13 Sept 2011 – Morning headlines
Key Headlines:
- Large delegation from Turkey arrives in Mogadishu for long-term projects aid delivery
- MPs urge gov’t to insure overall Mogadishu security
- Somali troops retake town after rebel raid
- Fears kidnapped widow taken from Kenya to Somalia
PRESS RELEASE
Large delegation from Turkey arrives in Mogadishu for long-term projects, aid delivery
12 Sept – Source: TFG – 384 words
A 213-member high-level delegation from Turkey completed a one-day visit to Mogadishu to learn about the needs of Somalia and explore business opportunities in the country. It is the largest delegation visiting Somalia since 1991. The delegation included officials from the ministries of Foreign Affairs; Environment and Urban Planning; Food, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry; Forestry and Water; Transportation; Health; and the Directorate of Religious Affairs as well as the prime minister’s Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate, the Housing Development Administration of Turkey and the Turkish Red Crescent.
The delegates were led by Turkish ambassador to Somalia, H.E. Kani Torun and participated in a field visit with the opportunity of engaging with several ministries, agencies and local business community to conduct sector-based analysis on healthcare, water, housing, transport, etc. The General Manager of Turkish Airlines, Dr. Temel Kotil said the delegation delivered modern equipment to Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport, and broke good news for the Somali people that his airline will start flights to and from Mogadishu, making it the first international airline to have scheduled flights from Mogadishu in 21 years. The CEO was accompanied by airport maintenance engineers.
The President of Somalia received some of the delegates at a lunch reception he hosted at the presidential palace. The president said: “a delegation of this size shows Turkish government and people’s solidarity with Somali people at this hour of need and that the promises of Turkish Prime Minister are being materialized.”
Welcoming the delegates, the Somalia Prime Minister, Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, said: “We are pleased to welcome this delegation to Mogadishu, because Turkish partnership in many fields and in economic development is of great interest and relevance to Somalia.” Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s trip to Mogadishu in August this year broke the perception that the city was a no-go zone and has drawn the world attention on Somalia. Meanwhile, the Somali Deputy Prime Minister, H.E. Hussein Arab Isse, received on Monday 5,000 tons of humanitarian aid from Turkey. The aid tents, sanitary supplies, food, light work machinery and five fully equipped ambulances. In addition to addressing the short-term effects of the drought and famine, the Somali Government requests the world to help in planning for the future through peace-building efforts and economic development so that Somalia can stand on its feet again.
SOMALI MEDIA
MPs urge gov’t to insure overall Mogadishu security
12 Sept – Source: Radio Shabelle and Kulmiye – 183 words
Some Somali parliamentarians have urged the TFG to do what it can to ensure the overall security of Mogadishu. Speaking to hundreds of people in Mogadishu’s Bondhere district, Ali Omar Gedi, one of the parliamentarians, called the Somali government to put efforts specifically on the al Shabaab-deserted districts in the capital.
Underground Somali detainees call for help
12 Sept – Radio Bar-Kulan – 127 words
Over fifty illegal Somali immigrants detained in Angola are crying for help in reaction to their transfer to underground detention facility in the city of Kashito, 55 km from the capital Luanda. Mohamed Siyad Sanweyne, one of the Somali detainees, told Bar-Kulan that their lives are in danger, adding that they are only fed once every 24 hours.
Explosion kills 2 men in central Somalia
12 Sept – Source: Mareeg Online, Shabelle and Bar-Kulan – 79 words
Two are reported to have been killed after an explosion targeted Guri’el district commissioner, Osaman Ise Nor yesterday morning in Guri’el district of Galgudud region. The district commissioner of Guri’el of Ahu-Suna administration, Osman Ise Nor escaped from the explosion but killed two men passing by the road side, reports said.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Bondhere women called in for rebuilding the district
12 Sept – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 276 words
Speaking at a seminar organised by a local aid organisation, Centre for Community Dialogue, Banadir deputy regional governor Warsame Mohamed Jodah called on women in the district to participate in efforts to re-establish public facilities in the area. Most of the women were from displaced families who came back to their homes shortly after al Shabaab withdrew from positions in Mogadishu.
Ahlu Sunna official narrowly escapes roadside bomb attack
An Ahlu Sunna Waljama official on Monday narrowly escaped from a roadside bomb attack in the district of Guri El, central Somalia. At least two of Guri El district ASWJ commissioner Hassan Osman Tar-dhuled’s bodyguards died in the bomb attack, according to initial reports.
http://www.shabelle.net/
REGIONAL MEDIA
Useful leads in hunt for British tourist’s killers
12 Sept – Source: Africa Review – 175 words
At least nine gunmen are reported to have participated in the raid of Kenya’s Lamu tourist resort that resulted in the murder of a British citizen and abduction of his wife over the weekend.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Fears kidnapped widow taken from Kenya to Somalia
13 Sept – Source: BBC – 700 words
There are growing fears that a British woman whose husband was shot and killed during a holiday in Kenya may have been taken to Somalia by her kidnappers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
Swedish terror suspects are Somali and Iraqi, authorities say
12 Sept – Source: CNN News/NPR/AP – 405 words
Three of the four men who were arrested this weekend on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack in Sweden are of Somali origin, and the fourth is Iraqi, Swedish authorities told CNN on Monday.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/
Somali troops retake town after rebel raid
12 Sept – Source: Reuters – 285 words
Somali troops have regained control of the southern town of Elwaq a day after Islamist rebels raided the border post in an attack that killed dozens of fighters on both sides, residents said on Monday.
http://af.reuters.com/article/