August 3, 2018 | Morning Headlines
Al-Shabaab Kidnap 6-year Old Girl In Gedo, Somalia
02 August – Source: The Star – 343 Words
Al-Shabaab militants have abducted a 6-year old girl from her family in Harbole town, Gedo region, Somalia. The distraught family said the militants came to the house and demanded the girl.The girl lives with albinism.
“The kidnappers stormed into the house in the middle of the night and demanded to be shown where the girl was sleeping. They picked her up from her bed and bundled her into a vehicle,” her father Abdiker Weli said. The militants who numbered about five spoke in the Somali language. Weli said they did not steal anything from the house during the abduction drama on Wednesday .
Besides the murderous atrocities, Al-Shabaab’s mode of operation is synonymous with abductions. Most of the previous abductions were of youthful boys who were forcibly recruited to join the militant group as fighters, and teenage girls and young women who were abducted to be sex slaves to the militants. Area council member Sheikh Mustafa Ali said that this was the first time the kidnappings targeted a child.
Though a new phenomenon in Somalia, abductions and killings of people with albinism in East Africa is not new. People with albinism in the region, especially in Tanzania, have been targeted for ritual killings. A section of people believe that offering some of their body parts brings good fortune. Other communities kill children with albinism in the belief that the condition is a bad omen.
“It appears that Al-Shabaab has delved into the world of witchcraft to protect themselves. What else would explain the kidnapping of this little girl from such a poor family?” Sheikh Mustafa posed: “It is no secret that the militants are marred with a lot of challenges now, from a gravely sick leader, to financial issues, defections and worse the constant aerial bombardments by US and Kenya Defence Forces,” he said.
Key Headlines
- Al-Shabaab Kidnap 6-year Old Girl In Gedo Somalia (The Star)
- Somali Military Court Sentences Two Men To 15 Years In Jail For ISIS Membership (Halbeeg News)
- Mogadishu Mourns A Hero Top Youth Entrepreneur And A Somali Optimist (Radio Dalsan)
- Chief Justice Meets With Italian Ambassador To Somalia (Jowhar News)
- AU Contingent from Ethiopia Receives Grand Send-off (AMISOM)
- Militant Groups Look to Exploit Somaliland-Puntland Tensions (Voice of America)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali Military Court Sentences Two Men To 15 Years In Jail For ISIS Membership
02 August – Source: Halbeeg News – 231 Words
A Military court in Mogadishu on Thursday jailed two men for 15 years for belonging to the Islamic State Group. The proceedings of the charges levelled against Mr. Mahdi Mohamud Abu-Yasin and Mr. Mohamed Daud Warsame were heard last week. According to the prosecutors and court proceedings, the two confessed to being ISIS members.
After conclusion the hearings, the court found the accused guilty of being members of the ISIS group, which has been recruiting members in parts of the country. Mr. Abu Yasin, a dual citizen holding Russian passport was found guilty of pledging allegiance to ISIS top leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and forming a faction of the group in Somalia.
Mr. Warsame, on the other hand, was said to have been the head of the group’s medical department: “After all the court proceedings including hearing and presentation of pieces of evidence, the court sentences Mr. Mahdi Mohamud Abu-Yasin and Mr. Mohamed Daud Warsame to 15 years in jail,” read the statement of the court.
The pro-Islamic State faction in northeastern Somalia is led by Sheikh Abdulkadir Mumin, a former Al-Shabaab cleric who pledged his allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2015. In 2016, the U.S. State Department designated Mumin as a global terrorist. Since the emergence of the IS faction in October 2015, the group has claimed responsibility for deadly attacks in Puntland and southern Somalia.
Mogadishu Mourns A Hero, Top Youth Entrepreneur And A Somali Optimist
02 August – Source: Radio Dalsan – 287 Words
A Tanzanian-Somali entrepreneur who had settled in Mogadishu to start up Somalia’s first post civil war laundry and florist was on Thursday fatally shot in the Somali capital. Mohamed Sheikh Ali, who is the Chapter Director of Startup Grind Mogadishu, was attacked by unknown gunmen near the Banadir junction. Ali was pronounced dead at a Mogadishu hospital after surgery.
In 2012 Ali established Premium, the first dry cleaning business, and Amber Gardens florist, the first since the civil war erupted in 1991. The young entrepreneur had won the hearts of many in Mogadishu where he remained optimistic to be part of rebuilding Somalia. Ali was a judge on Inspire Somalia TV show which is an entrepreneurial competition in Somalia.
In August 2015 he founded the Startup Grind Mogadishu Chapter: “Startup Grind is a global startup community designed to educate, inspire, and connect entrepreneurs.We host monthly events in more than 167 cities featuring successful local founders, innovators, educators and investors who share personal stories and lessons learned on the road to building great companies” the late Ali had told Radio Dalsan in an interview early 2018, when he hosted Dalsan Director Hassan Ali Gesey to share his entrepreneurship journey.
Messages of condolences have been pouring in since the news of the assassination of a young man who abandoned the safety of his Dar es Salaam Tanzania home to start a new life in the relatively insecure Mogadishu: “Beyond shocked to hear the murder of our friend Mohamed Sheikh Ali in #Mogadishu today. Not only was he gifted and promising young man but also the voice for the youth and the entire community. My deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues,” former Mogadishu Mayor Thabit Mohamed tweeted.
Chief Justice Meets With Italian Ambassador To Somalia
02 August – Source: Jowhar News – 129 Words
Chief Justice Bashe Yusuf Ahmed on Wednesday met with Italian Ambassador to Somalia Carlo Campanile. The two officials primarily discussed the reconstruction of the Somali Judiciary and the role the Italian government can play in improving provision of service in the sector.
Ambassador Carlo hailed the meeting with the recently appointed CJ describing it as constructive. He added he held a useful discussion with the CJ on reforms in the Judiciary and future support to the sector by the international community.
The meeting also discussed on the reconstruction of the Supreme Court building, which is currently dilapidated. The two officials also discussed the resumption of Somalia-Italy cooperation in the justice sector and offering capacity building through workshops for the sector’s personnel, with a view to speeding up justice work.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
AU Contingent from Ethiopia Receives Grand Send-off
02 August – Source: AMISOM – 398 Words
The President of the Southwest State of Somalia, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden on Wednesday presided over a send-off ceremony for outgoing Ethiopian troops from the Bay region.
The Southwest State President, senior Somali and AU officials lauded the troops for their role in Somalia’s pacification. The troops have concluded a year’s tour of duty in the Horn of Africa country.
“We are really happy that African forces are solving the crises in Africa. They (ENDF forces) have done a lot in solving the problems of Somalia,” Sheik Aden said. He expressed gratitude for the sacrifices by the troops that has enable Somalia achieve peace. “They sacrificed their blood so that we can achieve peace, have a government and restore our dignity,” he remarked.
The Deputy Head of AMISOM Mr. Simon Mulongo noted that the Mission had succeeded in providing an enabling environment for the reconstitution of the Somali State and laying the groundwork for development.
“The African Union has made a significant point in the geopolitics of conflict resolution in the whole world,” Mulongo said. “Many people doubted that Somalia could ever be recovered from statelessness. I want to say and state here, that the African Union has proven the doubting Thomases wrong – that actually using African solutions to African problems is workable and Somalia is a shining example of that success” he added.
The outgoing troops, which served under by Brig. Gen. Asefa Chekol, will be replaced by another ENDF battle group, which will take over the security in areas under the control of AMISOM in the Southwest state.
“To the outgoing Sector Commander, thank you very much for the job well done,” said Lt. Gen. Jim Beesigye Owoyesigire, the AMISOM Force Commander. He lauded Gen. Asefa’s experience and knowledge in working with the Somali security forces. “General Asefa organized the SNA, and all regional forces here. And he has really been cooperating with them.” Ethiopia is one of the Troop Contributing Countries to AMISOM. Other countries contributing troops to the AU Mission are Burundi, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“ISIS in Somalia doesn’t control any territory, but maintains influence and a very small presence in northern Puntland,” said U.S. Air Force Major Karl Wiest, spokesman of U.S. Africa Command.”
Militant Groups Look to Exploit Somaliland-Puntland Tensions
02 August – Source: Voice of America – 786 Words
As fighting and fiery rhetoric increase between the Somali region of Puntland and the self-declared independent state of Somaliland, some analysts fear that Islamist militant groups may try to exploit any instability to plant deeper roots in the area. “Our concern is that were there to be a direct conflict between Somaliland and Puntland, the security forces will be preoccupied with that, and would not be in a position to contain Al-Shabab or the Islamic State,” says E.J. Hogendoorn, deputy director of the Africa Program at the International Crisis Group.
“Obviously, this will give them the chance to expand their reach,” he told VOA. Somaliland and Puntland have had a long-running dispute over the provinces of Sool and Sanaag, which run from the Gulf of Aden all the way to the eastern borders of Ethiopia. Violence erupted again this January when Somaliland troops attacked and captured the town of Tukaraq, which headquartered a customs station for Puntland.
The Somaliland attack on Tukaraq was carried out while President Mohammed Abdullahi Farmajo of Somalia was visiting Puntland, in what the ICG described as a “warning from Somaliland to the Somali government against getting involved in the contested areas.” Ali Ibrahim, a development expert working with an International NGO in Somalia, said it is hard to determine the strength of the sides in the disputed region. “Both sides claim they are stronger, well-armed, and have the necessary skills to defend their ‘land’,” Ibrahim said.
Although Puntland and Somaliland have enjoyed relative peace and security compared to the rest of Somalia, there are pockets where Al-Shabaab and the IS faction are present and continue to threaten and attack security forces, mostly in Puntland. On July 20, al-Shabab seized the small town of Af Urur, 95 kilometers south of the coastal city of Bosaso, in Puntland. The town has been a scene of previous heavy fighting between the terror group and Puntland security forces, including the attack of June 10, 2017, described as the deadliest on security forces since Puntland’s founding in 1998.
“There’s a mountain range that kind of basically spans this region, called the Galgala Mountains, in which there’s been an al-Shabab faction for quite some time,” said the ICG’s Hogendoorn. “As far as we know, they do operate within this region. And, depending on whether you consider it to be Somaliland or Puntland areas, this is an issue.”