April 24, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somalia’s Military Court Executes 4 Al-Shabaab Members In Baidoa
24 April – Source : Goobjoog News – 171 Words
Somali military court on Monday executed four suspected members of the militant group Al-Shabaab for being behind last year’s bomb attack that killed dozens of lives in the southern Somali town of Baidoa. The four were convicted of Al-Shabaab militancy and carrying out bomb attack deliberately. Military court Chairman Liban Ali Yarow, who announced the sentence, said the execution of the four was a big relief since they killed dozens of innocent people. “This execution today is an act of justice as the criminals have in the past killed dozens of people in bomb explosion,” Yarow said.
In attendance at the site of the execution were National Army commanders and Southwest state administration officials. Somali military court has often carried out executions against alleged Al-Shabaab fighters who frequently target politicians, people and as well Somali government officials. Despite their tactical withdrawal from Mogadishu in 2011, the group still controls swath of rural areas in the south and central Somalia as they carry out bomb attacks in towns controlled by Somali government.
Key Headlines
- Somalia’s Military Court Executes 4 Al-Shabaab Members In Baidoa (Goobjoog News)
- Mayor Thabit Surprise Meet The People Visit Of “Insecure” Huriwaaa District (Radio Dalsan)
- Puntland Forces Starts Security Operation In Galgala (Radio Mustaqbal)
- Pentagon Warns Ships As Pirates Again Prowl Waters Off Somalia (The New York Times)
- Somalia Drought Fuelling Piracy – US Africa Command Head (BBC)
- Target Somalia: The New Scramble For Africa? (BBC)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Mayor Thabit Surprise Meet The People Visit Of “Insecure” Huriwaaa District
23 April – Source : Radio Dalsan – 150 Words
The newly appointed Mayor of Mogadishu Thabit Mohamed made an unusual move to hold his first meeting with District Commissioners at the relatively insecure district of Huriwaa on Thursday Night. Thabit met with the 17 Dcs and officials representing National Security and Intelligence Agency(NISA) and regular police to discuss on matters security. In a move aimed at bolstering community policing Thabit mingled with the residents of Huriwaa.
An excited public followed up to meet and greet the Mayor as he walked on the streets of the district. Security experts see the decision to hold the meeting at Huriwaa as a message to show his seriousness in tackling insecurity in all troubled districts in Benadir region. Huriwaa district is located north of Mogadishu on the control heading to Jowhar and has been said to have a significant number of Al-Shabaab sympathisers. Al-Shabaab is said to have planned a number of its attacks from this district.
Puntland Forces Starts Security Operation In Galgala
24 April- Source: Radio Mustaqbal – 88 Words
Security forces in Puntland have this morning started an operation in the Galgala mountains following a deadly landmine blast that claimed the lives of nine soldiers who were part of a convoy passing the area. The forces have expanded their operation to the rural areas near the Galgala mountains in a bid to arrest those who were behind the attack. The forces have refused to comment on the operation until they successfully complete their operation.The terrorist group, Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack which killed the soldiers.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Pentagon Warns Ships As Pirates Again Prowl Waters Off Somalia
23 April – Source : The New York Times – 552 Words
Commercial ships must once again shore up their defenses against forced boardings at sea, United States Defense Department officials said on Sunday, warning that Somali pirates are returning to waters off East Africa after five years of calm. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said that while he was not calling for a response yet from the United States Navy, a half-dozen pirate attacks on commercial ships off the coast of Somalia in the past eight weeks meant that civilian mariners and shipping companies must again be on high alert.
American military commanders at the Pentagon’s sole semi permanent base in Africa, Camp Lemonnier in neighboring Djibouti, have been monitoring the attacks. Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser, the head of the United States Africa Command, said drought and famine in Somalia are probably behind the recent spike in attacks, in which pirates have boarded commercial ships and seized food and oil.
Most of these attacks, including a hijacked oil tanker last month, are believed to have been carried out by pirates from central Somalia or from Puntland, a semiautonomous region in northeastern Somalia. General Waldhauser said the military was urging civilian shipping lines to bolster their security. Military officials said some commercial shipping companies had let go some of the security guards hired to protect their ships after the decline in attacks.
About one-third of the world’s commercial ships travel near Djibouti, through the Gulf of Aden and toward the Mediterranean, and the return of attacks may mean another coordinated international effort to fight piracy, officials said. During the height of the last round of attacks, a coalition of foreign navies increased patrols along Somalia’s coastline.
Somalia Drought Fuelling Piracy – US Africa Command Head
24 April – Source : BBC – 209 Words
The recent rise in piracy off the Somali coast has been partially fuelled by drought and famine, a top US army officer has said. General Thomas Waldhauser, head of US Africa Command, said there had been half a dozen attacks in the last month. About three million Somalis face food insecurity and a national disaster was declared last month. Piracy was rampant off the Somali coast until increased patrols by European naval forces contained the problem. US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis expressed concerns about the resurgence of Somali piracy during a visit to the American military base in Djibouti.
Mr Mattis suggested commercial vessels should consider stepping up onboard security to guard against attacks at sea, saying the situation is being monitored but there was no plan of an immediate response. The number of attacks peaked in 2011 before dropping to zero, mainly as a result of naval patrols and improved security measures by shipping companies. Last month, an oil tanker was hijacked by suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia, the first such hijacking in the region in five years. The vessel was en route from Djibouti to the Somali capital, Mogadishu, and was then diverted towards the port of Alula in the semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Travel in the other direction and you hit a huge Turkish base stretching along the beach south of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Engineers working on its final touches tell me it’s going to be Turkey’s largest overseas military training camp. The base is just a small part of Turkey’s massive involvement in the country, which started in 2011 during the first famine of the 21st Century. Somalia is an eccentric choice for a gateway into Africa but, like other foreign powers, Turkey wants influence, prestige and economic gain.”
Target Somalia: The New Scramble For Africa?
23 April – Source : BBC – 857 Words
I know some rather annoying crows in the Somali port town of Berbera. Every morning, as I eat my breakfast by the beach, they swoop down and steal my bread, my jam, even my butter. Then they fly back up to their perches on a tall metal fence. They look like sentries, their black feathers gleaming, beaks curved and sharp. “The Russians brought those birds,” an elderly Somali tells me. He shows me the giant site of the old Soviet military base, the still-functioning runway they built during the Cold War to counter US influence in the Horn of Africa. At more than 4km (2.5 miles) in length, it’s one of the longest on the continent. Fast-forward nearly half a century and, once again, Berbera is full of chatter about military bases. That is because a deal has just been struck for the United Arab Emirates to build a facility there. There is talk of MPs being bribed handsomely to accept it. Some Somalis feel this is part of yet another effort to colonise their country. They have even started a social media campaign – #UAEHandsOffSomalia. The Emirates already have a base in Eritrea, just up the coast, which is used to conduct war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, a short way across the sea.
Travel in the other direction and you hit a huge Turkish base stretching along the beach south of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Engineers working on its final touches tell me it’s going to be Turkey’s largest overseas military training camp. The base is just a small part of Turkey’s massive involvement in the country, which started in 2011 during the first famine of the 21st Century. Somalia is an eccentric choice for a gateway into Africa but, like other foreign powers, Turkey wants influence, prestige and economic gain.
It sometimes feels like Mogadishu is a Turkish colony. As soon as you land at the airport, red and white Turkish flags seem to outnumber the sky blue Somali ones. Many of the staff at the glistening new Turkish-built terminal come from Turkey. They tell me they do not like living in Somalia – it is too hot and there are too many explosions. Talk to the United Nations and to what, in development jargon, are called Somalia’s “traditional donors” – in other words, the US and Europe – and they say, fairly diplomatically, that although they appreciate the efforts of the “newcomers”, there is a lack of coordination.
Too many countries are training too many different sections of the Somali security forces, which are already fractured and have a tendency to fight each other almost as much as they fight the local partners of al-Qaeda and so-called Islamic State. I also get the sense that they are a tiny bit envious of all the kudos countries such as Turkey, Qatar and the UAE get for rebuilding Mogadishu and flying in supplies for people affected by the current drought. “They are small fry doing highly visible projects,” one Western diplomat tells me in his base inside the heavily protected international airport. “We do far more but we prefer not to shout about it.” America in particular has good reason not to show off about its activities in Somalia, which include drone attacks and vast amounts of financial assistance.It cannot forget Black Hawk Down, when its troops withdrew in humiliation after a Somali militia shot down two of its helicopters in Mogadishu in 1993, dragging naked bodies of US servicemen through jeering crowds.
TOP TWEETS
@HussienM12: SOMALIA: Four Al Shabab members who accused of behinding twin deadly attacks in Baidoa last year have been executed in a firing squad.
@HassanIstiila: #BREAKING Three Intelligence soldiers wounded after thier vehicle hit by a roadside bomb on the industrial road in #Mogadishu. #Somalia
@HarunMaruf: US official says Washington approval won’t be needed for every strike against Al-Shabab http://www.voanews.com/a/
@omabha: Crewman injured as tanker fired on off Somalia – TradeWinds (subscription) http://dlvr.it/NyxY9P #Somalia
@mahat335: U.S. watching piracy increase off Somalia, sees ties to famine.
http://reut.rs/2ppMlaO via @Reuters
@AU_PSD: Participants in High-Level Consultation on Security Sector Institutions & Reform in #Somalia: AU,UN,EU, USA, France, UK, China, Russia, IGAD
IMAGE OF THE DAY
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo make his first local official visit to Baidoa to assess the security and drought situation in South West Regional Administration
Photo: @TheVillaSomalia