http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/world/africa/20briefs-somalia.html

March 20, 2008

Somalia: Militants Glad to Be on U.S. List

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Islamic militants in Somalia welcomed being added to the United States' list of terrorist organizations, saying they wished only that the designation had come sooner. The State Department announced Tuesday that it added to its list the military wing of the Council of Islamic Courts, called Al Shabab, or the Youth, because it is affiliated with Al Qaeda, according to American officials. "We are happy that the U.S. put us on its list of terrorists, a name given to pure Muslims who are strong and clear in their religious position," Sheik Muqtar Robow, Al Shabab's spokesman, said. "We would have been happy to be the first, but now we are unhappy that we are the last," he said. Mogadishu, the Somali capital, has been engulfed in violence involving movement fighters, who controlled much of southern Somalia for six months before being driven out in December 2006 by the country's Western-backed government and its Ethiopian allies. On Wednesday, heavy fighting in Mogadishu killed at least eight people, including three Ethiopian soldiers, witnesses said.