Somalia: Will London Respond to Somalia's Needs?

By Laetitia Bader, 

Analysis 

50 Countries will meet in London on May 7 to support the nation-building project in Somalia. It is crucial that women, children and displaced people are at the forefront of the debate.

I met Fatuma in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, late last year. A few days before, she had been raped by an armed militia man while she slept in one of the city's camps for displaced people.

She had nowhere to turn for redress.

Months earlier, 13-year old Abdi told me how he had been kidnapped from school by armed members of the militant Islamist group al-Shabaab and forced to serve in Mogadishu's battle zones. I asked Abdi, who had fled to Kenya in late 2011, about his hopes for the future:

"We, the children, are suffering, our fathers are killed, our mothers suffer, and we have been taken to the front line. We love our country and want to be its leaders."

Prioritising the most vulnerable

As representatives from over 50 countries gather in London on 7 May to pledge support for the new Somali government, which is barely eight months old, Abdi and Fatuma's stories continue to resonate.

The conference co-chairs, the Somali and UK governments, along with others, are expected to make a commitment to support police and judicial reform, which they have identified as top priorities, and to provide technical assistance to tackle sexual violence.

But these much-needed resources will only contribute to durable improvements if the rights of the most vulnerable Somalis - children, women, displaced people - are placed at the forefront of debates.

Despite much heralded improvements since Somalia's long transitional period ended and a new official government officially took over in August 2012, Somalia remains home to one of the world's worst human rights crises.

The 14 April attacks on the Mogadishu courts, claimed by al-Shabaab, killed 22 people, including three prominent lawyers and a judge, and highlighted the ongoing vulnerabilities.

Government forces, allied militia and others have raped, beaten and assaulted internally displaced people, restricted their access to food and limited their movement.

Al-Shabaab targets civilians perceived to be spies or collaborators throughout south-central Somalia. In areas under its control, the group administers arbitrary justice and imposes harsh restrictions on rights.

Reports persist of children being forcibly recruited to fight. The group has turned schools into battlegrounds, using them as weapons depots and firing positions, sometimes with children and teachers still inside.

In Mogadishu and other towns which are no longer under al-Shabaab control, boys and men risk arbitrary arrest and detention by government forces and their affiliates on suspicion of al-Shabaab ties.

The need for accountability

The story of Somalia throughout two decades of conflict is one of abuses of civilians by all sides with little or no effort being made to bring the abusers to account.

Addressing this mistreatment has rarely been on anyone's agenda. Somali journalists and activists pay a heavy price for their efforts to bring these issues to national and international attention.

On 21 April, Mohamed Ibrahim Raage was killed by armed assailants, the second journalist this year.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's government appears willing to break this legacy of impunity by making government forces more accountable for their actions and reforming the country's dysfunctional justice system.

Donors have given the government time to find its feet, but in London they need to press for specifics. One draft conference communique I saw says very little about the plight of ordinary Somalis and does not identify concrete measures that will convert rhetoric into reality.

Meaningful progress will depend in particular on excluding rights abusers from government forces, building both civilian and military accountability, and protecting women's and children's rights.

The message from donors such as the UK, US and European Union should be clear: rights abusers, including those responsible for sexual violence, have no role in the future Somali security apparatus.

Any security sector support needs to lead to well-vetted, trained and accountable forces. The country needs a civilian police force and an army that ordinary Somalis can turn to for protection, one that provides redress for wrongdoings. Somalis should be able to access civilian complaint mechanisms when things go wrong.

And the government should remove children from its forces and protect schools from attacks or any military use by all warring parties.

Accountability will obviously require a functional justice system.

The recent high-profile, groundless prosecutions of a woman who alleged rape by government forces and of the journalist who interviewed her underline the need for serious reforms.

Concretely, the government can promote basic fair trial rights by imposing a moratorium on the death penalty and ending trials of civilians in military courts. Improving security at the courts and protection for lawyers and judges is also key.

Somali women and girls have suffered unaddressed abuses for far too long, from grinding repressioncon under al-Shabaab to sexual violence by all sides.

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has stated that preventing and responding to sexual violence in conflict is his personal priority - he has a unique opportunity in Somalia to safeguard women's rights and improve their access to justice.

Plans should include building the capacity of police, prosecutors and judges to deal with cases of sexual violence and recruiting more women to be police officers. Medical and psychosocial support is equally critical.

Only by building a more rights-abiding Somalia will Fatuma's needs for redress and Abdi's dreams for an education be fulfilled. The London conference should be an important step for both of them.

 Read the original of this report on the ThinkAfricaPress site.

GEESI NAGA DHASHOO GUUL DHASHUU AHAA !! XUSKA SANADGUURADII 11AAD GEERIDII MARXUUM CIGAAL

Marxuum Maxamed Xaaji Ibrahim Cigaal, Ilaahay naxariistii Janno Fardawsa ha ka waraabiye, wuxuu ahaa shaqsi aan weli soo marin taariikhda dhammaan dadka af Somaliga ku hadlla, magaciisuna sharaf ,qadarrin iyo karaamo huwan yahay.Wuxuu ahaa Siyaasi ruug caddaa ah, si weynna looga qadariyo mandaqadda G eeska Afrika iyo dhammaan caalamkaba. Marxuum Cigaal (AHUN),wuxuu ahaa madaxweynihii ugu horreey ey ee Somaliland,ee gacantiisa ku soo sexeexay xoriyaddii aynu ka qaadanay Dawladda Ingiriiska 26 June 1960 kii. 

1993 kii ayaa Marxuum Maxamed Xaaji Ibraahim  Cigaal , mar labaad Madaxweyne ka noqday Somaliland waqtigaas oo  Dalka iyo dadkuba ay ku sugnaayeen xaalad aad u adag,jihadaad u jeedsatana ay ka soo yeedhayso dhiillo colaadeed , amnni darro , kala danbayn la'aan , geyigeena dhammantii ay ka muuqato bur burkii, xasuuqii iyo dakharadii ay Daalimintii Huwantu iyo kaba qaadkoodiiba inoo geysteen. Marxuum Cigaal (AHUN), isagoo hawshaa baaxaddaa leh u muuqato, oo aan Dawlado iyo kaalmo shisheeye toona gacanta hoos dhigan, ayuu ku guuleystay inuu shacabkii boggooda burcad isku mariyo, walaaleeyo , hannaan dawladnimo iyo kala danbeynna u yagleelo, seeskana u qotamiyo. Maanta oo bishu tahay 3 May, 2013, ahna sannad guuradii 11-aad, ee maalintii uu geeriyooday marxuum Cigaal, waa in loo aqoonsado maalin Qaran, Library & Museumna loo dhiso........Geesi naga baxoo , Guul dhashuu ahaa.

 

Inkastoo aan qalin,buug iyo website lagu qoro toona , aan lagu soo koobi karin taariikhdiisa, waxtarkiisii iyo wax qabadkiisii , bal aan dhowr shay ka tilmaammo:

• Sameyntii Dastuurka Somaliland

• Sameyntii Calanka

• Sameyntii ciidanka Qaranka

• Hub ka dhigistii Beelaha

• Nabadayntii Beelaha

• Dib u dhiskii Dalka

• Sameyntii lacagta Somaliland

• Sameyntii Baasboorka Somaliland

• Sameyntii hannaanka Dawladnimo

• iyo kuwo kale oo badan

3 May ,2002, oo ahayd maalintii marxuum Cigaal ku geeriyooday Cusbitaal ku yaalla magaalada Pretoriya ee Dalka Koonfurt Afrika,waxay ahayd maalin madaw, murugo leh, naxdin iyo dhiillana u soo hoyatay dh ammaan inta jecel jiritaanka iyo Qaranimada Somaliland. Walaw ay adag tahay in qoraal lagu sifeeyo sida uu noqday ama uu ahaa  dareenka Somalilandersku meel ay maalintaas joogeenbba , bal waxaan isku da yi doon aa inaan idinku maansheeyo Gabay baroor diiqa ah, oo uu maalintaa tiriyey  Cali Adan Cawaale , waxaanu yidhi :

Sayed baad ahayd Mohamedow Mawle soo diraye

Siraad iyo aqoon baad ahayd saaqay dunidiiye

Somaliland baad jeclayd inay sarraysaaye

Teer iyo sitiinkii adaa taajka noo sidaye

Hanadkii sexeexaad ahayd saariddii karale

*****

Sama wadde haddii anad ahayn lama sod caasheene

Xamar kuma sinteen dawladnimo xaasil oo sugane

Somali baa kugu mudnayd inay sinnaataaye

Saddexdii maqnaa baad lahayd sawtka gaadhsiiye

Sir ma qabe waddaniyaad ahayd sajac heer Qarane

*****

Sidaa ugu listeen uma hambayn madaxdii reer Suud'e

Iyagaa waxaad sahamiseen suuqyada u galaye

Sunuut bay ku iibsheen waaxaad sahadinaeysaeene

Kala saare labadii shalay laysu soo daraye

Waatay salaad hore galeen suuqyadii herere

Saf ballaadhan waatay rasaas shicib ku seexsheene

Taangiga siqaa wuxu dul maray sabi carruureede

Silicii dadkaagaa la baday saani loo aragye

*****

Sankaa ii mudnaa inan dagaal kaga sifeeyaaye

Waatii sutida loo qabteen sugay xalaashiiye

Sandulley ahayd inan ka koro Xamar dul saarkeede

Inkastooy saraakiil halgemay sahayatoon waayey

Soo noqotay Maandeeq markale geesiyaa sugaye

Halkii aan sinnaan iyo wadaag samo ka dhawraayey

Ayadoon saldhigin bay haddana sudhatay reer reere

*****

Solladaa markay naga gashee laysu socon waayey

Waatay simaamkii mar kale kuu sidkeen adiye

Waxad saawa saawiyo farsamo dhaban salaaxdaaba

Waataad sargooyada habboon saaftay nabarkiiye

kuma seegin tii loo ballamay sigib tirkeediiye

*****

Salka wadigaa maamul qaran seeska noo dhigaye

Nabad bay ku seexdaan dhammaan saaka shicibkiiye

Saxan saxo udgoon baad mar kale siisay Reer Lande

Sama wade cuddoon baa halkaa sax uga maarayne

*****

Sooyaalka taariikhdu wuu sugay halkaagiiye

Somali baad guud ahaan ugu sarreysaaye

Suugaanta kuma koobi karo sumada haagiiye

*****

Sool iyo  Hargeysiyo  Togdheer  Booramiyo  Saylac

Sanaag iyo Addis  iyo Jijiga baddhabiyo saaxil

waxa saaka laga ooyayaa tan iyo Sayloone

*****

Nina saacaddii kama fakado seeftu guud timide

Sama wade Halyeyow jannadda saani ugu dheelmo

Waxan kugu sagootiyey duciyo safar nabaaddiino

Safka nabiga Ebbuhu ku mari surinka loo raaco

*****

Qabrigana siraad nuurayiyo waasac kugu seexi

Seeraha Fardowsana Alluhu daar ha kaa siiyo

Malaa'iigtu soortii Jannada sooryo kugu boobe

Salaama Alla dee Mohamedow samirku waa doore

  

Geeridu waa xaq,waana hubaal in naf walbba ay maalinteeda dha dhamin doonto mawdka,waxaase xaqii qo ah, biyo kama dhibcaan ah, in shaqsigii Dalkiisa iyo dadkiisa waxtar,wanaag iyo dhaxal loo aayo uga ta gaa , in taariikhda ma guurtada ah lagu xardhi doono, magaciisuna aanu dhimanayn weligii  , lana xasuus an doono , loona duceyn doono mar walbba.

Waxaan soo jeedinayaa , in marxuum Maxamed Xaaji Ibrahim Cigaal , Aabihii Jamhuuriyadda Somaliland,la gu maamuuso, lagu qadariyo , laguna sharfo , dhaxalkii iyo wanaaggaa faraha badan ee uu inooga tagay ,  ahna ta  maanta Somaliland heerkaa ku soo gaadhay , kuna naaloonayso . Maanta oo bishu tahay 3 May , 2013, ahna sannad guuradii 11-aad , ee maalintii uu geeriyooday marxuum Cigaal, waa in loo aqoonsado maalin Qaran, Library & Museum na loo dhiso.

Waxaan ku soo af meerayaa qoraalkaygan kooban, Allahayaw adaa awood lehe ,waxaan kaa baryayaa in aad marxuumka danbi dhaaf u fidiso , qabriga u nuurto , u waasiciso , neecaw udgooniyo , ku siiso naruur o , janno Fardawsana ku abaal mariso, Aamiin , Aamiin, Aamiin.

Factfile on Somalia

Somalia, where almost 260,000 people -- half of them young children -- died of hunger in a 2010-2012 famine, according to a UN report on Thursday, is an impoverished country in the Horn of Africa.

It has been ravaged by a civil war since the fall of the regime of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991:

- GEOGRAPHY: Somalia is 637,657 square kilometres (246,200 square miles) in area, including the autonomous northern states of Puntland and Somaliland.

Situated on the "horn" of Africa, it forms the continent's easternmost tip jutting out into the Indian Ocean, has Africa's longest coastline and borders Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya.

- POPULATION: Estimated at 9.5 million.

- CAPITAL: Mogadishu

- LANGUAGES: Somali, Arabic, Italian, English

- RELIGION: Muslim.

- HISTORY: Today's Somalia can be traced to a 7th century AD Arab sultanate.

Its modern history started in the 19th century when European powers vied for control, and Britain eventually established authority over northern Somalia in 1886 and created the protectorate of Somaliland.

Italy later established a colony in southern and central Somalia.

In November 1949, the UN granted independence to Italian Somalia but placed it under an Italian-led trusteeship.

On 26 June 1960, the northern protectorate of Somaliland won independence from Britain. Five days later, Italian Somalia became fully independent and merged with Somaliland.

In 1969, Mohamed Siad Barre seized power and thrust the country into the cold war, siding with the Soviet Union.

After deadly wars with Ethiopia, Barre was eventually ousted in 1991, ushering in a period of civil war that destroyed most state institutions.

From 1992 to 1995 the international community intervened and sought to help victims of famine and restore peace.

The transitional administration, put in place in 2004 and backed since 2007 by an African Union force has been confronted by an uprising by radical Islamist Shebab, linked to Al-Qaeda.

Since late 2011, Kenya and Ethiopia launched military operations in Somalia against insurgents. The latter, driven from the capital in August 2011, have lost almost all their bastions but still control large parts of the south and centre of the country, and have stepped up their guerrilla activities and attacks.

In August 2012 a provisional constitution was adopted and a new parliament sworn in in Mogadishu. The election by parliament of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as president in September capped a long and complex political process, backed by the UN, and designed to give Somalia a real central government.

- ECONOMY AND RESOURCES: Somalia is one of the poorest countries in the world and regularly ravaged by drought. The armed conflict has destroyed much of the country's infrastructure.

According to a UN report published on Thursday, nearly 260,000 Somalis, half of them young children, died of famine between October 2010 and April 2012 during a devastating drought which hit the Horn of Africa.

The livestock sector contributes 40 percent of Somalia's income, and 80 percent of its foreign currency earnings.

PIRACY

Since 2007 an international naval force has been deployed off the coast of Somalia to fight against acts of piracy, which according to the World Bank are at their lowest level for three years.

Somaliland: Three Charged with Ties to 2008 Suicide Attacks in Hargeisa

The attacks were a shock to many in Hargeisa after years of peace

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn) prosecutors say that if convicted of all the charges, the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

By Christie Smythe

Somalilandsun - Three men charged with supporting the Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab had ties to two suicide bombers from Minnesota; the U.S. says reports Bloomberg News.

The three defendants were "closely associated" with Farah

Mohamed Beledi, a suicide bomber who lived in the Twin Cities and who participated in a 2011 Somalia attack, prosecutors said in a letter filed Wednesday, May 1 in federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

Another bomber from Minnesota, Shirwa Ahmed, a 2000 graduate of Roosevelt High School who took part in simultaneous 2008 attacks, was discussed by two of the defendants in detail during intercepted communications, prosecutors said in the filing. Beledi and Shirwa Ahmed were U.S. citizens, according to the document.

The letter, providing supplementary evidentiary material to the defense, was filed in the case of Ali Yasin Ahmed, Madhi Hashi and Mohamed Yusuf. The three were arrested in Africa by local officials in August and taken into U.S. custody in November, according to prosecutors. They were indicted on charges of conspiracy, use of high-powered firearms and providing material support to a foreign terrorist group.

Prosecutors allege that from December 2008 to August, the men participated in weapons and explosives training and a suicide-bomber program with associates of al-Shabaab and were deployed in combat operations to support the group, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda.

FIVE BOMBINGS

Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for five simultaneous suicide bombings in Somalia targeting the Somaliland and Ethiopian government and the United Nations, prosecutors said. The group also carried out a suicide attack on a government checkpoint in Somalia in 2011, prosecutors said.

The three defendants were originally from Somalia, an attorney for Yusuf, Ephraim Savitt, said previously. Yusuf, formerly a bus driver, grew up in Sweden and is a Swedish citizen, according to Savitt.

Savitt and a lawyer for Ali Yasin Ahmed, Susan Kellman, didn't immediately respond to calls for comment today. Harry Batchelder Jr., a lawyer for Hashi, didn't immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

If convicted of all the charges, the defendants face a maximum sentence of life in prison, according to prosecutors.

The case is U.S. v. Ahmed, 1:12-cr-00661, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).

Source: Bloomberg News |

Ancient art in Somaliland in diplomatic limbo

Country’s unique status prohibits U.N. heritage protection for its caves

HARGEISA, Somaliland — The world’s most famous prehistoric art is in caverns in Europe, but the most recently discovered ancient cave paintings are in a country no other nation recognizes in a region of Africa associated mostly with terrorism, pirates and famine.

The Laas Geel cave paintings in Somaliland in the Horn of Africa are not as old or famous as the art in France’s Lascaux or Spain’s Altamira caves, but the quality is just as good, archaeologists say.

Unlike the European caves, however, Laas Geel has no chance of international protection as a site on the UNESCO World Heritage List because of the region’s complicated diplomatic situation.

Somaliland declared its independence more than 20 years ago and has been building a democracy ever since. But the world still recognizes the region as part of Somalia, which has spent the past two decades in chaos without a functioning government.

Somalia, which restored a government just last year, has not signed the UNESCO World Heritage treaty, so the caves in Somaliland cannot receive U.N. protection.


“We definitely need a heritage protection support,” said Somaliland Foreign Minister Mohamed A. Omar.

“These are a very old and historically and scientifically very important asset which has a global significance. Any help in protecting this is much appreciated by the Somaliland government.”
A French archaeological team discovered the isolated Laas Geel caves in 2002. Guided by villagers whose ancestors had known about the caverns for generations, they found the vibrant paintings in pristine condition.

The dry climate has helped preserve the ancient rock art, depicting nomadic life more than 5,000 years ago.

The Laas Geel caves are in 10 areas of a large granitic outcrop about 37 miles north of Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, and can reached by the road to the port city of Berbera. The caves sit near a dry riverbed 3 miles off the main road. Traversing the unmarked rutty trail requires a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

The outcrops appear ordinary until a close examination of the shallow enclosed areas near the upper reaches.

French archaeologists say the Laas Geel cave paintings are at least 5,000 years old and possibly twice that age.

Some of the paintings show the indigenous nomadic people worshipping cows. Other scenes show giraffes, dogs, antelopes, camels and other animals. In the Somali language, Laas Geel means “where the camels once watered.”

The cave art is reportedly among the oldest found in Africa. Many visitors say this incredible archaeological find deserves to be designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site, despite the diplomatic problems.

With good highway signs, better vehicular access and an improved visitor center, this precious repository of ancient rock art could become a major tourist attraction and economic boost to Somaliland.

The Neolithic Laas Geel cave paintings are similar to the Paleolithic Lascaux cave paintings near Montignac, France. Discovered in 1940, the French cave paintings are thought to be 17,000 years old.

The Somaliland cave art also resembles the Altamira cave paintings discovered in the Cantabria region of northern Spain in 1880. They have been referred to as the “Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic art,” depicting life 18,000 years ago. Many of the scenes at Altamira are centered on bison, bulls and other animals prevalent in Europe at the time.

Somaliland is in one of the most strategic parts of Africa, on the Gulf of Aden. This northern region is part of an ancient world that archaeologists have barely begun to explore — where treasures may abound, in Somaliland and adjacent Puntland.

Somalia has become better known in recent years for its ethnic conflicts, al-Shabab terrorists, pirates, kidnappings and corruption. Drought and famine have added to the humanitarian disaster, which has sent thousands of Somalis fleeing to refugee camps in nearby Kenya.

Somalia’s 2,000-mile coastline was a primary trading route at the time of the Egyptian pharaohs, with ships stopping regularly to trade goods and take on supplies. Somalia was on the spice route to the Far East and India — a key to the Arabian trade link with Africa.

Stories abound regarding the biblical three wise men who brought gifts to the infant Jesus, including frankincense and myrrh — the best in the world — from the hills of Somaliland, formerly known as the “Land of Punt.”

Another archaeological team recently discovered the remains of a 4,500-year-old Egyptian harbor at Wadi el-Jarf, on the Red Sea coast. The port is being linked to ancient Egyptian mining operations that included copper, turquoise and other minerals brought from the south Sinai.

The port also has led to speculation that it was used for voyages to the mysterious Land of Punt in Somalia.

• John Price is a former U.S. ambassador to Comoros, Mauritius and the Seychelles islands. He currently serves as a resident scholar at the University of Utah’s Hinckley Institute of Politics. He is the author of “When the White House Calls,” and regularly writes commentaries on Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

Somali-Canadian women recruited by terror group, U.S. politicians told

New recruits belonging to Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab rebel group celebrate at a military training base in Afgoye, west of the capital Mogadishu, earlier this year.

Photograph by: Feisal Omar/REUTERS , National Post

By Ian MacLeod, Postmedia News

Terrorist recruiters are targeting young Somali-Canadian women to take up arms, the head of the Canadian Somali Congress told U.S. politicians Wednesday.

In testimony before the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, Ahmed Hussen suggested the reason may be the increased police and security-service attention that's been paid to the recruitment of "dozens" of young Somali-Canadian men from Ottawa and Toronto in recent years.

"Lately, the recruiters have turned their attention to the facilitation of young Canadian Somali women into joining al-Shabab," Hussen said in a prepared statement.

Al-Shabab is the radical Somali youth militia now fully integrated with al-Qaida and which Canada and the United States have banned as an outlawed terrorist group.

Much of the youth recruiting is believed to be through the Internet and an online mix of religious tracts, rap music, videos and recruiting pitches delivered in English. Visiting extremist clerics are another propaganda source.

The fear, said Hussen, is that al-Shabab will employ Canadians and other westerners to extend its reach outside the war- and famine-ravaged East African nation —where it is battling a weak western-backed government to turn the country into an Islamic state.

"There is no shortage of foot soldiers and young men that al-Shabab can recruit in Somalia," Hussen said during questioning by committee members. "Why would they spend all this money, effort and (put themselves) at great risk to recruit westerners, people who hold Canadian, U.S. and British passports?

"It's because we think they have aspirations beyond East Africa. They've proven that by attacking Uganda," he said, referring to an attack last July where two suicide bombers killed 79 people gathered to watch the FIFA World Cup final on television in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

U.S. officials are increasingly expressing concern, too, too, particularly after capturing an al-Shabab commander who, it's alleged, had been a liaison with al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an active Yemeni group that has tried to strike the U.S.New York Republican representative Peter T. King, presiding Wednesday over the third in a series of controversial congressional hearings examining the radicalization of Muslim-Americans, said committee staff investigators have determined that 40 Americans and 20 Canadians have joined al-Shabab in Somalia.

Critics charge that King's focus on Muslim-Americans plays into the hands of extremists who say Washington is wrongly targeting Islam for the 9/11 terrorism attacks.

King said three Canadians (whom he did not identify) and at least 15 Americans have been killed in fighting. Previously, only one Canadian death was suspected, that of Mohamed Elmi Ibrahim, a University of Toronto student whom al-Shabab said was killed "in battle" last year. He was the first of six Somali-Canadian men who reportedly disappeared from the Toronto area in 2009.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, 18 people have been charged in a scheme to recruit young people from the Minneapolis area to travel to Africa and join al-Shabab. Eight defendants have been arrested, and six have pleaded guilty.

Fourteen people, including several U.S. citizens, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Minneapolis last August on terrorism charges for travelling to Somalia and joining the group.

Canada's first arrest related to al-Shabab was in March, when police detained Mohamed Hersi, 25, as the Canadian was waiting to board a flight from Toronto to Cairo. Police alleged his ultimate destination was Somalia and al-Shabab. He is free on bail awaiting trial on two terrorism-related offences, including counselling a person to take part in terrorist activity.

Hussen could not be reached for comment after delivering his testimony. He has said previously that in addition to the "Somali Six" from the Toronto area, he has been told two young Ottawa men, as well as two young women, also left for the Horn of Africa nation.

His prepared text Wednesday, citing unnamed Canadian national security officials, referred to "the disappearances of dozens of young Canadian Somali males who had travelled to Somalia to fight for the al-Shabab."

In his testimony, Hussen portrayed Canada's estimated 200,000 Somalis as struggling to fit into mainstream Canadian society since fleeing civil war in the late 1990s.

Almost 85 per cent of Somali-Canadians are under the age of 30, with unemployment in Ottawa and Toronto hovering around 40 cent in the group. Many young men have dropped out of school. Those who do persevere often can't find jobs in their professions, he said.

"A minority becomes alienated and fall victim to a narrative that turns them against Canada and the United States — the very countries that have sustained them and also gave refuge to their parents as they fled the brutal civil war in Somalia. This dangerous and constant anti-western narrative is fed to them by radicals in our community who do not hesitate to use these vulnerable youth as gun fodder in their desire to establish a base for the al-Qaida terrorist group in Somalia," he told the committee.

Police and security intelligence work is not enough to counter the threat, he said, nor is working only with religious leaders.

"You need to target the young professionals, people who are coming up, people who are dedicated to the values that have made this country great. Those are the people who have the credibility to turn back against the messaging that leads to radicalization.

Although he spent many years in Toronto, Hussen was living in Ottawa when he founded the Canadian Somali Congress, one of the only national associations claiming to represent Somali-Canadians.

The organization does advocacy work and partners with other agencies, including Jewish Family Services of Ottawa, to organize professional internships for young Somali-Canadians.

Hussen often appears in the media, whether to talk about the issue of Somali pirates, violence claiming the lives of Somali youth living in Alberta or, more recently, pressing the Canadian government to increase its immigration quota from Somalia in light of the worsening famine there.

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