December 16, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Fears Of New Attacks In Mogadishu
15 December – Source: Dhacdo.com – 140 Words
A new wave of attacks is expected to be waged by the terrorist group, Al-Shabaab in Mogadishu. This after a series of blasts took place in the city of Mogadishu. The first blast took place in a checkpoint located in Siinka Dheer after a vehicle loaded with explosives targeted a group of soldiers from the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) while they were passing in the area. The second blast took place near the port of Mogadishu, while two blasts that caused severe damages took place yesterday. Confidential sources have told Dhacdo.com that Al-Shabaab has brought in additional fighters into Mogadishu to carry out more attacks in the city. Officials in the security agencies have also told us that they are aware of the said Al-Shabaab increased presence in the city and they are following several leads.
Key Headlines
- Fears Of New Attacks In Mogadishu (Dhacdo.com)
- Jubbaland Trains Police To Beef Up Security In Kismayo (Goobjoog News)
- Warsheekh Experiences A Boom In Tourism As Hundreds Of Visitors Flock To Its Beaches And Historic Sites (Radio Dalsan)
- 6 Al-Shabaab Suspects Arrested In Somali Capital (china.org.cn)
- Senior AMISOM Military Officers Undergo Training On Human Rights And Child Protection (AMISOM)
- Somali Refugees Live In Alarming Conditions In Yemen (Xinhua)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Jubbaland Trains Police To Beef Up Security Kismayo
16 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 207 Words
Jubbaland administration has kicked off a third phase of training for local police recruits in the southern city of Kismayo to boost the town’s ability to maintain security. Jubbaland police commissioner, Jaama Hassan said the three-month training for new Jubbaland police recruits will be conducted soon. He said the basic policing course would focus on human rights observance and community policing among others. “The training program for these recruits is very intensive because we are looking at both, practical and theoretical aspects that will affect their side of the community’s effective and communicative domain of the recruits,” Hassan said. Hassan said that the new police recruits will make sure Somali populace as well as visitors go about their businesses without disruptions. “The town needs a special force specifically trained who can interact with public and prevent acts of terrorism, and this new unit will conduct operations to smoke out Al-Shabaab and its sympathizers,” he highlighted. The training is being conducted by police officers with vast experience in peace missions, according to Hassan. Somalia, emerging from two decades of anarchy, security gains in the past seven years has been made, mainly thanks to African peacekeepers spearheading the fight against Al-Shabaab fighters.
Warsheekh Experiences A Boom In Tourism As Hundreds Of Visitors Flock To Its Beaches And Historic Sites
16 December – Source: Radio Dalsan – 207 Words
Hundreds of local tourists are flocking to the sandy beaches of Warsheekh as the city registers a boom in tourism in recent days. The beaches of Warsheekh have become flooded by visitors from Mogadishu competing with previously popular beaches of Lido and Aljazeera in the capital. Majority of the visitors are young male and female. Social media has recently been awashed with photos and blogs from Warsheekh’s beaches “On Fridays you can see hundreds of youth in vehicles from Mogadishu headed to Warsheekh” Sara Abdillah a Mogadishu resident and regular visitor of Warsheekh told Radio Dalsan Warsheekh was a popular destination for holidaymakers prior to the civil war attracted by its fine beaches and historical sites It was also popular with Sufi adherents who camped for weeks on sometimes more seeking knowledge from learned Muslim scholars and Shariff’s making it a well known religious city in Somalia, the East African Coast and Arabia. At least 10 Sufi Sheikhs were based in the city among them Sheikh Muhyadin. Omani Sufi Sheikh Abiikar Mihdar was also based here in the 18th century. Warsheekh which is some 70km from Mogadishu is said to be the port of call for the first Italian colonial administration ship that docked in 1890.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
6 Al-Shabaab Suspects Arrested In Somali Capital
15 December – Source: china.org.cn – 108 Words
Somali security forces arrested six suspected members of the Al-Shabaab Islamist group in operations in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday. Benadir region police commissioner, Bishar Abshir Gedi, told reporters in Mogadishu on Thursday that security forces were interrogating the suspects. The police officer said the operations aimed to ensure peace and security prevails in Mogadishu as lawmakers are expected to choose a new president on December 28. Security has been tightened in Mogadishu where lower house elections are going on. Some key roads have also been closed to ensure the exercise runs smoothly. Elections of speakers of the lower and upper Houses will take place next week.
Senior AMISOM Military Officers Undergo Training On Human Rights And Child Protection
15 December – Source: AMISOM – 508 Words
Senior military officers of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have completed a two-day training workshop on human rights protection in conflict situations. The training organized by the Protection, Human Rights and Gender (PHRG) Unit of AMISOM is meant to emphasize the need for military officers to observe and respect the provisions of the International Humanitarian Law in their day-to-day military operations. The workshop was attended by senior officers from all the Troop Contributing Countries (TCCs) namely Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Ethiopia and Djibouti, drawn from the Force Headquarters and the sectors. Also in attendance was the AMISOM Chief of Operations, Col. Othieno Mutacho and the Head of AMISOM Protection, Human Rights and Gender unit, Adebayor Kareem. Speaking during the opening ceremony, Messrs. Kareem and Adebayor noted that the training on human rights was necessary, given the changing nature of the war in Somalia. The two were referring to Al-Shabaab’s asymmetrical warfare in major towns. “We want to remind our officers that they still need to engage Al-Shabaab within the confines of the rules of engagement and the law.
It is a difficult balancing act because if you are attacked in a built up area, instinctively you will want to respond and defend yourself. Under international law, you are allowed to defend yourself but in the course of defending yourself, innocent civilians may get killed. That is the challenge we face in Somalia and that is why we continue to have these training workshops to remind our forces of their obligations,” Mr. Adebayor who also doubles as the Acting AMISOM Chief of Staff noted. Despite the evolving nature of the war, the Acting Chief of Staff said, AMISOM had done well on human rights issues.Col. Mutacho also reiterated the need for the officers to operate within the confines of the law to help win the support of the local communities, which he described as crucial for the mission to achieve its mandate.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“An estimated 200,000 Somali refugees are living in several Yemeni cities, according to the latest 2015 statistics by the UNHCR. UNHCR says that more than 26,000 Somali refugees have fled violence in Yemen and returned to Somalia, mostly to Mogadishu”
Somali Refugees Live In Alarming Conditions In Yemen
16 December – Source:Xinhua- 732 Words
An estimated 4,000 Somali refugees are living in alarming conditions in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and their living situations have worsened since the civil war erupted early last year between dominant Shiite Houthi group and exiled government of internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The refugees face extreme poverty; no jobs, no food security, no rent-free shelters nor health facilities to receive them. Many have been struggling to pay their rent of insanitary rooms, while few families can afford payment and instead sleep on some backstreets or join others in small rooms. The refugees also have shortage of water, electricity and integration into labor market. The refugees have no alternative as their living situations have worsen because of the ongoing economic crisis following the eruption of the civil war in March last year.”We (the refugees) have no rent-free accommodation or shelter in Sanaa as most of Yemenis have recently hesitated to rent us rooms or houses because we cannot afford payment,” explained 55-year-old Abdel Rahman al-Zaylaiee, the chairman of the Somali refugees’ community in Sanaa, who came to Yemen nearly 16 years ago.
“How do you see a man with no job or any source of income crowded with his 11-member family in a small room or sleeping on the street?” he asked. “That is our months-long tragedy… and no one cares about us.””About four thousand Somali refugees, mostly women and children, have been living here in Sanaa for years with no rent-free shelter or enough food, and our situations got worse especially after the war,” al-Zaylaiee said. Their sad faces and tattered clothes tell untold stories. The refugees live in a poor quarter, known as al-Safiyah in the southeast part of Sanaa. They enjoy a small clinic in the area supported by the UNHCR.The clinic lacks emergency section and almost empty from any kind of medicine or essential medical equipment due to the war and economic crisis. The patients have to go to private hospitals and buy medicine on their own.
TOP TWEETS
@Daudoo: 6 soldiers killed after bomb hidden under a tree they were sitting near #Mogadishu‘s Ex-Control checkpoint exploded – Officials. #Somalia
@adancabdulle: Warsheekh Experiences a boom in tourism as hundreds of visitors flock to its Beaches and Historic siteshttp://www.radiodalsan.com/
@SalahOsman0: Village restuatant in #Mogadishu was hit a vehicle with explosives this morning In da afternoon rebuilding began Home of resilience#Somalia
@AbdihakimAinte: Disappointing to see regional electoral bodies refusing to accept the result of IEDRM commission. Shows you the messiness of whole process.
@AFPphoto: SOMALIA – A woman and a boy walk past a flock of dead goats in a dry land close to Dhahar in Puntland. By@Moh_Abdiwahab #AFP
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somali justice department sends 15 staff to Kuwait for capacity development to enhance their work.
Photo: Radio Muqdisho