US offers $10m rewards for Somalia’s Al-Shabab

Somali security agents take position as they secure the scene of a suicide car bombing near Somalia’s presidential palace in Mogadishu, July 07, 2018. (Reuters)

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Updated 15 November 2022

AFP

November 14, 2022 16:59

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US offers $10m rewards for Somalia’s Al-Shabab

The US is offering up to $10m each for information leading to the identification of Al-Shabab ‘emir’ Ahmed Diriye, second-in-command Mahad Karate and US citizen Jehad Mostafa
In August, following a 30-hour siege of a Mogadishu hotel that killed at least 21 people, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud declared ‘all-out war’ on the extremists

Updated 15 November 2022

AFP

November 14, 2022 16:59

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NAIROBI: The United States said Monday it was increasing its reward for information about key leaders of Somalia’s Al-Shabab to $10 million apiece, a move that follows a spate of deadly attacks by the extremist group.
The US State Department also said it was for the first time offering a reward of up to $10 million for information “leading to the disruption of the financial mechanisms” of the Al-Qaeda affiliate.
Al-Shabab fighters have stepped up attacks in the Somali capital Mogadishu and other parts of the country in the face of a widescale offensive against the group by the new government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
The US said it was offering up to $10 million each for information leading to the identification of Al-Shabab “emir” Ahmed Diriye, second-in-command Mahad Karate and Jehad Mostafa, a US citizen who it said had various roles in the group.
“These key leaders of Al-Shabab are responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in Somalia, Kenya and neighboring countries that have killed thousands of people,” said a poster issued by the US with pictures of the three men.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk said earlier Monday that more than 600 civilians had been killed this year in attacks largely attributed to the group.
At least 613 civilians have been killed and 948 injured so far in 2022, according to the latest United Nations figures — the highest since 2017 and a more-than 30-percent rise from last year.
In the deadliest attack in five years, twin bombings on October 29 claimed by Al-Shabab killed at least 121 people and injured 333 others in Mogadishu, the UN said, citing Somali figures.
The group, which was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department in March 2008, has been seeking to overthrow the fragile foreign-backed government in Mogadishu for about 15 years.
Its fighters were driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 by an African Union force, but the group still controls swathes of countryside and continues to wage deadly strikes on civilian, political and military targets.
In August, following a 30-hour siege on a Mogadishu hotel that killed at least 21 people, Mohamud declared “all-out war” on the extremists, who espouse a strict version of sharia or Islamic law.
The US statement said Diriye, who has been leader since September 2014 after the killing of Ahmed Abdi Godane in a US strike, was designated by the US as a “specially designated global terrorist” in April 2015, and slapped with UN sanctions the same year.
Karate, who was also designated a terrorist in April 2015 and also faces UN sanctions, continues to lead some Al-Shabab operations, the US said.
He also “maintains some command responsibility over Amniyat, the group’s intelligence and security wing, which oversees suicide attacks and assassinations in Somalia, Kenya, and other countries in the region, and provides logistics and support for Al-Shabab’s terrorist activities.”
Mostafa, a US citizen who once lived in California, has been a military instructor at Al-Shabab training camps, as well as a leader of foreign fighters, a leader in the group’s media wing, an intermediary with other “terrorist organizations,” and a leader in the use of explosives in attacks, the US said.
In December 2019, he was indicted in a US court on various charges linked to Al-Shabab.
“The FBI assesses Mostafa to be the highest-ranking terrorist with US citizenship fighting overseas.”
In May, US President Joe Biden decided to restore a military presence in Somalia, approving a request from the Pentagon, which deemed his predecessor Donald Trump’s rotation system too risky and ineffective.

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Putin says Russia will station tactical nukes in Belarus

Updated 17 sec ago

March 25, 2023 00:09

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Putin says Russia will station tactical nukes in Belarus

Updated 17 sec ago

March 25, 2023 00:09

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans on Saturday to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, a warning to the West as it steps up military support for Ukraine.
Putin said the move was triggered by Britain’s decision this past week to provide Ukraine with armor-piercing rounds containing depleted uranium. The Russian leader earlier made a false claim that the rounds have nuclear components.
He subsequently toned down his language, but insisted in a state television interview broadcast Saturday night that the ammunition posed an additional danger to both troops and civilians in Ukraine.
Tactical nuclear weapons are intended for use on the battlefield, unlike more powerful, longer-range strategic nuclear weapons. Russia plans to maintain control over the ones it plans to Belarus, and construction of storage facilities for them will be completed by July 1, Putin said.
Putin didn’t say how many nuclear weapons Russia would keep in Belarus. The US government believes Russia has about 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, which include bombs that can be carried by tactical aircraft, warheads for short-range missiles and artillery rounds.
In his interview, Putin argued that by deploying its tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Russia was following the lead of the United States, noting that the US has nuclear weapons based in Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkiye.
“We are doing what they have been doing for decades, stationing them in certain allied countries, preparing the launch platforms and training their crews,” Putin said. “We are going to do the same thing.”
Russia has stored its tactical nuclear weapons at dedicated depots on its territory, and moving part of the arsenal to a storage facility in Belarus would up the ante in the Ukrainian conflict by placing them closer to the Russian aircraft and missiles already stationed there.
Some hawkish commentators in Russia long have urged the Kremlin to put the tactical nuclear weapons close to the weapons to send a signal to the West about the readiness to use them.
Putin said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has long asked for the nuclear weapons as a counter to NATO. Belarus shares borders with three NATO members — Latvia, Lithuania and Poland — and Russia used its territory as a staging ground to send troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.
Putin noted that Russia helped modernize Belarusian military aircraft last year to make them capable of carrying nuclear warheads. He said 10 such planes were ready to go. He said nuclear weapons also could be launched by the Iskander short-range missiles that Russia provided to Belarus last year.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is living in exile, said the agreement to transfer the tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus “underlines the threat to regional security” from Lukashenko’s regime.
“Europe won’t be safe until Belarus dictator is removed & brought before tribunal to face justice for crimes against our country & Ukraine,” Tsikhanouskaya wrote in English on Twitter.
While discussing in his state TV interview the depleted uranium rounds that Britain promised to ship to Ukraine, Putin charged the ammunition would leave a radioactive trace and contaminate agricultural land.
“Those weapons are harmful not just for combatants, but also for the people living in those territories and for the environment,” he said.
Putin added that Russia has vast stockpiles of similar ammunition but so far has refrained from using them.
Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process needed to create nuclear weapons. The rounds can’t generate a nuclear reaction but they do emit low levels of radiation. The UN nuclear watchdog has warned of the possible dangers of exposure.
Such rounds were developed by the US during the Cold War to destroy Soviet tanks, including the same T-72 tanks that Ukraine now faces in its push to break through a stalemate in the east.

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Pro-Palestinian activists call for Israel’s Netanyahu to be arrested for war crimes during London visit

Updated 25 March 2023

Arab News

March 25, 2023 22:51

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Pro-Palestinian activists call for Israel’s Netanyahu to be arrested for war crimes during London visit

Updated 25 March 2023

Arab News

March 25, 2023 22:51

LONDON: “Anti-apartheid campaigners” have called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be arrested for war crimes on Friday, as he met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street in London, organizers said.

This comes after the International Center of Justice for Palestinians called on the British government to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Palestine.

“Netanyahu has violated the laws of war several times during his 15 years as Israeli prime minister, constituting war crimes under international law,” said Friends of Al-Aqsa, a UK-based nongovernmental organization concerned with defending the human rights of Palestinians and protecting the Al-Aqsa sanctuary.

“For 15 years, Netanyahu has personally overseen the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian towns and villages and the targeted killing of Palestinian men, women and children living under illegal Israeli occupation…Today, we are holding him to account for these war crimes” said Shamiul Joarder, head of public affairs at FOA.

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“The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Putin, but what about Netanyahu? Sunak should be holding Netanyahu to account, not signing agreements to strengthen ties with an apartheid state and welcoming a war criminal to Downing Street.”

FOA said that Netanyahu’s visit comes after a “2030 roadmap for UK-Israel relations” was signed earlier this week.

“Yet the first three months of 2023 have seen some of the worst Israeli violence against Palestinians in decades, (and) Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 89 Palestinians, including 15 children,” the NGO said.

FOA added that Israel’s attacks on residential buildings in Gaza under Netanyahu’s premiership in the summer of 2021 and 2022 were widely condemned as war crimes.

“These brutal bombardments killed 66 Palestinian children and on May 16, 2021, Israel deliberately targeted two residential buildings of the Abu Al-Ouf and Al-Kolaq families, killing 30 family members including 11 children.

“Israel’s use of live ammunition against Palestinians who posed no imminent threat to life at the Great March of Return protests in 2018 and 2019 — including medics and journalists — has also been widely condemned as a war crime under international law,” it added.

“Netanyahu also oversaw Israel’s attacks on Gaza in 2014, which left 1,000 Palestinian children permanently disabled.”

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Topics: United Kingdom rishi sunak Benjamin Netanyahu Israel Britain

Love, pain and loss at historic Ukraine cemetery

Updated 25 March 2023

AFP

March 25, 2023 22:13

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Love, pain and loss at historic Ukraine cemetery

Located in southeastern Lviv, the Lychakiv cemetery is one of the oldest graveyards in Europe
It is the resting place of prominent figures including the poet Ivan Franko and thousands of soldiers who perished during World War I and II

Updated 25 March 2023

AFP

March 25, 2023 22:13

LVIV, Ukraine: At a historic military cemetery in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Valeriy Pushko lights up two cigarettes. One is for himself, the other for his son whose portrait is fixed to a cross planted in the ground.
“I smoke with my son,” said the grey-haired man.
“We used to take cigarette breaks together. It’s a bad habit but it makes things easier. I talk to him, think about him and that makes me feel better.”
Pushko said many others come here to smoke with their fallen husbands or sons.
Located in southeastern Lviv, the Lychakiv cemetery is one of the oldest graveyards in Europe and is often compared to the historic Père Lachaise in Paris, where dozens of celebrities are buried.
It is the resting place of prominent figures including the poet Ivan Franko and thousands of soldiers who perished during World War I and II.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago, rows of new graves have appeared. A sea of blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags and red-and-black nationalist banners mark them.
Some mourners leave stuffed animals, cigarettes, and cups of coffee at the graves of their loved ones.
More unusual symbols of love and sorrow included children’s drawings, vinyl records, a golf ball, and a bottle of beer.
Shortly after the Russian invasion in February 2022, authorities began burying soldiers killed in fighting at the Lychakiv cemetery.
But the area initially designated for military burials quickly filled up, said city official Oleg Pidpysetsky.
The authorities then began laying Ukrainian servicemen to rest at a new site bordering Lychakiv.
Funerals are held nearly every day in the new burial ground. Called the Field of Mars, it now contains about 350 graves.
“No one knew how critical the situation was,” Pidpysetsky told AFP.
“Someone thought it would end in a month, two, three, six months. But, unfortunately, the war has only gotten bigger.”
Oleg, one of the mourners who came to visit a friend’s grave, called the losses “irreparable.”
“We will have our victory of course, but this is the price we pay. And that is not the end,” said the 55-year-old.
“These people gave their lives for us.”
Oleg mourns the loss of his 45-year-old friend also called Oleg.
He said the father of two volunteered to go to the front.
“Unfortunately, nothing can be done now. Thousands of Russians will not replace my Oleg,” he said bitterly.
Kyiv does not reveal the number of its military casualties but Western officials say more than 100,000 Ukrainians have been killed or wounded.
Olga, who came to visit her brother-in-law’s grave, says the mementos people leave “is all that’s left, the only connection with their heroes.”
Her sister comes to the cemetery every day, she added.
“That’s her second home now,” said Olga.
Vyacheslav Sabelnikov, who served in the infantry before receiving a serious injury, says several men he fought with are now buried at the cemetery.
“I came to visit a friend whose birthday is today,” said Sabelnikov, placing a candle in front of his portrait.
Sabelnikov said he lights up candles to remember his friends, saying it was important to “honor” their memory.
Anna Mikheyeva, a 44-year-old social worker, came to visit her son Mykhailo’s grave. He served in the 80th Parachute Brigade and was killed last year at the age of 25.
Mikheyeva says she often brings her son things “he liked” including Coca-Cola, sweets, and cigarettes.
“If I come in the morning, I buy a coffee for myself and also for him,” added the dark-haired woman.
She said she felt calm at the Field of Mars.
“There are only young people here. They are like sons and brothers to me.
“When I come I always say ‘Hi guys’. And I always, always thank them.”

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Topics: Russia-Ukraine Conflict Lviv cemetery

Hungary: Criticism makes it hard to cooperate with West

Updated 25 March 2023

March 25, 2023 19:36

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Hungary: Criticism makes it hard to cooperate with West

“You know, when Finnish and Swedish politicians question the democratic nature of our political system, that’s really unacceptable,” Szijjártó said
A vote on Sweden is harder to predict, he said

Updated 25 March 2023

March 25, 2023 19:36

UNITED NATIONS: The West’s steady criticism of Hungary on democratic and cultural issues makes the small European country’s right-wing government reluctant to offer support on practical matters, specifically NATO’s buildup against Russia, Hungary’s foreign minister said.
In an interview with AP, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó also said Friday that his country has not voted on whether to allow Finland and Sweden to join NATO because Hungarian lawmakers are sick of those countries’ critiques of Hungarian domestic affairs.
Lawmakers from the governing party plan to vote Monday in favor of the Finnish request but “serious concerns were raised” about Finland and Sweden in recent months “mostly because of the very disrespectful behavior of the political elites of both countries toward Hungary,” Szijjártó said.
“You know, when Finnish and Swedish politicians question the democratic nature of our political system, that’s really unacceptable,” he said.
A vote on Sweden is harder to predict, Szijjártó said.
The EU, which includes 21 NATO countries, has frozen billions in funds to Budapest and accused populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban of cracking down on media freedom and other rights. Orban’s administration has also been accused of tolerating an entrenched culture of corruption and co-opting state institutions to serve the governing Fidesz party.
In a European Parliament resolution, EU lawmakers declared last year that Hungary had become “a hybrid regime of electoral autocracy” under Orban’s nationalist government and that its undermining of the bloc’s democratic values had taken Hungary out of the community of democracies.
That criticism raised objections within Hungary and made it hard for the government to support Finland and Sweden’s bids to join NATO, Szijjártó said. Skeptics insist that Hungary has simply been trying to win lucrative concessions.
When it comes to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Szijjártó said that his country’s advocacy of peace does not mean accepting that Russia would keep the territory it currently controls.
“You know, stopping the war and sitting around the table does not mean that you accept the status quo,” he said. “When the war stops and the peace talks start, it’s not necessary that the borders would be where the front lines are. We know this from our own history as well ... Cease-fire has to come now.”
As for relations with the United States, Szijjártó said they had a heyday under former President Donald Trump. His government found things more difficult under President Joe Biden.
In perfect, nearly unaccented English, Szijjártó explained that Hungary is “a clearly rightist, right-wing, Christian Democratic, conservative, patriotic government.” He then went on in terms that would be familiar to millions of Americans.
“So we are basically against the mainstream in any attributes of ours. And if you are against the liberal mainstream, and in the meantime, you are successful, and in the meantime, you continue to win elections, it’s not digestible for the liberal mainstream itself,” he said. “Under President Trump, the political relationship was as good as never before.”
Key to that relationship was Trump’s acceptance of Hungary’s policies toward its own citizens.
The law has been condemned by human rights groups and politicians from around Europe as an attack on Hungary’s pride community.
Szijjártó said Trump was more welcoming of such measures than the Biden administration.
“He never wanted to impose anything. He never wanted to put pressure on us to change our way of thinking about family. He never wanted us to change our way of thinking about migration. He never wanted us to change our way of thinking about social issues,” Szijjártó said.
He also said Trump’s attitude toward Russia would be more welcome by some parties today.
During Trump’s term in the White House, Russia did not start “any attack against anyone,” Szijjártó said.

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Topics: NATO Hungary Finland Sweden UN

2 men plead guilty to robbing boxer Amir Khan at gunpoint

Two men have pleaded guilty to robbing boxer Amir Khan (pictured, with his wife) at gunpoint of his £70,000 diamond watch

Updated 25 March 2023

Arab News

March 25, 2023 19:08

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2 men plead guilty to robbing boxer Amir Khan at gunpoint

Khan and his wife were leaving a restaurant in Leyton in east London when suspect brandished gun
Khan: ‘I have been put in the toughest situations, but this is something different’

Updated 25 March 2023

Arab News

March 25, 2023 19:08

LONDON: Two men have pleaded guilty to robbing boxer Amir Khan at gunpoint of his £70,000 ($86,000) diamond watch, Metro newspaper reported.

London’s Snarebrook Crown Court convicted Dante Campbell, 20, and 25-year-old Ahmed Bana on Friday after the two pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to rob and possession of an imitation firearm, with sentencing to be set at a later date.

Stuart Ponder, Met Flying Squad detective constable, said: “This was carefully planned and executed by individuals who knew exactly who they were targeting and what for.

“Despite being on a busy street with other members of the public close by, they had no qualms about brandishing a firearm and threatening Mr. Khan with the most brazen and extreme level of violence.”

The robbery, caught on CCTV, took place just after 9 p.m. on April 18, 2022, when 36-year-old Khan and his wife, Faryal Makhdoom, left a restaurant in Leyton in east London.

Pointing a gun in the former light welterweight champion’s face as the couple crossed the road, Campbell yelled, “Take off the watch,” before fleeing the scene in a silver Mercedes driven by Bana, which had pulled in front of Khan’s car just moments before the attack.

A Flying Squad investigation used CCTV footage to identify the car as being insured by Bana and through him identified Campbell as the gunman, with the pair arrested on June 22.

Speaking at a previous hearing, Khan told the court: “I am a sportsman, a fighter. I have been put in the toughest situations, but this is something different. This is really, really scary. When he put the gun to my face, I couldn’t recognize him because he had a mask on. I looked away because I didn’t want him to pull the trigger.”

Ponder said that every robbery leaves a “significant” mark on the victim, praising Khan for speaking out about the impact it had on both him and his family.

“That is why we are doing everything we can to target individuals who think they can get away with this type of behavior, from extra patrols at known robbery hotspots and developing intelligence on those carrying out these crimes,” Ponder added.

“Anyone who is a victim of a robbery should report it as soon as possible. This helps us ascertain crucial forensic evidence to take these violent criminals off our streets.”

Two other men arrested on suspicion of acting as “spotters” by dining in the restaurant to keep track of Khan’s movements were acquitted by a jury at Snaresbrook on Friday, while another man, Hamza Kulane, remains wanted in connection with the robbery.

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Topics: UK Amir Khan

US offers $10m rewards for Somalia’s Al-Shabab

US offers $10m rewards for Somalia’s Al-Shabab

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Putin says Russia will station tactical nukes in Belarus

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Pro-Palestinian activists call for Israel’s Netanyahu to be arrested for war crimes during London visit

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Love, pain and loss at historic Ukraine cemetery

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US offers $10m rewards for Somalia’s Al-Shabab

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