March 3, 2014 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

UN Security Council to discuss Somalia

01 Mar – Source: Hiiraan Online – 153 words

The United Nations Security council is set to discuss on the security situation in Somalia and the African Union Peace keeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) this week, according to the foreign affairs minister Abdirahman Duale Beyle. Mr. Beyle said that the UN Security Council meeting on Somalia slated in New York for 6-8 March will closely watch on the latest developments in the country including the AU mission, the fight against al Shabab militants and the United Nations arms embargo on Somalia that was partially lifted a year ago. “On the 6th of March last year, the UN Security Council unanimously endorsed to partially lift the arms embargo and the decision was already implemented on the ground—Now as the one-year period ends next week, the UN will once again look into the matter” foreign minister Abdirahman Duale Beyle told the media before flying from Mogadishu on Friday on his way to New York.

Key Headlines

Ugandan MPs visiting Mogadishu meets President Hassan (Radio Mogadishu/SNTV)
Premier Abdiwali Sheikh Ahmed arrives in Abu Dubai Emirates (Raxanreeb)
Roadside explosion wounds three Jubaland soldiers (Garowe online)
New Mogadishu Mayor rewarded with extra authority (RBC)
UN Security Council to discuss Somalia (Hiiraan Online)
Ministerial delegation reaches Baidoa as conflicting conferences are underway (SNTV)
Mass vaccination campaign against deadly diseases launched in Puntland (Garowe online)
UNSC considers arms ban on Somalia for weapons diversion (Africa Review)
Uganda set to deploy hundreds of extra troops to Somalia (WSJ News)
Minn. Somali Group Fights al Shabaab Message Abroad (CBS News)
Bangladesh ship beats Somali pirates (Financial Express News)

SOMALI MEDIA

Ugandan MPs visiting Mogadishu meets President Hassan

02 Mar – Source: Radio Mogadishu/SNTV/Bar-kulan – 104 words

Members of the Parliament of Uganda visiting Somalia capital, Mogadishu have met on Sunday with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Villa Somalia addressing the bilateral relations between the two nations. The MPs from Ugandan Parliament have received a high welcome in Villa Somalia where President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud openly stated that Ugandans were truly brothers of Somalis. In a statement issued from the president’s office, Mr Mohamud has reiterated the role Ugandan military played in the AMISOM mission in Somalia which is battling against al Shabaab from toppling his government. “We are committed to pay back the support AMISOM gave us.” the statement added.

Premier Abdiwali Sheikh Ahmed arrives in Abu Dubai, Emirates

02 Mar – Source: Raxanreeb – 77 words

A delegation led by the prime minister of the federal government of Somalia Abdiwali Sheikh Ahmed has arrived Sunday in Abu Dubai, the capital of United Arab Emirates. The prime minister is accompanied by the Defence minister Mohamed Sheikh Hassan Hamud and some members of the parliament. Senior Emirates Kingdom officials and the Somalia’s ambassador to the Emirates Amb. Abdulkadir Sheikh have warmly welcomed the delegation at the airport on their arrival.

Roadside explosion wounds three Jubaland soldiers

01 Mar – Source: Garowe Online – 93 words
Three Jubaland soldiers sustained injuries after their armored vehicle wadded into a mainfield laid by unknown assailants in the southern port city of Kismayo on Saturday, Garowe Online reports. Local reports say, the roadside Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off near Vecchio football stadium in Iskufilan neighborhood of Kismayo. The wounded soldiers are being treated at Kismayo General Hospital, sources said. Jubaland forces in armored personnel carriers have arrived at the scene of the blast for investigations. Despite Al Shabaab’s deadly rampage in southern Somalia, no group claimed responsibility for the landmine attack.

New Mogadishu Mayor rewarded with extra authority

02 Mar – Source: RBC – 127 words

The new Mogadishu Mayor Gen Hassan Mohamed Hussein “Mungab” has been rewarded with a total authority to deal with insecurity in the capital, Mogadishu, RBC Radio reports. Mr Mungab, 42, the former military court chief, has been appointed as the new Mogadishu Mayor and Governor of Benadir region by a presidential decree which also sacked the former mayor Mohamud Ahmed Tarsan who has served for more than three years. According to security experts, what many Somalis were looking was not his appointment but the total authority that Mr Mungab has been offered by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. “The regional office of the national security agency and the Mogadishu police command will now serve under the command of the new mayor,” The President’s decree said on Thursday.

UN Security Council to discuss Somalia

01 Mar – Source: Hiiraan Online – 153 words

Ministerial delegation reaches Baidoa as conflicting conferences are underway

02 Mar – Source: SNTV – 95 words

11 member delegation from the cabinet of Prime minister Abdiwali Sheikh Ahmed’s government have reached Baidoa, Bay region. This delegation led by the minister of Commerce and Industries Adan Mohamed Nuur Saransoor have departed Adden Adde International airport in Mogadishu for reconciliation purposes of the ongoing conflicting conferences claiming each to be the one establishing the three-region state Bay, Bakol and Lower Shabelle. After their arrival in Baidoa, the delegation met different representatives of the ongoing three-region state establishment opposing conferences and discussed matters concerning getting one transparent conference out of these different contradicting conferences.

Somaliland President Silanyo Receives Visiting FAO Officials

02 Mar – Source: Somaliland Press – 115 words

Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud (Silanyo) today received FAO representative in charge of Somaliland and Somalia desk Mr. Luca Alinovi and his deputy who are currently in the country on a working visit. The Minister of National Planning Dr. Sacad Ali Shire speaking to the media moments after the meeting said, “I want to inform you that today we have here with us the Head of FAO East Africa Mr. Luca Alinovi who is on courtesy visit to the President H.E Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud and also to take part in the Somaliland food and water security week and also to officiate various FAO projects in the country and also to discuss the current locust infestation.

Mass vaccination campaign against deadly diseases launched in Puntland

01 Mar – Source: Garowe Online – 91 words

Puntland Government in northern Somalia has launched a mass vaccination campaign that will target the children below the age of five on Saturday, Garowe Online reports. Puntland Vice President and the acting President Abdihakin Abdullahi Omar Amey, Health Minister Dr. Sadik Enow, WHO officials and parents attended a well organized event at Ministry of Health headquarters in the state capital of Garowe. Health Ministry Director-General, Dr. Abdirizak Hirsi Hassan said in his opening remarks that 270,000 children and mothers will be vaccinated against 9 deadly diseases including measles and polio.

Somaliland: SLNTV Launches New Arabic Service

01 Mar – Source: Somaliland Press – 117 words

Somaliland National Television SLNTV has launched new Arabic services into its existing programs earlier this week according to the director of the national television Mr. Khadar Ali Gaas. The director of SLNTV Mr. Khadar Ali Gaas said, “It’s a high time we at SLNTV incorporated the Arabic language into our service which currently has Somali and English language programs and now the new section, will broadcast regular news bulletins and programs in Arabic. “We hope the new Arabic service will be an international brand and which has a huge editorial resources, though in the early stages ,we expect its programs will more entertaining and sufficiently independent to attract a wide audience both locally and internationally”, He said.

REGIONAL MEDIA

UNSC considers arms ban on Somalia for weapons diversion

02 Mar – Source: Africa Review – 175 words

The United Nations could slap a full arms embargo on Somalia following revelations that the Mogadishu government allowed the sale and diversion of weapons to foreign arms traffickers, criminals and terrorists. While illegal acquisition of weapons is common in countries in the region, information in a UN report that Somalia’s army is the “greatest” supplier of arms to black markets, must worry East Africa’s security agents. The UN’s Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring Group, whose mandate includes reporting on any violations of the arms embargo imposed on Somalia in 1992, said in the report that agents of the al Qaeda-linked militants of al Shabaab are known to frequent those black markets “to purchase weapons and ammunition and were easily identifiable by the salesmen there.” The report points an accusing finger at the Somali government, which under UN resolution 2111 of last year, is required to report on the procedures and code of conduct it put in place for the registration, distribution and storage of weapons held by the country’s security forces as well as on training needs.

Uganda set to deploy hundreds of extra troops to Somalia

02 Mar – Source: WSJ News – 235 words

Uganda is set to deploy as many as 410 extra troops to Somalia to guard United Nations facilities there after a surge in attacks by al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabab militants in the war-torn Horn of Africa nation, the Ugandan military said Sunday. Military spokesman, Lt. Col Paddy Ankunda said the guard unit will bolster the African Union peace keeping mission in Somalia, known as Amisom with the “extra strength” required to restore order in the chaotic port city of Mogadishu. The deployment comes just a few days after a car bomb exploded outside the headquarters of Somalia’s intelligence agency in Mogadishu, killing at least 12 people, the third deadly attack to hit the capital in as many weeks. “The U.N. guard unit will free the bulk of Amisom forces from escort duties to pursue al Shabab in their hide-outs,” Lt. Col. Ankunda said. “This force is the first of its kind under Amisom.” Following last week’s attack, the U.N. Security Council said it would “continue to support all international efforts” aimed at ending the threat posed by al-Shabaab. Uganda already has as many as 6,000 troops in Somalia, leading the African Union force, which is helping Somalia’s weak national army in operations against the militants. Al Shabaab militants were flushed out of Mogadishu in 2011 but continue to hunker down in much of the countryside, posing a security challenge for the country.

Libya Coastguard Rescues Somali Immigrants

01 Mar – Source: Al Shahid – 110 words

More than 100 Somali migrants have been rescued from an overcrowded tugboat at risk of capsizing, Officials in Libya have confirmed. The immigrants were rescued from an area close to Tripoli on Thursday, an official named Col. Ayoub Qassim confirmed to the media. He added that the 107 immigrants rescued were women, men and Children. Seven people were thrown into the sea to avoid the boat to sink. The immigrants are believed to have been transferred to Tripoli, where they had departed from earlier. Every year, many African asylum-seekers cross the Mediterranean Sea to enter Europe in a search for a better life than the one in their own countries.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Minn. Somali Group Fights al Shabaab Message Abroad

01 Mar – CBS News – 162 words

While visiting a Somali refugee camp in Kenya, Mohamed Farah was struck by a young man who spends each day just waiting for it to end. The roughly 20-year-old man told Farah he has nothing to fill his time. No sense of identity. No future. No hope. So, like hundreds of other young people in the camp, he waits — while members of the terrorist group al-Shabab lurk nearby, ready to entice new recruits. “We used to say ‘Why would anyone join al Shabaab?’” Farah said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s sad for me to say, but if I were in their shoes I would do anything to get out of that situation … Now that I understand, that shows me what I am fighting against.” Farah and other members of the Somali-American group Ka Joog have been working since 2007 to combat radicalism among Somali youth in Minnesota by providing positive alternatives through education, the arts and mentorship.

Bangladesh ship beats Somali pirates

01 Mar – Source: The Financial Express – 101 words

Bangladeshi flag carrier MV Crystal Gold has staged a nail-biting getaway from the clutches of pirates in the Arabian Sea. Somali pirates had chased the ship while it was heading for Iran’s Bandar Abbas after offloading goods at the Kadla port, in Gujarat, India, said Jasim Uddin Sarkar, Chief Nautical Surveyor of Bangladesh Shipping Department. The crew got wind of the pirates at around 4:30pm on Friday, about 40 km off Pakistan’s Karachi, when they spotted a big boat and a smaller vessel coming at them.
MV Golden Crystal did a sharp turnaround and headed, full throttle, for the Pakistancoast.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“This is partly due to media coverage, which zeroes in on conflict and perceived risk, leaving good stories untold.”

Somalis in Minnesota: Still misunderstood

02 Mar- Source: Star Tribune- 1196 Words

Twenty years have passed since Somalis started arriving in Minnesota to establish their largest community in America. Yet a large gap in understanding prevents integration of this burgeoning subcommunity in the North Star state. Popular culture provides Exhibit A. Barkhad Abdi gained instant stardom after outshining Tom Hanks in the thriller “Captain Phillips,” about Somali pirates taking over a ship in the Indian Ocean. Nominated for an Oscar, Barkhad will learn tonight whether he has won. But during his media tour promoting the movie, interviewers seemed shocked about the existence of a thriving Somali community in Minnesota, from which Barkhad was recruited. Some weren’t aware such a community existed. Others asked: Why Minnesota? (Simple answer: the availability of jobs and quality education.) Mainstream-media reports also reveal the understanding gap. When a group of young men went back to Somalia to fight against Ethiopia’s invasion of their homeland, but later ended up fighting for Al-Shabab, a feared terror group in the Horn of Africa, a narrative emerged about “Minneapolis becoming the largest terror hub.” Individuals were indicted for a range of crimes, including perjury and obscure violations of the Patriot Act.

Mogadishu: evolution of an African capital – in pictures

28 Feb- The Guardian- 50 Words

A new exhibition by Somali-British architect Rashid Ali and British photographer Andrew Cross presents contemporary images of the battle-ravaged Somali capital alongside rare archive images that document Mogadishu under Italian colonial rule

Mogadishu – Lost Moderns is at the Mosaic Rooms, London SW5, from 7 March to 26 April