September 13, 2012 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Somali president, Kenyan FM escape deadly bomb attack

12 Sept- Source: Reuters/VOA News – 575 words

Somalia’s new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the visiting Kenyan foreign minister on Wednesday escaped an apparent suicide bomb attack on a Mogadishu hotel where they were holding a news conference unscathed, witnesses said.Somalia’s al Shabaab rebels said they had carried out the attack, which killed at least eight people and came just two days after Mohamud was elected in the first presidential vote in Somalia in decades.

Key Headlines

Somali president to be inaugurated next Sunday (Bar-Kulan)
Six Somalis where hospitalized in Cape Town after new president elected (Somaliweyn)
Canada congratulates Somalia on election of new president (Bar-Kulan)
Al Shabaab claims responsibility for bomb attack (Somalimemo Online)
Somali piracy to stay in retreat for now -NATO officer (Reuters)

PRESS RELEASE

AMISOM foils attack on Somali President

12 Sept – Source: AMISOM – 166 words

AMISOM and Somali security forces yesterday afternoon foiled an attack against Somalia’s new President in Mogadishu.

Two suicide bombers were shot and blew up as they attempted to penetrate the hotel where President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has been staying since his election on Monday. Another was intercepted and shot dead as he attempted to scale the walls of the compound.

One AMISOM soldier was killed and three others wounded during the attack which happened as the President was addressing a press conference. The President was in no danger and continued to calmly address the media.

AMISOM Force Commander, Lieutenant General Andrew Gutti paid tribute to the courage of his soldiers. “The enemies of peace will not be allowed to spoil this historic moment for the people of Somalia who on Monday successfully completed the transition to representative government.” He said.

He reaffirmed AMISOM’s commitment to continue working with the new government and the people of Somalia to help secure peace and stability in the country.

SOMALI MEDIA

Somali president to be inaugurated next Sunday

12 Sept – Source: Bar-kulan – 57 words

Somalia’s newly democratically elected president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud will be officially inaugurated next Sunday, the national assembly speaker revealed. Speaker Jawari said the inauguration ceremony will be held in Mogadishu next Sunday. He said the decision was made by top parliament officials after thorough consultations with the relevant authorities, adding that the parliament is aware of the decision.

Two suicide car bombings target new president of Somalia

12 Sept – Source: Garowe Online/Radio Mustaqbal – 121 words

Two vehicles laced with explosives have targeted a hotel in Mogadishu where new Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud was staying, witnesses told Garowe Online on Wednesday. President Hassan was present when two suicide bombers rammed their explosives-ladden vehicles into the hotel gate. Unconfirmed reports say that a senior Kenyan official was present at the hotel along with former Somali Prime Minister Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas.

New Somali president safe after explosion

12 Sept – Source: Hiiraan online- 160 words

Somalia’s new president and Kenya’s foreign minister are safe after a bomb attack at the Mogadishu hotel where they were speaking.

VOA correspondent Gabe Joselow, who was at the hotel, says two bombs detonated outside the building Wednesday as President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Kenyan Foreign Minister Samson Ongeri were holding a news conference inside.

Six killed in Mogadishu explosions – report

12 Sept- Source: Radio Shabelle- 164 words

Reports are emerging on the explosions that occurred yesterday in a hotel where the new Somali president, Prof Hasan Sheikh Mahmud, resides. A suicide bomber reportedly stood in front of the hotel and detonated himself. Two Amisom [African Union Mission in Somalia] soldiers and two Somali government soldiers died in the explosion in which a total of five people were killed including the suicide bomber. Soon after, another explosion occurred at a spot not far away from the hotel when an explosives-laden vehicle exploded with parts of a suicide bomber found in the vehicle.

Six Somalis where hospitalized in Cape Town after new president elected

12 Sept – Source: Somaliweyn – 114 words

Six Somalis where hospitalized in Cape Town as a result of car accidents after the new President was elected. After Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the new Somali President, was elected there where hundreds of Somalis gathered in Bellville (Cape Town) to welcome heir new educated President. The 56-year-old peace activist Mr. Mohamud has been welcomed by world leaders, after the country’s MPs elected him in on Monday in a landmark achievement for Somalia.

Canada congratulates Somalia on election of new president

12 Sept – Source: Bar-kulan – 92 words

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird on Wednesday congratulated Somalia on the election of its new president and welcomed the beginning of a new chapter in Somalia’s history. “The election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on September 10 marked the completion of the transition to a new Somali government,” said the minister.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Al Shabaab claims responsibility for bomb attack

12 Sept- Source: Kenyan-post/Somalimemo Online- 124 words

Somali terror outfit al Shaabab has claimed responsibility for an attack on Kenyan Foreign Affairs Minister and his entourage as they met newly appointed Somali President Sheikh Mohamoud. The Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said the terror group was responsible for the attack. Mohamud in his brief statement also had a go at the new president; “We are responsible for the attack against the so-called president and the delegation,” said Mohamud.

Kenya PM backs new Somalia president

12 Sept- Source: Capital news- 401 words

Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Tuesday congratulated newly elected Somalia president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, terming his election as a ‘turning point’ for peace and progress in the neighbouring country. He said that Mohamud’s election on Monday was manifest of a clear intention by lawmakers in Somalia to break away from the past and start on a new chapter.

Ongeri in Mogadishu suicide bomb drama

13 Sept – Source: The Standard/Daily Nation – 500 words

Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Ongeri was yesterday evacuated from the Somali capital Mogadishu, after surviving a suicide attack targeting that country’s new President, Mr Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
A KDF jet flew Prof Ongeri and his delegation out of the war-torn country, minutes after a suicide bomber stormed the Jazeera Palace hotel where the minister was meeting President Mohamud.
Prof Ongeri, who arrived in Nairobi at around 7.30pm, said he had experienced “firsthand how desperate people are determined to destabilise the government.” He was accompanied by MPs Mohammed Affey, Fred Kapondi, Abdirahaman Ali, and Adan Keynan.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somali president, Kenyan FM escape deadly bomb attack

12 Sept- Source: Reuters/VOA News – 575 words

Somali piracy to stay in retreat for now -NATO officer

12 Sept- Source: Reuters- 188 words
Somali pirate activity is expected to stay low despite the end of the monsoon season, as aggressive navy action, private armed security teams and defensive measures by ships keep the heat on gangs at sea, navy and security officials say.
Last year, Somali piracy in the busy shipping lanes of the Gulf of Aden and the northwestern Indian Ocean netted $160 million, and cost the world economy some $7 billion, according to the American One Earth Future foundation.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“The new government represents the 15th attempt by the international community to establish peace in Somalia. Perhaps this attempt will be more successful than the past 14 failures, but the record offers little reason for optimism”.

Somalia: New President, Same Challenges

11 Sept- Source: blog.heritage.org-376 words

Yesterday, Somalia’s newly appointed parliament voted Hassan Sheikh Mohamud into office as the country’s new president.

A political amateur and academic from central Somalia, Mohamud is considered to be a moderate. As such, he contrasts greatly with the former president of the Transitional Federal Government, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Mohammed. A hard-line Islamist and poster boy for corruption, Sharif represented all that was wrong with Somali governance.

International circles are hailing the election as a victory for Somalia. According to a press release by the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General for Somalia:

The Somali people have taken a great step forward on the path to prosperity.… Somalia has proved the doubters wrong and sent a powerful message of progress to all of Africa and indeed to the entire world.