursuit. The vessel can hold up to two million barrels of oil - more than one quarter of Saudi Arabia's daily exports - worth over $100 million. What can the US military do about it? We'll have the very latest.

Visit BBC website for today's Newsnight report.