somalia- Iran threatens to Puntland if its ship is extradited to US

Mr. Hassan al-Nouri and Minister of Minerals and Petroleum of the Government of Puntland in Somalia to the regional American Navy in Djibouti asked them to surrender one of the hijacked Iranian ships to the pirates, which it accuses carrying military equipment and weapons variety, the regional official said in a telephone conversation with «Mareeg online» that about one hundred combatants Somalis in the region «Il» marine vessel, after the international waters in the Indian Ocean immediately after his arrival to the region to the Truth.





The immediate improvement is that belongs to the tribe pirates in this region a number of clan elders to solve the problem before it becomes excessive and disaster, and said «will return to his country« Il »because Preparations are in full swing to receive the ship's crew and its cargo».





He added that «all arrangements ready to receive the ship at sea or on the beach area and await approval by the leaders of the pirates».





According to press sources and security in Puntland that the Iranian Ministry of Defense threatened to use mine water, thumping big bombs on the territory of north-east Somalia if the authorities provided the north-east Somalia information from one of its vessels to U.S. forces, and warned of the consequences of approaching the vessel to enter the political and security differences existing between them and Washington.





The Tehran government called in a letter addressed to the President of Puntland, General Adde Musa Hersi to release the vessels and crew Iranian abducted from the Gulf of Aden, currently detained in the «Il» which is considered one of the biggest bases of Somali militias who organized attacks against foreign ships, formerly the region center For local fishermen.





On the other hand expressed the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Somalia, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah was disturbed due to a rise of acts of piracy on the coast of Somalia and its impact on stability in the region.





It is noteworthy that the pirates are currently detained more than 10 vessels with local authorities indicate that trade faces many obstacles, especially in the north of the country.





, The pirates threatened to kill French citizens unless the release of six fellow prisoners in Paris after a wild chase freely and carried out in the French town of Alcolmandos «Graad» last April, after the short notice of payment of ransom and the release yacht «Le Pen» The French hostages, and regained French half of ransom amounting to two million dollars in the process of rebuttal.





He threatened Al-Hussein - one of the pirates to kill the two hostages «if their demands are not respected source Mareeg

Troops dissolved after Islamists seizure

Mareeg.com: WALAWEYN
The administration of Walaweyn district of lower Shabelle region has suspended the troops of the town after alshabab fighters have seized the town from the regional forces on Friday officials said.



The officials of the administration have also discharged the prisoners in the running detention centers as well they brought to end still the extortion money they used to take from the vehicles.



The residents of the region have expressed thankfulness on the release of the inmates.



The town is now under Alshabab control although it’s yet unknown whether they will maintain their presence in the town.



The Somali government could not be reached for comment.



Fighting in the Horn of Africa country killed some 6,500 civilians last year in Mogadishu alone and more than 1 million Somalis have fled their homes as a result of the insurgency, most of which has been centred in the capital.



mareeg Media Network





mareeg.com Media Network - Source of Somalia

Somali children prevented from scholarship by soldiers

A three-day protest against insecurity and attacks targeting educational institutions in Mogadishu has shut down most schools and left thousands of children out of class, locals said.



"Almost 90 per cent of primary and secondary schools in Mogadishu are participating in the strike," said Abdulkadir Umar Roble, spokesman for the Education Fraternity, an umbrella organization of education networks in the city, which organized the protest.



Deliberate attacks and targeting of schools were the main reasons for the strike, Roble told Mareeg on 3 September. "In this year alone, six schools have been attacked, resulting in injuries to six students and two teachers," he said.



Many schools in the city are totally destroyed and many students are no longer going to school. "We are losing a lot of children from classes because parents no longer feel their children will be safe," he added.



A local civil society activist told Mareeg online the education system in the capital was "almost broke".



"For some strange reason they seem to relish targeting schools," he said, adding that this trend had forced many educators to close their schools and send the children home. "In the last two years, at least two dozen schools have either been destroyed or closed due to the insecurity."



Roble accused government forces of attacking two schools last week, Imam Shaafi and SYL. "Five students and two teachers were injured in the attacks," he said.



"These attacks are badly undermining an already weak education sector," said the civil society activist. "Many in the education sector have worked hard over the last 18 years to restore education, but that is being undermined by the volatile situation."



Abdi Haji Gobdon, the government spokesman, told Mareeg the government did not condone "entering or attacking" educational institutions.



"The government is very concerned about these incidents and will do everything in its power to deal very harshly with the perpetrators," he said.



After the collapse of Somalia's central government in 1991, schools and universities were destroyed as the city was torn apart by militia. But private schools have been gradually re-established over the past few years.



"In the past 18 years we have not experienced these kinds of attacks on schools," said Roble.



Organisers of the school strike said they wanted to show the public and the government that "these targeted attacks must stop". They appealed to the government to deal with the attackers and called on the opposition to cease mounting attacks on government positions near schools.



Roble urged the international community to support his group "and provide both moral and material support at this critical time".

To contact the reporter on this story: A warsame in Moadishu via Mareeg at Chief editor A warsame, for more visit http://www.mareeg.com

Security fears close Yemen Embassy in Mogadishu

The Yemen Embassy in the Somali capital has been closed temporarily due to a security threat, an embassy spokeswoman said Thursday.


The embassy was shut down suddenly at 11.40 Pm. Wednesday after several mortars landed on the embassy's building during deadly fighting between Somali Government troops and islamist fighters.


All the staff were told to leave the embassy, the spokesman who declined to reveal his name told Mareeg.


''There is a security threat to the embassy, so we will be closed until further notice while we reassess our security posture,'' He said in a telephone interview.


Several eyewitnesses told Mareeg English service that quite a few of mortars aimed at the presidential fortress has been hit in the Yemeni embassy on Wednesday when the islamists fought with Somali troops.


The embassy some rather more staff. Only some security guards are still working inside the embassy.


It is not certain when the embassy, located in along the presidential palace where mortars fired by the islamists is beleaguered, will reopen after the spokesman said.


Somali Government, when contacted, said they were not aware of any security threat that would force the embassy to shut down.


Yemeni embassy is one of small numbers of embassies those don't perform their consulate work as intended the for security reasons.

To contact the reporter on this story: Abdi Guled in Moadishu via Mareeg at Abdi Guled

Somali TFG says it will recapture Kismayo, the strategic southern port town

The Somali government on Tuesday says it will recapture Kismayo, the strategic southern port town, from the Al-Shabaab Islamist fighters who seized it last month.



"We will return Kismayo in government hands and we will form anall-inclusive administration for it soon," Abdiresak Ashkir Abdi, Minister for Reconciliation, told reporters in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.



Fighters of the Al-Shabaab group last month seized control of the strategic city of Kismayu after three days of fierce fighting with local clan militia that had been controlling the town for nearly a year.



Nearly 70 were killed in the fighting that also left more than 150 others wounded.



Kismayu, 500 km south of Mogadishu, is the provincial capital of Lower Jubba region in the south of Somalia and is the third largest city in the country. It has an airport and a port that serves the southern part of the country and as far as northeastern part of neighboring Kenya.



Speaking at news conference in Mogadishu, the minister said that the capture of Kismayu is against the reconciliation efforts by the Somali transitional government and a break of the ceasefire agreement with a faction of the Somali opposition.



"We will seek the help of even other countries to get them (Al-Shabaab) out of the city as soon as possible and we strongly condemn their occupation of Kismayu," Abdi said.



The Al-Shabaab Islamist movement has been opposed to the agreement signed between the transitional government and a faction of the opposition coalition, the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia (ARS) in Djibouti in June.



The group is listed by the United States as a terrorist organization and its leaders are wanted by the United States for links with terrorism.



Source: Xinhua, Sept 02, 2008

somalia - Alqaida member calls for Jihadists to come in Somalia

In an Internet broadcast, Salah Ali Salah, aka Al Nabhani, one of the wanted terrorists on the US list of terror suspects, has called on all the mujahidin from all over the world to take part in the fighting in Somalia.



Salah also spoke on the current situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, in the audiovisual broadcast which lasted for some 28 minutes.



"Hi Muslims, Somalia is the frontline we can oust the enemy of Allah so we have to come here to defeat the enemy of Islam" Saleh said in the less minutes lasted disk on the internet.



Alqaida members have been viewing in the latest months Somalia as "forefront of islamists fighters.



In June, al Qaeda released a video seeking to undermine a UN-brokered peace deal that had recently been reached between the Somali transitional government and some opposition factions. Moderates rejected the call to violence, but more radical and militant groups, such as the notorious Shabab, stepped up their attacks, including toward UN personnel. They had not affirmed the connection with al Qaeda, however -- until now at least. On the heels of another peace deal -- the timing likely is not coincidental -- Shabab is proclaiming its allegiance to bin Laden.



"We are negotiating how we can unite into one," said Muktar Robow, a top military commander of Shabab, which the U.S. State Department designated a terrorist organization this year. "We will take our orders from Sheik Osama bin Laden because we are his students."

A senior U.S. official tempered Shabab's enthusiastic affirmation, which could be as much a tactic of provocative rhetoric as it is an indication of a stronger relationship between the two terrorist organizations.



U.S. Ambassador Michael E. Ranneberger acknowledged growing links between Shabab and Al Qaeda, but said ties remained in the early stages.

"There are indications of a fairly close Shabab-Al Qaeda connection, though it's not clear to what extent they've been operationalized," he said. "Is Shabab taking orders from Al Qaeda? I would say no. They are still running their own show."





Even Shabab "running their own show," of course, still poses a threat to Somalia's fragile hopes for stability. To contact the reporter on this story: Liiban Osman in Moadishu via Mareeg at Liban Osman Puntland Somalia

South African Gov repositions Somali refugees

South African Government has completed the relocation of some 250 families of Somali refugees from Fishhoak village in Southern Cape Town to Bluewater camp in the northwest to reduce the xenophobia fear and the bad life in that camps.



The relocation, which ended over the weekend, was carried out by the interior ministry It included the movement of 250 refugees by road.



"We gave priority to vulnerable people in need of protection - including children and families headed by women," says official in the interior ministry.



The fishhoak, which has seen a massive influx of refugees, mainly from Somalia, has experienced uncleaness and life threaten by SoutH Africans- doubled its original capacity after news refugees have started arriving in it.



"The ongoing repatriation of 250 Somali refugees from Fishhoak to Bluewater this year means that Bluewater is now less crowded and able to take in some of the refugees from Fishhoak officials at South African interior ministry said.



One of the relocated Somali refugees Abdullahi Sheikh Farah told Mareeg online that the new camp is healthier and lesscrowded than Bluewater camp.



The new relocation comes as the country's is at ice-cold time that can threaten the refugees' lives those at unoccupied locations.



On last month of May 2008 additional Somalis have lost lives and property in xenophobia attack against the foreigners in South Africa To contact the reporter on this story: A warsame in Moadishu via Mareeg at info@mareeg.com