September 17, 2012 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Key towns fall in march to Kismayu
16 Sept – Source: Daily Nation – 546 words
African Union troops have surrounded Kismayu ahead of a major offensive to liberate the last remaining al Shabaab stronghold in southern Somalia. The forces have recently captured a number of key towns around the port city from the Al-Qaeda-linked militants. And by Sunday, the AU troops were advancing on Birta Dheer, a strategic al Shabaab outpost 60 kilometres west of Kismayu.
Reports from Jubaland said that the Amisom troops and their allies — Somali National Army and Ras Kamboni Brigade — have intensified attacks against alShabaab fighters at Birta Dheer. Birta Dheer, a heavily fortified outpost, has been under the control of al Shabaab for the past three years. The allied forces were reportedly advancing from Bibi, which they captured on Friday.
Key Headlines
- Somalia’s new president wants an end to conflict and piracy (Euro News)
- Al Shabaab official fighters withdraw from port city of Kismayo (Radio Garowe)
- Events for the new president take place in Dubai UK and Denmark (SONNA)
- Somali clerics appeal for peaceful protests against anti-Islam film (Sabahi Online)
- Two APs injured after explosive hits vehicle (The Standard)
- Heavy fighting breaks out in Lower Jubba Region Somalia (Radio Risaala)
PRESS RELEASE
AMISOM apologises for fatal road traffic accident
17 Sept – Source: AMISOM – 201 words
AMISOM Force Commander, Lt. Gen. Andrew Gutti has offered his sincere apologies to the family of a man killed in a tragic road traffic accident today. The accident occurred in the capital, Mogadishu, this morning. The man, named Ali Mahmoud Gobdoon, was struck by one of the vehicles in an armoured convoy which had suffered a failure in the braking system.
AMISOM immediately contacted the Somali Police who collected the body. A joint investigation has been launched and witness statements are being taken. Appropriate actions will be taken after the investigation has been completed. The driver of the vehicle is shocked and saddened by the incident. “We are very sorry for this tragic accident. Our thoughts are with the family who have suffered such a great loss,” said Gen. Gutti.
Gen. Gutti added that AMISOM takes driver training and the maintenance of its vehicles very seriously. “Despite the difficulty of using and maintaining such big vehicles within Mogadishu, the general standards have been high and the number of accidents is thankfully very low. We do, however, urge people to take care when crossing roads, and to allow the armoured vehicles to pass so that such accidents can be avoided,” he said.
SOMALI MEDIA
Somalia inaugurates Hassan Sheikh as the ninth president
17 Sept – Source: Jowhar Online/Radio Mogadishu – 210 words
A well-organized event that featured diplomats, head of states and dignitaries from the International Community was held at the General Kahiye Police Training Academy in Mogadishu, where Somalia’s ninth president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, was inaugurated and handed the constitution of Somalia, flag and important documents, including the Presidential seal.
After a transparent election, the former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed transferred the power smoothly, as he encouraged the public to support the new president so that the upcoming administration may capitalize on the gains made so far. “I urge the Somali people to support the President, because with that we can make the country advance and ensure prosperity” said the outgoing president, Ahmed.
Speaking about his foreign policy, the new president unveiled his plan for the next four years. “In the next four years, my administration will lead a society that is at peace with itself, with its neighbors and with the world community” said President Mohamud.
The president underlined the need to create economic opportunities for all and to address challenges faced by millions of Somalis across the country. “By focusing on the economy, we will create jobs… to enhance unity among Somalis and prevent conflicts in the future,” said President Mohamud, who expressed his commitment for the economy as a top priority.
Al Shabaab official, fighters withdraw from port city of Kismayo
17 Sept – Source: Radio Garowe – 209 words
Reports say al Shabaab officials have pulled out of the city of Kismaayo in southern Somalia. It is unknown where the officials have gone to amid high tension in the port city. Residents of Kismayo said in telephone interviews that the al Shabaab officials have left the city this morning.
“Tension is very high. All prisoners have been freed. Everyone is asking what will happen next after al Shabaab’s withdrawal from the town,” said a resident of Kismayo. Although it is not known where al Shabaab officials and fighters have gone to, reports say they may have headed to the town of Jilib. Other reports say they may have gone to the forested areas in the south of Lower Jubba Region.
Kismayo was al Shabaab’s main base in southern Somalia and this development is a set back for the militant group and its supporters. Kenyan troops, who have joined Amisom (African Union Mission in Somalia) this year, and Somali government forces have been fighting al Shabaab in Lower Jubba Region since last year. Al Shabaab has not issued any statement regarding its withdrawal from Kismaayo although it previously vowed to defend the city.
Djibouti hails recent Somalia election
17 Sept – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 178 words
The Djiboutian government has praised the recent presidential election in Somalia where president Mohamud was elected in Mogadishu, the first election ever to be held in the city for the last 42 years. Speaking in Mogadishu on Sunday during the official inauguration of the newly elected Somali president, Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh said his government and the Djiboutian people are proud of the way the election was conducted.
He said the new president has a lot of challenges to face as the country emerges from the ashes of the more than two decades of conflict, adding that Somalis ought to support the new leader to overcome such hurdles. He urged Somalis to work with president Mohamud in order to stabilise and reconcile the country.
Gulleid praised the former TFG president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed for his effort in ending the transitional period. The Djiboutian president promised to support the new government in order to have Somalia regaining its status in the world community.
Somalia’s new inaugurated leader asks the people for support
17 Sept – Source: Shabelle – 118 words
The newly inaugurated Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has asked Somali people to give the their support to his government to put in place law and order of the country. While addressing a highly-organized power transfer ceremony held in Mogadishu on Sunday, with leaders from the region, President Ismail Omar Ghelle of Djibouti whose country has sent peacekeepers to Somalia, Mr. Mohamud said his new government can’t achieve the challenges ahead without the support of its people.
“I would like to mention here that Somalia is moving towards what marks the beginning of a ‘new era’ for a country that has lacked a central government for more than two decades so I request continued support to help it move forward,” he said.
Heavy fighting breaks out in Lower Jubba Region, Somalia
16 Sept – Source: Radio Risaala/Radio Kulmiye – 123 words
Heavy fighting is raging between the Somali National Army and the Kenyan Forces on one side and al Shabaab on the other in lower Jubba region. The fighting is said to have broken out after the Somali government forces who were on the offensive attacked an al Shabaab base in a region known as Siyeelow in the lower Juba region.
Residents of Kismayo are concerned that an attack by Somali government forces may also result in heavy casualties, said Ibrahim Abdu Sheikh, a local businessman. “Heavily armed al Shabaab forces are driving around the city in their battle wagons, while many armored vehicles have been placed on the outskirts of the city,” he said in a phone interview today.
Kenyan jet fighters and combat helicopters are also said to be taking part in this latest assault on al Shabaab positions in the Lower Juba region. Both al Shabaab and Somali government officials in the region are yet to comment on this latest event in a string of bloody encounters. As of now, it is difficult to identify the number of casualties arising from such clashes in remote areas.
USAID and Mercy Corps build and improve schools in Somaliland
16 Sept – Source: Somaliland Press – 126 words
The Somali Youth Leaders Initiative (SYLI) with the Somaliland Ministry of Education and Higher Studies launched a five-year program to build and rehabilitate secondary schools in Somaliland. The initiative is funded by USAID and implemented by a consortium led by Mercy Corps, Save the Children, SONYO and CARE International in partnership with the Somaliland Ministry of Education and Higher Studies.
The SYLI education program works with 24 schools across all regions of Somaliland and is designed to decongest schools, add separate sanitation facilities for girls and boys, train more teachers, and improve enrollment, especially for girls. The project will assist 10 schools in the first six months. By the end of the program, over 10,000 new pupils are expected to be enrolled in these schools.
Al Shabaab vacating Kismayo town
17 Sept – Source: Radio Mustaqbal – 171 words
Residents in Kismayo Town, the Head Quarter of Lower Jubba region in Southern Of Somalia told to Mustaqbal radio that al Shabaab fighters and their officers have mostly vacated that town. Al Shabaab officers were reported to have left from Kismayo as military pressure from AMISOM and Somalia’s government troops faced the fighters.
Somalia’s government and AMISOM troops are said to be heading near Kismayo which al Shabaab have controlled over 3 years. This vacation from Kismayo by al Shabaab comes as the allied troops of Somalia’s government and AMISOM had broken the greatest defenses that al Shabaab made on the outskirts of Kismayo. The residents in Kismayo were mostly reported to have fled from the town because of fears about the clashes between the allied troops and al Shabaab fighters.
Events for the new president take place in Dubai, UK and Denmark
16 Sept – Source: Radio Mogadishu/SONNA – 120 words
Officials from Somali embassies in United Arab Emirates, UK and Denmark such ambassadors, consulates, politicians, artists and communities have attended ceremonies held to welcome Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, president of the Somali federal republic who was elected president last week in Mogadishu.
Somali officials who spoke at such events showed their support to the leader of Somalia and its government, urging Somali people to help, indicating the importance of their support to the new government for Somalia.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Kenyan Foreign minister reveals intrigues behind Somalia’s assassination plot
17 Sept – Source: Daily Nation – 548 words
Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Ongeri has for the first time revealed the power struggles in Somalia that led to last week’s attempted assassination of President-elect Hassan Sheikh Mahmud.
The Minister over the weekend recounted how an attempt by former President Sheikh Sharif to solicit Kenya’s support for re-election failed and which may have prompted the assassination attempt. The Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab has since claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Before the elections, Mr. Sharif had talked with me for one and half hours, requesting that Kenya support him capture the presidency. But I told him that Kenya did not want to support any candidate as it wanted a free and fair elections in order to restore peace among Somali people which they had missed for the last 22 years,” Prof Ongeri said.
The minister said he was surprised when he saw the former President Sharif at Aljazeera Palace Hotel soon after the incident occurred and who appeared unshaken by what had happened.
Somali clerics appeal for peaceful protests against anti-Islam film
16 Sept – Source: Sabahi Online – 928 words
Muslim clerics in Somalia widely denounced an independent film insulting the Prophet Mohammed, but called for restraint and peaceful demonstrations in line with the tenets of Islam. Mogadishu-based cleric Sheikh Hassan Abdirahman said Somali clerics strongly condemn the independent film “Innocence of Muslims”, which insults the Prophet and Islam as a whole.
“The Prophet, peace be upon him, has a special place in the hearts of Muslims,” Abdirahman told Sabahi. He said respecting the Prophet is a religious obligation for Muslims, but stressed the importance of defending the religion in a sensible and wise way, rather than resorting to violence as a means of expressing anger.
“Our behaviour in this regard has to be sound and in harmony with the teachings and principles of Islam, which denounce violence and harm,” he said. “We caution against using violence and aggression against innocent people as a way of expressing anger, because murdering innocent souls and destroying property or attacking others is not in line with the teachings of Islam.”
Key towns fall in march to Kismayu
16 Sept – Source: Daily Nation – 546 words
African Union troops have surrounded Kismayu ahead of a major offensive to liberate the last remaining Al-Shabaab stronghold in southern Somalia. The forces have recently captured a number of key towns around the port city from the Al-Qaeda-linked militants. And by Sunday, the AU troops were advancing on Birta Dheer, a strategic Al-Shabaab outpost 60 kilometres west of Kismayu.
Reports from Jubaland said that the Amisom troops and their allies — Somali National Army and Ras Kamboni Brigade — have intensified attacks against Al-Shabaab fighters at Birta Dheer.
Birta Dheer, a heavily fortified outpost, has been under the control of Al-Shabaab for the past three years. The allied forces were reportedly advancing from Bibi, which they captured on Friday.
Somalia leader outlines concerns
16 Sept – Source: Aljazeera – 2:46 min
Somalia’s new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud, due to be sworn in on Sunday, says he is willing to begin talks with the armed group al-Shabaab.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera’s Peter Greste, he outlines his key concerns for Somalia.
Two APs injured after explosive hits vehicle
16 Sept – Source: The Standard – 298 words
Two Administration Police officers were injured after an explosive hit their vehicle in Mandera town. The device had been planted on the roadside on Saturday at 11am. This came less than two hours after local residents demonstrated to show solidarity with their Muslim brothers in the Middle East and North Africa in denouncing the film that insulted Prophet Mohamed.
The demonstrators burnt American flags and chanted slogans to denounce the West for disrespecting Islam. However, authorities said the two incidents were not linked. The officers were part of a team responding to an earlier explosion near the Kenya/Somalia border. Ten other officers survived the explosion.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia’s new president wants an end to conflict and piracy
17 Sept – Source: Euro News – 116 words
Somalia’s new president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has taken office and called for an end to conflict and piracy in a country afflicted by violence for more than two decades. His inauguration is the first since civil war broke out after dictator Siad Barre was ousted by warlords in 1991.
The academic faces a number of problems including clan politics, corruption, piracy on the high seas and an insurgency by al-Shabaab Islamist rebels. The new president has already had a taste of the difficulties and dangers ahead, last Wednesday the hotel where he was holding a news conference with the Kenyan foreign minister was attacked by suicide bombers. At least eight people were killed during the violence.
Teachers at MP institute remember Somali president as a ‘good pupil’
17 Sept – Source: Indian Express – 201 words
This is one Somali connection any Indian city would love to flaunt. The African country’s new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud trained in Bhopal to complete a Masters degree in Technical Education during 1986-88. It’s his work in education reforms that seems to have helped the 56-year-old moderate leader to get elected to the top position in the violence-scarred nation.
Twenty-four years is a long period and it took the National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research (then called Technical Teachers’ Training Institute) a while to clear the dust off the old files. The records are so old that NITTTR while appropriating the illustrious alumni on its website has used his current photograph, not sure how he looked then because all those who taught him have retired.
“We can’t claim that our academic grooming helped him reach the political pinnacle. He was good at studies and was appreciated by teachers because he was regular in completing assignments,” recalls N S Kapruan (78), who was coordinator of the batch of dozen-odd students and held various top positions by the time he retired in 1994. He remembers how he missed out being part of the group photograph when the 1988 batch was graduating.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Certainly brighter future is ahead for Somalia as with difficulties come ease. However, along the way, it would be utterly naïve to expect blue sky every day”.
Can Somalia’s Political Discontent Inspire Transformation?
17 Sept – Source: Foreign Policy – 1374 words
Exhausted by prolonged anarchy, chronic dependency, cancerous corruption, and humiliating subjugation, the Somali people demanded change. Not just change of guards or principled actors, but a total overhaul of the political order of the day. On September 10, 2012, the newly appointed parliament has heeded the call of its citizens and elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the President of post transition Somalia.
That historic date would be remembered as the one that underscored two significant realities: the resilience of the Somali people as they demonstrated their unwavering commitment to reclaim their nation, and how the will of the people enhanced with consolidated political objectives changed the course of national history.
The former would not have been possible without the persistence that motivates the Somali nomad to overcome adversities and to survive severe drought by migrating to greener pastures, and the hope that motivates the farmer to plow the field and sow the seed and have faith in the germination process that takes place beneath the earth. And the latter would not have been possible if it were not for the foresight, agency, and negotiations of various grassroots political activists who were determined to pave a new political pathway against all odds.
“Twenty years of constant war has ground the infrastructure to dust and two million Somalis need food aid just to survive. And if the president – or anyone else – underestimated the security challenge at all, al-Shabaab set him straight by trying to kill him less than two days into the job”.
Many challenges facing new Somali leader
16 Sept – Source: Aljazeera – 722 words
The enthusiastic squawking from the orchestra pit in the Police Academy theatre in Mogadishu somehow seemed oddly appropriate. The energetic, rhythmic Somali music that entertained the crowd during the presidential inauguration ceremony was off-key, slightly manic, and strangely discordant.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud took the seals of office from his predecessor Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in the ramshackle hall in a ceremony with none of the polish or pomp of even Somalia’s poorest neighbours. It was a chaotic affair, in a rundown building chosen not for any symbolic reasons, but simply because it was the only place in Mogadishu big enough to host hundreds of guests and foreign dignitaries, and be protected from insurgent attacks.
The feeble air conditioning barely kept the sweat off the suited crowd; the public address system was so distorted the speeches were barely comprehensible, and the honour guard was out of step. But for all its flaws and quirks, the ceremony was a triumph of belief and courage in the face of staggering adversity. It also had a soundtrack that fitted the moment perfectly.
Top tweets
@OCHASomalia #Somalia:1.4 million Somalis benefitted from sustainable water access projects in July, mostly in South.UN/Deghati http://twitpic.com/avjay4.
@dailynation ONE SUSPECT arrested with weapons cache in Nairobi’s #Eastleighpleads guilty to #terrorism charges. Ordered to undergo psychiatric tests.
@GrayPage New Somali president sworn in yesterday quoted: “We want #Somaliafree from #piracy, terrorism and asylum seekers abroad.”
@FreelanceJRNLST After 3 consectuve days of fierce fighting in south #Somalia #KDFand #Somali army nearly 2 capture port city of #Kismayo.
Image of the day
A colorful inauguration ceremony for Somalia’s new president Hassan Skeikh Mohamud (C) was held on Sunday in Mogadishu.Somalia’s outgoing president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed (L) has handed over instruments of power to the newly elected leader.