Al Shabaab accuses Kenya of being hostile

Mogadishu, Sunday

Sheikh Hassan Yakoub Ali, the Information Officer of the Islamist Al Shabaab in Juba region, has accused Kenya of being hostile to his movement.

Speaking at a press conference in Mogadishu, the sheikh specifically accused Kenyan MPs who are ethnic Somalis of being hostile to his group.

He stated that his administration has reliable information that Kenyan MPs from the North-eastern Province are behind the recruitment of forces from the region to support Somalia’s struggling Transitional Federal Government.

He added that the parliamentarians have plans to gather more youths to be trained for the TFG army.

Actively engaged

“We know that those Somali MPs are actively engaged in hostile activities against the Islamist rule in our regions (Juba regions),” said Sheikh Yakoub. “They want the trained soldiers from Kenya to fight alongside the puppet government,” he added.

Sheikh Yakoub reiterated that Al-Shabaab, the Islamist movement opposing the TFG, is ready to defend both the land and the Islamic rule.

“We advise the legislators to stop lobbying support for the TFG,” remarked Sheikh Yakoub.

Meanwhile, Somali pirates are holding three sailors from a Spanish fishing vessel on shore, a gang member said today, rejecting Madrid’s assertion that they had been reunited with the remaining crew aboard their ship, adds Reuters.

A pirate who identified himself only as Mohamed said the return of the three to their vessel, the Alakrana, depended on the release of two pirates being held in Spain.