May 14, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Al-Shabaab Kidnaps 14 Iranian Fishermen Stranded In Somalia – UPDATE
14 Words – Source: The Guardian – 241 Words
Al-Shabaab militants have kidnapped 14 crew members of an Iranian fishing boat off the coast of Somalia, seizing them as their vessel washed ashore, Iranian state television and residents said. The extremists detained the fishermen after the vessel drifted into the militants’ stronghold on Wednesday, Yasin Maalin, a resident of the town of El-Dher in Somalia’s coastal region of Galgadud, told the Associated Press by telephone. Ali Hussein, another resident, corroborated his account. Al-Shabaab, a militant group that is allied with al-Qaida and has carried out many deadly attacks across Somalia, did not immediately claim responsibility for the kidnapping.
On Wednesday night, the Iranian state television station’s scrolling news bar announced the kidnapping, saying the vessel owned by an Iranian fishing organisation suffered a technical fault near the Somali coast. It did not elaborate. Despite losing some of its top leaders in US air strikes and being pushed by African Union forces out of the capital, Mogadishu, al-Shabaab still has control over territory in south and central Somalia. The group carries out deadly bombings against government targets and public places seen as popular with foreigners. The extremists also have attacked neighbouring Kenya, which has sent troops to Somalia to fight the insurgents. Piracy off the coast of Somalia once was a serious threat to the global shipping industry, but attacks have dropped dramatically the last several years after ships began carrying armed guards.
Key Headlines
- We Welcome New Ideas President Hassan Tells Youth Stakeholders In Visit to Villa Somalia (Somali Current)
- Puntland Cabinet Debates Possible AMISOM Operation In Puntland (Garowe Online)
- Job Placement Project For Somali Female Graduates Launched In Mogadishu (Somali Current)
- Somali Lawmakers Gear Up A Move To Ban Khat In Somalia (RBC Radio)
- Somalis Fleeing Yemeni Cities For Refugee Camps Find No Aid ( Radio Ergo)
- Somali-American Back In Prison After ‘Deradicalization’ Attempt (Reuters)
- Kenya To Host Engineering Unit Of UN Africa Peacekeepers Unit (Daily Nation)
- US Appeals Court Hears Dispute Over Judge’s Rejection Of Life Sentences For 5 Somali Pirates (Star Tribune)
- Al-Shabaab Kidnaps 14 Iranian Fishermen Stranded In Somalia – UPDATE ( The Guardian)
- Case Against Alleged ISIL Recruits Raises Question Of Entrapment (Star Tribune)
- University And Act for Somalia To Co-host UK Ambassador To Somalia’s Visit To Bristol Somali Community (Bristol University Website)
- Malitia MaliMob Rapper Voices Somali American Struggles (The Seattle Globalist)
NATIONAL MEDIA
We Welcome New Ideas, President Hassan Tells Youth, Stakeholders In Visit to Villa Somalia
14 May – Source: Somali Current – 133 Words
Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud yesterday hosted youth and stakeholders in his office to discuss the prevailing situation in the country and their role in the rebuilding of Somalia. They discussed security, development and the economic situation in the country. Implementation of Vision 2016 and the manufacturing industry featured in their discussions as well. They also extensively spoke about investment in the country and how to set up a well-structured tax system. The president welcomed the suggestion given by his visitors, urging them to play their part in the rebuilding exercise and save the country. They youth group and stakeholders thanked the president for the opportunity to air their views and pledged to work with the government towards achieving Vision 2016.
Puntland Cabinet Dismisses Possible AMISOM Operation In Puntland
14 May – Source: Garowe Online – 265 Words
Puntland cabinet ministers have dismissed any possibility of African Union Mission in Puntland in a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Garowe Online reports. Presidential spokesman said in statement that a meeting presided over by Vice President Abdihakin Abdullahi Haji Omar Amey focused on the arrival of African Union forces on an anti Al-Shabaab offensive in Puntland to help low-morale among Puntland forces to dislodge Al-Shabaab militants from bases in the rugged terrain of Galgala. “Puntland cabinet members hereby confirm that AMISOM troops can’t be brought to Puntland. [We] made our standpoint clear to the international partners and people of Puntland that the government is capable of defending its borders and territories,” read the press statement.
On the recent approval of three committees by federal cabinet, Puntland said it was not consulted on the selection of commissions members: “[The national-level commissions] are not constitutional”. The northeastern state warned commission members against coming to Puntland, noting it will not recognize the composition of National Electoral Board, Boundary Committee and Judicial Service Commission. On May 7, UN envoy to Somalia Ambassador Nicholas Kay said in an interview with Reuters that the expansion of AMISOM operations into Puntland was under active consideration, without specifying a date. Puntland is facing unrelenting terror violence, with Al-Shabaab gunmen opting for guerrilla ambushes and night raids, largely in the Gulf of Aden Port City of Bossaso. On Tuesday, more than 20 MPs demanded emergency parliamentary session on what they described as an unprecedented Al- Shabaab attacks.
Job Placement Project For Somali Female Graduates Launched In Mogadishu
14 May- Source: Somali Current – 131 Words
New job placement project for Somali female graduates was launched today in Mogadishu. The project which is sponsored by Iftiin Foundation in partnership with Somali chambers plans to network Somali female graduates and the employment sector throughout Somalia. Iftiin launched new web platform called Fursad.so that will facilitate female graduates to upload their CVs. The web also gives employers the chance to select the best talents. The group also created job alert system through SMS that will let the subscribers know about available jobs. During the launch the project, the group released new survey saying women employment in the country is relatively low. Among the sectors surveyed include education and telecommunication. Representatives from Somalia government who spoke at the event applauded the project and promised to support its initiatives.
Somali Lawmakers Gear Up A Move To Ban Khat In Somalia
14 May – Source: RBC Radio – 183 Words
Somali lawmakers have for the first time unveiled a move to ban Khat, the green narcotic leaves imported into Somalia daily from Kenya, RBC Reports. Speaking to journalists, Mohamud Mohamed Godir, Somali member of Parliament stated that a move to ban Khat import into Somalia is underway in Mogadishu. The lawmaker said that they are filing a motion against the narcotic before the parliament and will face voting on its fate in the country. Godir has called on Somali lawmakers to stand firm against the drug mainly known as Khat which has had a devastating negative impact on Somali communities around the world. The United Kingdom has banned Khat in the country. The move by Somali lawmakers against the Khat comes at time when Mogadishu is hosting widely known Somali anti-Khat campaigner, Abukar Awale, a man who convinced enough UK lawmakers to ban the narcotic. Dozens of daily flights import thousands of sacks of khat from Kenya, Kenya’s economy relies heavily on the exports of these addictive leaves into Somalia.
Somalis Fleeing Yemeni Cities For Refugee Camps Find No Aid
13 May – Source: Radio Ergo – 372 Words
More than 3,000 Somalis fleeing the conflict in Yemen’s main cities including the capital Aden are living on handouts in Al Kharaz refugee camp. They lack basic needs such as shelter, food and health care. Habiba Dahir Mohamud, a widowed mother of five children, fled from Basatin neighborhood in Aden. Speaking to Radio Ergo, she said had lived in Yemen for 18 years and had been working as a housemaid. She said lack of shelter was the main problem facing them. “I arrived in Al Kharaz two months ago and stayed with another family. I was later told to move out and I am currently living in the open air,” she said.
Sheikh Abdirahman Mohamed Omar, with nine children and a blind wife, also came to the camps from Basatin about a month ago. He has been reduced to relying on whatever others can give to support his family. “I make 1 kg of rice or flour or very little amounts of money from begging,” he said. Saido Osman, 31-year-old mother of five, came to the camp last month. “I came here to get security but I have faced a difficult living situation especially lack of basic needs like food, shelter and health. I beg in the camp. People give me some rice or bread to help me,” she said. She said she had lost touch with her husband.
“I left him in Aden before we were displaced by the fighting. My husband used to wash cars and I was a housemaid. That is how we managed to support our family,” she said. She said she had been in Yemen for 14 years but would now like help to return to Somalia rather than endure the conflict and appalling conditions in the refugee camps. The chairman of the refugee registration committee of Al Kharaz camp said over 3,000 new arrivals had been registered. He said the new arrivals were all facing bad living conditions. “Some have made shelters under the trees. There are some families who couldn’t get enough to eat here and so went back to Aden, even though they had fled the city due to insecurity,” he said.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali-American Back In Prison After ‘Deradicalization’ Attempt
14 May – Source: Reuters – 323 Words
A Somali-American teenager whose case was a test for efforts to deradicalize Islamist extremists has been sent back to prison after apparently violating an agreement that put him in a “halfway house,” federal officials said on Wednesday. Student Abdullahi Yusuf, 19, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Minneapolis in February to conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization after he tried to travel to Syria to join Islamic State. A federal judge agreed not to send Yusuf to prison before his trial and instead installed him in a monitored location known as a halfway house where he went on a program to integrate him back into the community.
But the same judge, Michael Davis, ordered Yusuf to prison a few days ago. “The judge has sent him back into the custody of the Marshals Service,” said Ben Petok, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota. He did not say why the decision was taken. A court official said there had been an “issue” at the halfway house in apparent violation of Yusuf’s conditions for staying there but did not elaborate. Academics and community workers saw Yusuf’s case as a possible precedent for terrorism suspects who are not directly linked to violence to go through educational programs that would distance them from extremism. Prosecutors had opposed sending Yusuf on the deradicalization program as they considered him a flight risk. He had been arrested last year at Minneapolis airport trying to board a flight to Turkey on his way to join Islamic State.
Kenya To Host Engineering Unit Of UN Africa Peacekeepers Unit
14 May – Source: Daily Nation – 244 Words
Kenya will host the United Nations Peacekeeping Rapid Deployment of Engineering, Africa Unit. UN Director of Operational Support Services Houston Fergusson on Wednesday said the unit would boost the capacity of African countries contributing troops to UN peacekeeping missions. Mr Fergusson made the announcement when he and a senior Japanese Government official, Nobuharu Imanishi, led a UN-Japan delegation to pay a courtesy call on President Kenyatta at State House, Nairobi. The UN Engineering Unit, the two officials said, would fill a critical gap in peacekeeping. The unit is being established by UN with support from Japan. President Kenyatta welcomed the UN decision.
“Kenya is a key contributor of peacekeepers and will also benefit from the unit,” he said. The government, he said, is committed to international obligations even as Kenya continues with efforts to stabilise troubled countries in the region. “Kenya’s effort to stabilize the region comes at a cost. My government, however, remains committed to a peaceful region,” he said. He called on the international community to recognise “the sacrifices Kenya has made” in hosting refugees from different countries since independence. “Despite all the security challenges the country has undergone, it has kept its doors open for hundreds of thousands of refugees from across the continent,” the President said. Japanese Ambassador to Kenya Tatsushi Terada and Foreign Affairs PS Karanja Kibicho also attended the meeting.
US Appeals Court Hears Dispute Over Judge’s Rejection Of Life Sentences For 5 Somali Pirates
13 May – Source: Star Tribune – 486 Words
A federal appeals court heard arguments Wednesday on whether a judge overstepped his authority when he imposed less than the mandatory life prison term for five Somali pirates whose mistaken attack on a Navy ship left one of their own dead but caused no harm to any of the sailors. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin L. Hatch told a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Congress determined that life imprisonment is the appropriate punishment regardless of whether anyone dies at the hands of pirates. “Here’s a person that as a class is a dangerous person in the eyes of Congress,” Hatch said. “Congress has provided there is a life punishment, and I think it’s important that be followed.”
Geremy Kamens, an attorney for the pirates, argued that U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson got it right when he ruled that life imprisonment would be unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment for a crime in which so little actual harm was done. Jackson sentenced the defendants to prison terms ranging from 30 to 42½ years. Kamens said there is no question that life sentences would be “extraordinarily harsh and grossly disproportionate.” According to court papers, seven men boarded a small skiff in April 2010 and set out to capture a merchant ship that they could bring to Somalia and hold for ransom. In the dim early-morning light, they mistook the USS Ashland for a cargo ship. Armed with AK-47 assault rifles and a rocket propelled grenade launcher, the men opened fire on the amphibious landing ship.
Sailors fired back with armor-piercing incendiary shells. The first shot killed one pirate, and the second caused the skiff to explode in flames, sending the rest of the men into the Gulf of Aden waters where they were rescued by the sailors. While they were treading water, the pirates concocted a story that they were human smugglers stranded at sea and that they had fired in the direction of the Navy ship only to draw attention to be rescued. One of the surviving pirates cooperated with federal prosecutors and received a lighter sentence. The other five went to trial in the case now before the appeals court. Kamens said the piracy law appears to have evolved over time to encompass attempted piracy, which historically had been punishable by only up to 10 years in prison under a different statute dealing with plundering.
Case Against Alleged ISIL Recruits Raises Question Of Entrapment
13 May – Source: Star Tribune – 1, 357 Words
A hearing Tuesday revealed new details about how attorneys intend to defend six Minneapolis men accused of trying to join overseas militants. At the Minneapolis hearing, during which U.S. District Judge Michael Davis ruled to keep the imprisoned men in custody, the prosecution said the government has laid out compelling evidence against the men. Defense attorneys countered that the government’s case was thin and relied too much on a paid informant with questionable credibility. In the crowded courtroom — and at recent community gatherings around the Twin Cities — defense lawyers and Somali community supporters have wondered if the informant entrapped the men in an alleged attempt to leave the country in April. The four of them who backed out of that trip did little more than “think bad things,” as one attorney put it.
Such issues have haunted federal terrorism-related cases across the country and drawn criticism from groups like Human Rights Watch. But arguments of entrapment don’t often gain traction in court, say legal experts. And the government still faces hurdles in cases that — heavy on intent, light on violent action — can seem abstract to juries. “You have a challenge to make the jury understand that just because the person doesn’t pick up a rifle doesn’t mean they are not guilty of the offense,” said Anders Folk, a former assistant U.S. attorney. The six men — Mohamed and Adnan Farah, Abdirahman Daud, Guled Omar, Hanad Musse and Zacharia Abdurahman — face charges of conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, a designated terrorist group.
A 38-page federal complaint spells out the government’s case against the men: At airports in Minneapolis and New York back in November, the FBI stopped five of them from boarding flights to Europe or California. Agents questioned the men’s plans, noting some had bought last-minute tickets for stays in Europe as short as a couple of days. They believed the men were really headed to Syria to join ISIL. In February, after a friend of the men started wearing a wiretap for the FBI, they allegedly began discussing a plan to leave the country: drive to California and into Mexico, then fly to the Middle East. The informant told the men he could arrange fake passports and find a buyer for a defendant’s car, which would help fund the trip. Four of the men ultimately decided not to go, although some suggested they would make other plans to leave the country. Authorities arrested two of the men in San Diego on April 19 and the remaining four in Minneapolis.
University and Act for Somalia to co-host UK Ambassador to Somalia’s visit to Bristol Somali community
The United Kingdom’s Ambassador-designate to the Federal Republic of Somalia, Harriet Mathews OBE, is to visit Bristol on 15 May to meet with the city’s Somali community, at an event organised by Act for Somalia and facilitated by the University. Ms Mathews succeeds Mr Neil Wigan and will take up her appointment in June. She joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in 1997 and most recently headed the Ebola Task Force. Ms Mathews is an Africa specialist and has held three other FCO positions related to Africa. She was awarded the OBE in 2005 for her work on West Africa.
Ms Mathews will meet with representatives from Bristol’s Somali community. Event organiser Mohamed Cantoobo, chair of Act for Somalia (a Somali advisory and awareness-raising organisation and a partner in the Somali First initiative, an ongoing project to promote Somali-led development), said: ‘It is a privilege for Act for Somalia to organise the first visit to Bristol of the new British Ambassador to Somalia and we thank the University for its support and warm hospitality.’ Dr Eric Herring, Reader in International Politics in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies, and Co-Director of Somali First, said: ‘It is a great honour to help Act for Somalia to host this visit.
The UK is playing a very important role in Somalia and Bristol’s Somali community is the UK’s third largest. Act for Somalia does excellent work on behalf of Somalis in Bristol and far beyond it. The University is committed to supporting the promotion of Somali-led development through the Somali First initiative and the University’s strategic partnership with Transparency Solutions. In hosting this event, we are aiming to help promote co-operation between the UK and the Somali people.’
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“The identity crisis he experiences is what he is trying to diminish — not just for himself, but for the Somali-American community. By expressing his feelings through music, he says hopes to empower Somali-Americans to be proud of their heritage, and to explain their situation to the white-dominated American culture.”
Malitia MaliMob Rapper Voices Somali American Struggles
12 May – Source: The Seattle Globalist – 744 Words
Black Al Qaeda, ESL, Riots of the Pirates, ISIS — With album titles like those, it’s clear that Seattle-based rap group Malitia MaliMob doesn’t shy away from controversy. “We’re trying to change people’s perceptions of who Somalis are,” says Chino’o one of the founders and lead MC of the group. Perception is personal for Chino’o — who was born Guled Diriye to Somali parents who fled to a refugee camp in Kenya when he was a child. Now 27 years old, Chino’o spends much of the group’s latest EP “ISIS” unpacking the scars and anger he’s experienced due to the stereotypes associated with his culture.
He describes the discrimination his family faced as new arrivals in Seattle when trying to communicate with thick accents, immediately being pegged as unintelligent foreigners. He recalls a confrontation shortly after the attacks on September 11, 2001 when a man screamed at his family to “get the f*** out of America” due to their traditional Muslim dress. He details the internal conflict of trying to discover how to best assimilate into American culture through high school, not knowing quite where he fit in due to his many cultural identities. Chino’o is Somali. He is Muslim. And in America, he tends to be mainstreamed as Black because of his skin color. He says he’s experienced negative stereotypes associated with all of those identities.
“In this white cops eyes, I’m Black,” said Chino’o. “There’s no difference between me and another African-American. But this other African-American feels that me and him are different.” The identity crisis he experiences is what he is trying to diminish — not just for himself, but for the Somali-American community. By expressing his feelings through music, he says hopes to empower Somali-Americans to be proud of their heritage, and to explain their situation to the white-dominated American culture. “It’s really all in the purpose of ‘let’s lift each other up,’” said Chino’o, “’let’s help each other where we couldn’t get help, what we can’t get from the government, what we can’t get from people that are supposed to help us.’”
Though Malitia MaliMob’s music is now focused on making political statements, it wasn’t always that way. In their early days of rapping, Chino’o and co-founder Krown — who has been incarcerated since 2013 — adopted the American-style gangster rap in songs like “Bosses in the Building,” which glamorizes flashy cars and bottles of champagne in the video. Chino’o acknowledges that in the beginning, they played into stereotypes. “We used to be part of the stereotype,” said Chino’o. “We were part of the problem.” What inspired Malitia MaliMob to change their style, says Chino’o, is the natural development of maturity that comes with growing older. In his case, becoming a father was part of that growth. More than a decade after Chino’o and thousands of other refugee families fled the civil war that swept Somalia, many of the youth in Somali communities in America were born here.
TOP TWEETS
@HarunMaruf:Al-#Shabab seizes Iranian boat, detains 14 sailors in the Indian Ocean coastal village of Masagaway, 315 km north of Mogadishu. #Somalia
@lizetteknoetze:UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Somalia:Humanitarian Snapshot (as of 12 May 2015)https://shar.es/1rpBTu via @reliefweb
@amisomsomalia :Mogadishu’s oldest district welcomes AMISOM community policing drive http://bit.ly/1cTNi0L #Mogadishu #Somalia
@Owdiini :Job placement Project for #Somali #Femalegraduates launched in #Mogadishu:http://www.somalicurrent.com/
@Hamza_Africa :As #BurundiCrisis deepens worrying times in the AU & #Mogadishu over fate of the 5,000+ #Burundi soldiers in #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Residents of Hamawayne district attend a community policing meeting convened by AMISOM Police at the district offices.
Photo: AMISOM