Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Christians in Somalia Bear the Brunt of al-Qaeda-Linked Terror Group

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

By Jeremy Reynalds
Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service





SOMALIA (ANS) -- The decapitated body of a Christian man, Juma Nuradin Kamil, was found in Bakool region of Southwestern Somalia on Sept. 2.

According to a report by Fernando Perez for the World Evangelical Alliance’s Religious Liberty Commission (WEA-RLC), the killing, one of the numerous such incidents in recent years, comes at a time when tens of thousands of Somalis have died.

In addition, about 750,000 more are at risk of death, some of them Christians who are being denied aid, in the wake of the 21st century's worst drought in the Horn of Africa.

WEA said the Christian, whose head was severed and put on his chest, was killed by the Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (Mujahideen Youth Movement), commonly known as al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked terror group that controls and runs a de facto “government” in most of southern Somalia.

The group is also restricting international aid from reaching the starving population in territories under their control, especially to the Christians, WEA-RLC has learned.

WEA-RLC said the al-Shabaab splintered from a now defunct group of Sharia courts, the Islamic Courts Union. It is fighting to overthrow the Transitional Federal Government, created in 2004 backed by the African Union, the United Nations and the United States.

Since the outbreak of the 1991 civil war which overthrew President Siad Barre's regime, most parts of Somalia have had no formal government. The transitional government controls only a small part of the country.

WEA said the al-Shabaab, which generally wages war against “enemies of Islam,” was created after the Islamic Courts Union was ousted by forces from neighboring Ethiopia in 2006. It had the backing of Iran, Libya, Egypt and others in the Persian Gulf region, according to a UN report. And after Ethiopia withdrew from Somalia in 2009, the al-Shabaab grew stronger and turned even more extremist.

Somalia tops the Failed States Index 2011 by Foreign Policy magazine.

WEA-RLC said, the al-Shabaab imposes an extremely strict version of Sharia, or Islamic law, in southern parts under its control. In 2008, a 13-year-old girl accused of adultery, but actually gang-raped, was buried up to her neck in the field of a soccer stadium packed with spectators, and then stoned to death, according to an article in The New Yorker.

Recently, WEA-RLC said, African Union forces were able to drive out al-Shabaab from the capital city of Mogadishu, but reports suggest that the militants' moving out was a tactical decision to bring about a greater destruction.

There are roughly 10 million people in Somalia, mostly Sunni Muslim. It is estimated that the country has little more than 1,000 Christians, most of them from the Bantu ethnic group. The country has no church building; Christians meet for worship underground, especially in southern parts.

WEA-RLC said the al-Shabaab particularly hates the minority followers of Sufism, which it dubs “heretic,” and the very few number of Christians, who it labels as “agents of Ethiopian intelligence agencies.” The Christian-majority Ethiopia supports the interim government, although it had troubled relations with Somalia.

WEA-RLC said Agence France-Presse recently quoted an al-Shabaab spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, as saying that providing aid during calamities was a “strategy” of the United Nations to “transport them (Somalis) abroad, especially in Christian countries like Ethiopia and Kenya, so that their faith can be destroyed and that they could be staff and soldiers for the Christians.”

WEA-RLC said al-Shabaab's hatred for Christians surpasses its concern for the lives of over four million people, the majority of them Muslim, who are affected with the drought. The group is distributing aid as it is able with its limited capacity, but no one who is a Christian, or suspected to be one, is receiving any aid, some Christian groups have reported.

The famine has also hit the al-Shabaab, as hundreds of thousands of people who pay protection taxes to the outfit have fled its territories to Kenya and Ethiopia. And many, WEA-RLC said, even within the terror group's leadership and powerful local clan leaders, are holding the al-Shabaab responsible for the crisis, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

However, WEA-RLC said, the crisis may not lead to a temporary ceasefire or lifting of the ban on international aid agencies, which could also eventually help human rights groups to discuss protection of minorities. Since the al-Shabaab is no longer a group with a centralized power and there are many factions, intervention by an outside force is extremely difficult in the absence of a true representative of the group.

While the style of functioning of one faction in one territory may be different from that of another faction in another territory, each faction is known to be equally brutal in implementing Sharia and enforcing compliance from the residents.

WEA-RLC said while there are some Sufi armed groups under the banner of Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a to fight al-Shabaab militants, Christians in Somalia have no voice or protection at all. Christians complain that even the Transitional Federal Government does not treat them well. President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who heads the internationally recognized government, has also adopted Sharia law with death for apostasy.

WEA-RLC said the international community is rightly being blamed for the current crisis, at least partially, in terms of the response to the unprecedented drought. The same is true in case of the rising Christian persecution in Somalia.

Like there were early signs of the drought worsening in the region that once used to be the bread basket of the country, international Christian groups had been reporting on killings, rape and torture of members of the country's most vulnerable minority. But little was done to avert either of the crises.

WEA-RLC said despite sanctions imposed on Eritrea by the UN Security Council, it reportedly continues to supply arms to the al-Shabaab, according to a 2010 report by the UN International Monitoring Group. If the sanctions have not proven to be effective, an alternative must be formulated.

In addition, WEA-RLC said, it is widely believed that the military and police of the transitional government - though trained by the European Union, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya - are weak and inefficient, and the administration corrupt. The government relies heavily on the roughly 8,000 troops of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

Moreover, the Transitional Federal Government occupies Somalia's seat in the United Nations, maintains embassies in 19 countries, and has fairly good relations with the West, and yet it could not be prevented from enacting laws that violate international law or encouraged to show respect for religious freedom.

Concerning the al-Shabaab, WEA-RLC said, is extremely difficult to deal with the group. But inaction is definitely not the correct response it requires. Perhaps, efforts should be made to reach out to the militants, or their various factions, for the sake of the innocent people living in the territories under its control, even if that involves making some concessions initially.

If that doesn’t work, WEA-RLC said, a strategy should be made to gain control over al-Shabaab territories.

Christians in Somalia Bear the Brunt of al-Qaeda-Linked Terror Group
The decapitated body of a Christian man, Juma Nuradin Kamil, was found in Bakool region of Southwestern Somalia on Sept. 2.

According to a report by Fernando Perez for the World Evangelical Alliance’s Religious Liberty Commission (WEA-RLC), the killing, one of the numerous such incidents in recent years, comes at a time when tens of thousands of Somalis have died.

In addition, about 750,000 more are at risk of death, some of them Christians who are being denied aid, in the wake of the 21st century's worst drought in the Horn of Africa.

WEA said the Christian, whose head was severed and put on his chest, was killed by the Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (Mujahideen Youth Movement), commonly known as al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda-linked terror group that controls and runs a de facto “government” in most of southern Somalia.

The group is also restricting international aid from reaching the starving population in territories under their control, especially to the Christians, WEA-RLC has learned.

WEA-RLC said the al-Shabaab splintered from a now defunct group of Sharia courts, the Islamic Courts Union. It is fighting to overthrow the Transitional Federal Government, created in 2004 backed by the African Union, the United Nations and the United States.

Since the outbreak of the 1991 civil war which overthrew President Siad Barre's regime, most parts of Somalia have had no formal government. The transitional government controls only a small part of the country.

WEA said the al-Shabaab, which generally wages war against “enemies of Islam,” was created after the Islamic Courts Union was ousted by forces from neighboring Ethiopia in 2006. It had the backing of Iran, Libya, Egypt and others in the Persian Gulf region, according to a UN report. And after Ethiopia withdrew from Somalia in 2009, the al-Shabaab grew stronger and turned even more extremist.

Somalia tops the Failed States Index 2011 by Foreign Policy magazine.

WEA-RLC said, the al-Shabaab imposes an extremely strict version of Sharia, or Islamic law, in southern parts under its control. In 2008, a 13-year-old girl accused of adultery, but actually gang-raped, was buried up to her neck in the field of a soccer stadium packed with spectators, and then stoned to death, according to an article in The New Yorker.

Recently, WEA-RLC said, African Union forces were able to drive out al-Shabaab from the capital city of Mogadishu, but reports suggest that the militants' moving out was a tactical decision to bring about a greater destruction.

There are roughly 10 million people in Somalia, mostly Sunni Muslim. It is estimated that the country has little more than 1,000 Christians, most of them from the Bantu ethnic group. The country has no church building; Christians meet for worship underground, especially in southern parts.

WEA-RLC said the al-Shabaab particularly hates the minority followers of Sufism, which it dubs “heretic,” and the very few number of Christians, who it labels as “agents of Ethiopian intelligence agencies.” The Christian-majority Ethiopia supports the interim government, although it had troubled relations with Somalia.

WEA-RLC said Agence France-Presse recently quoted an al-Shabaab spokesman, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, as saying that providing aid during calamities was a “strategy” of the United Nations to “transport them (Somalis) abroad, especially in Christian countries like Ethiopia and Kenya, so that their faith can be destroyed and that they could be staff and soldiers for the Christians.”

WEA-RLC said al-Shabaab's hatred for Christians surpasses its concern for the lives of over four million people, the majority of them Muslim, who are affected with the drought. The group is distributing aid as it is able with its limited capacity, but no one who is a Christian, or suspected to be one, is receiving any aid, some Christian groups have reported.

The famine has also hit the al-Shabaab, as hundreds of thousands of people who pay protection taxes to the outfit have fled its territories to Kenya and Ethiopia. And many, WEA-RLC said, even within the terror group's leadership and powerful local clan leaders, are holding the al-Shabaab responsible for the crisis, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

However, WEA-RLC said, the crisis may not lead to a temporary ceasefire or lifting of the ban on international aid agencies, which could also eventually help human rights groups to discuss protection of minorities. Since the al-Shabaab is no longer a group with a centralized power and there are many factions, intervention by an outside force is extremely difficult in the absence of a true representative of the group.

While the style of functioning of one faction in one territory may be different from that of another faction in another territory, each faction is known to be equally brutal in implementing Sharia and enforcing compliance from the residents.

WEA-RLC said while there are some Sufi armed groups under the banner of Ahlu Sunna Waljama'a to fight al-Shabaab militants, Christians in Somalia have no voice or protection at all. Christians complain that even the Transitional Federal Government does not treat them well. President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who heads the internationally recognized government, has also adopted Sharia law with death for apostasy.

WEA-RLC said the international community is rightly being blamed for the current crisis, at least partially, in terms of the response to the unprecedented drought. The same is true in case of the rising Christian persecution in Somalia.

Like there were early signs of the drought worsening in the region that once used to be the bread basket of the country, international Christian groups had been reporting on killings, rape and torture of members of the country's most vulnerable minority. But little was done to avert either of the crises.

WEA-RLC said despite sanctions imposed on Eritrea by the UN Security Council, it reportedly continues to supply arms to the al-Shabaab, according to a 2010 report by the UN International Monitoring Group. If the sanctions have not proven to be effective, an alternative must be formulated.

In addition, WEA-RLC said, it is widely believed that the military and police of the transitional government - though trained by the European Union, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya - are weak and inefficient, and the administration corrupt. The government relies heavily on the roughly 8,000 troops of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

Moreover, the Transitional Federal Government occupies Somalia's seat in the United Nations, maintains embassies in 19 countries, and has fairly good relations with the West, and yet it could not be prevented from enacting laws that violate international law or encouraged to show respect for religious freedom.

Concerning the al-Shabaab, WEA-RLC said, is extremely difficult to deal with the group. But inaction is definitely not the correct response it requires. Perhaps, efforts should be made to reach out to the militants, or their various factions, for the sake of the innocent people living in the territories under its control, even if that involves making some concessions initially.

If that doesn’t work, WEA-RLC said, a strategy should be made to gain control over al-Shabaab territories.

Jeremy Reynalds is Senior Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, a freelance writer and also the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "Homeless in the City."


Additional details on "Homeless in the City" are available athttp://www.homelessinthecity.com. Reynalds lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@comcast.net.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Somali Christian confirmed dead, decapitated

POSTED: 20 SEPTEMBER, 2011

odm-somalichristian-beheaded.jpg
Somalia (MNN) ― Juma Nuradin Kamil, a Christian convert from Islam, was kidnapped and found in early September decapitated on the outskirts of Hudur City in southwestern Somalia. A contact of Compass Direct News was recently able to confirm the murder.

On August 21, Kamil was forced into a car by three men who, according to Open Doors, USA, many suspect to have been Islamic extremists from terrorist group al Shabaab. Members of Kamil's community looked for him until they finally found his body in the middle of a street.

The kidnapping and subsequent murder appear to be the work of al Shabaab militants, based on how it was carried out. Al Shabaab, a militant group with ties to al Qaeda, has an estimated membership ranging from 3,000 to 7,000. Muslim extremists from al Shabaab have vowed to rid Somalia of Christianity and seek to impose a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law.

Church leaders confirm that al Shabaab often decapitates Muslims they suspect to have embraced the Christian faith, or those who appear to sympathize with Western ideals.
Kamil had been a believer for three years. Many believe al Shabaab had been monitoring him for some time.

Based on the terror-linked nature of the attack, area Christians were initially afraid to bury Kamil's body. They did not want al Shabaab extremists seeing them associated with a newly-discovered convert to Christianity. The body thus lay in the open for two days, until an unknown group reportedly buried him in secret.

It's a dangerous time for Christians in Somalia who not only face ongoing threats from al Shabaab, but whose own government is against them. While proclaiming himself a moderate, President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed has embraced a version of sharia that mandates the death penalty for those who leave Islam.

Somalia ranks number 5 on the 2011 Open Doors World Watch List of countries where the persecution of Christians is most severe.

Pray for believers on the underground to continue to stand up boldly for their faith and to continue to proclaim the Truth of Christ, whatever the consequences. Pray for those who mourn the loss of Kamil, that his family and fellow believers might have peace and remain safe. 

Monday, September 19, 2011

Sweden: Imam calls to kill converts on Radio Sweden

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2011



Via Dagen (Swedish):

"It is the duty of every Muslim to kill those who leave Islam." This statement was made on Radio Sweden recently when an Imam from Rinkeby (Stockholm) was allowed to speak about how people should act against Somalis who convert to Christianity.

The program with the death threats against converts was broadcast by the Somali department of Radio Sweden and was a follow-up on a previous segment about a group of Christian Somalis who came to Rinkeby Square to evangelize. They also got to talk about it in the radio report.

"I was there when they preached about Christianity. I also spoke with the guys who converted," said Kenadid Mohamed, the reporter who did the segment.

Rinkeby is a suburb of Stockholm where many Somalis live, and the evangelizing Somalis got a crowd who understood the language.

"Some saw it as a provocation that they came and preached about Christianity outside the msoque during Ramadan," says Kenadid Mohamed.

He says that there were various feelings among the Somalis who were there. Many were surprised since it's unusual that Somalis are Christians. The reactions among the Somali audience were mixed. Some thought it was OK to hear a sermon and prayer in Somali and referred to Swedish freedom of religion. 

Others were more provoked, which was reflected in the follow-up program when Radio Sweden's Somali department started a debate on the issue. Among the speakers was a Somali imam who said that it was the duty of every Muslim to kill those who left Islam. When the reporter questioned his statement, given that they're in Sweden, he was told that those who need more details could come to the imam's mosque in Rinkeby.

"You didn't think you were listening to Radio Sweden in the beginning," says a Somali who heard the program. He says the reporter should have stooped the statements. He also says that the imam referred to Christian Somalis as infidels.

Kenadid Mohamed, who did the first report on the Christian Somalis, says he understands that the imam interprets the Koran literally, which means it's not possible to convert from Islam.

"It is an approach that many believe in," says Kenadid Mohamed.

But he also says that there are major differences in opiinon among Somalis and that those who live in Sweden for a long time tend to think a little differently.

Markus Sand, a pastor in the Rinkeby International Community, was in the square when the Christian Somalis were evangelizing.

"None of them live in Rinkeby, and I think it would be quite dangerous for them," he says.

He says that one of the Somalis preached for 15 minutes, and that another offered prayer. After that several from the audience started an intensive discussion, before they left the square.

Q: Did they preach outside the mosque, as the reporter states?

A: No, we stood on the other side of the square. At the place where we usually stand with our book stall. So we weren't outside the mosque, but the square is qu
ite small.

Converts must die: imam to Swedish radio

Converts must die: imam to Swedish radio
Published: 15 Sep 11 16:28 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation 


Swedish public service broadcaster Sveriges Radio (SR) has been reported for hate speech after featuring a programme in which a Somali imam called for all converts from Islam to be killed.


The programme in question was a panel discussion and was broadcast live by SR International's Somali service.

The police report was filed by Erik Johansson, at the Swedish Evangelical Mission (Evangeliska Fosterlands-Stiftelsen - EFS), after friends told him of the imam's words underlining every Muslim's responsibility to kill anyone who leaves Islam.

"I received a call from my Somali friends who had heard the programme. I don't speak the language myself and when they explained to me, I concluded that this wasn't a message which should be on an SR channel," Erik Johansson told The Local on Thursday.

Johansson also contacted Sveriges Radio in order to register his dismay that the item was left available on their website for more than two weeks. Soon after his telephone call the programme was removed from the website.

In a comment to the Christian website Dagen on Tuesday, SR International head Ingemar Löfgren said that he decided to pull the transcript from SR's website pending receipt of an official translation, pointing out that he is responsible for several channels broadcast in languages which he does not speak.

"If an imam calls for other Muslims to kill converts, then we have a journalistic responsibility... If he didn't get any follow up questions then we have failed in our journalistic responsibility," he said.

According to Erik Johansson, the journalist reminded the imam that they were in Sweden, to which he replied that the same rules apply there.

"It is my hope my police report will encourage them (SR) to change their routines," Erik Johansson told The Local.

The Local's attempts to reach Sveriges Radio International for comment on Thursday have so far been unsuccessful.



Peter Vinthagen Simpson
news@thelocal.se
+46 8 656 6518

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

NUSOJ Condemns Journalists' Labeling by Al-Shabaab

Sheikh Abdulqadir Muumin, al Shabab senior cleric

StarAfrica
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
The National Union of Somali journalists (NUSOJ) has today condemned statement from a prominent cleric linked to the leadership of Somali extremist group Al Shabaab, Sheikh Abdulqadir Muumin, for labeling Somali journalists as “unbelievers” who had been “sentenced to death”.


Sheik Abdulqadir, while addressing Al Shabaab followers on Saturday 10 September 2011, in Lower Shabelle region of Southern Somalia, referred to local journalists as “unbelievers” and discouraged the group's followers not to listen to their radio broadcasts.

"You listen to the radio stations but they tell you lies,” he said. “The journalists of BBC, VOA, Radio Mogadishu and other radio stations are apostates and you are not allowed to listen to someone who is sentenced to death,” Sheikh Abdulqadir added. He ardently and repeatedly told the militia's followers not to listen to all radio stations in Mogadishu including BBC Somali Service, VOA Somali section and Radio Mogadishu.

NUSOJ Secretary General Omar Faruk Osman said the statement constituted “a deadly threat to the journalists in Somalia and part of the attempts by the militia to cow the media into silence”.

”Journalists in Somalia will not be cowed by such deadly threats and intimidation and we urge them to continue doing their work of informing the world about the atrocities being perpetrated by the militia and other such terror groups in Somalia,” said Osman.

Al Shabaab militants often label anyone they want to kill as “apostate”. Many journalists in Somalia have been murdered by members of the militia, especially in Mogadishu in the past.

Swedish terror suspects are Somali and Iraqi, authorities say

September 12, 2011 -- Updated 1520 GMT (2320 HKT)



(CNN) -- Three of the four men who were arrested this weekend on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack in Sweden are of Somali origin, and the fourth is Iraqi, Swedish authorities told CNN on Monday.
A court named them as Kulan Mohamud Abel, Mahamud Abdi Aziz, Mahmood Salar Sami and Mohamud Abdi Weli, and tax authorities confirmed their nationalities.
All are between the ages of 23 and 26.
In a raid led by a SWAT team late Saturday night, they were arrested on suspicion of plotting an act of terror, the Swedish Security Service said.
Prosecutors have until Tuesday to decide whether to ask a judge to extend their detention or release them.
The four were held in the city of Gothenburg for "probable cause" of preparing the attacks, the highest level of suspicion in Sweden, Sara Kvarnstrom, a spokeswoman for the security force, said Sunday.
She refused to say whether the suspects had been under surveillance or if the arrests resulted from a tip-off, saying she could not discuss details of an ongoing investigation.
"Through these arrests, we have been able to prevent a situation from occurring," Malena Rembe, head analyst at the Swedish Security Service, told CNN affiliate TV4 on Sunday.
Abel and Weli were born in Somalia, and both became Swedish citizens in 2000, tax authorities told CNN. Sami was born in Iraq and became a Swedish citizen in 2003. Aziz was born in Somalia and has lived in Sweden since 1999 but is not a citizen.
Sweden is not raising its terror threat level, which is currently at 3, with 5 as the highest.
There is "no reason for the public to be alarmed. ... These arrests have not changed this threat level," Kvarnstrom said.
An art gallery in central Gothenburg was evacuated shortly before midnight local time, police said, but they declined to say whether it was connected to the arrests.
A party was going on at the Roda Sten gallery at the time, with about 500 people attending the inauguration of an arts festival, according an interview with a witness in Goteborgs Posten, a local newspaper.
Stockholm was hit by a suicide bombing in December. The attack on the capital, Sweden's first suicide bombing, wounded two people in a district full of Christmas shoppers.
Police arrested two people in Gothenburg, the country's second-largest city, on suspicion of plotting a bombing in October. They were later released without charge, police said.