11 Oct 2011 – Morning headlines
Key Headlines:
- TFG / AMISOM secure remaining al Shabaab strongholds in Mogadishu
- TFG and AMISOM commence operations to secure final sector of Mogadishu
- Erdoğan calls for more security aid for famine-stricken Somalia
- Al Shabaab divided over the killing of former District Commissioner in Gedo
- Somalia peacekeepers win control of Mogadishu district
- Somalia Islamists al Shabaab ‘driven out of Mogadishu’
PRESS STATEMENT
TFG / AMISOM secure remaining al Shabaab strongholds in Mogadishu
10 Oct- Source: AMISOM- 203 words
In operations lasting 48hrs, combined TFG and AMISOM forces have pushed forward and taken the remaining Al Shabaab strongholds in the far North East of Mogadishu. AMISOM can confirm that the former Pasta Factory and critical junction, Ex Control Bal’ad, are now in Government hands. Operations will now focus on the environs of the city and policing within the liberated areas.
AMISOM Spokesman, Lt Colonel Paddy Ankunda, said: “Our joint operations have gone extremely well today and over the weekend. Casualties have been thankfully very low on our side, with just one killed and six minor injuries. The outer North and Eastern fringes of the city must still be cleared, but key ground and buildings are no longer under the control of the extremists. “It has been a big achievement to remove Al Shabaab from the city, and put an end to the fighting that disrupted so many lives. But the challenge is now to protect civilians from the sort of terror attack we saw last week, as they attempt to rebuild their lives. This is a very different challenge and one that requires all of us to work together with the Government, to be vigilant and to reject criminal and lawless behaviour wherever we find it.”
SOMALI MEDIA
TFG and AMISOM commence operations to secure final sector of Mogadishu
10 Oct- Source: Radio Bar-kulan, Radio Mogadishu- 245 words
The Somali government and the African Union Peacekeeping forces in Mogadishu have yesterday said that they are commencing operations to secure the remaining parts of the capital. In a statement sent to the media, TFG and AMISOM said the Somali National Army, supported by AMISOM, have undertaken operations in North of Mogadishu.
Somali community in SA raise funds for IDPs
10 Oct- Source: Radio Mogadishu- 160 words
The Somali community residing in South Africa on Sunday met in Johannesburg to raise funds for the Somali IDP’s in Mogadishu. Somalis residing in nearly all regions of South Africa came out in large numbers and raised funds to assist close to six hundred thousand IDP’s who have flocked to Mogadishu after fleeing the devastating drought in other Somali regions.
Al Shabaab divided over the killing of former District Commissioner in Gedo
10 Oct- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 120 words
The al Shabaab group in Gedo is reportedly sharply divided over the recent killing of the former Beled-hawo district commissioner Ahmed Mohamed Yussuf alias Burkus, who died of gun wounds he sustained after he was attacked by hooded al Shabaab fighters in Beled-hawo town.Well-informed sources in the region add that the division may result physical confrontation within the militant group.
Two pirates killed in Puntland battle
10 Oct- Source: Somaliareport- 44 words
At least three people were killed, including two Somali pirates, and five others were injured as fighting between the security forces of the semi-autonomous state of Puntland and Somali pirates took place in Burtinle district of Nugaal region on Sunday night, an official said.
Parents call on Angolan authorities to free Somalis
10 Oct- Source: Radio Mogaidhu, Rissala, Sonna- 184 words
Somalis imprisoned in Angola complain of inhumane conditions in the prisons with the Angolan security being slow to answer their plea, with hundreds of Somali immigrants said to be languishing in the West African country prisons. Parents who spoke to Radio Mogadishu narrated their tribulations and the seemingly endless agony that they encountered since they were jailed by Angolan police.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Security alert at Kenya’s border points, says Kenyan minister
10 Oct- Source: Nairobi Star- 376 words
Security agencies are on high alert along Kenya’s borders to ensure criminal gangs do not enter the country, Internal Security minister George Saitoti has said. Saitoti said the intensified surveillance is meant to ensure no illegal immigrants or criminals enter the country unnoticed.
http://www.the-star.co.ke/
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia peacekeepers win control of Mogadishu district
10 Oct- Source: Reuters- 127 words
African peacekeepers and Somali government forces flushed Islamist rebels out of one of the few pockets of the capital Mogadishu still under militant control, a spokesman for the peacekeeping force said on Monday. Residents said artillery shells from both sides rained down on Huriwa, one of two suburbs in north Mogadishu where the U.N.-backed government exercises no control.
Somalia Islamists al Shabaab ‘driven out of Mogadishu’
10 Oct – Source: BBC – 416 words
“We control the whole of Mogadishu,” AU Gen Fred Mugisha told the BBC. He said that Somali government forces also took part in the offensive. One African Union soldier and eight civilians were killed in the fighting, reports say.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
Militant Strongholds Captured
10 Oct – Source: New York Time / AP – 77 words
The African Union peacekeeping force said its troops took over the last militant strongholds in the northern end of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on Monday. At least eight civilians and one African Union soldier were killed. African Union and government forces attacked militant positions after militant shelling killed at least 12 civilians killed over the weekend, the African Union said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/
Erdoğan calls for more security, aid for famine-stricken Somalia
11 Oct – Source: Todays Zaman – 466 words
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on world nations to step up efforts to increase the security in strife-torn country to secure the safe flow of aid to the famine-hit Somalia.
AU, Somali forces seize Mogadishu rebel bases
10 Oct – Source: AP – 600 words
African Union and Somali government forces on Monday seized strategic positions from Islamist insurgents in an offensive to flush out the last pockets of rebellion in Mogadishu. The drive came nearly a week after the insurgents carried out their worst ever suicide attack in the Somali capital, killing at least 82 people and demonstrating they were still able to wreak havoc deep inside the city.
Italian vessel hijacked by pirates off Somali coast
10 Oct – Source: AFP- 173 words
An Italian vessel carrying 23 crew members was hijacked by five pirates about 620 miles east of the Somali coast on Monday, the D’Alesio shipping company said. “There has been no contact with the ship since 6:44 (0444 GMT) this morning,” when the captain sent a message saying the vessel was under attack and he had activated “the security operating procedure,” the company said.
OPINION/EDITORIAL/CULTURE
Dismantle Kenyan al Shabaab
10 Oct- Source: Eastern African- 154 words
The recent abductions of two tourists from the Kenyan Coastal holiday haven of Lamu by gunmen believed to be associated with the Somali militia group al Shabaab are a sign of things to come. With al Shabaab having been kicked out of Mogadishu, Kenyan authorities ought to have known that the group was going to hit back against the perceived friends of the Somali Transitional Federal Government.