09 Aug 2011 – Morning headlines
Key Headlines:
- AU Special Representative commends AMISOM and TFG troops on the recent military offensive in Mogadishu
- Ugandan president vows to send more troops to Somalia
- Kenya on high alert after al Shabaab pullout from Mogadishu
- Museveni meets Somali president
- Somali famine: First UNHCR airlift arrives in Mogadishu
- U.S. set to announce $100M in Somalia famine aid
PRESS RELEASE
AU Special Representative commends AMISOM and TFG troops on the recent military offensive in Mogadishu
08 Aug – Source: AMISOM Media Centre – 225 words
The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra has commended AMISOM and TFG troops for conducting a successful operation which has led to the withdrawal of al Shabaab extremist group from Mogadishu. Ambassador Diarra expressed hope that the ejection of the rebels from the city would ease the delivery of humanitarian aid to the suffering population. “The extremists have been preventing the provision of food to hungry Somalis and this has opened up the opportunity to help many more people,” he added. He called on the humanitarian agencies to redouble their efforts to deliver much needed assistance to the Somali people.
The Special Representative is appealing to AU member states and the international community to contribute towards the humanitarian effort in whatever form to help alleviate the plight of suffering Somali people due to the drought situation. He further calls on all AU member states together with the international community to unite in providing the much needed support to both AMISOM and the TFG to ensure that Mogadishu is fully secure and safe to allow Somalis lead a normal life.
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) is warning people intending to occupy areas left by al Shabaab to exercise caution due to the high possibility of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), roadside bombs and pockets of remaining extremist fighters.
SOMALI MEDIA
Ugandan president vows to send more troops to Somalia
08Aug- Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 155 words
Ugandan president Yuweri Museveni on Monday promised to send two thousand more Ugandan troops to join other peacekeeping forces in Mogadishu while meeting his Somali counterpart Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in Kampala, Uganda. Museveni assured the visiting Somali president that none other than the TFG will be responsible of recently Al-Shabaab abandoned areas in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
Somali police arrests al Shabaab suspects in Mogadishu
08 Aug- Source: Radio Shabelle, Radio Risaala- 177 words
A police officer of Somali transitional federal government said they have arrested al Shabaabrelated suspects after search operations were conducted in parts of the capital Mogadishu. Abdi Mohamed Abdulle, a police officer at Wardhigley district police station told radio Shabelle that they have arrested at least four people suspected to be the remnants of al Shabaab group.
Customs point established north of Galkayo town
08 Aug- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 97 words
Puntland’s administration in Mudug region has officially opened customs point north of Galkayo town. Speaking at an official opening ceremony, Puntland’s Mudug regional governor Mohamud Abdirahman Awke said they successfully completed the construction of the customs point including seven rooms including a temporary prison cell and a packing yard for commercial trucks custom clearances.
Violence in Mogadishu kills 4, injures 9
08 Aug- Source: Mareeg- 92 words
At least 4 people were killed and 9 others wounded in a confrontation in Towfik village of Yakshid district between remnants of al Shabaab militias and Somali national armay backed by the African Union peacekeeping forces in Mogadishu, reports said.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Kenya on high alert after al Shabaab pullout from Mogadishu
08 Aug- Source: Shabelle- 124 words
The Kenyan forces are reported to have been put on high alert after Somalia’s al Shabaab declared it had withdrawn from Mogadishu completely. Reports say the Kenyan border guards have deployed at Somalia-Kenya border in an effort to prevent al Shabaab from infiltrating to the neighboring country.
http://shabelle.net/article.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Museveni meets Somali president
08 Aug- Source: New Vision- 152 words
President Yoweri Museveni has met and held discussions with the president of Somalia, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed at his Country Ranch at Kisozi, Gomba district. The two presidents discussed bilateral issues and the consolidation of the achievements gained by AMISOM and Somali government troops against the al Shabaab terrorists in Mogadishu.
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/
Somalia asks Uganda for more troops
08 Aug- Source: New Vision- 472 words
Somalia leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has asked President Yoweri Museveni to allow the UPDF to pursue the al Shabaab militants beyond Mogadishu. The al Shabaab’s exit from Mogadishu over the weekend came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan when they were expected to be more aggressive in the battlefield.
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/
Mogadishu residents flee Somali rebel clashes
08 Aug- Source: Daily Nation- 210 words
Residents fled from pockets of violence around Mogadishu today, two days after a surprise rebel pullback that had led the government to claim it fully controlled the famine-stricken city. Fighting erupted in several areas in the south and north of the city, as African Union-backed government troops set up bases in former al Shabaab strongholds.
5th Kuwaiti relief plane flies to Somalia
08 Aug- Source: Kuwait News Agency- 155 words
Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) announced on Monday that the 5th Kuwaiti plane loaded with 10 tons of humanitarian aid headed to Somalia today to provide relief to the victims of drought and famine. KRCS President Barjas Hmoud Al-Barjas told KUNA that the aid aircraft, which took off from Abdullah Al-Mubarak Air Base, was carrying food and relief aid, in addition to tents and baby milk.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UN refugee agency makes emergency aid flight to Somalia
08 Aug- Source: CNN- 348 words
For the first time in five years, a relief agency dedicated to refugees is airlifting emergency aid into the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Monday, according to a spokesman. The flight left from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Monday morning with 31 metric tons (more than 34 U.S. tons) of emergency supplies and arrived in Mogadishu early Monday afternoon, said Andy Needham from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/
Somali famine: First UNHCR airlift arrives in Mogadishu
08 Aug- Source: BBC- 411 words
The UN refugee agency has flown aid to famine victims in Somalia’s capital – its first airlift to war-torn Mogadishu for five years. Some 100,000 people have arrived in the city in the last two months in search of food.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
Somali refugees pack capital after rebels quit
08 Aug- Source: Reuters- 232 words
Thousands of Somali refugees, fleeing famine and years of violence, streamed into Mogadishu on Monday searching for food after Islamist rebels withdrew from the capital. Locals told Reuters long lines of refugees were now heading to the battle-scarred city to escape the region’s worst drought in decades, and existing supplies were already running low.
http://af.reuters.com/article/
U.S. set to announce $100M in Somalia famine aid
08 Aug- Source: CBS- 244 words
Hundreds of thousands of Somali children could die in the country’s famine unless more help arrives, a top U.S. official said Monday as Washington prepared to announce $100 million in new famine aid. To highlight the crisis, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden visited a refugee camp on a patch of desert in eastern Kenya where tens of thousands of Somalis have massed.
http://www.cbsnews.com/
Somalia: Aid against the odds
08 Aug – Source: IRIN – 800 words
As aid agencies attempt to scale up assistance to thousands of people in south-central Somalia, controlled by al Shabaab militia, IRIN asked the Somali Red Crescent Society, which has been active in the region for the past four decades, how it operates. “The thing is to be absolutely transparent in your dealings with al Shabaab and other organizations [al Shabaab is not a monolithic entity] and not politicize your work in any way,” said Abdulkadir Ibrahim of the society. “That is the advice we would like to give to other NGOs who want to work here.”