Ethiopian Minister's Wife Accused of Using Saudi Cash in Unrest
By William Davison
Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopian authorities charged a minister’s wife with terrorism for using money from the Saudi Arabian Embassy to pay for Islamic protests against the government, defense lawyer Temam Ababulgu said.
Habiba Mohammed, wife of Civil Service Minister Junedin Sado, was among 29 people charged with terrorism offenses in an Ethiopian court yesterday, Temam said yesterday in an interview outside the court in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Nine members of a 17-person committee formed to dispute the government’s control of the Islamic council, which has led the demonstrations, were also among the 29 charged under a 2009 terrorism law the U.S. and United Nations have criticized as too broad. Habiba was charged with belonging to and aiding a terrorist organization, Temam said.
Muslims in Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous nation, have been holding protests at mosques for more than a year against government control of an Islamic council, some of which turned violent. The government accuses the group of being led by extremists who want to convert the secular nation into an Islamic state.
A call today to the Saudi Embassy in Addis Ababa was not answered. State Minister of Communications Shimeles Kemal did not immediately answer two calls to his office today.
The defendants will answer the charges at the next hearing, scheduled for Nov. 22, Temam said.
President Obama with his grandmother Sarah during his visit to Kenya. While Barack professes to be a Christian, Grandma Sarah is a devout Wahabbi Muslim.
Kenyan police officers continued their anti-terrorism operations on Sunday when they killed or arrested suspected members of a Somalia-based Islamist group, one of whom lived in the same western Kenya location as some family members of President BarackObama who are alleged Muslim Wahhabists, according to sources.
A suspect, Omar Faraj, who was allegedly involved in Wednesday's bombings that killed a police officer and two other suspected members of the Somalia-based al-Qaeda-affiliate, Al Shabaab, was killed by police officers who raided the suspect's home in Mombasa, Kenya, on Sunday morning, an Israeli police and counterterrorism source informed the Law Enforcement Examiner.
The source stated that the 29-year-old Faraj had been kept under close surveillance by a team of detectives from the police department's anti-terrorism bureau in Nairobi. Police were fearful that there would be retaliation from either Somali or Kenyan Muslimswho dominate parts of Kenya.
The police also arrested a terrorism suspectin a nearby village on the Kenyan coast and confiscated several firearms and hand-grenades during their search for contraband.
The police identified that suspect as Titus Nyabiswa, 26, who had converted to Islam in the western part of that African country. Surprisingly, members of President Barack Obama's family are Muslims living in western Kenya, but the White House and the Obama national security team have been silent regardingal-Qaeda activityin the president's ancestral home, according to the Law Enforcement Examiner source.
Nyabiswa reportedly possessed several bomb detonators when he was arrested by highway patrol officers manning a police road block and he was handed over to the anti-terrorismpolice unit.
Police say the suspect and his accomplices were planning to carry out an attack in Kenya's second-largest city of Mombasathat has been the target of several grenade attacks in the past year.
It was considered a major breakthrough in the war against terrorism in Kenya amid reports of planned terror attacks since the liberation of Somalia port of Kismayo by Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF), said theIsraeli source who specializes in North African terrorist groups.
It's widely known that hundreds of Kenyan youths and foreigners who had joined Al Shabaab, an ally of al-Qaeda, secretly entered Kenya in order to carryout terrorist attackson Christian churches and public assembly facilities in Nairobi and Mombasa.
According to best-selling author Ed Klein in a World Net Dailynews story, since his inauguration, President Obama’s family in Kenya has been on a mission to use the Obama nameto transform Kenya from the nation’s current Christian majority to an Islamic majority that will spread Islamic law, or Shariah, through the country.
Klein's article claims the Kenyan Obama family membersare devout fundamentalist Muslims known as Wahhabists, although there are no reports of membership in the al-Qaeda-affiliate Al Shabaab. Wahhabism originated in Saudi Arabia and is considered extremist by many Muslims.
ADDIS ABABA — Twenty-nine Ethiopian Muslims were charged Monday with plotting acts of "terrorism", the majority arrested after protests accusing the government of interference in religious affairs.
According to court documents, the group is accused of "intending to advance a political, religious or ideological cause" by force and the "planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt of terrorist acts."
The 29 accused -- including nine prominent Muslim leaders -- were jailed following protests in July staged by Muslims against the government.
Among the accused was Habiba Mohammed, the wife of the former minister of civil service, charged with smuggling funds to support religious extremism.
Demonstrations began in January by Muslims who accuse the government of trying to impose the moderate Al Ahbash Sufi branch of Islam, a Lebanese import mostly alien to Ethiopia.
Protesters also accuse authorities of fixing elections for the leaders of the Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs, the community's main representative body, after jailing Muslim leaders who would have participated in the vote.
Two local non-governmental organizations were also charged with "rendering support" to terrorism.
The courtroom in the Ethiopian capital was filled Monday with armed police officers alongside the 29 accused, who stood before a judge to receive the charges.
Dozens of family members and friends who could not fit inside the courtroom waited outside and cheered as the charged returned to prison on buses.
According to official figures, nearly 34 percent of Ethiopia's 83 million people are Muslim.
Ethiopia's constitution calls for a secular government and prohibits government interference in religious affairs.
This month, Ethiopia's new Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn insisted the government respects religious freedom, but said some acts of religious extremism had been uncovered and the government must curb such incidents.
Twenty-nine Ethiopian Muslims were charged Monday with plotting acts of “terrorism”, the majority arrested after protests accusing the government of interference in religious affairs.
According to court documents, the group is accused of “intending to advance a political, religious or ideological cause” by force and the “planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt of terrorist acts.”
The 29 accused -- including nine prominent Muslim leaders -- were jailed following protests in July staged by Muslims against the government.
Among the accused was Habiba Mohammed, the wife of the former minister of civil service, charged with smuggling funds to support religious extremism.
Demonstrations began in January by Muslims who accuse the government of trying to impose the moderate Al Ahbash Sufi branch of Islam, a Lebanese import mostly alien to Ethiopia.
Protesters also accuse authorities of fixing elections for the leaders of the Supreme Council on Islamic Affairs, the community’s main representative body, after jailing Muslim leaders who would have participated in the vote.
Two local non-governmental organizations were also charged with "rendering support" to terrorism.
The courtroom in the Ethiopian capital was filled Monday with armed police officers alongside the 29 accused, who stood before a judge to receive the charges.
Dozens of family members and friends who could not fit inside the courtroom waited outside and cheered as the charged returned to prison on buses.
According to official figures, nearly 34 percent of Ethiopia’s 83 million people are Muslim.
Ethiopia’s constitution calls for a secular government and prohibits government interference in religious affairs.
This month, Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn insisted the government respects religious freedom, but said some acts of religious extremism had been uncovered and the government must curb such incidents.
Ethiopia’s Charities and Societies Agency (CSoA), announced Saturday that it has shut down 10 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) under the county’s new civil society and charity law.
CSoA decided to revoke the licenses of the organizations due to alleged misconduct and violation to the law of charities and society’s proclamation, the agency public relations head Asefa Tesfaye said.
The agency warned a further 400 organizations that it said were operating against rules and regulations of the country. The agency is currently investigating the cases of some 17 organizations.
Financial related violations including not paying tax were the main cause for the closure of NGOs while license revocations of IRRC and Awelia School was because they accused of involvement in religious activities contrary to mission they were licensed for.
Despite international criticism, the Ethiopian government endorsed the Charities and Societies Proclamation in 2009.
Many international human rights groups and civil society groups condemned the controversial law saying it was a tool designed to strictly control and restrict the activities of civil society.
The law criminalizes human rights-related work undertaken by Ethiopian organizations that receive more than 10% their funding from overseas.
The 2009 law contravenes international and regional human rights treaties Ethiopia has signed, according to right groups.
Despite existing opposition to the law, the Charities and Societies Agency says it has registered hundreds of new associations and charities following the endorsement of the new law.
Currently there are nearly 3,000 international civil society groups, NGOs and charities operating in the horn of Africa nation.
A view of St. Rita's Catholic church in Kaduna, Nigeria, after a bomb attack October 28, 2012.
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Heather Murdock
October 28, 2012
ABUJA, NIGERIA — Nigerian authorities say eight people were killed and 100 more injured when a suicide bomber attacked a Catholic church during morning services, raising fears of renewed sectarian violence in the volatile city of Kaduna.
About 20 minutes after the bombing a woman weeps outside the partially destroyed church.
“I am feeling bad already,” she said.
While police try to clear the area, she says she lost brothers and sisters in the morning attack.
Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency spokesman Yushau Shuaib said a suicide bomber rammed his car into the barriers surrounding the church.
The rescue operation was initially delayed, he added, as angry residents attacked emergency vehicles and fights were reported between Christians and Muslims. He said the city is now calm and heavily secured.
A VOA reporter at the scene said after the attack Christian and Muslim youth took to the streets in the surrounding area, guarding their neighborhoods. He says now residents are mostly at home, scared.
Boko Haram
Based in the northeastern city of Maiduguri
Began in 2002 as a non-violent Islamist splinter group
Launched uprising in 2009; leader was subsequently killed in police custody
Has killed hundreds in bombings and shootings since 2010
Boko Haram translates to "Western education is sinful"
Wants Nigeria to adopt strict Islamic law
Some politicians, criminals believed to be acting under Boko Haram guise
The chairman of the Kaduna State chapter of the Youth Christian Association of Nigeria, Diji Haruna, says he was two kilometers away when the bomb exploded. He rushed to the scene where he saw three other buildings damaged by the force of the blast.
Haruna says the attack also damaged efforts to end sectarian violence in Kaduna, a city in Nigeria’s “Middle Belt,” that is divided like the rest of the country, with mostly Muslims in the north and mostly Christians in the south.
“What happened in the church today is amazing, after all the efforts to see how Kaduna can live in peace," he said. "As far as we are concerned this is a terrible situation. This is a step 10-times backwards for Kaduna State.”
Human Rights Watch says sectarian violence has claimed thousands of lives in Nigeria in the past decade. After a Kaduna church bombing in June, nearly 100 people were killed in clashes between Muslims and Christians.
No one has claimed responsibility for the latest bombing, but it is similar to others attributed to an Islamist militant group known as Boko Haram, which says it wants jailed members freed and the implementation of Islamic law.
Boko Haram has been blamed for 1,400 deaths in the past three years. The group claims attacks on churches, security forces, government buildings, schools, communications networks, newspapers, and the local U.N. headquarters.
Ibrahima Yakubu contributed to this report from Kaduna.
Somalia's Islamist al Shabaab militia on Monday warned Britain it would "pay the heftiest price" for its "war against Islam" and the extradition of radical cleric Abu Hamza to the United States.
In a series of eleven posts written by al Shabaab's Press Office on its Twitter page, the radical group threatened to inflict on Britain its worst-ever attack.
"The nightmare that surreptitiously looms on British shores is bound to eclipse the horrors of 7/7 and 21/7 combined," said one message.
The London bombings on July 7, 2005, were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks on the city's public transport which killed 52 civilians and the four bombers.
Two weeks later, four attempted bomb attacks disrupted part of the city's public transport system.
Another message read: "Britain will pay the heftiest price for its brazen role in the war against Islam and endless brutality against innocent Muslims."
The Al-Qaeda linked group also vowed to "go to every possible length to attain the freedom of imprisoned Muslim scholars."
A 17,000-strong African Union force, fighting alongside government forces, has in recent months wrested control of a string of Shebab strongholds including the bastion of Kismayo, a strategic southern port.
Radical preacher Hamza and four other terrorism suspects were extradited to the US earlier this month after a British court rejected their last-ditch attempts to block their removal.
A legal saga that dragged on for more than a decade in the courts of Britain and Europe finally ended when two senior judges at the High Court in London dismissed the men's pleas to be allowed a stay of extradition.
The al Shabaab's messages came as three British Muslim men went on trial on Monday accused of planning a string of bombings that prosecutors said could have been deadlier than the 7/7, 2005 attacks on London.
A wreckage of a burnt car following a bomb explosion outside a police station in a Christian quarter of Damascus' Old City on October 21, 2012. (AFP Photo / SANA)
At least 13 people have been killed and 29 injured as a powerful blast hit outside a police station in Bab Touma neighborhood in the old part of Damascus, reports the state news agency. It comes as Lakhdar Brahimi visits the Syrian capital for talks.
Smoke rose above what were believed to be twin car bomb explosions in front of a police station, witnesses said. Other reports suggest it was a taxi rigged with explosives.
Ambulances were seen rushing to the scene as police shut access to the area, Twitter user NMSyria says.
At least 13 people were killed by the blast, SANA reported citing sources in the Interior Ministry. But given that the area is usually crowded, there are fears the death toll could be much higher. It is also unclear whether any police staff are among those dead or injured.
Dozens of cars were burnt and many houses sustained extensive damage.
The area was busy at the time of the explosion, with people returning from Sunday prayers. Bab Touma is a predominantly Christian neighborhood. It is also a popular shopping place in Damascus.
Two more bombings were reported to have occurred in Syria on Sunday. An explosive device, planted “by terrorists”, detonated on a road in the capital’s neighborhood, injuring several passers-by. A suicide bomber blew up his car outside a Syrian-French Hospital in the besieged city of Aleppo. The latter instance resulted in material damage only, SANA said.
Syrians dousing a car following a bomb explosion outside a police station in a Christian quarter of Damascus' Old City on October 21, 2012. (AFP Photo / SANA)
Meanwhile, the UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi arrived in Damascus on Sunday for talks. The envoy met with President Bashar al-Assad in a bid to implement a ceasefire by next week, when the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha begins.
“I appeal to everyone to take a unilateral decision to cease hostilities on the occasion of Eid al-Adha and that this truce be respected from today or tomorrow,” Brahimi told reporters in Damascus after meeting with Assad on Sunday.
Brahimi had previously met with Syrian opposition groups inside and outside the country. He said that while he "found an overwhelming response" from Assad's opponents to his cease-fire plan, he only received "promises" without "commitment".
The peace envoy did not reveal Assad's response to his plan. But SANA news agency says Assad assured Brahimi that he supported his mission: "The president said he is open to any sincere effort to find a political solution to the crisis on the basis of respecting the Syrian sovereignty and rejecting foreign interference."
Assad also stressed that a political solution must be "based on the principle of halting terrorism, a commitment from the countries involved in supporting, arming and harboring terrorists in Syria to stop doing such acts," the state news agency reported.
Whether Assad has in fact committed to the peace plan remains unclear, however.
Officials in Damascus blame the popular uprising that began in March of last year on a foreign conspiracy. They say the revolt against the government is an insurgency headed by "terrorists" who infiltrated the country from across the border.
The end of fighting in Syria all depends on the will of the countries that are backing the rebels and giving them arms, money and means of communication, believes Dr Ali Mohamad, the editor-in-chief of the Syria Tribune media channel, as “the rebel groups are all controlled from the outside”.
“These countries can make the rebels cease fire in 48 hours or even less – if they have the will to cease fire,”Mohamad insists.
The UN estimates the conflict in Syria has left over 20,000 people dead, while various opposition groups claim the death toll now stands at 33,000. Over 340,000 refugees have fled the country.
A Christian quarter of Damascus' Old City on October 21, 2012. (AFP Photo / SANA)
A Christian quarter of Damascus' Old City on October 21, 2012. (AFP Photo / SANA)
A wreckage of a burnt car following a bomb explosion outside a police station in a Christian quarter of Damascus' Old City on October 21, 2012. (AFP Photo / SANA)
The neighborhood of Bab Tuma where the explosion took place.(Image from twitter user @NMSyria)
Khamis Gaddafi has been killed in the Bani Walid siege, Libya’s National Congress has confirmed. The body of Colonel Gaddafi’s youngest son has reportedly now been transferred to a hospital in Misrata.
Over 100 of Brazil’s main newspapers have blocked internet giant Google’s news service from using their content. They say Google News has actually reduced their site traffic and benefits commercially from material it has refused to pay for.
Syria insurgents receive salaries in US dollars (unregistered)October 22, 2012, 10:20
Foreign-backed insurgents in Syria have admitted that they receive good salaries from their regional and trans-regional supporters in US dollars for fighting against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
The commanders of the insurgents in the flashpoint city of Aleppo distributed the first salaries of the armed groups, saying the money is coming from some foreign states, including US, UK, France, Israel, Saudi Arabia Qatar and Turkey. They are promised good bonus from Rockefellar and Rothschild Bankers too.
A recent New York Times report suggested that Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been funneling money and arms to Syrian insurgents for months.
...but your recount of the civil war is false. The lebanese have been bombing the hell out of EACH OTHER since the 70's. Each side wanting 100% annihilation of the other side. That's why it was called a civil war. And to blame syria for that is proposterous. If you want someone to blame, blame those who carved out the map of the middle east, the occupation entities well before syria's involvement. Oh wait... its easier to blame Syria as the mother of all evil rather than the west.
Wisdom (unregistered)October 22, 2012, 08:26
The unrest in Syria is definately being caused by the Americans. There are two scenarios that could be at play here, 1) The Americans want to install a puppet/traitor in government, get rid of the Russian military base and sell US made weapons with 'kill switches' to the Syrians so that the Israelis can walk in and take Syria's land some time in the future, or 2) The Americans weaken Syria so that Assad is thrown out of office and then Syria has a constant civil war until the country is totally destroyed, then the Israelis can walk in and take over. Israel's end game is to steal Syria's land for themselves but they cannot do this with a Russian military base there.
The commanders of the insurgents in the flashpoint city of Aleppo distributed the first salaries of the armed groups, saying the money is coming from some foreign states, including US, UK, France, Israel, Saudi Arabia Qatar and Turkey. They are promised good bonus from Rockefellar and Rothschild Bankers too.
A recent New York Times report suggested that Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been funneling money and arms to Syrian insurgents for months.