Category: Africa

Canada: One of the Toronto missing Somali youths believed to be dead

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

One down and four or so to go.  Well, at least five had been identified here in a story we reported in December of last year about Toronto Somali, former refugees, who are believed to have gone to Somalia to learn the Jihad trade.

From the National Post:

A Toronto man has been killed in Somalia while fighting with the al-Qaeda-linked militant group Al-Shabab, according to a message posted on the Internet.

The message, which accompanies a video posted on YouTube, identifies the man as “Mohamed al Muhajiri” and says he worshipped at the Abu Huraira Mosque in Toronto.

The death could not be verified last night.

It was first reported yesterday by the SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S. terrorism research company that monitors extremist Internet sites.

The RCMP and CSIS have been investigating a half-dozen Somali-Canadians suspected of joining Al-Shabab last fall. Several of them worshipped at the Abu Huraira mosque.

The federal government announced last week it had outlawed Al-Shabab under the Anti-Terrorism Act because of concerns the group had been recruiting in the Somali-Canadian community.

Are they coming back with their newly acquired skills?

The Canadians who left Toronto last October have not been heard from since their disappearance, although one apparently called home to say he was in Kenya and was on his way to Somalia to fight.

Police fear the youths could receive training and indoctrination in Somalia and return to Canada and carry out terrorist attacks in either Canada or the United States.

For more on former refugees leaving Canada or the US to join radical Muslims in Africa or elsewhere, use our search function for “missing Somali youths” and it will probably take you a day to read everything we have written on the subject!

Canada: Somalis “young, angry, radicalized”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Canadian former refugees are fighting among all factions in Somalia.  From the National Post:

TORONTO – Somalia has long been one of Canada’s top sources of refugees. Between 1989 and 2006, it ranked fourth after Sri Lanka, Pakistan and China.
About 150,000 ethnic Somalis now live in Canada, the largest population outside Africa, according to a federal report released under the Access to Information Act.

Many Canadian Somalis, particularly those over age 30, maintain close ties to Somalia, said Ahmed Hussen, president of the Canadian Somali Congress.

“They will open businesses in their area, they will go and serve in political office for their clan, they might even fight for their militia,” Mr. Hussen said.

Canadians are active in all three major warring factions in Somalia: the Transitional Federal Government, Al-Shabab and the Sufigroup Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama.

Somalia’s interim prime minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, is a 49-year-old Canadian who studied political science at Carleton University in Ottawa.

At the same time, the al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab, which is fighting to overthrow the government and impose Taliban-like extremist rule, has been recruiting Canadians, one of whom was reported killed this week.

Somali Canadians are also active in a relatively new player in Somalia’s seemingly never-ending armed conflict: Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama, a Sufi Muslim group that took up arms last year to fight Al-Shabab.

Edmonton taxi driver Sharaf Ali is an Ahlu Sunna supporter. He served on the board of directors of the United Cabbies Association of Edmonton and has debated Somali issues on the local campus radio station CJSR.

In January, some Canadian Somalis said they were shocked when photos appeared on the Internet showing Mr. Ali at the aftermath of a skirmish between Ahlu Sunna fighters and Al-Shabab militants.

[…..]

“In Edmonton, most of the Somalis who are in Canada, not most of them but a lot of them, they are kind of pro-Al Shabab, unfortunately, and I don’t know why, these people are causing chaos situation in Somalia and they are linked to al-Qaeda.”

The government report, by Canada’s Integrated Threat Assessment Centre, said the doctrine of al-Qaeda and Al-Shabab has little appeal among Canadian Somalis, who are predominantly Sufi moderates.  [So much for government reports!]

What should Canada do? If they leave the country they don’t come back—dead or alive.  It is that simple.

“Stay away from Somalis!”

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

That is the title of a piece in Hiiraan Online a publication about Somalia.  Here is one paragraph to entice you to read the whole article.

“Good! Good!” he replies. “You know these Somali people. They are no good. They just get you in trouble or they want something from you. It is better to stay away. I tell my children when you see Somalis don’t talk to them…they are just trouble!”

Who is saying that (some bigot?), and with whom is he speaking?  See for yourself, here.

Comment worth noting: We Somalis or Muslims will inherit America whether you like it or not

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Here is a comment from reader Abdi that we received last night to a post I wrote in January, here, about how the UN was sending us 6000 Somalis from a camp in Uganda where they weren’t getting along with other African inhabitants of the camp.

They couldn’t be any clearer.

well, We Somali’s or Muslims will inherit America wether you like it or not this ‘America” is NO MAN’S LAND. Its God’s land and you can not do anything about it. cant you see how empty America is have you been to South, North Dakota or all uper midwes? is American Families having a lot of children? there good Americans who want to share their wealth with the refugees. i am a Somalian refugee i have 2 jobs i pay taxes i am happy to share it with the poor peaple. i ask a credit from God almight i dont weine about i thank God for what he gave me.
my advise to all you
Just Thank God for what you have and share your penny with poor and God will pay you back just be patient.

Is one of the alleged Somali murderers a juvenile?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I have a bunch of posts backed up that I haven’t gotten to and this is one of those. It is from February 23rd.  Remember that triple murder in Minneapolis I told you about here.  Well, it turns out that defense lawyers for one of the alleged murderers is questioning the age of his client. 

It’s an issue we have rarely (if ever!) mentioned here, but when refugees have no documented birth date, they are given January 1 of whatever year the authorities guess they were born in.  I didn’t realize the number of those January first birthdays was so large.  This is from Fox 9 News in the Twin Cities:

MINNEAPOLIS – Birthdays are one of the dates that define us. But, research shows that New Year’s babies are not that unique

Abdi Bihi is a social worker, who works closely with the 75,000 Somalis who now call Minnesota home. And many, if not the majority, share one thing in common: They all have the same January 1 birth date.

In Somalia, birthdays are not traditionally celebrated. It is the same way in Sudan, Ethiopia and even the Hmong from Laos. The January 1 birthday is assigned in the refugee camps, based on the family’s best guess of the year the child was born.

Of the 80,000 refugees, who resettled in the U.S. last year, nearly 11,000 have January 1 birthdays.

The January 1 birthday has become an issue in the triple murder at a Somali market. One of the teenage suspects, Mahdi Ali, has the birth date of January 1, 1993, making him barely 17. He is old enough to automatically stand trial as an adult.

Defense Attorney Fred Goetz says his client may be 16, or even younger, meaning his case should be handled as a juvenile matter.

Ali was raised by his grandmother and his parentage is uncertain. And in a country ravaged by 20 years of civil war, finding birth records will be next to impossible.

Whenever I see one of these ‘raised by granny’ Somalis mentioned, I can’t help but think about those fraudulent P-3 applications that caused the State Department to suspend the family reunification program for Africa.  Is Mahdi Ali one of the 36,000 Somalis the State Department believes is in the US illegally?

For new readers:

We learned recently that 270 Somali illegal aliens who entered the US recently through Mexico are being sought by ICE.  The fear is that they are connected to the terrorist group, Al-Shabaab here.

For information on Somali missing youths, American citizens who have gone to Somalia to learn the Jihad trade, some leaving through Mexico, use those search words.  We have written dozens of stories on the case.  For more on Al-shabaab (sometimes spelled Al-shabab) also use our search function.

The US State Department has admitted over 80,000 Somali refugees to the US (this linked post continues to be one of the most widely read posts we have ever written) in the last 25 years and then in 2008 had to suspend family reunification because widespread immigration fraud was revealed through DNA testing.  That specific program has not yet been reopened (that we know of), but will be soon. 

Nevertheless, thousands of Somali Muslims continue to be resettled by the State Department as I write this. We recently learned that we will be taking 6000 Somalis this year from one camp in Uganda and as many as 11,000-13,000 total from around the world.