August 30, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Two Al-Shabaab Suspects Arrested In Mogadishu
29 August – Source: Xinhua News – 109 WOrds
Somali security forces on Monday arrested two Al-Shabaab suspects from Dharkenlay district in Benadir region after operation there. Abdikamil Moallim Shukri, spokesman of the Ministry of Internal Security, confirmed the arrest, saying investigation is underway to establish their motive. “Security forces in Dharkenlay arrested two terrorist suspects during an operation, Investigation is continuing now,” Shukri said.
The security forces arrested another female suspect with an AK47 over the weekend from Black Sea village in Hodan district in Benadir region.The latest operations come as security forces intensified security patrols to ensure that the forthcoming East Africa’s bloc summit onSept. 7 is held without any disruption from the militants.
Key Headlines
- Two Al-Shabaab Suspects Arrested In Mogadishu (Xinhua News)
- New Police Post Set Up El-dhere Locality (Goobjoog News)
- SNA Convoy Targeted In IED Explosion Near Mogadishu (Shabelle News)
- Somali Police Arrest Government Official And His Bodyguards (Radio Dalsan)
- Anti-terror Police Arrest Two Medical Interns Trying To Join ISIS (The Star)
- Dahabshiil Says Ticad Agreements Will Help Africa A Great Deal (The Star)
- Kenya’s Seaside Looks Peaceful But A Murderous War Is Being Waged (The Guardian)
NATIONAL MEDIA
New Police Post Set Up El-dhere Locality
29 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 178 Words
In order to address the problem of the poor law and order situation in El-dhere locality, the Interim Administration of Galmudug established a new police post in area. The police post will be headed by a police rank official. It has been provided with a staff of 20 policemen of different ranks. The chief area, Abdi Farah Ali said the new post will fight crime and serve residents.
“We want people to come forward and share information about suspected persons with the police so that they can be dealt in a stern manner. It was the demand of the residents to set up a police post,” he said. Ali also said the step was taken due to repeated instances of clashes between clan groups in the recent past. Inter clan fighting is common in the region and has left many dead and displaced. Residents hope the new police station will assist in those kind of disputes.
SNA Convoy Targeted In IED Explosion Near Mogadishu
29 August – Source: Shabelle News – 98 Words
A remote-controlled roadside blast ripped through a military vehicle carrying Somali National Army (SNA) soldiers outside Mogadishu on Monday morning. The attack occurred at Sinka-Dheer village near the Somali capital, destroying 1 of the vehicles of SNA convoy. There was no immediate report on the casualties. In the aftermath of the IED explosion, Somali security forces cordoned off the area near the bomb site, and launched a manhunt for the suspects, resident said. Somali security officials in the area did not comment on the attack. No group has yet to claim responsibility for the blast.
Somali Police Arrest Government Official And His Bodyguards
29 August – Source: Radio Dalsan – 129 Words
A high ranking prominent Somali government official and his bodyguards have been arrested by the Somali police after they sparked gunfire, killing civilians along Mogadishu seaport road, according to Banadir regional police commissioner, Bishar Abshir Gedi. “Somali police have detained a high level official and his bodyguards in Mogadishu prison and will bring them to justice. We started investigation to figure out why they fired the bullets, killing civilians,” Mr. Bishar said.
The Banadir police commissioner however did not name the arrested official or his bodyguards. MPs, ministers and other high level government officials’ bodyguards have been known to frequently open fire aimlessly in a bid to ward off potential attacks, however this could lead to innocent civilian casualties and injuries as the stray bullets could penetrate into people’s homes.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Anti-terror Police Arrest Two Medical Interns Trying To Join ISIS
29 August – Source: The Star – 268 Words
Police arrested two medical interns suspected to part of latest batch of university students radicalised and lured to join the ISIS terror group in Libya. Mohamed Shukri and Abdulrazak Abdinuur were arrested on Sunday* in a joint operation by Mombasa and Nairobi anti-terror police in Malindi. The two are attached to Malindi subcounty hospital.
Initial investigations have revealed that Shukri is part of the earlier ISIS recruitment network that was discovered by police and who had been working on plans of using Anthrax to launch terrorist attacks. Shukri and Abdinuur have been evading police and were allegedly intending to relocate to Puntland in Somalia to join an ISIS cell in Somalia that is under Sheikh Muumin.
The two were planning to acquire fake travel documents to facilitate their escape to Somalia.Intelligence reports indicate that they are among Biochemistry students allegedly lured to join the terror organisation while undergoing training in Russia. The suspects are from Mandera and had benefited from a government scholarship program to study medicine in Saratov University in Russia.
Dahabshiil Says Ticad Agreements Will Help Africa A Great Deal
29 August – Source: The Star – 240 Words
International money transfer company Dahabshiil has lauded Japan’s efforts to increase investments in Africa noting the inter-regional trade will promote the continent’s development. Speaking shortly after the conclusion of the VI TiCAD on Sunday evening, Dahabshiil CEO Abdirashid Duale who attended the conference said the Japan-Africa development partnership could not have come at a better time.
During the conference, Japan pledged Sh3 trillion in various investments geared at transforming Africa’s economy. “As Dahabshiil, we know the importance of partnerships since we operate across the continent, as well as in Europe, North America and the Middle East and have traded with Japanese companies,” Duale said.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told African leaders during the conference that his country will commit $30 billion (Sh3 trillion) in public and private support for infrastructure development, education and health care expansion in the continent. Abe said the package would be spread over three years from this year, and include $10 billion for infrastructure projects, to be executed through cooperation with the African Development Bank.
“The investment in infrastructure is a welcome move as it will promote development and increase inter-African trade and cooperation,” added the Dahabshiil CEO. Dahabshiil is a major money transfer company in Africa with presence in over 150 countries and is the dominant financial services firm in war-torn Somalia. The company which has created job opportunities for thousands of youths in Somalia to stem radicalisation of young people said partnerships like TICAD will open more opportunities for employment.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“I left one war behind me in Somalia when I returned,” said Ibrahim. “But now I am in the middle of another one.”
Kenya’s Seaside Looks Peaceful, But A Murderous War Is Being Waged
28 August – Source: The Guardian – 1,288 Words
A football field and a grove of mango trees lie between Bongwe and its neighbouring village. On one side live the family of 33-year-old Subira Mwangole, shot dead by gunmen while watching television with friends one evening in May. On the other live his alleged murderers.
The two villages, 30km south of the port city of Mombasa on Kenya’s coast, are almost identical: three-room houses with rusting tin or thatch roofs, a ramshackle primary school, a government office, a small mosque with white walls stained by rain, a crossroads where two tracks meet, a well, small plots of tall corn plants.
Yet, despite their placid appearances, the villages lie on the invisible frontline of a brutal, low-level, three-way war pitting security agencies against the Islamic extremist network Al-Shabaab, and the militants against the local community. It is a war carried out by small groups of armed men who shoot first and ask few questions.
“We are very anxious, frightened. He knew he could die at any moment. We all know we could be next,” said Ibrahim, a former Al-Shabaab fighter and a close relative of Mwangole. There is a steady beat of violence. The extremists murder those they see as a threat. Local human rights groups say the police do the same thing. Both sets of killers know that the fear they provoke brings impunity.
Mwangole was particularly hated by Al-Shabaab for his role in convincing veterans of the movement to take advantage of an amnesty offered by the Kenyan ministry of the interior last year. The shopkeeper and father of two was himself a defector from the group, which has waged an insurgency in Somalia since 2006 and has expanded across the porous border into Kenya.