August 1, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report
11 Al-Shabaab Members, Including Female Fighter, Captured In Afgoye Ahead Of President Farmajo’s Visit
01 August – Source: Halbeeg News – 226 Words
Somali National Army (SNA) soldiers have captured 11 Al-Shabaab suspects in Afgoye town ahead of President Muhamed Abdullahi Farmajo’s visit on Wednesday. In an operation jointly conducted by SNA and African Union’s Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops, the forces apprehended the suspects including a female fighter.
“We have arrested eleven Al-Shabaab fighters following a successful operation in Afgoye town. Among those captured is a woman, who fights alongside members of the militia group,” said an SNA official, who sought anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media. Another SNA official, Mursal Abdi Ali, said SNA and AMISOM troops captured a middle-level commander of the group in the operation: “The operation took place in and around Afgoye town and we have so far arrested several suspects including head of Al-Shabaab Finance department in Afgoye town.” .
The operations come ahead of President Farmaajo’s scheduled visit to Afgoye town today. The security of the town has been tightened as the government has deployed hundreds of Somali forces to the town. Last Monday, over five people including civilians were killed after heavily armed Al-Shabaab suspects attacked security checkpoints in Afgoye town. Afgoye is an agricultural and strategic town in the Lower Shabelle region, located 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Mogadishu. In 2012, government soldiers and AMISOM troops drove Al-Shabaab out of the town following a major offensive.
Key Headlines
- 11 Al-Shabaab Members Including Female Fighter Captured In Afgoye Ahead Of President Farmajo’s Visit (Halbeeg News)
- Al-Shabaab Claims Murder Of Somali Police Officer In Mogadishu (Shabelle Media)
- Mogadishu’s Yaqshiid Residents Complain About Child Kidnapping (Kulmiye.net)
- Free Ambulance Service Imperiled In Somali Capital (Voice of America)
- Foundation Assists 10000 Somali Families (The Gulf Today)
- Exposing Al-Shabaab’s Leadership Structure And Precept Ideology (Strategic Intelligence)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Al-Shabaab Claims Responsibility For Murder Of Police Officer In Mogadishu
01 August – Source: Shabelle Media – 140 Words
Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the murder of a senior Somali officer shot dead on Tuesday night in Mogadishu city. In a statement posted on their affiliated websites, the militants said they killed the policeman at Sana junction in Karan district of Mogadishu.
The Somali Police is yet to comment on the claim by Al-Shabaab. However sources in the area said the security forces have conducted an operation with a view to capture the officer’s killers, who fled from the scene after committing the murder.
Al-Shabaab often carries out such killings and attacks in the city in an attempt to oust the western-backed Somali government in Mogadishu. The attacks have been going on in the capital that is under the full control of the Somali government and in the heavy presence of security personnel along the city’s main streets.
Mogadishu’s Yaqshid Residents Complain About Child Kidnapping
01 August – Source: Radio Kulmiye.net – 143 Words
Yaqshid District in Banadir region has experienced unprecedented cases of abduction of children. This development has caused fear among local residents, who are no longer keen about sending their children for formal education and to Quran schools.
Abdulkadir Sheikh Osman, a member of the Yaqshid District, told Radio Kulmiye that members of his family were abducted and they were still missing. He told Radio Kulmiye that his 12-year-old daughter disappeared on her way from school. The last time her family contacted her, she was traced in Afgoye district, Lower Shabelle region.
“There is a lot of fear these days as children are experiencing abduction, and ransom demanded from parents before their release. And we fear the situation may escalate,” said Abdulkadir Sheikh. The child in question was abducted in Arafat area, Yaqshid District. Local authorities are yet to comment on this latest saga.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Free Ambulance Service Imperiled In Somali Capital
31 July – Source: Voice of America – 496 Words
Financial troubles, staffing shortages and high demand threaten to halt the only free private ambulance service in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu: “We have been providing this voluntary service for 12 years with the help of friends and other generous individuals in private business, but now the responsibility is greater than our power,” said Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adam, a dentist who founded Aamin Ambulance. He cited a staffing shortage and an inability to cover costs.
At its peak, the service had 53 workers. Now, “only 20 people with 16 vehicles [are] providing 24/7 services to a growing city and huge population,” Adam said, estimating the metropolitan area at more than 2 million people. Adam, who also teaches at a Mogadishu university, said the service has been running on donations from individuals, such as “students who provided us $1 a month. That is not enough to cover the needs of this city and its residents.”
The service began in 2006 with a single ambulance and a few drivers and nurses in Mogadishu, risking their lives while trying to save victims of mortar fire, artillery shells and random gunfire that have ricocheted around this crumbling seaside city for almost 30 years. “Before this service, people used to transport the wounded with wheelbarrows and taxis that charged expensive fees,” said Fadumo Nur, who runs a midwifery center. “But now all you need is to call 999 and then there is an ambulance at your door. If we miss this service, we will go back to the dark days.”
The United Nations’ top diplomat in Somalia called for more support during a February visit to the ambulance service office. Aamin plays “an important role in providing the population a degree of comfort that when something very bad goes wrong, there is someone they can turn to,” said the envoy, Michael Keating, who was quoted by the U.N. Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM). Aamin Ambulance maintains the only Mogadishu call center with a 24-hour emergency helpline. But staffing shortages, along with traffic issues, delay the ambulance service’s life-saving responses.
Foundation Assists 10,000 Somali Families
01 August – Source: The Gulf Today – 125 Words
The Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation has concluded its third relief operation in Somalia’s Berbera region, distributing food aid packages to 10,000 families affected by the drought.
According to a spokesperson from the organisation, the campaign was implemented in accordance with the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with the support of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and close monitoring by Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, and Chairman of Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation. The spokesperson said that a team from the foundation visited affected areas to assess the severe damage.
OPINION, ANALYSIS & CULTURE
“The militant insurgency group objective is to fight the federal government, overrun the Somalia and spill over its barbaric, unfounded ideology throughout East Africa. From there, they move towards the Central, South and Eastern Africa at large.”
Exposing Al-Shabaab’s Leadership Structure And Precept Ideology
31 July – Source: Strategic Intelligence – 899 Words
The Al-Shabaab Mujahideen movement is an Al-Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia. Its leadership is a structure that comprises political hardliners, radical Islam adherents from Somali clans and foreign fighters, most of them drawn from Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, and Uganda. Although Al-Shabaab’s precept ideology originated outside Somalia, firstly it must be understood that the Al-Shabaab militant group emanated from the Somali society and thus their ideology is principally part of Somali Islam for the past three decades.
The militant group’s primary goal in Somalia is to wage jihad against the Federal government and subsequently implement sharia law. Al-Shabaab operates majorly in Somalia but has set foothold in some East African countries particularly Kenya and Tanzania. The militant groups’ leadership hierarchy as far as the chain of command is concerned appears flexible.
Al-Shabaab militant group comprises of multiple cells, units, divisions and figures each with distinct and diverse powers. In terms of hierarchical organizational structure of its leadership, Al-Shabaab is well organized with independent components drawn from separate regions. Based on research by Strategic Intelligence, vast OSINT, and CT literature reviewed by S.I, most adherents join the terror group for various reasons, one of them being socio-religious.
It is fair to point out that, Al-Shabaab foot soldiers are primarily concerned with clan-related affairs and monetary gains promised at the time of their recruitment as opposed to the global jihad, thus socioeconomic factors play out as factoring becoming adherents. They are also prone to infighting and shifting alliances as witnessed in Al-Shabaab where a faction led by Sheikh Abdikadir Mumin shifted fealty to ISIS in October 2015.
Research by scholars indicate that Al-Shabaab in Somalia seeks to exploit these vulnerabilities by manipulating clan networks and politics in order to retain power and destitute youths, continue to be easy fishing pool for Al-Shabaab recruitment and radicalization on promise of a better life fighting for a cause (jihad).
TOP TWEETS
@UKinSomalia .@GavinWilliamson discussed how #UK &@amisomsomalia can help deliver the Somali Transition Plan w/ deputy SRCC & Force Commander Lt. Gen Owoyesigire. He underlined the critical role AMISOM plays in helping #Somaliatake responsibility for its security & reiterated #UK support.
@taakulosom: Thanks to @DM_AID timely response to the Cyclone,affected communities averted starvation & hunger.The intervention induces resilience & facilitates recovery thereby creating a working environment for further long term recovery plans.@DanishMFA @akobaek @CISUdk #SAGARCYCLONE
@DConcar: UK Defence Secretary @GavinWilliamson meeting & being briefed by British military personnel in #Somalia on the excellent support they’re providing to Somali forces, the UN, AMISOM & the EU training mission.
@STN_KE: Financial troubles, staffing shortages and high demand threaten to halt @AaminAmbulance , the only free private ambulance service in #Somalia‘s capital, Mogadishu.
@wakiilorg: We spoke with human rights advocate, Hassan Abdullahi Moallim, about the political rights of marginalised groups. #Somalia
@ahmedvision1: Inspiring: #Iftiin education kicked off their yearly literacy campaign in rural areas of Galgadudud & Mudug region targeting nomadic illiterate pple who are mostly children, students who finish their secondary education have to serve 1 month compulsory literacy campaign service.
@Goobjoognews: EXPOSE’: KENYAN authorities shut down ‘torture’ rehab in Nairobi –
@RadioErgo: 1/3 Mealses broke out in Quracjoome, Bakool on 20th this month, two young adults aged 22 and 25 have died of measles outbreak in Bakool region, while 70 others aged above 15 receive regular medication at a local hospital. #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo during a meeting with UK Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Williamson at Villa Somalia.
PHOTO: @TheVillaSomalia