Minneapolis Somali men

The NYTimes blog Room-for-Debate has an ongoing series of posts about the missing Somali men from Minneapolis and related issues.

Missing Somali men

Here's the latest on the investigation into the missing Somali men:

In late 2007, when the first of about a dozen Somali men from Minnesota began to travel to their homeland to fight in a bloody civil war, a tempest was building in the Twin Cities Somali community. Many Somali-Americans were upset about Ethiopian troops that invaded their homeland.

A Twin Cities group called the United Somali Diaspora organized and videotaped the rally, in November of 2007, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The main purpose was to raise awareness of the Ethiopian invasion.

But one keynote speaker, a middle-aged man in a cream-colored suit, seemed to cross the line.

Zakariya Abdi, who was bent on pushing the Ethiopians out and taking down Somalia's transitional government, encouraged Somalis in Minnesota to fight.

"Enlist yourselves. Come to see us in Asmara," Abdi said to the crowd. "Let us get to know each other. We will offer training. Then whoever wants to fight for two months, like the Eritreans used to do, can then go back to school."

The latest on the missing Somali men

From the Strib: A second one of them has died in Somalia. (The first committed a suicide bombing.)

FBI raid on Minneapolis money transfer businesses

The Star Tribune reports that the FBI has raided several money transfer businesses in Minneapolis. No word yet on whether these raids have anything to do with the missing young Somali men.