Minnesota Somalis Protest

[IRONm@N]

U.S. sees terrorism in Somalia; Minnesota Somalis see it differently

The Twin Cities Somali community shares a deep concern about tensions in their homeland, but they dispute the U.S. claim that it has become a haven and a platform for terrorism.


Mahmood Kanyare held a sign reading “Stop Bush supporting Ethiopia” while standing on a wall outside Sen. Norm Coleman’s office in St. Paul. Kanyare was joined on Friday by nearly 100 other protesters demanding the Bush administration withdraw its support for Ethiopian troops in Somalia.

The Twin Cities Somali community shares a deep concern about tensions in their homeland, but they dispute the U.S. claim that it has become a haven and a platform for terrorism.

Listen to Bush administration officials and you hear the chilling claim that a new terrorist front is emerging in Somalia because militant Islamists have created secret havens and platforms there for Al-Qaida.

Now listen to Prof. Ahmed Samatar echoing thousands of Somalis in Minnesota.

"Lies," said Samatar, who is dean of the Institute for Global Citizenship at Macalester College in St. Paul.

In the chasm between the dire official warning and the Somalis' vehement rebuttal lie high-stakes questions. If the threat is real, does it signal another round of terrorist attacks that could reach as far as Europe and the Americas? If the naysayers are right, is the United States poised to repeat mistakes it made by miscalculating the tensions tearing at Iraq?

http://www.hiiraan.com/news2/2007/may/u ... ently.aspx