Why Somalians?

One of the noticeable features of immigration under the last labour government was the appearance of Somali men, women and children all over London. It always struck me as odd as Somalia had no real connection with the UK, it was never part of the British Empire for example. Historically Kenyans (especially Kenyan Asians), Ghanaians and others from former countries of the Empire had immigrated into the UK from Africa but now Somalians were coming. This fact might just be an interesting footnote were it not only for for the fact that Somalia is a war zone and has been for many years but also because Somalis living in Britain are being discovered fighting in Somalia. Over the last few days I have read of two British residents, the British government is said to be unsure if they are citizens (a story in itself there), who have been killed in Somalia whilst fighting for Al-Quaeda. One, Bilal al-Berjawi was killed on the outskirts of Mogadishu on Saturday when his car was hit by three missiles. Mr Berjawi was said to be responsible for recruitment, training and tactics for the Islamist group al-Shabab, which is fighting the weak UN-backed government. Al-Shabab claimed that Mr Berjawi, who had Lebanese origins, grew up in Britain and had fought in Afghanistan before going to Somalia.

Is this the new role of Britain, to provide a safe haven for Islamist fighters to recuperate in between foreign wars on behalf of Islam against Western troops, maybe even British ones? What will the UK government do if/when they decide to bring the battle to the streets of the UK?