March 29, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Weapons Shipment Heading for Somalia Seized
29 March – Source: World Maritime News – 132 Words
A large weapons cache was seized aboard a dhow in the Northern Indian Ocean by the French naval personnel, according to the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). The illegal cargo was being shipped to Somalia when it was spotted by the navy’s helicopter during a routine maritime security and counter terrorism surveillance in the area.
The personnel aboard the French destroyer FS Provence approached the dhow and boarded it, establishing that it was without nationality. The personnel subsequently conducted a search of the vessel, during which the weapons were discovered. According to CMF, the seized haul included several hundred AK47 assault rifles, machine guns and anti-tank weapons. “As illicit weapons were deemed to be destined for Somalia, they were seized under the United Nations Security Council mandated arms embargo,” Combined Maritime Forces said.
Key Headlines
- Weapons Shipment Heading for Somalia Seized (World Maritime News)
- NISA Launches Sweep Operation Seize Car Bomb (Shabelle News)
- Somali Parliament Speaker Opens Federal Parliament Action Plan Preparation Meeting In Uganda(Goobjoog News)
- Puntland Trucks Water To Drought Affected Areas (Goobjoog News)
- Djibouti Guelleh In Final Campaign On Eve Of Presidential Election (Hiiraan Online)
- Suspected Al-Shabaab Foreign Fighters Arrested In Central Somalia (Xinhua)
- Ray Of Hope In Jubaland As New Leaders Finally Take Full Control Of The Region (The East African)
- Somalia’s Forgotten Soldiers (Al Jazeera)
- Can Drone Strikes Defeat Al-Shabaab? (Al Jazeera)
NATIONAL MEDIA
NISA Launches Sweep, Seize Car Bomb
29 March – Source: Shabelle News – 130 Words
The National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) officers have launched a massive security operations in parts of Mogadishu’s Hodan district, spokesman said on Tuesday. The NISA soldiers carried out door-to-door searches at villages near Digfeer hospital and detained at least 100 people, most of them youngsters, according to Benadir regional administration spokesman.
The spokesman added that the troops have managed to seize a car packed with explosives and 3 AK-47 rifles believed to be possessed by the Al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militants. The NISA security operation in Hodan district was aimed to thwart an attack in Mogadishu by Al-Shabaab, the spokesman said. Al-Shabaab carried out multiple deadly attacks in Mogadishu for the past few years, highlighting security challenges faced by the UN-backed federal government protected by the AU forces.
Somali Parliament Speaker Opens Federal Parliament Action Plan Preparation Meeting In Uganda
29 March – Source: Goobjoog News – 136 Words
Somali Federal Parliament Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari opened in the Ugandan capital Kampala a technical meeting that is meant to prepare the action plan of Somali Federal Parliament. Federal Parliament eighth session is due to start on the fifth of next month. In the opening remarks Federal Parliament Speaker Mohmed Osman Jawari stressed the importance of finishing the required Constitutional review before the end of this parliament term and said the main objectives of the coming session is to perform this priority.
Federal states assemblies’ speakers attended the meeting after they have received an invitation from Federal Parliament leadership. Puntland state of Somalia snubbed to attend the meeting. However, other Federal states parliament speakers are expected to add their input on this action plan for the first time. The term of the current Federal Parliament ends August 2016.
Puntland Trucks Water To Drought Affected Areas
29 March – Source: Goobjoog News – 177 Words
Puntland Drought Response Committee has started trucking water to areas that had been hardest hit by the drought in Puntland. The chairman of PDRC Sheikh Fuad Mohamud said Puntland started delivering water to areas hit by the drought. The task force appointed by PDRC hired water boozers which are supplying water to the villages that have been seriously affected by water shortages.
Acute water crisis has hit some villages in several regions following a drought that has shrunk pasture and water resources in the regions. The water pans, boreholes and other sources of water have dried up in rural areas and livestock herders have been moving to other regions seeking water. Thousands of Somalis have fled the countryside in search of food and water, trekking for days under the scorching sun toward camps in major towns. Pastoralist families are facing a serious shortage of water and pastures after several water points dried up the last few months as a result of dry spell that has hit in the breakaway Somaliland and Puntland state.
Djibouti’s Guelleh In Final Campaign On Eve Of Presidential Election
29 March – Source: Hiiraan Online – 272 words
Supporters for Djibouti’s incumbent President Ismail Guelleh have held major rallies ahead of the country’s presidential election which is due to be held in April this year. Thousands of Djiboutians, mostly wearing green shirts emblazoned with Mr. Guelleh’s face on the front gathered at a large square in Arte, a city which situates about 30 km south of Djibouti city on Monday, crediting him with significant economic and security improvements in Djibouti. “Guelleh is the one, and the only candidate who deserves our unreserved confidence.” read one banner waved by one of his supporters.
The pro-Guelleh rallies were held alongside several rallies by supporters for six rival candidates vying for the tiny horn of Africa nation’s highest position in the hope of swaying voters to their camps. Djibouti’s ruling party selected the long-serving president as its candidate running for the upcoming presidential elections in January, following his announcement that he would run for the presidential elections, ‘considering’ calls from his supporters who he said urged him to lead the country for the fourth time.
Mr. Guelleh maintained a firm grip over power in Djibouti, as rights groups often accuse his government of silencing opposition politicians and journalists. Some of the opposition leaders were also chased to exile. Elected as the President in 1999, Mr. Guelleh succeeded Hassan Gouled Aptidon, who had ruled Djibouti since independence in 1977. He was re-elected in 2005 and again in 2011; however, his re-elections were largely boycotted by the opposition amid complaints over widespread irregularities. Elections have taken place in Djibouti in every six years since the country’s civil war ended in the 1990s.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Suspected Al-Shabaab Foreign Fighters Arrested In Central Somalia
29 March – Source: Xinhua – 136 Words
Somalia security forces from Galmudug State have arrested three foreign Al-Shabaab fighters in Mudug region of central Somalia during an operation on Monday, officials said on Tuesday. Somali National Security’s Commander in Galmudug State Sadaq Omar Hassan confirmed to reporters that security forces arrested 12 Al-Shabaab fighters, three of whom were of foreign nationalities. “We captured 12 Al-Shabaab fighters including three foreigners with different nationalities in the east of Mudug region after successful operation against terrorist militants. Two of the foreign fighters are Kenyans and one Tanzanian,” Omar said.
“My name is Abdulahi Rabu Mohamed. I am Tanzanian. Two other are Kenyans and the rest are Somali citizens. We were captured by Somali forces,” the Tanzanian suspect told journalists. Galmudug government forces have been launching the operations against Al-Shabaab terrorist group, which intend to flush out Al-Shabaab from all central Somalia regions as well as the regions under the Galmudug administration.
Ray Of Hope In Jubaland As New Leaders Finally Take Full Control Of The Region
29 March – Source: The East African – 628 Words
Jubaland in southern Somalia is emerging as the success story in the African Union’s effort to pacify the country that has been experiencing conflict for 25 years. The region, with its capital in the coastal town of Kismayu, has seen a rare success in reintegration into the society of former militias who are working closely with African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) to neutralise Al-Shabaab militants. Kismayu is free from the security threats that are experienced in Mogadishu even though Al Shabaab is still perched just away across Juba River in Middle Juba region as leaders continue debating the complete elimination of the militants from Jubaland.
Residents go about their business as if oblivious of the Al Shabaab threat with the local administration embarking on building of roads and schools since Amisom liberated Kismayo from Al-Shabaab in October 2012. But Jubaland administration president Ahmed Mohamed Islam, commonly known as Sheikh Madobe, is becoming increasingly impatient and wants an all-out war against Al-Shabaab while Amisom is pushing for gradual elimination given that the African Union force lacks sufficient troops and airpower for the final showdown.
In an exclusive interview with The EastAfrican in Kismayu, Sheikh Madobe expressed concern that Amisom under the direction of the international community is too cautious in its approach to Al Shabaab while the Somali National Army (SNA) is too small to secure the liberated areas.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“I want to tell our leaders only Somali soldiers can help this country – not foreigners. It is time they gave us our rights so we can continue doing our job and do it even better than we are doing now,”
Somalia’s Forgotten Soldiers
29 March – Source: Al Jazeera – 1,405 Words
Two men – one in military uniform, the other in a baggy button-down shirt – sat on a plastic mat in an unfurnished tin-roofed room in the heart of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. They were contemplating how they could voice their plight to those in the country’s corridors of power after many failed attempts to reach out.
Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim and Hasan Mohamed Yusuf were active soldiers fighting on the front lines against Al-Shabaab – the al-Qaeda-linked armed group fighting Somalia’s internationally recognised government – until they were both seriously wounded. Twenty-five-year-old Ibrahim vividly remembers the day his life changed forever. He was part of a group of soldiers responsible for protecting the presidential compound and the country’s seat of power, Villa Somalia,against advancing Al-Shabaab fighters.
“Al-Shabaab wounded me in 2010. I was guarding the presidential palace. Three bullets hit my arm, shattering the bones above my elbow into pieces,” Ibrahim told Al Jazeera as balls of sweat formed on his brow. “That was the last time I used my arm properly.” Doctors at the local hospital told him he needed to be taken abroad for treatment to save his arm. “I don’t come from a wealthy family, so there was no way I could afford to go outside of Somalia for treatment. I was my family’s breadwinner,” he said in a soft, clear voice, void of emotion. “The local hospital stitched my wound and put a bandage on it. Now, only the skin is holding my arm together.”
“In this week’s Arena, Somalia’s former special envoy to the US Abukar Arman, who has called drone strikes a “priceless propaganda tool” for Al-Shabaab, is in debate with the country’s former deputy prime minister Ahmed Abdisalam Adan, who says the strikes are needed.”
Can Drone Strikes Defeat Al-Shabaab?
29 March – Source: Al Jazeera – Video: 7:00 Minutes
The United States announced earlier this month that it had used both drones and manned aircraft to kill at least 150 Al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia, a move the Pentagon says was necessary to stop an imminent attack on US and African Union forces in the country. Critics of the US drone programme however, argue such strikes create more enemies than they kill. With the number of fighters joining Al-Shabaab having nearly doubled since 2013, how can the armed group be defeated?
TOP TWEETS
@MOALIMUU : #Somalia Security forces say they confiscated a car planned for siucide attack with 3 rifles of AK 47 in Hodan district in #Mogadishu.
@MsJenniferH: #Somalia al-Shabaab Child Soldiers Speak Out [PHOTOS] https://horseedmedia.net/2016/
@Vatescorp : #Somalia: MP Dahir Hassan Abdi accuses president of promoting civil unrest in Hiran/Middle Shabelle State formation http://ow.ly/101n8V
@PuntlandEmbassy: Honoring #PDF Farah Deer who selflessly sacrificed his life 8 days ago for #Puntland . he is not forgotten.#Somalia
@omabha: IGAD denies being involved in Somalia talks, troops cheered – Garowe Online http://dlvr.it/Kvtmbn #Somalia
@m_boding: Can #drones defeat #AlShabaab in #Somalia? Great little @mehdirhasan @AJUpFront debate:http://aje.io/rbnv
@Abdifatah09 : Weapons Shipment Heading for Somalia Seizedhttp://worldmaritimenews.com/
@EspMaliStrategy : Are refugee camps factories for terrorists?#Kenya #Somalia http://www.herald.co.zw/are-
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somali Students Join Campaign Against Violent Extremism
Photo: AMISOM