July 21, 2014 | Daily Monitoring Report.

Main Story

Government forces, AMISOM launch security operations in Mogadishu

21 Jul- Source: Radio Mogadishu/Radio Shabelle/Radio Goobjoog/Radio Bar-kulan- 186 words

Federal government forces and African union peacekeeping troops have launched security crack-down in some districts of the capital, Mogadishu earlier today. The affected districts during the security crackdown include Howl Wadag and Hodan in the heart of the city.

Government forces were seen making door to door searches and asking different questions to the residents while AMISOM troops were blocking the main roads entering the districts where the operations are actively going on.

The operations in the city has interfered with public transport forcing the business people to go on foot to their premises hence curtailing business activities. Un specified number of people mostly youth were arrested in today’s operations.

Government forces declined to give comments about the ongoing operations but a security officer who spoke on a condition of anonymity as he is not allowed to talk to media said the operations are part of government plan dubbed “ break your fast with peace”.

The newly appointed police commissioner Gen. Mohamed Hassan who took power said in a statement police forces will take new steps of maintain the security of the country especially Mogadishu.

Key Headlines

Government forces AMISOM launch security operations in Mogadishu (Radio Mogadishu)
Some Roads in Mogadishu Closed for Security Concerns (Radio Dalsan)
Somali-Canadian leads new counter-terrorism force (Ottawa Citizen)
Unnamed al Shabaab officer arrested in Mogadishu (Radio RBC)
Yarow: Somali police have the responsibility to secure the nation (Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Mogadishu)
Elders in Hiiraan region express concern over clan clashes in the region (Radio Goobjoog)
Cabinet ministers due to visit Deefow (Radio Dalsan)
Kenyan converts return to take charge of jihadist killings (Standard Media)
Bondhere administration distribute food aid to needy families (Radio Shabelle)
Somaliland FM assures government is committed to the talks with Somalia (Somaliland Informer)
Armed men on a motorbike kill at least four in Mombasa (UK News/ AFP)
London-based charity distributes food aid to IDPs in Somali capital (Hiiraan Online)
Himan and Heeb security situation discussed in Adado town (Radio Bar-kulan)
Anonymous hacks Kenya Defence Forces Twitter account (Daily Nation/Star)
Death toll in Likoni attack rises to four (Daily Nation)
Bodies of three Somali citizens found in Nairobi’s Eastleigh suburb (Radio RBC/ Caasimada online)
Kenya: Muslim leaders call on State to lift curfew as Duale protests (Standard Media)
AMISOM relief as EU releases $1b for security (East African)
Somalia seeks to avert looming food crisis (eNCA)

SOMALI MEDIA

Government forces, AMISOM launch security operations in Mogadishu

21 Jul- Source: Radio Mogadishu/Radio Shabelle/Radio Goobjoog/Radio Bar-kulan- 186 words

The newly appointed police commissioner Gen. Mohamed Hassan who took power said in a statement police forces will take new steps of maintain the security of the country especially Mogadishu.

Some Roads in Mogadishu Closed for Security Concerns

21 Jul- Source: Radio Dalsan- 113 words

Due to ongoing security operations by the security forces, some roads in Mogadishu have been closed by the government. Private and public service vehicles were stopped from using those roads in the city Monday up until further notice. Those roads include Maka Al-Mukaram Road and Buundooyinka Road. Motorists found it difficult to deviate from those main roads. On the other hand, police are doing security operation in neighbourhoods including Hodan and Howlwadaag after police found tip offs that attacks may be carried out there. Dalsan Radio managed to contact the security agencies in the country and they told us that these operations are part of the initiatives to restore security in the city.

Unnamed al Shabaab officer arrested in Mogadishu

21 Jul- Source: Radio RBC- 146 words

Somali government security forces have apprehended an al Shabaab intelligence officer in Bondhere districton Saturday evening, according to Bondhere district commissioner.

The unnamed al Shabaab officer was arrested after information towards his whereabouts were recovered by the security agents following residents’ sources who have collaborated with the security members in the district.

The unnamed officer was a senior commander in al Shabaab’s intelligence unit in Mogadishu and has been part of the militant’s network that aids recovering information on government officials in the capital city.

Qasim Abdullahi Hassan, the Bondhere district commissioner for Benadir Regional Administration told the press inside the district that the local troops with police officers and NISA Intel officers have captured the senior al Shabaab agent.

In a latest security alert, the security forces launched several successful operations in Mogadishu. Earlier this week, the security forces caught a car loaded with explosives which whose target was to hit the country’s biggest airport Aden Abdulle International Airport.

Yarow: Somali police have the responsibility to secure the nation

21 Jul- Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Mogadishu- 111 words

Deputy Minister of Somalia’s National Security Ibrahim Isak Yarow said it’s the responsibility of the Somali national police to secure the country. The deputy minister was speaking at a ceremony where Somalia’s new police commissioner was officially took office from his predecessor in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

He called on the Somali people to work with the police force in their attempts to restore law and order in the country.

Yarrow commended the efforts of the Somali police who sacrificed their lives for the betterment of their nation during the years of chaos and conflicts in the horn of African country.

Elders in Hiiraan region express concern over clan clashes in the region

21 Jul- Source: Radio Goobjoog- 139 words

The traditional elders in Hiiraan region expressed concern over the ongoing clan clashes in the region that has caused casualties. Hassan Kulmiye Waasuge, the chairman of the elders in Hiiraan region speaking to Goobjoog stated that government forces and African union peacekeeping troops have failed to stop the clan clashes and increasing bloodshed between the clans.

He urged the warring sides to listen to the appeals and end the hostilities without condition.

His remarks comes a time government delegates, a mediating committee comprising of ministers and members of federal parliament have been in the region.

The delegates have taken closed door meeting with elders in Beledweyne, the headquarters of Hiiraan region and agreed to cease fire and bring immediately bring the sides to the negotiating table, but no achievement reached so far according to some elders in the region.

Cabinet ministers due to visit Deefow

21 Jul- Source: Radio Dalsan- 76 words

Due to the clashes at Deefow district in Hiiraan Region, cabinet ministers are due to visit there to mediate warring clans. The delegates from the cabinet ministers are being led by the Deputy Minister for the Interior Ministry, Abdirahman Mohamed Salah Bankax. The intellects of the area and the entire Hiiraan region will also take part in the mediation process. The clashes were triggered by farmland disputes. At least ten people died in those clashes.

Bondhere administration distribute food aid to needy families

20 Jul – Source: Radio Shabelle – 104 words
Qasim Abdullahi Hassan, the Bondhere district commissioner for Benadir Regional Administration talked about recent distribution of food aid from the district administration to almost 600 needy families in Bondhere.

Mr. Hassan said that his administration is ready and always committed to serve the needs of people willing to take part in the development of Bondhere district.

It is not the first time the Bondhere administration has distributed food supplies to needy families in the district.

Somaliland FM assures government is committed to the talks with Somalia

20 Jul – Source: Somaliland Informer – 128 words

Somaliland Foreign Minister Mr. Mohamed Bihi Yonis has announced that the government will continue the dialogue with Somalia which the Turkey hosts.

The Minister returned from Ethiopia on a working visit and made these revelations in a press briefing at the airport in which he reiterated that Somaliland will stay in the course once Somalia broke the agreements reached in Turkey. He reminded that it is the interest of the nation to take her case at an international venue to make their case heard.

He spoke of the borders closed by Ethiopia and said that things were solved and the relation is now well. The opposition parties spoke with the same voice and called on the government to abandon the talks unilaterally once it does not produce tangible outcome.

London-based charity distributes food aid to IDPs in Somali capital

20 Jul – Source: Hiiraan Online – 161 words

A London-based Somali charity, the Alpha Trust Organization has distributed food aid to hundreds of internally-displaced families in Wadajir district southwest of Somali capital Mogadishu On Sunday.

This was the first such aid assistance by the London-based charity and was benefitted by thousands of vulnerable people including disabled, starving children and as well as elderly people.

The IDPs thanked the charity leaders for understanding their needs and coming back to the country to help them. “We have been experiencing tougher life conditions here with no one coming to help us for nearly a year” a woman told the charity leader Dahir Ali Kulmie as he sat among several elderly people mostly women in their late 60s.

Wadajir district commissioner Ahmed Abdulle Afrah said that his administration was very grateful to Alpha Trust organization and its young leaders for coming from thousands of miles to help the IDPs in the district including some who were on the verge of starving to death.

Himan and Heeb security situation discussed in Adado town

20 Jul – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 129 words

A meeting was on Thursday night held in Adado, the administrative capital of Himan and Heeb Administration in central Somali region of Galgadud to discuss security situation of the town and its environs.

The meeting was organized by Himan and Heeb Administration’s Interior Ministry and was attended by top officials from the administration and civil society groups in the area.

Speaking to Bar-kulan after the conclusion of the meeting, Himan and Heeb Minister of Interior Abdullahi Hassan Mohamed said a number of important issues including security, good governance and the formation of local administrations in Himan and Heeb administered areas were discussed at the meeting.

He said that the traditional elders and other participants in the meeting promised to work together on achieving peace and development in the region.

Bodies of three Somali citizens found in Nairobi’s Eastleigh suburb

20 Jul- Source: Radio RBC/ Caasimada online/Citizentv-155 words

The bodies of three dead Somali citizens were found in Nairobi’s Eastliegh suburb, known as the “little Mogadishu” due to its dominant Somali refugees, according to residents and officials.

The bodies of the three males, one of them well known businessmen were found near Eastliegh central business buildings and were taken to unclaimed mortality center.

Kamakunji MP Yusuf Hassan has confirmed the three men were found injuries on their bodies including beating and torturing and were believed to be the reason of their deaths. The three bodies were now taken to police investigation, he added.

But Somali citizens in Nairobi who were familiar with the situation said the three men were missed before a month after members of the Kenyan police abducted them.

The abductors took out their bank savings before the killed the three men and thrown their bodies to a different locations.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Anonymous hacks Kenya Defence Forces Twitter account

21 Jul- Source: Daily Nation/Star- 143 words

The Twitter account of the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) has been infiltrated by hacking group Anonymous. The hackers gained access to Kenya’s military account as well as that of KDF spokesperson Major Emmanuel Chirchir and left a series of tweets.

“So much poverty in Africa while you are wasting money in guns,” read one of the messages the group posted on KDF’s Twitter account. KDF spokesperson Major Emmanuel Chirchir said the military was doing all it could to get control of the two accounts. “We have contacted Twitter and the local security agencies are on top of things,” he said Monday.

Death toll in Likoni attack rises to four

21 Jul – Source: Daily Nation – 119 words

The number of those who died in the Sunday evening attack in Likoni had risen to four before midnight with those injured estimated at more than ten. Among those killed is an 11 year old. The injured were taken to various hospitals.

Gunmen started shooting indiscriminately in the Soweto slum of Likoni in Mombasa killing two at the scene.

Witnesses said the attackers opened fire in the residential area leaving many with gunshot wounds, but the identity of the gunmen was not immediately established.

Mombasa County Commander Robert Kitur confirmed the incident, but said only one person was killed. The Coast region has recently been the target of attacks in which more than 80 people have lost their lives.

Kenya: Muslim leaders call on State to lift curfew as Duale protests

20 Jul- Source: Standard Media- 232 words

Muslim leaders have pressed the Government to lift the dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed in Lamu County. The leaders have argued that the timing will affect Muslims observing the holy month of Ramadhan. Yesterday, the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) said the hours between 6.30pm and 6.30am, when the curfew is effective, are critical for believers during Ramadhan. At the same time, the order by Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo highlighted divisions in the Government after National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale termed it a violation of religious liberty and even encouraged Muslims to defy it. Duale took to Twitter to urge Muslims in Lamu to defy the curfew, which he described as unconstitutional and an affront to religious liberty.

Kenyan converts return to take charge of jihadist killings

20 Jul- Source: Standard Media-849 Words

News that the people leading the attacks in Lamu County are Kenyans shed the spotlight on the issue of homegrown terrorists, or rented terrorism, as security experts put it. A report prepared early this month by the National Intelligence Service said the man who led the attacks in Mpeketoni is a Kenyan by the name of Idris Kamau.

The report further revealed that the commander of the al Shabaab cell operating at the Coast region is Abu Jamal, a former Kenya Defence Forces soldier. Although we could not establish more information from the security forces about the two al Shabaab commanders, it is believed that they were radicalised in jihadist camps in Somalia.

George Musangali, the Director of Centre for Risk Management in Africa, said the greatest terrorist threat in Kenya today is posed by Kenyan converts rather than external terrorists. “Look at the people who have been arrested in connection with these attacks, and you will realise that they are ordinary Kenyans who are now vassals of foreign terror groups. Therefore, the first step in combating it is identifying the cells operating in the country and their financiers,” he said.

AMISOM relief as EU releases $1b for security

19 Jul – Source: East African – 166 words

Hundreds of peacekeepers in Somalia who have gone for five months without pay could soon get their allowances, following the European Union announcement last week that it will make available a total of €750 million ($1 billion) to support peace and security in Africa.

The soldiers are paid a mission allowance of $8,023 per month across all ranks. However, over the past five months, the African Union has not been able to pay the soldiers due to what the acting head of AMISOM Lydia Wanyoto terms technical hitches.

“The commitment by the EU stands; there were only technical delays but now we are going to pay the entire troop. Even those who are back in their respective home countries,” said Ms Wanyoto.

The EU is the sole source of funds to pay peacekeeping troops of the African Union Mission in Somalia, through the African Peace Facility (APF) which covers allowances for the troops, salaries for civilians as well as logistical, transport, medical and communication costs.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Armed men on a motorbike kill at least four in Mombasa

21 Jul – Source: UK News/ AFP/VOA – 128 words

At least four people were killed in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa on Sunday in an attack by armed men on a motorbike, according to medical sources. Another eight people were wounded in the shooting, said the same source.

Earlier, the police said there had been two fatalities. “At 8:30 pm (1730 GMT) people on a motorbike shot and killed two people and injured two others in the area of Soweto,” Mombasa’s chief of police Robert Kitur told AFP.

He added that the identity of the killers was not yet known. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the shooting. Mombasa has been the scene of worsening unrest in recent months with a string of shootings and bombings blamed on Somalia’s al Shabaab rebels or local supporters.

Somalia seeks to avert looming food crisis

20 Jul- Source: eNCA-337 Words

Three years to the day since a famine that eventually killed more than a quarter of a million people was declared in Somalia, aid agencies warned Sunday the country faced a new catastrophe without urgent aid.

A joint statement issued by a group of charities and aid agencies said there were more than 300,000 malnourished children in Somalia and a total of 2.9 million people in need of life-saving help.

“Aid agencies today caution, again, that the signs of a drought are re-emerging in Somalia and urge for these not to be ignored in order to avoid a relapse into the conditions of the 2011 catastrophe,” the statement said, warning that without funding, aid programmes were likely to be forced to shut down.

The charities said the number of people in crisis in the war-ravaged country was expected to rise as conditions worsen, with 1.1 million externally displaced people the hardest hit.

Somali-Canadian leads new counter-terrorism force

20 Jul- Source: Ottawa Citizen- 127 words

Somalia has a new counterterrorism force—the Gaashan, led by a Somali-Canadian – a former Somali National Army general, according to a defence/security site that covers the region.

Gaashaan translates as “the shield.” The 150 Gaashan commandos got some of the best training in the world, thanks to America’s Special Operations Command in Somalia.

The Gaashan has become a “fundamental part of Somalia’s security and intelligence architecture,” a former Somali chief of staff said.
Enter Alpha Group, the apparent first component of the new Gaashan. Some sources also refer to Alpha Group as the Danab, which means “lightning.” “This is a 150-person unit that we believe can become a source of future leadership for the entire army,” U.S. Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman said in June.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“When al Shabaab’s big brother, Al-Qaeda, rained terror on the US in September 2011, the country reassessed its security preparedness and constituted the cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security to specifically deter and organise responses to internal terror threats. The time is ripe for Kenya to do a similar re-evaluation of the capabilities of our security forces to deter and respond to the obvious security risks that face us.”

After numerous attacks, time is ripe to re-evaluate Kenya’s security apparatus

21 Jul- Source: Daily Nation-627 Words

Since the night of June 15, devastating terrorist attacks have been unleashed on the villagers of the coastal region leaving, by some counts, more than 80 people dead. Following the Westgate attack last September, Kenya has been hit by numerous grenade and improvised explosive devices (IED) attacks across the country.

Previously, the government blamed these attacks on al Shabaab. President Kenyatta, in a speech to the nation on June 17 after the first attack in Mpeketoni, blamed the atrocity on “local political networks” even after al Shabaab claimed responsibility.

There were strong hints in President Kenyatta’s speech that the opposition Cord Coalition bore some responsibility for the attack, with reference to the latter’s charged election-style rallies across the country demanding an amorphous “national dialogue”, now turned into demands for a referendum.

“Bomb-making equipment, improvised explosive devices and arms caches are no doubt hidden in the capital city and elsewhere. They must be found before they are deployed.”

Majengo explosives find is the way to go

21 Jul- Source: Star Kenya-212 Words

Police are questioning four people, among them a couple, found with explosives-making materials on Nairobi’s Majengo estate. Coming at a time of roiling insecurity in a number of regions in Kenya, ranging from the al Qaeda affiliated Somali murder militia al Shabaab’s terror campaign to large-scale gun and machete attacks on rural communities, this is a ray of sunshine in very gloomy weather indeed.

This is the way to go. Too often, senior police officers and spokespersons clutch at the straw of affirming that many more prevention-is-better-than-cure success stories go unreported than the terror outrages that get saturation media coverage.

We congratulate the National Police Service for their find at the weekend. We also remind the public that they have a major role to play in enhancing security and defeating the terrorists and other organized criminals.

Top tweets

@amisomsomalia PHOTOS: New #Somali Police Commissioner officially assumes office http://on.fb.me/QqTSeN pic.twitter.com/lcqUauEHN5

@Tuuryare10 A #Somali woman and her child wait inside a tent to receive a medical check-up and treatment in #Mogadishu pic.twitter.com/MXfdD2UEAR

@evolvingprimate Turkey is training cadets for all the services of the Somali military. This month saw the graduation of 150 cadets pic.twitter.com/x7LC5G2moP

@Abdikhakim Amazed to see this group of Somali elderly performing traditional archery. Civilization at its oldest form. Proud. pic.twitter.com/vwg97hh0IH

@UNSomalia VIDEO: .@UNSomalia supports Somali stakeholder discussion on Beijing Platform for Actionhttp://vimeo.com/101159633 #Vimeo

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Image of the day

Image of the day The incoming Police Commissioner (L), Gen. Mohamed Hassan Ismael and the outgoing Police commissioner (R), Gen. Abdihakim Saacid shake hands at the Somalia Police Headquarters in Mogadishu after the formal handover of the Police commissioner office on 20th July 2014. Photo: AMISOM / David Mutua