16 Nov 2011 – Morning headlines
Key Headlines:
- TFG forces seize parts of Bakol region (Source: Radio Mogadishu)
- Drop unfair Somalia labels warns team ( Daily Nation )
- UNICEF extremely concerned about the impact of escalating conflict in Somalia on children (Source: UNICEF )
- UN: Somali aid hurt by cholera insecurity ( Source: AP )
- Somali militant bashes Kenya-Israel security pact ( Source: AP )
- Eleven Pakistani hostages released in central Somalia (Source: Shabelle)
- Kenya UN envoy seeks US help on Somalia ( Source: AP )
- Kibaki vows al Shabaab militia must be stopped (Source: The Star)
- Thousands cut off by impending conflict rain ( Source: IRIN News )
SOMALI MEDIA
TFG forces seize parts of Bakol region
15 Nov- Source: Radio Mogadishu, Radio Shabelle – 126 words
Reports from Bakol province says that Somalia’s TFG forces launched an offensive to clear al Shabaab out of its stronghold in Aato area, Bakol region.
Roadside bomb in Mogadishu injures 5
15 Nov – Source: Mareeg Online, Hiiraan Online – 113 words
Five people have been injured including women in a blast targeting a TFG armed vehicle in Dharkenlay district Mogadishu, eyewitness said.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Saudi police return Somali immigrants back to Yemen
15 Nov – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 173 words
Saudi police have intercepted and returned over 400 illegal Somali immigrants to Yemen, where they were trying to cross the border into Saudi Arabia, reports say.
Ahlu Sunna calls for more Aid
15 Nov – Source: Somalia Report – 62 words
Pro-government Islamist militia Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa (ASWJ) has accused the UN and the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of failing to bring in enough humanitarian aid to southern Somalia, particularly Gedo region.
Eleven Pakistani hostages released in central Somalia
15 Nov – Source: Shabelle – 188 words
The regional administration of Himin and Heb said that it has freed 11 Pakistan nationals held hostage by Somali pirates in the central region of the country on Tuesday.
http://www.shabelle.net/
Three die in Mogadishu fighting
15 Nov – Source: Radio Mogadishu – 134 words
At least three people have been killed and others wounded in a heavy fighting between TFG forces backed by AMISOM and al Shabaab remnants in parts of Mogadishu on Tuesday, eyewitness said.
Al Shabaab restrict use of mobile phones in southern Somalia
15 Nov- Source: Somalia Report- 158 words
Al Shabaab has begun restricting the use of mobile phones in Lower Shabeelle region, southern Somalia following air strikes on several al Shabaab targets.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Drop unfair Somalia labels, warns team
15 Nov – Source: Daily Nation – 315 words
The Ministry of Justice has decried the blanket condemnation of some Kenyans as sympathisers of al Shabaab militia. National Cohesion department secretary in the ministry Michael Ndungu said sections of the society had unfairly condemned their fellow countrymen from the Somali community as well as Muslims as either sympathisers or members of the militia group.
Kenya seeks EU support in Somalia onslaught
15 Nov- Source: Capital FM- 512 words
Kenya has requested Cyprus to use its upcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union to marshal support for Kenya’s efforts aimed at stabilising peace and security in Somalia.
http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/
Kibaki vows al Shabaab militia must be stopped
15 Nov- Source: The Star- 299 words
President Kibaki has said the military operation against the al Shabaab will continue until the militia’s activities are ended. Kibaki added Kenyans must be vigilant and assist the security agencies in dealing with insecurity.
http://www.the-star.co.ke/
Kibaki happy with support in Shabaab battle
15 Nov- Source: Capital FM – 891 Words
President Mwai Kibaki has welcomed the support Kenya has obtained from both its citizens and regional governments in the operation to deal with militants based in Somalia who have sought to destabilise the region’s economies.
http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UNICEF extremely concerned about the impact of escalating conflict in Somalia on children
15 Nov – Source: UNICEF – 555 words
UNICEF is extremely concerned about the impact on children of the escalating conflict in Somalia. “Increasing numbers of children and civilians are being caught in attacks and cross-fire across the south and centre of Somalia” said UNICEF’s Representative to Somalia, Sikander Khan.
http://www.unicef.org/media/
Somali militant bashes Kenya-Israel security pact
15 Nov – Source: AP – 330 words
A spokesman for the Somali militant group al-Shabab said that Kenya’s prime minister recently visited Israel to seek assistance in “destroying Muslim people and their religion.” Sheik Ali Mohamud Rage on Tuesday also warned Kenya that it still has a chance to withdraw its forces from neighboring Somalia because “things have not begun in earnest,” a likely reference to threats to carry out terror attacks in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital.
Bomb destroys Kenya police car in refugee camp
15 Nov- Source: Reuters- 217 words
A remote-controlled bomb hit a police vehicle in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee camp near the border with Somalia on Tuesday, a senior local official said, the second such incident in the camp in less than two weeks.
http://in.reuters.com/article/
Kenya UN envoy seeks US help on Somalia
15 Nov – Source: AP – 545 words
Kenya’s UN envoy on Tuesday courted support from Washington for his country’s campaign against Islamist Shebab rebels in southern Somalia. “We would love to see the international community, with the US right up there, engaging in Somalia in ways in which they have not for quite a long time,” Ambassador Macharia Kamau told AFP in an interview.
UN: Somali aid hurt by cholera, insecurity
15 Nov – Source: AP – 129 words
The U.N. refugee agency says 60 cases of cholera, including one death, have complicated efforts to help the famine refugees at the Dadaab camps in Kenya. The Geneva-based agency said Tuesday that 10 of the cases have been confirmed by lab results and it is setting up cholera treatment centers for severe cases, but most of those who are ill can be helped through rehydration.
Thousands cut off by impending conflict, rain
15 Nov- Source: IRIN News- 563 words
Hundreds of families have fled Afmadow in southern Somalia as Kenyan and Somali government forces close in on it to oust the al Shabaab militia group – even as ongoing rains render roads impassable, residents told IRIN.
http://www.irinnews.org/
Accused Somali pirates on trial in France
15 Nov – Source: CNN – 218 words
Six alleged Somali pirates went on trial Tuesday in Paris for hijacking a yacht and taking a French couple hostage off the coast of Somalia in 2008. The six Somali men, now between the ages of 21 and 35, are accused of seizing the Carr�-d’As IV in the Gulf of Aden and holding Jean-Yves Delanne and his wife, Bernadette Bignon, for two weeks.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/