June 29, 2016 | Morning Headlines
KDF Kills 40 Al-Shabaab Militants In Airstrikes
29 June – Source: Shabelle News – 81 Words
Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF) killed more than 40 suspected Al-Shabaab militants in airstrikes carried out in Somalia’s Gedo region, also destroying their terrorism hardware and machinery. The airstrikes were conducted following credible intelligence warning the troops of the terrorists intended attack on one of their bases. Al-Shabaab terrorists have in the past week fired mortars against the base outposts besides destroying communication infrastructure in an attempt to deny the FOB communication with other bases.
Key Headlines
- KDF Kills 40 Al-Shabaab Militants In Airstrikes (Shabelle News)
- Three Civilians Shot Dead In Las Anod (Goobjoog News)
- UNICEF Calls For Rights Of All Somali Children To Be Respected (Hiiraan Online)
- Gunmen Kill Senior Military Officer In Somalia (Xinhua)
- Somalia Launches Initiative To Spur Investment (The Journal of Turkish Weekly)
- One Somali Family Two Deadly Tragedies (Voice of America)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Three Civilians Shot Dead In Las Anod
28 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 51 Words
Unknown gunmen killed three civilians in Las Anod town the latest in a string of killing of unarmed civilians across the nation. The motive behind the killing is yet unknown. The armed men immediately fled the scene before the security Officials reached the area.
UNICEF Calls For Rights Of All Somali Children To Be Respected
28 June – Source: Hiiraan Online – 538 Words
UNICEF has called for work on implementing human rights for all Somali children to be prioritized after Somalia ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child last year. This comes as UNICEF publishes its annual flagship report ‘The State of the World’s Children’ which this year focuses on the plight of the most disadvantaged children in the world. “We call on everyone in the country who cares about the future of Somalia- governments, donors, civil society organisations, community leaders, mothers and fathers- to unite their efforts for the most vulnerable children and those children most difficult to reach,” said Jeremy Hopkins, UNICEF Representative said.
“These children may be living in inaccessible rural areas, displacement camps, they may be members of minority groups or have specific and special needs. We need to reach all children but it is for these most vulnerable of children that we really must work together.” The State of the World Children’s report found that Somalia is highly unlikely to reach the Sustainable Development Goal of cutting under five year old mortality by the target date of 2030 unless more is invested in the future of the disadvantaged. “All the children in Somalia deserve the opportunity to go to school, to be healthy, have clean water and be protected from abuse or being forced to join armed groups,” said Peter de Clercq, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia.
The State of the World’s Children report shows that globally there has been some progress in saving children’s lives, getting children into school and lifting people out of poverty. In Somalia the number of children who die before their fifth birthday has dropped from 180 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 137 in 2015. But such progress is usually neither even nor fair, the report says. The poorest children are twice as likely to die before their fifth birthday and to be chronically malnourished.
Across much of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, children born to mothers with no education are almost 3 times more likely to die before they are 5 than those born to mothers with a secondary education. And girls from the poorest households are twice as likely to marry as children than girls from the wealthiest households. The report points to evidence that investing in the most vulnerable children can yield immediate and long-term benefits. On average, each additional year of education a child receives increases his or her adult earnings by about 10 per cent. And for each additional year of schooling completed, on average, by young adults in a country, that country’s poverty rates fall by 9 per cent. Inequity is neither inevitable, nor insurmountable, the report argues. Better data on the most vulnerable children, integrated solutions to the challenges children face, innovative ways to address old problems, more equitable investment and increased involvement by communities – all these measures can help level the playing field for children.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Gunmen Kill Senior Military Officer In Somalia
28 June – Source: Xinhua – 196 Words
Somalia Al-Shabaab militants killed a senior military officer in Wadajir district in the capital Mogadishu, officials said Tuesday. Ministry of Internal Security spokesman Abdikamil Moalim Shukri confirmed to Xinhua the killing of Col. Hassan Barre Rage, saying security forces are pursuing the attackers.
“Al-Shabaab militants shot down Col. Rage, a military commander at Nasteho village in Wadajir district in Benadir region on Monday night, the perpetrators escaped from the scene, but security forces are conducting operation in the area. But no one has been arrested,” Shukri said. The spokesman added the security forces are also still pursuing perpetrators who killed a young man in Waberi district in Mogadishu on the same night.
Al-Shabaab militants claimed responsibility for the killing of the military officer. At least 16 were killed and 30 others injured when the militants stormed a hotel in Mogadishu on Saturday. Somalia National Army (SNA) backed by the African Union peacekeeping troops flushed out the group from the capital in 2011. But the insurgents still carry out deadly attacks against government officials, social gatherings, African Union and SNA bases in the south and central Somalia.
Somalia Launches Initiative To Spur Investment
28 June – Source: The Journal of Turkish Weekly – 295 Words
The Somalia government has teamed up with the private sector to launch an initiative to help spur investment in the Horn of Africa nation. The Public Private sector Dialogue (PPD) initiative which was presented in Mogadishu by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed seeks to create investment opportunities for Somali entrepreneurs.
“The PPD platform we are launching will allow the private sector to further seize the investment opportunities existing in Somalia, to create jobs and revenue for the Somali people,” Ahmed said in a statement received on Tuesday. The World Bank is providing support to the Somalia PPD process through its International Finance Corporation.
Rahma Hassan, an entrepreneur, welcomed the PPD initiative, saying the international partners have a role to play in the rebuilding efforts, because the majority – or a significant portion of public expenditure – is coming from official development assistance at the moment. “For that reason, they need to be part of the important conversation,” she noted.
The initiative, which will be driven by the Somali Chamber of Commerce and Industry, aims at supporting the country’s economic growth, which is adversely impacted by low investment, insecurity and inadequate regulation. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia Michael Keating lauded the initiative, describing it as a catalyst for business, adding that the potential benefits of a well-structured Public Private Dialogue are enormous.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“He is not someone who sits around, visits hotels,”his brother Rageh tells VOA’s Somali service. “He came back from Nairobi on Tuesday last week, and he only went in that area to wash his car.”
One Somali Family, Two Deadly Tragedies
28 June – Source: Voice of America – 489 Words
This is a tragic case of like father, like son. On Dec. 3, 2009, an Al-Shabaab suicide bomber attacked the graduation ceremony of Mogadishu’s Banadir University, killing 25 people, including government ministers, doctors and students. Among those killed was Mohamed Adam Shahid, one of the country’s leading embryologists. Dr. Shahid was a founding member of the university and a lecturer at the school. His son Duale was one of the students graduating that day in the ballroom of the Shamo hotel.
Rageh Shahid, another of his sons, recalls what happened. “My father just finished his speech, he came down from the podium and walked toward my brother, congratulated him and then sat down,” he said.2009. “Then the explosion. We recovered his body. Duale survived, but he was traumatized.”
Still, Duale Shahid built a thriving career after his father’s death, getting a job with an international NGO. He also followed in his father’s footsteps, joining Banadir University as a lecturer, taking up his late father’s job teaching anatomy and embryology. But this past Saturday, on a sunny beautiful afternoon in Mogadishu, Duale visited the car wash opposite the Naso-Hbalod hotel. He had just received his car keys back when a powerful explosion struck nearby, killing him and many others instantly.