U.S. Congressman Donald Payne's Plane Narrowly Misses Mortar Attack Launched by Somali Insurgents in Mogadishu

BBC Photo: Donald Payne (L) met Somalia's president and prime minister

For some odd reason, the Somali insurgents think they have a platform on which to seek negotiations with the United States and other countries. These men are nothing but armed thugs and should be treated as such. Apparently, due to the recent rescue of Maersk Alabama container ship captain Richard Phillips, U.S. congressman Donald Payne narrowly escaped harm on his recent visit to Mogadishu after Somali insurgents fired mortars towards his plane as it was about to take off. Mr Payne had just met leaders of Somalia's virtually nonexistent government, in the capital. He had discussed ways that the international community might be able to help war-torn Somalia.

Abukar Hassan, a police officer at Mogadishu airport, told Reuters news agency: "One mortar landed at the airport when Payne's plane was due to fly and five others after he left and no-one was hurt." Three people were wounded when one of the mortars hit a nearby neighbourhood, residents told Reuters.

Mr Payne had met President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, among other Somali officials. Payne, a New Jersey Democrat, said it was his first visit to Somalia since the early 1990s, when the country last had a stable government.

During his brief stop in one of the world's most dangerous cities, Mr Payne was escorted by African Union (AU) soldiers, who are deployed in Somalia on a peacekeeping mission. Radical Islamist guerrillas committed to toppling the fragile transitional federal government control parts of the capital and much of central and southern Somalia.

Seventy-four-year-old Mr Payne is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's subcommittee on Africa and global health and a former head of the Congressional Black Caucus. The former top US diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, became the first high-ranking American official to visit Somalia in more than a decade when she landed in Baidoa in 2007, but the security situation kept her from visiting Mogadishu. Source: BBC News

Somalia, which has a population of about eight million people has not had a formal government in place since scumbag warlords overthrew President Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other. So, what these insurgents are saying is that the US and other countries need to meet their demands of robbing innocent ships laden with cargo and other goods. They are sadly deluded into thinking they are in a position of power.