26 Sept 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- Al Shabaab block ICRC from helping famine victims in parts of Somalia
- Baidoa elders condemn al Shabaab for moving people back to famine-hit villages
- Somali gov’t to reach out to famine-hit civilians in al Shabaab areas
- Officials meet on strengthening aid deliveries in famine-hit Somalia
- Kismayo’s youth being lured into al Shabaab
- Two Ugandan army officers die in Somalia
- Britons accused of trying to join Somali militants
SOMALI MEDIA
Somali gov’t to reach out to famine-hit civilians in al Shabaab areas
25 Sept – Source: Radio Mogadishu, SONNA – 244 words
The Somali cabinet has said that it will soon unveil plans on how to deliver aid to the famineravaged population in the areas under the control of al Shabaab.
Somali Information, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Abdulkadir Hussein Mohamed told the Somalia National News Agency (SONNA) that the Somali cabinet has agreed upon measures that will see the desperate people in the rebel-held areas receive the much needed food aid.
Thousands are trapped in areas under the extremists’ control and cannot access the basic relief aid being issued by the Somali government and the Islamic countries.
‘‘The cabinet has been busy with setting up plans on reaching the needy cases in al Shabaab controlled areas” said the Information Minister.
The vast south and central regions of Somalia are the worst affected by the deadly drought which has had a heavy toll on the human and livestock population.
Officials meet on strengthening aid deliveries in famine-hit Somalia
26 Sept – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 141 words
Somali top officials have on Sunday met in Mogadishu to discuss possible ways of delivering humanitarian aid to the needy people in the country.
The officials, including security officers and authorities from all districts in Banadir region, deliberated on ways in which aid deliveries can reach drought and famine-hit population in the region.
Speaking during the meeting, Interior and national security minister Abdisamed Maalim Mohamud said that as a government they have the responsibility of assuring that famine victims get the necessary support.
Both security and district authorities promised that aid deliveries will reach the intended people. They said they will work closely with aid agencies in responding to the current crisis in the country.
The meeting, however, directed that all aid deliveries in the hands of government be distributed to the needy people as soon as possible.
Somali military officials in Dhobley border town reshuffled
26 Sept – Source: Shabelle – 133 words
Some Somali military officials in Dhobley, a town in Somalia-Kenya border have been reshuffled by Kenya officials. Reports say that the commanders and other junior officials of the Somali military were reshuffled as two military brigades from the TFG have been present in the area.
It is not known why Kenyan officials made the reshuffle in the military forces of Somali government. Two brigades were combined and said to be on brigade.
The spokesman of Somali army in Jubba regions Mohamed Dahir speaking to Shabelle Radio confirmed the move by Kenyans. Details will be released later, he added.
http://www.shabelle.net/
Kismayo’s youth being lured into al Shabaab
26 Sept – Source: Somalia report – 147 words
Despite the harassment and threats the al Shabaab militants inflict on Somalis, the group is continuously adding to their ranks by recruiting young men in Somalia’s port city of Kismayo in Lower Jubba though intimidation, peer pressure and offers of money.
“It is true that here in Kismayo most of the young men are joining the fighters of al Shabaab” Khalid Dirshe, a resident of Kismayo`s Alanley village, told Somalia report. Different motives are behind the recruitment drive including intimidation and payments, according to Abdi Yare Geelle from Kismayo minimarket.
“The youth are being intimidated and harassed by al Shabaab to join them. The young men see not option but to join since they are offered money” He told Somalia Report.
One of the main factors behind the decision to join is peer pressure which comes in the from of daily threats from youths previously recruited in Kismayo.
Somali president, Sharif Ahmed: let children be educated, or else they will join al Shabaab
25 Sept – Source: Mareeg Online – 113 words
Somali president, Sheikh Sharif Sh. Ahmed on Sunday called parents to educate their children or else they will be likely to join al Shabaab, reports said.
On the other hand, Mr. Sharif told that al Shabaab’s power in Mogadishu has been weakened and that the extremists would not be able to fight against TFG forces backed by the African union peacekeeping forces in Mogadishu. Sharif urged government soldiers to let people back to their homes peacefully and ensure the security.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Baidoa elders condemn al Shabaab for moving people back to famine-hit villages
25 Sept – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 222 words
Local elders in Baidoa, Bay region, have condemned the al Shabaab militia group for returning drought and famine-displaced people back to famine-hit villages outside the city.
After meeting at one of the area’s hotels, the elders called the militia’s move to return people back to their famine-hit villages as ruthless actions against victims who fled these villages in search of humanitarian aid in the first place.
After chairing the council of elders’ meeting, Malaq Abdi Barre, told Bar-kulan that the rebel group appeared to have less concern for the fate of the villagers, saying that they will never accept the forceful eviction of people who are already facing humanitarian crisis back to faminehit outposts.
Barre said that whenever they meet to address such inhumane eviction, they are subjected to intimidation, torture, arbitrary arrests and detention. He stated that they will never be intimidated for speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves. Al Shabaab group on Friday said it is moving people out of camps in the central town of Baidoa ahead of the rainy season so they can prepare to farm.
An al Shabaab official told the BBC that food rations meant to last a month would be given to the families. But foreign aid workers have raised concerns, saying they were appalled by the move, saying it was like putting people affected by the famine on death row.
One dead in blast at UN mine service in Mogadishu
25 Sept – Source: Diirad Online – 177 words
At least one person was killed Saturday by a powerful explosion at the offices of the United Nations Mine Action Service in Mogadishu, witnesses said.
The blast destroyed a car in the service’s parking lot, killing at least one person in the vehicle, witness Abdulahi Ahmed told DIIRAD.
“The explosion happened inside the compound (of the UN service). I could see the remains of the car destroyed in the blast and the body of at least one person,” Ahmed said.
Another witness, Muktar Isa, said that “the explosion was very strong and it destroyed part of the compound’s wall.”
A UN representative in Mogadishu, who requested anonymity, confirmed that an explosion had destroyed a car in the Mine Action compound, without giving further details.
The UN Mine Action Service manages a de-mining programme and works to raise awareness of the dangers of landmines. Its compound in Somalia is located near Mogadishu airport, one of the areas considered the safest in the war-torn country as it is the base of a 9,000-strong force of African Union peacekeepers.
http://www.diirad.com/news-in-
Somalis imprisoned in Angola complain of inhumane conditions
25 Sept – Source: Radio Mogadishu – 176 words
Somalis imprisoned in Angola complain of inhumane conditions in the prisons with the Angolan security being slow to answering to their plea, with hundreds of Somali immigrants said to be languishing in the West African country prisons.
Exposing the tribulations and the seemingly endless agony that they encountered since they were jailed by Angolan police, some of them two years ago, the Somali youths talked of how death is looming large in their eyes with no assistance whatsoever being accorded to them.
Some of them, who were interviewed by Radio Mogadishu, complained of constant harassment and torture at the hands of the Angolan police who have failed to bring them to justice.
The suffering Somalis said the ongoing mistreatment of prisoners by Angolan authorities is an infringement of basic human rights and an affront to common sense, urging international human groups to intervene.
The young Somalis have also sent an urgent appeal to the TFG to intervene in order to secure their freedom as their conditions could only result to more tribulations.
Al Shabaab block ICRC from helping famine victims in parts of Somalia
26 Sept – Source: Radio Shabelle, Kulmiye and Risala – 11 words
The al Shabaab administration of Lower Shabelle region of southern Somalia has blocked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from assisting famine in Islamist stronghold areas.
Witnesses said that al Shabaab officials forced ICRC to stop its humanitarian activities in Marka town about 90 kilometers south of Mogadishu. Lower Shabelle is one of the regions hit hard by the famine.
Reports say that ICRC’s humanitarian service blockade came after officials of the agency accused al Shabaab of making widespread corruption in the aid. In the last three days there have been discussions between al Shabaab and the independent aid agency to end the blockade being imposed on ICRC.
Kenya: Help stop rape of Somali refugees
26 Sept – Source: Hiiraan Online, Newser – 166 words
The severe famine gripping Somalia is not only starving millions of people, it’s creating “an instance of mass rape” for refugees fleeing into Kenya, writes Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times.
About 1,000 a day are forced to trek 50 miles from the border to a refugee camp in Dadaab, often falling prey to bandits on the way. “One obvious solution is to establish reception centers along the border, and then bus refugees to Dadaab,” writes Krifstof. “Kenya isn’t embracing that idea, however, for fear of an even larger Somali influx.”
Kristof insists international aid groups must be allowed to open reception centers to stop the violence. He also repudiates readers who say it is pointless to help families that bear more children than the society can afford to feed. “Somalis have eight children partly because they know that several may die,” writes Kristof. “If we help save lives now so that parents can be confident their kids will survive, family size will drop.”‘
Puntland limits access of RBC Radio journalists
26 Sept – Source: RBC – 244 words
The authorities of Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Puntland have begun to limit the access of RBC Radio journalists covering the events in Puntland.
The managing director of RBC Radio website (Raxanreeb.com) Farah Ahmed said government and military officials in Puntland have been using rules to restrict the work of the journalists operating in Puntland towns where insecurity trends were common in recent weeks. “Not only they have been pressuring our journalists in the region but also they were attempting to influence our independent reporting”, Mr. Ahmed said.
He added that RBC Radio staff members are now becoming the victims of telling reality. “The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair reporting to its society”. He insisted.
Mr. Ahmed said that at least two of the organization’s offices in Puntland were closed down following journalists’ growing fear of future reactions from security agents.
http://www.raxanreeb.com/?p=
Roadblocks removed from al Shabaab-controlled areas
26 Sept – Source: Mareeg Online – 175 words
Two roadblocks lying in between Mogadishu and Afgoi district of lower Shabelle region were removed completely after a dispute between al Shabaab representatives of Mogadishu and lower Shabelle occurred the previous night, reports said.
Muktar Rabow Abu Mansur, an al Shabaab leader won to remove two checkpoints that were in Simanka and Km13, south Mogadishu, after chairmen of Mogadishu and Lower Shabelle argued over taking away a checkpoint and leaving the other, reports said.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Galmudug minister resigns over scholarship corruption
26 Sept – Source: Radio Shabelle – 90 words
The Deputy Minister of Education of Somalia’s self-styled Galmudug state has resigned over corruption-related scholarships from Turkey. Abdiweli Ahmed Roraye, the deputy education minister, told Shabelle that he left his portfolio after the ministry had committed corruption in Turkey’s scholarships for Somali students in Mudug region.
He said they he has imparted his letter of resignation to the president of Galmudug Mohamed Ahmed Alin.
The statement of that official comes days after more students congregate in southern Galka’yo town to protest against corruption related to the Turkish scholarships.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Two Ugandan army officers die in Somalia
26 Sept – Source: Daily Monitor – 171 words
A UPDF officer was last week killed by falling debris as he drove a tank through a building during clashes with Somali insurgents. Lt. Kabutu Mugisha, from Isingiro District, was hit on the head by rubble as Ugandan soldiers fought to flush the al Shabaab out of a building.
The army spokesperson, Lt. Col Felix Kulayigye, confirmed the death but said he had not received details on what exactly happened. Lt. Mugisha, from the armoured brigade, was buried on Saturday.
A few pockets of al Shabaab fighters under the command of Dahir Aweys remained in the district of Karaan to stop advancing peacekeepers after the radical Islamist group withdrew from Mogadishu.
According to military sources, the heavy concrete fell on top of the tank and hit him from inside the armoured fighting vehicle.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, al Shabaab insurgents detonated a bomb near the offices of the United Nations Mine Action Service in Mogadishu City, killing a Ugandan army captain. The Ugandan army has not yet revealed the name of the fallen officer.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/
Somalia’s political future
24 Sept – Source: Al Arabia – 288 words
Global leaders held a mini-summit on the political future of Somalia at the United Nations headquarters on Friday. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said, “For the first time since the Djibouti Peace Agreement of 2008, there is a significantly more inclusive political process and a consensus of how to end the transition. It is time now for the Transitional Federal Institutions and Somalia’s leaders to implement the roadmap to end the transition, keeping in mind that future assistance will be contingent on the timely attainment of the agreed benchmarks,” Al Shabaab fighters retreated from Mogadishu after four years of battling government forces and foreign peacekeepers. The insurgent’s retreat from the capital effectively handed full control of the city to the government for the first time since civil war broke out in 1991.
Jean Ping, the Chairman African Union, called on the international community to continue its support of Somalia. But United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a stern warning to the summit. Clinton said it is time for the Somalis to take control.
She said, “Time may be running out. If we don’t do this right now, given the fact that the African Union Mission for Somalia has been successful in opening up the space in Mogadishu. If Somali leaders do not follow the roadmap that has been negotiated by Africans for Africans, then I don’t know that the international community will be here next year and the year after with support. It is now up to Somalis,” The U.N. will host a high-level meeting on its humanitarian response to the famine in Somalia and the rest of the Horn of Africa on Saturday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Elders’ help sought in search for aid worker
25 Sept – Source: Daily Nation – 300 words
Somali and Kenyan governments have intensified the search for a humanitarian worker who disappeared last Monday at the Dadaab Refugee Complex.
North Eastern provincial police officer Leo Nyongesa said “bandits” took away the Care Kenya staff and an agency vehicle he was driving to an unknown location in Somalia.
“The incident is normal banditry. The Care Kenya vehicle was taken into Somalia and since there is no effective government there to help us trace him, we have involved border peace committees to rescue him,” he said. Mr. Nyongesa said Somali elders were resourceful in the rescue efforts. The police boss was non-committal on whether or not the terror group al Shabaab was involved in the abduction of the man, even as sources indicate involvement of Anti-Terrorism Police Unit in his pursuit.
Care Kenya confirmed to the Nation that its employee, a driver, was carjacked in the Hagadera refugee camp at the complex.
“The driver is a Kenyan. He and the vehicle are missing and the motive of the attack is still unknown,” said Care-Kenya’s Communication Officer Juliet Otieno. Ms Otieno further said the organisation was working with Kenya police in the search for the driver, and advised against speculation on the matter.
Al Shabaab return famine victims to their homes
26 Sept – Source: Daily Monitor – 258 words
Reports from Baidoa and Hudur towns, 240 kilometers and 520 kilometers respectively, southwest of Mogadishu, say al Shabaab, the radical Islamist group that opposes the policies of the Somali government, has started returning people affected by famine back to their settlements.
“Al Shabaab militants are using trucks to return the famine-affected people to the pastoral lands,” a displaced person who preferred anonymity for security reasons said. An al Shabaab official was quoted on Saturday as saying cards had been distributed to those being returned to allow them receive aid at their homes. The official added that people from all the regions under the control of al Shabaab will go through the same process.
The reaction to the return is said to be a mixed one. Some of the returnees are afraid that the harsh conditions that forced them to depart from their land are still in there. Reports also indicate that some are happy to return as long as aid is delivered.
al-Shabaab leaders had suspended the operations of most of the humanitarian agencies in Somalia including those operating under the auspices of the United Nations, USA and EU.
They accused them of having political agenda hostile to the fanatical Islamists. Last week, the al Shabaab said the famine-affected people who fled to the government side of Mogadishu had to be returned to the al-Shabaab controlled areas in southern and central regions of Somalia.
Through al Andalus, a broadcaster run by the radical Islamists, the al Shabaab officials labeled the Transitional Federal Government and the western aid agencies assisting the needy as being anti-Islam.
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Britons accused of trying to join Somali militants
26 Sept – Source: the Telegraph – 313 words
In recent months, MI5 and MI6 have become aware of an increasing number of young British men arriving in the African country in order to cross into Somalia, sources told the Daily Telegraph.
In Somalia, they have been joining up with al-Shabaab, a terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda in East Africa and there are concerns that they could return to Britain to launch attacks.
The latest arrests involved three men who were detained for questioning in the port of Mombasa last week.
A team of specialist forensic officers were examining laptops belonging to the suspects, sources said.
Kenyan counter-terrorism police were said to have become suspicious about the men and tracked their movements before arresting them on Thursday.
Ambrose Munyasia, head of Kenya’s Coast Province police force, said: “They were seen acting suspiciously. We trailed them for a day after suspecting their movement within the town.
Although they told us that they are tourists, some of their actions have given us cause to believe that they are not.”
Three suspected British al-Shabaab members were arrested in north east Kenya in May.
The men were of Bangladeshi origin but holding British passports, according to reports. They were arrested when the Land Rover they were travelling in was stopped at a police checkpoint on a road linking Kenya and Somalia.
Philip Ndolo, the North Eastern regional deputy police chief, said the suspects claimed to be heading for the tourist island of Lamu, thousands of miles from where they were picked up.
He said investigations showed that the three used complex routes to avoid police checkpoints to get to the village where they were eventually arrested.
In November 2002 terrorists tried to shoot down an Israeli-chartered Boeing 757, firing two missiles which narrowly missed the plane as it took off from Mombasa airport and killing 15 people in a bomb explosion at the nearby Paradise Hotel.
On top of famine, unspeakable violence
24 Sept – Source: NY Times – 882 words
Imagine that you’re a Somali suffering from the drought and famine in that country. One of your children has just starved to death, but there’s no time to mourn. Depleted and traumatized, you set off on foot across the desert with your family, and after 15 exhausting days finally reach what you believe is the safe haven of Kenya.
But at the very moment when you think you’re secure, you encounter a nightmare broached only in whispers: an epidemic of violence and rape. As Somalis stream across the border into Kenya, at a rate of about 1,000 a day, they are frequently prey to armed bandits who rob men and rape women in the 50-mile stretch before they reach Dadaab, now the world’s largest refugee camp.
It is difficult to know how many women are raped because the subject is taboo. But more than half of the newly arrived Somalis I interviewed, mostly with the help of CARE, said they had been attacked by bandits, sometimes in Somalia but very often on Kenyan soil. Some had been attacked two or three times.
In short, this seems like an instance of mass rape — adding one more layer of misery to the world’s most desperate humanitarian crisis. The United Nations warns that 750,000 Somalis are at risk of starving to death in the coming months, and it’s increasingly clear that those who try to save themselves and their children must endure a gantlet of robbers and rapists.
Squeeze al Shabaab and help Somali reformers to stop the famine
25 Sept – Source: the Globe and Mail – 351 words
As if thing weren’t bad enough in Somalia, there are now fears the October rains will bring malaria and other diseases to refugee camps in the Horn of Africa. This only adds a new urgency to help those affected by the worst famine in 60 years.
The main impediment isn’t the West’s lack of generosity. It is the difficulty in accessing those people affected by the famine who cannot make it out to neighbouring countries. More than 750,000 are at immediate risk of starvation inside Somalia.
More political will is needed to resolve this issue and overcome the challenges of bringing food aid to both the south of the country, controlled by al Shabaab, the Islamist group that won’t allow in relief agencies, and to the capital of Mogadishu, under the tenuous control of an often-corrupt Transitional Federal Government.
Ken Menkhaus, a professor at Davidson College, N.C. and one of the world’s foremost Somalia experts, is calling for a “diplomatic surge” to force al Shabaab to open routes for aid delivery, and to hold the transitional government accountable.
This is a welcome idea. The international community can mobilize “unrelenting, full-scale diplomatic pressure” on al Shabaab and on the government. Convincing these players to set aside their differences will not be easy. But in a new report, Prof. Menkhaus says the Islamic world must take the lead in what he calls a “Save Darfur” moment.
“Muslim scholars and opinion-makers from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia must insist that al Shabaab has a moral obligation to allow in famine relief,” says Prof. Menkhaus. “How does allowing hundreds of thousands of captive Muslims to starve advance any Islamic cause?” For its part, the UN, which funds the transitional government, must let the warlords and others who steal food aid know they can be charged with crimes against humanity. There are willing reformers within the government, including Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali.
There is no guarantee that such aggressive diplomacy will work. But it is at least worth trying. Tens of thousands of lives are at stake, and the world must do everything it can to try to save them.