May 27, 2016 | Morning Headlines.
Somali Militants Plan Major Attacks On Western Targets In Somalia – Sources
26 May – Source: Hiiraan Online – 266 Words
The Al-Qaeda linked militant group in Somalia is planning to launch major attacks targeting western interests in retaliation for the deadly air raids by the United States that have killed fighters and leaders of the group in the horn of Africa nation in recent months, sources revealed on Thursday.
At least 150 Al-Shabaab fighters were killed in a US drone strike in Somalia in March. The Pentagon said the attack targeted a group of fighters, who were preparing to leave a training camp and who posed an “imminent threat” to American and African forces. Several leaders of the group have also killed in similar attacks by US forces in Somalia.
Quoting anonymous security sources, the Voice of America’s Somali Service reports that the militant group has marked the international airport in the capital of Mogadishu, government institutions and hotels used by foreigners and diplomats as top targets. The development comes only two days after the United States government issued a travel advisory to its citizens warning them against touring Somalia, the semi-autonomous state of Puntland and its neighboring breakaway republic of Somaliland. The US State Department cites security threat as reason for the advisory.
In recent months the United States government, whose forces have killed dozens of Al-Shabab leaders including the group’s spiritual leader Ahmed Abdi Godane in airstrikes in recent years, has heightened pressure on the Al-Shabaab terrorist group. Only recently, the American commandos carried out several joint raids alongside the Somali forces in rebel-held towns in southern Somalia. The sustained attacks have doubtlessly left Al-Shabaab militarily weak. However, the terror group is known to stage vicious retaliatory attacks — no matter how long it takes.
Key Headlines
- Somali Militants Plan Major Attacks On Western Targets In Somalia – Sources (Hiiraan Online)
- Government Troops Retake Key Town From Al-Shabaab (Shabelle News)
- Somali Security Ministry Suspends Two Secret Service Officials For Torture (Goobjoog News)
- Somali Police Arrest Suspected Migrants In Central Region (Hiiraan Online)
- Bomb Explosion Wounds Burdobo Commissioner And His Deputy In Gedo Region (Goobjoog News)
- UN Top Court To Hear Kenya-Somalia Border Dispute (Daily Nation)
- 7 People Found Guilty Over Kampala 2010 Bombings (SABC News)
- Somali Who Caused Fracas At Floriana Health Centre To Be Held At Mount Carmel Hospital (The Independent)
- Even According To African Culture Expelling Refugees Is Not An Option (Daily Nation)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Government Troops Retake Key Town From Al-Shabaab
26 May – Source: Shabelle News – 140 Words
Somali National Army (SNA) and supporting foreign forces have retaken the key town of Toratorow in Lower Shabelle region from Al-Shabaab militants on Thursday.
Reports indicate that SNA troops entered the town without encountering much resistance from al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab fighters. This is the government’s first significant victory in its push to recapture all rebel-held towns. Toratorow is about 90 kilometers (55 miles) southwest of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, and its recapture is a big blow to Al-Shabaab militants in the southern Lower region, according to Somali military.
Al-Shabaab fighters pulled out of the area before SNA forces and the African Union peacekeepers, backed by tanks and warplanes, moved in. The situation in the town has returned to normal as Somali troops set up barracks in and around the town to prevent Al-Shabaab from launching an offensive on the city.
Somali Security Ministry Suspends Two Secret Service Officials For Torture
26 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 137 Words
The Ministry of Security has suspended two officials of the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) who reportedly tortured a government official suspected to have links with the Al-Shabaab terrorist group, a government spokesman said on Thursday.
Abdikamil Moalim Shukri, the Somali Security Ministry spokesman told reporters that the government had appointed a committee to investigate the authenticity of a leaked video that captured the torture and recommend appropriate measures. In the video, two men are seen grilling and beating a blindfolded prisoner with batons in connection.
“Since there are agents involved in the alleged video, an immediate suspension order has been issued pending the results of the investigation of the commission set up for this reason. An independent committee from the Security, Women and Human Rights and Justice ministries is investigating the matter and the final report and recommendations will be made known soon, “ he said.
Somali Police Arrest Suspected Migrants In Central Region
26 May – Source: Hiiraan Online – 262 Words
Security forces in central Somalia have arrested dozens of people mostly young men suspected of attempting to travel to northern Somalia, from where thousands of migrants usually sneak out of the country to Middle East and North Africa each year, police said on Thursday.
Authorities in Adado town said the arrests were made after police stopped lorries carrying more than 70 passengers, who were heading to Bosaso, the commercial of Puntland. This is a the destination, where where human traffickers often smuggle hundreds of people fleeing conflict and poverty in Somalia to Europe via the Middle East.
Omar Maalin Ali, a police chief in the town in Galgadud region, told reporters that some of the arrested included suspected militants, who were trying to sneak into northern Somalia to join fighters battling security forces in Puntland: “Most of them were very young, or under 20 – our main aim is to stop the flow of the people fleeing their country.” .
More than 500 people, mostly Somalis, drowned recently after their rickety boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea, prompting calls for Somali officials to fight human trafficking networks operating in the country. Thousands of Somalis embark on dangerous sea journeys to Middle East and Europe, with hopes of a better life every year.
Bomb Explosion Wounds Burdobo Commissioner And His Deputy In Gedo Region
26 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 112 Words
A bomb blast in the center of Burdobo district of Gedo region left several people injured, among them the district commissioner his deputy and the chief of finance. Tension was high and no arrests had been made by the time we went to the press. Dahir Ali Yarow, the head of social affairs in the district, confirmed the explosion to Goobjoog.
Both of district commissioner and deputy commissioner sustained injuries: “The first commissioner injured his hand while the deputy commissioner had leg injuries” said Dahir Ali Yarow. Security forces gathered at the site of the explosion but made no arrests. No group has claimed responsibility of the attack so far.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UN Top Court To Hear Kenya-Somalia Border Dispute
26 May – Source: Daily Nation – 330 Words
The UN’s top court said on Thursday it would hold hearings in September into a maritime border dispute between Somalia and Kenya that may decide the fate of potentially lucrative oil and gas reserves.
Kenya will respond to a Somali complaint that Nairobi wrongly claims swathes of seabed that Mogadishu insists are its own during four days of hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague from September 19. Mogadishu is seeking to claw back authority over its territorial waters, including an area of the Indian Ocean bordering Kenya’s territorial waters that is potentially rich in oil and gas deposits.
Kenya, which has had troops in southern Somalia since 2011, first as an invading force and then as part of an African Union peacekeeping mission, lays claim to a triangle of water stretching for more than 100,000 square kilometres (40,000 square miles) that is also claimed by Mogadishu. Despite the legal uncertainty, Nairobi has already awarded exploration contracts to international firms.
Somalia, which lies to the north of Kenya, wants the maritime border to continue along the line of the land border, to the southeast. Kenya, however, wants the sea border to go in a straight line east, giving it more sea territory. Somalia, which lodged the case with the ICJ in August 2014, told the court that diplomatic negotiations “have failed to resolve this disagreement,” the tribunal said in a statement Thursday.
Somalia has requested the court “to determine, on the basis of international law, the complete course of the single maritime boundary dividing all the maritime areas appertaining to Somalia and to Kenya in the Indian Ocean, including the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.” In October, Kenya raised “preliminary objections to the jurisdiction of the court and to the admissibility of the application,” the court added.
7 People Found Guilty Over Kampala 2010 Bombings
27 May – Source: SABC News – 158 Words
A judge in Uganda has found seven people guilty of two bomb attacks at venues screening the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. More than 70 people were killed in the capital Kampala, by Somali jihadist group Al-Shabaab.
The judge acquitted another six defendants. Uganda’s High Court delivered its judgment, six years after more than 70 people died in the country’s worst terrorist attack. The accused arrived at the High Court in the capital Kampala with police having sealed off roads leading to court and with officers deployed in numbers.
Explosions went off in two entertainment venues in Kampala where people were watching the finals of the 2010 World Cup broadcasting live from South Africa. Somali based Al-Shabaab militants claimed responsibility for the country’s deadliest terrorist attack. They said it was a reprisal for Uganda’s deployment in Somalia under an African Union mandate. Evidence by state prosecution links the accused 13 to the Al Qaeda linked group.
Somali Who Caused Fracas At Floriana Health Centre To Be Held At Mount Carmel Hospital
26 May – Source: The Independent – 488 Words
A 21-year-old Somali who trashed the reception area of the Floriana Health Centre in Malta last month has been placed in care at Mount Carmel Hospital after a court heard that he was experiencing psychosis at the time of the incident.
Abdimalik Ahmed Mohammed had admitted to causing wilful damage to the health centre, slightly injuring Jesmond Mifsud, disturbing the peace and throwing stones at the health centre. He had insisted, however, that he was not mentally sane during the incident.
A medical doctor had previously certified the man as being fit for prosecution but court-appointed psychiatrist David Cassar gave a different picture. Dr Cassar said the man had had some brushes with the law and, as a consequence, had been kicked out by his flatmates. He has lived on the streets for most of the past seven months. As a result, the man had become frustrated and anxious.
The psychiatrist said the man was also on synthetic cannabinoids and consumed around 4-5 grams a day: “A week before the incident he started experiencing being followed by persons in the street, persons in cars, persons following him on the bus and also when he was at work. These alleged persons were very short and he believed that they were police officers in plain clothes. He describes also police using small boys and girls to follow him …. He felt as if a drama was taking place around him.”
Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera heard that on the day of the incident, Mr Mohamed had also consumed cocaine. He went to the health centre because he could not sleep and, even there, believed he was being followed by undercover officers. “While he clearly remembers this experience within the health centre he cannot describe what happened with regards to the violent incident,” the psychiatrist said.
Since the incident the accused has started on antipsychotic medication. He is now mentally stable and not psychotic, however he did suffer from an acute psychotic state on the day of the incident and had probably been in that state for a week. His psychotic state was possibly precipitated and or maintained by his substance abuse.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“When the alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” — Leviticus 19:33-34
Even According To African Culture, Expelling Refugees Is Not An Option
26 May – Source: Daily Nation – 597 Words
Once upon a time, none of us lived in this land. Students of history will concur that our forefathers migrated from the north, perhaps somewhere in, or close to, present-day Egypt. That was hundreds of years ago. Our ancestors’ convergence on present-day Kenya was, strictly speaking, an accident of history.
The Ministry of Interior, while announcing that the government planned to close the refugee camps in northern Kenya, cited the security of the Kenyan people as the main reason for its decision. Strategically located along the Indian Ocean shoreline and considered a key ally of the Western powers, Kenya has suffered more terrorist attacks in the past decade-and-a-half than its neighbours in the region.
The government has been keen to convince the international community that the Dadaab refugee camp, which hosts more than 350,000, mainly Somali refugees, is being used by Al-Shabaab as a breeding ground for terrorists. The vast majority of the refugees are law-abiding people who came to Kenya to seek safety from war and/or famine.
With the first wave of refugees arriving in 1991 after the overthrow of dictator Siad Barre, most of the Dadaab refugees were born in Kenya, went to school, married, and started families here. Many of these people know no other home. In that harsh environment, some have started thriving businesses, underscoring the resilient, never-say-die spirit of the human race.
The news that they are to be repatriated to a country they have only heard about must be a great shock to them. As human beings, we are endowed with this powerful emotion known as sympathy. It is this emotion that drives us to care for one another and restrains us from hurting fellow human beings. In Africa we call it ubuntu.