Islamists vow to fight any foreign troops in Somalia

By Ibrahim Mohamed
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's hardline al Shaabab Islamists will fight any foreign troops that come to the aid of the Horn of African government, a spokesman for the insurgent group said on Sunday.
Somali parliament speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Madobe on Saturday called upon neighboring countries such as Djibouti, Kenya and Ethiopia to send military help to ward off a raging rebellion.
The African Union already has 4,300 peacekeepers in Somalia, but they are under constant attack by the Islamists that want to dislodge the government and impose a strict form of sharia, Islamic law.
"We tell our enemy that we do not fear any invasion from outside. We forced Ethiopia to withdraw from Somalia early this year and we shall do the same again," al Shabaab's Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage told a press conference.
"We, the Somali young mujahideen, shall fight against any troops deployed here to help the government until our last holy fighter passes away. This is a clear signal that the so called government established by the enemy had totally failed."
Ethiopia, which had troops in Somalia for two years but withdrew them in January, said on Saturday it would only send in help under a mandate from the international community.
But residents close to the border with Ethiopia say their neighbor already has troops in their country.
Kenya said on Friday it would not sit by and allow the situation in its neighbor to deteriorate further because it would destabilize the region.
Countries in the region as well as Western nations fear that if the chaos continues in Somalia, groups with links to al Qaeda will become entrenched and threaten the stability of neighboring countries.
The U.S. has al Shaabab on its list of terror organizations.
"God will help us to overcome all enemies and we believe we shall defeat them. We are not worried about their quantity and whatever weapons they have," Rage said.
His group has intensified attacks against the government since May and killed two legislators this week, including the security minister.
Some 300 people have been killed since May 7, in fighting residents say is the worst for years.
The Horn of Africa country has experienced violence for close to two decades.
(Writing by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura; Editing by Matthew Jones)

Source: Reuters

Britain names two UK hostages killed in Iraq

Two Brit hostages dead in Iraq
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By Peter Griffiths
LONDON (Reuters) - The dead bodies of two Britons taken hostage in Iraq in 2007 and handed to UK officials in Baghdad late on Friday have been provisionally identified, the British government said on Sunday.
The men were among five Britons seized by an armed Shi'ite militant group from inside a finance ministry building in a raid in the Iraqi capital.
The Foreign Office said in a statement the dead men were "highly likely" to be Jason Creswell, originally from Glasgow in Scotland, and Jason Swindlehurst, from northwest England.
"Officials are in close contact with all the families," it said. "We continue to do everything we can toward the safe release of the other hostages."
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Saturday the three other hostages were in "grave danger" after the Iraqi authorities passed the two men's remains to the British.
No details about where, when or how they died have been made public. Unconfirmed media reports last year said one of the hostages had killed himself.
Peter Moore, a computer instructor, was kidnapped along with four of his bodyguards, working for Canadian security firm GardaWorld.
"This development is deeply shocking for the company and particularly for the families and friends of the victims," the company said in a statement.
"We continue to be deeply concerned for the remaining three hostages and are doing everything we can to achieve their release."
The hostage-takers have released several videos of the men since their capture. One clip, aired by Dubai's Al Arabiya television, showed Moore calling for Britain to release nine Iraqis in return for their freedom.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday he was "saddened and dismayed" by the men's deaths.
Britain sent about 45,000 soldiers to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 to topple former President Saddam Hussein. It now has only about 500 troops in the country.
Former Beirut hostage Terry Waite said the only hope of freeing the remaining hostages lies with the Iraqis.
"It is something that is exceptionally difficult for any Western negotiator to do, almost impossible," he told BBC television.
(Additional reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Matthew Jones)

Source: Reuters

Nigerian militants attack three Shell oil sites

By Nick Tattersall
LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's main militant group said on Sunday it had attacked three oil installations belonging to Royal Dutch Shell in the Niger Delta, widening a month-old offensive against Africa's biggest energy industry.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) said in an emailed statement it had attacked Shell pipelines at Adamakiri and Kula, both in Rivers state in the eastern Niger Delta, in the early hours of Sunday morning.
It said it had also attacked the Afremo offshore oilfields, which it believed were operated by Shell, and which it said were 14 miles from an export terminal through which crude oil from Shell's Forcados fields is pumped.
Shell said it was investigating reports of attacks against its installations at three locations and was carrying out fly-overs to try to assess any impact on output or the extent of any environmental damage from potential spillage.
A senior industry source said the third attack was not thought to have been on a deepwater installation, but on a facility located in or close to the mangrove creeks, where pipelines and equipment run across broad stretches of water.
The attacks are the first to strike Rivers state, the easternmost of the three main states in the Niger Delta, since the militants launched their latest campaign of sabotage following a military offensive in the western delta last month.
Persistent attacks by MEND over the past three years have cut oil output in the OPEC member, the world's eighth biggest crude oil exporter, to less than two thirds of its installed capacity of 3 million barrels per day (bpd).
ISOLATED LOCATIONS
Industry and security experts say it is virtually impossible to prevent opportunistic attacks on hundreds of kilometers of pipeline and equipment in the remote mangrove creeks of the Niger Delta, one of the world's biggest wetlands.
"The militants are going about attacking pipelines in isolated parts of the creeks where they know they will not encounter resistance," said Colonel Rabe Abubakar, spokesman for the joint military taskforce in the Niger Delta.
MEND first burst onto the scene in late 2005, knocking out more than a quarter of Nigeria's oil output -- then around 2.4 million bpd -- in a matter of weeks.
But it has largely failed to carry out such spectacular attacks since then, although the latest campaign has nibbled further at production levels in a country that relies on oil for around 90 percent of its foreign earnings.
Agip said on Friday a pipeline attack in Bayelsa state had halted production of around 33,000 barrels of oil and 2 million cubic meters of gas per day.
Shell said on Thursday some oil production had been halted following an attack on the Trans Ramos pipeline late on Wednesday at Aghoro-2 community in Bayelsa.
Chevron shut down its operations around Delta state after MEND's first attack in its latest campaign on May 24, halting around 100,000 barrels per day (bpd). Continued...
Source: Reuters

Berlusconi defiant as pressure grows over scandal

By Deepa Babington
ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Sunday brushed off pressure over allegations female escorts were paid to attend his parties and sought to focus on his government's plans for the next year.
Already under fire over his friendship with an 18-year-old that prompted his wife to seek divorce, Berlusconi now faces questions from the influential Catholic establishment and the opposition as details of his private life emerge daily.
The latest uproar came after a 23-year old bridal model told major Italian dailies this weekend she had accompanied a female escort to Berlusconi's private Rome residence for dinner, where the prime minister presented her with rings and necklaces designed by him.
The model said she was later paid 1,000 euros to attend a party at Berlusconi's villa in Sardinia by a local businessman being investigated by magistrates on suspicion of corruption.
She said she recounted the events to investigators as well. Her account appeared to corroborate comments made by the female escort last week.
The entrepreneur has denied paying women to attend parties and apologised for "involuntarily damaging" Berlusconi.
Berlusconi last week called the accusations "false trash" meant to taint his image ahead of the July G8 summit hosted by Italy and said the center-left opposition could not topple him.
He was equally defiant on Sunday as the pressure mounted.
"Why would I not hang in there?" Berlusconi asked after voting in provincial election run-offs when supporters yelled at him to "hang in there".
"We will soon have a meeting with all the ministers in which we will lay down the government's program for the coming year and it will be an absolutely concrete program."
DENY WITH FACTS
But that has failed to quell the growing furor surrounding Berlusconi, who dominates Italy's political landscape and ranks high in opinion polls despite the scandals and a recession.
Avvenire, the newspaper of the influential Italian Bishops Conference, in a Friday editorial questioned Berlusconi's defense so far and urged him to clear up the facts quickly.
"There is the need to arrive as soon as possible to a clarification that addresses the most urgent questions, which don't come solely from political adversaries but also from part of the public not opposed to the premier," Avvenire wrote.
One Italian archbishop, Carlo Ghidelli, told Corriere della Sera newspaper on Sunday that Berlusconi must "deny the accusations with facts, not just words". Continued...
Source: Reuters