Somali leader authorizes suicide attacks

This has been out all day, and I haven't seen it anywhere, so...

The supreme leader of Somalia's powerful Islamist movement has purportedly authorized suicide attacks against "prominent" targets in Kenya and Ethiopia, the United States said.

As the Islamists and weak Somali government gird for war after the collapse of peace talks, the US embassies in Nairobi and Addis Ababa warned Americans "to use extreme" caution while in Kenya and Ethiopia, citing the threat.

They said they had information about "reports of terrorist threats emanating from extremist elements within Somalia, which target Kenya, Ethiopia, and other surrounding countries."

"These threats specifically mention the execution of suicide explosions in prominent landmarks within Kenya and Ethiopia," the embassies said in notices sent to US citizens in the two countries.

I don't know how real this is, but for context, remember that all three nations mentioned have taken actions to try to destroy the Islamic militias in Somalia. Kenya and Ethiopia have taken direct steps to try to defend and arm the legitimate government, while the US attempted, through covert action, to band together mercenary Somali warlords to fight the militias.

There was a big debate in US policy circles at the time as to whether this was a good plan, questioning the possibility of blowback.

Here's a good Newsweek article on this from late May.

The policy has provoked dissent at both the CIA and the State Department, as well as in Europe. Some officials fear that America may be inadvertently creating a new jihadist haven in Somalia by generating an anti-U.S. backlash. Before the U.S. program began, the Islamists were only a small part of the population. ..... Giraldi is more blunt. "We're creating a new mess," he says. "Everything is tactical with this administration: catching a guy, catching a guy. I don't see that anyone has thought about the strategic issue of losing support." ....

Publicly, the administration will not admit to any policy of aiding warlords. But officials with the Red Cross and other aid groups in Mogadishu report seeing "many Americans with thick necks and short haircuts moving around, carrying big suitcases," says one aid official whose agency does not permit him to speak on the record.

Also: I'll say it again, the violent Islamic movement in NE Africa coming from Sudan, Eritrea, and, now, Somalia is heating up, and that is putting increasing pressure on Chad, Niger, and Ethiopia, and, of course, the indigenous people in Darfur.

"Militia attacks on refugee camps in Sudan's Darfur region this week killed scores of civilians including 27 children under the age of 12, the United Nations said on Thursday, condemning the raids."

Meanwhile,

The United States looks set to pull back from its muscular approach to ending what it calls genocide in Sudan's Darfur region in a major concession to the regime in Khartoum, according to former US officials and Africa experts.

President George W. Bush announced a policy review this week.....

And, no, I don't have an answer.

UPDATE: This morning we get a report that the Somali Islamists have test fired short range rockets, and a more direct statement on the involvement of Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Somali civil war.