12 Aug 2011 – Morning headlines
Key Headlines:
- Somali government says UN consultative meeting should occur next month
- FIFA donates $1m for Somalia relief
- WFP gets more access in Somalia
- Dubai Cares to start work in Somalia
SOMALI MEDIA
Somali government says UN consultative meeting should occur next month
11 Aug – Source: Mareeg Online, Shabelle, Somaliweyn – 110 words
The TFG has on Thursday declared that the UN-sponsored consultative meeting would be held either on the 4th or 6th of September, according to the press. The government however did not say where the conference would take place.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Al Shabaab are forcing old and young people to join their group
11 Aug – Source: Radio Shabelle – 126 words
The al Shabaab movement has been recruiting both old and young Somalis to fight alongside their fighters, witnesses in Lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia said on Thursday. Some 200 people who were forcibly recruited have been to Lanta Buro camp just outside of Afgoi, 30 km south of Mogadishu to give training courses.
Four wounded in Mogadishu bomb explosion
11 Aug – Source: Shabelle – 95 words
At least four people were severely wounded after playing with the wires of a bomb which was planted in Mogadishu, witnesses said Thursday. The district of Abdul-Aziz, where the explosion took place, had been in control of al Shabaab for more than a year, according to locals.
http://www.shabelle.net/
REGIONAL MEDIA
Al Shabaab’s American connection
11 Aug – Source: Al Shahid – 523 words
A recent suicide bombing by a Somali-American from Minnesota comes on the heels of 18 Somalis charged with recruiting young Somali-American men for al Shabaab, Somalia’s brutal Islamist terror group. Both incidents underscore the growing threat posed by al Shabaab’s pipeline into America’s Somali community.
http://english.alshahid.net/
Study finds Somali piracy could cost global economy $12 billion
11 Aug – Source: Business Daily – 750 words
Twenty years ago, when the government of Somalia collapsed, few imagined that the country’s ongoing state of lawlessness would eventually spawn piracy on such a scale that the security of the western Indian Ocean region could be threatened. According to the UN’s International Maritime Organization, the problem is a global one, with 276 acts of piracy or armed robbery against ships reported worldwide in 2010.
Dubai Cares to start work in Somalia
11 Aug – Source Emirates 24/7 – 362 words
Dubai Cares is in discussion with international agencies to find out ways to help the drought affected Somali children to nourish and educate. The charity, which mainly focuses on community development activities in poor regions across the world, is seeking to groom children rather than just providing them with aid.
http://www.emirates247.com/
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
FIFA donates $1m for Somalia relief
11 Aug – Source: Vanguard – 109 words
Football’s governing body said Thursday it will donate $1 million to the international Red Cross to support its famine relief efforts in Somalia. “Approximately one-third of the donation will be used to finance the purchase and transportation of food, representing standard food rations for 25,000 families … over a period of one month,” FIFA said in a statement. “The remaining twothirds will support all ICRC activities in the country,” it added.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/
Islamic militants have withdrawn from Mogadishu, but vow to fight on
12 Aug – Source: Economist – 604 words
It was a victory for the AU troops. For four years they vied for control of Mogadishu, assisted by Somali soldiers allied to the weak transitional government. On August 5th they got it. Not surprisingly, the unelected but internationally recognized TFG crowed in triumph. A new age, it said, had been ushered in. The AU force, known as AMISOM, was more measured. The withdrawal marks the start of a guerrilla war, it said warily.
http://www.economist.com/node/
WFP gets more access in Somalia
11 Aug – Source: News24 – 285 words
The UN’s food agency said it has been able to reach more parts of famine-struck Somalia in the last month but there were still significant security challenges in Mogadishu even though Islamist rebels have left the capital.
http://www.news24.com/Africa/
US group trains troops in Somalia
10 Aug – Source: AP – 1166 words
On the front lines of Mogadishu’s streets, Islamist militants battle African Union troops. Standing alongside the peacekeepers are members of an American-run team of advisers, former military men who play a little-known but key role in the war against al Shabaab.
http://news.yahoo.com/ap-