April 2, 2012 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Al Shabaab attacks pro-TFG base in El-Bur town
02 Apr – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 215 words
Al Shabaab militant fighters on Sunday night raided a military base used by pro-TFG militias in central Somalia town of El-Bur town, Galgadud region, officials say. Heavily armed militants stormed the base mid-night before they were repelled, according to Abdiweli Siyad, Ahlu Sunna official tasked with coordination of the group’s warfare activities in the region.
Siyad said their fighters managed to defend the base from the militant fighters, adding that they killed two al Shabaab fighters during the incident. But there were no independent sources to confirm Ahlu Sunna’s claim. Reports say al Shabaab fired several mortars into the town before conducting a full scale attack on Ahlu Sunna military base in the area. There were no reports of casualties or damages resulting from the rebel fired mortars.
Key Headlines
- Al Shabaab attacks pro-TFG base in El-Bur town (Radio Bar-kulan)
- Al Shabaab accused of prosecutions against locals in Bal’ad ( Shabelle)
- AU convenes consultative meeting on Somali security sector (Daily Nation/AFP)
- Al Shabaab militias killed in Dharkenlay district (Radio Mogadishu Kulmiye Risaala)
- Yemen army kills 6 Qaeda suspects: local official (AFP )
- Red alert over terror (Standard)
- Al Shabaab warns of more attacks in Kenya ( Daily Nation/AFP)
SOMALI MEDIA
Al Shabaab attacks pro-TFG base in El-Bur town
02 Apr – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 215 words
Al Shabaab militant fighters on Sunday night raided a military base used by pro-TFG militias in central Somalia town of El-Bur town, Galgadud region, officials say. Heavily armed militants stormed the base mid-night before they were repelled, according to Abdiweli Siyad, Ahlu Sunna official tasked with coordination of the group’s warfare activities in the region.
Siyad said their fighters managed to defend the base from the militant fighters, adding that they killed two al Shabaab fighters during the incident. But there were no independent sources to confirm Ahlu Sunna’s claim. Reports say al Shabaab fired several mortars into the town before conducting a full scale attack on Ahlu Sunna military base in the area. There were no reports of casualties or damages resulting from the rebel fired mortars.
Al Shabaab militias killed in Dharkenlay district
02 Apr – Source: Radio Mogadishu, Kulmiye, Risaala – 105 words
Two fighters from al Qaeda linked group of al Shabaab have been killed in Dharkenlay district in the capital Mogadishu last night after a failed attack against Somali national army base, official said. District commissioner of Dharkenlay, Mo’allim Abdule Ali Hillowle told Radio Mogadishu that the two Shabaab fighters were killed after a bomb attack on a military post. Mr. Hillowle added that a soldier was also killed in the bomb attack.
Al Shabaab accused of prosecutions against locals in Bal’ad
02 Apr – Source: Shabelle – 93 words
The commissioner of Bal’ad district in middle Shabelle region has accused al Shabaab fighters of committingdaily atrocities against innocent locals. Mohamed Hussein told Shabelle that more than 40 people including youths and elders are now in al Shabaab controlled detention centers in Bal’ad district, 30 KM away north of Mogadishu, after defying the stiff orders of the militants. He said that al Shabaab fighters torment residents who defy the orders being imposed on them by insurgents.
Acute Water shortage hits parts of Bari region
02 Apr – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 147 words
Persistent drought and water scarcity in coastal areas of Puntland’s Bari region are threatening the lives of local herders and their livestock, reports say. The affected areas include Bargal, Alula, Hafun and Beyla where hundreds of local pastoralist communities are facing acute shortage of water as water pans in the area dries up.
Kashe Karur, a resident of Bargal told Bar-kulan the drought situation is getting worse by the day and it is becoming a great concern for the locals since they risk losing their livelihoods. He said several animals have already died due to the current drought situation in the area.
Karur said acute water problem has compounded the drought situation since all dams holding water in the region got dried long time ago. Local aid agencies in Hafun settlement have already started water trucking campaign to save the lives of local herders in the areas.
Tensions grow between senior al Shabaab officials
01 Apr – Source: Garowe Online – 447 words
A senior al Shabaab official has openly disagreed with a statement made by the leader of the al Shabaab terrorist group and spoke against civilian deaths, Garowe reports.
Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys a senior al Shabaab official disagreed with a statement made by the Amir or leader of the al Shabaab Ahmed Abdi “Godane” aka Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr in which he stated that no Islamist group other than al Shabaab can wage jihad inside Somalia. The response from Sheikh Aweys, a former prison colonel, was: “One cannot limit or make jihad a membership; jihad is open to everyone who is willing to fight.”
Sheikh Aweys went to on to say that the statement made by the leader of al Shabaab Ahmed Godane is not credible adding that one should not pretend to be what he is not. The difference between the two officials has reiterated a sense tension within the terrorist faction.
Somaliland President Appoints New National Police Commissioner
01 Apr – Source: Somaliland Press – 121 words
President H.E Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud (Silanyo) has appointed veteran chief operations commander of the police force Mr. Abdillahi Fadal Iimaan as the new chief of the national police force. The chief of police force has been vacant following the death of the late prominent police Chief Mohamed Saqadhi Dubad who passed away recently in the UAE. The late chief Mr. Mohamed Saqadhi was credited for take part in building the country’s police forces where he held the position of chief police for several years.
Mr. Abdillahi Fadal Iimaan, largely known as Ina-Fadal, has for years been the force’s chief of operations commander, an experience that would come in handy as he embarks on his new post as the chief police commander.
Somaliland reinforces troops after clashes in Sool region
02 Apr – Source: Radio Kulmiye – 208 words
Somaliland government has reinforced its troops in Sool region after heavy fighting in Las Aanod and Buhodle on Sunday. Dozens of people were killed and others more wounded when Somaliland troops and the pro-Khatumo militias clashed in Las Aanod and Bu hodle on last Sunday.
The fighting first erupted in January after the leaders of the northern regions of Sool, Sanaag and Cayn decided to form a new state called Khatumo and declared an independent state within Somalia. Somaliland’s troops have since clashed with militia fighters loyal to Khatumo, with reports of dozens of casualties. Somaliland is an internationally unrecognized state that declared independence from Somalia in 1991.
10 die in al Shabaab and Ahlu Sunna battle
01 Apr – Source: Shabelle – 71 words
10 people have been killed in clashes between al Shabaab and Ahlu Sunna at Mahas district in the Hiiraan region of central Somalia official and witnesses said on Sunday. Resident confirmed that 10 fighters from the two sides were killed and more than a dozen injured in the battle, which broke out in the town of Mahas, about 320 KM away north of Mogadishu when Ahlu Sunna waljama’a attacked the district.
Demo against new Somali constitution, UN envoy postponed
31 Mar – Source: Radio Shabelle – 155 words
The Transitional Federal Government of Somalia [TFG] is said to have blocked a demonstration in opposition to the [new] constitution and UN special envoy to Somalia Ambassador Augustine Mahiga which was to be held in Mogadishu on Friday (30th of March).
The demonstration was planned to be held at the Sayidka Statues after the Friday prayer in opposition to the new Somali constitution and Ambassador Mahiga, is said to have been blocked by the TFG ministry of internal affairs and national security.
The Chairman of the Council for Somali Religious Scholars, Sheikh Ahmad Dicisow who was among the organizers contacted Shabelle around noon today and said the demonstration has been postponed following operations by the TFG forces which have necessitated its postponement. Muse Abshir Abdi who is the head of ministry of internal affairs public awareness said his ministry was of the view that the planned demonstration was not in public interest.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Al Shabaab warns of more attacks in Kenya
01 Apr – Source: Daily Nation/AFP – 328 words
Al Shabaab has warned that it will continue attacking Kenyan cities until the country’s forces leave Somalia. This comes a day after some unknown people launched two attacks in Mombasa in which one person was killed and 30 others injured.
Without making direct reference to the grenade attacks at a prayer rally in Mtwapa and a restaurant near the Mombasa Municipal Stadium, the militant group warned that Kenyan cities would continue to be insecure for as long as the Kenya Defence Force (KDF) remained in Somalia.
“The Kenyan public must be aware that the more Kenyan troops continue to persecute innocent Muslims of Somalia, the less secure Kenyan cities will be; and the more oppression the Muslims of Somalia feel, the more constricted Kenyan life will be,” the militants warned in a statement posted on their twitter account.
AU convenes consultative meeting on Somali security sector
31 Apr – Source: Ethiopian News Agency – 353 words
A consultative meeting on the empowerment of the Somalia Security Sector was convened in Addis Ababa on 30 March 2012, the African Union Commission (AUC) said.
According to a statement AU sent to ENA on Saturday, the meeting provided an opportunity for in-depth exchanges on the support required in order to meet the administrative and operational requirements of the Somali forces, the mechanisms through which the various Somali forces could be effectively integrated into a unified command and control architecture and their restructuring.
The meeting was a follow up to the decision of the AU Peace and Security Council of 5 January 2012, which endorsed the African Union-United Nations Strategic Concept for future AMISOM operations in Somalia, and UN Security Council resolution of 22 February 2012. Both the Peace and Security Council and the UN Security Council called for renewed efforts to strengthen the capacity of the Somali Security forces, to enable them play a more effective role in the stabilization of Somalia.
Red alert over terror
01 Apr – Source: Standard – 519 words
Al Shabaab has warned of impending terror attacks on Kenyan cities as government issues a high security alert and ordered measures tightening safety at Coast and Nairobi ahead of Easter celebrations starting Friday.
Just hours after the Coastal attack at a prayer group and revellers at an entertainment join, which alone serves to show the vulnerability of Kenyans in the face of the footloose enemy, al Shabaab warned its attacks would continue until Kenya Defence Forces pull out of Somalia.
In a press statement issued from their Mogadishu base, the terror group warned: “The Kenyan public must be aware that the more Kenyan troops continue to persecute innocent Muslims of Somalia, the less secure Kenyan cities will be; and the more oppression the Muslims of Somalia feel, the more constricted Kenyan life will be.”
The statement further warned: “Your security depends on our security. It is a long, protracted war and Kenyans must neither harbour a reason for optimism nor hope for triumph.”
Turkey extends its project to Somaliland
01 Apr – Source: Citizen – 161 words
Reports from Hargeisa, the capital of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, 1500 km north of Mogadishu confirmed that a Turkish delegation visited the breakaway region. Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo welcomed the delegation led by Mr. Hani Torun, the Turkish Ambassador to Somalia that consisted of six members, in his office on Friday.
“This is the second delegation from Turkey to visit (Somaliland) in a period of two weeks,” noted a statement signed by Mr. Abdullahi Mohamed Dahir Ukise, the Press Secretary of Somaliland’s president.
The statement added that earlier delegation was led by the Somali Programme Coordinator of Turkeys International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA), Mr. Abdulahad Kodkagi, and accompanied by representatives of the Turkish Prime Minister.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Yemen army kills 6 Qaeda suspects: local official
02 Apr – Source: AFP – 183 words
Yemen’s army shelled Al-Qaeda hideouts in the southern city of Zinjibar, one of the jihadists’ major strongholds, killing six militants, a local official told AFP on Monday. The official, speaking from the nearby town of Jaar where wounded militants and dead bodies from Zinjibar are usually taken, said that “a Somali group leader named Abu Bilal” was among those killed in the late Sunday assault.
The extremists, who go under the name Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), have been locked in battles with the army in Abyan’s provincial capital Zinjibar since May 2011, when they overran the city.
The Partisans of Sharia have exploited a central government weakened by a year of anti-regime protests to strengthen their position, launching deadly attacks against security forces especially in the lawless south and southeast.
On Sunday, the militants killed seven policemen in an attack on a checkpoint in the southeast while clashes between the army and the Islamists a day earlier left 40 dead from both sides. Last month, 185 soldiers were killed in a massive assault by Al-Qaeda militants on an army camp near Zinjibar.
Turkish state agency provides water to 30,000 Somalis
02 Apr – Source: World Bulletin – 82 words
Turkey’s State Waterworks Authority (DSI) has provided water to 30,000 Somali people. According to the information by DSI officials, DSI drilled wells in Somali capital of Mogadishu to meet water needs of people who are staying in tent camps and in some regions in Somalia. Within the scope of the initiative by DSI, water needs of 30,000 Somali people have been met. Speaking to AA correspondent, Ahmet Sekerci, project official of DSI in Mogadishu, said that they would keep digging wells there.
Civilian Gun Ships Off Somalia
01 Apr – Source: Strategy Page – 929 words
To get around laws, in many ports, forbidding weapons aboard merchant ships, security companies operating off the Somali coast have equipped small ships to serve as floating arsenals. The security guards boards, in port, the merchant ships they are guarding, then meet up with the gun ship in international waters so the guards can get their weapons and ammo. The process is reversed when the merchant ships approach their destinations or leave pirate infested waters (and put the armed guards off onto the gun ship.) Maritime lawyers fret that there are no proper laws to regulate these floating armories, or that if there are applicable laws, everyone is not following them. It’s also feared that some enterprising lawyers will seek to represent the families of pirates shot by these armed guards. Off the Somali coast, everyone is looking for a big payday.
In the last three years, more and more merchant ships, despite the high expense, have hired armed guards when travelling near the “Pirate Coast” of Somalia. It began when France put detachments of troops on tuna boats operating in the Indian Ocean, and Belgium then supplied detachments of soldiers for Belgium ships that must move near the Somali coast. These armed guards are not cheap, with detachments costing up to $200,000 a week. There are now over a dozen private security companies offering such services. What makes the armed guards so attractive is the fact that no ship carrying them has ever been captured by pirates. That may eventually change, but for the moment, the pirates avoid ships carrying armed guards and seek less well-defended prey.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Indeed, we are never in doubt that there is always a heavy price for peace, yet the rewards are numerous. Consequently, our own armed forces have given to Somalia and thus to the world, what she expects to receive in return-peace.”
Resilience, conviction and not money spur UPDF success in Mogadishu
02 Apr – Source: Daily Monitor – 852 Words
Recently, some detractors embarked on another front in their quest to dismember the State of Uganda- the UPDF. These enemies of Uganda, having failed to effect unconstitutional regime change, have turned their arsenal against the strongest pillar of the State with the aim of creating disharmony in the forces so as to disintegrate it and thereby weaken the State.
The first point of attack was the legendary heroic achievement of the victorious troops that have and are still serving in Somalia. Some so-called wives of soldiers were “starving” due to lack of payment! Our gallant men and women still receive a monthly salary that is left to the disposal of their families. Responding to a question from a BBC interviewer, yours faithfully assured him that what makes UPDF unique is the fact that even when allowances are irregular, we can still deliver security in Mogadishu.
“Turkey’s approach in Somalia, if successful, will pave the way for other emerging economies to make a significant contribution to Somalia’s economy and society, and to establish a new development paradigm based on a win-win situation for both donor and recipient.”
Why Turkish aid model is proving to be a success in Somalia and elsewhere
01 Apr – Source: Daily Nation – 617 Words
Thanks to China, a new development aid paradigm is taking root in African countries. African governments no longer have to grin and bear the heavy-handed, top-down, paternalistic and patronising approach of traditional Western donors.
The new aid model, which is increasingly being adopted by other emerging economies, emphasises mutual trade benefits and infrastructure development, both of which have been credited with significantly improving African economies in recent years.
This model is in sharp contrast to that of traditional donors, which have been focusing more on humanitarian aid and governance issues and less on trade and infrastructure development.
“Aweys appears to be indicating a split from a Godane-led al-Shabaab. Aweys also directly countered al-Qaeda in this discussion, which should be a good public relations tool for the West.”
Aweys split with al Shabaab & al Qaeda in Somalia
01 Apr – Source: Selected Wisdom – 502 Words
Three days ago, I discussed three scenarios with regards to potential al Shabaab fractures signaled by the recent plight of Omar Hammami; an American al Shabaab member losing his way in Somalia.
Building from Andrew Lebovich and I’s discussion and the research contributions of others, I outlined three scenarios with regards to what might be occurring inside al-Shabaab in the lead up to its merger with al-Qaeda.
“Some critics argue that foreign aid prevents local communities from becoming self-sufficient. Foreign aid, however, cannot be viewed as a simple hand-out. According to Leach, the problems of hunger are multifaceted and the tools needed to address hunger must also be varied.”
Humanitarian Assistance: A Pragmatic Choice
01 Apr – Source: Harvard Political Review – 1301 Words
A severe drought has plagued East Africa since mid-2011. The drought, the region’s worst drought in past 60 years, wreaked havoc on crops and livestock for the pastoral regions and up to 100,000 people died as a result of the drought between April and August of 2011. In September 2011, the UN reported that 13.3 million people were in need of medical assistance in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Today, there are still crises in regions across Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda. Food shortages, malnutrition, and the unsanitary conditions of refugee camps continue to claim lives. Tens of thousands of refugees from Somalia have flooded neighboring countries.
Top tweets
@njengakimani Turkey’s involvement in #Somalia is more about geopolitics than anything else. It just wants to show the world it is an emerging power.
@InjusticeFacts Instead of sending more aid to famine stricken #Somalia, U.S. is sending more CIA drone flights to hover over the country.
@AOmar0901 @Semhar #Somalia
@Amal__Ismail #Shabaab and al Qaeda do not represent the Muslim world, they are only part of it. #aways. #Somalia.
@Senator_Baloch @UKinSomalia
@h_sonia @ZuniaNews 10 ways the international community must address #Somalia’s #
Image of the day
Hani Torun, Turkish Ambassador to Somalia with Abdirahman Mohammed ‘Farole’, President of Puntland state. Mr. Torun is on official visit to Garowe. Photo: Garowe Online