03 Oct 2011 – Morning headlines
Key Headlines:
- 300 youths quit al Shabaab
- Somali president lauds Turkey in Kızılay camp visit
- Somali government did not endorse or support Peter King’s hearings
- Somali government to increase patrolling of IDP camps
- Mogadishu mayor: Security and sanitation must be improved
- Security Council calls for increase in African peace force in Somalia to 12000
- Radio Bar-Kulan: front runner in peace-building says Somali Football Federation
PRESS RELEASES
Somali government did not endorse or support Peter King’s hearings
02 Oct – Source: TFG – 247 words
United States Representative Peter T. King, Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, recently published on his website that Somali Government supports Peter King’s hearings. The Somali Government never supported the series of hearings that Peter King convened in March. The Prime Minister of Somalia, Dr Abdiweli Mohamed Ali was surprised to learn that U.S. Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY) publicized that the Somali Government assured him of its full support and cooperation in his hearings.
Somali Government condemns Peter King’s controversial and extreme views and under no circumstances would support or cooperate with him in this issue. The Prime Minister of Somalia stated: “Somali Government will never support Peter King’s series of investigations focusing exclusively on Islam. Our Government will not support or cooperate with someone who is controversial and had partisan views. We, the Government of Somalia can only support for non-partisan views and any crime should be looked as individual and anyone committing crime has no place in our society and should face fair and objective trial without discriminating a segment of the society.”
Somali Government is in the frontline of terrorism, and will do everything to stop terrorism in our soil and around the globe, however, under no circumstance we support individuals that are clearly discriminating and labeling Muslims as terrorists. Somali Government asks U.S. Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY) to remove the statement on his website claiming that Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali joins in supporting the hearings. This is a total fabrication.
Somali government to increase patrolling of IDP camps
01 Oct – Source: TFG – 296 words
The Ministry of Interior and National Security has ordered an increase in the number of Special Forces and Community Police patrolling IDP camps in Mogadishu during the day and night in an attempt to decrease violence and sexual exploitation against IDPs. The decision came after a group of Ministers paid a visit to Badbado Camp, Mogadishu’s largest IDP camp. The Ministers went to the camp to find out the living conditions in the camp for themselves and were briefed by the National Disaster Management Agency and had a face-toface meeting with some IDPs.
The Minister for Women and Family Care, H.E. Mariam Aweis Jama, has appreciated how the life in the camp has improved positively in terms of livelihood and security in the last couple of months. She has, however, acknowledged that there was one incident of rape in the camp. She said: “We are saddened by any incidence of rape in IDP camps in Mogadishu, even if there is one case, and extend our sympathy to those who may have suffered. There must be a return to basic human rights and women must not be left vulnerable to such attacks.” Deputy Minister for Interior and National Security, H.E. Abdulhakim Ige Guled, said: “We have deployed professional police in the camps to deal with the people decently. They have been doing a good job but it is possible to do better. We will also increase the number of community police in the camps and anyone suspected of crimes against IDP’s will be prosecuted if there is enough evidence.”
The Minister of Information, Posts and Telecommunications, H.E. Abdulkadir H. Mohamed (Jahweyn) told that the Government takes the aid delivery and the security in IDP camps very seriously and would not tolerate any acts of violence against the IDPs.
SOMALI MEDIA
300 youths quit al-Shabaab
01 Oct- Source: Radio Mogadishu, Sonna- 195 words
More than 300 youths who have defected from the Al-Shabaab extremists group and formed a political party and denounced violence and suffering against the Somali people. The youths told Radio Mogadishu that they were tired of fighting the innocent Somali population and opted to rather form a political group after witnessing the deadly killings inflicted on the Somali people.
Radio Bar-Kulan: front runner in peace-building, says Somali Football Federation
01 Oct – Source: Bar-Kulan – 272 words
The Somali Football Federation (SFF) recognized Radio Bar-Kulan as the frontrunner in peacebuilding efforts through football programmes in Somalia. In a press statement issued on Tuesday, September 27th, from Mogadishu, the president of the Somali Football Federation, Said Mahmoud Nur, said RBK played a key role in encouraging peace programs in the country to guide youth and keep it from falling into the hands of criminals.
Final Communiqu頯f the 20th meeting of the ICG on Somalia
01 Oct – Source: Shabelle – 342 words
The 20th meeting of the International Contact Group on Somalia (ICG) was held under the chairmanship of the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Mr. Augustine Mahiga, from 29 to 30 September 2011 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The ICG expressed its deep concern about the drought and famine, which is causing widespread suffering for Somalis.
http://www.shabelle.net/article.php?id=11429
Al Shabaab shut down telecom operations in Kismayo and Jowhar
02 Oct- Source: Radio Bar-kulan, radio Mogadishu, Risaala- 117 words
Al Shabaab militias in Lower and Middle Shabelle have ordered to close the telecommunication operations of Nation Link and Telecom Somalia in these regions. An official of one of the closed telecom companies said it was forced to shut down their transmitters in Jowhar and Kismayo cities. Meanwhile, al-Shabaab has ordered the closure of Dahabshiil money transfer offices in Kismayo and Jowhar. Only Hormuud Telecommunication is now operating in the two regions.
43 killed in insurgent fighting in Lower Jubba, Gedo regions
01 Oct – Source: Garowe Online – 211 words
More than 43 people have been killed and 77 wounded in days of fighting in southern Somalia’s Lower Jubba and Gedo regions last week, Garowe reports. Heavy fighting rocked towns in Gedo region, neighboring the Kenyan border, opposing pro-government militias nominally and al Shabaab insurgents.
http://www.garoweonline.com/artman2/publish/Somalia_27/Somalia_43_killed_in_insurgent_fig hting_in_Lower_Jubba_Gedo_regions.shtml
Ras Kamboni militia and TFG troops still control Dhobley town, Lower Jubba
30 Sept- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 259 words
A pro-government militia in southern Somalia, the Ras Kamboni group, has claimed that its fighters and government troops have pushed back al Shabaab fighters who launched a fresh offensive in the border town of Dhobley on Friday morning.
ASWJ urges al Shabaab to choose path of peace
03 Oct- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 129 words
The moderate Islamist group Ahlu Sunna Wal-Jama’a in Central Somalia has called for al Shabaab fighters to stop fighting against its militias and the TFG and choose the “path of peace”, saying it will make persistent efforts for peace with Somalia’s al-Qaida linked militants.
Mogadishu mayor: Security and sanitation must be improved
01 Oct – Source: Shabelle – 131 words
The mayor of Mogadishu on Saturday urged the local residents to work on the security and sanitation of Benadir region. Mohamoud Ahmed Nur Tarzan made the comments while addressing a meeting held in the capital and attended by most of Mogadishu’s district commissioners.
http://www.shabelle.net/article.php?id=11453
Fighting in Mogadishu kills 5, injures 10 others
01 Oct – Source: Mareeg Online – 103 words
Heavy fighting between pro-government soldiers occurred in Dharkenlay district in Mogadishu last Saturday afternoon, killing 5 people and wounding 10 others, reports said.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.php?sid=21246&tirsan=3
Massive cleanliness campaign ongoing in Mogadishu
01 Oct – Source: Radio Mogadishu, Sonna- 159 words A massive campaign to clean up the local streets was officially launched last Saturday in some parts of the capital.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Manufacturing a famine: How Somalia crisis became a fund-raising opportunity
02 Oct – Source : East African News – 593 words
On July 18 this year, the United Nations Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea tabled a report to the UN Security Council which stated that UN agencies, international humanitarian aid organisations and local Somali NGO’s had been forced to move their operations or cease them entirely in many parts of Somalia due to “an alarming void in international humanitarian aid and development assistance” and because of “threats from al Shabaab”.
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/How+Somalia+crisis++became+a+fund+raising+opportuni ty+/-/2558/1246690/-/oe8n10/-/index.html
Kenya declares war against militia groups
02 Oct- Source: KBC- 335 words
The Kenya government has declared war against militia groups who kidnapped an elderly French woman from the north Kenyan coast. Tourism Minister Najib Balala said Saturday’s high-seas standoff that took place near Kenya’s border with Somalia, where the militia was firing into the air in an attempt to scare off the vessels was a point of concern for Kenya’s burgeoning tourism sector.
http://www.kbc.co.ke/news.asp?nid=72719
Kenya beefs up Somali border security
30 Sept- Source: Daily Nation- 343 words
Kenya on Friday deployed extra security on its border with Somalia as fighting between al Shabaab insurgents and government forces raged near its border. Tension was high in Liboi on Friday as more than 700 refugees arrived in the Kenyan town fleeing the fighting between al Shabaab and Somalia government soldiers in Dobley.
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Kenya+beefs+up+Somali+border+security+/-/1056/1245886/- /co4181/-/
Critical gaps remain in African Union mission mandate in Somalia: envoy
01 Oct- Source: Coastweek,Xinhua- 251 words
Elmi Ahmed Duale, the permanent representative of Somalia to the UN, said on Friday that “we still have some concerns,” saying that there are critical gaps remaining in the support package for the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
http://www.coastweek.com/3439_somalia.htm
Security Council renews African Union mission mandate in Somalia
01 Oct- Source: Coastweek, Xinhua- 384 words
The UN Security Council on Friday voted unanimously to renew the mandate of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) as well as its support package for the mission. All 15 members of the council voted for Security Council resolution 2010, which will keep AMISOM on the ground until at least Oct. 31, 2012.
http://www.coastweek.com/3439_somalia.htm
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Security Council calls for increase in African peace force in Somalia to 12,000
30 Sept- Source: UN- 670 words
The Security Council today called on the African Union to urgently increase the strength of its peacekeeping force in Somalia to its mandated level of 12,000 to enable it to better carry out its United Nations-authorized mandate to stabilize the war-torn country.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=39900&Cr=somalia&Cr1=
Somali president lauds Turkey in Kızılay camp visit
02 Oct – Source: Todays Zaman News – 282 words
Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed praised Turkey’s outpouring of support and humanitarian aid during a visit to a camp erected by aid organization Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) in the capital, Mogadishu, on Sunday, reported the Anatolia news agency. Kizilay officials briefed Ahmed during his visit on the logistics of the Hayat tent camp, located in the Jazeera region.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-258599–somali-president-lauds-turkey-in-kizilay-campvisit. html
Kidnappers bring disabled Frenchwoman to Somalia
01 Oct- Source: AFP- 713 words
Gunmen who snatched a disabled 66-year-old Frenchwoman from her beachfront home in a prized Kenyan resort have taken her to neighbouring war-torn Somalia, officials said on Sunday. With Kenyan forces obliged to stop their pursuit at the border and officials suspecting Somalia’s al Shabaab, chances dimmed of a quick release for the woman, named as Marie Dedieu.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gqsyur7Mj0pTlLfVMK4ohqr2CjQ? docId=CNG.ac8b01f8532f72cab538cddd4bfda440.881
US women accused of terror financing face trial
02 Oct – Source: AP – 659 words
One of two Minnesota women accused of funneling money to a terrorist group in Somalia allegedly told potential donors to ignore charities and focus on “the jihad” and helped finance local Somali men’s travel to their war-torn homeland to fight, prosecutors alleged in court filings.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5if0xsctVknmgg7BVrrp9- f65HJFQ?docId=da21823bfd304bdbabeacbc471e02cf3
Somalia’s al Shabaab launches offensive in south
30 Sept- Source: Reuters- 580 words
Somali militants launched an offensive on border towns in southern Somalia, killing government troops, residents and officials said on Friday. In what Western powers considered a strategic victory, government troops and African peacekeepers last month drove al Shabaab rebels out of Mogadishu, as the group suffered from internal divisions, a reported lack of combatants and funding shortages.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/09/30/uk-somalia-fighting-idUKTRE78T1RJ20110930
BLOGS/EDITORIAL/CULTURE
Jerry Rawlings: AU commits to more Somalia support
03 Oct- Source: Daily Monitor, by Jerry Rawlings – 369 words
We meet as the International Contact Group (ICG) on Somalia, at a time of significant improvement in the political and security situation in Somalia. We have chalked successes in the battle for Mogadishu. There is still a battle for the rest of South Central Somalia to be won. There is yet more to be done to mitigate the humanitarian situation on the ground.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/OpEd/Commentary/-/689364/1246000/-/12qsnp0z/-/index.html
Secure Somalia border
30 Sept- Source: Daily Nation- 182 words
Fierce fighting is reported along the Kenya-Somali border as forces of the Transitional Federal Government pursue irregulars from the al Shabaab militia. Already there has been a sharp surge in already high refugee movement into Kenya. It is for legitimate national security duties that Kenya has moved large numbers of military and police to the border area.
In such conflicts, spill-over of fighting into Kenya from Somalia is a common feature, and it is the Governments responsibility to ensure that no Kenyan is harmed from fighting across the border.
http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Editorial/Secure+Somalia+border+/-/440804/1245882/-/10hpjaiz/-/