SOUTH AFRICA CHARGES MARIKANA MINE WORKERS WITH MURDER OF COLLEAGUES

Mine Workers facing charge after being shot by SA Police

SA Mine workers' double tragedy facing criminal charges

Posted at 12:46 PM ET,
08/30/2012
By Anup Kaphle
South Africa has charged workers arrested earlier this month at the Marikana platinum mine with the murder of 34 colleagues, all of whom were shot and killed by police, the BBC reports.

Policemen react after firing at protesting miners outside Lonmin’s Marikana platinum mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, on Aug. 16. (Siphiwe Sibeko - REUTERS)
A spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority told the BBC:

“This is under common law, where people are charged with common purpose in a situation where there are suspects with guns or any weapons and they confront or attack the police and a shooting takes place and there are fatalities.”
The BBC also reported that the Ga Rankuwa magistrates court near the capital, Pretoria, had rejected bail applications from all 270 workers. Six of the workers are still hospitalized with injuries sustained in the shootings.

The charges come at a time when the South African Labor Ministry had hoped to sign a peace agreement to meet the demands of striking workers at the mine, which is owned by Lonmin, the world’s third-largest platinum producer. The likely effect will be to escalate the strike, observers say.

The decision to charge the miners with murder could also further jeopardize President Jacob Zuma’s chances of reelection in December. Earlier this week, analyst Peroshni Govender wrote in an article published by Reuters that the killings had already undermine Zuma’s populist appeal.

“South African’s President Jacob Zuma rose to power as a man of the people but seemed a world away from the masses when he stood in a suit under a parasol to speak to destitute miners,” Govender wrote.

The killings at the Lonmin mine have been described as the deadliest incident of police brutality since South Africa became a democracy in 1994.

See images of the shootings below:


View Photo Gallery: In one of the worst shootings by South African authorities since the end of the apartheid era, police opened fire Thursday on striking miners who had charged a line of officers. Several miners reportedly were killed and others were wounded.

THE LORDS OF IMPUNITY DEFY ICC THREAT IN TANA, MANDERA, MOMBASA AND WAJIR

Picture of Tana Delta Massacre in Kenya

By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
August 27, 2012

If Kenya’s National Intelligence Security Service is to be believed, it is now common knowledge that last week’s massacres in Tana Delta, Mandera and Wajir where close to 70 innocent Kenyans, mostly women and children were massacred and homes torched, were planned operations funded by politicians and executed by local government officers.

The style and manner of human killings, arson and hacking of innocent animals had strange similarities with the grisly murders that took place at Kiambaa church in Eldoret and the subsequent reprisal and equally gruesome massacres in Naivasha a few days later four years ago. This indeed is the dark past this country is trying to run away from since February 28 2008. It is the reason we have trials planned for April 2013 in The Hague.

If indeed we can have repeats of what we did to fellow Kenyans in 2008 now, even before we conclude the ICC trials, does it mean that the ICC may not achieve the desired effect after all?

In 2008, violence erupted following the messed up election results. It is the reason we refer to that tragedy as the Post Election Violence. However, four years later, we seem to have decided that the same violence must start at least seven months to the election- again planned and funded by our politicians, some of them members of the cabinet.

If indeed 70 Kenyans can be killed by known perpetrators and 10 days later, no arrests have been made, is this not a powerful message to the lords of impunity that the government, the custodian of law and order has neither the balls nor the will to protect its own citizens?

If we can have this scale of violence before the elections, what can we expect during elections when all manner of crude politicians will be on the loose protecting their turfs with their crude weapons and goons for personal militia?

If Kenya indeed wants to be respected and taken seriously by the international community of civilized nations, we want to see these animals called politicians who planned our deaths in Tana, Mandera and Wajir arrested, tried, convicted and put behind bars for life. This will be a more potent message than the ICC process that takes forever. Instant senseless murders need instant justice. Justice delayed is justice denied even for the dead.

I felt sad for Kenya the day we celebrated the second anniversary of the new constitution at Bomas of Kenya. I felt small as a Kenyan when I compared our high sounding fluent speeches from our top politicians, security chiefs and the judiciary as Mombasa city was literally on fire! Here we were giving our leaders accolades talking peace when the coast was literally ablaze! Wasn’t it ironical that the Internal Security Minister, Head of the Civil Service and Police Commissioner were seated at Bomas listening to political rhetoric as Mombasa burned?

In Kenya, we were once described as an island of peace. That tag is no more. Today, we have more ethnic clashes in a year in all parts of Kenya than all the five EAC member states combined. We never hear of ethnic clashes in Uganda and Rwanda because they learnt from their past mistakes. We never see scenes of Ethnic violence from Ethiopia or Tanzania yet, like Kenya, they too have their diverse tribes.

In the last five years, I have never heard a single national peace forum held in Dar es Salaam, Kampala, Kigali or Addis Ababa to reconcile the nationals of our neighbors. Yet in Kenya in the last two months alone, we have had a high level Peace forum in Mombasa, 47 in all counties and this week, another national forum addressed by Kenya’s top leadership. I may be wrong but I think this government is talking to itself. Kenyans switched off a long time ago.

I have a suggestion to make. Instead spending millions of shillings on peace meetings that nobody cares about, how about using those resources to recruit and train more police officers and give them better equipment to combat lawlessness?

If one miserable MP can hire and ferry hooligans from as far as Hola to go and murder people in Tana Basin, why can’t the government recruit and transport the GSU to trouble spots?

The Mombasa fiasco on the day a peace forum was in progress at the Bomas was an indictment on this government. It proved that the entire security apparatus including the intelligence department that are supposed to preempt and prevent crime went to sleep a long time ago.

It is only in Kenya where a known terrorist can be caught red-handed with an assortment of weapons without the requisite firearms license and still release the hooligan on bond and later acquit him for lack of sufficient evidence! It is only in Kenya where loss of human life carries less value than rights of the murderer!

Keeping law and order including maintaining peace does not require peace forums. All we need is a working penal code and a diligent police force. The law is the law and it must be obeyed by all. Those who break the law must be dealt with swiftly and punitively to send a clear message to would be offenders that there is something called crime and punishment.
jerryokungu@gmail.com

HAS THE ANC FINALLY BETRAYED SOUTH AFRICAN BLACKS?

The Marikana Memorial Service for 44 slain South African miners

By Jerry Okungu
Nairobi, Kenya
August 27, 2012

Last week was unique for our brothers and sisters in South Africa.
It was the moment the Marikana police murders of over 40 striking miners reminded us of South Africa of Apartheid era. The shooting of miners easily reminded the world of the 1960s Sharpeville Massacre or better still the 1976 Soweto massacre of school children by the police.

The three incidents in 1960, 1976 and 2012 spanning nearly 50 years had one thing in common- state sanctioned murders by the police. The one glaring difference was that unlike the Sharpeville and Soweto massacres over four decades earlier, this time round, there was no racist apartheid to blame. The government that murdered its people for the sake of foreign investors was a Black government- a Black President, a Black Police Minister and a Black Police Commissioner!

On the day these chilling state murders were taking place, something else was happing in the South African judiciary that equally perplexing. Chris Mahlanga, a black farm hand earlier accused of killing Terrence Blanche, a known White Supremacist over a pay dispute was jailed for life! And who was the presiding judge in this case? It was none other than Justice John Horn, a White South African!

As an observer from Nairobi, I may not have all the facts to ascertain where the blame lies in both cases. May be in the Chris Mahlanga case, he confessed to killing a known Nigger hater, may be out of frustration for continuously being exploited with nowhere to turn. And looking at Mahlanda, it would appear like he hadn’t gone to school much and maybe he didn’t even know his basic legal rights and channels for redress. Now he has to rot in jail for the rest of his life for killing the man who might have abused him for a long, long time.

The Marikana murders beg more questions than answers. If indeed the Marikana miners were armed with guns and crude weapons, how come on this particular day they did not return fire and wound at least one policeman?
If indeed the police felt threatened, why didn’t they shoot into the air or even use rubber bullets that can equally disable rioters so that they could make arrests?

The behavior of Jacob Zuma, Police Minister and Police Commissioner was shocking even to outsiders like us in East Africa.

Here was a national tragedy where over 40 lives had been lost, with equal number of families widowed and orphaned. Yet, even before investigations were carried out, the Police Minister and his commissioner were busy defending this apartheid era brutality. Was it necessary to defend the police action so early in the day? Wouldn’t it have been better PR for the Zuma government if the Police Minister and commissioner resigned over this fiasco? At least this cause of action would have mollified the grieving Black families. Alternatively, why didn’t the police commissioner or even the police minister order the immediate suspension of the squad commander and his team to allow for thorough investigation? In civilized societies like South Africa, this is what is considered being accountable and taking responsibility for actions of your office.

But the most interesting twist to the whole tragedy was Jacob Zuma’s behavior. Indeed he cut short his official trip to Mozambique following the Marikana murders. However, after he visited the scene and declared a day of mourning, he chose to skip the memorial service. This was not withstanding the claim by Julius Malema earlier that it was Zuma who ordered the police to shoot to kill the miners.

As a popularly elected president, it was curious and baffling why a sitting head of state would stay away from such a sensitive national tragedy. Obviously his absence from the Marikana Memorial Service must have easily lent credence to Julius Malema’s wild claims.

More importantly, as a head of state, it is on such national tragedies that the sitting president must have the courage and provide leadership by leading from the front. He needed to be at the memorial service to mourn with the nation, console the bereaved families and trash Malema’s claims. He did none of the above.

Press reports coming out of South Africa do not seem to indicate that the police that shot dead the miners have been reprimanded. And as anxiety continues to grip the South African mining industry, not to mention the entire COSATU workers’ fraternity, it is anybody’s guess what the future holds for South Africa.

However, one thing is for sure. These grisly murders have rekindled the notion that the change of guard in Pretoria has not changed anything for Blacks in that country. The poor South African workers will continue to live in hovels earning a poor man’s wage and get killed like animals should they raise their head. Worse still, the Apartheid era White boss is still the owner of the mines.

The Chris Mahlangas of South Africa must prepare to take over from Nelson Mandela by serving life sentences in South African jails for either threatening the comforts of the landowners or killing their tormentors.

May be South Africans had better embark on the Second Liberation if they want to attain true freedom this time from the ANC that has betrayed them.
jerryokungu@gmail.com

THE FOLLY OF PROMOTING YOUR WORKS IN PUBLIC

By CLAY MUGANDA
DAILY NATION
August 27 2012

As a wordsmith, you are only peaceful when you are fully immersed in your own words, your thinking process.

Immediately you release your literary works to the public, they take lives of their own and you cannot decide how well or badly they are interpreted.

Kenyans hate crybabies, losers or whiners and they can easily tell the difference between someone who is fighting for the common good or a person who is at war with him/herself
The good thing about being a writer in Kenya is that you are just, well, a writer whose face very few people recognise.

And, if by any chance you are introduced to people who religiously read you, they will still ask you what you do for a living.

“Of course I write,” you remind them, or your ego tempts you to remind them.

It could also happen that you are too busy thinking about your next piece and cannot entertain their ignorance. Which, therefore, stops you from answering questions that lower your intelligence to the level of your inquisitors.

Even when your modesty gets the better of you and you do not answer them, they still insist on talking to you and irritatingly asking you what it is that you do as a writer.

Annoying? Do not shout or lose your cool. Do not throw your pens out of your pockets to prove to them anything, for they might just take it that you are throwing your toys out of your pram because you had a troubled childhood — and a troubled adulthood too.

They might, and rightfully so, even think that you have refused to grow up; that you are a self-made person who adores his maker. And when others do not genuflect at your maker, your feeble, overblown ego gets bruised, after which you become belligerent and throw tantrums.

Considered feckless

Even if you are the one who wrote the most important speeches in the history of this country, speeches that made prime ministers what they are, and without which they will not become presidents, keep your cool, otherwise when you start being incoherent, you will be considered feckless. Even those who cannot read will heckle you and then laugh at you as police officers lead you away.

It is a real zoo out there, and as a writer, you are only peaceful when you are fully immersed in your own words, your thinking process; when you are writing, that is. Immediately you release your literary works to the public, they take lives of their own and you cannot decide how well or badly they are misunderstood.

When you follow up your literary works with long-winded explanations, chest-thumping and overall gloating about how short a time it took you to write them and how good a writer you are, then you take attention away from your work, and instead of them being reviewed, you will be reviewed and become the subject of ridicule.

There are very many illiterate Kenyans, no doubt, but when you go around explaining to them what you have already written — like how you herded cattle in your youth, how you slept hungry, and how poverty-stricken you were, then you are not helping your cause... or theirs.

Headless chicken

In the process of running around like a headless chicken (oops, that is an insult to all chickens), you become the laughing stock and you end up having sleepless nights while wondering why you are not being taken seriously, or about which other marketplace to visit to convince people that you attended much more than Sunday school.

In Kenya, writing is such a thankless job. Many people think it is just putting pen to paper. Well, that is the easiest part.

The amount of thinking involved is mind-boggling — and time-gobbling too. Thinking is the part of writing that never ends. After you get published, you do not even have the energy to call press conferences and interview television presenters in their own shows.

However, if you have (the energy) to do all that and more, like launching diatribes, flailing your arms, hurling invectives the size of Canada, shouting yourself hoarse and being a source of perspiration and not inspiration, then you have failed in your objective because your work should speak for itself and announce to the world, to Kenyans at home and abroad, that you know what you are talking about.

Real writers, and that is real thinkers, do not offer after-sales services and their works do not need readers’ manuals. The world’s best thinkers, people whose ideas changed the way countries are run, did not travel the globe to explain nor market their works, yet during their time the world was not blessed with as much information technology as it currently is.
The Karl Marxes, the Platos, the Socrates and other great men and women did not embark on voyages to explain themselves, yet their thoughts transcended oceans, outlived generations, were translated into different languages, transformed lives and defined the way we govern ourselves.

Granted, the marketing scene has changed and literary works, like any other product, must be promoted aggressively, but we have access to technological tools that allow us to do that at the touch of a button or two from the comfort of our pricey homes and still reach billions of people in nanoseconds.

Global village

The Steve Jobs’, the Bill Gates’, the Mark Zuckerbergs, the Jack Dorseys, the Evan Williams’, the Biz Stones, the Larry Pages, the Sergey Brins and many geeks of the modern world have not been seen physically or listened to by 99 per cent of planet earth’s population, but they have reduced the world to a global village and changed the way intellectuals communicate and conduct business.

The only Kenyans who lack the mental capacity to understand how the world has changed are politicians, the lowliest of the lowlifes, the most illiterate of the illiterates who cannot even understand their own manifestos. They can be forgiven for traversing the land to thump their chests, displaying their ignorance, selling their rhetoric and pitting communities against each other.

There are so many angry, hungry and suffering Kenyans, and this country is in dire need of visionary leaders, not people who live in their own minds, in the past. It does not need people who seek recognition and sympathy by force, chaps who, when ignored, throw hissy fits.

Kenyans hate crybabies, losers or whiners and they can easily tell the difference between someone who is fighting for the common good or a person who is at war with him/herself. And there is no bigger and dangerous loser than the latter.

(Oh, I am a writer — and I will not be available to answer your questions or explain myself further because I am already thinking about my next piece. Thanks for understanding.)

NEIL ARMSTRONG- 1930-2012 MADE GIANT LEAP AS THE FIRST MAN TO STEP ON THE MOON

NASA:Neil Armstrong, as photographed by Buzz Aldrin, working near the Eagle lunar module after the landing on July 20, 1969.

By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Published: August 25, 2012
NEW YORK TIMES

Neil Armstrong, who made the “giant leap for mankind” as the first human to set foot on the moon, died on Saturday. He was 82.

His family said in a statement that the cause was “complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures.” He had undergone heart bypass surgery this month in Cincinnati, near where he lived. His recovery had been going well, according to those who spoke with him after the surgery, and his death came as a surprise to many close to him, including his fellow Apollo astronauts. The family did not say where he died.

A quiet, private man, at heart an engineer and crack test pilot, Mr. Armstrong made history on July 20, 1969, as the commander of the Apollo 11 spacecraft on the mission that culminated the Soviet-American space race in the 1960s. President John F. Kennedy had committed the nation “to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.” It was done with more than five months to spare.

On that day, Mr. Armstrong and his co-pilot, Col. Edwin E. Aldrin Jr., known as Buzz, steered their lunar landing craft, Eagle, to a level, rock-strewn plain near the southwestern shore of the Sea of Tranquillity. It was touch and go the last minute or two, with computer alarms sounding and fuel running low. But they made it.

“Houston, Tranquillity Base here,” Mr. Armstrong radioed to mission control. “The Eagle has landed.”

“Roger, Tranquillity,” mission control replied. “We copy you on the ground. You’ve got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We’re breathing again. Thanks a lot.”

The same could have been said for hundreds of millions of people around the world watching on television.

A few hours later, there was Mr. Armstrong bundled in a white spacesuit and helmet on the ladder of the landing craft. Planting his feet on the lunar surface, he said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” (His words would become the subject of a minor historical debate, as to whether he said “man” or an indistinct “a man.”)

Soon Colonel Aldrin joined Mr. Armstrong, bounding like kangaroos in the low lunar gravity, one sixth that of Earth’s, while the command ship pilot, Michael Collins, remained in orbit about 60 miles overhead, waiting their return. In all, 12 American astronauts walked on the moon between then and the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

The Apollo 11 mission capped a tumultuous and consequential decade. The ’60s in America had started with such promise, with the election of a youthful president, mixed with the ever-present anxieties of the cold war. Then it touched greatness in the civil rights movement, only to implode in the years of assassinations and burning city streets and campus riots. But before it ended, human beings had reached that longtime symbol of the unreachable.

The moonwalk lasted 2 hours and 19 minutes, long enough to let the astronauts test their footing in the fine and powdery surface — Mr. Armstrong noted that his boot print was less than an inch deep — and set up a television camera and scientific instruments and collect rock samples.

After news of Mr. Armstrong’s death was reported, President Obama, in a statement from the White House, said, “Neil was among the greatest of American heroes.”

“And when Neil stepped foot on the surface of the moon for the first time,” the president added, “he delivered a moment of human achievement that will never be forgotten.”

Charles F. Bolden Jr., the current NASA administrator, said, “As long as there are history books, Neil Armstrong will be included in them, remembered for taking humankind’s first small step on a world beyond our own.”

Mr. Bolden also noted that in the years after the moonwalk, Mr. Armstrong “carried himself with a grace and humility that was an example to us all.” The historian Douglas Brinkley, who interviewed Mr. Armstrong for a NASA oral history, described him as “our nation’s most bashful Galahad.” His family called him “a reluctant hero who always believed he was just doing his job.”

Indeed, some space officials have cited these characteristics, as well as his engineering skills and experience piloting X-15 rocket planes, as reasons that Mr. Armstrong stood out in the astronaut corps. After the post-flight parades and a world tour for the three Apollo 11 astronauts, Mr. Armstrong gradually withdrew from the public eye. He was not reclusive, but as much as possible he sought to lead a private life, first as an associate administrator in the space program, then as a university professor and director of a number of corporations.

Neil Alden Armstrong was born on Aug. 5, 1930, in the small town of Wapakoneta, Ohio, to Stephen Armstrong and the former Viola Louise Engel. His father was a state auditor, which meant the family moved every few years to a new Ohio town while Neil was growing up. At the age of 6, Neil and his father took a ride in a Ford Trimotor airplane, known as the Tin Goose. It must have made an impression, for by the time he was 15, he had learned to fly, even before he got his driver’s license.

Neil became an Eagle Scout when the family later moved back to Wapakoneta, where he finished high school. (The town now has a museum named for Mr. Armstrong.) From there, he went to Purdue University as an engineering student on a Navy scholarship. His college years were interrupted by the Korean War, in which Mr. Armstrong was a Navy fighter pilot who flew 78 combat missions, one in which he was forced to eject after the plane lost one of its ailerons, the hinged flight-control panels on the wings.

In “First Man: The Life of Neil Armstrong,” James R. Hansen wrote that in Mr. Armstrong’s first year at Purdue, Charles E. Yeager broke the sound barrier in the rocket-powered Bell X-1. It was exciting but bittersweet for the young student. He thought aviation history had already passed him by.

“All in all, for someone who was immersed in, fascinated by, and dedicated to flight,” Mr. Armstrong told his biographer, “I was disappointed by the wrinkle in history that had brought me along one generation late. I had missed all the great times and adventures in flight.”

During the Korean War, Mr. Armstrong was in the unit that the author James A. Michener wrote of in “The Bridges at Toko-Ri.” Back at Purdue after the Navy, Mr. Armstrong plunged more earnestly into aeronautical engineering studies, his grades rising and a career in sight.

By this time, he had also met Janet Elizabeth Shearon, a student in home economics from Evanston, Ill. Soon after his graduation, they were married, in January 1956.

They had two sons, Eric and Mark, who survive. A daughter, Karen, died of an inoperable brain tumor in 1962. The couple were divorced in 1994; Janet Armstrong lives in Utah. In 1999, Mr. Armstrong married Carol Knight, a widow 15 years his junior; she also survives. They lived in Indian Hill, a suburb of Cincinnati.

Other survivors include a stepson and stepdaughter; a brother, Dean; a sister, June Armstrong Hoffman, and 10 grandchildren.

After his first marriage, the newlyweds moved to California, where Mr. Armstrong had been hired as an experimental test pilot for the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, the forerunner of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, at Edwards Air Force Base. His first flight in a rocket plane was in the Bell X-1B, a successor to the plane Mr. Yeager had first flown faster than the speed of sound.

Mr. Armstrong impressed his peers. Milt Thompson, one of the test pilots, said he was “the most technically capable of the early X-15 pilots.” Another colleague, Bill Dana, said he “had a mind that absorbed things like a sponge and a memory that remembered them like a photograph.” He made seven X-15 flights at 4,000 miles per hour, reaching the edge of space, and piloted many more of the most innovative and dangerous aircraft ever developed.

In 1958, Mr. Armstrong was chosen as a consultant for a military space plane project, the X-20 Dyna-Soar, and was later named one of the pilots. But the young test pilot was attracted by another opportunity. NASA was receiving applications for the second group of astronauts, after the Mercury Seven. His reputation after seven years at the NASA flight center at Edwards had preceded him, and so he was tapped for the astronaut corps.

“I thought the attractions of being an astronaut were actually, not so much the Moon, but flying in a completely new medium,” Mr. Armstrong told his biographer.

At Houston, the new astronaut began training for flights in the two-person Gemini spacecraft, the successor to the smaller Mercury capsules and forerunner to the three-person Apollos. Mr. Armstrong became the first American civilian astronaut to fly in space, as commander of Gemini 8. He and his co-pilot, David R. Scott, were launched on March 16, 1966. They performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space, their Gemini linking with an unmanned Agena in an essential test for later operations on lunar flights.

Once docked, however, the joined spacecraft began to roll. Attempts to steady the vehicle were unavailing. On instructions from Mission Control, Mr. Armstrong separated Gemini from the Agena, but the rolling only increased, to the point that the astronauts were in danger of passing out. The problem was evidently in the Gemini itself. The astronauts turned the control thrusters off, switching to the re-entry control system. Stability was restored, but once the re-entry propulsion was activated, the crew was told to prepare to come home before the end of their only day in orbit.

Next, Mr. Armstrong was the backup commander for Apollo 8, the first flight to circumnavigate the Moon, doing so at Christmastime in 1968. It was the mission that put Apollo back on track after a cockpit fire during a launching pad rehearsal had killed three astronauts in January 1967. And it put Mr. Armstrong in position to command Apollo 11.

If everything went well with the lunar module test on Apollo 9 and with a shakedown flight to lunar orbit on Apollo 10, then Mr. Armstrong was in line to land on the Moon with Buzz Aldrin and with Michael Collins as the command module pilot. As the commander, NASA officials decided, Mr. Armstrong would be the first to walk on the Moon.

About six and a half hours after the landing, Mr. Armstrong opened the hatch of the four-legged lunar module and slowly made his way down the ladder to the lunar surface. A television camera followed his every step for all the world to see. A crater near the landing site is named in Mr. Armstrong’s honor.

Mr. Armstrong and Colonel Aldrin left a plaque on the Moon that read: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon. July 1969 A.D. We came in peace for all mankind.”

After leaving the space program, Mr. Armstrong was careful to do nothing to tarnish that image or achievement. Though he traveled and gave speeches — as he did in October 2007, when he dedicated the new Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering at Purdue — he rarely gave interviews and avoided the spotlight.

In the biography “First Man,” Dr. Hansen noted, “Everyone gives Neil the greatest credit for not trying to take advantage of his fame, not like other astronauts have done.” To which Janet Armstrong responded: “Yes, but look what it’s done to him inside. He feels guilty that he got all the acclaim for an effort of tens of thousands of people.” Then she added: “He’s certainly led an interesting life. But he took it too seriously to heart.”

For a time, he was an associate NASA administrator for aeronautics, but he tired of a Washington desk job. Ignoring many high-level offers in business and academia, he returned to Ohio as a professor of aeronautical engineering at the University of Cincinnati and bought a farm near Lebanon, Ohio. He also served as a director for several corporations.

“He remained an advocate of aviation and exploration throughout his life and never lost his boyhood wonder of these pursuits,” his family said in the statement.

Mr. Armstrong re-entered the public spotlight a couple of years ago to voice sharp disagreement with President Obama for canceling NASA’s program to send astronauts back to the Moon. Later, he testified to a Senate committee, expressing skepticism that the approach of relying on commercial companies would succeed.

Last September, Mr. Armstrong testified to a House committee that NASA “must find ways of restoring hope and confidence to a confused and disconsolate work force.”

Almost as soon as the news of his death was announced, there was an outpouring of well wishes and fond memorials on Web sites and social media, a reflection of the extraordinary public acclaim that came to a very private man.

“As much as Neil cherished his privacy, he always appreciated the expressions of good will from people around the world and from all walks of life,” his family said. “While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.”

John Schwartz contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy contributed research.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

SOUTH AFRICA FURY OVER SHOOTING TESTS JACOB ZUMA

Jacob Zuma in hospital condoling one of the victims

By Douglas Foster,
Special to CNN
August 26, 2012

Miner Mfaseni Yekwayo, at a hospital near Rustenburg on August 18, relates to South African President Jacob Zuma, left, the events leading to the miners' clash with police.

18 years after apartheid, not much has changed economically for migrants
Increasingly, working poor are turning against traditional ANC-allied unions
Editor's note: Douglas Foster, associate professor at the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, is the author of the forthcoming "After Mandela: The struggle for freedom in post-apartheid South Africa" (to be published in September by Liveright, an imprint of W.W. Norton,)

(CNN) -- An official national day of mourning in South Africa on Thursday, called by President Jacob Zuma to memorialize the lives of dozens of miners mowed down in a police fusillade one week ago, turned into an opportunity by his critics to call for his ouster.

While government leaders urged restraint, and religious figures prayed for redemption, the embattled president's opponents exploited an opening created by the tragedy to portray his government -- and trade unions allied with Zuma -- as pawns of foreign, white owners.

These attacks, lodged in several cases by former allies, threatened to reset the terms of labor organizing, radicalize the tone of political debate, and heighten the chances that the president will be ousted by his own political party at the African National Congress' (ANC) national conference next December. What began as a localized labor dispute, in other words, morphed in the wake of memorial services for the dead, into a volatile, ongoing national crisis.

The catastrophe at Marikana placed a harsh spotlight both upon what has changed in South African life since the ANC was voted into power 18 years ago -- in the unprecedented response of the head of state to the crisis -- and also what has remained painfully unchanged.

Douglas Foster
Generations of relatively low-paid black men are still forced to migrate long distances from home in order to take up the most difficult and dangerous kinds of jobs. Miners are still drawn into mining towns where a kind of frontier spirit prevails. Injuries are common and unforgiving, and the salaries earned by a single worker often support up to 20 family members who are unemployed, according to the federation of trade unions.

Increasingly, the working poor have begun turning against traditional unions, like the National Union of Mineworkers, which is allied with the national federation, COSATU, in turn part of the ANC coalition.

Little wonder, under these circumstances, that Zuma's studied and measured approach to the crisis has inspired so little confidence among the strikers themselves. The strength of anti-ANC agitation in Marikana will keep labor and party leaders up at night because they know their history: Back in the 1980s, massive strikes by miners helped fuel a mass insurrection that led to the end of apartheid.

After the mine shootings, the cause of widespread shock and dismay was readily apparent, and the raw feelings were steadily reinforced around the clock by video taken from the scene. The stunning images of the shootings, captured from different angles by various outlets, kept public outrage alive. The video showed the final minutes of a standoff between police and strikers, which ended in the fusillade that ended the lives of 34 protestors and seriously wounded 78 others.
What's behind the Marikana massacre?

Lonmin acting CEO: "Violence shocked us"

They were protesters at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine, located 60 miles (about 100 km) northwest of Johannesburg, and the shooting constituted the worst mass killing by police since apartheid ended.

South Africa mourns mine violence victims

In the days after the tragedy, police spokesmen insisted that officers were forced by a charging mass of strikers to fire in order to defend themselves. It was difficult to view the footage without wondering why police had launched teargas at strikers on the hilltop where they had assembled, forcing them to scatter in a funnel in the direction of officers gathered below the hill when their weapons were loaded with live ammunition and set for automatic fire.

The impact of the footage, played in regular loops on local television broadcasts, made it difficult for Zuma to assert his authority. He quickly returned from a trip in neighboring Mozambique to visit Marikana twice in a matter of days, dispatched nine of his ministers to assist survivors and their families with burials among other actions and swiftly appointed a Judicial Commission of Inquiry to thoroughly examine the causes and lessons of the tragedy.

"We are in control of the situation," he said. Even as the president made pains to express a sense of grief and dismay, and call for calm, however, his opponents sharpened their attacks on him as a leader out of touch with workers and the poor, the key constituency in his rise to power five years ago.

At worship services near the site of the police shootings on Thursday, the ceremony began with a plea from Archbishop Thabo Makgoba for no one to use the tragedy for narrow political interests. By the end of the service, Cabinet ministers had been forced to flee the venue, while speakers called on the president to resign.

Julius Malema, former leader of the ANC's youth wing and a former Zuma ally, took the podium to pin responsibility for the catastrophe on the president. "This massacre was committed under his supervision," Malema insisted. He slammed the ANC, from which he was expelled earlier in the year, and pressed the case for nationalization of South Africa's mines.

The stakes in the unfolding national debate about who was responsible for the tragedy, and who should pay the price, could not be higher, not just for the president's political survival but for South Africa's economic health and stability as well.

Platinum is the new gold in a country where mining provides 20 percent of GDP. Though South Africa has the world's largest reserves of this precious and rare metal, which is used in everything from catalytic converters and electrodes to jewelry, it is found in deep shafts that are difficult, dangerous and costly to operate.

Against this backdrop, government officials sought to reassure workers that they would maintain their party's historic "bias towards the poor," while not scaring off international investors wary of an industry prone to wildcat strikes.

The strikers at Lonmin Marikana mine were rock drill operators who had broken away from the National Union of Mineworkers in favor of a more militant independent union, and wildcats strikes across the industry are increasingly common. A spokesman for the Chamber of Mines was at pains to point out that 95% of mines in the country were operating normally yesterday.

In the recent past, national leaders paid a price for crossing labor. In 2008, the ANC instructed President Thabo Mbeki to resign his office, largely as a result of organizing on behalf of Zuma, who was backed by the labor federation as a "son of the soil" who promised to close the gap between the government and its people.

If party leaders conclude, in the wake of the Marikana mass killing, that only a change at the top can convince ANC's core constituencies that the party of liberation -- now the party of government -- still represents the interests of workers and the poor, Zuma will be shown the door. That is the way the wheel turns in a country where the advent of political liberation has not yet produced greater equality or material freedom.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Douglas Foster.

OUR DISTORTED IMAGE OF AFRICA HOPELESSLY OBSOLETE

Ian Birrell Guardian

Think of Ethiopia and what do you see. Perhaps a starving child, flies in her eyes and belly distended. Painfully thin adults in raggedy clothes, staring balefully at the camera in a fetid refugee camp. Or possibly a famous self-declared saviour from the west, striding purposefully past the decaying corpse of an animal beside a dusty road.

Think again. See, instead, a booming capital city, its cafes filled with graduates and cranes lining the horizon. A nation that is one of the world's largest livestock producers and recently became the second country to take delivery of Boeing's new 787 passenger jet. An economy that doubled in size this century and is growing at 7.5%.

Few countries symbolise the disconnect between outdated western perceptions of Africa and fast-changing realities on the ground better than Ethiopia, the continent's second most-populous nation, whose long-serving leader, Meles Zenawi, died last week. Although the example of one country can never fully explain a diverse continent, this ancient nation illustrates in many ways Africa's progress, potential and problems.

Mostly, it is a picture of amazing progress, far removed from the usual stereotypes presented by much of the media and their allies in the aid lobby. They offer simplistic images of death and destruction, ignoring complex realities of a continent encompassing 54 countries and 11.6 million square miles in which life is becoming more peaceful and prosperous. (The Observer has sought to counter these simplistic accounts in today's New Review special on Africa.)

Last week, Africa was in the news over the shooting of striking miners in South Africa, a disturbing echo of the dark days of apartheid. The tragedy highlighted the failure of the party of liberation to deliver social justice in government; the nation is now the world's most unequal society. But it is worth remembering the country is a democracy, with free expression, a fine constitution and some accountability for those deemed responsible.

Ethiopia's Zenawi was part of what Bill Clinton and Tony Blair hailed as the new generation of African leaders, heralding an African renaissance alongside Paul Kagame in Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni in Uganda. Politically, they failed to deliver, festering in office as despotic autocrats.

But there is a new Africa emerging, powered by capitalism, embracing globalisation and finally shaking off the shackles of colonialism and the cold war that proved so crippling to development. Just look at the land of Live Aid: one of the world's fastest-growing nations, a sub-Saharan success story like six more of the 10 most expanding economies. Poverty is far from banished - it's a grinding way of life for millions - but their numbers are falling fast.

The global top 10 also includes Ghana, which grew by more than 14% last year and whose cherished democracy sets such a great example; Mozambique, rising like a phoenix from the devastation of a long civil war; and Nigeria, the continent's potential superpower. Bundle all African countries together and they have grown faster for much of the past decade than East Asia.

Some dismiss this as just a consequence of the continent's rich resources at a time of rampant development in many parts of the globe. Certainly, oil has fuelled spectacular growth in several countries, while others have made recent discoveries of deposits that ensure Africa will play an increasingly critical geopolitical role. But Ethiopia does not pump any petroleum, relying instead on exports such as cattle, coffee and cut flowers; the value of these exports quadrupled in under a decade.

This is the youngest continent, enjoying a demographic dividend with a working population growing by around 10-12 million people each year. An emerging middle class - one-third of Africans, according to one analysis - is behind an explosion in consumerism. Already, Africans spend more per head than Indians on goods and services.

There are still huge hurdles, with sclerotic border controls, stifling bureaucracy, sluggish courts and sleazy corruption. Infrastructure, while improving, remains inadequate - one reason for the boom in mobile phones transforming everything from agriculture to healthcare. Young Africans - impatient for change, innovative and increasingly well-educated - are using mobile technologies to solve problems presented by poor services and political stagnation.

And this vibrant continent is getting even younger, with plummeting levels of child mortality and falling fertility. Ethiopia, where nearly half the 84 million population is under the age of 15, is one of 10 countries seeing incredible falls in infant death rates of more than 5% a year. In Senegal, the decline is twice that, stunning figures without precedent in recent history.

There has been no single cause of this child health miracle, attributed to a mix of better governance, new technologies and improved health policies, while for all the enduring chaos in the Democratic Republic of Congo, conflict is becoming rarer and more localised. Even Somalia, ripped apart by civil war, is making a faltering return to normality; last week, it convened its first parliament since 1991. As Michael Clemens, an economist at the Centre for Global Development, said: "This will be startling news for anyone who still thinks sub-Saharan Africa is mired in unending poverty and death. That Africa is slipping away."

Unfortunately, this message is failing to filter through to the west, where too many people remain locked into stale narratives of Africa as a land of suffering in need of our salvation. This is to our long-term detriment, especially in Britain, with such strong historic ties, a common language in many countries and the soft power strength of pop music and Premier League football. Twenty years ago, there was virtual economic dependence on Europe; today, half of Africa's trade is with other developing nations - and not just China.

The continent is on the edge of economic takeoff similar to those seen so dramatically in China and India. For all the problems that still exist, a recent survey found investors in Africa are overwhelmingly positive, while those not there are unfailingly negative. These anachronistic attitudes reflect the west's myopic view, but we cannot afford to cling on to them in a world changing so fast. It is time to recognise the emergence of the new Africa.

MINE SHOOTINGS THREATEN ZUMA PRESIDENCY, ANC

By Michelle Faul,
Associated Press
AUGUST 25,2012
FILED UNDER
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A mine worker addresses the crowd during a memorial service at the Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, Aug. 23. / By Themba Hadebe, AP

JOHANNESBURG (AP) —South Africa's powerful trade unions are in turmoil following violence that killed 44 people at a platinum mine strike that has wide-ranging political implications.

Labor leaders charge that rivalry between new and old unions is an orchestrated plot to destroy South Africa's labor movement. Others hint darkly at political manipulation. Some talk of collusion by mining companies.

What's clear is that the fall-out from new union rivalry and the government's violent reaction could affect the future of President Jacob Zuma and his African National Congress.

Thirty-four strikers were shot dead by police in a three-minute barrage of automatic gunfire last week that also injured 78 others. The incident traumatized a nation that thought it had seen the last of state violence with the end of apartheid in 1994.

Ten other people were killed the week before, including two police officers hacked to death with machetes by strikers who also burned alive two mine security guards.

"The events may well prove to be a watershed in the decline of the African National Congress' national legitimacy and hold onto political power," said Nicolas van de Walle, professor of government at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and author of "African Economies and the Politics of Permanent Crisis."

The brutal violence occurred at the strike at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana by the new Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, which has won over tens of thousands of members in a matter of months in its bid to unseat the long-established and politically connected National Union of Mineworkers. The new union charges that the national union is no longer aggressively pressing for higher wages and better working conditions because its leadership is too entrenched with the government and is cozying up to the management of big mining firms.

The older unions, which played a vital role in the struggle against apartheid, are trying to reassert themselves. The secretary general of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, Zwelinzima Vavi, spoke Friday of the need to defeat "bogus breakaway 'unions' and their political and financial backers.'"

He charged Friday that the upstart union's wildcat strike demanding higher salaries at London-registered Lonmin PLC was part of "a co-ordinated political strategy" using intimidation and violence "to divide and weaken the trade union movement."

The new Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union says its very attraction is that it is not linked to any political party.

And it says the National Union of Mineworkers' close affiliation with Zuma's ANC is bringing about its downfall.

Over the years, the NUM enjoyed almost a monopoly in the mines around Rustenberg including the Lonmin mine where the shootings occurred. But now it has become over-politicized, too close to the government and the ANC to properly represent the interests of the poorest miners, according to Joseph Mathunjwa, the new union's president.

The complaint is a microcosm of broader charges that the leadership of the ANC — the party that brought down a racist regime under anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela — has become bloated with corrupt fat cats who no longer care about its core constituents, the poorest of the poor.

Since the first democratic elections in 1994, South Africa has become the richest country on the continent, but that wealth has benefited only whites who continue to control the economy and a small new black elite while the majority of its 48 million citizens continue to battle unemployment, housing shortages and poor service delivery.

It is no coincidence that three former leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers went on to become leaders of the ANC , including Vice President Kgalema Motlanthe, said Jan de Lange, a veteran mining writer for Sake24.com business news Web site.

"The NUM is probably the most disciplined and significant supporter of Jacob Zuma in his quest for a second (presidential) term and this may dent Zuma's chances," he said.

Van de Walle, the Cornell professor, sees far-reaching fall-out: "Even as (the ANC) has increasingly been undermined by the stench of corruption and power abuses, its inability to undo the sharp socio-economic inequalities of the apartheid era combined with a record of mediocre economic growth may finally be corroding the enormous capital of good will it gained by leading the struggle against white minority rule."

Media coverage of miners living in ghettos of corrugated iron shacks without running water or electricity provided a striking example of the failure of Zuma's government to deal with the country's major issues: increasing poverty, housing shortages and a yawning gap between rich and poor that makes South Africa one of the most unequal societies on Earth. The congress of trade unions complained this week that the poorest 10 percent of South Africans share R1.1 billion ($137.5 million) while the country's richest 10 percent has 381 billion (nearly $48 billion).

Poor education and health services are another issue. While even poor African countries are bringing down the numbers of women dying in pregnancy and childbirth, South Africa's maternal mortality rate has spiralled, according to government statistics, from 81 to 600 per 100,000 between 1997 and 2005.

Zuma's supporters argue that his government has made significant progress in improving the country's treatment of patients infected with AIDS and its HIV virus, running the world's largest program, although tens of thousands still go untreated.

Van de Walle said the "sheer symbolism" of policemen shooting at protesters would have suggested to many South Africans that "little has changed and that the state still serves a small rich minority rather than the impoverished majority."

That thought was put more crudely by Julius Malema, the firebrand politician expelled for "sowing disunity" in the ANC, who accused Zuma's government of complicity in the killings. He told striking miners that the government was unable to stand up to the mines because top leaders have shares in those mines that conflict with supporting workers' interests.

Malema has been the architect of a movement calling for the nationalization of the country's mines, an issue that remains on the ANC agenda, though Zuma and other leaders keep assuring mining companies and investors that it will never happen.

Fitch Ratings, one of the leaders in its field, said Friday the protests and talk of nationalization were symptomatic of issues that have discouraged investment in South Africa in recent years and helped form the basis of its decision to put South Africa's BBB+ rating on "negative outlook" earlier this year.

"High unemployment is already associated with widespread crime, which is regularly cited as one factor deterring foreign investment," it said. "Over time it could also threaten social and political stability, damaging the investment climate further."

South Africa produces 75 percent of the world's platinum and 60 percent of its ferrochrome. It's also one of the top 10 gold producers.

Some South Africans see the police shootings as the government using officers to put down challenges to its authority. Zuma, whose re-election bid is spearheaded by leaders of the challenged National Union of Mineworkers, can expect to confront many more such challenges, with every day bringing more of the sometimes violent service protests by poor South Africans discouraged by their lack of progress, while they see an ostentatious display of wealth exhibited by the black elite.

The shootings have this traumatized nation soul-searching, asking why violence has become an everyday matter in their society, which suffers some of the highest murder and rape rates in the world. Among recent horrors, three orphan children were stoned to death, with a 12-year-old girl among them raped. And a pastor is on trial, accused of molesting a dozen children in his wife's nursery school.

Many say such brutal acts are a legacy of apartheid. But the argument is wearing as thin as the ANC's promises to redress inequalities, nearly 20 years down the line.

AL SHABAAB EXECUTING ITS OWN MEMBERS REFLECTS A DEEPENING CRISIS

By Mahmoud Mohamed in Mogadishu
SABAHI

July 30, 2012

Al-Shabaab's decision to execute three of its members for allegedly spying for foreign governments reflects a crisis of confidence within the ranks of the militant group, political analysts and observers say.

An al-Shabaab fighter stands guard as hundreds of residents watch a public amputation punishment. Al-Shabaab recently executed three of its members for allegedly spying for foreign governments. [Mustafa Abdi/AFP]

Al-Zawahiri message seen as attempt to divert attention from bin Laden documents
Al-Shabaab said the three men -- Ishaq Omar Hassan, 22, Yasin Osman Ahmed, 23, and Mukhtar Ibrahim Sheikh, 33 -- were spying for the US Central Intelligence Agency and the British spy agency MI6.

"Hassan and Ahmed were both responsible for the deaths of Bilal al-Berjawi and three other [al-Shabaab members]," the al-Qaeda-allied organisation said on its official Twitter account July 22nd. "The two planted tracking devices in the vehicles of al-Berjawi & his brothers which guided the missile strikes in the outskirts of Mogadishu."

Al-Berjawi, a dual citizen of Lebanon and Britain who was stripped of his British citizenship, was killed in a missile strike in January outside Mogadishu. He was reported to have been al-Qaeda's second-in-command in Somalia.

Eyewitnesses in Marka said the three men were executed by a firing squad in the city centre.

"Al-Shabaab fighters used loudspeakers mounted on pick-up trucks to call people to witness the execution and when people gathered in the square, dozens of masked fighters blindfolded the three men and then shot at them, killing them instantly," Marka resident Mohamed Said, 34, told Sabahi.

Al-Shabaab's crisis of confidence
Omar Dahir, director of the Mogadishu-based Centre for Moderation and Dialogue, said al-Shabaab's problems result from increasing divisions among members and could lead to a rapid splintering of the group in the near future.

"There is a lack of confidence within al-Shabaab, as the group does not trust its members and now its leaders do not trust one another," Dahir told Sabahi. "Al-Shabaab's decision to execute three of its members in Marka reflects the crisis of confidence that the group is suffering from."

"This might be the beginning of a score-settling battle breaking out within the group, which already suffers from deep divisions," Dahir said.

He said al-Shabaab may resort to secretly executing many of its members for fear that repeated public executions might shake the unity of the group.

"The group will execute any member that is suspected of having relations with external parties because they fear that Western intelligence agencies might be able to infiltrate the group and target their wanted leaders," Dahir said.

Al-Shabaab said on Twitter that it has "launched an extensive counter-intelligence campaign to cleanse the country of such spies".

Last year, al-Shabaab leader Mualim Hashi Mohamed Farah said Western intelligence services have infiltrated al-Shabaab's ranks, with double agents pretending to be jihadists.

This is not the only time al-Shabaab has executed members accused of spying for Western intelligence agencies. Al-Shabaab executed its deputy intelligence chief, Ahmed Ali Hussein, also known as Ahmed Keyse, in 2010 for "spying" for foreign governments.

On July 27th, al-Shabaab said it caught three "TFG spies" who are currently undergoing interrogation. "If convicted, the three men will be publicly executed," al-Shabaab said on Twitter.

Bounty deepens internal crisis among al-Shabaab
"The crisis of confidence dominates the landscape within the al-Shabaab group, which has resulted in executions of its members," said Abdirahman Mohamud, an observer of fundamentalist groups.

Since the United States announced on June 7th that it would offer up to $33 million for information on the whereabouts of seven senior al-Shabaab leaders, the wanted leaders have hidden from not only intelligence services, but also the eyes of the public and their own members.

"Al-Shabaab leaders are now afraid that the US-offered bounty money might push some of the group's members, who are motivated by greed, to betray their leaders and provide information on their whereabouts in return for financial rewards," Mohamud told Sabahi.

"In my opinion, that is the motivation behind al-Shabaab's recent decision to execute three of its members on charges of spying for US and British intelligence agencies," he said.

Mohamud said al-Shabaab has split into two camps, and each will "deal brutally" with the other.

In March, al-Shabaab leader Hasan Dahir Aweys criticised the militant group for aimlessly killing civilians in the name of Islam and for its affiliation with al-Qaeda. "

The radical al-Shabaab group has carried out many executions in the past few years, targeting not only its members, but dozens of Somali citizens charged with working and spying for Western intelligence agencies or co-operating with the Somali government or the African Union forces," said Abdullahi Osman, a political analyst and expert in the affairs of radical Islamist groups in Somalia.

Osman told Sabahi that al-Shabaab terrorises Somali citizens and threatens to execute those who co-operate with the government or the African Union Mission in Somalia.

He called on the Somali government to intensify its efforts to liberate the remaining areas still under al-Shabaab's control to put an end to the heinous crimes committed by the group.

"Al-Shabaab will continue using unwarranted and indiscriminate violence against Somali citizens until the group is driven away from the country," he said.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS ARTICLE? (TOTAL VOTES 236)

Reader's Comments

lamech M Nyariki August 23, 2012 @ 08:30:57AM
We ar a world of fire figthing. We respond to crisis we have created ourselves. Anyway we have to, however, the justification of KDF in Somalia is reasonable but eventually Somalia will be free from the Al Shabab terror when the whole Nation will dedicate their efforts to education not mass ammunition. Hope all goes well the soonest for the sake of human lives. religion is a scapegoat, it never really the born of contetion here but........

john joseph August 22, 2012 @ 07:28:53PM
I dont believe that these people are Somalis,cos they dont care for future of Somalia.this people are killers. Some of Tanzanians believes in Alshabaab Ideology, this is very dangerous, they are not ready to learn from Somali, we in Tanzania frequently receives Somalis fled their country, but I dont understand some of Muslims in Tanzania, why dont they learn from Somalis?

AMOS August 22, 2012 @ 01:25:09PM
I TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH THOSE WHO WANT TO SAY AL-SHAABAB ARE JUSTIFIED TO KILL ANYONE WHO DISAGREES WITH THEM....

ACM August 22, 2012 @ 10:12:16AM
not only the somali people who suffer but also the hyenas that Al shabab publicly made eating hyenas Halaal

oscar barasa awory August 22, 2012 @ 08:12:38AM
this group should be wiped out on the face of the earth

Caleb Mutambi August 22, 2012 @ 06:04:25AM
HONGERA KDF. we now fee protected. our lives as kenyans is now in your hands. we trust and believe in you. please press on.

0787792745 August 22, 2012 @ 04:25:45AM
there is and what you fori of me you by all and embraces several times

Jama August 22, 2012 @ 03:26:32AM
shabab will never win

bush August 22, 2012 @ 01:42:52AM
Their days are numbered.

Ndzovu August 22, 2012 @ 01:30:42AM
Munaafiquun have no place in Jihad or in Islam. If proven to be faasiq,let them be executed.Only the steadfast must remain in the war.

Kitti August 22, 2012 @ 12:32:13AM
That marks the end of everything. Alshabaab, your days are gone.JUST surrender for the sake of your your lives and the lives of your brothers & sisters coz the time has come and only the GODLY will stand.

qadar mumin August 21, 2012 @ 06:45:17PM
The government should monitor this issue and intervene when the situation becomes bitter so as to protect people’s lives, properties and the development achieved by the society. In conclusion, we need to unite our effort in bringing families together.

Kalulu August 21, 2012 @ 09:51:52AM
These thugs are desperate coz our forces are closing in, now instead of fighting like they started provoking Kenya thinking our soldiers cant fight they are busy executing one another putting their strategy in total desarray! God is realy punishing them , htis group of thugz will be finished its just a matter of a few weeks 4our Somali brothers 2get their freedom.

Dovick August 21, 2012 @ 06:12:42AM
Really the act of those people killing themselves is bliss to Somalis because every now and then Somalis are fleeing fighting and getting into neighboring countries as illegal immigrants, so it’s better for Al-Shabaab members to kill one another so that it’s easy to catch them after their number has reduced for the law to take its course.

Kagame -Dar Young African August 21, 2012 @ 05:46:04AM
Truly there is none who does not see or hear the way our Somali brothers are suffering as a result of terrorism and the murder of Somali citizens – having seen Tanzania save so many other countries I would beg Tanzania to try to save Somalia from these people called Al-Shabaab. I know Tanzania can do it.

Muslim Mubarak August 21, 2012 @ 04:45:44AM
I don’t think that it’s Al-Shabaab that deserves to be blamed but that it’s western governments, which have fostered hatred against Islam and Muslims, Muslims and Christians have lived for many centuries while differing on matters of faith, and collaborating on many things and not getting involved in WAR. The war of Somalia started when western nations led by America started helping rebels to remove the Legitimate Islamic Government. Now these are the results. Innocent people are dying. These nations are standing aside and continuing to conduct arms trade, and carrying out trials for their new weapons. BLAME AMERICA AND HER ASSOCIATES. THIS IS JIHAD WITHOUT DOUBT, GOD WILL HELP. PEACE WILL BE RESTORED AND THERE WILL BE RESPECT.

JOHN August 21, 2012 @ 03:43:25AM
Let our fellow brothers n sisters in the armed forces rid us of this menace once and for all let them continue with the good work for it is showing good results we are 100% behind you with our at most gratitude n prayers. lets wipe them out of the face of the earth.

kim August 20, 2012 @ 03:53:39PM
GOD be blessed

Abdi Dhahir Malik August 20, 2012 @ 06:49:43AM
We will this war inshallah. God is on our side.

com August 20, 2012 @ 02:16:07AM
Search Al-Shabaab killing its members signals big problems - Sabahionline.com

jahideen August 19, 2012 @ 01:22:51PM
I strongly believe the Transitional Federal Government will wean the battle for God is always with them,the deamonic Al-shabaab members will be doomed to hell.

mahamudi mpoja August 19, 2012 @ 10:12:11AM
If there is a religion that permits murder that religion belongs to Satan. Many times people call themselves Muslims and kill others mercilessly, by blowing themselves up and slaughtering them, and publicly stoning them. People who blow themselves up kill innocent people as well. We have witnessed this in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, etc. I request to be informed if Prophet Mohamed preached about killing people arbitrarily and and is there a difference between terrorism and Islam? Is our God one who kills or who heals?

kims job August 19, 2012 @ 10:02:36AM
thanks for our kenyan forces for the job well done.

Jonas Jack August 19, 2012 @ 08:20:30AM
Al-Shabaab will never win. I congratulate the Kenyan government for its decision to support Somalia in war in order to remove Al-Shabaab and to save the lives of the people of Somalia. I think that this is a challenge to other African countries to have similar responsiveness to unite and quell that fighting by all means possible. Condolences Somalis on the loss of your brothers.

Lovemore kwanjiwa August 19, 2012 @ 08:04:24AM
when are you going to stop that tendency of killing each other?see where are coming and where you are going...cease fire!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

waithaki August 19, 2012 @ 07:28:18AM
Thank God this time it is not Muhamed Kamau, Muhamed Njoroge, Muhamed Mutizo or Muhamed otieno. Pls our young men come back home and go back to Kangema, Masako and siaya villages and just repeant otherwise as these mad guys called alshabab continue in their frustration they will kill all of u calling u spies . we have forgive u even after bombing ur mothers, sis, etc..

samuel August 19, 2012 @ 06:03:08AM
Why don’t Al-Shabaab destroy themselves or kill themselves because they are losing and it’s my hope they lose
SEIDU August 19, 2012 @ 04:40:09AM
Where is Al-Shabaab getting the weapons from? I believe they are getting support from powerful nations who have no interest of peace in Somalia. These nations benefit by selling weapons. Islam teaches clearly that anyone who kills a person should be killed. I don’t know how Al-Shabaab translates these teachings.
SEIDU August 19, 2012 @ 04:40:09AM
Where does Al-Shabaab get weapons? I believe that there are big nations that are behind the Al-Shabaab and the Somali clans. These nations benefit by selling weapons. Islamic teachings clearly show that he who kills a person should also be killed. I don’t know how Al-Shabaab interprets these teachings.

king feisalali August 19, 2012 @ 04:15:32AM
to me they are not good because they kill innocent people everynow and then

willy August 19, 2012 @ 02:28:18AM
religion and religious beliefs, and practices are a complex phenomena,all and sundry need to recognize and understand that.religion is both a personal and a cooperate undertaking and that each one of us need to acknowledge lest we fall into selfish and very dangerous and misleading teachings, erroneously thought to be one that will take one to eternity.let all humanity consider this dimension of religion even as we choose to worship the true creator of heaven ,the earth and all living and the non living.let all humatity also acknowledge the fact that at the end of our life here on earth it will be one on one with God and not a fellow human being-a gerally accepted teaching in all religions of the world.as such we all have a responsibility to ensure that we are members of a true religion based on our personal revelation and not only based on other peoples teaching and understanding of what religion and religiousity is all about.

Dr.Ngonyani August 19, 2012 @ 01:18:31AM
I fail to understand if what is being fought for is the benefit of SOMALIS or for other opportunists who do not have mercy for the poor people of Somali land!!! These people should fear God, people are suffering a lot from the situation that Somalia is in now and they are completely innocent, and they do not know anything about the government or about war!! LOOK AT THOSE CHILDREN DYING OF HUNGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xuseen August 18, 2012 @ 05:24:08PM
all most is finished the time of Transitional Federal Government of somalia ,in the world leaders has give somali government to start the elections in 20 august 2012 how ever we will c what will happen in mogadisho next days .and about alshabaab amisom troops has detroyed the alshabab groups there is only 1 strong hold city kismaio in our neighbour nation kenya said with in week we will be in kismayo so i can only say i hope better where i belong

JUMA MANASE August 18, 2012 @ 03:04:24PM
I DONT THINK IT WISE TO KILL PEOPLE LIKE THAT.I DO ASK MY SELF WHY THE MOSLEMS WANTS TO KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE. WHAT THEY BELIVE IN. DID MUHAMAD DIRECTED THEM TO KILL.WHICH KIND OF RELIGION WHICH ALLOWS TO KILL .PLEASE WE ARE TIRED OF KILLING OUR PEOPLE AND YOU ARE DEMORLIZING ISLAMIC RELIGION

cabdiqani cabdilaahi aadan August 18, 2012 @ 02:43:51PM
It is really worrying. May God lead to the straight path these youth who were misled and made to indulge in sinful actions in the name of jihad (holy war)? My brothers, holy war has conditions in which it can be fought. Fear your God and repent as repentance is accepted. If you want to fight holy war, wait as God will bring the right holy war and stop killing your people. Those people who declared holy war for their own interest and telling the youth to become suicide bombers or fight in the name of God, one of them being the man known as Hassan Hussein were not even once seen fighting what they dubbed holy war and the rest are like him. None of the so-called leaders undertook suicide bombing. Why don’t participate in suicide bombing if it is true you will be rewarded with paradise instead of misleading the youth? Fear your God my brothers.

haarun August 18, 2012 @ 06:53:47AM
This report is not true. The one who wrote it and the people who support are just the same.

Sam August 18, 2012 @ 04:00:19AM
JUDGEMENT WAS PASSED ON ALL AL-SHABAAB THE DAY THEY KILLED THE FIRST INNOCENT HUMAN WHETHER MUSLIM, CHRISTIAN, INFIDEL OR ANY OTHER. THEY WILL BE THE ONES TO SHOOT THE LAST BULLET ALBEIT AT EACH OTHER AS THE LAST PERSON IS ARRESTED TO SAY WHERE THEY CAME FROM. SOMALIA SHALL BE FREE. SOMALIA SHALL PROSPER

ikon mwalo August 18, 2012 @ 02:31:45AM
Bravo to the K.D.F.we know that the alshabaabs are cowards and opportunists n we are happy that the group is now breaking...we hope 4 gr8 peace

Muema katavi August 17, 2012 @ 03:42:42PM
when shall the people of somalia enjoy a minute of stability? To hell with the fear of Americans by all misled islamists. Do they live only to fight their perceived who always beats them hands down in any encounter

alex mwanake August 17, 2012 @ 02:20:35PM
we Kenyans know what we are doing to drive these al- shababs out of their country .They say if diplomacy fails force applies .kenyan soldiers continue like that .............till they dis appear :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

james protace August 17, 2012 @ 02:16:43PM
Al-Shabaab need to be wiped off the face of the earth

kabatha August 17, 2012 @ 01:46:03PM
the problems is with the americans they inter fered between kenya and somalia whihc was an inside job like the one occured on the world trade center whereby the zionst and the americans were behind the exxplossion which would make the whole world would think it was a terrorist attark.they will come with all form of tricks to trick mankind but one day they will pay for it.

rome ngetich August 17, 2012 @ 09:19:10AM
allah is the one who created and is the who take back iour lives

sam August 17, 2012 @ 08:08:49AM
Congrats KDF..we always pray for you..Press tha battle on untill all of them (alshabaab) are crushed!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saido Omar August 17, 2012 @ 07:51:53AM
There are many elements of the Al Shabab movement split from it and joined the government forces, and this split is one of the most important signs of the existence of a state of chaos and fragmentation within the movement. The splits within Al Shabab movement has increased recently in dramatically way since the success of the African Union forces in controlling much of the strategic cities in the country, which was controlled by the movement, and which is located on the outskirts of the Somali capital Mogadishu. The end of the Al Shabab movement is imminent, that it suffered a lot of losses during the last period.

Diini August 17, 2012 @ 06:49:57AM
In my opinion, I believe the leadership of this country should be given to any group that can help the people, be it Al-Shabaab or the transitional federal government but we prefer the group that will rule us using the Islamic sheriah as we are Muslims.

Ngash August 17, 2012 @ 06:40:09AM
What holy war? If they are men enough let them come out in the open.

adesh August 16, 2012 @ 01:33:07PM
you are dreaming you wil not defeat alshabaab you wil all die they are gods army inshalah they wil crush you iam in kerugoya district in kenya

STEVE August 16, 2012 @ 11:36:02AM
Congratulation to KDF,America and all powers fighting these STUPID PIGS,INGRITS..NKT..!

Steve August 16, 2012 @ 11:31:16AM
Both the Al-Shabaab and their supporters in Kenya and all over are STUPID.If i were the President of this country,i would have eliminated them all because they are one and the same people who are conducting all these bomb attacks in the country especially in the churches,why have not they attacked their fellow muslims in the mosques?..
Evance Komu August 16, 2012 @ 09:09:59AM
First it needs to be known where is Al-Shabaab getting these heavy weapons and in whose interest is that happening? I do not believe that killing people under the pretext of religion is a way to get to heaven or to escape severe punishment on the last day. Al-Shabaab is a very big threat and it is not wanted here on earth!!
moses Nganga August 16, 2012 @ 07:11:29AM
Whether there are historical injustices committed on any body including those sheikhs does not give room for the killing of innocent citizens. we have gone too far into their territory and we can only go further until we the equation is balanced. However the governments and nations that have come to the aid of somalis must do so with a sincere heart not selfish interests.whether shaabab or good citizen, all have a right to life!
abuarafat August 16, 2012 @ 04:40:37AM
I don’t understand this group why is it killing its members publicly? If it is the judgment of the army wouldn’t they have slaughtered one another in their camps instead of spreading them out so publicly? This is scary even to normal Somali citizens.
TIM August 16, 2012 @ 04:40:28AM
these are cowards hiding behind a faith to spill blood
john August 16, 2012 @ 02:21:32AM
Al shabaab and their silly believes are technologically outdated. They are instead required to advance as technology advances. As the saying says"if you fall the full you will be a full". Those greedy youths should be principled enough not to be driven by love of money but to be driven by humanitarian attributes. They should not follow their leaders blindly by spilling human blood aimlesly..
Mudus August 16, 2012 @ 01:47:34AM
Them guys are totally DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!!!!!!!
عادل August 16, 2012 @ 12:24:20AM
Poverty and famines that Somalia is suffering from are the result of the terrorist movements that stole everything in the country, including aid and donations delivered to Somalia. The movements stole them to increase the suffering of the innocent citizens who endure a lot because of their presence. It is necessary to stop these movements, and curb their crimes against citizens. How many times have these movements fought each other, leading to the fall of many victims during the attacks?! It was necessary that the security forces confront early these movements, because the attacks they have launched against the military apparatus killing its members . These terrorist movements tarnished the image of Somalis in the world. Moreover, they isolated Somalia from the rest of the world. But, this plan was unsuccessful and the security forces succeeded in confronting them, in cooperation with the other security systems.
kindege August 15, 2012 @ 06:56:41PM
it’s good
hamis suleman August 15, 2012 @ 03:23:46PM
Al-shabaab will never win. It is just folly arising from a lack of understanding of faith and being deceived by arabs!! stupid!!
izo August 15, 2012 @ 07:53:27AM
their days are numbers the most powerful God on the univers wil crush them one by one

lyn August 15, 2012 @ 05:18:04AM
God will curse them and they will never be the same again. They cant continue killing God people the way they do. It has to stop for Heaven's sake. If they are Lucifers and looking for blood let them kill animals if they must kill living things.

DENNIS YEGON August 15, 2012 @ 02:59:28AM
if they believe in war,why do they kill spies.it seems their intelligence unit is weak and killing them is the option.All the same God is there to rescue the situation.amen,,amen

DENNIS YEGON August 15, 2012 @ 02:31:03AM
if they believe in war,why do they kill spies.it seems their intelligence unit is weak and killing them is the option.All the same God is there to rescue the situation.amen,,amen

jackson Jerome August 14, 2012 @ 04:02:17PM
Everything comes to an end. If Osama has been defeated even they will be defeated, America and other nations should help and increase enough spies and facilitate powerful long-wave communication without Al-Shabaab apparatus intercepting it. The Sudanese government should also support it until the end.

christine mutula August 14, 2012 @ 08:42:22AM
I believe God has come to liberate Somalia from the hands of these Satan's agents who have plundered the country and killed innocent people. Let the whole world arise and save Somalia.
parachute August 14, 2012 @ 07:08:49AM
Run Alshabaab...Run!

Alshabaabi August 14, 2012 @ 05:14:40AM
Long live Alshabaab, world's no.1 terrorists.? i like them because they terrorise the biggest terrorist Christians...e.g USA UK Ethiopia and also Kenya

Anna Msuya August 14, 2012 @ 03:26:43AM
That is an adequate curse for Al-Shabaab because their rule has come to an end so they will destroy one another because a sinner curses himself first the youth who are participating in that war are so few that they cannot withstand a never-ending war that is why they want to disclose their leaders’ secrets America big up

RAMADHANI MUHIDINI SHABANI August 14, 2012 @ 02:33:46AM
ONLY THAT I PERSONALLY BELIEVE THAT KILLING ONE ANOTHER IS NOT THE BEST WAY. BUT PEOPLE DIFFER. IT WOULD BE THE SAME AS SAYING THAT YOU WILL KILL AN AIDS PATIENT SO THAT HE/SHE DOES NOT CONTINUE INFECTING OTHERS. GOD’S JUDGMENT WILL BE FINAL. IT’S NOT THE SOLUTION.

عبد الرحمن الدسوقي August 14, 2012 @ 02:28:17AM
The Somali citizens have suffered greatly from terrorism. These movements aim to destabilize the security of the Somalis and tarnish their future. Many terrorists have committed the ugliest crimes in order to seize control over many parts of Somalia; especially because Somalia does not have a strong security system. This has eased the spread of terrorist cells in Somalia turning the country to a battlefield between the powerless citizens and the terrorist movements and causing much chaos in Somalia. This beautiful country suffers from poverty and a very bad economy. Poverty and famines invaded Somalia, because these movements have been stolen the donations entering the Somali lands before they reach the government. This makes the conditions even worse inside the Somali lands.

Hussein Rajabu Sendaro August 13, 2012 @ 08:00:20AM
Most of the contributors do not know the history of what they are explaining, Somalia was peaceful under Islamic Authority and Somalis lived like brothers. Since America is a big enemy of Islam she disrupted things and finally what she wants is what is costing Somalia up to now. She removed the legitimate Islamic government and fixed pawns in its place who have been unable to lead the country and up to now there are no signs of peace, Insha’Allah! God is great and one day peace will be restored by his might and not by America or her pawns.

ME August 12, 2012 @ 02:30:29AM
if this coward's believe in God why do they kill innocent people in church,in Kenya for example they threw a grenade inside a church killing worshipers and injuring others,if they got a problem with how Kenyan Government is handling the operation LINDA INCHI in Somalia?they should air their greivances differently but not target religion,christians and muslims have co-existed for many years and will continue as so for many generations to come,Kenya is not a failed state like somalia and the KDF should flash out and smoke all of them..Let them continue killing @ other but spare kenyans all that JIHAD CRAP....


Aman Suleiman August 11, 2012 @ 09:18:43AM
It is nonsense to follow a faith that does not have an image, anyone who spills the blood of a fellow human being should know that he is a follower of Satan and not Allah, and believers of any group or faith that believe that the killing of fellow human beings will be rewarded by Allah is pure nonsense, God is not stupid like that. The blood that they spilled will cry to them and finish them among themselves and generations over generations, and also the residents should disregard them by not going to witness the inhuman killings

Idd Kitambi August 11, 2012 @ 05:15:17AM
The struggle continues

geeddi August 11, 2012 @ 03:38:32AM
I have never talked behind the back of a lion I see.

xildhibaan gacma dheere August 11, 2012 @ 02:19:31AM
Al-Shabaab are violators of human rights.

John nyangala August 10, 2012 @ 11:30:18AM
If you kill by the sword you will also be killed by the sword and that is what is happening now to those terrorists. God is punishing them now

mubarak August 10, 2012 @ 09:42:57AM
Al-Shabaab is composed of men who are holy war fighters and they fight the enemies of God and those who fight the religion of Islam and you will see them ruling the whole of Somalia, God willing.

libale August 10, 2012 @ 09:24:32AM
Al Shabaab itself has recruited by offering money to youth. Its leadership should not complain when a bounty of USD 33 million is placed on their heads.

ezgard August 10, 2012 @ 08:07:07AM
Every evil has its end, I believe that the hand of God works

judy August 10, 2012 @ 06:21:36AM
they will all die painful deaths

EAN August 10, 2012 @ 03:10:03AM
AL-SHABAAB ARE SATAN’S AGENTS

furaha mabeva August 10, 2012 @ 01:33:05AM
Al-Shabaab I request you to be calm in your country because no one will come into Somalia to bring peace and it is you who will ensure that there is peace in Somalia, also those puppets of America and Britain do not have any intention of fostering peace but chaos instead, their main aim is to ensure that peace disappears from Africa completely. What I advise is that we in Africa get united to enable us find solutions ourselves.

FADHIL KHATIB August 8, 2012 @ 12:26:23PM
What is killing Somalis until now is the blood of (Sheikhs) who were slaughtered like goats in the past. Therefore, the solution to these problems of Somalia is to be allowed to be under an Islamic government as was the case in the past, failure to which fighting will continue until the Day of Judgment.

Bakilana Paschal Bashange August 8, 2012 @ 05:34:26AM
The Almighty God did not make it right for human beings to kill fellow humans, he is the only one who can do that when he wants to punish a person who has offended him, So where have the Al-Shabaab found the command to kill people who are without error/fault in the face of righteousness? Their sins is returning to them and they will destroy one another because they are murderers and God does not want his creature to be judged by fellow human beings, that is a curse before the Almighty God.

jeff japheth August 8, 2012 @ 04:46:53AM
no evil escapes unpunished! glory be to God!

jimmy August 8, 2012 @ 04:42:10AM
thats the way it should be the shabab must know that its there time to leave.

Ignas mutalemwa August 8, 2012 @ 02:35:33AM
Very sorry, some of your brothers are really suffering in Mozambique, they live like animals because they fled the war. stop the fighting so that your brothers can go back to their home,

Muumin August 8, 2012 @ 01:36:59AM
Those who are on the right path will win. Allah protects and shows mercy to his servants by all might and there will be no one powerful enough to block that.

hashil ally August 7, 2012 @ 08:29:38AM
Al-Shabaab are still powerful and they will win because I believe that it is possible to be defeated in any war but afterwards fighting continues, so those puppets of America and Britain should know that they will face problems afterwards.

samuel m opingo August 7, 2012 @ 04:29:27AM
Matthew 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Hebrews 10:31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

xyk August 7, 2012 @ 04:21:28AM
Al shabaab is the product of ignorance of most muslim people and they can not beat freedom ,most of this people are from Somaliland.Albert Njoroge August 7, 2012 @ 02:41:24AM
Shame to al-shabaab sympathizers and financiers who thinks they are serving God by their satanic acts, their god is too weak, he needs human protection.

walter August 6, 2012 @ 03:24:22PM
it’s pleasing the way you give us news such as these continue bringing them and others with in-depth analysis

salaad August 6, 2012 @ 07:40:19AM
Al-Shabaab was even initially known for not caring about Somalia and its members were mostly composed of foreigners with misguided ideology of a holy war in their minds but most of them have now learnt what Al-Shabaab is except a few who will learn soon.

Charles Mwangi August 6, 2012 @ 04:28:27AM
Good, the hyena has started eating its own entrails. The promise to offer hefty rewards for their heads is doing wonders as most of the members are motivated by money, not ideologies. It will be a big relief for all (especially Somalis) when this Al shabaab group is done away with forever.

Jeexlibaax August 6, 2012 @ 02:42:59AM
Al-Shabaab is becoming weak like a setting sun but beware that those Somalis who share similar interest at the moment will fight one another after Al-Shabaab is eliminated because their uniting goal is the fight against Al-Shabaab. Beware of that fact and have it in your minds.

baabaa August 5, 2012 @ 01:14:41PM
It is common knowledge that people are not sincere of the religion they claim to defend hence use it to suit their selfish interest by misleading others with their misguided ideology. I am very sorry about it. I would like to urge the Somalis to openly rebel against these men who kill the people for no reason all the time.

nb August 5, 2012 @ 09:49:36AM
for so od loves his people let them be punished twice cause they did wrong to him. its their time now to suffer as the way they have been destroying and killing innocent people.

EMMANUE LOI August 5, 2012 @ 07:25:28AM
Well done the writer of this column, you inform us about important things

Macherino August 5, 2012 @ 06:33:01AM
If we want to save Somalia we need to retrace our steps a bit, Siad Barre made mistakes that are harming Somalia up to now, but it is completely possible, you know Somalis are Muslims and Muslims are not stubborn so it is better for Somalia to be given authority as it was at the beginning, if it is led by sharia that will be the solution

lwidiko Mgalilwa August 4, 2012 @ 03:05:41PM
What has a beginning must have an end. God is with justice-loving Somalis.

jacob kabaya August 4, 2012 @ 12:36:45PM
i believe in transition federal governement.

mwaura ndura August 4, 2012 @ 12:07:22PM
my prayers are one day to the women,children and men of somali living peaceful like any other of the world.al shabaab should leave now.thanks kenya defence force, brave TFG solders and amisom

xabsa maxamed August 4, 2012 @ 09:34:32AM
I believe if the transitional federal government is right, it will succeed by winning the confidence of the public.

Philip makungu August 4, 2012 @ 07:16:25AM
it’s better for all Somalis to unite and fight for their country because it’s better to have unity for the country since they are the ones who are suffering especially children and women I advise them not to flee their country but to stay and fight

Dr.Marm August 4, 2012 @ 04:20:46AM
the problem with terrorist groups is lack of mutual trust and since what they are doing is sinful at the end of the day they harm one another and that is where they break up and that marks the end of those gangs of evil-doers, I like it.

Albert Wanjofu August 4, 2012 @ 04:14:17AM
I happy that this is the just but the beginning of road to safer world. I support all efforts to diminish the existence of this terror Group which has brought havoc & fear to all people in the world.

RASHID August 3, 2012 @ 10:14:49AM
THEY WILL BE DEFFEATED IN THE END

sosopi pa August 3, 2012 @ 06:53:11AM
it’s good!

MURACHAANA August 3, 2012 @ 05:38:25AM
IT is now clear to us all that this persons of weakened faith are say good-ye by excuting one of themselves. The world has every reason to smile for this, otherwise lets pray hard for them to have a good ending and not a bad one.

Harmaton collins August 3, 2012 @ 05:09:38AM
We thank the world at large for accepting to do the intervention in somalia specificall the Americans have always been their peace is thought out God bless America

ali khalid August 3, 2012 @ 04:50:52AM
thanks to the ugandan army.it was the first to deploy its army their.they are going to remove those cowards.

sety willison August 3, 2012 @ 02:50:54AM
When al-shabaab kills members in that manner who do they think will vote for aspirants during elections since the citizens are being exterminated?

shiks August 3, 2012 @ 01:45:58AM
how i wish the confidence level can go down to a negative so that the militia group can be weakened

mimi August 2, 2012 @ 10:32:04AM
congratulationsssssssssssss to the kenyan intellligencce for driving those bastards out...............the superpower of easter africa...

qorane August 2, 2012 @ 10:00:20AM
Al-Shabaab is a movement sent by God to punish the Somalis after they did away with their government and behaved like animals. I pray to God to protect us from these problem-causing groups who hide under religious names. Their time to disintegrate is nearing.

Grace August 2, 2012 @ 07:21:50AM
Somalia will flourish again and be well governed, that's what we can hope for. Alshabab are actually coming to an end. Evil has never outweighed the good. As long as God is on the thrown.

slovadan August 2, 2012 @ 03:23:04AM
a very thoughtful column

Saka w.Maurice August 1, 2012 @ 12:33:21PM
They have killed many innocent people and now they are turning on each other.In the long run they will all commit suicide.Proves that theybhave no cause which they are fighting for.

Lucas Eleyo August 1, 2012 @ 09:44:18AM
Al- Shabaab must be driven away by the Amisom forces. This group has tortured and killed many people in Somalia. The country has been damaged completely which would compel the Somlia government take time to improve it. The rest of the world is requested to assist in rebuilding Somalia when war goes over. The Kenyan government has greately helped Somalia in the war to up root Al Shabaab in Somalia and we thank Kenya for effort they volunteered to save lives of Somali people. However, Kenyans support by all hands the war in Somalia and the lives of the pepole as Amisom is now nearing closely to Kisimayu to root out Al - Shabaab in the country. Africa should jointly come out in unison to support and remove Al - Shabaab by all means in Somalia. We want the people of Somalia to live in peace and develop their country which has lagged behind for about 24 years now.

Lisa m August 1, 2012 @ 08:32:24AM
I very much like it.

cabdifataah mouse August 1, 2012 @ 08:28:57AM
i think this weakening confidence b/w alshabaab cells is quite good news for any somali descedent on the cosmos. many congratulations to somalis and somalilanders and fare well al shabaab you are on your last legs!!!

Dr Mohamad Farah August 1, 2012 @ 07:17:12AM
It is the first time you learnt or attacked this group by saying something about them and there are many other problems faced by this group from within them or from the people.

raashid ali August 1, 2012 @ 03:35:03AM
I believe if the Transitional Federal Government is right, it will succeed by winning the confidence of the citizens and will get the power to defeat its enemies through the following ways: 1. People to support them 2.Geographical location they are conversant with 3.The belief to die for what they are fighting for.