13 Oct 2011 – Morning headlines
Key Headlines:
- South African delegation visits Mogadishu
- Al Shabaab top commander dies in a grenade attack
- Food aid reaches famine-stricken Somalia
- Puntland refutes claims that pirates are holding Pakistani vessel in Hafun area
- Increased security along Kenya-Somali border
SOMALI MEDIA
South African delegation visits Mogadishu
12 Oct- Source: Radio Bar-kulan, Radio Mogadishu, Kulmiye- 79 words
Somali president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has on Wednesday received a South African delegation in his office in Mogadishu. Led by president Zuma’s special envoy to Somalia, Jarlez Ukakura, the South African delegation had a close-door meeting with the Somali president.
Al Shabaab top Commander dies in a grenade attack
12 Oct- Source: Radio Mogadishu, Sonna- 85 words
Confirmed reports from Elasha Biyaha, located 15 kms South of Mogadishu suggest that al Shabaab extremists came under grenade attack by an angry group of al Shabaab. Reports add that a top al Shabaab Commander died in the grenade attack. Lately the extremists group has resulted to infighting among themselves after losing all their strategic bases in the capital and the South central regions of Somalia.
Government soldiers exchange fires in Mogadishu
12 Oct- Source: Mareeg Online- 72 words
A confrontation occurred in Hamar-weyne district in Mogadishu yesterday after TFG soldiers exchanged fire between themselves, killing one and wounding 2 others, reports said. It came as some of the national forces tried to remove a checkpoint in Hamarweyne , but other government soldiers confronted them with fire, eyewitness said.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Al Shabaab militia killed one person in Elma`an, north Mogadishu
12 Oct- Source: Radio Mogadishu, Mareeg Online, Risaala – 55 words
Al Shabaab opened fire on poor people taking aid food in Elma’an, north Mogadishu, killing one and injuring another, reports said. The fire came as many IDPs were crowded in the area where al Shabaab was distributing aid food.
Puntland refutes claims that pirates are holding Pakistani vessel in Hafun area
12 Oct- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 129 words
Authorities in Puntland’s Hafun district have refuted claims that Somali pirates are holding a Pakistani vessel in the area, a day after the vessel was hijacked by pirates from the Gulf of Aden. Puntland official, Mohamed Ahmed rubbished the recent reports by the international anti-piracy forces, saying that there are no vessels currently being held in the area.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Increased security along Kenya-Somali border
12 Oct- Source: Coastweek, Xinhua- 1045 words
Faced with rampant insecurity along its border with Somalia, Kenya has scaled up security forces along the common frontier to contain raids by militant group al Shabaab. The East African nation, which has been hit twice Al Qaeda network organized attacks, has established patrol bases near the border with Somalia following the recent kidnapping of two tourists in Lamu.
http://www.coastweek.com/3440_
Residents flee as Mogadishu braces for assault
13 Oct – Source: Arab News – 627 words
Fighters from al Shabaab dug new trenches and blocked off streets with sandbags, residents said, as minivans and wooden carts moved out using alleyways and side streets to avoid sniper fire. Young, barefoot children lugging bags walked for hours with their parents, some of whom used carts pulled by donkeys to leave the area.
http://arabnews.com/world/
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Food aid reaches famine-stricken Somalia
12 Oct- Source: VOA- 157 words
The U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affair (OCHA) said Wednesday that more than 2.2 million Somalis have received food assistance, mostly in the famine-stricken south. However, the office said nearly two million others still urgently need aid. It also said that despite a good rain forecast, “the number of people in crisis will remain high” into 2012.
http://www.voanews.com/
Packing up home: Mogadishu residents flee warfare
12 Oct- Source: AP- 638 words
Fearing renewed warfare, hundreds of Somalis loaded up small children and household goods on donkey-powered carts Wednesday in a northern Mogadishu neighborhood where Islamist militants are taking up positions. Fighters from al Shabaab dug new trenches and blocked off streets with sandbags, residents said, as minivans and wooden carts moved out using alleyways and side streets to avoid sniper fire.