Russian military hardware best in the world

 

The global arms market has been growing steadily during the recent years. Russian arms are in high demand on this market, and it is the weapons and equipment of Soviet development that are competitive most. Their performance is even better than that of advanced Western models for certain tasks. In 2012, the Russian Federation has topped the arms export plan.

Russian (Soviet) small arms and more sophisticated equipment works smoothly and efficiently in all climate conditions. On December 5th, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy published a report, which said that Iranian pilots on Soviet Su-25 fighter jets (NATO: Frogfoot) intercepted advanced U.S. drone USAF MQ-1 Predator over the Persian Gulf. The authors of the report said that the Soviet-made aircraft was not an interceptor: it was not equipped with modern radars, but it could successfully destroy state-of-the-art aircraft, Worldtribune.com wrote.

Here is another example to prove the efficiency of Russian-made military hardware. The Pentagon was forced to recognize the indispensability of Russian Mi-17 helicopters in Afghanistan. The Pentagon even concluded a contract with Rosoboronexport (Russia's defense export giant) worth $900 million. The contract has to be approved by the US President, though, due to negative recommendations from the Congress. However, such assessments of military experts of Russia's main strategic adversary say that Russian weapons are very promising in terms of its competitiveness in the world market.

This was, in fact, announced by President Vladimir Putin on December 17 at the meeting of the commission on military and technical cooperation. Assessing the results of the year 2012, Putin said that Russia had sold arms and services worth more than 14 billion dollars (13.5 billion under the plan). The volume of new contracts made up approximately $15 billion. The president also outlined the directions, where Russia may continue its progress at this point.

First off, it goes about the joint production of military products and research developments. As an example, one can name a joint project with Serbia for the production of multiple versions of armored vehicles in the Serbian town of Velika Plana. The vehicles will be exported presumably to Kenya and Bangladesh. Not that long ago, an agreement was signed between "Russian Technologies" and Brazilian defense company Odebrecht Defensa e Technologia about the establishment of a joint venture, which, in particular, will assemble a line of multipurpose Mi-171 helicopters in Brazil.

 

Russian companies are involved in a number of joint projects with India, including the creation of fighter jets FGFA (based on the T-50) and Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles. China wants Russian designers to take part in the development of engines for its fighters. This will eliminate counterfeits of Russian brands and help Russia find a place on partners' markets.

The second, and perhaps the most promising direction, is "the restoration of position in the market for military modernization and repairs of hardware," Putin said. Russian defense industry companies have obtained more rights this year to conclude contracts with foreign customers. It was stated at the meeting in Sochi in early July 2012 that the export of services provided by Russian defense companies in 2011 amounted to about 2.5 billion rubles, which accounted for 18 percent of the total volume of all military exports from Russia. This year, the figures will probably be larger.

To give an example of such cooperation, one can refer to the contract with NATO for servicing helicopter fleet in Afghanistan. The contract currently goes through the signing process. A similar agreement was signed during the recent visit of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to Moscow. Brazil increases the fleet of military helicopters Mi-35M.

Soviet military hardware is also in demand in Africa. The continent's strongest armies of Algeria, Uganda, Chad are armed with the latest models of the T-90, T-70 tanks and Su-35M jets. Libya has recently asked the Russian government to resume military cooperation and render assistance in the modernization of the previously delivered military equipment. In particular, the new Libyan authorities are interested in the hardware that was left in the country after the overthrow of the Gaddafi regime. The country has already signed a contract to upgrade 200 T-72 tanks.

Bahrain has requested servicing a large quantity of Kalashnikov AK103 rifles. Now is the time for Russia to offer these services to Africa and Asia to maintain the park of Soviet military equipment, which the above-mentioned countries prefer for its remarkable performance in all climate conditions, as well as for its price and quality.

At present, Russian arms and military equipment are supplied to 88 countries of the world. Fifty-seven of them are regular customers. India remains the largest buyer of Russian military equipment. The country buys Su-30MKI fighters and T-90S tanks. China is the second importer. The country bought AL-31FN and D-30KP-2 aviation engines in the amount of $1.2 billion and Mi-17 helicopters worth $700 million. Vietnam comes next on the list (about $2 billion): the country purchased a submarine of Project 636 and Lightning sea boats. The numbers of contracts with other major importers - Algeria, Venezuela, Syria - have not been disclosed.

Russia's portfolio of agreements also includes a package of contracts with Iraq worth more than $4 billion. Vladimir Putin said that Russia should promote its weapons. According to him, such work "should help in the military-patriotic education of our citizens, especially young people." Indeed, for Russia's image abroad, the Kalashnikov assault rifle has done more than all our achievements combined

the M23 is teaching hundreds of new officials about Che Guevara, Gandhi and how to get ahead in regional governance.

M23's Congo Cadres: The Rebel Movement with a Taste for Local Politics

While peace talks stretch on in Kampala, the M23 is teaching hundreds of new officials about Che Guevara, Gandhi and how to get ahead in regional governance.

Article | 23 October 2013 - 10:34am | By Joseph Hammond

Bertrand Bisimwa, president of M23, discussing ideology and his opinion of the state's failings. Photograph by Joseph Kay.

Bunagana, Democratic Republic of Congo:

Tuesday is market day in the town of Bunagana in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Men carry chickens tied by their legs through the crowd, while women sit idly by ancient sewing machines ready to lend their services.
These are the few vendors who, despite the fighting in nearby Goma, have made the trek to sell their goods at higher than normal prices to the customers of the border town. The close presence of three cadres, or political officers, belonging to the militant group M23 is testament to Bunagana’s status as the de facto rebel capital.
A vendor approaches the M23 officials, showing them his half empty box of mobile phone credit vouchers. He claims the other half was stolen by men still in the market. Leon, the most senior of the cadres, is the only one wearing a semblance of a uniform. His blue jeans, casual white and blue shirt, and thick gold chain are offset by a camouflaged jacket and cap. After listening to the accusations, he carefully instructs his comrades to circle the presumed location of the thief. Meanwhile, he and the accuser approach the stall directly.

Getting organised

The M23 is mostly made up of ex-members of the former rebel group, the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP), and takes its name from the 23 March 2009 agreement reached between the CNDP and the Congolese government. The soldiers who formed the M23 and rebelled against Kinshasa in July 2012 cited poor conditions and the government’s failure to properly implement the March 23 treaty.
The M23 initially recorded a number of battle victories and since summer 2012, the rebels have seized roughly 700 square km of eastern DRC, home to nearly half a million people. And with most local government administrators having fled, the M23 has relied on recruiting and training a class of its own cadres to administer the area under its control. Now, of the dozens of armed groups in the region – ranging from the Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebels to various local Mai-Mai militias – M23 is perhaps the most organised.
Unlike some other forces in the region, M23 also has a relatively clear ideology – one which is broadly based on ideas of social justice with calls for improved administration in the eastern DRC, the removal of the anti-Rwandan FDLR rebels, and an end to discrimination against the Rwandaphone community.
“We have been historically discriminated against in politics and in business,” says Rene Abandi, M23’s head of foreign affairs. “Often the only option has been to join the military to build awareness of our issues.”

All politics is local

M23’s executive secretary, Benjamin Mbonimpa, perhaps represents the latitude given to M23 cadres more so than any other official. Serving as chief M23 administrator of the Rutshuru Territory in North Kivu, he quickly rose to prominence within rebel ranks by turning Rutshuru into a model town, one that M23 leadership has been eager to share with journalists. Mbonimpa installed numerous M23 cadres in his administration, but left many government appointees in place. As the number of M23 cadres grew in Rutshuru’s administration office, many simply felt compelled to join the M23 anyway.
Under Mbonimpa’s administration, public buildings have been thoroughly cleaned and anti-corruption posters are visible in many places. Mbonimpa also started a number of environmental policies, explaining, “During my administration a number of trees were planted and we halted independent charcoal production.”
However, his efforts are not just aimed at convincing the local population of M23’s benevolence. All M23 personnel under his command, including soldiers and police, are also ordered to spend at least one day a month in public works projects often joined by civilian volunteers. Tourists hoping to spot mountain gorillas at nearby Virunga National Park are welcomed, while the activities of NGOs and missionary groups have gone on largely unimpeded.
Noted for his successes, Mbonimpa was recently promoted to Executive Secretary of M23 and served the territories when Bertrand Bisimwa, the M23’s political chief, was away for peace talks in Kampala, Uganda. From this new post, Mbonimpa has forced the creation of Salon or ‘volunteer days’ throughout M23 territory. He has also implemented a wider ban on independent charcoal production, though this has been less successful.
The M23 readily admits that not all of its decisions are popular, especially the ban on the importation of cheap bootleg alcohol often sold in small plastic packets. In early August, a Ugandan smuggler tried to bribe his way through M23 territory hoping to sell the alcohol elsewhere in the DRC. Perhaps fearful that the group would be blamed for allowing the potentially poisonous shipment into the country, M23 cadres decided to burn the cargo, which some estimated to have been worth as much as $40,000 dollars on the spot.
This bold move worried some observers. “They said they did it because the alcohol is bad and can make you crazy, but whose goods could they choose to burn next?” commented Pierre, a local trader.
Elsewhere, cadres assigned to one of M23’s 17 departments are given tasks ranging from telling local villagers about the failings of Kinshasa governance to helping improve roads. However, some cadres also come up with more grandiose and ambitious schemes. One M23 cadre, for example, carefully explained to Think Africa Press his plan to reduce Tutsi-Hutu tensions throughout the region by promoting the use of biomass as a fuel source; stockmen, he explained, would be encouraged to corral their livestock rather than letting them spread out for the purpose of collecting and selling their waste as a fuel source, thus reducing land-based conflict.

Blunders of the world

So far, M23 claims to have trained 1,000 cadres, with training consisting of six days of ideological and leadership training. Each class of a few hundred is colourfully named, often after socialist revolutionaries. The first class to complete the training was named after Patrice Lumumba, the Congo’s independence leader, and another Thomas Sankara, after the revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso. Those who complete the training are given a personal weapon, usually a Kalashnikov upon request. “I’d like to have pistol as well, but it costs $200-300,” Amani Kabasha, an M23 official, explains disappointedly. Unlike M23’s frontline units, these political officials are permitted to talk to journalists freely.
During the leadership portion of the training, examples of an eclectic mix of revolutionary heroes are taught. This includes figures ranging from Nelson Mandela to Abraham Lincoln to Che Guevara. (Che Guevara once fought in South Kivu for Laurent Kabila, the late father of the DRC’s current President Joseph Kabila, but this detail is apparently overlooked.)
Training also includes some religious elements, in particular an extensive course on ‘Christian leadership’. “Though M23 is a secular group, we hold up the example of Jesus as a model of leadership and service to a revolutionary cause,” explains one M23 cadre. The head of M23’s armed wing, General Sultani Makenga, is an avowed Seventh Day Adventist and the group’s former leader, Jean-Marie Runiga, styled himself as a bishop.
However, examples from other faith traditions are also drawn upon. Mahatma Gandhi’s Seven Blunders of the World is taught to all cadres, and the example of Gandhi has clearly rubbed off on some M23 members. Political chief Bisimwa currently uses an image of Ghandi on his Twitter profile.
Chris Shambala, a member of M23’s public works department, recalls his experience in the leadership courses. “My favourite figure they told us about in the trainings was Abraham Lincoln,” he says. “That man was a prophet. His vision of America was fulfilled when Obama became president. Like Lincoln, we know that sometimes to fix wrongs in your country, you need a civil war.
“I wanted to become part of politics. After supporting the opposition in 2011, I was disenchanted with Kabila. The election was stolen,” he laments.
Initially, only M23 cadres were given intensive indoctrination. But following an internal coup earlier this year – in which Makenga ousted Runiga and Ntaganda, who fled to Rwanda, with Ntaganda surrendering to the International Criminal Court where he faces charges – the M23 has put a greater emphasis on indoctrination. So as well as cadres, M23 guerrillas also now enjoy training classes.
However, it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of M23’s moral, religious and ideological lessons. The UN and NGOs have blasted the M23 for human rights violations and other crimes. This year a report from Human Rights Watch noted with alarm the prevalence of sexual violence within M23 territory, while The Enough Project alleged M23 involvement in illegal gold smuggling. Discipline also seems to remain a problem. In front of an M23 barracks in a small village just a few minutes’ drive past the swept streets of Rutshuru, Think Africa Press witnessed a uniformed M23 soldier being beaten for dereliction of duty.

The Kampala conundrum

Beyond the frontline units and cadres, the M23 claims it has 13,000 members spread across the world with token membership in the US, Europe, and South Africa, the majority of whom have paid the ten dollars to become members.
“The members are organised this way: 15 members are a team, 5 teams are a cell, 5 cells is a sector and 5 sectors is a syndicate,” explains Amani Kabaha. The rebels also claim to have organised clandestinely in Uganda and in Goma, the district capital of North Kivu briefly occupied by M23 last November.
As negotiations continue in Kampala between the rebels and the Congolese government, it is difficult to say if the group’s cadres and relatively sophisticated structure will help or hinder the peace process. On the one hand, its infrastructure means the group could more easily develop into a legitimate political party, though given disillusion with the current electoral process in M23’s ranks, this may prove challenging. On the other hand, M23 depth and organisation could mean that in the future, it could more quickly mobilise to launch another rebellion, repeating the past once more.
Back in Bunagana market, the M23 cadres quickly cornered the men who had allegedly stolen the top-up cards. However, the cadres learned the situation was different than it had first appeared. The vendor had been accosted by his fellow sellers for his refusal to pay for a permit to operate there. “He has to pay 1,000 Ugandan Schillings to Damien like everyone else! Even if he doesn’t have a stall and just walks around,” one man complained to Leon. As the bright yellow MTN SIM cards were returned to him, the man was chided by the M23 officials to buy a permit or work elsewhere. Perhaps in the back of cadres’ minds as they said this was the thought that if negotiations in Kampala are successful, they may be the ones looking for work elsewhere too before long.

Somali pirates sentenced to seven years in prison

By Joseph Akwiri

MOMBASA, Kenya | Wed Oct 23, 2013 11:56am EDT

(Reuters) - Four Somali pirates were sentenced to seven years each in prison on Wednesday by a Kenyan court that found them guilty of hijacking a fishing dhow in the Indian Ocean in 2010.
Prosecutors told the court in Mombasa the four were armed with rocket-propelled grenades, an AK-47 rifle, a pistol and other weapons when they took control of the dhow by firing at the crew.
Although the number of attacks has fallen markedly since 2011 thanks to tougher security aboard ships and increased Western naval patrols, piracy emanating from the Horn of Africa nation may still cost the world economy about $18 billion a year, the World Bank said in April.
The men, Abdirahman Isse Mohamed, Mohamed Osman Farah, Feisal Abdi Muse and Noor Ali Mohamed, were arrested by Spanish naval forces and handed over to Kenyan authorities, as Somalia was not considered able to try them properly.
They all denied the charges of piracy.
The men's lawyer, Jared Magolo, branded the sentence unfair as they had been detained for three years before the trial at a maximum security Kenyan prison and said he would seek his clients' consent to appeal.
Kenya is one of a few countries that are prosecuting pirates, alongside Seychelles and Mauritius. But the cases are notoriously difficult to prosecute and take a long time to complete.
In July, nine Somalis were sentenced in Kenya to five years in prison each for attempting to hijack a German merchant vessel MV Courier in the Gulf of Aden in March 2009.
Another nine Somalis were handed a similar sentence in June, after also being found guilty of hijacking a ship in the Gulf of Aden in 2010.
In a sign that piracy is still a threat, the European Union Naval Force for Somalia, said last week that a fully loaded crude oil supertanker fought off and repulsed pirates off the Somali coast on October 11.
(Reporting by Joseph Akwiri; Editing by George Obulutsa and Alison Williams)

Far-flung foreign jihadists enter Syrian fray

When a Dutch journalist was kidnapped in Syria last month, he discovered his captors hailed from countries as far-flung as Britain and Bangladesh, proof that an increasing number of foreign jihadists are setting up operations in Syria.

By Leela JACINTO (text)

 

Comedies about British lads with working class Birmingham accents playing jihadists in some exotic Muslim land have been made in the past. Except this time, it was real, not remotely funny, and it happened in Syria -- just as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad predicted.
For Dutch photographer Jeroen Oerlemans, the absurdist nightmare began on July 19, shortly after he crossed the border from Turkey into Syria along with British photographer John Cantlie.
The two journalists were kidnapped by a group of men and taken to a jihadist camp in northern Syria. But very quickly, Oerlemans realised there was something odd about their kidnappers.
“Almost immediately we realised they were not from Syria,” said Oerlemans in a phone interview with FRANCE 24 days after he was released. “Some of them said they were from Bangladesh, some of them were from the UK and they had Birmingham accents, while others may have been from Pakistan. They were a real mix. ”
In the British film “Four Lions” -- a jihadist comedy released in 2010 -- the main characters are a bunch of UK-born terrorist wannabes as hilariously inept as the Three Stooges.
But at the jihadist camp in northern Syria, Oerlemans found the British contingent a decidedly humourless lot.
“The British jihadists were very religious. They were all brainwashed -- they kept saying England is doing ‘bad stuff’. They kept asking us, ‘Are you ready to die?’ They were all youngsters -- I saw one or two kids who looked like they were around 16. But most of them were in their early 20s,” said Oerlemans.
The Dutch and British photographers were accused of being CIA spies and held for over a week. They spent much of their captivity handcuffed and blindfolded following a failed escape attempt that ended with Oerlemans being shot in the thigh and foot.
Given the harrowing circumstances of their captivity, Oerlemans said it was difficult to get a clear idea of the size of the jihadist group. But he reckoned the camp was “big enough to house around hundred people.”
Their captors never mentioned the name of their group, nor did they supply their leader’s name. But the fighters kept referring to their “emir” or “sheikh” who was never identified, according to Oerlemans. “They said he was an experienced fighter who fought in many wars, and they hinted that he fought in Afghanistan.”
The jihadist videos play a familiar tune
Ever since the uprising began last year, Assad’s regime has described the opposition as “foreign-backed terrorists” dominated by al Qaeda and other jihadists.
It’s a charge the Syrian opposition -- including the umbrella fighting force, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) -- has denied.
But 18 months after the uprising began, there are signs that jihadist groups are taking advantage of the instability in Syria to set up operations in much the same way they did in neighbouring Iraq following Saddam Hussein’s fall.
Over the past few months, YouTube -- the video-sharing site that has hosted much of the footage of the Syrian uprising -- has featured a number of clips familiar to jihadist media experts.
Some of the videos feature fighters with faces shrouded in keffiyehs posing against the jihadist black flag imprinted with the shahadah (the Muslim vow of faith) or performing drills in unknown locales.  The audio track loops through rousing Koranic verses used by al Qaeda-linked propaganda videos.
From Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Europe and places in-between
Accurate estimates of the number of foreign jihadists in Syria are hard to arrive at. But Aaron Zelin of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, who has been monitoring jihadist groups in Syria, estimates that there are around 800 fighters from foreign countries in Syria today.
Most of the foreign fighters, according to Zelin, come from neighbouring countries, such as Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan.
“But we have also seen contingents from Libya, Tunisia and there are also Algerians. A number of the Libyans are believed to have fought in the anti-[Muammar] Gaddafi uprising last year,” said Zelin. “There have also been some Western nationals, but their numbers are far smaller.”
Many of the foreign fighters have infiltrated through Syria’s northern border with Turkey or the eastern border with Iraq, according to Shashank Joshi from the London-based Royal United Services Institute.
“It depends on where they’re coming from -- Iraq is easier, because the border is less in use and there’s obviously the presence of Sunni tribesmen in the region,” said Joshi, referring to the tribes of Syria’s eastern Deir az-Zor region, many of whom helped jihadists infiltrate neighbouring Iraq following the US invasion.
‘The great new hope’ on the jihadist media circuit
The situation on the ground in Syria is a complicated one, with the FSA maintaining only a loose control of about 50,000 fighters. Even under the FSA umbrella, new local rebel groups continue to be formed, which presents a challenge to command and control, according to a June 2012 report by Joseph Holliday of the Washington DC-based Institute for the Study of War.
Outside the FSA umbrella, the picture is far more chaotic. An unknown number of jihadist groups operate in Syria, including groups such as the Lebanese Abdullah Azzam Brigades and Fattah al-Islam -- a radical Sunni group that clashed with the Lebanese military at a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon in 2007.
One of the more high profile jihadist groups in Syria today is the Jabhat al-Nusra (The Victory Front) -- or Jabhat al-Nusra li-Ahl al-Sham, as it’s sometimes called.
The group first announced its existence in a January 2012 video featuring a spokesman who goes by the name Abu Muhammad al-Jawlani. The video was released on jihadist forums and tracked by counter-cyber-terror experts.
Jabhat al-Nusra frequently claims car bombings and other attacks in Syria in messages released by the group’s media wing, Al-Manara al-Baida, which literally means the White Minaret. But while the group has released several statements, not much is known about its members, including their nationalities.
Jabhat al-Nusra is a relative newcomer on the global jihadist circuit but created a buzz on jihadist forums when the group was endorsed by one of the world’s most influential jihadist ideologues, a Mauritanian national named Sheikh Abu al-Mundhir al-Shinqiti.
“The group is viewed as the great new hope for jihadi groups in Syria,” said Zelin.
Saved by the FSA
Another group in Syria posting claims and messages on jihadist forums is the Ahrar al-Sham (the Liberation of Syria). Yet according to Zelin, “the group does not appear to have the following that Jabhat al-Nusra gets on the jihadist forums.”
The common element in the propaganda output of both groups, however, is the transnational message of global jihad, which is in sharp contrast to the nationalist message of other Syrian opposition groups focused on toppling Assad’s regime.
“They don’t discuss Syria,” said Zelin. “They talk about the greater cause of the struggle against the crusaders and their Zionist backers.”
But while Jabhat al-Nusra generates much excitement on the usual jihadist forums, it is difficult to gauge their appeal outside jihadist circles.
The one thing that is clear is that the Syrian opposition and senior FSA figures cannot credibly deny the existence of jihadist groups inside Syria anymore.
In recent weeks, FSA officials have called for international help “to unite the rebels and stop well-funded Islamists from expanding their influence,” according to the Economist.
But miles away from the official statements by FSA members based in Turkey, there have been some questions over whether jihadist and FSA fighters are cooperating on the ground.
Certainly in Oerlemans’ case, it was the FSA that helped liberate the kidnapped Dutch and British photographers.
More than a week after they were kidnapped, a group of FSA members suddenly stormed the camp one morning.
“They started intimidating the guys, shouting about why they were holding us like that, saying they’re going to take us,” said Oerlemans. “We were then driven away from our captors with the FSA guys’ still firing shots. It was only when we were in the car that I was able to lift my blindfolds and actually see what was going on.”
For Oerlemans, the nightmare had finally ended.
Back home in the Netherlands, he is currently recovering from his gunshot wounds. “I’m fine,” he said dismissively. “I’m recovering very well, I’m doing fine.”
For the two journalists at least, it ended well.
But few can predict if the situation in Syria over the next few weeks and months will be fine. Or if it will mirror the worst days that Syria’s neighbours, such as Lebanon and Iraq, have already had to endure.

Syrian opposition resists calls to commit to peace talks

Related Video

Syria peace talks plans in jeopardy

Tue, Oct 22 2013

• New peace meeting for Syria underway in London

By Arshad Mohammed and Peter Griffiths

LONDON | Tue Oct 22, 2013 5:31pm EDT

(Reuters) - Syria's opposition in exile resisted calls from Western and Arab countries on Tuesday to commit to attending peace talks, saying they would not take part if there was any chance President Bashar al-Assad could cling to power.
Eleven countries meeting in London pressed the opposition National Coalition to join talks to end a conflict that has killed over 100,000 people, but the group listed conditions and said it would decide in the coming weeks whether to attend.

"There will not be any negotiations at all without making sure that the Geneva 2 meeting is basically for the transitional period and for Assad to go," National Coalition chief Ahmed Jarba told a news conference after the London meeting.
"We are not going to sit and negotiate with Assad possibly being there," he said. "Our people would not accept that. They will consider us as traitors if we came here to sell our people."
However, Jarba did not explicitly rule out joining the talks and said his group would meet soon, possibly in Istanbul on November 1, to vote on whether to attend Geneva 2.
The United States and Russia said in May they would convene a "Geneva 2" peace conference in which both sides would agree a transitional political set-up to end the war, but it faces huge obstacles and no firm date has been set.
A communiqué from Monday's meeting said Geneva 2 would aim to establish a transitional government by which time "Assad and his close associates with blood on their hands will have no role in Syria".
In the latest indication that Assad feels his position is tenable, he said on Monday he saw no reason why he should not run for re-election next year.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, hosting Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States, said it was vital that the Western-backed Syrian opposition join the talks.
"We urge the National Coalition to commit itself fully and to lead and form the heart of any opposition delegation to Geneva," he told a news conference.
Many of the mostly Islamist rebels fighting in Syria refuse to recognize the exiled opposition favored by the West.
OPPOSITION RIFTS
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said talks were the only possible way to end the war.
"This war will not come to an end on the battlefield ... it will come to an end through a negotiated settlement," he said. "The only alternative to a negotiated settlement is continued, if not increased, killing."
But efforts to present a united front suffered a further setback when it emerged that Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief had said the kingdom would make a "major shift" in relations with the United States in protest at its perceived inaction over Syria and its overtures to Iran.
Prince Bandar bin Sultan has told European diplomats that Washington had failed to act on Syria and other Middle Eastern issues, according to a source close to Saudi policy. "The shift away from the U.S. is a major one," the source said.
There would be no further coordination with the United States over the war in Syria, where the Saudis have armed and financed rebel groups fighting Assad, the source said.
Saudi anger boiled over after Washington refrained from military strikes in response to a poison gas attack in Damascus in August when Assad agreed to give up his chemical arsenal.
Kerry said the Saudis were "obviously disappointed" that the strike on Syria did not take place.
He said President Barack Obama had asked to him to talk to Saudi officials, which he described as "very, very constructive and I am convinced we are on the same page as we are proceeding forward."
Saudi Arabia is also concerned about signs of a tentative reconciliation between Washington and Tehran, the Saudis' old enemy, which may be invited to Geneva.
Saudi Arabia and the United States shared deep concern about Iran's nuclear program, Kerry said, adding: "I reaffirmed President Obama's commitment that he will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon."
Kerry met Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal in Paris on Monday regarding Iran.
"I reiterated our position - in any negotiation (with Iran) - that our eyes are wide open, actions are what will speak to us, not words, and no deal is better than a bad deal," Kerry said.
Hague said if Iran were to attend Geneva 2, it must support a proposed interim government as the way to political dialogue and free elections.
"If Iran could start from that position as well as the rest of us, then Iran would be more easily included in international discussions on the subject," he said.
Several officials, including Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby, have said they expect the Geneva 2 conference to convene on November 23, though the United States, Russia and the United Nations have all said no date has been officially set

DIFFERENT COLOR,ONE PEOPLE...."NO RACISM"

Feature by Tim Gee

A glimpse at a grassroots nonviolent revolutionary movement in South Africa, as the country approaches the 20th anniversary of the end of political apartheid

Press, supporters and passers-by stop to hear South African president Jacob Zuma at the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Soweto.photo: Marcela Teran

With Nelson Mandela’s illness earlier this year, the eyes of the world’s media looked to South Africa. More specifically they looked to a single building in South Africa – Pretoria’s Mediclinic Heart Hospital, host to a man who more than any other represents the struggle against apartheid in the country. For months on end, herds of journalists held vigil under the canopy of gazebos they had constructed on the pavement, taking the same photos of the hospital gates again and again.
I have an admission to make: for an afternoon at least – in the course of making a documentary about South Africa – I joined them.

In some ways it was exactly the right place to be to experience the impacts of the anti-apartheid struggle. To even stand in Pretoria side by side with my black film-making colleague would have been more-than-unusual even 25 years ago. Now no one even bats an eyelid – testament to some of the changes that have taken place since the end of white minority government.

But in other ways it was exactly the wrong place to be. The international media and progressive movements have largely adopted a version of South Africa’s history which emphasises compromise over conflict (both violent and nonviolent), downplays the efforts of people in the 1980s to make themsleves ‘ungovernable’, and culminates in the elections of 1994. For today’s South African social movements, though, the movement is not over. The struggle for the story of the past is inseparable from the ongoing struggle for the state of the present.

Choose to look in a different direction from the mainstream media, and there is another story to be told.

Soweto today
Before he was jailed, Mandela lived at 8115 Vilikazi Street, Orlando West, Soweto. Short for ‘South West Townships’, Soweto is a product of apartheid. Black people were moved here away from previously mixed areas in the 1950s. It’s just close enough to Johannesburg to commute, just far enough that its inhabitants should be invisible to city dwellers. Once the hotbed of anti-apartheid activity, now every couple of streets there is a marker or memorial of significant events in the struggle.

New-build houses are even smaller than the so-called 'matchbox houses' of the apartheid era.

Asking Sowetans their reactions to the global media’s focus on Mandela elicits a variety of reactions. Some offer heartfelt concern, tears and thanks for the sacrifice he gave. Others worry that the focus on a single man might contribute to peddling the myth that most of the country’s problems were solved two decades ago. As one former anti-apartheid activist put it to me, ‘We are not free. You cannot be free if you are poor’.

It would be wrong to say nothing at all has changed since 1994. Nowadays, Vilakazi Street is a trendy haunt for Johannesburg’s new black elite, parked up with shiny cars with personalised number plates. Six new shopping malls have shot up around Soweto, and towards the edge a new theatre of outstanding architectural beauty stands proudly on open land. Elsewhere, newly-built houses are beginning to reshape the landscape.

On a short visit, it would be perfectly possible to be dazzled by the sheen of Soweto. But staying longer and digging deeper reveals layers of nuance. Sitting in the shade of a tree, on a street parallel to Vilakazi, facing the memorial to the first casualty of the 1976 Soweto Uprising, I met the sole councillor of the Operation Khanyisa Movement (OKM), one of the small grassroots political parties that have sprung up out of frustration with the pace – and the direction – of change under the governing African National Congress (ANC). She lives in one of the 180 informal settlements of self-built shacks that surround Johannesburg. Overall, she tells me, the number of such squatter camps is growing rather than declining, and the conditions people live in are unacceptable.

Some lucky ones do get access to new-build houses – but they’re even smaller than the so-called ‘matchbox houses’ that characterised the apartheid government’s maltreatment of its citizens. Worse still, with unemployment running at 25% (and closer to 50% in Soweto), the very poorest cannot afford the government’s charges for electricity and water, and get cut off. The response is inevitable: militant, spontaneous protests, so frequent that it is rare for a radio traffic bulletin to go by without advice on how to avoid demonstrators blocking the road.

Direct action SECC-style is quite unlike anything I've ever seen. No young people disguising their identities with hoodies.

To try and understand the story from the perspective of a grassroots movement, I opted to spend time with the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee (SECC) – the movement from which OKM emerged, and one of the country’s best-known post-apartheid action groups. For them, the elections of 1994 were a milestone in a longer struggle rather than an endpoint. Even their name echoes that of the Education Crisis Committee of the anti-apartheid era. Formed in response to what they saw as the ANC’s abandonment of the social democratic principles of the Freedom Charter, the group works with the poor to find solutions to their own problems.

I found them in action in the township of Lewisham, holding forth at an open-air meeting under a peach tree. One by one residents stood forward to share their problems – electricity disconnections, water disconnections, someone demanding to see the long-lost title deeds to a person’s house. If SECC can link the affected parties up with a pro bono lawyer, they do. If they can’t, the group proceeds with plan B – civil disobedience.

Direct action SECC-style is quite unlike anything I’ve ever seen. No young people disguising their identities with hoodies here. Rather this is a solidarity group whose average age must be 50. Given the open confrontation with the state electricity company ESKOM, the most striking thing is how relaxed it all is. The SECC’s chief reconnecter is an understated man, clearly proud of the work he volunteers to do. He rolls up in a car to the address needing reconnecting, ambles out, stops for a chat, opens the box on the side of the house, re-connects the electricity, then ambles off again. It is all over within five minutes, but without a whiff of tension in the air. This extraordinary act of grassroots solidarity is, it would seem, an everyday affair. I find myself wondering whether the ‘ungovernability’ strategy adopted against apartheid in the 1980s was more tense.

Another mission with SECC organisers involves delivering blankets and supplies to the house of a former member whose shack has burnt down. The scene is galling. Nothing but a pile of ash and charred corrugated iron stands where the man’s home once was. I asked him how it happened. Denied access to electricity, his heat and light came from candles alone, with the consequences visible in front of us. As if to highlight the injustice, towering power lines buzzed overhead, overpassing but not reaching the homes of the poorest.

The Marikana miners
Perhaps one struggle above all attracts the solidarity of South Africa’s present-day movements – the plight of the workers of Marikana, at the Lonmin Platinum mine, 100 kilometres north of Soweto. Against the background of calls for a pay rise, 44 mineworkers have been killed, 34 of them in a single massacre during a strike last year. Raising spectres of the massacres of the apartheid era, many of the miners were shot in the back. Although largely absent from international headlines now, the issue is still very much live in South Africa, as different groups vie for control of the story, against the background of the government’s official commission of enquiry – itself marred by whispered accounts of witnesses too fearful for their lives to testify.

What didn’t make the international news is that underlying this is a common theme – discontent with the ANC government. Those who were shot were mostly members of the fast-growing Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which provides an alternative to the longer-established National Union of Mineworkers. The NUM always calls on its members to re-elect the government come election time. The fact that former NUM leader and anti-apartheid icon-turned-ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa was a non-executive director at Lonmin at the time of the massacre is indicative of the relationships bewteen government, business and some unions. The fact that Lonmin (formerly the London and Rhodesia Mining and Land Company) has its registered head office in London, is another reminder that while some of the visual aspects of apartheid may have receded, white control of the economic structure is to a large extent still in place.

The struggle for history
But for all this, few seriously doubt that the ANC will be re-elected in 2014, on the 20-year anniversary of the country’s first free elections. With the realities of apartheid still a lived experience for much of the population, and the personal sacrifice made by Nelson Mandela very much part of the public consciousness, the ANC maintains the mantle of The Liberator.

It is a link the party is keen to remind voters of. This was eloquently demonstrated when, filming South African president Jacob Zuma going from house to house in Orlando West, we were shoved out of the way by security guards to make space for the president to have photo opportunities at struggle landmarks, passing Mandela’s former house and culminating at Hector Pieterson Square, where the first child of the 1976 student uprising was shot.

Bestriding the waters of the memorial, the president paid tribute to Mandela, to the students of 1976, then, using the opportunity to contrive an analogy, linked the historic struggle against apartheid with the government’s present day ‘war on drugs’. I found myself asking the people around me if they saw the government’s drugs initiative as a continuation of the struggle. Some thought so. Others saw it as an attempt to shift the blame on to the poor for their own poverty after 20 years of the ANC failing to live up to their promise.

The struggle for the story of the past is most clearly visible on the streets. On the anniversary of the Soweto Uprising, there were no less than eight different marches and events across Soweto, each offering a different perspective on history. At the Maurice Isaacson school, where one of the marches started in 1976, I found two groups preparing to follow exactly the same route at more or less the same time, one associated with the ANC, the other with the Democratic Left Front — an umbrella body of South Africa’s independent left movements. Both see themselves as embodying the spirit of the struggle against apartheid — the government supporters singing the name of ANC hero Oliver Tambo, the others shouting the name of Steven Biko. Inevitably, the different marches soon merged into one, words indistinguishable against the distinctive thrumming of toyi-toyi-ing feet and vibrant African harmonies. The marches converged with others at the same destination – the metaphorically and literally contested space of the Hector Pieterson memorial.

While they weren´t present in Soweto, the opposition Democratic Alliance had paid for billboards along the route championing their predecessors’ opposition to pass laws and ID cards. The ANC is fighting back in the press. For them the memory of the anti-apartheid struggle and their ANC party is indistiguishable. At least implicitly, their 2014 election campaign might run with the message ‘do it for Madiba’ [Mandela’s Xhosa clan name – eds].

In one of his first statements after being released from prison, Mandela insisted that he was no prophet. Mandela’s personal contribution to the change that happened was considerable, but to understand the link between the past and present is to remember that the anti-apartheid struggle was more than just one man. It was a diverse and disunited movement of millions. Some of those people have now entered politics and some have entered business – each taking advantage of opportunities closed to them under apartheid. Others – in particular those still waiting for the economic and social rights embodied in the Freedom Charter – are still taking to the same streets as they did before, singing the same songs and chanting the same chants, still searching for their promised land.

What does Islam say about terrorism?

What does Islam say about terrorism?
	Unfortunately more and more often, Islam has been associated with terrorism and violence due to the actions of a few extreme individuals who’ve taken it upon themselves to do the most heinous crimes in the name of Islam.
	Tragic events such as the attack on the twin towers in New York, the bombings of Bali, Madrid and London are assumed to be justified by Islam in the minds of some people. This idea has been fueled further by many media channels which defame Islam by portraying these bombers as ‘Islamists’ or ‘Jihadists’, as though they were sanctioned by Islam, or had any legitimate spokemenship on behalf of Muslims. The actions of a few fanatical individuals who happen to have Muslim names or ascribe themselves to the Muslim faith should not be a yardstick by which Islam is judged. For the same reason, that one would not do justice to Christianity if it where perceived as sanctioning the genocide of the Native Americans, the atrocities of world war II or the bombings of the IRA. To understand Islam’s stance on terrorism, one must refer to its original sources, the Quran and the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him,which are explicit in their prohibition of any form of injustice including that of wanton violence which seeks to instill fear, injury or death to civilians.  The Quran turns our attention to the high value of human life, whether it is Muslim or Non-Muslim and makes it absolutely forbidden to take an innocent life unjustly.  The gravity of such a crime is equated, in the Quran, with the killing of all humanity. “On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land.” ( 5:32 ) Not only is human life sacred in Islam but the property, wealth, family and dignity of all individuals in society are to be respected and protected.  Those who transgress these rights and sow fasad (corruption) as the Quran describes it, incur the wrath of Allah. "…and seek not corruption in the earth; lo! Allah loveth not corrupters " (28:77) Likewise in another verse “The blame is only against those who oppress men and wrong-doing and insolently transgress beyond bounds through the land, defying right and justice: for such there will be a penalty grievous” (42:42) Islam goes further than just prohibiting oppression and safeguarding rights, it commands its faithful to deal kindly and compassionately to all those who seek to live in peace and harmony "Allah forbids you not, with regard to those who fight you not for your faith, nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them: For Allah loves those who are just" (60:8) In times of war and conflict, where enmity can obstruct an individual’s judgement to act morally, Islam commands that justice be upheld even towards one’s enemies. "O ye who believe! stand out firmly for Allah, as witnesses to fair dealing, and let not the hatred of others to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice. Be just: that is next to piety: and fear Allah. For Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do" (5:8) Centuries before the Geneva Convention was drawn up, Muslims were bound by a code of conduct which the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, set.  He forbade the killing of women, children and elderly in war. In an authentic narration the Prophet (pbuh) warned that he who kills anyone who has a covenant of peace with the Muslims will not smell the scent of Paradise. In fact, he taught that justice is not only to humans but must be shown to animals and all living things.  In a narration the Prophet (pbuh) informed us about how a lady was sent to hell because of a cat she had locked up until it starved and died.  If such is the sanctity which Islam places on the soul of an animal, how much more grave is the killing of hundreds of innocent humans?!  Abu Bakr the first Calipha of the Muslims reflected these prophetic teachings when he advised his general Yazid, who was confronting Roman armies, "I advise you ten things, Do not kill women or children or an aged, infirm person. Do not cut down fruit-bearing trees. Do not destroy an inhabited place. Do not slaughter sheep or camels except for food. Do not burn bees and do not scatter them. Do not steal from the booty, and do not be cowardly." The message of the Quran is clear as we have seen, that the sanctity of any human life is to be respected and any violation in that regard is paramount to the worst crime.  Mercy is at the heart of the Islamic call, “We sent thee (O Muhammad) not save as a mercy for the peoples” (21:107); a totally different message to what the terrorists are sadly imparting to humanity.

HELP FOR SOMALIANS PEOPLES against FAMINE

Another famine, another humanitarian band-aid

The food crisis in East Africa has seen a renewed drive for urgent international aid – as it has in the past. But while humanitarian assistance can provide short-term relief, it does not address Somalia’s long-term malaise.

Leela JACINTO (text)

 

The scenes are haunting, yet familiar: anguished mothers stream into packed refugee camps bearing malnourished children and harrowing tales of human survival, aid officials issue pleas for more international aid, donor countries cough up new promises, the usual bunch of celebrities sing their usual humanitarian tunes, and of course the journalists record it for an audience that has seen it all before.
We’ve been there, done that – and now we’re doing it all over again.
This time for Africa – or the Horn of Africa, to be precise. As it was 26 years ago, when Irish singer Bob Geldoff galvanized the globe with his star-studded Live Aid fundraiser for the Ethiopian famine relief effort.
The epicentre of the latest crisis is Somalia, where the UN has declared famine in two southern areas of the impoverished, war-wrecked country.

FOCUS: UN pleads for help HORN OF AFRICA UN asks donors to pledge more money to tackle famine

At a UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) emergency meeting in Rome on Monday, French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire warned that, “If we don't take the necessary measures, famine will be the scandal of this century."
But the biggest scandal, according to seasoned analysts, is that once again the international community looks set to address the problem with a short-term, billion dollar humanitarian band-aid while failing to address Somalia’s chronic insecurity and political instability.
A perfect storm in the world’s top failed state
A consistent topper on the lists of the world’s failed states, Somalia has entered its third decade without a national government, leading Foreign Policy magazine to call its unending woes “the stuff hopelessness is made of”.
While there’s no doubt that failure of the rains has led to the serious drought in north-eastern Africa, the current crisis has been sparked by a perfect storm of factors, according to Rashid Abdi, a Somalia analyst at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.
“I think it’s very important that we get the right perspective,” said Abdi “This crisis is a cumulative effect of a combination of factors. This drought did not come out of nowhere.
“But instead of doing something to prepare for it, the major players (in Somalia) spent their time fighting each other,” he said.
The two famine-hit southern Somali regions are under the control of al Shabaab, the al Qaeda-linked Islamist group, whose dealings and backtracking with international aid groups during the latest crisis has highlighted the hopelessness of the political situation in the war-torn country.
The two regions – Bakool and Lower Shebell - are situated between the Juba and Shebell Rivers, an agricultural region that used to be the breadbasket of Somalia.
The cycle of drought is not uncommon in the region, a prospect Somali farmers typically prepare for by storing grain or taking other precautions.
But according to Abdi, al Shabaab has been encouraging farmers to switch from subsistence farming to growing cash crops, especially sesame seeds.
“This has compounded the problem because subsistence farmers who used to grow food for themselves, and used to store food in their granaries for hard times, now have nothing to fall back on,” he said.
In Somalia, traditional irrigation relief measures have been abandoned in a country consumed by conflict.
“In the old days, shallow football stadium-size pits were dug to collect rainwater, which later serve as reservoirs,” said Abdi. “But the government is not doing it because it’s caught up in fighting.”
Corruption and infighting in an internationally-funded government
Political infighting and corruption problems have plagued the UN-backed Somali government, which currently controls only half of the capital of Mogadishu, where it survives under the protection of a 9,000-strong African Union force.
Last week, Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed announced a new cabinet – the third in less than a year – led by Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali. A Harvard-educated US citizen, Ali was appointed after the previous prime minister was forced out of office by a deal struck between the speaker and President Ahmed.

THE WEEK IN AFRICA THE WEEK IN AFRICA Hunger turns to famine in the Horn of Africa

“The government is a figment of the international community’s imagination,” dismissed Abdi. “There is nothing redeeming about the government. Everything it has done has been disastrous.”
In an interview with The Associated Press, Abdirazak Fartaag - who headed the government's finance management unit before he fled the country - said Somalis will continue to suffer unless the international backers who support the Somali government also demand that it does a better job.
Fartaag fled Somalia after writing a report detailing tens of millions of dollars in missing donations from Arab nations.
"Corruption is a major part of the problem in Somalia," said Abdi. “I wouldn’t shed a tear if the government collapses overnight. The problem is what will replace it.”
Abdi maintains that many Somali politicians continue to be corrupt with impunity since they believe the international community will not withdraw its support and allow al-Shabaab to take over the entire country.
Celebrities to the rescue
Corruption, conflict and mismanagement have driven most of the recent crises in the region, a fact that is as well known as it is overlooked by the international aid community.
In the mid-1980s, while Geldoff was exhorting the world to help the victims of Ethiopia’s famine, its communist dictator at that time, Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam, was pumping millions of dollars worth of Soviet arms into his military campaigns against Eritrean and Tigrayan rebels.
More than two decades later, Geldoff’s fellow Irish pop star, U2 frontman Bono, has joined a list of celebrities urging world leaders to step up their response to the Horn of Africa crisis.
In a statement released ahead of Monday’s FAO meeting in Rome, Bono and a group of celebrities and activists noted that, "It is incomprehensible that in 2011 anyone should die of starvation.”
But while stressing that aid is necessary to manage the current serious crisis, Abdi notes that “it is important that the aid community look at ways of building coping mechanisms rather than perpetuating dependency.”
In an interview with the BBC's Focus on Africa show, John O'Shea, director of the international charity Goal, said the UN's response to Somalia's political crisis had worsened the crisis, noting that the UN Security Council should have authorised a sizeable force of peacekeepers to end years of conflict in Somalia.
"We wouldn't have four million Somalis starving if they sent in UN peacekeepers," said O’Shea.
Somalia has 9,200 African Union peacekeepers out of a promised 20,000 - all of them based in Mogadishu.
With every crisis comes the hope that it could provide an impetus to find fresh solutions to long-standing problems.
The EU's humanitarian aid chief expressed this sentiment last week in an interview with The Associated Press. "Perhaps we should see this crisis as an opportunity for more attention to be brought back to Somalia," said Kristalina Georgieva.
But try as he might, Abdi can’t mirror that modest level of optimism. “Somalia has had so many crises, it has lost so many opportunities,” he said. “I wish and hope this will be an epiphany for Somalia, but I just don’t see it.”

IS the WORLD FAIL TO FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM?????

Somalia is the new hotspot on the ‘jihadi tourism’ trail

Somalia is hardly an attractive destination, but a former US soldier has just joined the ranks of foreigners trying to join the al Shabaab Islamist group. Why is Somalia gathering so many of the world’s wannabe jihadists?

By Leela JACINTO (text)

 

As international destinations go, Somalia has been off-the-charts for more than two decades. With no effective central government and a mindboggling array of clans, militias, Islamists and pirates, this Horn of Africa nation has turned into the farthest thing from paradise on earth.
Except if you’re on the “jihadi tourism” trail, scouting for the perfect terrorism training spot.
The term “jihadi tourism” first appeared in news reports in late 2010, when US diplomatic cables, revealed by WikiLeaks, quoted a US diplomat in East Africa worrying about “a certain amount of so-called ‘jihadi tourism’ to southern Somalia”.
In a January 2010 cable on a classified meeting, then UN Special Representative for Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah warned that Somalia was turning into an “incubator” for terrorists, “including those holding US, United Kingdom and European passports”.
But when it comes to Somalia, it’s easier to overlook the latest threat from a country that has turned into a byword for a failed state than to actually do something about it. In another leaked cable, for instance, senior British officials dismissed a request for peacekeeping troops with a terse, “there is not enough peace to keep in Somalia".
Making the journey to an ‘Islamic land’
Peace has not come to this East African nation, but right now, there are plenty of African troops fighting in the al Shabaab strongholds of southern and central Somalia. The Islamist group ceded territory to African Union troops in the Somali capital of Mogadishu last year. In mid-October, Kenya launched a military operation in southern Somalia, which was followed by an Ethiopian incursion in November.
Despite the onslaught, al Shabaab is by no means a spent force. In the face of superior firepower, the Islamist group has been employing hit-and-run tactics, slowing down the Kenyan military advance.
As for the jihadi tourism trail, it shows no sign of drying up. If anything, a recent slew of reports suggest that US and European nationals are still responding to al Shabaab’s recruitment drives.
Shortly before Christmas, Jermaine Grant, a British national, was apprehended in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa and charged with possessing explosive materials and plotting to explode a bomb.
Grant’s arrest came as Kenyan authorities issued an arrest warrant for another British national, Natalie Faye Webb, who is believed to have links to al Shabaab.
Meanwhile in the US, prosecutors in Maryland charged a former US soldier last week with attempting to join and provide material support to al Shabaab.
In a nine-page criminal affidavit, US prosecutors alleged that Craig Baxam, a 24-year-old convert to Islam, had traveled to Kenya, from where he intended to reach al Shabaab territory in neighbouring Somalia.
Baxam was arrested in Kenya before being put on a plane back to the US, where he’s currently facing trial.
According to the affidavit, the Maryland native “had no real religious affiliation” until he discovered Islam on a religious Web site. He quit the US army in July 2011, shortly after converting to Islam. The affidavit notes that Baxam “wanted to make his hijra [or migration to an Islamic land] to Somalia to defend Sharia law under Al-Shabaab.” [sic]
Somalia competes with Pakistan as a jihadi destination

Until fairly recently, Somalia was an easy destination on the jihadi tourism trail, according to Katherine Zimmerman of the Washington DC-based American Enterprise Institute.
“Unlike Afghanistan and Pakistan, there wasn’t much of a foreign military presence there. Travel to Somalia was easy, the borders are porous and the flights from Kenya were largely unmonitored,” said Zimmerman in a phone interview with FRANCE 24.
Once the top destination for disaffected youth seeking jihad, Pakistan’s tribal areas these days are difficult for wannabe Western mujahideen to penetrate. Testimonies by “Times Square bomber” Faisal Shahzad and David Headley, a Pakistani-American accused of conspiring in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, show that militant groups in the tribal areas are increasingly suspicious of western intelligence infiltration following successful US drone strikes in the region.
Somalia, in contrast, is high on the jihadi propaganda list. “Al Qaeda repeatedly names Somalia as one of the regions where Muslims are encouraged to fight jihad,” said Zimmerman.
Americans in Shabaab’s top ranks

Another encouraging factor is the perception that al Shabaab is an upwardly mobile group with a number of its foreign fighters – notably Americans – climbing up the organisational hierarchy.
In October 2011, al Shabaab released high quality photographs of its militants distributing food aid to famine victims, according to IntelCenter, a US-based organisation that monitors jihadi propaganda.
The publicity shots, snapped at a refugee camp south of Mogadishu, featured Ali Mahmud Rage, Shabaab’s top spokesman.
Standing besides Rage in one of the photographs is a noticeably light-skinned man who used the occasion to address a gathering of local journalists. Known as Abu Abdullah al Muhajir in Shabaab circles, he has been identified by US intelligence officials as Jehad Mostafa, a California native with no ancestral ties to Somalia.

US-born Abu Abdullah al Muhajir (right) and senior al Shabaab spokesman Ali Mahmud Rage (left) make an appearance at a refugee camp south of Mogadishu in October 2011. (Picture provided by IntelCenter)

Mostafa’s nom de guerre is a dead giveaway. Muhajir is the Arabic word for “immigrant”. In a 2009 report titled “Somalia’s Divided Islamists,” the Brussels-based International Crisis Group noted that al Shabaab ranks were divided into local Somali militants (called ansars) and foreign fighters, known as muhajirin, the plural for muhajir.
The report states that the muhajirin is a “small, but well-resourced and powerful faction which is the driving force behind al Shabaab’s ideological drift to the far extreme”.
Unlike the local ansars, who have extensive links within Somalia’s clan-based society, the muhajirin pursue a more global al Qaeda style agenda.
A rap song for Obama
One of al Shabaab’s most powerful muhajirin is the US-born Omar Hammami, also called Abu Mansoor al Amriki (“the American”) who was profiled by The New York Times in 2010.
Al Amriki is believed to come up with Shabaab’s battle plans and he is one of the group’s most prolific figures on jihadist media circles with videos featuring the Alabama native rapping messages such as “How dare you” to US President Barack Obama.

US-born al Shabaab militant Omar Hammami, who goes by the nom de guerre, Abu Mansoor al Amriki ("the American")

Like a number of al Qaeda militants, al Amriki’s current status has been a matter of much dispute in the past. In July 2011, a Somali news site reported that he had been killed in a Predator attack in the Jubba region of southern Somalia.
But al Amriki has been declared dead before and he once even released a song mocking the reports of his death.
A war of words on Twitter

Experts note that al Shabaab’s media output is among the most sophisticated among al Qaeda affiliates. Following the Kenyan military operation, the group took its message on Twitter, barraging the microblogging site with minute-by-minute updates.
The group’s Twitter handle, @HSMPress (short for the group’s official title, Harakat al Shabaab al Mujahideen) has been putting out feeds in English that are invariably grammatically perfect, sometimes witty and often taunting.
In recent months, security experts have been unwittingly amused by a war of words on Twitter between al Shabaab militants and Kenya's army spokesman, Major Emmanuel Chirchir [@MajorEChirchir] refuting and deriding each other’s military updates.
“@MajorEChirchir Your boys are a grotesque parody of an army! They can outpace ur world-class runners by far. Indeed, they ‘Run like a Kenyan,’” tweeted @HSMPress recently.
While much of Shabaab’s messages feature jihadist bluster and exaggerated battle claims, the idioms and turn of phrase certainly sound like the messenger is an American.
But like many experts, Zimmerman refuses to be drawn into a guessing game of who is behind al Shabaab’s recent tweets. “I don’t know who is managing al Shabaab’s Twitter account, but I can say that it’s someone with a good command of the language and the feed is extremely prolific and interactive.”
While it’s still too early to say if the current Kenyan and Ethiopian military operations in Somalia have weakened Shabaab as an organisation, many experts believe the latest onslaughts can be used as an effective propaganda tool to recruit more foreign jihadists.
“The fighting in Somalia is being labeled as a ‘true jihad’ and it certainly feeds into the al Shabaab rhetoric of resistance and protecting Somalia from a Christian invasion,” said Zimmerman, noting that Shabaab views Ethiopia and Kenya as “Christian nations”. It’s the sort of discourse that has aided al Shabaab’s foreign recruitment drives in the past and chances are it will continue to attract seekers on the jihadi tourism trail.