03 Aug 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- AMISOM sends Ramadan goodwill message to Somalis
- Al Shabaab blocks relief food bound for IDP camps in Kismayo
- ASWJ warns of al Shabaab attacks in Mogadishu
- New IDP camp set up in Badbado
- Somali Premier praises Arab efforts in containing famine
- Kenyan MP trashes al Shabaab link claims
- Somalia PM: Famine crisis ‘very dire’
PRESS STATEMENT
AMISOM sends Ramadan goodwill message to Somalis
03 Aug- Source: AMISOM- 501 words
In two statements the AMISOM Force Commander, Major General Nathan Mugisha, and Deputy Special Representative, Hon. Wafula Wamunyinyi, send their messages of goodwill to the people of Somalia during this blessed month of Ramadan when Muslims worldwide are fasting from dawn to dusk.
In their messages, they say that AMISOM will continue to provide security and share the resources it can with the victims of the severe drought during the holy month of Ramadan, and called upon Somali nationals in the diaspora as well as all Muslims across the world to remember their Somali brothers and sisters who are facing a severe drought that is taking its toll on the people.
Ramadan is Islam’s holiest month, and Muslims are encouraged to observe the month in humility, prayers and patience. The spirit of Ramadan also encourages Muslim to generously contribute in charity by helping the less fortunate members of society.
In his message Deputy Special Representative, Hon. Wafula Wamunyinyi says;
“We wish our brothers and sisters in Somalia a happy and prosperous Ramadan. AMISOM will continue to support the Somali people with the little resources we have by sharing our drinking water as well as continue to providing medical assistance to the people. Our forces will continue to work with government forces to ensure the public observe Ramadan peacefully without fear of attack from the extremists. AMISOM will continue to support and stand with the Somali population in the face of adversity,”
Contrary to the Ramadan spirit of giving and sharing it was surprising to see the extremist militias denying the hungry Somalis and food or help, the Force Commander said. He emphasised just how many are fleeing from the drought-ravaged areas that has already claimed scores of people, mostly children, who continue to die of starvation and other hunger-related conditions.
In another message the Force Commander, Major General Nathan Mugisha, said:
“We know who are killing and maiming the civilians, we know who it is that are denying the chance of a livelihood to the people. We have many Muslim soldiers at AMISOM who will be fasting during Ramadan and therefore we respect the need to observe the holy month in peace and tranquillity.
“I urge the world to continue supporting the Somali population, many of who are battling a severe famine and do not have shelter during the Holy Month of Ramadan,” General Mugisha added.
In a bid to protect the already-hungry women, children and the elder who have fled from the devastating drought and famine, the Somali government with help from AMISOM carried out security operations against militants in Mogadishu.
And in yet another brazen attack, two would-be Al-Shabaab suicide bombers were killed by AMISOM forces in Wardhiglay district in a botched suicide attack. The district is also home to hundreds of IDP’s who live in makeshift camps having fled from hunger as a result of a devastating drought that has wiped out their farmlands and claimed their highly prized livestock and in some cases robbed them of their loved ones.
SOMALI MEDIA
Al Shabaab blocks relief food bound for IDP camps in Kismayo
03 Aug – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 173 words
Al Shabaab has blocked humanitarian food aid bound to Dahabshil camp in Kismayo town, southern Somalia
A local businesswoman, Hajio Fatuma Baraka, who voluntarily donated the aid which comprised of comprising of rice, beans and cooking oil claims that al Shabaab deliberately blocked the delivery of the items donated.
Abdirahman Hayakalah, an al Shabaab officer said they blocked the delivery of the aid because they were not consulted by the donor. He added that action would be taked against the donor, Jajio Fatuma Baraka if she made attempts to deliver assistance to the camps without their approval.
ASWJ warns of al Shabaab attacks in Mogadishu
03 Aug – Source: Radio Shabelle, Kulmiye and Risala – 184 words
Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a officials have warned of possible attacks by al Shabaab targeting TFG buildings and civilians.
The spokesman for Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a, Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abdirahman Abu Yusuf Al-Qadi while speaking to Shabelle via telephone warned that al Shabaab was plotting to carry out attacks targeting government offices and markets in TFG controlled areas in Mogadishu in order to create tension between the public and the government.
Earthquake rocks Hargeisa city last night
03 Aug – Source: Somaliland Press – 137 words
Residents of Hargeisa city were awakened by an earthquake that began at 2:27am this morning and lasted for twenty five seconds. Resident’s stormed into the streets after the powerful earthquake hit the city last night.
There are no damages being reported at this time and the magnitude of the earthquake is still unknown due the fact that the country does not have any geological surveys.
http://somalilandpress.com/
Al Shabaab withdraws from Hees, Hiiraan region
03 Aug – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 147 words
Al Shabaab who have been wrecking havoc in parts eastern Hiiraan region have retreated from the area after sensing a potential danger from armed locals who have been flocking into Hees village for a couple of days.
Al Shabaab have reportedly set base in Beledweyne town as they make military maneuvers heigtening tension in the area According to reports, al Shabaab has been forcefully recruiting children in Hiiran region.
Earlier, local elders vowed to flush out the militia group, as youths in the area continued arming and regrouping themselves to prepare for a full scale offensive against al Shabaab.
Sheikh Aweys vows to continue fighting
02 Aug – Source: Radio Andulus, Radio Kulmiye – 67 words
One of the top leaders of al Shabaab, Sheikh Hassa Dahir Aweys , who spoke to a large crowd in Gedo region advised residents to prepare for renewed fighting against Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda , Burundi and the Transitional Federal Government. Sheikh Aweys vowed that they will not stop the fight against infidels until al shabaab troops reach the Qudus Mosque in Palestine land.
New IDP camp set up in Badbado
03 Aug – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 201 words
An extension camp from Badbado refugee camp in Wadajir district of Mogadishu has been opened.
The new camp named as Badbado II is aimed at housing new arrivals into the city. The government has established a water-well and a health facility in the new camp to provide clean water and medical care for the drought displaced people in the camp.
IDPs in the camps have already received much needed humanitarian aid from the international community, Muslim countries, the Somali government and civil society in Mogadishu.
Earlier president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, officials from the African Union and prominent foreign musicians paid a visit to internally displaced people in Badbado camp to assess their living conditions.
Parents of detained illegal immigrants urge government to intercede
02 Aug – Source: Radio Shabelle – 180 words
Parents of some Somali illegal immigrants jailed in Tanzania and Mozambique have asked the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) to intercede and help secure their release.
Abdullahi Ahmad Muhammad whose son is among the Somali illegal immigrants being detained in a prison along the border between Tanzania and Mozambique named Mutawara told radio Shabelle his son and a number of other youth have been held in that jail for over four months now. He added that the youth in the jails live under very harsh conditions.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Somali Premier praises Arab efforts in containing famine
02 Aug – Source: Qatar News Agency – 195 words
Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed said on Tuesday that his country began receiving the humanitarian aid from the GCC and Sudan, adding that his country needs the supply of aid to continue in order to move past the unprecedented humanitarian crisis Somalia is currently going through. In a message sent to Arab League Secretary General Nabil El-Araby, Mohammed described the impact of the current drought that has hit the country and its resultant famine.
Ambassador Abdullah Hassan, who delivered the message to El-Araby, said afterwards that the message also includes thanks to the efforts of the Arab League and its member countries for their quick response to the disaster by supplying humanitarian aid.
An Arab League delegation will head to Somalia in a few days to supply shipments of food and medical aid that was funded directly by the Arab League’s General Secretariat.
Director of the Arab League Department for African Affairs Ambassador Samir Hosni who will head the delegation said that the Arab countries were the first nations to respond to the calls of the United Nations of providing aid. He stressed that aid will be supplied to neighboring countries including Kenya and Ethiopia.
http://www.qnaol.net/QNAEn/
South African humanitarian planes land in Somalia as UN appeals for more aid
02 Aug – Source: Africa Press Agency APA, Afrique Avenir – 301 words
Two aircraft carrying a South African medical team consisting of charity workers, including dieticians and paediatricians with food supplies, have landed in famine-hit Somalia. They will be assisting with relief efforts in the capital Mogadishu.
UN humanitarian agencies last month declared famine in two areas of southern Somalia. The Gift of the Givers, landed in the war-torn Horn of Africa country on Monday — carrying 41 tonnes of water, food and medicines. The South African humanitarian organization has also put together a medical team comprising three paediatricians, five general practitioners, two medical practitioners specialising in reproductive health, a paramedic skilled in primary healthcare and six dietitians.
Millions are said to be starving as the Horn of Africa battles its worst famine and drought in decades, while thousands have reportedly fled the country.
The organisation’s Imtiaz Sooliman said the team was prepared to deal with severe cases of malnutrition in their areas of operations.
“The supplies are high end specialised paediatric ready-to-drink milk supplements, high energy and protein ready-to-eat food supplements for children and adults, intravenous fluids, antibiotics, malaria medication, a range of other medical supplies, food items, sanitary pads, personal hygiene items and bottled water,” Sooliman said.
He said initially, they only had enough funds and stock for one flight to Somalia. However, there are now two more flights heading out later this week.
The other one departs on Thursday, and the while the other will fly in on August 8.
Kenyan MP trashes al Shabaab link claims
02 Aug- Source: Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Xinhua – 325 words
Nominated MP Amina Abdalla has distance herself from any links with Al Shabab terror grouping and has taken issue with UN for claiming that she has been funding the outfit.
Amina now wants the government to send a protest note to the UN for criminalizing her contributing for construction of Pumwani Riyath Mosque.
She said she contributed 500-thousand shillings for the construction of the Mosque and if the money was directed to terrorist activities then those responsibility for the act should be punished under the anti money laundering and proceeds of crime law which is operation.
She said on 11th May 2011 she was visited by a Mr. Babatunde Taiwo a Nigerian at her continental building office and informed her that he was from UN and investigating her links with the Riyath Mosque and the al shabab terror activities.
The investigator Amina claimed informed her that her contribution was used by Ahmed Iman for his passage to Somali yet the said individual is reported to have sneaked out of Kenya to Somalia a year ago before she made her contribution.
The Nominated Kanu MP said at no time has she condoned any terrorist activities and the UN claims are absurd and could lead to political intolerance in the country.
http://www.kbc.co.ke/news.asp?
Fighting hampers aid effort inside Somalia amid fears of spreading famine
02 Aug- Source: Emirates News Agency- 382 words
The UN refugee agency’s plans to deliver assistance to up to 180,000 people in Mogadishu and south-central Somalia are being threatened by the latest fighting in the Somali capital.
A senior UNHCR official, just back from a five-week tour of duty in the Somali capital, said she had seen settlements for internally displaced people (IDPs) spring up across the city as Somalis uprooted by drought and famine flocked there in search of assistance.
These people are among some 180,000 in Mogadishu and south-central Somalia that the UN refugee agency would like to distribute aid to by the month’s end. “However, at the same time, our ability to deliver that much needed aid is being hampered by the ongoing fighting in the Somali capita,” said a spokesperson in Geneva on Tuesday.
There were already more than 370,000 internally displaced people in Mogadishu before the recent drought- and famine-related displacement, which has driven some 100,000 more desperate people into the war-ravaged city. This increase can be traced back to mid-June when UNHCR’s partners recorded a sharp increase in the numbers fleeing to Mogadishu.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia PM: Famine crisis ‘very dire’
03 Aug – Source: CNN – 181 words
CNN’s Nima Elbagir talks to Somalia Prime Minister Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali about the famine crisis in Somalia.
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#
Somali militiamen sell guns, attack Somali refugees fleeing famine into Kenya
02 Aug – Source: Washington Post – 506 words
Somalis with new uniforms and guns they say were bought by Kenya’s government are supposed to be guarding the Somali-Kenya border against al-Qaida-linked militants. But many don’t get paid, and some sell their weapons or prey on refugees fleeing famine.
This new breed of gunman in an area awash with weapons is making the trek from Somalia’s parched landscape even more dangerous for thousands of defenseless refugees.
Among the latest victims of the lawlessness were a 13-year-old girl and her two sisters, who fled Somalia with their parents. After the family crossed into Kenya, gunmen stopped their donkey cart, robbed the parents and kidnapped the girls.
The three young sisters were gang-raped for two days before being released, the teen told an Associated Press reporter, then buried her face in her shawl. It was not clear if the attackers were members of the border militia or outlaws who had bought their guns.
Aid groups operating around the sprawling Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya say many refugees have been attacked by gunmen, some of whom may have come from the so-called Jubaland militia that guards the Somali-Kenya border.
Stark images of misery in Somalia spark action
02 Aug – Source: CBS – 294 words
A drought in the Horn of Africa has destroyed crops for more than a year. Refugees are pouring out of Somalia, the failed, lawless state. Lucky ones reach refugee camps just over the border in Kenya. Already there are 450,000 thousand people jammed in one those camps that was designed for 90,000. In all, right now, 12 million people are at risk of starvation. (…) Everywhere in the city there are people streaming in.
Particularly the thing that jumped out at me were the amount of children and how incredibly frail they were. (…) Thousands, many thousands of people, and the fact that they’re coming into Mogadishu, one of the most unsafe cities in the entire world, says a lot about the condition of what they’re experiencing in their villages and how desperate they have to be.
http://www.cbsnews.com/
Escaping from Somalia’s famine into a perilous refuge
03 Aug- Source: TIME- 686 words
We have been driving around the world’s largest refugee complex, late for an appointment with an NGO, as we are lost amid seemingly endless rows of ramshackle huts built of sticks and discarded packaging from aid organizations. The driver is making me nervous as he steers recklessly through women in hijabs, children with bare feet and men with donkey carts, moving through the narrow roads of desert sand. The hired guard, a moonlighting soldier, seems at ease, chatting loudly on his mobile phone as he cradles his machine gun in the other hand.
Realizing that we are lost, we park near a dried-out tree on the edge of the Hagadera refugee camp, one of the three in the Dadaab complex in eastern Kenya, when a man runs toward me shouting, urgently asking for help. What happens next seems to be a metaphor for the crisis that has overtaken this portion of the country, now the safe haven for the tens of thousands of people fleeing the world’s worst hunger crisis, a famine that has gripped war-torn Somalia, the result of the worst drought in the region in 60 years..
The man, an aid worker named Maash, tells me that a woman who has just given birth is hemorrhaging and needs to get to a hospital right away. The woman, called Mrs. Hassan, has just arrived in the camps after walking for two weeks — she is one of tens of thousands escaping from Somalia into Kenya. Together with her is another new mother, who looks to be barely out of her teens, cradling a severely malnourished child. There is no ambulance available.
We get into the car and drive off toward the hospital, but after just a few minutes, we are stuck in the sand. The driver, a surprise substitution for my professional driver the day before, does not seem to have experience driving in the off-road conditions of the camp. Passersby try to help push us out while the wheel spins. Inside, the women sit quietly, their faces tight, showing little expression. I am scared. Our car is freed then gets stuck a second time. We dig the wheels out, push, and finally the SUV gets moving again.
http://www.time.com/time/