12 Sept 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- Burundi soldiers from 7th Battalion serving under the African Union mission have completed their 12 month tour of the duty
- Trade Delegation from India Arrive in Hargiesa to Assess Investment
- Puntland leaders meet over Piracy
- Bid to secure safe release of Kenya kidnap Briton
PRESS RELEASE
Burundi soldiers from 7th Battalion serving under the African Union mission have completed their 12 month tour of the duty
10 Sept – Source: AMISOM – 311 words
The soldiers, who were being rotated out have been decorated with AU peacekeeping medals in a farewell ceremony at the former Somali National University, which serves as the command base for the Burundi contingent.
The ceremony was attended by Senior AMISOM officials led by Honorable Wafula Wamunyinyi, Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia. Speaking on the occasion, Honorable Wafula thanked the soldiers for the service they offered to the African Union, Somalia and the continent at large.
“On behalf of the chairperson of the African Union, on behalf of the Special Representative of the Chairperson, we are all pleased on this occasion to present to you medals and certificates of acknowledgement of your service.
“I am sure that you would be remembered of having contributed to the peace process not only in Somalia but in our continent of Africa,” he said He urged the soldiers to maintain the integrity and discipline that they have shown while serving in the mission. Honorable Wafula expressed gratitude for the sacrifices made by the soldiers serving in the African Union mission.
“I want to underline very strongly the recognition by the African Union of the sacrifices by our brothers from Burundi and Uganda who has in one way or the other either put out of action, disabled, injured and is in hospital, others who are incapacitated for the work and on behalf of the African Union.”
Brigadier General Audace Nduwumunsi, Deputy AMISOM Force Commander who was also presented at the ceremony commended the soldiers for the determinations and bravery they have shown in the light of great risks.
“The mission was not easy, this battalion has lost some members and others injured but the rest continued the mission fearlessly.” The battalion has captured areas such as military hospital, milk factory, and military officers’ mess and also it has helped in the capture of Gashandiga.”
SOMALI MEDIA
Al Shabaab vacates southern Somalia town after taking over
12 Sept – Source: Mareeg Online, Shabelle and Garowe Online – 162 words
Al Shabaab fighters on Sunday afternoon vacated the town Elwak in southern Somalia region of Gedo hours after taking it over. The withdrawal of Al Shabaab from the town came after bitter battles with Somali government forces. Sources said al Shabaab fighters, who in the early hours of Sunday took control of Elwak town, had come under counter attack from government troops. The fighting left at least 14 people dead while dozens more injured. Reports say that the two opposing forces captured battle wagons from each other.
Locals were affected by the battle and some of them started fleeing from their homes to escape from stray bullets and mortars. Mohamed Abdi Kalil, the governor of Gedo region for the Transitional Federal Government said his forces were inside Elwak, adding that they had inflicted irretrievable losses to the al Shabaab without giving further details. The spokesman of Al Shabaab group’s fighters Sheikh Abdi-Aziz Abu Musab said they attacked the town and killed 70 government soldiers and more military supplies.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Somalia: Puntland court jails nearly 20 soldiers
11 Sept – Source: Radio Shabelle and Kulmiye – 102 words
A court in Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Puntland on Sunday gave differing jail terms to nearly 20 Puntland soldiers accused of committing various crimes. Some of the soldiers were sentenced to life imprisonment, some received jail terms of several years while others were fined, according to the Puntland High Court Judge Abdihakim Hassan. Hassan says the soldiers had been arrested in Mudug and Ayn (Cayn) regions of northern Somalia, pointing out they had been committing offenses against the innocent people.
Trade Delegation from India Arrive in Hargiesa to Assess Investment
11 Sept – Source: Somaliland Press – 133 words
The Government of Somaliland recently welcomed representatives from two multinational Indian corporations in Hargiesa today who came to asses markets and investment opportunities in the country. The two companies, Horizon Holdings & Investments and the Ronak Group, wish to work in tandem with each other on how they may best assess the potential business markets in Somaliland and then on ways on investing in those markets. At a Press conference held in Hargiesa attended by various representatives from multiple ministries and high level dignitaries, Mr. Osman Aw Farah Jama, the Manager of Horizon Holdings and Investments, outlined that goal of this endeavor. Mr. Jama stated that the job opportunities that would be created and the investments that these two companies are about to make would be beneficial to Somaliland and Somaliland’s economy.
http://somalilandpress.com/
Hundreds displaced as deadly clashes continue in Elwak, Gedo region
11 Sept – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 257 words
Reports from Elwak say there has been intense fighting between Al-Shabaab militia group and Somali government troops over the control of the border town, located on Somalia side of the Kenyan-Somali common border. Witnesses confirmed several casualties on both sides as the fighting continued on Sunday.
Kenya’s North Eastern Provincial Commissioner Peter Ole Serian told Bar-kulan that fighting broke out at dawn on Sunday and several people were displaced inside Somalia, adding that they still could hear gunshots. The PC said whilst the border remain closed since 2007, they received over thirty people who have been injured during the fight.
He stated that Kenyan authorities don’t allow combatant to cross into Kenyan side of the border to seek medical attention. He said they would only allow civilians to cross to their side whenever there is a need for humanitarian help like people injured during the fights. Ole Serian added that he was getting conflicting stories from the areas and could not independently verify the number of casualties or who controls the town.
He hinted that the militia may be in control of one side of the town while the government troops control the other. Kenyan security personnel have been deployed to the area to contain the influx of people fleeing the fighting in Elwak, which is less than 10 kilometers away from the border. Elwak town has been under control of TFG for months after the al-Shabaab were chased away from the area.
Drought has affected 200,000 families, claims Somaliland
12 Sept – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 148 words
Over 200,000 families in the breakaway region of Somaliland have been badly affected by drought, officials claim. Vice president Abdirahman Abdullahi Ismail said that, according to data collected on the number of people affected by the drought in the region, 75, 000 families needed immediate humanitarian aid. Speaking at a press conference in Hargeisa, the vice president said 75 percent of the local population in Somaliland has been badly affected by the drought. He appealed to world to immediately aid the victims before the situation worsens. Authorities blame poor rains, death of livestock, and rising cost of food and petroleum in the region for much of the crisis. They say most children in the eastern and western regions of Somaliland are severely malnourished. The UN has already declared famine in six regions in southern Somalia, where millions of people are said to be on brink of starvation.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Puntland leaders meet over Piracy
11 Sept – Source: Africa Review – 194 words
Authorities in the semiautonomous Puntland state are meeting in Gorowe, about 100km northeast of Mogadishu to discuss the escalating incidents of piracy off the coasts of Somalia. Puntland’s Minister for Ports and Marine Transport, Said Mohamed Raghe stressed during the meeting which started on Friday that pirates are posing a threat to trade in the port town of Bossaso, the main commercial hub of the region.
“Pirates operating from Somali territories are a real danger to the port town (Bossaso),” he said. The minister vowed that his government would continue to the fight against piracy. Puntland region of Somalia has increasingly become a springboard for piracy and armed robbery against ships operating in the Gulf of Aden.
In recent years, the pirates have been attacking vessels heading towards Somali ports, thus affecting business in and out of the country and greater horn of Africa. Piracy is a highly lucrative business as many youths venture into the Indian Ocean to seize ships off the Somali coastline and their release often depends on payment of ransoms.
Despite efforts by international navy task force to fight piracy, Somali pirates are still holding several ships and hundreds of crews in anticipation of ransom.
Deaths as new terror war fought in Kenya
11 Sept – Source: Standard – 510 words
On the 10th anniversary of September 11 attacks on America, Kenya’s attention turned to the bloody theatre of war between Somalia’s Transition Federal Government (TFG) forces and Al- Shabaab militia.On the same day, at Kiunga in Lamu County, which borders Somalia on the Coastal belt, a British tourist was shot dead and his wife kidnapped in an attack on their cottage, and the motive has so far not been established. The attack set off a security operation aimed at rescuing the woman and getting at the attackers believed by confidential Government sources to be motivated by terrorist intentions. The tourist killed was named as David Tebutt, said to be a renowned author back home.
Late Sunday evening, top security personnel led by Internal Security minister Prof George Saitoti were meeting to discuss how to ward off the possible spill over into Kenya of the chaos in Somalia. It is also believed they discussed the rescue operations and possible ramifications of the attack on the British tourists on Kenya’s image abroad as a tourist destination.
In the closed-door meeting were Defense minister Yusuf Haji, Internal Security Permanent Secretary Francis Kimemia, the new head of the military General Julius Karangi, and Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere. Iteere later took a break to address journalists before going back to the meeting. “There is ongoing fighting across the border of Kenya; the only person who died (on Kenyan side) was a TFG Genera. So far we are told there were casualties on both sides but not on Kenyan soil,” he said. He then dropped words that indicated the problem could be more serious, saying: “We have sent police and army personnel to screen those fleeing the fighting in Somalia and crossing over to Kenya.”
On Tebutt, Iteere explained he checked into the resort at Kiwayu Island at 4pm and booked a cottage, having spent a week in Masai Mara. He said four bandits killed Tebutt and sped towards Kiunga Island on the Kenya-Somali border on a motorboat with Judith. No one had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping or demanded a ransom by last evening.Following the Lamu attack, Britain’s Foreign Office updated its travel advice to Britons on Kenya, advising them against all but essential travel to areas within 30km of the Kenya-Somali border.
The two forces ‘exported’ their war from Somalia to Kenyan soil, and the ferocity of the war was discernible from the fact that at El-Wak District Hospital alone, 10 deaths had been reported by last evening. Many others are believed to have died in the battlefield that had not been accessed by media and Kenyan security forces by last evening.
However, those brought to the hospital said they had seen at least 30 bodies in the border town from both sides as the fighting raged.At least 50 people were injured in the far-flung battleground, 23 of whom were in so bad a state they were referred to Wajir District Hospital. Among the dead, who in line with Islamic religious traditions was said to have been flown to Moyale for burial the same day, is a high-ranking TFG military general.
http://www.standardmedia.co.
Al-Shabaab warns against listening to radio
11 Sept – Source: Africa Review – 156 words
Somali radical group, al-Shabaab has issued an order banning residents of Shabelle town, 100km south of the capital Mogadishu from listening to radio. Announcing the ban, senior al-Shabaab official, Sheikh Abdullahi Mumin said the stations had a bias towards non-Muslims besides airing misleading information against the group.
He pointed an accusing finger at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Mogadishu, a state run broadcaster in the country’s capital. He added that the reporters are Murtadeen (converts from Islam) and that listening to them was a waste of time.
According to al-Shabaab, a person who has abandoned Islam should be condemned to death. “Yes, reporters are part of the human community and can abandon their religion,” he stated. He highlighted that terrorism activities around the world are Jihads (holy wars) with the purpose of retaking Muslim lands occupied by non-Muslims. The clergyman stated that Jihads’ next target would be to seize the capitals of Kenya and Ethiopia.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Bid to secure safe release of Kenya kidnap Briton
12 Sept – Source: The Independent – 802 words
Officials were working today to secure the safe release of a kidnapped British tourist whose husband was murdered during a robbery at an exclusive Kenyan beach resort. David Tebbutt, 58, and his wife, Judith, 56, were holidaying at the remote Kiwayu Safari Village, close to the border with Somalia, when the attack happened during the early hours of yesterday morning.
There were suspicions that the armed gang responsible was from Somalia, and may have used a speedboat to get away from the isolated island resort, which has played host to artist Tracey Emin, actress Imelda Staunton and reportedly Sir Mick Jagger. The Foreign Office has confirmed that two British nationals were attacked overnight at a beach resort north of Lamu, near the Kenya-Somalia border.
A spokesman said: “One was killed and another kidnapped. We are working closely with the Kenyan authorities to establish further details.” He said consular staff was working to secure the “safe and swift” release of the woman. “We are working to secure the safe and swift release of the British national who has been kidnapped and ask those involved to show compassion and release the individual immediately.
“We have deployed a consular team from our High Commission in Nairobi and are offering all possible support to the family of those involved. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.” Officials in Kenya said the Tebbutts were attacked on the first night of their stay at the resort, with reports suggesting that bandits broke into their accommodation.
Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said the couple had come from visiting the Masai Mara reserve and were the resort’s only guests. The officer said the attackers, whose origins were unknown, took the woman away by boat. A Kenyan security official said a policeman arrived to see six men carrying away the woman but decided not to shoot in case he hit the tourist.
There was speculation the kidnappers could be from an al Qaeda-linked insurgent group called al Shabab which holds much of southern Somalia. Mr. Tebbutt believed to be from Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, worked for publisher Faber & Faber and was a member of the Book Trade Charity, which offers support and grants to those in the book trade. Chief executive David Hicks said he met him more than 10 years ago, when he worked at publisher Harvill, then Routledge, before moving to Faber & Faber.
“He was on my board for over 10 years as a director,” Mr. Hicks said. “It’s very difficult to believe this sort of thing.”I knew him from the charitable side when he was at Harvill Press and before that at Routledge. “I got to know him because he was responsible for our annual donation from Routledge and then he came on the board fairly soon after that then moved to Harvill, then Faber.
He said the best way to describe Mr. Tebbutt was “all the dedicated words you want”. “He was a lovely chap; he was on the grants committee. He was a very caring person and very concerned about the people that we were supporting financially.” Mr. Hicks said he did not know Mrs. Tebbutt but he added that he knew Mr. Tebbutt had lived and worked in Africa, although he did not know the details.
He said Mr. Tebbutt was also a member of the Society of Bookmen, a literary dinner club: “He used to attend our events so it was purely through the support of the charity that I knew him. “He also ran the London Marathon for us and raised several thousands of pounds doing that.” The Kiwayu resort’s website states it takes “security and safety very seriously”. It says: “Our relationship with the local community, its fishermen and the local authorities is positive and mutually beneficial.
“We regularly review our security and safety to ensure it is both comprehensive and current.” Consisting of 18 luxury cottages spread along a private beach, the resort is popular among backpackers and celebrities alike, including Emin and Staunton, who have both written of their experiences. The resort’s online brochure also says: “There are few places in the world which can boast such seclusion.
“We are visited only by fishermen, the dhows that still come to collect water and the occasional sports fisherman in search of the magnificent marlin, which are then tagged and released back into the sea.” It currently charges 445 US dollars (around £278) per adult per night to stay in its beach bungalows, which boast locally carved furniture and hammocks.
Following the attack, the Foreign Office repeated advice for travelers not to venture within 30 miles of the Kenya-Somalia border. Its website says: “There have been previous attacks by Somali militia into Kenya.” Three aid workers were kidnapped in July 2009, and two Western nuns in November 2008.” In 2008, British missionary Brian Thorp, 77, was murdered during a robbery on the island of Lamu.
Kenya search expands for kidnapped British woman
12 Sept – Source: AFP – 519 words
Kenyan police expanded the search on Monday for a female British holidaymaker, kidnapped in an attack at a luxury beach resort by suspected Somali Islamist extremists who killed her husband. “We are using all the tactics and resources available but we have not made any success so far — we hope to find her safe,” said regional police commander Aggrey Adoli, who is leading the search.
Kenyan police named the couple as David and Judith Tebbutt, who are believed to be in their mid-fifties and from Bishop’s Stortford. The attack took place in the early hours on Sunday morning at a tourist lodge in the Kiunga marine reserve on the Lamu archipelago off Kenya’s northern coast, officials said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the affected family,” the hotel where the attack took place, the Kiwayu Safari Village, said in a statement posted on its website Monday following the “tragic events.”
Officers launched a massive manhunt for the abductors, using speedboats and helicopters. Police said they suspected the attackers were Shabaab extremists from Somalia. “Our forces have been out since Sunday doing everything possible to rescue her,” Adoli said on telephone from Kiunga, where the attack took place, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Kenya’s border with Somalia.
“We have also appealed to members of the public in this area to work closely with us,” he added. Extra police officers and soldiers have been called in to boost search efforts, Adoli said. The Lamu island chain and the surrounding area is one of Kenya’s top luxury holiday destinations, despite being close to the border with war-torn and drought-struck Somalia.
Most of southern Somalia is controlled by the Al-Qaeda linked Shabaab, who are waging an insurgency against Somalia’s fragile, Western-backed government. Kenyan police Chief Mathew Iteere said the couple, who had arrived at the resort during the day Saturday, was attacked in their room shortly after midnight. They were the resort’s only guests at the time. “There was only one shot, I think the husband resisted from what we gather — maybe they wanted to take the two, but he resisted,” Iteere told reporters late Sunday.
The complex had been well protected by six police and 22 private guards, he said, yet the cottages “do not even have a door — just cloth as the door — so they gained entry so easily.” The Foreign Office said British officials were investigating the case alongside their Kenyan counterparts. “We are working to secure the safe and swift release of the British national who has been kidnapped and ask those involved to show compassion and release the individual immediately,” it said.
Security sources in southern Somalia said the Shabaab had launched attacks Sunday on government bases in the town of Elwak close to the Kenyan border. Pirates also operate in the waters off Somalia, frequently seizing crew from merchant ships and pleasure craft, although tourist resorts have not previously been targeted. Advice posted on the Foreign Office website advised Britons against going within 50 kilometres (30 miles) of the Kenya-Somalia border. It notes that Somali militants kidnapped three aid workers in July 2009 and two Western nuns in November 2008 across the Kenyan border.