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British Somalis and al Shebab, Sri Lanka's war and your suggestions

by Tony Cross

Article published on the 2009-09-25 Latest update 2009-09-26 07:58 TU

Young fighters from al Shebab come together to count their bullets at a frontline section in Sinaya Neighborhood in Mogadishu
(Photo: AFP)

Are Somalis in the UK being recruited by Islamist militias in their country of origin? Or is the MP who makes the charge "a Tory prat"? Is Sri Lanka mistreating Tamils in displaced persons' camps? And should RFI have a feedback programme for Africans and an Urdu-language service?

Allegations by a British Conservative MP that British Somalis are being recruited to fight for al Shebab Islamist militias have angered the London Muslim blog.

Patrick Mercer told RFI that “there seems to be a steady stream of young men who are going to Somalia now, apparently for subversive reasons”.

London Muslim, which doesn’t seem to have much time for Mercer, says that he provides “not a shred of evidence” for the claim and dubs him a “useless Tory prat and rent a quote”.

“While London Muslim does not underestimate the challenges of integrating one of Britain's newest immigrant communities, comments from that well known racist Tory MP attempting to stigmatise and stereotype a large proportion of decent law abiding citizens is at best not helpful and at worse a pathetic attempt to appeal to the racist audience who love to feed off fear,” the blog thunders.

Debate on the aftermath of the Sri Lankan government war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continues.

A Sri Lankan journalist who prefers to remain anonymous tells us that the Defence Ministry has asked German police to help them look into  Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka. The group made public a controversial video alleging atrocities during the fighting but the government claims it is a fake.  

“According to human rights minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, the defence ministry has found out that several Sri Lankan journalists who had fled to Germany are involved in JDS,” the Colombo Today website reports.

And, he sends us the link to Human rights server website, which alleges that there are “atrocious conditions” in the camps which hold 280,000 Tamils evacuated from the war zone three months ago.

“Northeast Sri Lanka has been closed to the rest of the country for three years,” points out Puni Selva, who sends links to accounts of fact-finding missions by religious bodies.

This week some of you have suggestions for RFI’s programming.

“I am requesting RFI to initiate a programme that we can have our say especially on weekends where we can participate and give our ideas according to the day's topic,” proposes Abdu Sulaiman Ssemegunyi of Kampala. “We can call it ‘Africa what is on your mind’.

"I shall be very grateful in case we are given that chance.”

The idea has been forwarded to the appropriate people. In the meantime, Abdu and all other Africans, please let us know what is on your mind via the website and/or our Facebook page, if you have access to them.

“I visited your website but I did not seen Urdu language on your site,” writes a disappointed Muhammad Zubair of Lahore. “Is it possible that you made a link for Urdu riders? Because Urdu is a language of large number of peoples in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Iran and also in Afghanistan. Sir this is my request that you think abut my suggestion.”

Muhammad is not the first Pakistani to suggest an Urdu service, but, at present, RFI has no plans to establish one.

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