Minn. Somali: Resources Needed To Stop Recruiting
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A member of a Somali-American youth group in Minnesota says the federal government should fund programs to prevent youth from being recruited into terrorist groups.
Mohamed Farah is president of Ka Joog, a Somali youth group in Minnesota. He testified Thursday at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing about the threat of al-Shabaab.
Farah says the number one issue in the Somali community is the recruitment of youth. Since 2007, at least 22 young men have left Minnesota to join al-Shabaab in Somalia. Farah says the U.S. spends millions of dollars to fight terrorism overseas, and some of that money should go toward local prevention efforts.
Farah tells The Associated Press his group and other local efforts can't fight al-Shabaab's "cancerous ideology" alone.
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