August 5, 2014 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Suicide bomber kills Puntland’s Bari Regional Police Commander

04 Aug – Source: Radio RBC/Garowe Online/ Puntland TV/Radio Daljir/Allpuntland Online/Somali Memo/Radio Al Furqaan – 265 words

A suicide bomber has killed Bari Regional Police Commissioner in Puntland’s Bosasso town in the Northeastern region of Somalia on Monday afternoon. A man wearing suicide vest blew himself off as the Police Commissioner Abdurahman Ali Hussein (better known as Muslim) was coming out of his office around 4:30 pm local time on Monday afternoon. “Unknown man who we believe was wearing a suicide vest approached the police commander as he was coming out of his office at the Police Command and was heading to his car,” a police officer who was a witness told RBC Radio. “The man came across the police commissioner as there was no any attention and immediately blew himself up.” he added. The Police Commissioner was rushed to a local hospital and was later proclaimed dead, according to the police officer who spoke to RBC Radio. At least four other people were killed in the attack including three police officers and the former secretary of Puntland’s former minister of Finance. The al Qaeda-linked militant group in Somalia has claimed the responsibility of suicide attack.

Key Headlines

Suicide bomber kills Puntland’s Bari Regional Police Commander (RBC/Puntland TV)
Gedo regional commissioner arrives in Kismayo (Dhanaan Online/Radio Goobjoog)
20 youths arrested in security crackdown in Afgoye town (Radio Bar-kulan)
Somali President set to address US –Africa leaders’ summit (Somali Current)
PM Abdiweli addresses the public in Mogadishu (Radio Mogadishu/Goobjoog)
Unknown armed men hurl explosives at Mandera county government offices (Standard Media)
Hodan district administration to continue clean-up exercises (Radio Shabelle)
Ebola fears halt rotations of Sierra Leone forces into Somalia (Reuters)

SOMALI MEDIA

Suicide bomber kills Puntland’s Bari Regional Police Commander

04 Aug – Source: Radio RBC/Garowe Online/ Puntland TV/Radio Daljir/Allpuntland Online/Somali Memo/Radio Al Furqaan – 265 words

A suicide bomber has killed Bari Regional Police Commissioner in Puntland’s Bosasso town in the Northeastern region of Somalia on Monday afternoon. A man wearing suicide vest blew himself off as the Police Commissioner Abdurahman Ali Hussein (better known as Muslim) was coming out of his office around4:30 pm local time on Monday afternoon. “Unknown man who we believe was wearing a suicide vest approached the police commander as he was coming out of his office at the Police Command and was heading to his car,” a police officer who was a witness told RBC Radio. “The man came across the police commissioner as there was no any attention and immediately blew himself up.” he added. The Police Commissioner was rushed to a local hospital and was later proclaimed dead, according to the police officer who spoke to RBC Radio. At least four other people were killed in the attack including three police officers and the former secretary of Puntland’s former minister of Finance. The al Qaeda-linked militant group in Somalia has claimed the responsibility of suicide attack.

Gedo regional commissioner arrives in Kismayo

04 Aug – Source: Dhanaan Online/Radio Goobjoog – 145 words

Gedo regional commissioner Mohamed Abdi Kalil and his delegation arrived the port city of Kismayo on Monday. Kalil and his delegates were cordially welcomed at Kismayo airport by his counterpart regional commissioner of Lower Juba Abdirashid Gooni and other senior officials of IJA. Mohamed Adan Bolis, one of the organizers of Kalil’s welcoming ceremony told Goobjoog that the vice president of interim Juba administration general Fartag received Kalil at the palace. Mohamed Abdi Kalil was one the politicians in Gedo region were against the formation of interim Juba administration led by Ahmed Madobe. In a joint press conference with general Fartag, the vice president of Juba administration Mr.Kalil said his visit to Kismayo marks the end of the disagreement between politicians in Gedo region and Juba administration. He is expected to take closed door meeting with the top leaders of interim Juba administration.

20 youths arrested in security crackdown in Afgoye town

04 Aug – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 136 words

Somali security forces in Afgoye district of Lower Shabelle region have reportedly arrested over 20 youths in a security crackdown conducted in various parts of the town. The youths were arrested on Sunday night and are suspected of having links with Al Shabaab militant group. They are now being held in the main police station in the town and are being questioned by relevant authorities. The security forces were seen entering houses in the area and stopping vehicles for security searches during the crackdown in the town which resulted in the arrests of the 20 suspected youths.

PM Abdiweli addresses the public in Mogadishu

04 Aug – Source: Radio Mogadishu/Radio Goobjoog – 130 words

The Prime Minister of Somalia Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed addressed the public at Jazeera hotel, he answered questions from the public. The heritage institute arranged the public event for the PM to share the progress of his government the last six month with the public including challenges and the solutions. Responding to questions about the law makers that reached Garowe, PM Abdiweli said the federal parliament MPs were sent by the government to mediate between Puntland and the government and response to the call of president Gaas. PM Abdiweli said that the federal government of Somalia will put much effort in strengthening the security of the country especially Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

Hodan district administration to continue clean-up exercises

04 Aug – Source: Radio Shabelle – 85 words

As reported to Shabelle by the Deputy Hodan District Commissioner for Social Affairs, Mohamud Ali Hassan “Mohamud Dheere”, said that the district administration will continue clean up exercises in the district. Mr. Mohamud Dheere told Radio Shabelle and described that the explosion which killed 4 women yesterday will not affect the efforts of the district administration to modernize Hodan. The deputy district commissioner’s statement comes at a time when female street cleaners were killed In an explosion whilst cleaning main road in the Hodan district yesterday.

Somali President set to address US –Africa leaders’ summit

04 Aug – Source: Somali Current – 137 words

Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud who is among more than 50 African heads of states invited to participate in the first US-African leaders’ summit in the Washington Dc has said he will address the conference and brief them on the current situation in his country. He said the one of the main agenda of the meeting is how to solve the instability in Somalia and he will brief the forum on the development in his country and how the African leaders and US can help improve the situation in the war torn nation. “The meeting is very important for the development of the continent, Somalia will try to have separate meetings with various leaders for cooperation,” He said. Issues such as economic potential, security threats and democratic governance, electricity supply and agriculture are top on the agenda.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Unknown armed men hurl explosives at Mandera county government offices

04 Aug – Source: Standard Media – 221 words

Unknown armed men on Monday morning shelled the offices of the Mandera county government causing an extensive damage on one side of the magnificent building. Confirming the incident Mandera county commissioner Alex Olenkoyo said the armed gang lobbed mortar propel grenades at the county offices, which also host the Governor’s office at about 2am on Monday before they were repulsed by security officers manning the building. This is the third time the county offices were targeted in similar attacks. Last year the county revenue offices in the centre of the town were burnt down following an attack by unknown armed men. Few months later the resident of the deputy governor was attacked but nobody was injured. Three weeks ago, Governor Ali Roba’s personal vehicle was attacked in Dertu in Garissa County by yet to be established bandits, who later raided a passengers’ bus heading to Garissa from Wajir killing one person and injuring three others. During the attack, the governor was not in the vehicle which was heading to Mandera from Nairobi at the time.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Ebola fears halt rotations of Sierra Leone forces into Somalia

04 Aug – Source: Reuters – 132 words

Sierra Leone, which is battling to contain the deadly Ebola virus, will stop new rotations of its U.N.-led forces into Somalia for now as authorities move to establish safeguards, Somalia’s president said on Monday. Sierra Leone is one of the key countries contributing troops to the Africa Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which is helping battle Islamic militant al Shabaab insurgents there. But Sierra Leon is now deploying hundreds of troops within its own borders under an emergency plan to battle Ebola, which has killed nearly 900 people across West Africa. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, speaking to reporters during the African leaders’ summit in Washington, said there would be no new rotations of Sierra Leone’s forces until proper procedures were in place. He gave no timetable or further details.

Somalia Sees Oil Results This Year as BP, Exxon Wooed

04 Aug – Source: Bloomberg – 383 words

Somalia expects to complete an assessment of its oil and gas potential this year as security gains in the battle against al Qaeda militants enable foreign investors to return, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud said. Seismic studies are being conducted onshore and off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation. Companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and BP Plc (BP/) are in talks with the government about returning to the country for the first time since war erupted in 1991, Sheikh Mohamoud said. “We are renegotiating with them” on issues including royalty payments and production-sharing agreements, he said in an interview today in Washington at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. “We’re expecting that soon there will be very good activities that we’ll start.”

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“The African summit next week could be successful, if the agenda is to reframe, redefine and balance what professor Mazrui termed “profit motive” and “prestige motive.” The intention of the “Washington consensus” and Neoliberal policies in the past was to incentivize the “profit motive” to create market economies but it turned out to create “ethnic monopolies and unleashed “prestige motive” that created a culture of acquiring not more productive enterprises but more Maserati, Ferraris, and Lamborghinis.”

Can any Good Thing Come Out of Washington?

04 Aug – Source: Hiiraan Online – 596 Words

In July 2009 when President Obama visited Africa, he conveyed an important message to African leaders that captures the crux of African malaise that defied many brilliant political and economic theories and squandered billions of scarce resources. He delivered that message in the presence of Ghanaian lawmakers, it said, “Africa doesn’t need strong men, it needs strong institutions.” It seems, the African leaders attending next weeks African summit in Washington didn’t heed his advice and instead they are coming to the conference defiant, with much weaker institutions, where the likes of Boko Haram can kidnap hundreds of teenage girls without impunity and what is more, lack of any credible effort to control corruption and end patrimonial state. Nonetheless, the issue is not whether these disparately needed reforms are doable, but whether these strong and wealthy leaders are willing to do the right thing, which is to make the state institutions stronger, less corrupt, better financed and to make them more efficient, effective, transparent and accountable to the public.