January 14, 2015 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

KDF soldiers kill 5 Al Shabaab militants in Lamu

14 Jan – Source:New24.co.ke – 187 Words

Kenya Defence Forces KDF personnel killed 5 suspected Al Shabaab militants in Lamu, losing one soldier in the process.The incident took place in Basuba near the border with Somalia, a KDF official, who was at the scene but not authorised to speak to the media told News24 on phone.” We have managed to kill 5 of their militants and many others escaped. They were in a group of around 20 militants. Sadly, we lost one of ours and three others are critically injured, the officer said.

Later on, army spokesman David Obonyo confirmed the incident in a statement.” We are pursuing the rest of the assailants,” he said.The motive of the attack by the Shabaab militants was not yet clear but according to the source, they were allegedly targeting the KDF camp in Lamu.Lamu has seen an upsurge in attacks over the past one year beginning with the ill fated ones in Mpeketoni which saw over 100 people killed by militants.There is still a night time curfew effected on the mainland by police to discourage attacks and movement by militants in the region.

Key Headlines

Minnesota Chamber of Commerce’s Bill Blazer: African immigrant entrepreneurs key to state’s future (Hiiraan Online)
MP calls on Puntland government to pay delayed salaries (Garowe Online)
Eight children die of diarrhoea in Badade (Radio Ergo)
Two children killed by land mine in Bula-Burte (Radio Bar-kulan)
ION planning to conduct 2D seismic Survey in Puntland – Update (Garowe Online )
Elders who hail from Central Somalia call for reconciliation meeting (Radio Goobjoog)
KDF soldiers kill 5 Al Shabaab militants in Lamu (New24.co.ke)
New Somalia PM retains majority of his predecessor’s cabinet ministers (Waltainfor.com)
Somali killed for two entjies (Hiraan Online/Daily Voice SA)

SOMALI MEDIA

Minnesota Chamber of Commerce’s Bill Blazer: African immigrant entrepreneurs key to state’s future

14 Jan – Source: Hiiraan Online – 813 Words

The Minnesota Somali Chamber of Commerce held its first annual celebration dinner Saturday at the Safari Restaurant in Minneapolis. Bill Blazer, interim president of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, and other distinguished guests attended the Somali chamber’s gala dinner to celebrate and mark its achievements. Despite a slow start of the night, guests enjoyed the evening dinner and the dynamic interaction. Some of the dignitaries attending the event included Dr. Bruce Corrie of University of Concordia St. Paul, Faruk Cingilli, president of Turkish Somali American Friendship Association, Nasibu Sareva, executive director of African Development Center, as well as Unity Cooperative Council’s executive director Hussein Khatib.

Mohamud Beenebeene, executive director of the Minnesota Somali Chamber of Commerce kicked off the gala dinner by thanking all the parties that have contributed to the chamber. Speaking mostly in Somali, Beenebeene shared the chamber’s history and achievements and outlined visions of the chamber going forward. The Minnesota Somali Chamber of Commerce was conceived by a group of business women and men in June 2013 and was launched in 2014. It represents more than 210 Somali businesses in Minnesota. “This initiative was formed by a group of men and women who wanted a business platform,” Beenebeene said. “We wanted to advocate, exchange ideas and support one another. Somali entrepreneurs working together to advance a Somali business is our biggest success. We have created a lot of awareness both state and federal level.”

MP calls on Puntland government to pay delayed salaries

14 Jan – Source:Garowe Online – 146 Words

Puntland MPs have lambasted President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali’s administration for failing to pay salaries of civil servants, army and other government employees, Garowe Online reports. In an interview with Puntland-based independent station, Radio Garowe, Burhan Adan Aw Abdi said the finance ministry is responsible for the growing public frustration over long delayed payments. “[The] finance ministry has not shouldered viable responsibility to address the plight of civil servants,” Aw Abdi said, adding that the current revenues match the expenditures. He noted that the public funds need to be managed effectively as army troops on the frontline are deeply frustrated with the missing salaries. The Puntland government has been grappling with what it has described as ‘budget crisis severity’, although high ranking officials including ministers and MPs are being paid on a monthly basis. Security forces staged more than two mutinies, urging the political leadership to pay overdue funds.

Eight children die of diarrhoea in Badade

14 Jan – Source: Radio Ergo – 213 Words

A medical officer has reported the deaths of eight children from acute watery diarrhoea, while scores of others are infected in villages in Badade district in Lower Juba. Dr Abdifatah Omar, at the hospital in Badade, said five of the children who died came from villages in Badade while three were from Kamboni village. More than 150 sick people were brought to Badade health centre for treatment from Kulbiyow, Kamboni and Burgabo. The doctor said the patients were mostly children and had trekked from far off villages. Most were in poor condition on arrival.

Fardowsa Mohamed Jama, a mother of eight, said her child experienced symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting but she had thought it was malaria. “My neighbours informed me that my child was suffering from malaria, so I bought anti-malaria tablets from a pharmacy in the area and gave it to her, but it didn’t help. I later gave her traditional herbal medicine and her health situation worsened. When I brought her here they told me she was suffering from diarrhoea,” she said. Dr Abdifatah urged the local community to keep good hygiene to avoid infection. He also urged people to report to the nearest health centres immediately with symptoms of diarrhoea and vomiting.

Two children killed by land mine in Bula-Burte

14 Jan – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 89 Words

Two children lost their lives while their colleague wounded when an explosive device they were playing with suddenly exploded near Bula-Burte town.The mayor of Bula-Burte Osman Gedi Elmi has confirmed to Bar-Kulan about the incident saying the injured is in critical condition.He said wounded child was taken to a nearby hospital but cited his condition is deteriorating and needs specialized medical care.Osman has blamed Al Shabaab militant group continued siege on the town to have greatly impacted on the lives of the people in the area.

ION planning to conduct 2D seismic Survey in Puntland – Update

14 Jan – Source: Garowe Online – 199 Words

The Puntland government in northern Somalia has struck a deal for a multi-client 2D seismic survey in offshore territories with ION Geophysical Corporation, Garowe Online reports. Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has witnessed the signing ceremony, pledging full backing for the first-ever program in war-torn Somalia. US-based Corporation representatives clinched the agreement with the Director-General of Puntland Petroleum and Minerals Agency (PPMA) Isse Mohamud Farah. In light of the vast reserves of hydrocarbons in the northeastern state, ION says the data which will cover acreages on offshore Puntland may help oil and gas exploration companies identify blocks in the near future.

The government also expects the new project ‘PuntlandSPAN’ to provide commercial oil giants with interest in the region more than 7600 km of pre-stack depth-migrated data. “This survey will prove a highly valuable tool as Puntland begins to promote future licensing rounds for deep water oil and gas exploration,” Farah told Energy Global. Garowe Online has learned that Puntland President and ION Geophysical Corporation clinched the agreement in Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa in late December. In early January, the Puntland Government announced the resumption of gas and oil exploration activities.

Elders who hail from Central Somalia call for reconciliation meeting

14 Jan – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 149 Words

Prominent elders of different communities inhabiting in the central regions, particularly Galgadud and Mudug, met in Mogadishu on Wednesday. Abdisalaan Ahmed Tunyare, who was amongst elders in the meeting, told the media that the elders decided to prepare a reconciliation meeting before the upcoming conference for the formation of the Central State of Somalia kicks off. He said that the elders requested IGAD and the federal government to support the upcoming reconciliation meeting planned in Dhuusamareeb district. Tunyare called upon the people in the central regions to participate the meeting, and play a constructive role. This comes at a time when government officials in the town of Dhuusamareeb are preparing to build a hall and facilities to accommodate delegates for upcoming central state government formation conference, although currently there is disagreement about where the conference will be hosted.

REGIONAL MEDIA

KDF soldiers kill 5 Al Shabaab militants in Lamu

14 Jan – Source:New24.co.ke – 187 Words

New Somalia PM retains majority of his predecessor’s cabinet ministers

14 Jan – Source:Waltainfor.com – 207 Words

Somalia’s newly appointed Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke on Sunday named a giant Cabinet of 60 people, as he warned of the “huge task” ahead to bring peace to the war-torn nation, Daily Nation reported .Mr Sharmarke, endorsed by Parliament last month after the president fell out with the previous premier amid bitter infighting, released his choice of names for lawmakers to approve.The 60 members include 26 ministers, 25 deputies and nine state ministers, an increase of five posts from the previous Cabinet. Many of those named were in the previous Cabinet.

“There is a huge task ahead….we will put our efforts into bringing peace among Somalis,” Mr Sharmarke told reporters.Somalia is due to vote on a new Constitution next year ahead of elections in 2016, but Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Shabaab fighters remain a major threat and stage regular attacks.The Somali government, which took power in August 2012, was the first to be given global recognition since the collapse of Siad Barre’s hardline regime in 1991.Billions in foreign aid has been poured in, with the government initially hailed as offering the best chance for peace in a generation.But, like its predecessors, it has since become mired in political in-fighting and corruption.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somali killed for two entjies

14 Jan – Source: Hiraan Online/Daily Voice SA – 290 Words

Ruthless gangsters shot a Somali shopkeeper in the head after he refused to give them two cigarettes. Abdul Abdi, 28, had witnessed many gang fights while living and working in notorious Manenberg. On Sunday at 6.30pm, moments after opening his tuck shop named Madiba’s in Renoster Walk, Abdul became the latest victim in the gang-ravaged suburb. Abeda Allie, 36, the owner of the house where the shop is located, says two other Somalis, relatives of the deceased, were sleeping at the back of the shop when the incident took place.She says the men were woken by the commotion, and heard Abdul chasing away the gangsters who asked him for entjies. “Ali and Noor were still sleeping while Abdul was serving the customers,” explains Abeda.

“They said they heard this one man asking Abdul for two cigarettes and he also asked if he knew about the protection money paid in the street. Abdul told them to leave him alone and go away.” Moments later they heard two gunshots, one hit the fridge, and the other hit Abdul in the head. Abeda had been sleeping on the couch in her front room when she was woken up by Noor’s frantic screams.“I heard him rattling the gate and running out to fetch a Muslim man down the road to pray for Abdul.” Abeda says the Manenberg community is outraged by the senseless killing.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“Meeting the Somalilanders, you get a sense of positivity – of a people pulling together to avoid the fate that has befallen Somalia, whose Government still struggles to assert control over many areas and where a bloody insurgency is being waged by al-Shabab jihadists.”

Somaliland: Patriots proud of peace

14 Jan – Source: New Zealand Herald – 1,171 Words

From the back seat it appears as if the bus has been taken over by multi-coloured ghosts. The clothing worn by the women of Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region comes in a range of vivid hues and flows from head to toe, giving my fellow passengers an almost ethereal appearance as they sit rigid in their seats. Two rows ahead, a girl turns and places her legs in the aisle as the old bus crosses the arid and featureless expanse that marks the country’s frontier with the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland. A wriggling child is struggling to escape from beneath a blanket piled on her knees. She looks no older than 15 and one could easily assume that the baby boy who soon emerges is a brother or cousin. But women in this harsh corner of the Horn of Africa marry young, and the motherly connection soon becomes obvious from the way she caresses the boy. Plump and cute, he’s maybe 10 months old and kitted out in a spotless polkadot outfit that could have come off the racks at Pumpkin Patch. His bright eyes sparkle as he chuckles at his mother, who’s pulling faces at him.

This child would never make the cut for Save the Children or Unicef advertisements that shape too many Westerners’ perceptions of places such as the one we’re passing through. My destination is Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, and after a one-hour journey from the Ethiopian city of Jigjiga the bus lurches off the highway and comes to a stop in the border town of Wajale. The young woman bundles up the boy, fights her way off the vehicle and disappears into the crowds. As with other frontier towns in the developing world, Wajale has an edgy, lawless atmosphere. Its main street is lined with decrepit single-storey buildings housing coffee shops and retail outlets that sell nothing but khat, a narcotic shrub whose leaves have an amphetamine-like effect when chewed. It’s legal and the favoured intoxicant in a Muslim region where alcohol is taboo. Wajale’s entire male populace seems to be at a loose end. The men hang about in the street, languidly awaiting the daily khat delivery, which should arrive at about midday from the Ethiopian highlands to the southwest.

“She claims she was subjected to sexual and religious discrimination by Mr Hussain and the Royal Mail group.”

Shamim Husen says she was made to feel like she could not go to the toilet by her boss at Royal Mail

14 Jan – Source: Somalia Online – 1,249 Words

Details of a “bullying” regime were outlined by a staff member who told an employment tribunal on Tuesdaythat she was also banned from attending prayers. Somali-born Shamin Husen, 30, claimed that her “bullying boss” made her life hell at the Royal Mail depot in Langley, Berks, which sorts parcels coming into the UK from Heathrow airport. She told the tribunal that she was bullied and singled out by manager Talib Hussain. In her witness statement, she said: “Talib was horrible. He bullied me, harassed me, intimidated me and victimised me most of the time.”

Mrs Husen claimed she was made to feel like she could not go to the toilet because her manager would time how long she was gone and he allegedly stopped her from attending prayers when other Muslims were not challenged. The tribunal heard that Mrs Husen first encountered problems with her manager in December 2013, when he stopped her from going to the toilet. Representing Royal Mail, Bridget Tokhai said: “You claim Mr Hussain stopped you when you went to the toilet and monitored how long you were in the toilet. “You say this was all part of him maintaining a watch over you. On what basis, apart from the fact that you are a woman and a Muslim, were you made to feel discriminated against?” Mrs Husen, from Hounslow, replied: “Because he would not stop men visiting the toilet.”