Category: Africa

Mali: Rebels, Jihadists, making more refugees in Africa

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here we go again.  This time it’s “rebels” flowing back to Mali, one of the few previously stable democracies in Africa, with large caches of Gaddafi’s sophisticated weapons, raping and pillaging as they go.  The chaos is making an opening for the Jihadists to push for a Shariah government.

The other day while driving some distance I listened to NPR (something I rarely do, but my usual talk radio wasn’t available) and I heard an interview with a western woman in Mali’s capital.  I didn’t catch who she was, but there was no doubt she was an expert on Mali.   She was giving stern warning to NPR listeners about the dangers of Shariah law coming to Mali.  I was frankly surprised to note the interviewer took her very seriously.  And, it made me wonder why the Left is so quick to dismiss Shariah law being instituted bit by bit in the West.  (Maybe it’s just a head-in-sand reaction that keeps them from discussing the horrible possibility for us.)

From the UK Telegraph:

The rebels, armed with weapons stolen from Muammar Gaddafi’s formidable arsenal, took over an area of the Sahara as big as France in an astonishing 72 hours, taking advantage of the chaotic aftermath of an army coup.

Few of the people they promised to free waited to find out what freedom would be like. Instead, an estimated 250,000 people left their homes, terrified families fleeing with their children and possessions. Many told tales of looting and rape by rebels who now control a vast area in the heart of Africa.

Foreign governments were left scrambling to find out exactly who the rebels were, amid fears that a base for al-Qaeda will now be set up in the Sahara similar to ones in lawless parts of Pakistan and Somalia.

Read it all.

I wonder if Obama (remember responsibility to protect!) will go down in history as the President who presided over the spread of Shariah Law across Africa—Egypt then Lybia, and now Mali?

Related!

LOL!  I’m eager to see who federal contractors will be adding to their refugee wish list on May 1st (see refugee hearing here).   Will it include Egyptians, Libyans and Malians?  It was at one such meeting a few years ago that one of the contractors was pushing for the resettlement of Rohingya (Burmese Muslims) to the US.  They eventually got their wish.  We have 100 posts to date on the Rohingya here, if you would like to learn more.

New Hampshire: Trial of Rwandan “refugee” costing the government millions

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We previously told you the story of  Beatrice Munyenyezi, here, who is being charged with lying to get into the US by lying about her alleged role in the Rwandan genocide.   Two weeks ago her trial ended in a mistrial, but the government will retry the case beginning in September.

From the Union Leader (hat tip: Jeanine):

One of the attorneys who defended a Manchester woman accused of lying about her role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide to gain U.S. citizenship estimated her recent prosecution and trial in federal court in Concord cost taxpayers between $2.5 million and $3 million.

Manchester attorney Mark Howard, a former federal prosecutor who represents Beatrice Munyenyezi, 42, said taxpayers will bear the cost of both her defense and her prosecution because the court deemed her to be indigent.

The three-week-long trial in U.S. District Court ended in a mistrial two weeks ago when jurors couldn’t reach a verdict, but the government said Friday she will be retried.

That trial will likely cost an additional $1 million, Howard said.

If to this point in the story you are thinking maybe it isn’t worth it (the re-trial), read on.  So much for the much vaunted screening we supposedly do on refugees entering the US:

Munyenyezi came to the United States with her three daughters in 1998 as a refugee and had worked for the Manchester Housing Authority for $13 an hour.

Munyenyezi has been jailed since her arrest in June 2010.

At trial, the government alleged Munyenyezi controlled local militia in the area of Butare, Rwanda, and oversaw roadblocks being constructed. The government further asserted she controlled those roadblocks and directed others to identify people who were Tutsis, then segregated them to be raped and killed.

Two witnesses testified she killed people, including a nun, shooting the nun herself after ordering her to be raped.

In earlier reports on this case we had learned that Ms. Munyenyezi had been resettled in the US by Catholic Charities.

Uncle Omar gets to drive anyway (as well as stay in the US)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Uncle Omar of course is President Barack Obama’s illegal alien uncle (and brother to Aunt Zeituni) “discovered” living in Massachusetts for decades.  We told you about his bust for drunk driving last August and here is more on whether he was ever lost at all!

Just a week or so ago we heard he lost his Massachusetts drivers license (not really!), but not a word about whether he will be granted asylum (Aunt Zeituni had good lawyers and did get asylum, here).

From the Boston Herald today:

Just a week after he copped a plea in a drunken-driving rap, President Obama’s illegal-alien uncle has landed a hardship driver’s license from the Registry of Motor Vehicles, making it perfectly legal for him to drive in Massachusetts — even though the feds say he doesn’t belong here.

Onyango Obama, 67, who lost his regular license for 45 days last week, scored his limited license yesterday from the Registry’s Wilmington branch, after convincing a hearing officer that life without wheels would have posed an undue hardship on his livelihood as a liquor-store manager. Obama bolstered his case with a letter from his employer, Conti Liquors, as well as proof that he’d enrolled in an alcohol-treatment program.

[…..]

Of the state’s decision to award Obama a license even though the federal government considers him an illegal alien, Lavoie would only say, “Registry business is based on Registry records.”

[…..]

The license award drew fire from one advocate of tough enforcement on illegals, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson.

“Our democracy is predicated on law,” Hodgson said. “When we start to interpret these laws differently and manipulate them the way we want them to work for certain people, we start to send a mixed message to people that the law doesn’t really matter. Its subject to interpretation. You don’t have to follow the law. They find ways to justify it. We need the laws to be very clear. We need ‘no’ to mean ‘no’ again.”

Hodgson, along with sheriffs in Plymouth and Worcester counties, stood up for Secure Communities, a program that feeds local police fingerprint checks into federal databases to check the citizenship status of accused criminals. Gov. Deval Patrick has refused to enroll the state in the program.

What no public transportation in Boston?

We sure don’t want any illegal aliens experiencing an “undue hardship” now do we?

Watch for it—Onyango’s lawyers will probably  base an asylum claim on the very real possibility that if he is sent back to Kenya now he will be a marked man by the many enemies his nephew has created.

Somali guilty in Maine: Home healthcare fraud AND immigration fraud

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I am convinced that somewhere in Africa they teach fraud school!  And, this guy was awarded a Masters Degree!

We first told you about the arrest of Mohdi Ali aka Mahdi Alio in 2009, here.  I had a laugh at the time that the entire article never mentioned the words Somali or Somalia as some in Lewiston were unhappy (and still are) that Somali “refugees” and illegal aliens have targeted their town.  So, the article left readers guessing about where Ali came from.

Nearly three years later, Ali is found guilty.   From the Sun Journal (where this time the word Somalia is in the first line):

A Somalia native who lied about living in refugee camps to enter the U.S. and made false claims to obtain MaineCare benefits faces up to 15 years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines.

Mohdi M. Ali, 56, of Lewiston, also known as Canadian resident Mahdi Alio, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Portland to fraudulently obtaining an alien registration card, making false statements in connection with a health care benefit program and using a Social Security number obtained on the basis of false information.

Oh looky here, Canada will get him back after he gets out of prison!  Lucky Canada!

Ali faces up to 10 years in prison on the immigration charge and five years for false statements and Social Security charges. As part of his plea agreement, Ali agreed to be removed to Canada after completing any prison term imposed.

Think about this!  No one in our immigration system figured any of this out before granting him asylum in the US!

According to information released by U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II, Ali came to the United States from Somalia in 1990 to attend college [At age 34?—ed].  He later moved to Canada, where he became a Canadian citizen in 1995. He returned to the United States three years later, where he applied for and was granted asylum. He was later granted permanent resident alien status after falsely claiming to have lived in refugee camps in Kenya from 1992 to 1998.

He ripped-off MaineCare to the tune of a million bucks in one year (but his fine could be $500,000)!  Wonder where the money went?  I bet he had one of those money transfer operations to Africa in the back room!

In 2009, federal agents raided Ali’s downtown Lewiston business, Decent Home Care Inc. Ali was owner and president of the company, which provided nonmedical, health care-related services to disabled people. At the time, Ali told the Sun Journal the business served between 35 and 40 clients.

A Sun Journal investigation later revealed that Decent Home Care Inc. received more than $1 million in payments from the state in 2008 to provide nonmedical services to the elderly and disabled. The company was paid to deliver in-home services to 45 clients under the state’s Medicaid program, known as MaineCare, meaning it spent an estimated $22,222 per client that year.

There is more, read on.

For new readers, we have dozens of posts on Lewiston.  Just type the word into our search function.

Somali sex trafficking trial delayed in Nashville

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If you were planning to try to get a seat in the courtroom this week for one of the biggest trials in Tennessee history, you will have to wait until next week.

According to the AP published at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the trial has been delayed a week to allow defense attorneys time to review more documents.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A federal judge has delayed the start of a trial for more than a dozen people accused in a sex trafficking ring run by Somali gangs that reached from Minnesota to Tennessee.

Opening arguments were scheduled to start Monday, but over the weekend the U.S. attorney’s office released to defense attorneys hundreds of pages of investigator notes and hours of telephone recordings of one of the juvenile female victims.

The indictment said three gangs called the Somali Outlaws, the Somali Mafia and the Lady Outlaws were forcing teenage girls into prostitution and operated in St. Paul, Minn.; Minneapolis; Columbus, Ohio; and Nashville.

The indictment accuses the gangs of finding and recruiting young girls, some also Somali, for the purpose of prostitution in exchange for money and drugs between 2000 and 2010.

Most of the defendants are from the Somali refugee populations in Minnesota and Tennessee.

U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes pushed the start of the trial back one week to give the defense attorneys time to review the additional evidence. Assistant U.S. Attorney Van Vincent told the court that the late release of the documents was not intentional.

For new readers, here is a post I wrote in 2008 that is still almost daily one of the top posts here at RRW.  In it we show how many Somali refugees have entered the US legally as refugees over the last two decades—over a hundred thousand now.   One federal contractor that played a big role in resettling Somali Muslims is Catholic Charities.

And, here is one of many previous posts on this sex trafficking case.  You can find links to earlier posts there.