From: Judy Miriga

To understand, read and connect the dots good people ……… Information is power…………………….

Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com/

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Man moves to court seeking orders to remove President Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto from office
Updated Monday, September 30th 2013 at 15:22 GMT +3
By Lucianne Limo

NAIROBI, KENYA: A man has moved to court seeking orders to remove President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto from office.

Isaac Aluochier wants Uhuru and Ruto to cease from holding the top jobs in the country for allegedly being in office illegally.

He argued that prior to becoming President, between August 27,2010 and April 2012, Uhuru was Kanu Chairman and continued to hold the position of an appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Kenya right until he assumed office as President.

He accused Ruto of prior to becoming Deputy President, between August 27 2010 and August 2011, was both the Deputy Party Leader, Strategy of the Orange Democratic Movement ( ODM) and appointed Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology.

Aluochier cited Article 77(2) of the Constitution which prohibits an appointed State officer from holding office in a political party.

“By the Respondents holding both the offices of appointed Ministers in the Cabinet, and political party offices, they contravened Article 77(2) of the Constitution, “he said.

The petitioner wants the court declare to that by the operation of Article 75(3) of the Constitution, the Respondents were rendered disqualified from holding any other State office.

In his petition ,he wants the court to order the respondents ’ holding of the offices of President and Deputy President to cease with immediate effect, as they are not qualified to hold these or any other State offices.

Justice David Majanja disqualified himself from hearing the matter on Friday and referred the case to Justice Mumbi Ngugi for hearing on Thursday.

Attorney General Githu Muigai applied to be enjoined in the case as an interested party.

The petitioner also wants the court to order the duo to pay general damages amounting to the cost of holding a presidential by-election, and the sum total of salaries and allowances they received as State officers over the period.

He argued that Pursuant to Article 75(2) of the Constitution, the Respondents had to be disciplined for their contraventions of Article 77(2), a discipline that was not carried out against them.

He added that notwithstanding the Respondents’ failure to be disciplined, pursuant to Article 2(4) of the Constitution, that failure to discipline the President and his Deputy was invalid, and they stood disciplined by the operation of law.

“Consequently, any holding of State office by the Respondents, whether as Member of Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Finance or President, or as Member of Parliament, Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology or Deputy President, was invalid, pursuant to Article 2(4) of the Constitution, “said Aluochier.

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We have died for far too long for nothing, so let’s fix the Kenya police

Updated Sunday, September 29th 2013 at 22:02 GMT +3

By PETER WANYONYI
There are times when this country unites fervently in the face of adversity, and this was on display ten days ago when terrorists attacked the Westgate Mall.

Support for the security personnel involved in the operation was unanimous, and it was fantastic to see the volunteer spirit at work as citizens helped to rescue and transport the injured, while others brought food and refreshments to the soldiers and emergency-response personnel on site.

This column salutes the gallant spirit of the security personnel, as well as the volunteers who gave up time and resources — and ran the risk of possible injury from the militants barricaded inside the shopping mall. Our condolences go to the family and friends of those who tragically lost their lives in the atrocity, including President Uhuru, who lost family in the attack.

Systemic failures

The hard questions will already be coming out behind the closed doors and curtained windows of the intelligence and security superstructure of the country. This column has, in the past, lamented the here-today-gone-tomorrow focus of our police where security is concerned. We just don’t seem to have the required patience to painstakingly follow leads and use the intelligence garnered from them to secure the country.

The terrorist atrocity was spectacular and sudden, but if we look closer, we will no doubt find that it was a result of systemic failures in security. Our policing is rather haphazard, and seems more geared towards allowing the police to make a quick shilling via extortion, rather than actually providing citizens with the security they deserve and expect.

As we ponder this, nothing has been done about the Baragoi massacre in which dozens of police officers were slaughtered after being led into an ambush thanks to faulty intelligence, poor kitting and questionable command. The supervisors of the police force are still in office; no one ever took responsibility for the atrocity. And that was that. No one was fired for it, and it appears to have quietly receded into the hidden recesses of our collective national memory.

No stone unturned

Every so often, we have fitful initiatives, like the long-planned sweeping up of illegal arms. But political expediency intervenes and the initiatives are quietly shelved. The government has long promised to “beef up” security in northern Kenya, especially on the borders with Somalia and Ethiopia. One of the reasons that locals in those regions have firearms is to defend themselves against livestock rustling from neighbouring countries. Of course, securing the borders against such incursions, in the first place, would make it unnecessary for the locals to have firearms, and would also ensure that foreigners do not infiltrate the country to sell weapons or engage in terror activities.

But that sounds like asking too much. Every week, Kenyans are killed in various parts of the country as a direct result of lack of adequate police work. The much promised “we will leave no stone unturned” action never quite materialises, and we quickly go back to waiting for the next atrocity.

When will this vicious and tragic comedy stop?

Sunday, September 29, 2013
Are these the faces behind Westgate mall attack?
In Summary
Robow – established the first militant Islamist training camp in Somalia in 1996 and reportedly left in 2000 to train with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Godane – held meetings in Somalia to come up with strategies on how to execute attacks in Kenya, leaked NIS report says.

Iman – is said to have been controversial since his days at Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology, where he graduated with a degree in engineering.

Samantha – British media claim she was involved in the Westgate terrorist attack.

Sandheere – is believed to have been the one who escorted the terrorists who attacked the Westgate Mall.

Sheikh Mukhtar Robow alias Abu Mansur

Al-Shabaab deputy leader

A leaked NIS report says Muktar Sheikh Robow and Dahir Aweys arrived in Hela Marer area, Gedo region, from Ufuro area in the Bay region, Somalia, on March 22.

They held a meeting with 50 other leaders where they discussed the mode of training for their operatives as well as plan on how to carry out attacks on vital installations in Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Mombasa and Nairobi.

The FBI has put a $5 million bounty on Robow.

Robow, the deputy leader of al-Shabaab, is also a former spokesman for the group.

He was one of the founders of the terror group. He is from Baidoa in the Bay region of Somalia, where his Rahanweyn clan holds overwhelming influence.

Robow established the first militant Islamist training camp in Somalia, al-Hudda, in Huddur in 1996. He reportedly left Somalia in 2000 to train with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He returned to Somalia after the Taliban fell from power. In 2003, he helped create al-Shabaab from the remnants of al Ittihad al Islami.
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Ahmed Abdi Godane, alias, Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr
Al-Shabaab founder and overall commander

A leaked National Security Intelligence (NIS) report says that early this year Godane held meetings in Somalia to come up with strategies on how to execute attacks in Kenya. The FBI has put a $7 million bounty on him.

Godane, who was born in northern Somalia, now known as Somaliland, has been leading al-Shabaab since 2008.

He studied accounting in Pakistan and while there he occasionally travelled to Afghanistan where he came into contact with al-Qaeda, led by the late Osama bin Laden.

When he returned home he founded the northern wing of Somalia’s al-Ittihad al-Islami (Islamic Union), which was established by Somali Mujahiddins returning from Afghanistan. He was to later start recruiting and indoctrinating the militia who were later to start attacks against Western interests in Somalia, including kidnapping and killing of Western nationals.

Godane was to later join the Council of Islamic Courts before teaming up with Aden Hashi Farah to form al-Shabaab when they split from CIC.
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Sheikh Ahmed Iman Ali

According to a leaked National Security Intelligence report, Iman — who was appointed by Al-Shabaab as its de facto leader of Kenyan fighters in Somalia — was among the masterminds of the Westgate attack.

“Al-Shabaab remains focused on conducting attacks through individuals that have not been arrested before. The masterminds of the intended attacks are Kenyans, who are in middle and senior management levels of the terror group.

Among them; Maalim Abass Guyo, Ahmed Iman Ali and Jan Mohamed Khan alias Abu Musab Al Mombasa,” the NIS report says.

Last year, Iman released a video declaring war against Kenya on behalf of Al-Shabaab.

Interviews with those who know Sheikh Iman, a former chairman of Muslim Youth Centre (MYC) in Pumwani, Nairobi, say he has been controversial since his days at Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology, where he graduated with a degree in engineering.

Born either in 1973 or 1974, Iman presents security agents with something new in the fight against terrorism.

Those who know him say he was a charming preacher with a fanatical following among various Kenyan communities.
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Samantha Lewthwaite a.k.a. “White Widow”

The British media has claimed she was involved in the terrorist attack on the Westgate Shopping Mall.

There is no evidence so far to link her to the attack but police and security forces say Samantha Lewthwaite— the widow of one of the four suicide bombers who devastated London in July 2005 — was involved in the Kenya attack, let alone being a “mastermind,” as the British papers have claimed.

The International Police (Interpol) has issued a red-alert calling for arrest.

She is wanted by Kenya “on charges of being in possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony dating back to December 2011” as part of a suspected plot to bomb cities along the Kenyan coast at Christmas.
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Abu Sandheere

He is believed to have been the one who escorted the terrorists who attacked Westgate Shopping Mall.

He is suspected to be a 50-year-old Kenyan man who is an associate of the late Al-Qaeda leader Fazul Abdullah. Sandheere, whose parents were a Maasai and a European, is thought to have escaped moments after the assault started on Saturday.

“He escorted the attackers to the mall and then left as people were fleeing. He then travelled to the border and crossed to Somalia,” said an intelligence source.

According to counter-terrorism sources, the man seconded to Al-Shabaab by the Al-Qaeda network arrived in Somalia on Friday after days of avoiding the tight security that had been mounted across the country to stop suspected terrorists from escaping.

Sandheere, said to be the regional Al-Qaeda man in charge of intelligence, logistics and special operations, escaped from Westgate with two other unidentified terrorists. He is also described as being “extremely sharp”.

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The Independent (Kampala)
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Uganda: Kenyan Attackers Linked to Kampala
By Haggai Matsiko, 27 September 2013

Ahmed Abdi Godane, the man believed to be the mastermind of the July 2010 Kampala bombing has been linked to the Sept.21 attack on a popular shopping mall in Kenya.

The Kenyan attack is said to bear the radicalised fingerprint of the 36-year old Godane aka Abu Zubeir or ‘the emir of al-Shabaab’ who is said to be among the most brutal among the leaders of the Somali militants.

Over 60 civilians were killed when armed terrorists brandishing heavy automatic weapons attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. Analysts show that Godane has links with the global terrorist group, Al Qaeda. It is the most bloody terrorist attack in the region after the 1998 twin attacks on U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and the 2010 attacks in Kampala.

Al-Shabaab suicide bombers hit Kampala on July 11, 2010 killing 74 people watching the World Cup final at two different venues were killed.

Following that attack, the U.S. placed a US$7-million bounty on the elusive Godane for his alleged role in the attack.

Since the Nairobi attack security around major installations and public facilities in Kampala has been strengthened. Security chiefs have also been huddled in strategy meeting to avert a possible attack.

The main reason the Islamist gun men attacked the Westgate Mall, killing over 60 people, they said, was to revenge on Kenya for its onslaught on them in Somalia. They chose to strike now because they claimed they aimed for a time when Kenyan authorities least expected them.

Security on high alert:

The Uganda Army Spokesperson, Paddy Ankunda told The Independent that the fact that the terrorists attacked Kenya, which like Uganda also has troops in Somalia means that Uganda has to be on high alert too.

“I mean two years ago,” Ankunda noted, “we experienced a terrible attack to, so this is very dangerous to us too and we are on high alert, we are not leaving anything to chance.”

More than Kenya, with about 6,700 troops, the Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF), is the main contributor of forces in Somalia and has been responsible for most of the thorough campaigns against the terrorist group in Somalia. It is no doubt that such credentials put Uganda on the terrorists’ radar.

Ankunda, however, noted that terrorist threats are mainly an internal security issue and that the Police is the lead organ. “But the army comes in to assist when the situation is intense,” the UPDF spokesperson added. Ankunda cautioned that people, who are in the habit of expecting full proof security, need to realise that security starts with them.

“People have to be vigilant,” he said.

Sheikh Abulaziz Abu Muscab, the al-Shabaab military operations spokesman boasted on the international TV station, Aljazeera, that they had ensured they attacked Kenyans when they were least expecting it.

“Our aim is to attack our enemy when they least expect us to attack,” the terrorists spokesperson reportedly said.

The militant’s spokesperson also said they had attacked the Westgate shopping mall because it brought together tourists, diplomats and Kenya’s decision-makers.

The biggest worry now is that although Ugandan security operatives are combing public places including shopping malls like the one that was attacked in Nairobi, the terrorists might wait until normalcy returns. Unfortunately for most of Ugandans, normalcy is laxity.

Information which has gained prominence since the Nairobi attack claims the man behind it, Godane, is anxious to take the al-Shabaab jihad beyond Somalia because his hold on the local group is shaky.
Divisions in al-Shabaab:

Analysts say that in a region where clans play an important mobilising role, Godane who is from the northern Isaaq clan is sitting on a throne of straw because most of his fighters belong to a different clan, the Rahanweyn of southern Somalia.

Godane is said to belong to the most radical fringe of the al-Shabaab. Some information circulated widely alleges that one month after the Kampala attack, the slain leader of Al Qaeda Osama bin Laden, wrote to Godane cautioning him to go slow on his attacks.

Bin Laden advised the young, aspiring global jihadist not to harm too many Muslim civilians in his attacks on Amisom, the African security mission in Somalia, suggesting he should “review this matter”.

“Remain devout, patient and persistent in upholding high moral values … towards the community”.

The letter dated August 7, 2010 was allegedly found in the former al-Qaeda leader’s compound after his death. The Independent has no way of verifying these claims. The declassified document was among 17 published by the Combating Terrorism Centre at West Point, the US military academy.

Osama bin Laden reportedly rejected a request for a formal alliance between al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab because he considered Godane to be too “radical and hot-headed”.

Just this June, Somali websites that cover the activities of al-Shabaab were awash with stories of how Godane committed a bloody purge in the top ranks and consolidated his grip on the group.

In a single clash in Barawe, a coastal city in the south of Somalia, fighters loyal to Godane reportedly killed two co-founders of Al-Shabaab, including his former deputy and longtime friend, Ibrahim Al-Afghani, and chased away Hassan Dahir Aweys and Mukhtar Robow, the former spokesman for the terror group.

Al-Afghani, Aweys and Robow had reportedly complained about Godane’s authoritarian tendencies and the heavy-handed approach in dealing with foreign jihadists.

The conflict erupted after Godane on April 26 reportedly attempted to kill an American jihadist and Alabama native called Omar Hammami who had publicly criticised Al-Shabaab.

Robow, the man Godane kicked out is from the Rahanweyn clan and had been a major leader of Al-Shabaab since its formation a decade ago.

According to a major report on Godane in the UK newspaper, the Guardian, his attacks on foreign fighters such as Omar Hammami could also make it difficult for al-Shabaab to attract global fighters.

The Nairobi attack followed insistent al-Shabaab attacks in Mogadishu, including one on a UN compound.

However, while publicly these attacks can be viewed as an al-Shabaab show of force, security experts say they are in fact a sign of a weakening group that can only attack soft targets and kill civilians.

Information Minister, Namayanja Rose Nsereko, condemned the attack that she described as “barbaric, primitive and cowardly”.

She said it was a “misguided act of desperation designed by evil elements to divide the people of Kenya and break the country’s resolve and to support the Global anti-terrorism fight and the on-going UN stabilization Mission in Somalia”.

If this is why the terrorists hit Nairobi and why they chose this time, then Uganda is no doubt in the line of fire, experts say.

Security experts warn:
David Pulkol, the former Director-General of Uganda’s External Security Organisation (ESO), says that given that this enemy is more complex, Uganda’s security authorities need to be “thoroughly and consistently preparing for them”.

“This enemy operates in what is called the sleeper cell system, they camp in an area, do their homework, they are not in a hurry and strike when they are ready” Pulkol told The Independent, “This makes them tricky to deal with.”

Pulkol adds that in order to deal with this enemy, those in security and intelligence need to focus on deeper penetration in terms of intelligence gathering, building networks and tracking them.

“We also need to assess the likely methods of these enemies and our intelligence needs to follow them consistently and persistently to avoid surprises because once they carry out the attack,” Pulkol says, “then at the level of intelligence, you have failed.”

But even after the attack, Pulkol says, the security players need to be ready with skills on how to counter them.

“Who have we trained for these kinds of operations, what are the enemy’s likely targets, do we have their architectural drawings, how are we ready to work with other institutions to neutralise such attacks?” Pulkol asks giving pointers for security authorities.

“We have trained officers who can carry out these operations like the Black Mambas but are they doing rehearsals on how to rescue hostages in case a school, a market, parliament, a mall or any other public place is attacked?” Pulkol asks.

He says that although the UPDF is picking very important skills to address things, the Uganda security needs to draw lessons from the Nairobi attacks.

The former spy chief adds that this attack shows that the enemy’s psychology and methods have changed as they are now using things like hostage taking, home-made explosives and knives. For the Ugandan security officers to measure up, Pulkol calls for reinforcement in the counter-measures of the terrorists’ new techniques.

Despite the 2010 twin attacks, security in Kampala is often only beefed up whenever there are intelligence reports about a likely terror attack. Yet ever since Uganda made the move to send troops to Somalia, the country is constantly under the terrorists’ radar.

With the Nairobi attack, the terrorists have even taken their game a notch higher. For most of the time, security has been relying on intelligence tracking movements of likely bombers and bombs. At public places and functions guards are always looking out for bombs and other explosives.

However, in the Kenyan attack, which has been described as highly organised, explosives were secondary. The machine gun wielding militants attacked a shopping mall, besieged it and started killing people.

U.S intelligence experts reportedly said the attack on the Westgate Mall might be an indication that the group is now focussing on regional attacks after losing power and territory in Somalia.

Given that shopping malls litre Kampala, her suburbs and even upcountry towns, the list of likely targets is endless. And unlike with bombs, guns are much easier to transfer and wars in Southern Sudan and DR Congo have increased the proliferation of guns. The terrorists can easily acquire them.

That is why the latest attack in Nairobi means that the Ugandan security has to work even harder and be more sophisticated.

Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura, has moved to beef up security in public places. In his drive, he told reporters, police was going to take over the security of many of these places.

He noted that the Nairobi attack signalled what threat terrorists were and cautioned those who take security alerts for granted.

Going forward, Kayihura has also noted that owners of buildings will have to put in place the requisite security measures or face the wrath of the law. Owners of security companies, he noted, will lose their licences if their guards are not well trained.

But the real test for Kayihura and all Ugandans is in how long these measures and the vigilance drive can be sustained because the terrorists will always look out for and celebrate even the slightest indication of laxity.

Sabahi (Washington, DC)
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Kenya Advocates Negotiated Handover for Kismayo
7 August 2013
Concerns Over Somalia’s Ability to Curb Violence
Region Wants Continent’s Role in Stabilizing…
Somalia Since the Guns of August
Al-Shabaab Claims 270 Attacks in Somalia
Photo: Stuart Price/UN Multimedia

Relative peace at Lido Beach in Mogadishu.
The Kenyan government says it is ready to withdraw troops from Kismayo but the handover of Kismayo airport and seaport to the Somali federal government should include Somali regional authorities, Kenya’s The People reported Wednesday (August 7th).
“We are ready to exit Kismayo and this must be done in an orderly manner to avoid compromising security gains achieved,” Defence Principal Secretary Monica Juma said. “The chief of [the Kenya Defence Forces] will meet soon to discuss on the modalities of handing over Kismayo to Somalis.”
A negotiated handover between the federal government and regional administrations would prevent feelings of discrimination and inequality, Juma and Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Karanji Kibicho said Tuesday, according to Kenya’s Daily Nation.
The two officials warned that failure to incorporate regional administrations could cause “serious deterioration of the security situation”.

Wikileaks dispatch exposes Meles Zenawi as a mercenary
EthiopianReview.com | December 2nd, 2010

U.S. diplomatic dispatched that are leaked and now posted on Wikileaks.org confirms Ethiopian Review’s report that Ethiopia’s despot Meles Zenawi was hired by U.S. Government to invade Somalia in 2006. The proxy war was spearheaded by U.S. head for African affairs Jendayi Frazer who conducted the disastrous invasion over the objection of her own colleagues in the State Department and the Pentagon. The 2006 invasion of Somalia succeeded in eliminating the benign Islamist group UIC, but it also led to the birth the al Queda-affiliated al Shabab. In short, al Shabab is the creation of Jendayi Frazer and Meles Zenawi. Al Shabab is now being financed by Saudi sheiks and it is purchasing its weapons from Woyanne and Uganda officers, as reported here by French journalist Alain Lallemand for LeMonde newspaper. Over 20,000 Somalis were slaughtered and over 2 million were made homeless as a result of Jendayi Frazer’s adventure and Meles Zenawi’s prostitution. — Elias Kifle

The following is from Wired.com:
WikiLeaked Cable Confirms U.S.’ Secret Somalia Op
2 December 2010

It was an off-hand compliment during a January 2007 dinner meeting between Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, plus staff, and then-U.S. Central Commander boss General John Abizaid. But Al Nayhan’s jocular praise, as reported in WikiLeaks’ trove of leaked diplomatic cables, is a rare admission that the United States played a central role in the disastrous December 2006 Ethiopian
Woyanne [the ruling party in Ethiopia] invasion of Somalia, a move that ultimately emboldened the very Islamic extremists the U.S. and
Ethiopia
Woyanne had hoped to squash.

“The Somalia job was fantastic,” Al Nahyan interjected between discussions of Iran, Saudi Arabia and the prince’s desire to buy Reaper drones for his air force. At the time of Al Nahyan’s comment, the dust was just settling from Ethiopia’s Blitzkrieg-style assault toward Mogadishu. Some 50,000
Ethiopian
Woyanne troops, supported by T-55 tanks, Hind helicopters and Su-27 jet fighters, had cut a bloody swath through the lightly-armed forces of the Islamic Courts Union, an alliance of mostly nationalist Islamic fighters that prior to the invasion had controlled much of Somalia.

The Somali attack had surprised outside observers.

Ethiopia Woyanne and Somalia had been rivals a long time, but no one had expected such brutal fighting, and so suddenly. It was fairly obvious that Ethiopia had received significant help — even urging — for its invasion. For one, Ethiopian Woyanne air force did not appear capable of coordinated air strikes in support of on-the-move ground troops; it seemed likely that the Su-27s were piloted by Russian or Ukrainian mercenaries — a time-honored tradition in Africa. What’s more,

Ethiopian Woyanne’s army didn’t possess the intelligence or logistical skill for long-range operations. Those, not coincidentally, are particular American strengths.

Washington certainly had a motive to get involved in Somalia. There was growing concern in the White House and the Pentagon that Somalia’s Islamists might ally themselves with Al Qaeda and turn to international terrorism. Already with two escalating wars on its own plate, the U.S. was in no position to openly lead its own large-scale attack on Somalia. It’d have been far simpler to simply sponsor somebody else to do the dirty work. Enter Ethiopia Woyanne. [Ethiopia has nothing to do with the invasion of Somalia.]

In early January following the invasion, USA Today’s Barbara Slavin reported on Washington’s extensive behind-the-scenes support for Ethiopian Woyanne troops. “The ties include intelligence sharing, arms aid and training,” Slavin noted. A couple days later, The Washington Post’s Pauline Jelinek, citing anonymous sources, described U.S. Special Forces accompanying Ethiopian Woyanne troops. CBS news revealed that U.S. Air Force gunships were active over southern Somalia during the Ethiopian blitz. Through all the reporting, U.S. officials remained vague or silent on the subject of Washington’s involvement. All the same, evidence was mounting that the U.S. had played a leading role in the Ethiopian Woyanne invasion. Journalists only strongly suspected it, but Abu Dhabi prince Al Nayhan apparently knew it for certain, if his praise of “the Somalia job” was any indication.

Three years later, it’s clear the Ethiopian Woyanne invasion was a bad idea. The attack rallied Somalis of all stripes and politics against the invaders, ultimately boosting support for fringe Islamic groups that now had a clear enemy in the Ethiopians Woyannes and their suspected American puppet-masters. Violence mounted as the Ethiopians Woyannes settled in for a bloody, two-year occupation.

When the Ethiopians Woyannes withdrew in 2009, the Islamists rushed to fill the vacuum. A year later, the Al Shabab Islamic group, successor to the Islamic Courts, conducted its first international terror attack. Last month, a Somali-born American teen plotted to explode a bomb in Portland. Today, U.S. Special Forces continue to target terrorists in Somalia. There are arguably more of them than ever, thanks in part to the botched Ethiopian Woyanne invasion. “We’ve made a lot of mistakes and Ethiopia’s Woyanne’s entry in 2006 was not a really good idea,” U.S. diplomat Donald Yamamoto said in March.

Related posts:
U.S. official in charge of Africa policy caught in a lie (Wikileaks)
Attack on Somali puppet troops leave at least 18 dead
Meles Zenawi declares ‘Mission Accomplished’ in Somalia
Somalia crisis stalemated by the Meles regime in Ethiopia
Meles Zenawi’s forces gun down 46 Somali civilians – CNN
Ethiopia: WikiLeaks Reveals Details of U.S. Dialogue With Meles 6 December 2010 document

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told top visiting American officials before elections in May this year that he would “crush… with our full force”opposition leaders who “violated the laws of Ethiopia,” according to a diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks.

The cable, sent to Washington from the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, reported Meles as telling a U.S. delegation in January that such leaders would suffer the fate of the jailed opposition leader, Birtukan Midekssa. They would “vegetate like Birtukan in jail forever,” he reportedly said.

Birtukan, who was jailed in 2005 following that year’s elections, then jailed again in 2008, was released in October this year after Meles had been returned to power in an election criticised by the U.S., European Union and rights groups.

Meles also told the U.S. delegation, which included Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero and Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson, that while Ethiopia welcomed foreign funding of charities, it would not allow donations from abroad for political activity.

The cable said Meles had said “those Ethiopians who want to engage in political activity should organize and fund themselves.” Civil society organization leaders who received foreign funding were accountable to the sources of their funding rather than to their organizations.
Replying, the delegation told Meles the May elections “would be closely watched in the U.S.” and urged him “to exercise wise judgment and leadership, give the opposition more political space, and consider the release of Birtukan Midekssa.”

The cable said Carson “stressed the importance of putting Ethiopia’s democracy on an upward and positive trajectory, and not letting it atrophy or slide backward, using the suffrage and civil rights movements in the U.S. as an illustration of challenges the U.S. has faced as it improved its own democratic system.”