March 29, 2012 | Morning Headlines.
TFG gives militant fighters 7 days ultimatum to surrender
28 Mar – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 138 words
Somali youths fighting for al Shabaab militant group have only a week to renounce violence and surrender to the government side, officials say. Ahmed Sheikh Mohamed, a member of the Somali parliament, said conscripted Somali youths fighting alongside other militants have only seven days to abandon al Shabaab and surrender to the government.
Speaking to Bar-kulan on the line from Hudur town, the MP promised that the government will not prosecute defectors who renounce violence and surrender, saying that they will be welcomed back into the society.
Key Headlines
- President Sharif leaves for Arab League Summit in Iraq (Source: Radio Risaala)
- TFG gives militant fighters 7 days ultimatum to surrender (Source: Radio Bar-kulan)
- Somalia to deport arrested UK national (Source: Radio Shabelle)
- Kenyan military release Somali government officials (Source: Shabelle )
- British forces in Uganda to train Somalia peacekeepers (Source: Africa Review)
SOMALI MEDIA
President Sharif leaves for Arab League Summit in Iraq
28 Mar- Source: Radio Risaala- 140 words
Somali president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has left for Iraq today to attend an Arab league summit. The president was accompanied by government ministers among them the minister for foreign affairs, the finance minister, the former Somali Ambassador to Iraq and other officials.
Somalia to deport arrested UK national
28 Mar- Source: Radio Shabelle- 133 words
The Somali Immigration Department says it will deport a British man arrested on Tuesday in Mogadishu airport over alleged links with terrorist group.
Gen Abdullahi Mahamud Gafow, the director of Immigrations and naturalization told the media Wednesday that the Briton, Clive Dennis, will be deported back to UK because it will be harmful for him to stay in the country.
TFG gives militant fighters 7 days ultimatum to surrender
28 Mar – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 138 words
Somali youths fighting for al Shabaab militant group have only a week to renounce violence and surrender to the government side, officials say. Ahmed Sheikh Mohamed, a member of the Somali parliament, said conscripted Somali youths fighting alongside other militants have only seven days to abandon al Shabaab and surrender to the government.
Speaking to Bar-kulan on the line from Hudur town, the MP promised that the government will not prosecute defectors who renounce violence and surrender, saying that they will be welcomed back into the society.
Landmine explosion rattles Ethiopian forces in Beledweyne
28 Mar – Source: Shabelle – 131 words
A land mine blast has on Wednesday rocked Ethiopian troops in Beledweyne town, central Somalia, about 350 Km north of Mogadishu, reports said.
Local residents who spoke to Shabelle Media by phone said that an Ethiopian army’s convoy was targeted as they were passing a road that leads to the western villages of the town, causing an unconfirmed casualty.
Gunmen kill senior TFG officials in Mogadishu
28 Mar – Source: Mareeg Online – 109 words
Unidentified gunmen have shot dead two senior Somali government officials in the heart of the lawless Mogadishu, security officials said.
Yasin, a staff working in Somalia presidential palace was gunned down on Tuesday evening by gunmen armed with pistols as he walked from work to his house near Hamar cinema in Shibis district.
Similarly, masked gunmen assassinated Muhyadin Wehliye Ageey, an official with the Criminal Investigation Department CID in Mogadishu. Witnesses said the gunmen shot Ageey on the head and instantly died on the spot.
Seychelles hands over pirates to Somaliland administration
28 Mar – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 129 words
Seychelles has for the first time handed over convicted pirates to the Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland, officials say. Nine Somali pirates were on Wednesday handed over the regional administration where they will serve 10 to 20 years of jail term.
A plane carrying the nine prisoners who have been sentenced in Seychelles arrived in Hargeisa Wednesday as part of an earlier deal between Seychelles and Somaliland.
Kenyan military release Somali government officials
28 Mar – Source: Shabelle – 146 words
Kenyan military commanders in southern Somalia on Wednesday released several TFG officials, according to a Somali lawmaker.
Mohammed Amin Abdullahi confirmed to Shabelle Media by phone while in the region the release of the officials who were arrested by Kenyan army last week after rift emerged between TFG forces and Ras Kamboni, pro-government militias.
REGIONAL MEDIA
German MPs may oppose eurozone’s new plan on piracy
28 Mar – Source: Business Daily – 202 words
Last week, the European Union agreed to expand its anti-piracy mission to include land-based targets in Somalia. Spiegel Online has learned that air attacks up to two kilometres inland will be allowed.
But an expansion of the mandate could face obstacles in Berlin, where opposition politicians warn that EU forces could get dragged into fighting on the ground.
Until now, the European Union’s Operation Atalanta, which targets pirates off the coast of Somalia, has been restricted to purely maritime operations. But that could soon change, now that the EU has agreed on a controversial expansion of the mission. Last Friday, EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels agreed to expand the operation to include the coastal region.
British forces in Uganda to train Somalia peacekeepers
28 Mar – Source: Africa Review – 133 words
A team of 27 British soldiers arrived in Uganda on Sunday to train local troops for peacekeeping mission in Somalia.The team will train Ugandans for two weeks; day and night, before they are sent to Somalia, which is facing the militant al Shabaab menace, in two weeks.
The visiting UK minister for Africa, Mr. Henry Bellingham, also Wednesday announced an extra $200,000 funding for training of Ugandan peacekeepers.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
British man arrested in Somalia claims he was on vacation
28 Mar – Source: Washington Post – 261 words
A British man who claimed to be heading on vacation to a rebel-held town in Somalia has been arrested in the country’s capital on suspicion of links to a terrorist group, officials said Wednesday. Lt. Col. Paddy Ankunda, a spokesman in Somalia for the African Union military force, named the arrested man as Clive Denis Everton, born in 1966. Everton was detained by Somali police at Mogadishu airport after traveling from Britain via Kenya.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Still, the gradual restoration of peace in Somalia is hardly something for which American voters will reward a president. The country is obscure, and the progress is slow and very tentative. Indeed, all that can be claimed, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reminded leaders in London last week, is that “we have opened a space for peace and stability in Somalia. It is a small space, but it presents an opportunity we cannot afford to miss.”
Gradual progress in Somalia goes without proper recognition
28 Mar – Source: Times of Trenton – 849 Words
Afghanistan scarcely flickers in the American campaign debate, and we have 90,000 troops engaged in active combat there. So, it’s no wonder that Somalia, where there are no regular U.S. troops on the ground, doesn’t register at all with the American political class.
Yet, Somalia is, after Afghanistan, the most hotly fought war zone in the world, where international forces are battling to prevent a country’s takeover by al Qaeda allies. And the Obama administration has crafted alliances that are apparently turning the tide against Islamic extremists, alongside a multilateral naval force that is securing international shipping against piracy.