Somalia, Sudan, and the Jihad

Osama released another video, and this latest one exhorts his minions to continue attacks in Iraq, Somalia, and elsewhere so that the infidel West cannot win. He's acknowledging that the battle in Iraq is central, but it is not the only battleground. He's returning to his roots in seeking to build on the situation in Sudan and Somalia.

Mogadishu is in the hands of the Islamists, and the entire country is as lawless as it comes. If there's a picture of failed state in the dictionary, Somalia would be exhibit A.

The African Union recognizes the problems, and are considering sending a peacekeeping force to try and stabilize the country. Osama recognizes the threat to jihad if peacekeepers are present. So, he's going to try and do everything possible to prevent that from happening.

We will fight [US] soldiers on the land of Somalia... and we reserve the right to punish it on its land and anywhere possible," the speaker says. "We warn all of the countries in the world not to respond to America by sending international troops to Somalia."

The speaker condemns Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, president of Somalia's secular interim government, as a "traitor" and "renegade".

Al Qaeda needs a base of operations considering just how well their last two bases of operation have been eliminated. Somalia is a potential safe haven that al Qaeda needs in order to reconstitute itself after getting pasted in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sudan is another target for the jihadis and Khartoum has refused to let the UN deal with the Darfur peacekeeping mission. The AU will continue for now, but the situation remains dire.

African leaders agreed on Sunday to extend their military mission in Darfur, after U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan failed to persuade Sudan to allow in international peacekeepers to try to end years of bloodshed.

But Annan said he expected a U.N. peacekeeping force, widely seen as the only way to end a crisis in which tens of thousands have died, to be deployed eventually.

And what can only be symettry in bizarro world, Sudan is demanding that the UN take action against Israel if Israel doesn't comply with UN resolutions. Never mind the fact that the Sudanese government is liable and responsible for the genocide and ethnic cleansing within its own borders to the butchers' bill of several hundred thousand dead and millions displaced. All this comes on the heels of yet more reports (this time from Mia Farrow - yes that Mia Farrow) calling the situation dire.