15 Jun 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- Ahlu Sunna says Fazul was killed in conspiracy
- Clinton: Al Shabaab facing tough times
- Senior al Shabaab leader killed in Garbaharey Gedo region
- Somali Police released a number of people arrested yesterday
- Eight million in Horn of Africa need food aid: UN
Titres Principaux:
- Ahlu Sunna affirment que la mort de Fazul a été orchestrée par al Shabaab
- Clinton: al Shabaab mis en difficulté
- Un chef principal d’al Shabaab tué à Garbaharey région de Gedo
- La police Somalienne libère plusieurs personnes arrêtées hier
- Huit millions de personnes dans la Corne de l’Afrique ont besoin d’assistance selon l’ONU
SOMALI MEDIA
Tension rises between al Shabaab, government soldiers in Gedo
15 Jun – Source: Mareeg Online – 177 words
The tense situation between the TFG troops and al Shabaab fighters has risen to parts of the areas around Garbaharey and Burdhobo district of Gedo region in southern Somalia, witnesses said on Wednesday. Fighting between the al Shabaab and the government troops backed by Ahlu Sunna waljam’a took place near Garbaharey town yesterday as al Shabaab fighters attacked the military bases of the government troops there, killing 3 while several others wounded. Locals said that the fighting between the two rivals was inevitable, pointing out that there could be more military movements in both Bur-dhubo and Garbahrey district in Gedo region.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.php?sid=20012&tirsan=3
Al Shabaab killed two young men in Hiiraan, arrested people in Lower Juba and Galagudud regions
15 Jun – Source: Radio Bar-kulan, Hiiraan Online, Radio Shabelle, and Somalia report – 82 words
Al Shabaab killed two young men around Mahas village of Hiiraan region and local residents believe that al Shabaab is retaliating against the people in the area for not supporting al Shabaab’s distorted ideology. In Kismayo, Lower Juba region, al Shabaab arrested almost 10 women and youths. The women were accused of wearing Batik dresses and the youth were accused of watching pornographic movies. Al Shabaab also arrested 11 people in search operations for committing un-Islamic acts in Elbur District of Galmudug region of central Somalia.
Clinton: Al Shabaab facing tough times
14 Jun – Source: Radio BBC Somali Service – 87 words
Speaking in the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has urged African leaders to either embrace democratic reforms in their countries or face what is going on in the Arab world. The Somali ambassador to the AU told the BBC Somali Service that Mrs Clinton has said that al Shabaab was facing tough times. She also commended TFG troops and the peacekeepers of the African Union Mission in Somalia, AMISOM, for killing Fazul Abdalla, the al-Qaeda’s leader in East Africa.
Security operations continue in Bosaso City
14 Jun – Source: Garowe online – 131 words
These security operations came after a Puntland official named Ahmed Haji Doon (Tiibo-tiibo) was assassinated near the al Rawda Mosque in port city of Bosaso over night. “The witnesses stated that the assailants escaped from the scene immediately after shooting”. The security forces started investigation operations to confirm the identity of the murderers; meanwhile operations are underway, Radio Garowe Reports. Deputy police chief of Puntland Col.Mohamed Said Jaqanaf told the reporters that they took in custody more than 100 suspected individuals and that “most of them are youth” he added.
Somaliland leader opened three-day workshop in Hargeisa
14 Jun – Source: Radio BBC Somali Service – 66 words
The president of the self-declared state of Somaliland Mohamed Mohamud Silanyo has opened a three-day workshop in the capital Hargeysa, to deliberate on ways of reforming the country’s judiciary. The president, Mohamud Silanyo, said that the judiciary there was not performing up to the required standards. The BBC’s correspondent in Hargeisa said that Mr Silanyo thanked the international organizations that attended the opening ceremony.
Mogadishu traditional elder calls for violent rallies to be stopped
15 Jun – Source: Shabelle – 136 words
Ahmed Diriye Ali, the spokesman of Mogadishu Traditional Elders, on Wednesday called for the people to stop holding violent rallies in support of Somalia’s popular Prime Minister Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed. Mogadishu protestors are refusing that the prime minister leaves the office at this important time. Ali stated that the president of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and his premier said the Kampala accord will go before the parliament for approval or refusal. He said that the demonstrators and organizers are needed to wait for the parliament’s first session discussing the dismissal of Somali prime minister and extending government’s mandate for one year.
http://www.shabelle.net/article.php?id=7608
Ahlu Sunna says Fazul was killed in conspiracy
15 Jun – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 214 words
The Ahlu Sunna Wal jama`a group said their intelligence services received information revealing that al Shabaab were behind the killing of Fazul Abdalla who was killed by the government forces in the control of Afgoye. The spokesman of Ahlu Sunna Sheikh Abdirahman Abu Yussuf who was interviewed by radio Bar-kulan said their intelligence stumbled upon information indicating that the senior al Shabaab groups have intentionally mislead Abdalla, a conspiracy that lead to his killing.
The spokesman said Fazul Abdalla came to reshuffle the top ranks of the group, among them Ahmed Godane. The senior leaders were reported to have misappropriated funds. The group was also defeated in the latest joint operation by government soldiers, AMISOM and Ahlu Sunna.
They were also reined by wrangles which resulted in their defeat. To prevent the change that was forthcoming, the militias have conspired against the Kenyan Somali, meeting his demise at the hands of government forces. After realising that he was at the wrong place, Fazul swerved the vehicle he was in, prompting the government forces to open fire at him. On 8th of this month, the government soldiers stationed in the Afgoye control have killed Fasuul Abdalla and a Kenyan Somali who was with him after they took that road by mistake.
Senior al Shabaab leader killed in Garbaharey, Gedo region
15 Jun – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 104 words
The senior al Shabaab leader of Garbaharey in Gedo region of Somalia was killed in an attack they carried out on Garbaharey town. The spokesman of Ahlu sunna Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abdirahman told radio Bar-kulan that they killed the senior leader of Garbaharey, Subow, after the militias attacked the town. The spokesman also said the leader was the artillery commander of al Shabaab.
Somali Police released a number of people arrested yesterday
15 Jun – Source: Radio Risala, Kulmiye, and Bar-kulan – 80 words
Police have released several people who were in detention for two days in a Mogadishu prison after being captured by the government forces while they were rioting. The TFG’s security police have released the detainees after the prime minister said the people are free to express their feelings and should not be intimidated. The PM, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo said the people are entitled to carry out peaceful demonstrations. Among those released were journalists from Kulmiye radio.
Asha Abdalla accuses AMISOM, disowns Kampala accord
15 Jun – Source: Radio Shabelle – 147 words
Asha Ahmed Abdalla, one of the Somali parliamentarians, has outrageously attacked the AMISOM peacekeepers operating in Mogadishu, particularly the Ugandans accusing them of deviating from their mission in Somalia. Asha adds that the forces have indulged in the politics of the country. Asha says the peacekeepers have aligned with the two top contending leaders of the TFG.
The lawmaker Asha outlined that the AMISOM forces came to the country with the consent of the parliament. The MP noted that the Ugandan forces are directly joined into the political crisis in Somalia. She also asked the parliament to impose strict measures against the Uganda peacekeepers. Talking about Kampala accord, she said the deal was a national deception and it is against the interests of Somalis.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Somali piracy: in search of remedies to a global malady
14 Jun – Source: Business Daily Africa.com – 909 words
Twenty years ago, when the government of Somalia collapsed, few imagined that the country’s ongoing state of lawlessness would eventually spawn piracy on such a scale that the security of the western Indian Ocean region could be threatened. At first, many assumed that pirate attacks on passing ships could be quickly stifled. But the problem has grown into a global malady that so far has warranted seven United Nations resolutions, one of which authorised “all necessary means to repress piracy and armed robbery at sea.”
The UN’s International Maritime Organisation (IMO) says the problem is a global one, with 276 acts of piracy or armed robbery against ships reported worldwide in 2010. With failed attempts added, the total climbed to 489, a 20 per cent increase from 2009. Although the South China Sea suffered the most attacks, piracy off East Africa, much of it carried out from Somalia, came in second.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia’s political chaos goes on
15 Jun – Source: Saudi Gazette – 422 words
HAILED as a counter-terrorism triumph of global importance, the killing in Somalia of a top Al- Qaeda plotter will do nothing in the short-term to stabilize the world’s most profoundly failed state. The government forces that shot Fazul Mohammed at a roadblock in Mogadishu Tuesday delighted Western officials by removing a notoriously accomplished bomber from Al-Qaeda’s ranks and netting a haul of intelligence on his mobile phones and laptops. That information will be studied by Western spies seeking to raise pressure on Al-Qaeda after the death of Osama Bin Laden.
Nick Pratt, a terrorism expert at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, said the death of any Al-Qaeda commander would threaten the group’s resilience. “In the end, leaders are less able to lead, and the group’s cohesion and strategic direction suffer,” he said. “This is why you pursue them to the ends of the earth.” But viewed from a Somali perspective, Mohammed’s death is an event of much less immediate significance. Of more relevance is the fact that the Somali soldiers who killed him serve an administration that is a government in name only.
The government holds just a few districts of the capital and faces a resourceful foe in Al-Qaedaallied Al-Shabaab rebels, some of whose leaders he is believed to have trained. For that reason, the loss of one opponent, no matter how gifted, will do little to restore to the Horn of Africa country the central administration it has lacked for 20 years. As a result, Somalia experts say the country will likely continue to destabilize its neighbors, provide a haven to Al- Qaeda and host an increasingly bold
community of pirates who stalk shipping lanes vital to world energy security. To make matters worse, from the perspective of Somalia’s neighbors, President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed’s government is riven with power struggles, diluting what little authority it enjoys. “The central weakness of the effort to drive Al-Shabaab out is the rot in Villa Somalia and that rot remains for now,” said Somali expert Abdi Samatar, referring to the seat of the presidency and what he sees as its ineffective actions.
Its infighting has proven immune to mediation by foreign governments, in part because they themselves are divided on how to fix Somalia’s chaos – an indicator suggesting that Somalia’s chaos might survive an eventual victory against Al-Shabaab. And while Al-Shabaab’s generally rules by coercion and is not popular, the brutal form of order that it imposes has won grudging acceptance from some businessmen who prefer its predictability to the chaos that endures in other areas.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentID=20110615103089
Eight million in Horn of Africa need food aid: UN
15 Jun – Source: AFP – 184 words
The UN food agency on Tuesday warned of worsening food shortages due to drought in the Horn of Africa region, saying eight million people in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia need aid now. “The current crisis is not an unusual or chance event, but rather a chronic feature of the region,” Rod Charters, regional emergency coordinator for the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), said in a statement.
“The region has now experienced two consecutive seasons of significantly below-average rainfall, resulting in failed crop production, depletion of grazing resources and significant livestock mortality,” FAO said. The UN agency said one in four children in southern Somalia are acutely malnourished and the drought is affecting most of the country, leading to livestock deaths and sky-rocketing food prices that have hit the poor.
Its total for those in need of emergency aid included 2.5 million people in Somalia, 2.4 million people in northern Kenya and 3.0 million Ethiopia. “The Horn of Africa requires urgent additional funds to protect and rebuild livestock assets, distribute suitable farm inputs that include drought-tolerant seeds, fodder and water for breeding stocks,” FAO said.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gMLig5V90q9uaDLmScdMQrIDOs5w? docId=CNG.8627c7819db8558768362e2e162f075b.11