Posted on 08/24/2006 7:45:09 PM PDT by blam
Terror fears as radicals reopen vital port
By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi
(Filed: 25/08/2006)
Islamic radicals who have seized most of southern Somalia yesterday celebrated the reopening of Mogadishu's main seaport, a key gateway between the Horn of Africa and the Arab world.
The strategically crucial harbour had been largely unused for 11 years.
A Kenyan registered cargo ship, Ronja, is the the first ship to dock in Mogadishu's seaport
Now it is in the hands of radical clerics whose leader, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, appears on an American "watchlist" for suspected terrorists.
His alliance, the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts, also announced the opening of a training camp for 600 of its militia fighters.
The camp's instructors are volunteers from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Eritrea, raising fears that southern Somalia could become a new training ground for terrorists linked to al-Qa'eda.
"This camp is a further example of the consolidation of the council's control," said Matt Bryden, the Somalia expert for the International Crisis Group.
"They are pulling everyone together in one place as a way to unify them, to band them together under one umbrella, rather than in all the sub-clan camps."
So far, there is no evidence to show the Islamic fighters receiving anything more than basic military training. There is no sign of them learning any techniques, such as bomb-making, useful to terrorists.
Mr Bryden said: "There is a chance this is the widely feared and so-called terrorist training camp but my sense is it is more a place to indoctrinate all the armed fighters in one place."
Reopening the port and establishing what amounts to an armed forces training academy are the latest signs of the Islamic Council's growing power. The danger is the port could become a key artery for arms shipments, beyond the reach of international maritime law.
In July, the militants also managed to repair the runway at Mogadishu's main airport, allowing the first commercial passenger flights in more than a decade.
It also brought in huge Russian-built Ilyushin cargo planes, said to be loaded with small arms and reportedly hired from Kazakhstan by the Supreme Council's main regional ally, Eritrea.
"We have been hearing about how the council has scrapped roadblocks, brought back the city buses, brought some order there," said one western diplomat. "But there's an unpredictability about these guys, they're uncontrollable and none of us in the diplomatic community should think we've got a stick big enough, or a carrot big enough, to make them bend to our will."
Eritrea is believed to be arming the radicals to use them against its bitter enemy, Ethiopia. The danger is that these weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists.
"Eritrea has been flying in small arms to Mogadishu airport ever since the Islamists reopened that. Why not ship in surface-to-air missiles now they've opened the port?" asked the diplomat.
Sorry, just practicing my DNC talking points.
Don't worry - I think we have all of this targeted down to the last nanometer.
Is this a "Thank you Bill Cliton moment?"
The 'Axis of evil' is moving it's most advanced weapons through here... /s
"Somalia's prime minister charged Saturday that Egypt, Libya and Iran are arming the Islamic militants who challenge his rule,..."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/29/AR2006072900210.html
I gotta say Mark Levin a couple of days ago said on his program that he 'was sick of living this way'. He was talking Islamo-fascism of course. I have to say this has resonated with me.
Pics please...
But I thought Islam was a religion of peace.
Yup this is part of Bill's "Pay us later" legacy.
Pics of what?
Ethiopia's troop movements cut Somalia in half. Ethiopia is trying to colonize Hobyo for use of the port?
Abort the port. :)
I think Ethiopia is our proxy in this one.
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