The United States has filed a diplomatic void in Somalia, swearing in its first ambassador to that country in 25 years. Ambassador Stephen Schwartz took his oath Monday in Washington, following his Senate confirmation in May. Schwartz, a senior Foreign Service officer who served as deputy chief of missions in Zambia, will replace James Bishop, who left more than two decades ago as the U.S. embassy came under threat.
The U.S. pulled its diplomatic presence and forces out of Somalia in 1993, after militiamen shot down a U.S. military helicopter, killing 18 soldiers. The Al-Shabaab extremist group emerged out of the country’s civil chaos of that time. In recent years, the group has been ousted from Somalia’s major cities, although it has continued to launch attacks.
“None of us have any illusions about the challenges that lie ahead, challenges to Somalia’s political process, its stabilization efforts, its economic recovery, its fight against terrorists,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, as he swore in Schwartz. However, he added that Somalia has made progress because its leaders see the importance of growth, peace and stability.
Key Headlines
US Somalia Launch New Chapter In Relations (Voice of America)
SNA Recaptures Gof-gaduud Village From Al-Shabaab Fighters (Goobjoog News)
Suspected US Surveillance Aircraft Crashes In Somalia (Shabelle News)
Traditional Elders Call For Immediate Cease-fire Between Warring Clans In Sool Region (Goobjoog News)
Mogadishu Moves On After Beach Attack (BBC)
Somalia Rides The Ups And Downs Of A Global Oil Crisis (Al Jazeera)
Kenya Clamps Down On Journalists Covering War On Al-Shabaab (The Guardian)
NATIONAL MEDIA
SNA Recaptures Goof-gaduud Village From Al-Shabaab Fighters
28 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 125 Words
Somali government forces have engaged gun battle with Al-Shabaab fighters in Goof-gaduud village barely a day after AU forces allegedly pulled out from the village in the Bay region. The Somali National Army (SNA) recaptured the area after heavy fighting with Al-Shabaab, according to SNA officials. The fighting is said to have flared up after SNA attacked the area in a bid to flush out Al-Shabaab fighters from the village.
One of the commanders leading the troops, Mohamed Isack Ara’ase said that the troops conducted operations to flush out Al-Shabaab. “Our soldiers took control of Goof-gaduud village and we will move ahead to remaining areas,” he said. The fighting to liberate the villages has reportedly caused unspecified number of casualties. Al-Shabaab has yet to comment.
Suspected US Surveillance Aircraft Crashes In Somalia
28 June – Source: Shabelle News – 100 Words
An unmanned aerial vehicle, suspected to belong to the United States of America has crashed in southern Somalia on Tuesday morning. The surveillance aircraft crashed at Baladul-Amin, an Al Shabaab-held area located about 28Km away from Wanlaweyn town in Lower Shabelle Shabelle region. Reports say Al-Shabaab militants have arrived at the crash scene and took the remains of unmanned aerial vehicle to Awdhegle location in the region. It is not clear who was operating the unmanned drone, but the aircraft is suspected to be operated by the United States forces.
Traditional Elders Call For Immediate Cease-fire Between Warring Clans In Sool Region
28 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 199 Words
Traditional elders and intellectuals have called for an end to fighting which has so far claimed more than ten lives in some parts of Sool region in the past two days. Elder Abdi Boqor Ahmed, said on Tuesday that the fighting had caused unnecessary deaths and suffering to many families in the region. “I am unhappy with the fighting flared up in the region and we are looking for ways to cease the fighting erupted in those areas. The clans should first stop the fighting and then solve their conflict at negotiating table” Ahmed said.
Another Elder, Farah “The locals are very important in bringing lasting peace to their neighbourhoods and creating a good future for our people. It’s important to maintain the unity of the people in these villages,” Mohamed called on other elders in the region affected especially to resolve their differences for a common good of the areas, saying the people in those areas should unite and ensure that their reconciliation meetings become fruitful for the benefit of their areas and the whole region. This comes few days after heavy fighting erupted between two clan militias in those areas resulting in displacement of hundreds of people.
Somalia’s Lido beach was the scene of a deadly attack by Islamist militants in January 2016, in which 20 people were killed. The BBC’s Catherine Byaruhanga speaks to young Somalis about life after the attacks.
Drivers in the morning rush hour in Mogadishu jostle for space to fill their tanks in one of the newly opened petrol stations in the city. An attendant shouts at the drivers, directing them: “Come forward a bit, a bit more. Stop.” These scenes are new to the city and its residents. The filling station is in the K4 area in the heart of the city and it has witnessed a big increase in the number of vehicles passing through its gates since it reduced its prices.
Drivers for a long time complained of high prices at the pumps and avoided filling up as much as possible. Now they have received a respite. Prices have dropped in line with the slump in the price of oil in the global market. Since December, consumers say, the price for a litre of petrol in the Somali capital has dropped by at least 30 percent.
“The price has changed. I used to pay $5 for five litres but now I pay $3.50. That is very good news for us drivers as it means we save money that we can use for other things. I hope the price of oil continues to fall,” Zakariye Abdiqadir, a driver at Somoil station told Al Jazeera, as he waited for his turn to fill up. “I never used to fill my tank because it was very expensive. Now coming here is not too bad on our wallets,” Abdiqadir added. At least half a dozen petrol stations have opened in the city, which is recovering from more than two decades of civil war, that ended three years ago.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“For many Kenyan journalists like Juma, who has 19,000 Facebook followers, social media has become a key instrument in their reporting arsenal, allowing them to bypass traditional outlets and connect directly with readers.”
On a cold January evening, journalist Yassin Juma was walking to his local pharmacy when he was stopped by four men from the Kenyan police. They escorted him back to his house, where he found 14 people ransacking the place in front of his wife and children. “They were looking for electronics, for laptops,” Juma recalls. A veteran investigative journalist known for his reports on the war against Al-Shabaab, the Somalia-based Islamist militant group, Juma was arrested for posting information about a recent attack on the Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) on his social media accounts.
On the 18 January, he revealed on Facebook and Twitter that a credible source within the KDF had confirmed to him that 103 soldiers had been killed in an attack on the Kenyan army base in El Adde just three days before. But the KDF denied his report, and Joseph Nkaissery, the cabinet secretary for the interior and a retired general, made a public announcement warning that anyone who circulated information about the attack would be arrested for being “sympathetic to Al-Shabaab”.
The basis for this threat was section 29 of the information and communication act, which prohibits the “improper use of a licensed communications system” and which activists say has increasingly been used by the Kenyan authorities to prohibit the publication and circulation of online information. Juma was charged for the “misuse of a telecommunication gadget”, with police making clear they were particularly unhappy that he had shared a Facebook post by the brother of a dead Kenyan-Somali soldier “without the permission of the KDF”.
TOP TWEETS
@shephardm : Had tea with one of the FBI’s Most Wanted & visited a camp for Al Shabab defectors. See how #Somaliafights terror:
