April 17, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.

Main Story

President orders Courts security review

17 Apr – Source: Office of the Somali President – 168 words

Following Sunday’s terrorist attack on the Courts in Mogadishu on Sunday 14th April, H.E. President Hassan has ordered a review of security at the Courts. “We acknowledge the concerns and frustrations of the Chief Justice, and it is essential to ensure that our Courts, and all our government institutions, are properly protected.

“We now face a different threat from Al Shabaab. The front line has gone and they have now melted into society and are intent on destabilising our progress and reforms through terror attacks.

AMISOM have their mandate and, in support of our forces, continue to perform with great courage and honour in fulfilling it. But our police and security forces must now step up and take responsibility for the security of our institutions.

“I have asked the security chiefs to investigate Sunday’s attacks and talk to the Chief Justice about reviewing security arrangements around the Courts and implementing improved security procedures. I have also asked them to review security around all our main government institutions.”

Key Headlines

Somali Government pleads to be given a helping hand to build National Army (Shabelle)
Displaced families’ homes in Baidoa destroyed by rains (Radio Ergo)
Somaliland intelligence officer shot dead after prison raid (Raxanreeb/Bar-Kulan)
Burundi soldiers tackle disease burden off Somali battlefield (Afrique Jet)
Somali piracy declines while West African piracy spreads (US Policy)
US bank to open Somali money transfer account

PRESS STATEMENT

President orders Courts security review

17 Apr – Source: Office of the Somali President – 168 words

“We now face a different threat from Al Shabaab. The front line has gone and they have now melted into society and are intent on destabilising our progress and reforms through terror attacks.

96 Somali Army Officers Graduate from AMISOM Training Course

16 Apr – Source: AMISOM – 229 words

96 officers from the Somali National Army yesterday graduated from Platoon Commander and NCO (non-commissioned officers) training course run by AMISOM at the newly refurbished Jazira Training camp in Mogadishu.

The 10 week course was handled by 75 instructors from Uganda and Burundi and begun on 13th January this year. The trainees received instruction on risk management, tactics, fields craft, counterinsurgency, professional way of handling arms, public health, and international humanitarian laws.

A second batch of Somali officers will undertake the course in one month’s time. Presenting certificates to the graduating officers, AMISOM force commander Lt General Andrew Gutti said the course fills a crucial gap in training.

“The Somali armed force is playing and will continue to play an integral part in Somalia’s recovery. Those who have graduated from this course today will be at the heart of this effort to bring lasting peace and stability to Somalia,” he said. Gen Gutti commended the trainees for their efforts and said that AMISOM would continue to enhance the capabilities of the Somali national security forces through further training and mentoring.

So far, nearly 400 Somali troops have been trained by AMISOM in Mogadishu and in Uganda. AMISOM, in collaboration with international partners, AMISOM is making arrangements to shift most of the training for the Somali National Army to the Jazira base once all the on-going processes have been completed.

SOMALI MEDIA

Somali Government pleads to be given a helping hand to build National Army

17 Apr – Source: Shabelle – 100 words

The Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia Abdi Farah Shirdon who held a media briefing after meeting with officials from Europe said that his government is requesting the western countries to lend them a helping hand to allow them to form a strong national Army.

The prime minister said “we have unanimously agreed to stabilize the country having moved from the transitional period to a federal state’’.

The prime minister added that the E.U will help to finance the government’s budget and the formation of regional governments which come under the federal government in the country.

Displaced families’ homes in Baidoa destroyed by rains

17 Apr- Source: Radio Ergo/ Universal TV- 197 words

A number of shelters housing displaced families in Yasin and Kormari camps, north of Baidoa, have been washed away by heavy rains. The two camps house more than 500 IDP families and are located on the outskirts of the town.

They were swept by fast flowing water from the gorge that passes through the centre of Baidoa. Families from at least 10 huts lost household utensils and other property. Two women were reported to have delivered their babies during the floods, including one woman who gave birth to twins.

The commissioner of Baidoa district, Hassan Malin Bikole, spoke to a Radio Ergo reporter in the affected camps. He said it was necessary to relocate the people from the camps to a better location and he was cooperating with local organizations to work on the problem. Meanwhile, those who suffered losses were being helped by other members of the public.

There are 53 IDP centres in Baidoa district, spread across five suburbs, and housing some 6,636 families. Camp leaders say most of the people living here have returned to the south after previously being displaced to Mogadishu, Dollo, and parts of Puntland.

Somaliland intelligence officer shot dead after prison raid

17 Apr – Source: Raxanreeb/Bar-kulan – 110 words

At least three police officers including a senior Somaliland intelligence officer were shot dead after heavy gun battle between Somaliland security forces and armed men in Caynaba town on Tuesday, RBC Radio reports.

According to locals, a clan militia from Caynaba town stormed Caynaba main prison and managed to release dozens of inmates. Two police officers and regional intelligence officer Ahmed Aydiid were killed. Somaliland Interior Minister Mohamed Arale Dur who confirmed the death of the officers condemned the attack.

“The security forces then made reinforcement as they succeeded to arrest 26 of the attackers.” the minister said speaking from Hargeisa town, the capital of Somaliland, a breakaway northern Somali region.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Maritime agency calls for vigilance as piracy cases fall

16 Apr – Source: Business Daily Africa – 227 words

Ships sailing through the coast of Somalia remain vulnerable to piracy attacks, a watchdog has warned urging for sustained vigilance by vessel operators and security agencies.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said Tuesday that only five incidents were report off the coast of Somalia between January and March, including the hijacking of a fishing vessel and its 20-member crew who were later freed by naval forces patrolling the route through the Gulf of Aden.

There were also two attempted attacks on tankers sailing in the Gulf of Aden-notorious for attacks by pirates.

Burundi soldiers tackle disease burden off Somali battlefield

16 Apr – Source: Afrique Jet – 677 words

The war inside Somalia, which has raged for more than 22 years, has taken its toll on the health of the population, forced to live without any semblance of a national health infrastructure for a better part of over two decades.

But efforts by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), whose Burundian contingent has the responsibility to provide primary healthcare to thousands of local Somalis, are shaping up the Horn of African country’s basic health care system.

For a hospital its size, the Burundian National Defence Forces medical camp, based at the Mogadishu University camp that hosts the contingent, receives more patients than most national hospitals in the East African nation, due to the neglect of the country’s healthcare system.

Somalia’s peace: Running on empty?

16 Apr – Source: Al Jazeera – 338 words

After 20 years of civil conflict, Somalia has once again been given a stark reminder of the challenges facing its UN-backed government. A fragile peace has again been shattered, in the most serious attack on Mogadishu since al-Shabab fighters were forced out of the capital in 2011. Suicide commandos forced their way into the Supreme Court complex, spraying gunfire and detonating explosives. It is another setback for a country that is making small political gains while struggling to establish a credible army and security force.

Critics argue that the army is clan-based, made up of various militias, and loyal to different warlords. They are paid relatively little, with wages coming from the European Union and the United Nations. And, most serious of all, they are seen as lacking discipline, and are not trusted.

A Human Rights Watch report in March accused militias and security forces of serious abuses, including rape, beatings and ethnic discrimination, as well as restricting access to food and shelter. Meanwhile, armed group al-Shabab, which means The Youth, is fighting for an Islamic state in Somalia. At one stage it controlled large parts of the country, but a sustained military campaign by the African Union has forced the group to give up a lot of its territory.

Al Shabaab attack in Mogadishu a ‘show of force’, analysts say

16 Apr – Source: Daily Monitor – 468 words

A spectacular attack Sunday by Al Shabaab Islamists in Mogadishu, unprecedented in Somalia in terms of its operational complexity, has enabled the extremists to show they remain a serious threat.

Though they are widely described as severely weakened, the attack by the Al-Qaeda-linked militants shows that the authorities have not restored security to Mogadishu as they like to claim.

Nine assailants, wearing police or army uniforms and likely all wearing explosive belts, attacked the main courthouse in the Somali capital.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somalia’s Shabaab ‘a serious threat’

17 Apr – Source: AFP – 193 words

A spectacular attack on Sunday by Shabaab Islamists in Mogadishu, unprecedented in Somalia in terms of its operational complexity, has enabled the extremists to show they remain a serious threat. Though they are widely described as severely weakened, the attack by the al-Qaeda linked militants shows that the authorities have not restored security to Mogadishu as they like to claim.

Nine assailants, wearing police or army uniforms and likely all wearing explosive belts, attacked the main courthouse in the Somali capital. Three of them blew themselves up to clear the way for the six others, who took hostages and started battling the Somali and African Union troops guarding the courthouse. The gunfight lasted for several hours.

Thirty minutes into the attack, as military reinforcements were arriving and the wounded were being evacuated, a car bomb was detonated in the zone. The attack, which left at least 34 people dead, is the bloodiest since October 2011, when more than 80 people were killed some two months after the Shabaab abandoned fixed positions in Mogadishu. Experts said the modus operandi of Sunday’s attack is one frequently seen in Afghanistan, but so far unprecedented in Somalia.

South Africa Condemns Attacks in Mogadishu, Somalia

17 Apr – Source: South African News – 190 words

The South African Government is deeply shocked at the violent attacks that took place on Sunday, 14 April 2013, in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, resulting in the deaths of more than 34 civilians and the injury of 58.

South Africa condemns these abhorrent acts of terror, for which there can be no justification. It is deeply despairing that the attacks occurred just as Somalia is beginning to show clear signs of a return to normalcy following the 22-year long conflict.

The first attack targeted the newly formed Magistrate’s court in Mogadishu, in which nine attackers, adorned in uniform and posing as government officials, detonated explosive vests, while others opened gunfire on civilians, leaving 29 dead. A second attack followed shortly thereafter, targeting a Turkish aid convoy that is in Somalia to help the Somali population, this attack killed 5 people.

The bombings come a week after international warnings of imminent attacks by extremist group Al-Shabaab in different parts of Somalia. The Government and people of South Africa offer sincere condolences to the Government and people of Somalia, as well as to the families and loved ones of the deceased.

US bank to open Somali money transfer account

16 Apr – Source: AP/AFP – 460 words

U.S. Bank has agreed to open an account that will allow Somalis living in Minnesota to send money to their homeland, reopening a lifeline to relatives living in the war-torn East African country, an advocacy group said Tuesday.

Minnesotans for a Fair Economy said U.S. Bank has agreed to open an account with Dahab-shil, a Minneapolis money service business. A spokeswoman for the Minneapolis-based bank confirmed the agreement.

That account will allow Somalis to send money to their families living in Somalia, 16 months after the last Minnesota bank stopped conducting the transactions, Minnesotans for a Fair Economy said. Many big banks have stopped handling the transfers in recent years, saying the federal requirements designed to crack down on terrorism financing are too complex and not worth the risk.

Sunrise Community Banks, a group of independently managed banks, stepped in to fill the need. But in late 2011, Sunrise Community Banks announced it would stop processing the transactions.

Briefing: Somalia, federalism and Jubaland

16 Apr – Source: IRIN News – 1534 words

Moves to bring three regions in the deep south of Somalia together into the state of Jubaland have turned into a tussle with the central government, with regional powerhouses Kenya and Ethiopia playing important roles.

After more than two decades of civil war and inter-clan conflict, Somalia is undertaking an ambitious programme of national reconciliation and development, with federalism is a pillar of its plan. The national administration, in place since 2012, is called the Somali Federal Government (SFG), and the country’s basic law is the Provisional Federal Constitution. Both embrace the principle of power-sharing between central and regional authorities.

But the so-called “Jubaland Initiative” is exposing stark disagreements over how federalism should be implemented and over who should drive the process: the central government and parliament, or the regions themselves.

Somali piracy declines while West African piracy spreads

16 Apr – Source: US Policy – 24 words

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has fallen steeply since 2011 as a result of a U.S.-led international campaign, but it is flourishing along the coast of West Africa.

Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro told a congressional subcommittee April 10 that Somali pirates captured 10 vessels in 2012, compared to 34 in 2011 and 68 in 2010. The last successful Somali pirate attack on a large commercial vessel occurred nearly one year ago on May 10, 2012.

“The trend is clear,” Shapiro said. “The progress that has been made is real and remarkable.” He said the U.S.-led international campaign against Somali piracy has disrupted the pirates’ ”business model.”

“Mrs. Ballarin’s War

15 Apr – Source: Foreign Policy – 3598 words

The MV Faina, a Ukrainian-owned merchant ship, was hugging the coastline of Somalia as it steamed toward Mombasa, Kenya, in September 2008. But it would not reach its final port of call. As it navigated a particularly treacherous stretch of water, more than a dozen armed men swarmed the ship in motorized skiffs, taking the crew hostage. When they went down into the ship’s hold, the pirates couldn’t believe their luck:

The ship was carrying a clandestine cargo of 33 Russian T-72 tanks, dozens of boxes of grenades, and an arsenal of antiaircraft guns. The pirates had no way of knowing it, but the cargo had been part of a secret effort by Kenya’s government to arm militias in southern Sudan in their fight against the government in Khartoum — a violation of a U.N. arms embargo.

The Somali pirates had become experts in setting ransoms based on the value of their cargo, and soon after the ship’s capture they began demanding as much as $35 million for a safe release of the crew, the ship, and its sensitive cargo.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“Many Somalis and their next-door neighbors in East Africa will be hoping that the country’s President Hasan Mohamud is right when he says “Our country is moving and will keep moving forward and will not be prevented to achieve the ultimate noble goal of a peaceful and stable Somalia by a few desperate terrorists.”

Talking Somali Piracy in Mogadishu

16 April – Source: World Bank Blog – 1005 words

Ninety minutes after leaving Nairobi, UN flight 13W banks sharply over the Somali coastline in a series of steep turns that line it up for final approach into Mogadishu airport. The sharp turns are standard security measures to minimize exposure to fire from would-be attackers on the ground.

Out of the starboard window, a number of small boats cut a slow, languid path through the ocean, while closer to the airport, large merchant ships sit anchored just off the end of the runway waiting to be unloaded in the nearby port which is the city’s economic lifeline. As we land, the tarmac shimmers in the 100 degree heat that now envelops the city.

We’ve come to Mogadishu to present the findings of a new Bank study called The Pirates of Somalia: Ending the Threat: Rebuilding a Nation to senior ministers from the Somali government. The report concludes that Somalia cannot ‘buy’ its way out of piracy, and neither can the international community rely solely on its navies and law enforcement agencies to defeat the pirates, whether at sea or on land. The solution to Somali piracy is first and foremost political.

“With basic reading skills, a child has the opportunity to be lifted out of poverty”,

PRICE: Education in Somalia essential to promoting peace

16 Apr – Source: Washington Times – 638 words

Nearly taken for granted by the West, education is a noble struggle in Somalia, requiring generous contributions from citizens and foreign donors to help ensure a future of stability and prosperity for Somali children.

Devastated by drought, famine and conflict in recent years, Somalia offers an arid, hardscrabble existence in which much of the populace subsists on just $1 per day. It has one of the lowest primary-school enrollment rates in Africa, and education is available to less than 20 percent of the country’s children. Only one-third of the students are girls.

But “with basic reading skills, a child has the opportunity to be lifted out of poverty,” says Hodan Guled, founder of the nonprofit Somali and American Fund for Education (SAFE).

My family’s foundation subsequently agreed to sponsor four classrooms at two village schools. Concerned about security, we chose to build in Somaliland, a de facto state recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia that has been relatively untouched by the violence that has plagued the rest of the Horn of Africa nation. With its population of 3.5 million people, Somaliland has proven that it can govern justly and respect human rights and the rule of law.

“Are you al-Shabaab or soldiers?”

16 Apr – Source: Reuters – 635 words

On Sunday morning I was sipping a cup of coffee at the Village restaurant near the palace when I heard a blast followed by gunshots. I walked out onto the street and could see pickup trucks with anti-aircraft guns mounted on them, rushing toward the Mogadishu court. I started my vehicle and drove speedily in the direction of the court. I arrived moments later at the court building where there was an intense exchange of gunfire.

I could not believe armed fighters had broken into the court, killed the soldiers that guarded it, the lawyers and others. “How did al-Shabaab take over such a well-guarded building in the heart of the town!’ I whispered to myself as I got closer to the building.

Reuters and my family knew I was at the scene, calling me every second to confirm I was safe. Soldiers angrily glanced at me whenever my mobile phone rang. I had to silence them lest I should be mistaken for manning the explosions.

Top tweets

@RadioErgo Displaced homes in Baidoa destroyed by rains#Somalia.

‏@FogliaDiFaggio #Somalia and piracy: The cost on land as well as at sea | The Economist http://econ.st/16PZbMw .

@MorningAfrika #Somalia: PM says ‘foreign involvement’ in Mogadishu courthouse massacre http://ow.ly/k8Ate .

@gcmcSomalia #Somalia Yemen: Addressing the plight of migrants from the Horn of Africa http://bit.ly/YTsFbz #crisismanagement.

@usembbrussels Official says #piracy is declining off the coast of #Somalia but it is flourishing off the coast of#WestAfrica http://tinyurl.com/btbjd5n.

‏@omabhaSOMALIA: Somaliland intelligence officer shot dead after prison raid – Raxanreeb Onlinehttp://dlvr.it/3FHKM0 #Somalia.

@unisgeneva #Somalia: #UN Rights Expert urges government to strengthen justice system despite Sunday’s attacks. More: http://tinyurl.com/bnqywms .

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Image of the day

Image of the day Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon meets with Francesca Mosca, the EU’s Director of Cooperation for Sub-Saharan Africa. Photo: @SomaliPM.