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SOMALIA

Two Swedes charged for Somali terror crime plots

Two Swedish citizens of Somali origin tied to an al-Qaeda-linked extremist group were charged in Gothenburg on Friday with "planning terrorist crimes" in Somalia.

Two Swedes charged for Somali terror crime plots
The suspects supposedly had contact with al-Shabaab militants (seen here)

According to the charge sheet, Mohamoud Jama, 22, and Bille Ilias Mohamed, 26, are members of the Somali Islamist al-Shabaab, which has declared allegiance to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network and controls most of southern and central Somalia.

The two men, one arrested in Gothenburg in May and the other in Stockholm the following month, are suspected of having plotted suicide attacks in Somalia, with the aim of “murder” or “maiming” a large number of people and causing “massive damage to property,” the charge sheet said.

“There was significant danger the crimes would be carried out,” it said.

The prosecution, which based its case on interrogations of the two suspects, witness accounts and a long line of tapped telephone conversations, claimed to have proof the two men had been in contact with al-Shabaab leader Yassin Ismail Ahmed.

The recorded telephone conversations also showed that Mohamed had attended an al-Shabaab training camp in Somalia and that he aimed to “return to Somalia and wanted to become a martyr,” while Jama “was preparing for a future suicide mission,” the charge sheet said.

A clerk at the Gothenburg court told AFP the men’s trial was set to begin on October 28th and the hearings would take six days.

It remained unclear exactly when the proceedings would conclude, but likely by November 16th, with the verdict probably landing around two weeks later, the clerk said.

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SOMALIA

Swedish citizen appointed next prime minister of Somalia

A Swedish-Somali engineer has been named the new prime minister of Somalia after his predecessor was ousted by a no-confidence vote.

Swedish citizen appointed next prime minister of Somalia
Mohamed Hussein Roble, centre, came to Sweden in 1992 and got his citizenship five years later. Photo: Somali Presidents' Office
Mohamed Hussein Roble came to Sweden in 1992, shortly after the armed coup that thrust the country into its long civil war. He became a Swedish citizen five years later. 
 
In 2000, he gained his masters in Environmental Technology and Sustainable Infrastructure from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. 
 
Most recently, he has been working for the International Labour Organisation in Nairobi, Kenya. 
 
 
Roble's appointment was announced by President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed on Friday, with Abdinur Mohamed, his deputy chief of staff tweeting out a picture of the new prime minister on Friday. 
The appointment still needs to be confirmed by a vote of country's parliament. 
 
In a statement, President Farmajo called on Roble to “immediately form a capable government that will lead the country to elections and make significant efforts to consolidate security gains, rebuild the armed forces, develop infrastructure, expand basic services.” 
 
 
 
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