In the last four months, more than 30,000 Somali children under the age of 5 have died during the worst drought in the area in 60 years, according to U.S. government statistics.

National political leaders, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), hosted a community forum Wednesday in Minneapolis—which has a large Somali community—to chart the relief efforts spearheaded by the U.S. government and whip up support for humanitarian aid spending.

“Famine isn’t defined as drought or defined as food access, it’s a definition of children dying,” USAID Administrator Raj Shah told the crowd, made up mostly of people from the University of Minnesota and Somali-American communities. “That number is likely go up significantly if we’re unable to dramatically expand our access to care for vulnerable populations in Somalia.”

USAID Administrator Raj Shah speaks to the crowd.

Shah announced another $23 million in grants and aid to provide some famine relief in Somalia and the surrounding region. The U.S. has already spent more than $580 million this year to combat the famine in East Africa, which Rah said accounts for half the funds being donated internationally to the effort.

The drought has also impacted Kenya and Ethiopia. In the entire region, up to 12 million people could be at risk, Shah said.

Much of the effort spearheaded by USAID focuses not just on food convoys, which have been hijacked in Somalia in the past, but on longer-term projects to develop drought-resistant crops and sustainable agriculture, Shah said. Relief efforts have also focused on medical care that can prevent children deaths, like cholera treatment centers.

But despite the urgency of the situation, lawmakers on the panel admitted they could run into roadblocks in attempting to fund more relief in a Congress fixated on budgetary issues. U.S. Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) said the most common constituent call to his office demanded an end to foreign aid.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)

Pelosi said security and humanitarian issues were related.

“Some in Congress believe that if people are starving in areas controlled by al-Shabab, that they should not be provided with food assistance,” Pelosi said, referring to the Islamic militant movement that still controls vast stretches of the country. ”Alleviation of poverty, eradication of disease, providing opportunity lessen the fury of despair, which is a recruiting ground for trouble, for violence.”

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said the United States’ history in the region, including the 1993 killings of 18 American soldiers in Mogadishu, gave some Americans pause about interacting with the region. But the international neglect of Somalia has led to a number of problems, from piracy to the famine to the al-Shabab movement, he said.

“The crisis in the horn [of Africa] and Somalia is all of our business,” Ellison said, calling for constituent pressure for humanitarian aid. “This world of ours can take care of its people but we have to have the political will to make it that way.”

But a lack of financial aid represents just one difficulty in staving off famine in East Africa. Complications in the region have led groups to approach the issue differently than past relief projects, with groups like the American Refugee Committee (ARC) working with the Somali-American community to help get aid to people who need it.

“I want to tell you with absolute certainty that the money you give, the support you put in, is and can be translated into lifesaving programs and it’s happening right now as we sit here,” said Daniel Wordsworth of ARC.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.)

The Somali-American community has been very active in organizing and supporting relief efforts, Wordsworth said.

“We want the Somali-American community, the American-Somali community to know how much we value your contributions to our country, your country, all of our country,” Pelosi told the audience. “I hope you know how deeply concerned we are on this issue that challenges the conscience of all humanity, and we must get the job done.”

Zainab Hassan said the forum was the sort of discussion the community needs to have to help spread peace and stability throughout the region.

“As world citizens we have to be involved in these issues and look at it in a positive and comprehensive way in terms of how do our policies impact other people in the region,” Hassan said. “How can we hold accountable our politicians to do the right thing and to adopt policies that would benefit not only Minnesotans but also internationally?”

Hassan said it didn’t seem that most Minnesotans were aware of what was going on in Somalia, but that programs like ARC’s Neighbors Initiative were changing that.

“A lot of effort is going on in Minnesota to bring together Minnesotan communities regardless of race, culture, countries of origin,” she said.

Ayan Abdinur said most people of Somali origin knew about the famine, but that other issues have sometimes distracted the broader community from learning about famine relief efforts.

“When you hear Somalia, it’s about the pirates, it’s still al-Shabab, there’s so much negative media that we really forget the issue that’s happening right now,” Abdinur said. “Yes, there is a security issue, but there is a bigger issue than al-Shabab and the pirates and anything that’s going on, but I wish that people would step away from that and open their heart to the people who are dying.”

Abdinur said she was proud to see how many people showed up for the forum.

“It was a really great way to show that Somali-Americans, other Americans, that everybody cares about the issues going on in Somalia and that we come together as a community and try to make an effort to help the people in Somalia,” Abdinur said. ”I was really happy, touched, by how the community could come together for one issue outside our country.”

Al-Shabab's logo

The threat of terrorism in the U.S. today is “less severe” but “more complex and more diverse than at any time over the past nine years,” according to a new report by the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Security Preparedness Group, the new incarnation of the 9/11 Commission. The lead anecdote in its report, “Assessing the Terrorist Threat,” released Friday morning, is that of Burhan Hassan, who illustrates a new problem in the battle against terrorism: the increasing role of U.S. residents or citizens in planning and assisting in terrorist operations.

Along with a handful of other local Somali males, 17-year-old Burhan, as Abdi Aynte reported here in in December 2008, boarded a plane from Minneapolis on election day that had the ultimate destination of Somalia, where he’d been recruited to join Al-Shabab (“The Youth”), “an al-Qaeda ally that deliberately emulates its mentor organization — down to its reliance on training camps, a safe haven, the use of the Internet for propaganda purposes, and suicide attacks,” BPC’s report states. Two of the youths that left that day later went on to kill others in suicide attacks. And, the report says, they are not alone: youth radicalized and recruited by the group elsewhere in the country have committed similar acts.

The report finds that al-Qaeda isn’t capable of a 9/11-scaled attack that would inflict mass casualties, but threats of attacks on American soil persist. Last year was a “watershed” for domestic terrorist plots or attacks, with a “record total of 11 jihadist attacks, jihadist-inspired plots, or efforts by Americans to travel overseas to obtain terrorist training.” At least 43 American citizens or residents with ties to Sunni militant groups or ideologies were charged or convicted of terror-related crimes last year — a record since 9/11, according to the BPC.

The real threat of terror by Islamist extremists isn’t from al-Qaeda-directed attacks, the report finds (at the time of the 9/11 attack, al-Qaeda had only 200 “sworn members”). Like-minded individuals or groups planning attacks independently is where the real threat lies.

One such group is al-Shabab, which swore allegiance to Osama Bin Laden in 2009 and “has managed to plant al-Qaeda-like ideas into the heads of even its American recruits.” From the report:

Shirwa Ahmed, an ethnic Somali, graduated from high school in Minneapolis in 2003, then worked pushing passengers in wheelchairs at the Minneapolis airport. During this period Ahmed was radicalized; the exact mechanisms of that radicalization are still murky, but in late 2007 he traveled to Somalia. About a year later, on October 29, 2008, Ahmed drove a truck loaded with explosives toward a government compound in Puntland, northern Somalia, blowing himself up and killing about 20 people, including United Nations peacekeeping troops and international humanitarian assistance workers. The FBI matched Ahmed’s finger, recovered at the scene, to fingerprints already on file for him.44 Ahmed was the first American terrorist suicide attacker anywhere. It’s possible that 18-year-old Omar Mohamud of Seattle was the second. On September 17, 2009, two stolen U.N. vehicles loaded with bombs blew up at the Mogadishu airport, killing more than a dozen peacekeepers of the African Union. The FBI suspects that Mohamud was one of the bombers.

The report also notes, however, that would-be jihadists don’t fit a single ethnic profile:

[O]f the 57 Americans whose ethnicities are known who have been charged or convicted of Islamist terrorism crimes in the United States or elsewhere since January 2009, 21 percent (12) are Caucasian-Americans, 18 percent (10) are Arab-Americans, 14 percent (8) are South Asian-Americans, 9 percent (5) are African-Americans, 4 percent (2) are Hispanic-Americans and 2 percent (1) are Caribbean-American. The single largest bloc are Somali-Americans at 31 percent, a number that reflects the recent crackdown by federal authorities on support networks for Americans traveling to Somalia to fight with Shabab.

Read or download the 44-page report:

Final NSPG Threat Assessment Report Sept 2010 report w cover

Somali flag. Image: Wikipedia

The Federal Bureau of Investigation revealed more details about today’s arrests of Minnesotans accused of aiding the Somlia-based terrorist organization al-Shabab. In a press release, the agency named two women charged with conspiracy to provide material support to the group (among other charges), 33-year-old Amina Farah Ali and 63-year-old Hawa Mohamed Hassan, both of Rochester. A July indictment unsealed today charges three U.S. citizens (Abdikadir Ali Abdi, 19; Abdisalan Hussein Ali, 21; and Cabdulaahi Ahmed Faarax, 33) and two others (Farah Mohamed Beledi, 26; and Abdiweli Yassin Isse, 26) with “conspiring to and providing material support to al-Shabaab and conspiring to kill, maim, and injure persons abroad,” among other charges.

The five, along with five previously indicted Somalis in Minnesota, are charged with providing “financial support and personnel, including themselves as fighters, both to a conspiracy to kill abroad and to the foreign terrorist organization al Shabaab.” The five newly named men are believed to have traveled to Somalia in 2008 and 2009.

Ali and Hassan, reportedly the first women charged with aiding the al-Shabab group, were actively fundraising in Minnesota. From the FBI’s release:

Ali, Hassan, and others allegedly raised money for these individuals by soliciting funds door-to-door in Somali communities in Minneapolis, Rochester, and other locations in the United States and Canada. In addition, the defendants allegedly raised money by direct appeal to individuals participating in teleconferences that featured speakers who encouraged donations to support al Shabaab. Ali also allegedly raised funds under the false pretense that such funds were for the poor and needy.The indictment alleges that Ali and others transferred funds to al Shabaab through the hawala money remittance system. Ali and others allegedly used false names to identify the recipients of the funds to conceal that the funds were being provided to al Shabaab. The indictment lists 12 money transfers allegedly directed to al Shabaab by Ali.

The indictment alleges several overt acts to carry out the fund-raising conspiracy. For example, on Oct. 26, 2008, Ali allegedly hosted a teleconference in which an unindicted co-conspirator told listeners that it was not the time to help the poor and needy in Somalia; rather the priority was to give to the mujahidin. Ali and Hassan allegedly recorded $2,100 in pledges at the conclusion of the teleconference. On Feb. 10, 2009, Ali allegedly conducted another fundraising teleconference in which she told listeners to “forget about the other charities” and focus on “the jihad.”

On July 14, 2009, the day after the FBI executed a search warrant at her home, Ali allegedly contacted an unindicted co-conspirator and said, “I was questioned by the enemy here…they took all my stuff and are investigating it…do not accept calls from anyone.” The indictment further alleges that when Hassan was questioned by agents in an investigation involving international terrorism, she made false statements.

Meanwhile, on Thursday afternoon, Gov. Tim Pawlenty offered a short statement on the indictments:

“This is a stark reminder that the threat of terrorism is not limited to faraway places. We must remain aggressive and vigilant in combating terrorism both at home and abroad.”

Rep. Tim Walz, who represents the Rochester district where Ali and Hassan live, also offered a reaction:

“Terrorists around the world need to clearly understand that this country will never rest until their extremist ideology is eliminated whether it be in Somalia, Afghanistan or on the streets of Rochester. From my experience meeting with our special forces in the Horn of Africa and in meetings with the FBI held in my Rochester office, it is clear we need to remain vigilant and focused on defeating terrorism here and around the world.”

Al-Shabab's logo

Minnesotans of Somali descent are among 14 people charged with providing support for the terrorist organizaiton al-Shabab in Somalia. The AP reports two indictments unsealed this morning include names of five new people charged in an ongoing investigation, bringing the total number of individuals charged here to 19. Two Rochester residents were accused of fundraising for the group, which was designated a terrorist group by the government in 2008.

“Most of the people are U.S. citizens, with some supporting the terrorist organization from the United States and others traveling to Somalia to do so,” Pete Yost of the AP reports.

Local ties to al-Shabab (also spelled al-Shabaab) have been investigated here for nearly two years, with the case focusing on around 20 young men who disappeared, apparently to go fight in Somalia. The investigation has rattled the local Somali community and brought the attention of national and international press.

Update: The Star Tribune reports that the two Minnesota women arrested this morning are naturalized citizens named Amina Farah Ali and Hawo Mohamed Hassan:

According to a grand jury indictment unsealed in Washington D.C. Thursday, Hassan and Ali communicated by telephone with members of Al-Shabab in Somalia and then worked to raise money for the group here in Minnesota.

Advertising that their fundraising was to help the poor and needy in their homeland, the women used teleconferences to make direct appeals to others to provide financial support to Al-Shabab and its work to further jihad, or holy war, investigators said.

They then allegedly transmitted funds to Somalia using several money express companies here in Minnesota.

Update: Here’s the indictment:

35421426-Somali-Mn-Indict

Unsealed court documents have unleashed a wave of press about an American ring allied with a terror group in Somalia. Minneapolis “is the center of it,” the local FBI head tells the AP.

Elsewhere in Minnesota news this morning …

MINNEAPOLIS: Thissen chats! State Sen. Paul Thissen, a DFL gubernatorial candidate, holds a video chat at noon today. [Polinaut]

HOPKINS: Good turnout at DFL guv-race forum. Not the 11 candidates, but the capacity crowd of 700 who showed up to hear them, a year ahead of the election. [Pioneer Press]

DULUTH: Danger on the streets. Anti-abortion protesters alleged a threat by a woman with a knife Tuesday, and a car crashed into the Minnesota Teen Challenge building. [News Tribune; Northland's News Center]

KANDIYOHI COUNTY: Publicly funded taxi service to end. The final night of service is New Year’s Eve, with the last cab — inconveniently enough for rural revelers – at 9:30 p.m. [West Central Tribune]

AUSTIN: Stormy days in public safety. A police captain faces sentencing for swiping evidence, and the fire chief faces investigation for a hostile work environment. [Austin Daily Herald]

OWATONNA: Tensions persist at parent meeting. High school officials tried to quash rumors and quell fears about conflicts between white and Somali students. [Owatonna People's Press]

Somali flag (Image: Wikipedia)

Why would young Somali men living in Minnesota return to their war-ravaged homeland to wage jihad? That’s the thorny question that’s been debated by the Somali community and federal investigators since the mysterious disappearances of as many as 20 young men surfaced last year.

A new Associated Press story provides some additional insight into the tools employed by the al-Shabaab terrorist network, which is believed to be at the center of the recruiting campaign. The group, which purportedly has ties to al-Qaeda, utilized YouTube videos glorifying martyrdom, phone calls from Somalia and secret meetings in Minneapolis to entice the young men into the fold. The AP story also fingers the possible key role of a man named Zakaria Maruf:

Stephen Smith, an attorney who represents several young Somalis questioned by authorities, said his clients describe Maruf as someone with a bravado that appealed to younger men he met on the basketball court or at mosques.

Smith said one of his 18-year-old clients got a phone call from Maruf, in Somalia, asking him to join the fight. Maruf and the teenager also exchanged e-mails and had a brief conversation in a chat room, Smith said.

Smith said the teen didn’t go but felt uncomfortable turning down someone he looked up to.

Maruf’s whereabouts aren’t known. Some family members say they believe he was killed in Somalia last month, but federal officials could not confirm that.

At least three of the young men recruited to travel to Somalia have since died. Three other would-be jihadists, who eventually returned to the United States, have pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges.

Related:

‘Missing youth’ story rattles local Somali community

Are jihadist groups luring Minnesota Somalis back to fight?

The Newsweek article doesn’t contain much that hasn’t been reported locally. (Abdi Aynte wrote an excellent piece on the topic for MnIndy last month.) But it does feature speculation from (anonymous) intelligence officials that al-Shabab, a radical Somali jihadist group linked with Al-Qaida, might be involved in the recruitment drive.  The relevant passage:

Since al-Shabab is on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations, traveling to Somalia to train or fight with the group is illegal. But security officials involved in the investigation have a bigger concern—that a jihadist group able to enlist U.S. nationals to fight abroad might also be able to persuade Somali-Americans to act as sleeper agents here in the United States. Al-Shabab has no history of targeting the U.S. But the group has grown closer to Al Qaeda since the American-backed invasion of Somalia by Ethiopia in 2006. Al-Shabab has since been working with a number of non-Somali operatives wanted by the United States, including Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, an architect of the 1998 attacks on the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, according to intelligence officials.

As if to underscore the danger, early last week the FBI and Department of Homeland Security warned in a bulletin for the first time that al-Shabab might try to carry out an attack in America—timed to disrupt the presidential inauguration. A government official, who asked for anonymity discussing sensitive intelligence, tells NEWSWEEK the information came from an informant who notified security officials that people affiliated with al-Shabab might already be here. The tip-off proved to be a false alarm. Still, security officials view the bulletin and the disappearances in Minnesota as a warning that Somalia’s brew of lawlessness and radicalism might rebound on the United States. “You have to ask yourself, ‘How long is it before one of these guys comes back here and blows himself up?’” says a senior U.S. counter-terrorism official, who also wouldn’t be quoted on the record discussing intel.