July 30, 2012 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

UPDF sends 3,200 more troops to Somalia

28 Jul – Source:New Vision – 494 words

The army has passed out a new battalion comprising of 3,237 specially trained troops for deployment against the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab terrorists in the war-torn Somalia. This will be Uganda’s 10th battle group to be deployed in Somalia since the inception of the African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission (AMISOM) in 2007. The battle group 10 will replace battle group eight that will return home upon their arrival in Mogadishu. The troops, who completed a four-month course at Singo military centre in Nakaseke district on Friday, comprise of British and French trained snipers equipped with distinct martial skills.

Key Headlines

Eritrea role in Somalia fades KDF control key areas (the Eastern African)
Blasts kill Two hurt 7 in Somalia capital (Shabelle)
World Vision Aid Worker Reflects on Hunger in Somalia (VOA)
MPs will be selected on merit says Women and Family Affairs Minister (Radio Bar-kulan)
Somaliland suspends talks with Somali govt (Hadhwanaag Times/ BBC Somali Service)
UPDF sends 3200 more troops to Somalia (New Vision)
U.S. is the driving force behind the fighting in Somalia (Los Angeles Times)
Views of members of diaspora participating in National Constituent Assembly (Raxanreeb/Soomaalo Online)
Somalia gets extra €3m aid (Irish independent)

SOMALI MEDIA

Blasts kill Two, hurt 7 in Somalia capital

29 Jul – Source: Shabelle – 155 words

Explosions in Somali capital Mogadishu have left at least one dead and seven others injured overnight, the latest attacks since Somali government and African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces took full control of the city from al Shabaab August last year.The first blast occurred at Carwo-idka junction in central Mogadishu, after unknown assailants hurled hand grenades at a base for Somali government soldiers in the area, killing one passerby and wounding at least three people, among them soldiers, witnesses said.

MPs will be selected on merit, says Women and Family Affairs Minister

29 Jul – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 86 words

Women and Family Affairs Minister Maryan Aweis Jama has said the proposed new parliament will be selected based on merits. Speaking to Bar-kulan, the minister said the selection will be based on academics, competency and commitments to serve the nation, saying that there will be no room for handpicking. She said women too will not be spared from such tough requirements. Her sentiment comes a time Somali women were given 30 percent participation of the upcoming government once the transition period ends August 20 this year.

Al Shabaab ambush allied forces in Gedo region

29 Jul – Source: Garowe Online/Shabelle – 147 words

Clashes sparked Saturday night in the southern region of Gedo between al Shabaab and Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops, Garowe Online reports. According to local sources, the clashes sparked after al Shabaab fighters ambushed allied forces stationed in Yurkud. Government officials in the region of Gedo reported that the allied forces successfully repelled the ambush.

Views of members of diaspora participating in National Constituent Assembly

29 Jul – Source: Raxanreeb/Soomaalo Online – 328 words

My name is Faduma Mohamed and I am from United States of America. I am part of the delegation of the National Constituent Assembly and this is my first time participating in the Constitutional process of Somalia. When I was asked to participate in this process, I was scared and didn’t want to come to Somalia. After giving some thought, I decided to come and be part of history making process for my Country. The work that I am doing today is building a better Future for my children and for all Somalis.

Somaliland suspends talks with Somali govt

28 Jul – Source: Hadhwanaag Times/ BBC Somali Service – 88 words

The ]self-declared] republic of Somaliland on Friday disclosed that it had suspended talks with Somali interim federal government.In an interview with BBC Somali Service, Somaliland’s Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Omar said that the talks between the two sides will resumed after the end of Somalia transition period. The talks between Somaliland and Somalia have started in London after ministers from the transitional government and Somaliland held key meeting.Then, the president of Somaliland Ahmed Mohamud Silanyo and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed met for the first time in Dubai.

Locals ordered to vacate government buildings in Luq town

27 Jul – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 134 words

District authorities in Luq town, Gedo region, have ordered people illegally occupying government buildings to immediately move out in order to allow the government use then to provide Public services to locals in the area. Area Distrcit Commissioner Ahmed Bulle Anjeh ordered all people squatting in former government buildings to vacate immediately without any other conditions. Anjeh said his administration held talks with individuals occupying these buildings since the collapse of the Somalia’s central government in early 1990s and ordered them to move out. He promised to renovate these buildings to offer public services to the locals. Anjeh has not revealed whether the occupants will be resettled once they move out of these buildings.These State buildings were converted into business centres and residential houses after the fall of former central government in 1991.

Galka’yo airport under mortar attacks

29 Jul – Source: Shabelle – 107 words

An airport in Somalia’s central town of Galka’yo has come under heavy mortar shelling on Sunday. Some of the mortars landed inside the airport while several others landed nearby areas, witnesses and officials said. Unknown assailants shelled the airport from different directions, which serves as a local landing field, especially for Galmudug and Puntland states of Somalia. “Mortar rounds rained down on the airport on Sunday morning as a local passenger plane was due to take off from the airport while passengers were boarding other planes and there are no reported damages to the airplanes and the passengers,” said a witness who asked not to be named.

REGIONAL MEDIA

UPDF sends 3,200 more troops to Somalia

28 Jul – Source:New Vision – 494 words

Eritrea role in Somalia fades, KDF control key areas

28 Jul -Source: Eastern African – 304 words

Eritrea’s role in Somalia has diminished considerably while Kenya is playing an increasingly significant part in the still-lawless country, a United Nations investigation shows. The UN committee monitoring arms embargoes against Eritrea and Somalia says in a pair of reports issued last week that it found no evidence in recent months of direct Eritrean support for the al Shabaab insurgency. That turnaround in Eritrea’s policy is due to friction between authorities in Asmara and al Shabaab’s leaders as well as to enhanced international scrutiny, the monitoring panel suggests.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

U.S. is the driving force behind the fighting in Somalia

29 Jul- Source: Los Angeles Times- 869 words

The soldiers stood at attention, rifles at their sides, as U.S. Army Maj. Gen. David Hogg walked down the ranks, eyeing the men heading off to fight in Somalia. “You will push … the miscreants from that country, so Somalia can once again be free of tyranny and terrorism,” he told them, according to a video of the May ceremony. “We know you are ready.”These weren’t American soldiers. They were from impoverished Sierra Leone in West Africa. But Hogg, a top U.S. Army commander for Africa, was in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital, because this was largely an American operation.

Somalia gets extra €3m aid

30 Jul- Source: Irish independent -141 words

Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore has announced a €3m aid package to provide food and shelter for Somalian people hit by war and famine, writes Fionnan Sheahan. Currently on a tour of east Africa, Mr Gilmore has visited Mogadishu, the Somali capital. He is the first Irish minister to travel to Somalia for more than 20 years.The €3m aid is on top of €3m in Irish emergency and long-term development funding provided to aid agencies in Somalia in the past five years

General accuses Saudi and Yemeni Sheikhs of funding pirates in Somalia

28 Jul – Source: Examiner – 123 words

FAS news is reporting that the Commander of the IRGC Special Naval Force Unit General Mohammad Nazzeri, the point man in charge of Iran’s fight against pirates, has recently accused certain Gulf member nations of supporting pirates in Somalia! The commanders comments came out during a press interview regarding Iranian anti piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden. “The pirates of the Gulf of Aden are simple fishers”, he explained. “But their sponsors and main leaders are Sheikhs of the UAE, Yemen and Saudi Arabia,” the commander said. “They provide the Somalis with money, weapons and equipments so that they hijack ships,” Nazzeri explained, and added that these Sheikhs leave no trace behind in their financial and arms aids to the Somali pirates.

World Vision Aid Worker Reflects on Hunger in Somalia

27 Jul – Source: VOA – 381 words

It has been a year since one of the worst droughts and subsequent famines in East Africa ravaged the Horn of Africa last year. Humanitarian aid workers are still seeing refugee camps bursting at the seams as about one million people are living outside of their place of origin. For many families, especially children, survival is a daily struggle. For one aid worker originally from Kenya, the situation brings back memories of a time in her young life when hunger was a daily occurrence. Amanda Koech, a Somalia representative for World Vision, reflected on the Kenyan drought in 1984.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“…Somalia has become the graveyard for massive aid and many untenable UN political initiatives, including the “road map.” In these international efforts, little attention was paid to the most pressing issues for ordinary Somalis: the need for a sustainable and pluralistic political framework that would satisfy all stakeholders, including the Islamists. A more inclusive and organic peace not only has a better chance of success than political fixes imposed from the outside, but might also lead to long-term stability and good governance.”

Somalia: Organic peace is needed

29 July- Source: Global Post-759 Words

This month, the Somali clan elders are convening in Mogadishu for a United Nations-sponsored peace and reconciliation effort to craft a “road map.” Their daunting task: selecting delegates that will try to ratify a new constitution, elect parliament, and form a new government, at the end of the “transition” in mid-August.

“The future government of Somalia must focus on disabling all structures that fuel conflict. It must move beyond functions of maintaining and terminating ongoing military activities, such as ceasefire, demobilization and disarmament. It should move to implement in sustaining and training of the existing army forces, recruiting new army forces, re-employment and retraining most of the former Somali army men and women, who are willing and able to contribute.”

Establishing the Internal Security and Infrastructure in Somalia

28 July- Source: Mareeg/Markacadey/Gaafo-1577 Words

Since 1977 until present, the Somali people were in the middle of different kinds of wars and violent conflicts. As usual, violent conflicts originate from human insecurity such as exclusion, lack of access to resources and power. Poverty or lack of alternative economic opportunities, competition for natural resource, and tribal domination are also aspects that exacerbate conflicts in Somalia. On the other hand, lack of good governance, creates lack of respect for the rule of law, social exclusion, and intolerance. All the above factors can be identified as the fundamental causes of the various and prolonged conflicts in Somalia.