American Muslim-convert sentenced for terror training

The Somali Reconciliation Conference proceeds as scheduled, despite efforts to derail it by the ICU and Hawiye extremists. In the meantime, an American Muslim-convert who fought with the ICU against the TFG, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Texas. See the details below:
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HOUSTON -- A U.S. citizen convicted of receiving training at a terrorist camp alongside al-Qaida members in his efforts to help overthrow the Somali government was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.

Daniel Joseph Maldonado, 28, a Muslim convert also known as Daniel Aljughaifi and Abu Mohammed, also was fined $1,000.

Maldonado admitted to traveling in December to a terrorist camp in Somalia, where he was trained to use firearms and explosives in an effort to help a group called the Islamic Courts Union topple the government and install an Islamic state. Members of al-Qaida were present at the camp.

Maldonado was captured by the Kenyan military while trying to flee Somalia in January and brought back to the United States in February.

In April he pleaded guilty to a charge of receiving training from a foreign terrorist organization.

Ten years was the maximum prison sentence Maldonado could have received. He faced a fine of up to $250,000.

Federal prosecutor Gary Cobe said after the hearing that the sentence was just.

"We're fighting a war against terrorism. We need to send a message that anyone who gets involved with terrorism will pay the price," he said.

Maldonado's defense attorney, Brent Newton, did not speak to reporters after the hearing.

But before the sentence was handed down, Newton said that while his client is not making excuses for what he did, he went to Somalia and the Middle East only to practice his Muslim faith in peace and not to join a terrorist group.

"He wants it to be known he never intended to hurt Americans," Newton said.

Maldonado declined to make a statement during the hearing.

Maldonado, who grew up in Pelham, N.H., lived in Houston for four months in 2005 before moving with his wife and three children to Cairo, Egypt, then Somalia. Just before his arrest as he and his family tried to leave Somalia and go to Kenya, they became separated. His wife, Tamekia Cunningham, later died of malaria. His three children are being cared for by his parents in New Hampshire.

Defense attorneys described Maldonado as a man who, driven by anti-Muslim sentiment in America after the Sept. 11 attacks, moved away with his family so they could live in peace as Muslims

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Burundi Soon to Deploy the Long Awaited Forces

After endless delays, the TFG is going to get the long promised Burundi forces to help support the AU force. In related news, the AU voted to extend the peace-keepers mission there for another 6 months. The AU is also appealing to the UN to take oversight of the peacekeeping force.

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Burundi Réalités (Bujumbura)
18 July 2007

Bujumbura: On Saturday July 14th, 2007, France's Ambassador to Burundi, Joël Louvet, and the Burundian Minister of National Defence, Lt.-Gen. Germain Niyoyankana signed an exceptional aid convention of 500000 Euros to help convey troops and military equipments to Somalia.

France has made this promise in mid-June while the USA had promised to provide some military equipments including uniforms, boots and bullet-proof jackets and helmets. The promises by the USA and France followed a confirmation by the AU of the troops' technical preparedness for the peace keeping mission.

Burundi troops were ready since May, but were waiting for logistical support which was to be provided by the AU. In an exclusive interview with Burundi Réalités Agence Presse on May 23rd, Mr. Manirakiza Adolphe had stated that the only delay for the deployment was logistical support which was to be provided by the African Union. Many observers doubt whether the African Union has what it really takes to mobilize the troops needed for the mission, hence a probable UN takeover.

In fact, the UN Security Council met on June 14th, 2007 and stressed the urgent need for appropriate contingency planning for a possible UN takeover of peacekeeping in Somalia from struggling African Union (AU) troops.

BBC Bias Continues

Despite efforts against it Somali nationals, BBC's anti-government bias continues to rear its ugly head. See the article that follows to see the latest one-sided reporting, this time about the National Reconciliation Conference trying to get underway in Mogadishu. This article again shows the point of view from the side of anti-government forces. I believe their poor show of journalism is caused by one or more of the following factors:

* Lazy BBC journalists and editors who don't think both sides need to be represented.
* Ignorant non-Somali BBC journalists who have trusted sources that only feed them anti-government interviewees and story lines.
* Staff who don't think any of its readers will really care what they report about Somalia.
* Anti-government Somali BBC staff who have convinced their editors that their viewpoint is the correct viewpoint on the situation in Somalia.

Most appalling in the latest BBC story is the large quote by 'an opposition leader' that reads, "There is no clan conflict at the moment in Somalia but there is a political conflict." Is this really passing as for truth on the BBC? Clan conflict is in fact the MAIN reason why there still exists strife in Somalia. Leaders from around the world, from the AU, IGAD, and the UN all recognized this which is why they called on a clan-based reconciliation conference to be urgently held.

This shifting of the focus from the idea of clan-related to politically-related strife in Somalia by BBC journalism is giving a voice to falsehood and to the continued empowerment by a radical fringe of of Fundamentalists who are dominated by the Hawiye clan. For a more balanced article on the attempted reconciliation conference see the article from the International Herald Tribune here.
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Somali peace conference postponed

Security has been stepped up around the conference

A national reconciliation conference in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu has opened - and then adjourned.

Organisers postponed the conference until Thursday to allow more time for all the delegates to arrive.

Several mortar shells landed near the venue on Sunday, injuring civilians, but President Abdullahi Yusuf said violence would not deter the talks.

The main Islamist opposition have refused to attend, saying the venue is not neutral.

Somalia has been without a functioning government for 16 years.

Clan focus

Hundreds of Ethiopian and Somali government troops are patrolling the streets in Mogadishu and guarding the former police warehouse where the talks will be held.

Over 1,000 clan elders, former warlords and politicians from across the country have been invited.

The opposition Islamic Courts, who were driven from the city by Ethiopian and Somali forces and who are now mainly in exile in Eritrea, say they cannot attend because of the presence of their Ethiopian enemies.

There is no clan conflict at the moment in Somalia but there is a political conflict Yusuf Hassan Ibrahim Opposition member

A number of delegates from the international community who had planned to attend the opening ceremony were unable to, when their flights were cancelled over security concerns.

When talks begin, they are expected to focus on clan reconciliation, disarmament and sharing natural resources.

But critics say clan conflict is not the major problem and the focus should be on reconciliation between political and armed groups.

"The conference would make sense if it was bringing rival politicians and armed groups to the same table," said Ahmed Diriye, a spokesman for the powerful Hawiye clan.

"But if the idea is to talk about a non-existent tribal conflict, it's a waste of money and energy."

"There is no clan conflict at the moment in Somalia but there is a political conflict," Yusuf Hassan Ibrahim, a member of an opposition alliance linked to the Islamic Courts told the BBC.

"We are calling for a national reconciliation conference which will deal with the differences between the Transitional Federal Government and the other stakeholders, including former parliamentary groups, the Islamic Courts, civil society and the Somali diaspora."