January 15, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report
10 Somali Government Soldiers Killed In Middle Shabelle Fighting With Al-Shabaab
14 January – Source: Radio Dalsan – 117 Words
At least ten Somali government soldiers have been killed in an attack on two villages in Middle Shabelle by Al- Shabaab militants on Sunday, according to Radio Dalsan reports. The clashes occurred near Elka and Qalimow villages in Balaad district in Hirshabelle State, where the militant group launched a surprise attack on government forces manning the areas.
An official of the Balaad district told Radio Dalsan in a phone interview confirmed that Al-Shabaab militants raided the two villages. “God has given us victory and three of their fighters were killed” Abukar Adan Odey claimed. Al-Shabaab has continued to execute ambushes and raids in parts of the Middle Shabelle.
Key Headlines
- 10 Somali Government Soldiers Killed In Middle Shabelle Fighting With Al-Shabaab (Radio Dalsan)
- Gunmen Kill A Civilian Outside A Mosque In Afgoye (Radio Shabelle)
- HirShabelle Federal MPs Pledge To Assist Security Forces In The State (Goobjoog News)
- Somali Jihadist Killed In Syria (Voice of America)
- Kenya Says 1 killed As Suspected Al-Shabaab Attack Convoy (News24)
- Somalia: Al-Shabab Demanding Children (Human Rights Watch)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Gunmen Kill A Civilian Outside A Mosque In Afgoye
15 January – Source: Radio Shabelle -147 Words
Unidentified gunmen have shot and killed a civilian outside a mosque in the southern town of Afgoye in Lower Shabelle region on Sunday evening, witnesses said. A witness told Radio Shabelle that the civilian whose name has not yet been identified was gunned down outside a mosque in the town by assailants armed with pistols. The culprits fled from the crime scene before the arrival of the local security forces who later conducted manhunt and searches in the area, but, no arrest has been reported so far.
No group has yet claimed credit for the murder, which was the latest in a string of killings and attacks in the agriculture-rich district, situated some 30 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu. On Saturday, a businessman was shot dead inside his shop in the town by Al Shabaab assassins. It was unclear the motive behind his killing, according to the police.
HirShabelle Federal MPs Pledge To Assist Security Forces In The State
15 January – Source: Goobjoog News- 288 Words
Federal MPs of the Lower and Upper Houses from HirShabelle State yesterday announced their pledge to meet the needs of the multiple forces in the region. The security forces include federal Somali national army, intelligence and prison warders, who are engaged in keeping the region’s peace and stable but facing dire needs like irregular monthly salaries and transport vehicles among others. Speaking to the media in Beledweyne town, Senator Hassan Osman Ahmed who is a house member on Justice and Human Rights Committee suggested that they will submit the needs presented to them by the commanders of the three forces to the highest federal authorities when they return to Mogadishu. “We traveled to the region on a fact finding mission to gather information on the public but the one on the forces is worse.
This region has been neglected by the central government. We shall direct their needs to the central government since the soldiers are national security forces” said Senator Ahmed. He declared to put the federal government on the spotlight for sidelining the region, and will do everything at their disposal in order to accomplish their rights. “Local security commanders told us other regions have been developed while theirs are neglected. We shall hold [the government] accountable on this matter. We shall not leave a stone unturned to fight for their rights till we achieve them” added Senator Ahmed. He also reminded the international organizations in the region to play their role in taking part in developments in the region. “I also appeal to the international humanitarian organizations to renovate the local prisons. We know they have reconstructed Mogadishu central jail. They have to utilize the capital they have on the programs they have budgeted for.”
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali Jihadist Killed In Syria
15 January – Source: Voice of America – 393 Words
A leading Somaliland politician says his son, who joined the Islamic State militant group five years ago, was killed in Syria. Faysal Ali Warabe, leader of the UCID party who ran for president of the self-declared republic during the November 13 election, says his son — Hussein Faysal Ali Warabe — was killed in an airstrike. Hussein, also known as Abu Shuaib As-Somali, joined the militant group in 2013, along with his wife. “We learned the news of his death yesterday [Saturday],” Warabe told VOA Somali. “His wife sent a recorded message via WhatsApp saying he was killed on Dec. 29.”
Warabe did not say where his son was killed but says his family assumed he had left Raqqa safely. IS was pushed out of its former capital of Raqqa last year. “There was no fighting in the area he was staying, so it will have been an airstrike that killed him,” he said. Asked how his son arrived in Syria, Warabe said he had traveled there from Finland where he was a citizen. But it was in Somaliland where he first tried to travel to Syria in 2013. Warabe said Hussein also tried to travel to Yemen the same year but was stopped by Somaliland authorities because his passport was nearing expiration.
“He tried to travel to Garowe [Puntland] to obtain a Somali passport, which he could use to get a visa from Ethiopia. But he was intercepted in Las Anod,” Warabe said. “We deported him to Finland. We told them [Finnish authorities] not to renew his passport. We told them he was a travel risk. But they said he didn’t commit any crime, so he got a passport. And three months later, he traveled to Syria via Turkey.”
Warabe said his son was planning to leave Syria with his wife and two children after realizing that joining IS was a “mistake.” “We were expecting him to come our way. He spoke to his mum and siblings on Dec. 24. We were expecting him to contact us from Turkey,” he said. Warabe said the family contacted the Finnish embassy in Turkey about their son’s intentions to leave Syria. Finnish authorities could not be reached for comment. Over the years, a number of Somali jihadists have joined IS, but nearly all of them traveled from western countries, including the United States, Canada and Europe.
Kenya Says 1 killed As Suspected Al-Shabaab Attack Convoy
14 January – Source: News24.com – 243 Words
Kenyan officials said on Saturday a civilian was killed and several policemen wounded when suspected members of the Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabaab attacked a convoy of vehicles. Interior Ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka says the police vehicles had been escorting buses between Mombasa city and Lamu County and were destroyed in the attack. Kenya’s government is battling to stop a wave of attacks by al-Shabaab fighters who say they are avenging Kenya’s deployment of troops to neighboring Somalia in 2011. Kenyan troops make up part of the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia that bolsters the country’s weak government against Al-Shabaab’s insurgency.
In the past two years, al-Shabab has focused attacks on Kenyan counties that border Somalia and mainly targeted security agents. Kenya’s government ordered police to escort vehicles on the Lamu-Mombasa road after an al-Shabab attack last year in which a top ranking government was briefly kidnapped. Separately, police said youth burned down a Catholic church in Marsabit County in northern Kenya after the arrest of a Muslim cleric accused by the government of radicalization. In a statement, police said they arrested Guyo Gorsa, who allegedly had been involved in the recruitment of youth into al-Shabab. Police said Guyo’s alleged involvement had been exposed by youth who were arrested while travelling to Somalia to join the extremist group. Police called it unfortunate that “some sympathizers of the suspect who are opposed to his arrest have resorted to … destroying property including a Catholic church.”
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“Two weeks later, a large group of armed Al-Shabab fighters with their faces covered returned to the village, entered another local school, and threatened and beat the teacher to hand over children. “They wanted 25 children ages 8 to 15,” said the teacher, who resisted the order. “They didn’t say why, but we know that it’s because they want to indoctrinate them and then recruit them.”
Somalia: Al-Shabab Demanding Children
15 January – Source: Human Rights Watch – 1423 Words
The Islamist armed group Al-Shabab has threatened and abducted civilians in Somalia’s Bay region to force communities to hand over their children for indoctrination and military training in recent months. Since late September 2017, Al-Shabab has ordered elders, teachers in Islamic religious schools, and communities in rural areas to provide hundreds of children as young as 8 or face attack. The armed group’s increasingly aggressive child recruitment campaign started in mid-2017 with reprisals against communities that refused. In recent months, hundreds of children, many unaccompanied, have fled their homes to escape forced recruitment. “Al-Shabab’s ruthless recruitment campaign is taking rural children from their parents so they can serve this militant armed group,” said Laetitia Bader, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “To escape that cruel fate, many children have fled school or their homes.” Over the past decade, Al-Shabab has recruited thousands of children for indoctrination and to become frontline fighters. Since 2015, the armed group has opened several large Islamic religious schools in areas under their control, strengthened indoctrination methods including by bringing in younger children, and pressured teachers to retrain and teach Al-Shabab’s curriculum in schools.
On a recent trip to Baidoa, the capital of Bay region, Human Rights Watch spoke to 15 residents from three districts in Bay region largely under Al-Shabab control – Berdale, Baidoa, and Burhakaba districts – as well as child protection advocates and United Nations officials. The findings match similar trends in other parts of the country since mid-2017. Village elders said that in September Al-Shabab ordered them to go to Al-Shabab-controlled Bulo Fulay and to hand over dozens of children ages 9 to 15. A resident of Berdale district said: “They said we needed to support their fight. They spoke to us in a very threatening manner. They also said they wanted the keys to our boreholes [watering points]. They kept us for three days. We said we needed to consult with our community. They gave us 10 days.” Two other community residents said that they received threatening calls, including death threats, after the 10 days ran out, but as of late 2017 they had not handed over the children.
Three residents said that in September Al-Shabab fighters forcibly took at least 50 boys and girls from two schools in Burhakaba district and transported them to Bulo Fulay, which witnesses say hosts a number of religious schools and a major training facility. Two weeks later, a large group of armed Al-Shabab fighters with their faces covered returned to the village, entered another local school, and threatened and beat the teacher to hand over children. “They wanted 25 children ages 8 to 15,” said the teacher, who resisted the order. “They didn’t say why, but we know that it’s because they want to indoctrinate them and then recruit them. After they hit me, some of the children started crying and tried to run out of the classroom. But the fighters were all around. They caned a 7-year-old boy who tried to escape.”
The fighters gave the community 10 days to hand over the children. Residents from Berdale district said that in at least four villages, Al-Shabab abducted elders who refused to hand over children. In one village, three elders were released only after they agreed to hand over eight boys from their village. In May, Al-Shabab pressured elders and other residents in villages in central Somalia’s Mudug and Galgadud regions – from which Ethiopian military forces had recently withdrawn – to hand over children ages 7 to 15. A boy who fled Middle Shabelle region without his parents said: “Our school wasn’t controlled by Al-Shabab. Six weeks ago [late June], they came to our school, took down our names, and took two boys. The teacher managed to escape. They threatened that next time they would come back for us.” A woman in Burhakaba district said that her four children had witnessed 25 of their classmates being abducted from their school: “The four of them are now so worried about going to school. But if they don’t go to school, and get the fundamentals of the religion, they will go to waste.” Some local religious schools in Bay region are closing fearing further attacks, or because the teachers have fled or been abducted.
@DalsanFM: Kenya Mp Demands Clampdown On Somali Politicians Destabilizing Farmaajo Governmenthttp://radiodalsan.
@AmbAhmedAwad1: Welcomed and received the letters of credence from @IOM_Somalia‘s new Chief of Mission, Ms. Dyane Epstein, and discussed areas of partnership in humanitarian sector, impact of draught, diaspora, providing technical assistance and future cooperation.
@HarunMaruf: BREAKING: Somali govt announces the death of singer Khadija Abdullahi Dalays in Canada this morning, she was 82. Delays was one of the first Somali artists to sign on a national radio.
@Goobjoognews: #Alshabab fighters last night ambushed government forces position in Eel Geelow, nearly 20km south of#Jowhar, Middle Shabelle, defeating them & holding the location for some time before retreating. Government soldiers in control now. Casualties reported but figures unknown.
@mpfsomalia: 88% of Somalis over 16 yrs own at least 1 SIM card, 83% of SIM card owners use mobile money Now this data can be used to regulate the market!
http://www.worldbank.org/en/
@Goobjoognews: Local People in #Tukaraq Location Leave in Exodus says a Local Elder. http://bit.ly/2r8pqlJ
@MoPIED_Somalia: The Secretary General of#BenadirRegionalAdminstration #SubeydaMukhtar is now having the floor to update the committee about the #BRA and their role towards this steering committee and the IDP’s in#Mogadishu. And finally appreciated #NAOSOM for organizing this meeting.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed (Farmaajo), regional state President Ahmed Duale Geele (Haaf) and other officials in Galkacyo, Mudug region.
Photo: @TheVillaSomalia