August 24, 2012 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Al Qaeda in Somalia recruits Somali students in Pakistan
24 Aug – Source: Friday Times – 497 Words
Groups linked to al Qaeda in Somalia are using the international terror network to recruit Somali students in Pakistan and train them to carry out terrorist attacks in Europe, security analysts fear. Al Qaeda chief Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri announced the merger of Somali terrorist group al Shabaab with his organization on February 10 this year, to create al Qaeda in East Africa, or AQEA.
“They plan to move from their conventional base in the Afghanistan and Pakistan region to more vulnerable African countries,” said Carl Adams, a counter-terrorism expert based in Dubai.
In early 2012, hundreds of fighters from the Middle East and Pakistan left Somalia, apparently to help defend al Qaeda territory in Yemen, where a new president is likely to use his popular mandate and American support to mount an offensive against the international terrorist network.
Key Headlines
- Somali president praises progress in ending transition (Sabahi Online)
- Statement on the political situation in Somalia (IGAD)
- Somalia: Life returns in aftermath of al Shabaab (Mail and Guardian)
- Dozen arrested in Baidoa security sweep (Bar-kulan)
- Lessons for African leaders from Meles Zenawi’s death (Daily Monitor)
- Airstrikes injure two children in Gedo region (Garowe Online/Somaliweyn)
- Residents up in arms against militants (Bar-kulan)
- Al Qaeda in Somalia recruits Somali students in Pakistan (Friday Times)
- Tension high in Guriel district after fighting between Ahlu Sunna and TFG forces (Radio Kulmiye/Jowhar Online)
PRESS RELEASE
Statement on the political situation in Somalia
23 Aug – Source: IGAD – 269 Words
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is closely following with a keen interest the political developments in Somalia particularly with respect to the political transition in that Country. IGAD has received with satisfaction the successful election and subsequent swearing in of the 230 Members of Parliament. IGAD therefore congratulates the elected Parliamentarians and the entire Somali stakeholders for the implementation of the transition process thus far.
IGAD notes that the successful completion of the remaining tasks are critical for the completion of the transition process, and more importantly in launching Somalia into a new phase of peace and development. While these tasks are huge, IGAD believes they are achievable. In this regard, IGAD encourages the Somali stakeholders to pursue these tasks with the patriotism, commitment and sense of responsibility that they have demonstrated since the commencement of the implementation of the Roadmap.
IGAD is waiting with great anticipation for the convening of the ordinary session of parliament on August 25 and 26, 2012 and the election of the speaker of parliament. This shall be a test for the commitment of the new Parliament and all political actors to end the transition and bring about lasting peace in Somalia. IGAD assures the political actors and the Somali people at large of the region’s solidarity and support as they pursue those commitments.
Recognizing, that the challenges ahead are daunting, IGAD calls upon the entire Somali political leadership to remain on course, urges the international Community to remain vigilant and supportive of the Somali efforts, and hopes that Somalia will soon begin to play its rightful role among the community of nations.
SOMALI MEDIA
Dozen arrested in Baidoa security sweep
24 Aug – Source: Bar-kulan – 79 words
Nearly 15 people were arrested in southwest Somali city of Baidoa following a security operation conducted by government troops in the city’s Mursal neighbourhood on Thursday night, officials say. A government official in the city told Bar-kulan that they arrested people who are believed to have been plotting criminal activities in the city. Most of the suspects are said to be youth and are now being held in the city’s central police station where they are undergoing further investigations.
Airstrikes injure two children in Gedo region
23 Aug – Source: Garowe Online/Somaliweyn – 158 words
Air raids reportedly carried out by Kenyan aircrafts in the southern town of Bardhere injured two children Thursday afternoon, Garowe Online reports. The town located in the region of Gedo is controlled by al Shabaab and has been a target for the allied forces quite some time. According to a resident who spoke to GO under the condition of anonymity, the airplanes circled Bardhere many times before pounding the town with missiles Thursday afternoon.
“The planes circled us many times before they hit the town. There were a great deal of missiles that struck mostly the outskirts of the town,” said the resident. Al Shabaab has not commented about the airstrikes. Residents are on high alert as they fear there will be more civilian casualties in repeated strikes.
Residents up in arms against militants
24 Aug – Source: Bar-kulan – 92 words
Furious residents of Awdinle settlement, some 30 KM west of Baidoa town have reportedly attacked al Shabaab militants in the area for beheading two of their colleagues for alleged espionage charges. Locals accused the militants for beheading a man and woman who were local residents of Awdilne after accusing them of spying for the Somali government.
Ibrahim Issack Adow, a local villager in Awdinle told Bar-kulan that three militant fighters were killed during the incident, adding that locals acted in self defence after the militants started beheading their fellow villagers with no apparent reasons.
Tension high in Guriel district after fighting between Ahlu Sunna and TFG forces
23 Aug – Source: Radio Kulmiye/Jowhar Online – 128 words
Reports say that tension over military confrontation between local militia, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama and forces allied to Somalia’s transitional government is high in Guri’el district of Galgadud region in Central Somalia. The tension rose following attacks by Ahlu Sunna Waljamaa’a on a military base manned by TFG troops allied to district commissioner, Osman isse Nur. The attack caused causalities on both sides. Moreover, Ahlu Sunna also attacked the house of the DC, although no casualty was reported. The latest report from the town say that Ethiopian forces have started mediating the two parties.
Another Prof. declares his candidacy for parliament’s top seat
23 Aug – Source: Bar-kulan – 133 words
Prof. Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari who is a member of the newly inaugurated Somali parliament has declared his interest to vie for the position of speaker during the upcoming elections slated for next week in Mogadishu.
Speaking at a press conference in Mogadishu, Jawari said he will reform the parliament to the expectation of the Somali people and foster working relationship between Somali leaders. He promised to distance himself from anything that will create stand-off between the parliament and the executive or within the parliament as witnessed in the past.
Prof. Jawari is one of the Somali elites and has previously held different positions during the past Somalia’s central government. Before he was appointed as an MP, he was chairman of the Independent Federal Constitution Commission that has drafted Somalia’s current provisional constitution.
Puntland inks deal with foreign firm to fight piracy
23 Aug – Source: Radio Kulmiye – 91 words
The president of Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland, Abdurrahman Mohamud Mohamud Farole welcomed a foreign firm that intended to fight piracy. Farole signed an agreement that allows the unnamed firm to stay in Puntland for two years and fight against piracy in Puntland coasts. Puntland is among the regions that is greatly effected by piracy though many attempts were made to fight the menace.
Galmudug president visits parts of Mudug region
23 Aug – Source: Bar-kulan – 86 words
Galmudug’s newly elected President Gen. Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdid is touring parts of Mudug region, his first official trip outside Galkayo since he assumed office early this month. Qeybdid and his entourage on Thursday visited Bud-bud where they were warmly received by locals in the area.
Speaking to the locals, Qeybdid said his administration will focus on social development including education and health care, promising to expand the regional administration to exert its authority in areas which has not be covered.
Candidates for parliament leadership submit their application
23 Aug – Source: Hadhwanaag Times – 82 words
Candidates vying for the speaker of Somali parliament started submitting their applications to the parliament election committee on Thursday. A Somali lawmaker Osman Ibrahim Libah, the Spokesman of Parliament Election Committee, told the media that they began considering the applications submitted by the candidates. However, the new parliament which was sworn in on August 20 is expected to elect new speaker on 25th this month. Mr. Libah said the committee will be working with some of the parliamentarians during the elections.
Mogadishu theatre gets new face after renovation
23 Aug – Source: Bar-kulan – 117 words
The Mogadishu-based Centre for Research and Dialogue (CRD) on Thursday concluded renovation of Somalia’s national theatre, officials say. The Theatres manager Abdi Duh Yussuf told Bar-kulan the rehabilitation process has now been concluded, with the support of the Somali government in conjunction with CRD.
He said all offices and other vital areas of the theatre building have been fully renovated and its activities including performances will soon be back to normal. The facility was reopened March this year after 21 years of closure following the outbreak of civil war in the country in early 1991. But after one month, a deadly explosion ripped though it, killing seven people including two Somali sports officials and injuring dozen others.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Somalia: Life returns in aftermath of al Shabaab
24 Aug – Source: Mail and Guardian – 1135 Words
There is a sun-weathered, pensive woman in a faded burgundy jilbab who sits on the corner of the busy Kilometre 4 roundabout. She is there every day from 9am, perched behind her worn wheelbarrow, selling watermelons, dates and dusty bunches of grapes.
Her name is Batulla Abdullahi and she sees everything that comes and goes. In the past year, she has seen fear fade from faces, the roads repaired, garish new paint slicked on buildings and election posters plastered on bullet-riddled walls. To her, it looks like the Mogadishu of the 1980s: “Al Shabaab have left and people are coming here to do business.”
In recent months she has been joined by a traffic policeman, a sight unseen in the potholed streets of Somalia’s capital for more than two decades, whose job it is to explain to drivers with newly developed road rage in which direction they are supposed to go. At the other end of the capital’s main thoroughfare, Maka-Al-Mukarama, the short-staffed police service, which has not delivered a pay cheque in eight months, has run out of men. It has made do with a painting of a policeman instead.
Lessons for African leaders from Meles Zenawi’s death
24 Aug – Source: Daily Monitor – 241 words
Like it is the case with most African leaders, the illness and eventual death of the Ethiopian former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, 57, has been a big issue in both local and international media. Zenawi’s illness seems to have been concealed for political reasons until death struck at midnight on Monday. Yes, the country’s Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who is also Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister, will become acting head of government.
He will most likely face the challenge of fitting into the shoes of Zenawi, who has been instrumental in the war against insurgents in Somalia. Zenawi initiated fundamental policies and strategies for his country and the struggle to liberate Somalia from political turmoil. Liberian President Ellen Johnson SirLeaf said Zenawi was an “intellectual leader for the continent.”
UK Prime Minister David Cameron called him “an inspirational spokesman for Africa”, who had lifted millions out of poverty. There have been evident economic and infrastructure reforms in the country. Interestingly, some of his critics in Ethiopia maintain that Zenawi committed intolerable human rights abuse. Yes, he has contributed so much economically in his 21-year reign, but this was at the expense of democracy.
Zenawi’s death has come as a shock and disappointment to many people across the continent. His death has also sparked fears of a leadership vacuum, which could lead to instability in Ethiopia. Speculation about his health mounted when he missed an African Union Summit in Addis Ababa last month.
Al Shabaab dismisses Somalia elections
23 Aug – Source: Africa Review – 146 words
Al Shabaab fighters in Somalia have dismissed the country’s elections saying the government to be elected shall not prevail over their operations. A senior official of the radical Islamist group, Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, said Wednesday that the elections will have no negative consequences on the group.
“I urge al Shabaab fighters to multiply their struggle against the government and the supporting forces from the regional countries, under the auspices of the African Union Mission in Somalia,” he said. Speaking to Radio Andalus, the broadcast mouthpiece of al Shabaab, Sheikh Aweys underlined that the convening of a (federal) parliament and election of the president was a show staged by Western powers.
According to Sheikh Aweys, those contesting for the post of president are serving the interests of the enemies of Allah. He went on to accuse the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy to Somalia Augustine Mahiga for “shamefully masterminding the process”.
Somali president praises progress in ending transition
23 Aug – Source: Sabahi Online – 77 Words
Somalia is on the right track to ending transitional governments, President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said Wednesday. The president said during a press conference that Somalia has progressed in recent months and is on the road to improvement and stability, Radio Risaala reported. The time has come for the Somalia to leave behind transitional governments, he said. He said much work still needs to be done in Somalia to ensure a peaceful and prosperous future.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Al Qaeda in Somalia recruits Somali students in Pakistan
24 Aug – Source: Friday Times – 497 Words
Groups linked to al Qaeda in Somalia are using the international terror network to recruit Somali students in Pakistan and train them to carry out terrorist attacks in Europe, security analysts fear. Al Qaeda chief Dr Ayman al Zawahiri announced the merger of Somali terrorist group al Shabaab with his organization on February 10 this year, to create al Qaeda in East Africa, or AQEA.
“They plan to move from their conventional base in the Afghanistan and Pakistan region to more vulnerable African countries,” said Carl Adams, a counter-terrorism expert based in Dubai.
In early 2012, hundreds of fighters from the Middle East and Pakistan left Somalia, apparently to help defend al Qaeda territory in Yemen, where a new president is likely to use his popular mandate and American support to mount an offensive against the international terrorist network.
Somalia’s government: Baby steps
24 Aug – Source: Economist – 588 Words
IT WAS hardly an auspicious start. The first formal Somali parliament in more than two decades held its inaugural session on August 20th at the airport in Mogadishu, the capital. It was deemed the only safe place, thanks to a contingent of African Union (AU) troops. In attendance were only 211 of the 275 MPs. The rest were disqualified or failed to show up. Even so, the MPs were too numerous to fit into the main hall, so they swore their oaths in the car park.
Poorly prepared and overshadowed by security concerns, the day nonetheless marks a fresh start for Somalia. Over the past 12 months it has seen the humbling of al Shabaab, a once-dominant extreme Islamist group, a decrease in piracy along the coast and increasing co-operation among local power brokers.
The next step in the country’s slow transition away from civil war, helped by the West, is the inauguration of a national government. Some say it will come about through the first poll since 1967. But regardless of the campaign posters promising hope and change that are plastered around the devastated capital, diplomats assume a government will be formed by a process of “selection not election”.
The Horn of Africa after Meles Zenawi
24 Aug – Source: Economist – 593 Words
SOME countries have a habit of suffering in unison. As in the Balkans and the Caucasus, the ethnically diverse countries of the Horn of Africa often infect one another. Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia have all spilled internal conflicts and misrule across borders. Two historic events this week may now open up a new chapter in the Horn’s history. Both could pave the way towards greater political openness and prosperity—but only if the West applies pressure in the right way.
The first event occurred in Somalia, which convened its first parliament in living memory. Representatives from all regions and clans, often warring, met in the recently liberated capital, Mogadishu; they are now expected to choose a president in a competitive, if imperfect, vote.
National elections are next on the agenda. There are plainly risks: many of Somalia’s politicians are crooks; and al Shabaab, an extreme Islamist militia that controlled most of the country until recently, remains a threat. But Somalia probably has its best chance of finding an inclusive government since it descended into internecine fighting and frequent famine after the overthrow of Siad Barre in 1991.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“With no real government institutions, official banking facilities, rule of law, tax revenue mechanism, poorly trained human resources and continuing political instability, it will be difficult for any sane company to put even a dollar into Somalia. Yet all over East Africa Somali businesses are reviving dead industries and through fierce competition and effective and efficient supply chain management, bringing down prices.”
The investment climate is not yet right for foreign investors to gamble on Somalia
24 Aug – Source: Harowo/Gaafo – 1192 Words
After more than two decades of civil war in Somalia, this week a new group of law makers were sworn in to form what will be the first (semi democratic) government since the collapse of the State in 1991. These law makers are tasked with not only legislating for a better future for the Somali people but also choosing its new leader and their commander in chief. The fact that the tribal elder led MP selection process has gone smoothly with many female candidates also been chosen has created the kind of optimism in Somali politics that has been missing for the two violent, lost decades. Perhaps now, many Somalis are thinking, things will improve remarkably for them.
The improvement most wished for is not political as many of the presidential candidates have very little real powers or legitimacy in the eyes of the general public. They do not, as yet, control the entire Somali regions as al Shabaab still has a strong presence in many rural areas. And many of them still rely heavily on tribal numbers and not ability to force their way into office. However, what people hope for most is private sector led development and investment that can lift them out of poverty through better public services and employment opportunities.
Top tweets
@dougf24 #Somalia presidential candidate @ygaraad says al-Shebab terrorist group renewed its threat against him 2 days after his return to Mogadishu.
@JamalMOsman On the day #HRW put out this report;#Somalia: “Protect Civilians in Kismayo” #Kenyans respond by bombing civilians: http://bit.ly/SXqdc1.
@nabadinstitute #Somalia: Cultivating peace is like planting a mango pit. The tree may take long to mature. When it does, it produces nothing but sweetness!
@araweilo #Somali woman holding #Somalia flag:http://bit.ly/NOKXzk #somaliwomen and #patriotism.http://pic.twitter.com/
@KhusaafMan #Activist group presses #Uganda to pull its troops out of #Somalia, threatens demonstrations #AMISOM#Africa #Kenya http://goo.gl/2xNQR.
@StrategicStuNet Squeezing the al-Shabaab balloon? Pushed from #Mogadishu the group targets #Kenya http://ow.ly/daIdR#Somalia #terrorism @IISS_org.
Image of the day
UN Special Envoy Augustine Mahiga signs the book of condolences for late Meles Zenawi at the Ethiopian Embassy in Mogadishu. Photo: @UNPOSomalia.