January 23, 2015 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Mogadishu attack: Erdogan to go ahead with Somalia visit

22 Jan – Source: Anadolu News Agency – 262 words

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is still intending to visit Somalia despite a bomb blast outside the presidential palace near a hotel hosting a Turkish delegation of officials.”An investigation is underway into whether it is a direct attack on the Turkish delegation,” he told a press conference in the Swiss city of Davos.

Earlier today, the Interior Security Ministry of Somalia told The Anadolu Agency that security in the Somali capital has been increased significantly ahead of the planned arrival of the Turkish president Friday.Erdogan is currently holding talks in Addis Ababa as part of an official visit to Ethiopia which started Wednesday. No casualties from the blast were reported to be Turks, according to the Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu.Though no group has claimed the attack thus far, the militant Al-Shabab group has often claimed similar attacks in the past.

Turkish Prime Minister Davutoglu stressed that Somalia is a country that has high security risks.He said he talked with the Turkish ambassador in Mogadishu and was told that three Somalis were killed in the attack.”There are always risks but they cannot shatter Turkey’s resolute stance. Africa policy is among our key policy areas,” he said. The Turkish premier added that it might be wrong to consider the attack as one aimed solely at Turkey.The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced that a Turk may have been slightly injured in the attack due to broken glass from the hotel.The ministry added that Somali officials have strengthened security measures following the attack

Key Headlines

Al Shabaab claims Mogadishu attack (Radio Bar-Kulan)
Middle Shabelle administration sent police forces to intervene between clan militias
(Radio Goobjoog)
New UN Deputy Special Representative for Somalia arrives in Mogadishu to support peace and state-building (Somali Current)
Huge inferno in refugee camp destroys property (Radio Bar-kulan)
The mayor of Buulo-Burde denies accusations of mismanaging food aid (Radio Goobjoog)
Mogadishu attack: Erdogan to go ahead with Somalia visit (Anadolu News Agency)
At least 23 killed in Somalia clan violence (AFP/Hiraan Online)
Germany supports strengthening of Somali language (German Embassy/Hiraan Online)

PRESS STATEMENT

AMISOM Condemns Suicide Car Bomb Attack on the SYL Hotel in Mogadishu

22 Jan – Source:AMISOM – 163 words

The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia (SRCC) and Head of AMISOM, Ambassador Maman S. Sidikou, strongly condemns the suicide car bomb attack on the SYL Hotel this afternoon in Mogadishu.The SRCC extends his deepest condolences to the families of the brave police officers that lost their lives defending their fellow countrymen.

“This is clearly a desperate and failed attempt to frustrate growing peace, stability, unity in governance and economic activities currently taking center stage in Mogadishu and Somalia as whole, and that their attempts are in vain because Somalia cannot turn back. With this attack, Al-Shabaab has demonstrated once again that it has no interest in Somalia’s positive development and the improved welfare of its people,” Ambassador Sidikou said.The SRCC urges the people of Somalia, the international community and all friends of Somalia to not to be deterred by these extremists, whose cowardly attempts to create fear and perpetuate violence are doomed to fail.

SOMALI MEDIA

Al Shabaab claims Mogadishu attack

22 Jan – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 85 words

Al Shabaab has claimed the responsibility for a taregted attack outside a Mogadishu hotel where Turkish officials were meeting. According to Somali security forces, an unspecified number of Somali soldiers were wounded in the attack. Police sources said the Turkish officials were inside the hotel at the time of the explosion. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected in Mogadishu on Friday. Security is heightened as Turkish Special Forces have been deployed alongside Somali security forces.

Middle Shabelle administration sent police forces to intervene between clan militias

22 Jan – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 157 words

The Middle Shabelle regional administration stated that they deployed police forces two days ago to the areas where fighting erupted between clan militias.The regional judge of Middle Shabelle region, Sheikh Mohamed Ibrahim Siyad, speaking to Goobjoog FM mentioned that they sent police to intervene between two clan militias fighting on the outskirts of Jowhar town, the regional capital. The judge said that police arrested a few militia leaders, and escorted them to the Jowhar central police station. He called upon the fighting clans to cease fire without condition. This comes after heavy fighting the two militias caused casualties and displaced people in the area.

New UN Deputy Special Representative for Somalia arrives in Mogadishu to support peace and state-building

22 Jan – Source: Somali Current – 116 words

The new Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (DSRSG), Mr. Raisedon Zenenga, arrived in Mogadishu today to assume his duties with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). “I am very pleased to have this opportunity to return to Somalia and support the aspirations of the people of Somalia for a peaceful, stable and prosperous future. The challenges are tremendous, but we must work together to push forward the progress that the Somali people want to see,” Mr Zenenga said. “Over the coming days I look forward to meeting with officials from the Federal Government and Parliament, AMISOM and IGAD, and the many other partners working together towards peace and state-building in Somalia.”

Huge inferno in refugee camp destroys property

22 Jan – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 86 words

A fire triggered by an electric fault in Dadaab refugee camp in North Eastern Kenya has resulted destruction of houses and property. According to a Bar-Kulan reporter in the refugee camps, four goats were burned to ashes in the fire. Abdiweli Mohamed, a resident in the camp, said locals rescued their children immediately after the blaze started, while some lost all their belongings.The fire was later put out by the residents of the area with help from Kenya Red Cross emergency team

The mayor of Buulo-Burde denies accusations of mismanaging food aid

22 Jan – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 136 words

The Mayor of Buulo-Burde town, Osman Gedi Elmi, who was arrested over mismanagement of food aid, has denied the allegations. He said that the foodstuff brought in by the government was handed over to the district commissioner and AMISOM forces to distribute to displaced people in the town, saying that he did not know how he mismanaged any food aid.

“I personally regard what happened to me as violation of my personal rights, when I don’t know anything about the allegations. The trucks [that] unloaded food aid were at the AMISOM base, and it was distributed by AMISOM and the district commissioner to the people,” Mr. Osman said. This comes after the attorney general issued warrant to arrest the district commissioner, Abdiaziz Durow, and the mayor over alleged corruption and mismanagement of food aid in the town.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Mogadishu attack: Erdogan to go ahead with Somalia visit

22 Jan – Source: Anadolu News Agency – 262 words

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

At least 23 killed in Somalia clan violence

22 Jan – Source: AFP/Hiraan Online – 182 words

At least 23 people been killed in Somalia in clan-related violence caused by a land dispute, officials and elders said. The clashes between armed militia from two groups broke out around the villages of Burdhinle and Hada-Ogle, situated in central Somalia’s Hiiran region and close to the border with Ethiopia.”The fighting was heavy and the clan militias used armed vehicles. Twenty-three are so far confirmed dead but the toll could be higher,” local elder Osman Ahmed told AFP by telephone from the region.

Another elder, Abdule Muhamed, said both sides were heavily armed and that fighting was continuing.Fighting between the Dir and Hawadle clans started late last year but had been stopped after the Somali national army and African Union peacekeepers from Djibouti intervened. Somali government officials in the Hiiran region confirmed the clashes.”We hope the brotherly clans will end their hostility through mediation and not bloodshed as is happening now,” said Abdi Ga’al, a Somali local government official. “There are efforts to mediate between the sides, and the elders are about to go and solve it,” he said

Germany supports strengthening of Somali language

22 Jan – Source: German Embassy/Hiraan Online – 156 words

Germany supports the announcement by H.E. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud about the promotion and use of Somali as the national language of Somalia. German Ambassador to Somalia, Andreas Peschke, said on this occasion:“The use of a national language is a cornerstone of national identity. It helps to unify a nation and creates awareness and pride in its own culture and history.

The creation of a standard written form of Somali more than 40 years ago was indeed a milestone in the history of Somalia. Since then, many German scholars have continued to study Somali language and culture as one of the main representatives of Cushitic languages, people and cultures at the Horn of Africa.Somalia and the Somali people can be proud of their language, culture and tradition. The world-famous Somali poems are an important contribution to world culture.We welcome the strengthening of Somali language as an official means of communication and education.”

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“A former Delta Force soldier went to Mogadishu to help a little-known company train African soldiers to fight al-Shabab. He never came home.”

Profit and Loss in Somalia

22 Jan – Source: Foreign Policy – 1,776 Words

It was lunchtime on Christmas Day in Mogadishu, and Brett Fredricks was doing what he loved. The retired member of the Army’s famed and secretive Delta Force was huddling with Ugandan soldiers planning an assault on an enemy position during a firefight with al-Shabab guerrillas. But this gunbattle was different. It was taking place inside the international force’s heavily secured base at Mogadishu airport. It would also be one of the final moments of Brett Fredricks’s life. At least eight al-Shabab fighters, some dressed in Somali national army uniforms, had infiltrated the base, then made their way to arms caches apparently stashed by Somali workers who had easy access to the complex. Now they were on the attack. When word reached Fredricks, he was across town at another Ugandan base, combining a work meeting with a Christmas celebration.

Together with a small group of Ugandans, including some senior officers, Fredricks, 55, raced back to the airfield. By the time they got there, the infiltrators appeared to be holed up in an old building being used as a kitchen. After gathering some reinforcements, Fredricks and about a dozen Ugandans made their way to what seemed to be a safe position near the kitchen building and discussed how best to attack it. But two al-Shabab fighters had slipped unseen into a patch of heavy brush from where they could engage Fredricks and his protégés. One or both of them opened up on the small group, spraying them with bullets. One Ugandan soldier fell wounded, another dead. And an AK bullet hit Fredricks between the eyes, killing him instantly.

Fredricks’s death, which hasn’t been reported previously, is an exceptionally rare example of a retired member of Delta Force dying on a foreign battlefield. The Pentagon doesn’t officially acknowledge 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, as the unit is known by its full name. It’s the Army’s equivalent to the Navy’s SEAL Team 6, and its members are trained to conduct high-risk missions like freeing hostages or raiding enemy territory to kill or capture wanted militants. The unit has a bloody history in Somalia: In October 1993, five Delta operators and 13 other U.S. troops died in a desperate fight with Somali militiamen, hundreds of whom also lost their lives. The battle was later memorialized in the book Black Hawk Down and the movie of the same name. His death was also the first in Somalia for Bancroft, a small firm that is trying to make money in one of the world’s most dangerous places. American security firms like Blackwater have made hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years protecting U.S. diplomats and other personnel in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other hot spots.