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Mogadishu/Nairobi, October 24, 2009 (SL Times) – The Ugandan government
has warned a Somali rebel group that it would quickly regret any attack
attempted within Ugandan territory. A senior leader of the al-Shabaab
militant group said late Thursday that the rebels would strike within
Uganda and Burundi in retaliation for civilian deaths allegedly caused
by a peacekeeping force manned with soldiers from those countries.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told reporters Friday that al-Shabaab
would pay dearly for any attack attempted on Ugandan soil.
"If they try to attack Uganda, then they will pay, because we know how
to attack those who attack us," he said. "And they are not in Heaven. If
they were on the moon they would be at some liberty. But as long as they
are on earth here, [for] a deliberate attack they will pay very
heavily."
Al-Shabaab commander Ali Mohamed Hussein said earlier that the group
would expand its fight to the capital cities Kampala and Bujumbura.
The rebel leader accuses the peacekeepers under the African Union
mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM, of being responsible for the
shelling of a packed civilian area Thursday which reportedly killed more
than 30 people.
“It was difficult to differentiate who is who among the bodies of
mothers killed by the bombardment of Ugandan and Burundi troops,” Sheikh
Ali Mohamed Hussein, the regional head of the Mogadishu area for the Al
Qaeda-inspired Shabaab Islamist group told reporters late on Thursday.
“The children of those mothers must divert the war from Mogadishu to the
capital of those nations that attacked Somalia,” he said. “I hope they
will do that.”
“If our people are killed today, we shall make their people cry. We’ll
attack Bujumbura and Kampala. We will move our fighting to those two
cities and we shall destroy them,” he added.
He also threatened to expand his group’s fight against the government of
Somalia into a regional conflict, saying the other two countries “will
have their share of crying, as our people have cried.”
“We will avenge our people,” he said.
The arch-conservative Islamic fighting group launched rockets at the
Mogadishu airport yesterday as President Sheikh Shari Ahmed was set to
fly to Uganda. The peacekeeping force, which has its base near the
airport, responded by shelling the popular Bakara market where the
rebels launched their attack, killing a number of civilians.
The Western-backed Mogadishu government Friday also joined in the
condemnation of its apparent protectors. The deputy mayor of Mogadishu,
Abdifatah Ibrahim Sabriye Shaweye, said both AMISOM and al-Shabaab must
quit harming unarmed Somalis.
AMISOM's spokesman denied responsibility for the deadly shelling,
accusing al-Shabaab of being behind the mortars in a tactic to turn
public sentiment against the peacekeeping force.
Speaking to VOA, Foreign Affairs Minister Okello Oryem said that Uganda
is "not intimidated" by the threats against his country. But he also
added that the Ugandan authorities are actively acting upon the rebel's
remarks to determine if they are credible.
"The government of Uganda is not taking the threats lightly. And we are
taking all precaution measures in the country and outside the country to
make sure that al-Shabaab does not succeed in its mission of terrorism
within Uganda or against our interests outside Uganda," said Oryem.
The minister said that Ugandan intelligence agents were busy trying to
determine if al-Shabaab could have infiltrated any of the communities
living within its borders and was closely monitoring potential sites of
a terrorist attack.
This is not the first time the African Union force is accused of being
careless in its retaliations against the rebel groups, who often launch
attacks from heavily populated areas. Mogadishu residents say that the
foreign soldiers risk losing all popular support if they continue the
indiscriminate shelling.
The AMISOM forces are composed of about 5,000 Ugandan and Burundian
troops. Under its current mandate the peacekeeping soldiers are not
allowed to engage in offensives against the rebel forces, but are
limited to protecting a few key sites in the capital city, including the
presidential palace and the airport.
The peacekeepers appear to be about all that is currently buffering
President Sharif from the zealous rebels. His own government-aligned
forces have steadily lost ground against the opposition fighters, who
now control much of the capital as well as much of central and southern
Somalia.
The recent threat issued against Uganda and Burundi is just the latest
in a string of chest-thumping exercises by the Islamic militant group
against its regional neighbors. Al-Shabaab recently threatened Kenya for
increasing its troop levels along the Kenyan-Somali border and for
holding Somali training camps within Kenyan territory. Djibouti has also
been warned of attacks if it contributes some of its own soldiers to the
AMISOM force.
Source: VOA and agencies
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