April 24, 2015 | Morning Headlines

Main Story

Mandera Chief Abducted By Suspected Al-Shabaab Gunmen, Leaders Demand KDF’s Return From Somalia

23 April – Source: The Star Kenya – 436 Words

A Mandera chief was abducted when suspected Al-Shabaab gunmen ambushed a vehicle he was travelling in on Thursday morning. Arabia chief Muktar Maalim commonly known as Muktar Otieno was ordered out of the 14-seater van after it was stopped along Arabia-Mandera Road One of the passengers told the Star on phone that the van was waylaid at three junctions.”They started firing at us at the first road block. We managed to escape from the second one too but the passengers shouted to stop the car as the assailants intensified the shooting” he said.

The passenger said they were grouped based on gender and government workers separated. Adding that the gunmen were only interested in government employees, he said ID and job cards were checked before Ibrahim was singled out .They left with Ibrahim on foot after letting other passengers go unharmed, he said.Assistant chief Abdinoor Dakane who was in a separate vehicle escaped into a bush.Following the abduction, Mandera leaders have demanded the immediate withdrawal of Kenya Defence Forces from Somalia, saying they should guard local territory.Security organs are doing little to stop terror attacks, the leaders said at the devolution conference at Tom Mboya Labour College, Kisumu on Thursday.“Civil servants are fleeing the county, people are terrified and little work in going on in Mandera yet all we are told by security chiefs is that all is well,” said Senator Billow Kerrow.

Key Headlines

Hundreds Demonstrate In Garbaharay Against Interim Jubba Administration (Goobjoog News)
British Ambassador To Somalia Visits Kismayo Applauds IJA On Progress Made (Radio RBC)
Mogadishu University’s Bosaso Campus Holds Awareness Campaigns For Local Residents (Wacaal Media)
Kenya To Plead To Donors Over The Closure Of Dadaab Refugee Camps (Somali Current)
Parliament’s Social Services Development Committee Concern Over Situation Of Somali Refugees(Goobjoog News)
Mandera Chief Abducted By Suspected Al-Shabaab Gunmen Leaders Demand KDF’s Return From Somalia (The Star Kenya)
Somali PM Sees Risk To His Country In Yemen Strife (Leadership/AFP)
Somalia Seeks To Drive Militants From Southern Valley Bases – PM (Reuters)
The Long Journey To Understanding Between Kenya And Somalia (Networked News .org)

NATIONAL MEDIA

British Ambassador To Somalia Visits Kismayo, Applauds IJA On Progress Made

23 April – Source: Radio RBC – 411 Words

The British Ambassador to Somalia has commended the progress made by the Interim Jubba Administration (IJA) ahead of the inauguration of its regional assembly. Ambassador Neil Wigan led a delegation to Kismayo yesterday and held meetings with the IJA administration led by IJA president Ahmed Mohamed Islam-Madobe, the regional cabinet ministers as well as members of the new Parliament. The Ambassador was briefed on the process undertaken for the formation of the Parliament, ensuring that all clans and their views were represented. “We welcome the formation of the Jubba Assembly and we hope that through the arbitration committee, through reconciliation processes those who are not yet fully supportive of the process, that they can be encouraged to join up and support it. We believe that the progress made here will help the people of Jubbaland and that can be model of the rest of Somalia as the other member states start form their own assemblies. So, we are here to help support that process,’’ he said.

He also met with the Acting Chairperson of the new Parliament Abdi Yusuf and other members of the legislative body and discussed different issues including election of the Parliament’s leadership as well as the pending work on the Constitution. Speaking to the media after the meeting, the IJA President said the discussions had been productive and focused on the Administrations new Parliament. “We talked about different issues with the delegation and they congratulated us upon formation of the Jubbaland Parliament. We discussed other issues including election of the Parliament Chairperson, his deputies as well as completion of the Constitution,” said Ahmed Madobe, Jubbaland President. Meanwhile, the British Embassy Stabilization Advisor for Somalia Philippa Brown together with the AMISOM CIMIC Deputy Chief Lt. Colonel Hakizimana Celestin also held meetings in Kismayo to discuss the CIMIC activities in the sector as well as potential Quick Impact Projects.

They met with Sector Kismayo CIMIC officer Captain Bill Ohito and discussed what projects the military can engage in to help mitigate immediate needs of communities. ‘’We have been here today to discuss some ideas, some new projects in Kismayo and in the whole sector as well. So it is very positive place to be always, there are a lot of good ideas and the sector is very engaged and as always very positive experience,” said Philippa Brown, British Embassy Stabilization Advisor. She has also similar meetings with the CIMIC team in Baidoa and identified potential Quick Impact Projects.

Hundreds Demonstrate In Garbaharay Against Interim Jubba Administration

23 April – Source: Goobjoog News- 150 Words
Hundreds of Garbaharay residents took to the streets of that town protesting against interim Jubba Administration. The demonstration is organized by some politicians and traditional elders in Gedo region. Mohamud Siyad Adan, one of the politicians speaking to Goobjoog News said that the protesters was against IJA and the newly formed Jubba regional parliament. “The protest was against what is happening in the so called Interim Jubba Administration, the traditional elders who participated the protest said that they have nothing to with what is happening in Kismayo and that they all condemn it” he noted. Mohamud Siyad Adan blamed the federal government for what is going on in Kismayo and watching what he called an injustice without taking proper action to stop it. “People of Gedo are expressing concern over the situation in Kismayo” he said.

Mogadishu University’s Bosaso Campus Holds Awareness Campaigns For Local Residents

23 April – Source: Wacaal Media – 109 Words

Students from Mogadishu University’s Bosaso campus today held an awareness campaign session in the area to educate the general public on health matters. The event was organized by students from the faculty of Nursing & Health Science and theme of the event was “prevention is better than cure”. They staged a captivating drama on how to prevent and fight common diseases that are prevalent in the area.They encouraged residents to report to the nearest health center when they fall ill so that it is immediately diagnosed and treated rather than wait until it was too late. The public was also encouraged to ensure their environment was always clean.

Kenya To Plead To Donors Over The Closure Of Dadaab Refugee Camps

23 April – Source: Somali Current – 290 Words

Kenya has appealed to donors to take charge of the planned shutdown of the Daadab refugee camp and send Somalis back to their country. Kenya threatened to close the Dadaab camps and send home more than 360,000 Somali refugees within 90 days amid security fears in the wake of this month’s Garissa University massacre by Somalia’s Shebab insurgents in which 148 people died. Soon after the attack, the Deputy President of Kenya William Ruto threatened to close down the camp and forcefully send the refugees back to their country accusing the inhabitants of hosting the terrorist that occasionally launch attacks on the country. But foreign minister Amina Mohamed has backtracked on the plan saying there was no timeline for closing Dadaab and that sending the refugees home “will depend on available resources”.

Amina talked of plans to organise an international level conference to request international donors to provide funds for their relocation. Mohamed was speaking after meeting Somali and UN refugee agency (UNHCR) officials in Nairobi on Tuesday to launch a tripartite commission on repatriating the refugees. In November 2013 the same three parties signed a tripartite agreement on repatriating refugees from Dadaab after the Shebab attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall in which at least 67 people died. Since then at least 2,000 refugees have voluntarily returned to their homeland Somalia for fear of forceful repatriation. Kenya has also started of a 700 security wall that will cover the border between Kenya and Somalia. “The way America changed after 9/11 is the way Kenya will change after Garissa,” Deputy President Ruto said after Garissa attack which claimed the lives of 147 kenyan students. According to international law, refugee returns must be voluntary and not forced.

Parliament’s Social Services Development Committee Concern Over Situation Of Somali Refugees

23 April – Source: Goobjoog News – 148 Words

Somali parliament’s Social Services Development Committee expressed concern over the situation of Somali refugees in Yemen and Kenya. Mohamud Osman Dufle, who is the Chairperson of the committee, has called Somali people stand for the help of their brotherly Somali refugees in Yemen and Kenya who facing dilemma. “The committee is deeply concern over what is happening to Somali refugees in Yemen and Kenya”He added that expatriates in Yemen have faced tough situation and restless days after Saudi and its coalition commenced bombing Houthi militias whereby those in Kenya are counting their the repatriation deadline days which the government of Kenya announced after the attack on Garissa university by Al-Shabab led death of 148. Dufle called upon Somali people to take part the initiatives to help Somali refugees. This comes after Vice president of Kenya government called UNHCR to repatriate Somali refugees or Kenya will return them.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somali PM Sees Risk To His Country In Yemen Strife

23 April – Source: Leadership/AFP – 402 Words

Somalia’s prime minister warned Thursday that the conflict in Yemen poses dangers across the Gulf of Aden where an influx of refugees is stretching scarce resources and Al-Qaeda militants are eager for support. More than 2,000 refugees have so far arrived in the northern Somali regions of Puntland and Somaliland, with the UN refugee agency preparing to receive as many as 100,000 in the coming months. Those fleeing the fighting are a mixture of Yemenis and Somalis.“Our economy cannot support this influx of refugees,” Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke told AFP during a visit to the Kenyan capital Nairobi on Thursday. “We need a lot of support to accommodate these refugees,” said Sharmarke, whose country has itself suffered from decades of civil war.

In the south of Somalia Al-Qaeda-aligned Shebab militants still hold sway in much of the countryside, despite being pushed out of most towns by a coalition of African Union and Somali troops. A string of militant leaders have also been killed in US drone strikes. Sharmarke said “there’s a debate” within Shebab over whether to switch allegiance to Islamic State. But he warned that the strengthening of Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP), which has long had ties to Shebab and has taken advantage of Yemen’s strife to seize new territory, could benefit the Somali group.

The prime minister warned that Al-Qaeda operatives from Yemen could use the cover of fleeing refugees to infiltrate Somalia and called for stringent screening of new arrivals as well as a renewed regional effort to defeat Shebab. “There’s a real sense of urgency for us in the region to quickly shut down the Jubba corridor,” said Sharmarke, referring to a riverine area in southern Somalia where Shebab fighters are concentrated. “Shebab is not a local issue but a regional one,” said Sharmarke. The group struck Uganda in 2010 and has attacked Kenya repeatedly, most recently killing 148 people at Garissa University earlier this month.

Referring to international coalitions currently fighting Boko Haram in Nigeria and Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Sharmarke said, “There has to be a regional solution to Shebab.” Sharmarke, who has both Somali and Canadian citizenship, was named prime minister in December, the second time he held the position. His appointment has been hailed by key donors as a chance to end months of political infighting and stalemate that beset his predecessor and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

Somalia Seeks To Drive Militants From Southern Valley Bases – PM

23 April – Source: Reuters – 505 Words

Somali and African forces aim to drive al Shabaab Islamist militants out of one of the last major tracts of territory in southern Somalia that the group still holds and which it uses to launch attacks, the Somali prime minister said on Thursday. Omar Sharmarke also told Reuters he was pressing Kenya to reopen Somali money transfer firms that are a lifeline to many in Somalia but whose licences Nairobi suspended after al Shabaab raided a north Kenyan university this month killing 148 people. Al-Shabaab has been driven out of major towns and coastal strongholds since an African Union peacekeeping force and the Somali national army launched an offensive last year.

But the group, which wants to topple Somalia’s Western-backed government, still holds rural areas, such as the Juba valley corridor that leads to the strategic southern port of Kismayu, where a Kenyan contingent of AU troops is based. “There is a corridor they use as a launching pad,” Sharmarke said in an interview. “There are efforts to close down this corridor which they have been using for the last few years.” He did not give a timeline for any new operation.To keep militants out of Kenya, Somalia’s southern neighbour is improving border security, including building new observation posts and barriers, often referred to as a “wall”. Sharmarke said rooting out the militants was a better tactic.

OPINION/ANALYSIS/CULTURE

The negative stories always outweighed the positive ones, and there was an almost 100 percent consensus amongst media outlets on how to portray Somalia and Somalis. This type of journalism still exists today – and one can see an overwhelming number of reports focusing on attacks and explosions, regardless of the positive changes taking place across Somalia.

The Long Journey To Understanding Between Kenya And Somalia

23 April – Source: Networked News .org – 1320 Words

Flying across the invisible 700-kilometre boundary between Kenya and Somalia is a reminder of the distance we have created between the two countries, and their citizens. Some of us have been crossing that line our entire lives, and the reminder is no less poignant. The early morning flights; the confusion at the check-in counters; the dozens of refugees heading back home, baffled by the stream of formalities; the weary-eyed immigration officers who stop travelers the moment they see those distinct boarding passes. It is equally exasperating when one travels from Somalia to Kenya. While a flight from Nairobi to Mogadishu takes just over an hour, the journey back takes five or six, little of it pleasant. There’s the long queue in the hot sun for the mandatory security check in Wajir, where all flights coming from Somalia are required to stop. Once in Nairobi, there is yet more waiting at another security check at Jomo Kenyatta airport, and that is before facing the inevitable interrogation at immigration.

The media, I have argued for some time now, is complicit in the gulf of misunderstanding and resentment that separates two countries like estranged brothers. Most recently, on Thursday, April 16, I gave a talk at PAWA254, a collaborative space for creatives and journalists, about “The Role of Journalism in Exploring the Somali Story.” The basic objective of the talk was to try and answer the question: can good journalism help Kenyans understand Somalia better? Even as we build a massive monument to our failure – turning that invisible line into a wall of iron and steel – I still believe that it can. In spite of what the Kenyan headlines might suggest, Somalia stands hopefully, though anxiously, at a crossroad. More than two decades after the ousting of the dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and the unfolding of a bloody civil war, the country is trying hard to usher in a new dawn. Over the last four years, the war has started to recede; the businesses are booming; and the country’s nascent government is slowly taking control.