A very strange case – the British man arrested in Somalia
The latest arrest in Somalia of a British man alleged to be a member of al-Shabaab is an unusual case, writes reporter Jamal Osman.
The latest arrest in Somalia of a British man alleged to be a member of al-Shabaab is an unusual case, writes reporter Jamal Osman.
As soon as reports of a British man’s arrest in Somalia on suspicion of links to the Islamist group, al-Shabaab, came yesterday, local government officials got excited.
“A British man linked to al-Shabaab is in our hands,” police spokesman Abdullahi Barise said.
For sometime now, Somalia’s transitional federal government and African Union troops have been fighting against the Somali Islamist group, which last month said that it had joined with al-Qaeda.
And the Somali government, which receives international support, thought the arrest of the British man would prove that the country is the primary destination for foreign jihadists, which might lead to further funding.
But it appears they are dealing with a strange case, and can’t figure out the man’s motivations for coming to Somalia.
He told reporters that he was discriminated against in Britain, where his civil liberty and human rights were abused and he “just wanted to find somewhere peaceful, sunny… and nice.”
“Ok, I’ll be honest with you,” he said. “I’ve read stories on Kenya, on Mombasa. Mombasa is a holiday Mecca for Europeans to go there, have a laugh. Ideally, I wanted to see Mombasa and overland to Kismayo. But I couldn’t get a flight there. When I was a child, that’s all I wanted to see. I wanted to travel. The flight – I couldn’t do it – so I had to do it the long hard way.”
Mogadishu is certainly sunny but it is also one of most dangerous places in the world.
The suspect, who travelled from the UK via Nairobi in Kenya, was named as Cleve Everton Dennis, and is still being investigated by Somali authorities.
There have been other British-linked cases in the past. Jermaine Grant, from east London, was arrested in Mombasa, Kenya’s seaside city, in December and has been charged with possessing bomb-making equipment.
In October last year, two 18-year-old men from Cardiff were arrested after trying to walk across the border between Kenya and Somalia.
Kenyan police are also still hunting for a woman believed to be Samantha Lewthwaite, the widow of 7/7 bomber Germaine Lindsay, over her alleged connections to a bomb plot in Mombasa.
According to a recent Royal United Services Institute report, about 50 British citizens are thought to be among the-200-strong foreigners fighting with al-Shabaab .
Britain considers Somalia a direct threat to its own security because of the presence of British fighters, among the group.
www.jamalosman.com
Follow @jamalmosman on Twitter