₦airaland Forum

chipmunkey:
Sorry for answering late Pendo. It's a combination of so many factors but the important one is Passion. I wouldn't consider myself a successful blogger because GidiLinks is not even near my vision for it. However i believe whatever the mind can conceive , hands can achieve.

No worries. But that is lovely.I rem one rich dude saying that if your job aint your passion then you will never succeed at it.
Will try revive my passion now.

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/image/view/-/1256434/highRes/303003/-/maxw/600/-/24da8u/-/billboard.gif

In Tripoli, street caricature have replaced Col Muammar Gaddafi’s portraits.
Elsewhere, the story unfolds differently.In Moscow, women protested against the war.
They displayed mattresses with Gaddafi’s portrait at the European Commission building with such slogans as “Make love not war!” “Send to sleep the spirit of war!” “Mattresses and bosoms, forget about war!”

On Masaka highway, about 100km south of Kampala, stands a huge billboard guarded by the army.

On the left, President Yoweri Museveni stands face to face with Gaddafi; perhaps enjoying a chat. On the right, the two stand side by side looking straight ahead. (Were they staring into the future?)

For a long time, the billboard was covered. It is not clear when it was uncovered.
Col Gaddafi was expected to unveil the billboard but that never happened. Even after Gaddafi is gone, the billboard remain heavily guarded. To any traveller, it does not make sense until you read the inscriptions in Arabic and English.
Though it is by the roadside, it is out of bounds even without any signs saying so — the army guards are enough to keep you away.

The billboard reads: “Erected in memory of Libyan government support to the then National Resistance Army rebellion.

Around this [Luweero Triangle] the Libyan air force dropped weapons to the rebels.”
The NRA rebellion was born after the 1980 elections that Museveni contested under the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM).

UPM won one seat but refused to take its seat in parliament saying the elections were rigged in favour of the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), at the time headed by Dr Milton Obote
The Democratic Party (DP), which is said to have won the elections, chose to take its seats in parliament while Museveni took to the bush.
In his book Museveni’s Long March from Guerilla to Statesman, the late Maj. Ondonga Ori Amaza justifies the rebellion.
“The elections sparked off the rebellion but its mission was more than reversing the election results,” he wrote.
“When we went to the bush, we went to fight tribalism and other forms of sectarianism. We also fought to end murder in Uganda, corruption and backwardness in the economy,” Museveni explains in his book What is Africa’s problem.

Three months after the rebellion started, Libya made contacts with the rebels.
Museveni met Gaddafi in Libya and the latter gave the rebels some money and shortly after, smuggled in 800 rifles, 45 RPG launchers, mortars, machine guns and 100 anti-tank landmines
But the rebels received only 96 riffles, five GPMGs, 8 RPGS and landmines.
“This relatively small amount of weapons was useful but not decisive in any way.
The mines were particularly useful in blocking the Luwero roads by blowing up trucks,” Museveni writes in his book The Mustard Seed.
Incidentally, the rest of the firearms ended up in the hands of another rebel group, the Uganda Freedom Fighters headed by Prof Yusuf Lule that was fighting separately.

Later the two groups merged into the National Resistance Movement (NRM) with NRA being the armed wing.
In 1985, Libya sent another consignment of weapons — 800 rifles, 800,000 rounds of ammunition and some SAM-47 launchers.

By this time, Gen Tito Okello and Gen Bazillio Olara with assistance from Idi Amin’s exiled soldiers had toppled Obote, sending him into exile in Zambia.
“Having seen the trend, we decided to go on the offensive. We arranged for 800,000 rounds of ammunition and 800 rifles to be parachuted over our area in Ngoma using IIyushin 76 planes, the only significant support we received from Libya,” Museveni states in the book.

Unfortunately, the visibility of “Gaddafi” near Katonga Bridge is in contrast with the scene at the Libyan embassy.
With the exception of the emblem that can be seen at close range at its embassy gate, there is nothing else; even the Libyan flag has been lowered.


Gaddafi’s enduring fascination with Uganda

There is no foreign leader, not even the late President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, who has had such a long fascination and involvement with Uganda as Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Nobody has ever asked Gaddafi why he has been so fascinated by Uganda, for so long, and more than any other country. The nearest to his sustained interest has been Chad, his southern neighbour.

Uganda, until oil was discovered in 2006, did not have strategic minerals or sea access that should have been of crucial interest to Libya or Gaddafi personally. It does not have a majority or even a large Muslim population.
Perhaps a long-lost relative of Gaddafi’s once lived in Uganda from the Khedive Ismail protectorate days. Gaddafi, upon coming to power in 1969, soon turned most of his attention to international affairs.

It was none other than Gaddafi who in March 1972 persuaded President Idi Amin to abandon his close ties with Israel and join the Arab and Palestinian cause. Libya then promised and delivered money to Uganda to compensate revenue lost from severing ties with Israel.

When Kampala’s turn came to host the 1975 OAU summit, Libya and Saudi Arabia helped meet some of the costs.
During the 1978-79 Tanzania-Uganda war, a Libyan C-130 transport plane was destroyed by a Tanzanian Rocket-Propelled Grenade at Entebbe Airport in April 1979. Several dozen Libyan troops sent to Uganda were killed in the fighting and in ambushes.

Gaddafi was hurt and humiliated by this military defeat and never forgave Tanzania for that.

When the former Minister of Finance under Idi Amin, Brig. Moses Ali, the former deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Andrew Kayiira, and the former Defence Minister Yoweri Museveni under the post-Amin UNLF government started guerrilla wars against the second Obote government in 1981, Gaddafi eagerly leapt to their assistance.

He supplied them with weapons and money and several guerrillas of Kayiira’s UFM group were sent to Libya in 1982 for military training. Former Cabinet minister, Matthew Rukikaire, told The Monitor of July 4, 2004 that “At that time, Gaddafi was actually bent on supporting UFM because he thought that they were more active, stronger and were made up of older people.”

One of the first countries Museveni established strong ties with after taking power in 1986 was Libya. Museveni’s External Security Organisation (ESO) and the Internal Security Organisation (ISO) intelligence agencies took their names from their Libyan counterparts.

One of the little-known facts of Great Lakes history is that Gaddafi also funded the RPF rebels after they invaded Rwanda in 1990. He provided them arms that were flown into Uganda, then handed to the RPF by the Museveni regime.

If Gaddafi had an odd and long-running relationship with Uganda the country, after 2001, he developed an even more curious relationship with a kingdom within Uganda called Tooro in western Uganda.

As a result of his friendship with Tooro’s Queen Mother Best Kemigisa (itself a matter of great public speculation and amusement in Uganda), Gaddafi became anything from a regent to the youthful Tooro king Oyo to the main financier of kingdom projects.

Since it has always been believed that Tooro is one of the few places in Uganda where President Museveni has enjoyed unwavering support since 1986, Gaddafi’s involvement with Tooro affairs, bankrolling the renovation of the king’s palace, among other things – the very display of public generosity that is Museveni’s ruling style – it was not long before a somewhat upstaged Museveni started to develop friction with Gaddafi.

Tensions between Museveni and Gaddafi reached the point where, as the WikiLeaks US diplomatic cables later published, in September 2009, Museveni started to get concerned that Gaddafi could even order the shooting down of his presidential jet.
However, relations between the two leaders appear to have been repaired this year. On July 3, Libyan state TV reported that “Ugandan president sends condolences message to Libyan leader for death of his son, all “martyrs” of Nato bombings.”
From the Tropical African Bank in the 1970s (formerly called the Libyan Arab Bank) and since 2001 Uganda Telecom, National Housing and Construction Corporation, the Windsor Lake Victoria Hotel and other companies, Libya has invested substantially in Uganda.

To Uganda’s Muslim community, the lasting legacy of Gaddafi in Uganda will be the beautiful peach and cream-coloured grand mosque atop Old Kampala Hill, a construction project that started in 1972 but seemed like one of those that would never get completed.

Ugandans too have had their long-running fascination with Gaddafi. His flamboyant fashion sense, the hilarious fights his bodyguards always got into with Museveni’s presidential escort, that relationship/friendship/alliance with Best Kemigisa, all made headlines.

Ironically, considering the erratic person that Gaddafi is supposed to be, he has maintained a relationship in one form or the other with Uganda spanning four decades. If we were to go by that and to be fair to Gaddafi, 40 years certainly speaks of commitment.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/

Analysts sceptical of US claims, say it is providing intelligence support

The face of elshabab
https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/image/view/-/1206678/medRes/281548/-/maxw/600/-/699tyez/-/shabab.jpg

Independent analysts in the United States tend to accept the Obama administration’s claim that it did not push Kenya into launching military action in southern Somalia.

But some of those same analysts say it is likely that the US is now providing Kenyan forces with intelligence assistance in hopes of inflicting a fatal blow on their mutual enemy: the Al Shabaab insurgency.

American officials speaking on condition of remaining anonymous told reporters late last week that the US was not notified in advance of Kenya’s move into Somalia.

The State Department and Pentagon have not publicly criticised the operation, however, and are refusing to comment on whether the US is now giving Kenya reconnaissance information on Al Shabaab’s tactical response.

However, according to one of the documents released by the whistleblower website, Wikileaks, dated 2009, US has been helping Kenya secure its borders.

“We are providing assistance to Kenya’s army to help them better react to major security incidents along the porous Kenya-Somali border and we are initiating a program to help the Administration Police and Wildlife Service to provide the first line of security along the border according to their mandate,” former US ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger was quoted as saying.

The document further stated that US was also providing support to the Navy and the Maritime Police Unit to better police Kenya’s territorial waters.

Kenya military spokesperson Emmanuel Chirchir, denied reports that America was offering Kenya logistical support, saying the country had the capacity to fight the militants.

“Reports that America is giving us logistical support are erroneous. We only exchange intelligence information with America, and we have been doing it for long,” said Major Chirchir.

The United Nations has also been silent on Kenya’s move into Somalia. A UN spokesman says Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has “nothing to say” on this subject.

An expert on the Horn who works in one branch of the US government told the EastAfrican that the US is almost certainly supplying the Kenyan military with intelligence gathered from American drones flying in southern Somalia.

But this analyst and others suggest that the US may simultaneously fear that Kenya’s action will backfire and leave the country even more vulnerable to Al Shabaab attacks. Al Shabaab may be weakened, they say, but it is not defeated and it does retain the ability to launch punishing operations against Kenyan civilians as well as soldiers.

Other Somalia watchers with military experience point out, however, that Kenya’s operation must have been in the planning stages for at least a few months. And that makes it difficult for these analysts to accept the Americans’ claims that they were blindsided by such a radical departure from Kenya’s generally cautious policies in the Horn.

The US government expert who did not want to be identified emphasises that “Kenya is perfectly capable of acting on its own.”

The US government official offers a similar view. It’s likely, he says, that Kenya will end its operation inside Somalia within the next couple of weeks, especially if it is able to push Al Shabaab away from the border and to bolster local Somali militias friendly to Kenya.
All the analysts agree that Kenya’s military response is understandable and justifiable.

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Analysts+sceptical+of+US+claims/-/2558/1260142/-/item/1/-/w8v3rf/-/index.html

Somali President opposes Kenyan incursion

What? Mr.Chamelion! The somali president's official residence is in Kenya.He flies daily to mogadishu because he cant spend a night there.
The last president was shot when he went there and stayed too long.
Last week he was in support of the whole operation.Now hes talking another language,please Mr. president,carry your stuff and go live in your country if you think you do not need kenyan support. I wonder what you are doing in the country together with your ministers. Why not live in Somalia? These guys bite the arm that feeds them.


Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has said his transitional government is opposed to Kenya's military incursion into Somalia.
Nairobi said the deployment was done with the Somali authorities' approval.
For more than two years, President Ahmed's weak UN-backed interim government has been battling al-Shabab, an al Qaeda-linked group which controls much of south and central Somalia.
His government relies on a 9,000-strong Africa Union force for its security in the capital, Mogadishu.

Air raids

Speaking to journalists at the scene of recent fighting in Mogadishu, Mr Ahmed said Kenyan support in terms of training and logistics was welcome but his government and the people of Somalia were opposed to the presence of the Kenyan army.
Last week, a Somali general told the BBC his troops were working with Kenyan forces advancing from the border towards the port city of Kismayo.
Last week, al-Shabab lost control of the coastal town of Ras Kamboni after attacks by the Kenyan navy and a local militia.
The French authorities said they had learnt last week that a Frenchwoman kidnapped from Kenya by Somali gunmen earlier in the month had died.
Other foreigners being held in Somalia include a British woman abducted from a coastal resort and a Kenyan driver and two Spanish aid workers seized from the Dadaab refugee camp near the Kenya-Somalia border.


Refugees abandoned to their fate as NGOs shut down operations

Two weeks ago, the health post managed by Medicines Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) was bustling with activity as medical personnel attended to patients at Dadaab’s Ifo Three camp.
But the health post has since been closed, leaving thousands of refugees without medical care.
It was shut down soon after Al-Shabaab militants abducted two Spanish aid workers.
Today, the halls are deserted after the medical NGO personnel fled. The organisation has virtually abandoned its humanitarian activities after the kidnapping sent chills through the spines of many aid workers.

Two guards keep watch at the health post, where a fluttering flag is the only reminder that the empty halls were once bustling with life-saving operations.
Scores of foreigners who work in the Dadaab camp, which holds nearly 500,000 refugees, have fled. Refugees have been left destitute
The militants are unpredictable, and aid workers are scared because they can hardly differentiate genuine refugees from Al-Shabaab members.

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke

kenyan

I knew this would happen soon. Flushing out the illegal immigrants.And men Somalis are very fertile going by their numbers.

Police to carry out swoop on Al-Shabaab suspects

A major crackdown on illegal Somali immigrants is underway.

Commissioner of Police Mathew Iteere and Internal Security PS Francis Kimemia said the operation will target non-Kenyans who have taken refuge in the country to fundraise for the gang.

Iteere said an operation on Al-Shabaab sympathisers at Dadaab refugee camp at the weekend led to the recovery of four AK-47 rifles.

"We will be launching the exercise soon because we understand a number of them are around," said the police boss.

Kimemia said the exercise will not be targeting Somalis of Kenyan origin but illegal immigrants who support the activities of the criminal gang.

In Nairobi’s Eastleigh area, a suburb which has been nicknamed “little Mogadishu” because of the large number of Somali residents from Kenya and Somalia, tension was high.

I just dont 'feel' this story in ur below responses. Its testing minds cz I noticed you are like blocking all options available.

>my boss is really pestering me, even after i told him i cant nyansh him, am in a cross roads now, cos if i resign what are my reasons, the job pays well, and don't want to lose it.
but the prospect of searching for another job is kind of scary, should i just do him and let him be? but i feel awkward about it, Pls lord show me the path to take,

>And black mail is out of it, cos i wouldn't want to risk my life and that of my fiancee

>told him i wasn't into doing men, but h keep on pestering me

>will try and see if i can get a job. BUT hmmmm getting this kind of pay, hmmm . baba i need you favour ohhh

>yeah its the other way round he wants me to have his Bottom,

>am going to call my fiancee later today that am resigning , will ask her to come over so i can give her the full gist

>setting up is out of it, don't want to get too involved, it might back fire you know .

wish u all the best though. Cant think of anything better to say.

gosh what a sick thread.
lol @comments

^^^
thats very funny.

Somalis will suffer if Kenya decides to flush them out of the the country! We know their bases,their estates. They came in droves during the moi era when security was lapsed. They bought churches and turned them into business premises,They bought schools and turned them into madrassa.
I think Kenya should just go bomb Eastleigh estate in Kenya which is an extension of somalia and where all pirate money is invested.
The place where all illegal guns and grenades are smuggled. That place is like wall street judging by the amount of money which changes hands daily! They will not dare threw a single grenade again.
If the operation to flush them out of Kenya starts where will they go cz Kenya is their only refugee.They are choking the camps cz elshababs cant let them live peacefuly in their own country!
What is wrong with terrorists!!!

Grenade attack injures 14, al Shabaab suspected

At least 14 revellers were injured when an unidentified man lobbed a grenade into a bar along Nairobi’s Mfangano Street.
The al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility of the incident and the motive of the attack is yet to be known.
Most of the injured had injuries on their legs, faces, head and hands and doctors at the Kenyatta National Hospital said they were in stable condition.

The scene of the incident is a pub that operates from a back street and it must have been targeted by a person who knows it well.
The incident occurred when a man who posed as a patron knocked the door and when it was opened for him, he just hurled a grenade at the patrons inside and fled,” said a witness and bouncer who identified himself as Evans.



BREAKING NEWS: One person dies in Nairobi explosion

An explosion has hit Nairobi OTC bus stop killing one and injuring several others.
Commissioner of Police Mathew Iteere said more than 10 people were injured in the blast and were rushed to hospital.
The explosion occurred at around 7pm at the busy bus terminus when most commuters were on their way home.

Police say that a hand grenade was lobbed at a crowd of commuters waiting for transport.
The explosion happened less than 12 hours after a grenade attack hit a city bar on Monday morning injuring 14 people.
The incidences come days after Somali's al Shabaab militant group threatened to attack Kenya over the recent incursion to the wartorn country.

Security has also been heightened in most hospitals. The police said the operation to clear all illegal structures near vital installations and institutions that may be used as hideouts for criminals will continue.

The first operation was conducted around the Moi Airbase, Eastleigh where stalls and residential structures were flattened.

These shabs are nothing.Silly dudes fighting a psychological war.

What made you connect in the first place? What eroded all that?
This is my tip.Even if you dressed up in whatever secret and made sure your bedroom smells frankincense,myrrh and looks like a rose and lily garden,nothing will change if the connection is lost.
I remember a mentor of mine used to tell us that sex begins in the morning when a couple leaves the house. How you treat each other the whole day everyday has a great impact on your intimate life.
So my dear look out for the loopholes and fill them.Once that is done the intimate connection will be back. Go back to your first love and romance and revive it.
But if hes intrigued with somebody else then that is a matter to address gently.Confrontations never work at all.The best way to destroy an enemy is doing good to them cz its like heaping coals of fire on their heads.

I love this thread so much cz I love photography.
Very beautiful pics.It makes me appreciate my country even more.
Keep them coming.

eGuerrilla:
If we maintained permanent interests but no permanent (friends) relationships within the sphere of politics, this would not be a problem.

an inherent flaw in the African personality: one which demands total obsequiousness to a benefactor, [/b]once help is rendered and received. 
[b]African is somehow incapable of thought, given the omniscience you ascribe to foreign powers.

eGuerrilla:
The changes we are seeing around the world today has to be considered a good thing, as relationships are being re-calibrated.

now is as good a time as any for Africa to force concessions from all interested foreign powers.

Africa's problem is lack of freedom. Free people have a better capacity to develop their economies than people who live under tyranny. freedom is at the center of development and where there's no freedom people continue living in poverty.
Africa has never been free from a colonial mentality. The day we will, we shall learn to solve our own problems

Hi Ijaw gal,Hi Nayah

mmh Looks like something to watch.The trailer looks classy and male actors mmh.
But if they start showing witches and people turning into animals plus a bit of shrine here and there am off.
And hope it doesnt have loud demon casting sessions lasting 4 hours.

WOW ! I am short of words frosbel. Thank you for this great documentary.Its was worth my time even though long.

You know I shed a tear listening to the girl talking about her clothes and toys and gas. It was very touching.
Watching this doc over and over makes me feel like being an activist or terrorist. Its terrible the way they occupied.
So unfair even though am christian.
Trouble started with that UN partition resolution And then the Arab leaders with their numerous meetings failed to take action leaving matters into the hands of the palestinians.
Its so heartbreaking seeing kids suffer deep pyschological trauma,too much even for a grown up
So what next? because the wall is not the answer.Its a war that will never end till the Palestinians get back their original land.
Its their's for christ's sake!
See, those angry and bitter kids growing up with so much hatred for israel,are like lava in an active volcano.
God my heart is soo heavy after seeing this.

AND PEOPLE ASK WHY SOMALIA IS EVER IN RUINS! TERROR. RESIDENTS CANNOT LIVE A NORMAL LIFE AND DO NORMAL BUSINESS.

I am hoping to see a new somalia soon.

Shocking tales of life under al Shabaab

Somalis on Saturday told horrific tales of life under Al Shabaab, a terror movement that has been tossed out of key towns liberated by Kenya’s military following a week of intense military campaign.

As the first accounts out of western Somalia filtered through, Kenya’s military conducted air strikes on Munarani area north of Oddo, hitting one of al Shabaab’s command centres. Kenyan and TFG forces also advanced beyond Oddo town, which was captured on Friday.

The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development also called on the international community to impose a blockade on the port of Kismayu to counter Al Shabaab and strangle their source of income.

Residents of Dobley town narrated to this writer how women were being forced to marry Al Shabaab fighters, and were threatened with beheading if they did not comply. Members of the group, who said they were fighting for their religion, seized buildings and stocks in shops.

Dobley, which sits in the middle of an expansive, sun-scorched scrubland near the border town of Liboi, was liberated with the help of Kenyan troops.

They had beheaded men and cut off the limbs of people who were suspected of stealing, residents said.

"They’d force us to pray," Mohammed Abdi, 26, said on Saturday.

"We had no freedom. We are Muslim and know when to pray, but the militants were saying we must obey their orders."

Now, after the town was recently grabbed from the militia through the help of Kenyan forces, Abdi is free to do things his way.

Orders

"I pray four times a day; not because anyone is forcing me but because of my faith."

Al Shabaab, or youth in Arabic, had also banned the eating of samosas a local delicacy. A resident said the militants told them that the three corners of somosas represent the cross — a Christian symbol.
[img]http://ts2.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=1340998752629&id=15870319332b80eca60deb13039355c2[/img]

The chewing of khat, a succulent herb loved by many Somalis was also forbidden. These days, it is common to see men munching away under the watchful eyes of the soldiers and members of Ras Kamboni Brigade, a militant group supporting the Transitional Federal Government.
[img]http://ts1.mm.bing.net/images/thumbnail.aspx?q=1282025401688&id=ebcc0bd9b27746ed2105d17edb6d47ac[/img]

A few metres from the local police station, Dobley hospital is in ruins. The roof caved in during intense fighting between the militia and Kenya’s military men.

The waiting room is in a shambles — the ceiling has caved in, gaping holes serve for windows, and bullet holes litter the walls.

When Al Shabaab learned the soldiers were moving in, they dug in inside the hospital compound. Others shot back from behind the walls of the hospital as staff and patients hastily evacuated.

Hospital in ruin

"I asked them to leave but they refused," said Dr Hiray Abdi, who heads the hospital.

"They put the lives of patients in danger."

The hospital was built by the community, which contributed whatever they could to provide a place where they could get medical care. Somalis in the Diaspora also contributed.

Now, the hospital is no more and years of hard labour have gone to naught.

"They force young girls to marry them. Some of the girls are also given away to foreign people who train the Al Shabaab," said a woman who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals.

Scores of foreign jihadists, mostly Pakistanis, train the militia who have links with Al Qaeda, the Afghanistan-based terror group.

The terrorist movement provides the trainers, which was responsible for the two terror attacks in Kenya in 1998 and 2001.

She added: "They tell young girls that if you are not married, your prayers will not be answered. If you resist, they torture or even kill you."

She showed scars on her hand, which were inflicted by the militia in Ganane area. They wanted to make a pathway near her house, and had brought men to demolish it.

"When I resisted, they tied me up, whipped me, and beat me with gun butts," she added. "Even today, I’m still feeling the pain."

The town is slowly waking from years of tyranny and oppression by the terror movement.

Business is brisk. Merchants and women in their long garbs trot along the dusty streets, which are being patrolled by gun-totting government soldiers.

TFG’s Major Mudu Mohammed said when Kenyan soldiers helped them to capture Qoqaani last week they were shocked to find nearly all shops had closed down. They learned that the Al Shabaab has over the years been forcefully seizing items from shopkeepers.

Many closed down because they could not make profits.

"They are stealing from civilians and telling them they need the items to fight a holy war," said Major Mohammed.

He said in many towns, they were also surprised to find there were no young men. Many had fled to avoid being forcefully enlisted into the terror movement.

"I’m very happy for what the Kenyan soldiers have done," said another woman, who also asked not to be named.

Suffering

Another man, Abdi Haji, said he fled Mogadishu when the militias put a price on his head after he rented out his house to Ethiopian soldiers.

At one time, gunmen shot him twice on his hand and chest, and left him for dead.

"I was found by a man who took me to Medina Hospital," said Haji. Soon after, the militants wired his house with explosives and blew it up.

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/

BlackLibya:
thanks for your daily diligence in this matter pendo.

you are welcome. I learn a lot about the west activities here so I guess its fair that I bring updates from the East.We are all Africans after all.

Al-Shabaab: The inside story of a ragtag outfit

As Kenyan and Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government forces push forward to the strategic port of Kismayu, the true nature of Al-Shabaab and how it exacts loyalty and revenge is emerging.

The militant group has succeeded in holding sway over much of central and southern Somalia since 2007 using brutality and fear, painting its battle against the TFG as a war to free Somalia of a puppet regime (the TFG) backed by Ethiopia and the US.

Al-Shabaab has blocked aid agencies from delivering food directly to starving populations, and is thus single-handedly responsible for the displacement of thousands who now live in horrendous conditions in refugee camps inside Kenya.

Operation Linda Nchi against Al- Shabaab is taking a toll on innocent people, with thousands of fleeing the combat in Somalia and streaming into Dadaab, Kenya’s largest refugee camp, to begin a new life in squalid conditions.

According to Military Spokesperson Emmanuel Chirchir, the overall campaign strategy of Operation Linda Nchi remains to reduce the Al-Shabaab’s effectiveness and to restore TFG authority in order to achieve enduring peace in Somalia.

Many of those who have fled the war-ravaged country told The Standard they are happy with the assault by Kenya’s Defence Forces on the militants.

The name Al-Shabaab literally means "the youth" and although at its founding, the terror group was embraced by many Somalis resentful of Ethiopia’s invasion of their country and atrocities committed by its troops, it quickly morphed into a hybrid branch of Al-Qaeda and includes Somali and international militants from the US, Europe and Kenya.

It was the entry of the Ethiopians in December 2006 to support the UN-mandated TFG and dismantle a coalition of shari’a courts known as the Islamic Courts Union, which controlled most of the country that gave birth to Al-Shabaab.

Ethiopia was very effective in dismantling the ICU, but left behind bitter memories among the war scarred Somali population.

By 2009 when Ethiopia handed over defence of the TFG to the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), Al-Shabaab had been so effective that the fledgling Somali administration was struggling to extend its authority beyond a few dusty blocks in Mogadishu as well as strategic government installations, including the airport and seaport.

Jihad

Al-Shabaab thus ended up with a vast amount of geographical space ranging from its border with Ethiopia to the north as well as central and southern regions of Somalia.

This free space provided the perfect camouflage for planning attacks and sheltering operatives sent by Al-Qaeda to assist it set up terrorist training camps as part of the global jihad movement.

It began recruiting battle hardened jihadists from Afghanistan and intensified the use of suicide bombings against its perceived enemies.

These were people skilled in guerilla insurgency and the use of terror.

Militants came from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, as well as the US and Europe.

Last week, two Britons of Somali origin were arrested on Kenya’s border with Somalia.

According to the American Institute, at least 20 Americans and 100 Britons are fighting for Al-Shabaab.

It focused its recruitment on young Muslim men, regardless of heir ethnic origin or race, looking to participate in the global jihad led by Osama bin Laden, as well as Somalis seeking to defend their homeland.

Mr Abu Mansour al Amriki whose real names are Omar Hammami, is one of the top terrorists on the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI’s) most wanted list.

Hammami is a US-born Al-Shabaab militant once rumoured to have been killed by US Predator drone, although his death has never been independently confirmed.

Kenya was for long very strategic to Al-Shabaab, because it offered them a safe haven, allowing the leaders to make investments using the vast Somali Diaspora in Nairobi’s Eastleigh and elsewhere to finance its operations.

Al-Shabaab fighters freely crossed the vast and poorly policed border frequently to receive treatment in Kenya.

The Al-Shabaab have invested in property and smuggling of goods, including clothes, cars and oil, with the help of several Kenyan businessmen.

When Ethiopia got rid of the ICU, several of its leaders fled to neighbouring countries. One of them, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweis, the current leader of Hizb al Islam allied to Al- Shabaab, fled to Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, which is hostile to Ethiopia.

There he formed the Alliance for Liberation of Somalia (ARS) with funding from the Eritrean government.

Guerilla tactics

Aweis slipped back into Somalia and joined Al-Shabaab to successfully force out the Ethiopians using guerrilla tactics and terrorism, including roadside and suicide bombs.

He rose to be a prominent leader of the Al- Shabaab.

Another Al-Shabaab leader, Mukhtar Abu Zubair, also rumoured to have been killed — although this was also not confirmed — fought for Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan under his real name Ahmed Abdi Godane, prior to September 11 bombing of the US.

The departure of the Ethiopians under an UN-backed peace deal in January 2009 left the TFG government of President Sheikh Sharif, a moderate Islamist, severely weakened militarily, but it also meant Al-Shabaab could no longer pose as the defender of the Somali nation against foreign occupation.

Its legitimacy threatened, Al- Shabaab decided to retain the support of the people by providing services normally offered by the State, distributing money to the poor and those in need.

It also began taxing imports coming through the port of Kismayu, which it controlled, and set up roadblocks where it levied taxes on goods and vehicles of humanitarian NGOs distributing aid in its territory under what it called "Office for Supervising the Affairs of Foreign Agencies" and banned food from the US.

In this way, it effectively controlled how much aid went in and how it was distributed, leaving the population at its mercy and portrayed itself as defending the Somali people from attempts by the US to weaken the country through humanitarian aid.

To emphasise this it raided offices of two UN aid groups in Baidoa and Wajid in July 2009, banned their operations and commandeered their vehicles and computers.

It also punished suspected criminals brutally, however petty the crime, with many losing their limbs and others being stoned to death.

Kenya’s Defence Forces are seeking to cut off Al-Shabaab from its supply routes by sea, air and land, weakening its capacity to effectively train for attacks and reducing its weapons stockpile.

It now has the support of member states of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development and France whose navy on Sunday bombarded the town of Kuday, which is south of Kismayu.

Estimates of Al-Shabaab’s total manpower range from 2,000-5,000, including up to 1,000 foreign fighters.

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000045448&cid=4&

Relax101:
Where is the source of this info?

http://www.nation.co.ke/News/US+planes+join+Kenyan+battle/-/1056/1260028/-/159de5/-/index.html

sorry I 4got to paste link.

ijaya1:
Last friday,we both here in my room chatting on contemporary art(cos that's wht she loved doing).So,unexpectedly she ask me '' what do about self-service''?,i said what?,what does that got to do with the topic we r discussing I ask,then she said don't worry,i said don't worry? No,dont worry is out of it now(just to show her that I cared).I explained it to her,next thing she ask was ''what could possibly be the side effect?'' I said wow,i wasn't expecting these (jokingly)said,maybe I will visit my doctor and get back to u.this I did to distract her from it.
During so few minutes.She started watchin pone on her phone.She asked if I like 2 join her watch? Said, sure. We watched to to some point I ask,why r u doing this to your self? Her reply was.guys always get pissed out anytime she says,she's a virgin,and that she's tired of the shame and embarrassments rained on her by people around her.That seen she met me,she was attracted to me and want me to disvirgin her.I was so scared,confused to death.I had no choice but to decline.

macholls:
@Ijaya do u know me that u are contructing wht conspire between me and her.

macholls:
@Ijaya  Hmm,
  I think I have a friend from facebook here.And thanks for sharing my problem.

funny polls. The thread title and the choices given are faulty.
What is ur idea of a beautiful lady as far as complexion and size r concerned.
smthing like that would have sounded fair.

You can be separated when married. Don't you know that couples separate before they divorce?
Just say its better to break an engagement than a marriage.

Now what kind of words are those poster. you can't nyansh him,do him,Bleep him. I try to read btwn lines.
Am trying to digest the story but it refuses to go down my throat.
Good luck though.

What a thread!!
Am out b4 boogey man gets me. As in seriously nl can get down to this?

Lmao dude calling MMM a demon.
See why the girl want to burn you alive? did you call her a demon or any of her relas for that matter?
How do you even tune a girl?

^^ lol.I avoid these kind of threads bt the mention of those names made it impossible since I know them all. You left out Kambua!
Sincerely if I was asked I would say Eritreans are the prettiest in the world after the latinos.
Kenyan lady those pics you posted are pathetic to say the least. If that is your defination of beauty,then you are mistaken.
That is a national crime cz those girls look like village polytechnic girls who do 'off jobs' to survive. They look like some I saw in mashada .
Go to coastal Kenya,Eastern( kaos and boranas who look like ethiopians and see beauty),then meet some central women.
Even the masai in their traditional regalia,ochre and beads look prettier than those funny girls.
Its a country of diversity and over 43 tribes. Nilotes,Cushites,and Bantus. They are all different.

sexsinners:
i'd take all the offerings at my dads church  and risk getting kicked out to get her anything,see the love i have?

dude u r beyond redemption. for a girl u entertain stealing offering?
. u seem that the kind of dude who takes a girl to overnight vigils instead of dinner dates and you carry bible everywhere.
How do u even talk to girls really.

Yes Kode,but I keep asking myself whether Africa can survive without foreign loans.Its easy to say yes but the loans are not just loans.
The conditions attached are what bind us and before we know we find ourselves captives.
The west is Africa's lifeline. sad but that is how it is.

publisher:
[size=15pt]She was possessed by a sex demon,and i mean that literarily.
What do u do when during sex,your woman wants you to,call her sluty names,whip her butt cheeks and go for the A^nus?
Who go marry that kain thing keep for house?

This is a true story, and she was Nigerian,in Nigeria! Talk about over exposure to p0rn movies.[/size]

My ribs my ribs God help me.

How to make my ideal man.

Ingredients
>Care
>Generousity
>Respect
>Hardwork
>Industrious
>Humour
>Food colour(Black)
>Tall
>Handsome
>Smart
>Romantic
>Financially stable
Recipe

Mix care,generousity,respect and hardwork together in a large bowl. Now add Industrious and financial stability.When all your mix is saturated and sinks to the bottom,add the essential smartness and romance.Drizzle the black food colour over the mix.
A touch of smile makes this product so refreshing.
Pour this mixture into a tall cylinder and serve with lots of humour.

Take a siesta after eating and pray that you dont wake up.