April 5, 2016 | Morning Headlines

Main Story

Somalia And AU Troop Recapture Janaale Town From Al-Shabaab

04 April – Source: Goobjoog News – 131

Somali and African Union (AU) forces have recaptured the southern town of Janaale, residents said on Monday. According to residents Al-Shabaab militants who controlled the city for months left without much resistance. “Units from Somali National Army and those of AMISOM with armoured vehicles took full control of the town of Janaale,” said one resident who declined to say his name.

It said the joint forces set up bases in and around the coastal port town and carried out searches to strengthen security in the city. Reliable sources said there was no fighting as the militants fled from the town before the advancing troops entered it. On September last Year Al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia have killed “scores” of African Union troops in an attack on their military base in Janaale town.

Key Headlines

Somalia And AU Troop Recapture Janaale Town From Al-Shabaab (Shabelle News)
Nearly 10 Arrested Over Soldier’s Killing (Shabelle News)
Djibouti Gears Up For Elections As President Concludes Campaign (Hiiraan Online)
Somali Security Forces Arrest 8 Al-Shabaab Suspects (Xinhua)
Ethiopia Somaliland Sign Accord to Boost Use of Berbera Port (Bloomberg)
Fresh Doubts Over Ilaria Alpi Murder Conviction (ANSA English)
African Leaders Criticise Perception-based Corruption Assessment (Daily Nation)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Nearly 10 Arrested Over Soldier’s Killing

04 April – Source: Shabelle News – 105 Words

Eight people, including a woman were on Monday detained by police in Somali capital, Mogadishu in connection with murder of a government soldier, an official said. According to Dharkenley district commissioner Omar Mayre Ma’ow, the suspects have been arrested during a manhunt in the town and were transferred to criminal investigation department (CID).

The arrest of the 8 people came after a tax collector serving with Somali federal government was shot and killed in unknown gunmen believed to be Al-Shabaab members. Al-Shabaab militants stepped up their hit and run attacks, including drive by shooting targeting law enforcement officers and foreign nationals working in Mogadishu.

Djibouti Gears Up For Elections, As President Concludes Campaign

04 April – Source: Hiiraan Online – 299 Words
Djibouti is edging closer to presidential elections which is due to take place this month, as supports for the incumbent president Ismail Guelleh held their final rallies across the country Monday. Thousands of Djiboutians, mostly wearing green shirts emblazoned with Mr. Guelleh’s face on the front held their last rally in Ali Sabih, a remote town in Djibouti.

Speaking to his jubilant supporters, Mr. Guelleh vowed this he government would now prioritize an economic improvement for the impoverished horn of Africa if he’s elected to lead the country for the fourth time. “It will be a defining moment for our nation – prosperity and improving our people’s livelihoods will be a main priority.” He said, wearing a green hut and t-shirt.

Elsewhere, supporters for six rival candidates vying for the tiny horn of Africa nation’s highest position have also help separate rallies across the country in the hope of swaying voters to their camps. Djibouti’s ruling party earlier 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

Somali Security Forces Arrest 8 Al-Shabaab Suspects

04 April – Source: Xinhua – 139 Words

At least eight suspects of the militant group Al-Shabaab suspects were arrested over the weekend in the Somali capital Mogadishu. The National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) spokesman Abdikamil Mo’allim Shukri said security forces conducted target operations at special areas including garages in Hodan, Kahda, Wadajir and Yakshid districts in Benadir region after recent terrorist attacks and arrested the suspects.

“We recovered weapons and vehicles from garages, we arrested 8 terrorist suspects in connection with the latest terrorist incidents and they are being questioned at moment,” Shukri said. He added that the Somali security forces and the African peacekeeping troops conducted such operations in Warta-Nabbada and Hamar-Jadid districts on Saturday and Sunday nights. The latest operations by NISA came hours after deadly assassinations and mortar attacks occurred in Mogadishu in which five government security personnel were among the dead.

Ethiopia, Somaliland Sign Accord to Boost Use of Berbera Port

04 April – Source: Bloomberg – 358 Words

Ethiopia signed a deal to boost trade through Somaliland’s Berbera port amid congestion at a facility in neighboring Djibouti, officials said. Tariffs have been revised and a committee established to manage joint operations as part of the agreement signed on March 31, Sharmarke Jama, an economy and trade adviser for the foreign ministry in the semi-autonomous Somali region, said on Monday.

The committee will work on the “smooth implementation of the bilateral agreement and for improved facilitation of transit trade along the corridor,” he said in an e-mailed response to questions. Landlocked Ethiopia more than doubled its cereal imports in the last 12 months as a drought left almost one-fifth of its population of around 100 million people needing food aid. On March 24 there were 10 ships waiting to unload 450,000 tons of wheat at Djibouti.

Ethiopia wanted 30 percent of its trade to go via Berbera by July last year, according to a five-year growth plan published in 2010. As much as 97 percent of shipments are still going through Djibouti because of problems with the capacity and condition of Berbera’s port, the poor state of roads to Ethiopia and the lack of international recognition for Somaliland’s statehood claims, said Ethiopia’s Transport Minister Workneh Gebeyehu.

Fresh Doubts Over Ilaria Alpi Murder Conviction

04 April – Source: ANSA English – 466 Words

Fresh doubts have emerged over the conviction of Somali man Omar Hashi Hassan in the 1994 murder in Mogadishu of Italian reporter Ilaria Alpi and cameraman Miran Hrovatin. According to the Italian diplomat who investigated the case in Somalia, former ambassador Giuseppe Cassini, the driver who acted as a key witness for the prosecution was “an unreliable individual who would do anything to survive”.

Cassini’s declassified testimony was published by La Repupbblica newspaper Monday.In January a Perugia appeals court granted a defence motion to reopen the trial of Hassan. The court agreed to admit new evidence that has since emerged that could reverse the conviction. The defence is seeking exoneration for their client, who was released to the custody of social services in June last year after serving 16 years of a 26-year sentence.

Alpi, 32, and Hrovatin, 45, were ambushed and shot in their jeep in Mogadishu by a seven-man commando on March 20, 1994. Photos taken of the dead body of Alpi, who worked for public broadcaster RAI’s third channel, and a medical report on the deaths, along with other key evidence including Alpi’s notes, camera and video cassettes, mysteriously went missing on the journey back from Africa to Italy, fuelling suspicions of a cover-up.

In February last year, a key witness for the prosecution said that Hassan was “innocent”. Speaking to RAI Channel 3, Ahmed Ali Rage claimed that he was asked to testify against Hassan. “I did not see who fired the shots,” he reportedly told RAI 3, recanting his testimony. Alpi, 32, and Hrovatin, 45, were ambushed and shot in their jeep in Mogadishu by a seven-man commando unit on March 20, 1994.
Initially, it was thought that the journalist was murdered as revenge for clashes which had broken out between the militias of Somalia’s warlords and Italian peacekeepers.

OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE

“The African leaders argue that the measurements used to ‘name and shame’ countries can have a dire impact on development, sometimes negatively influencing aid allocations and foreign direct investment.”

African Leaders Criticise Perception-based Corruption Assessment

04 April – Source: Daily Nation – 518 Words

African leaders have criticised corruption measurement indices done by multinationals on perception of the vice in countries worldwide. The continent’s leadership is now asking for an ‘African’ way of measuring corruption that will represent the realities in Africa. At the just concluded African Development Week in Addis Ababa, the leaders say in their fourth Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) African Governance Review report that previous measures have misrepresented realities in Africa and are misguiding policymakers and investors.

The report, titled Measuring corruption in Africa: The international dimension matters, says that many existing indicators are highly subjective and based on the opinions of elites. As such, they are not suited for making country comparisons and ignore the international aspects of corruption. “We are concerned that these existing perception-based and mixed indices measures of corruption are flawed,” said Namibian Minister of Finance, Calle Schlettwein, at the launch of the Report.

Transparency International which has been consistently giving annual surveys on corruption perception in the world last year ranked five African countries among the most corrupt worldwide. TI compiles information from sources and surveys, which are used to determine a country’s perceived level of corruption, and rank countries alongside each other.