Somalia's weak interim government said Friday it will resist attempts by an increasingly powerful Muslim militia to assert authority across the Horn of Africa country that Osama bin Laden calls a battleground in his fight against the U.S.Whoopee.
The hard-line Muslim leaders, who have seized control of much of southern Somalia, claimed authority throughout the country Thursday in another slap at the interim government, which sits powerless at its base in Baidoa, 90 miles from the chaotic capital of Mogadishu.
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In an audio message Friday purported to be bin Laden, the speaker vows to continue to fight the United States and its "allies everywhere, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan." The tape was released on an Islamic Web forum where militants often post messages and bears the logo of al-Qaida's production branch.
UPDATE: The "smart" terrorist money seems to be flowing to Somalia for an investment in terrorism as reported by al Reuters here:
Funds are flowing into Somalia from Saudi Arabia and Yemen to support the Islamic Courts movement that seized the capital Mogadishu this month, said a senior U.S. official on Thursday.'Course if the New York Times (spit) hadn't blown the cover of the SWIFT program, it might be easier to track money that is probably being couriered into Somalia...
The State Department's point person on Africa, Jendayi Frazer, told a hearing on Capitol Hill that the United States and others were reaching out to the Arab League about the flow of funds into Somalia from Arab countries.
"I don't want to say the Saudi government is supporting any particular (Islamic) court but I do know that there is money coming in from Saudi Arabia," Frazer told the House of Representatives International Relations Committee.
"There is money coming in from Yemen and arms from Eritrea and other places (into Somalia)," she said, adding that some of the funds came from Somali businessmen based in Saudi Arabia.
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