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| Africa Horn | |
| Somalias hard-line Shabab raid UN offices | |
| 2009-07-21 | |
[Al Arabiya Latest] Somalia's hardline al-Shabab militia on Monday raided the offices of three United Nations organizations hours after they banned their operations on accusation that they were "enemies of Islam and Muslims."
The raid in Wajid and Baidoa towns which came hours after the statement was issued only singled out the three organizations, with other U.N. offices in the same compounds spared, a U.N. official in Baidoa told AFP. "They have taken away three U.N. cars from the compound but have not harmed several U.N. foreign staff," an officer, who declined to be named for security reasons, told Reuters. "They said the raid was only limited to the offices of the U.N. agencies whose activities they banned," he added. In March, al-Shabab welcomed international aid groups to regions under their control to assist thousands of hunger-stricken people. Their statement on Monday also announced the setting up of an office to oversee the activities of NGOs and foreign agencies to which they must report to be "informed of conditions and restrictions on their work." The statement from al-Shabab's department of political affairs and regional administration said the decision was reached after "thorough research." Other accusations against the organizations included "evidence of training and support for the apostate government and the training of its troops." The U.N. does not have permanent foreign staff in the war-ravaged country and runs program from neighboring Kenya. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 on accusation that they were "enemies of Islam and Muslims." If only. *sigh* |
| Posted by: Spot 2009-07-21 07:58 |
| #2 Nah, Tranzis will apologize ... |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-07-21 07:53 |
| #1 The beginnings of a crack between Tranzies and Muzies we're all been waiting for? (nah, wishful thinking). |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-07-21 05:50 |