September 12, 2018 | Morning Headlines

Main Story

Gunmen Murder Local Government Officer In Mogadishu

11 September – Source: Halbeeg News – 181 Words

Unidentified gunmen on Tuesday killed a local government officer a day after Al-Shabaab launched a suicide attack in Mogadishu. According to his relatives, Omar Hassan Ganey, an employee of the Planning department at the Mogadishu Local Government, was killed near his home on his way to work.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for his murder. The murder comes as Mogadishu mourns the death of over seven people killed by an Al-Shabaab suicide bomber. who hit an explosive-laden car at the gate of Hodan District headquarters. Meanwhile, Somali forces killed an Al-Shabaab operative in Mogadishu following an exchange of gunfire.

The spokesman for the Somali Police Force, Col Kassim Ahmed Roble, said Abukar Hassan Adde, better known as Sayyid Abukar, was killed in a confrontation early Tuesday. He said that his forces wanted to capture Abukar alive so that he could face the law. Unfortunately he resisted the capture, leading to confrontation and his eventual death: “He died during an exchange of fire, but we managed to capture three of his Al-Shabaab companions, who sustained injuries,” the police officer added.

Key Headlines

Gunmen Murder Local Government Officer In Mogadishu (Halbeeg News)
Somali Forces Begin Operation Against Al-Shabaab Outside Mogadishu (Shabelle Media)
Turkey Condemns Monday Terrorist Attack In Mogadishu (Goobjoog News)
Police Arrest 4 Al-Shabaab Militants In Mogadishu (Vanguard)
AMISOM And UNMAS Pledge To Work Together To Counter The Threat Of IEDs In Somalia (AMISOM)
A Trumpian ‘War on Terror’ That Just Keeps Getting Bigger (The Atlantic)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Somali Forces Begin Operation Against Al-Shabaab Outside Mogadishu

11 September – Source: Shabelle Media – 114 Words

Somali security forces, backed by African Union troops (AMISOM), have launched a joint operation aimed at beefing up the security of the main road between Afgoye and Balad. The allied forces are trying to flush out Al-Shabaab from the road which links the capital to the southern regions. The move comes after a series of attacks, which have left Members of Parliament and government officials dead.

Al-Shabaab militants have intensified ambush attacks against the Somali and AU forces using the road and this has led to security challenges for HirShabelle state officials. The Al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab fighters still control swathes of territory despite losing major ground, including in Mogadishu, to Somali and AMISOM soldiers.

Turkey Condemns Monday Terrorist Attack In Mogadishu

11 September – Source: Goobjoog News – 143 Words

The Turkish government has condemned the terrorist attack in Mogadishu-Somalia on Monday that left at least 6 people dead and more than 16 others injured. The Turkey Foreign Ministry said in a press statement: “We have learnt with great sorrow the terrorist attack perpetrated in Mogadishu, resulting in numerous deaths and the injury of many others.”

“We strongly condemn this treacherous attack that aims to undermine the stability of Somalia. We wish God’s mercy upon those who lost their lives, a speedy recovery to the wounded and convey our condolences to the Government and the people of Somalia,” read the statement. The car bomb explosion happened at Hodan District headquarters in Mogadishu.

The attack is the second in barely a week after a similar one at Howlwadaag district headquarters in the capital Mogadishu. The militant group Al-Shabaab, immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Police Arrest 4 Al-Shabaab Militants In Mogadishu

11 September – Source: Vanguard – 148 Words

Somali security forces have arrested a senior Al-Shabaab commander and three other militants during operations conducted in Heliwa and Yakhshid districts of Benadir region in Mogadishu. Police spokesperson, Qasim Roble, said on Tuesday that the militants, who took on stiff resistance killed a police officer and injured another during the operations on Monday evening.

“Somali Police Forces arrested a senior Al-Shabaab commander from the Amniyat (spy unit) and captured three others, who were injured. They were hospitalised and will face justice after treating them,” Roble said. He said the police wanted to arrest them but the militants resisted, sparking a fierce fight between the security forces and the militants. Roble said the senior Al-Shabaab commander has escaped police dragnet several times and has been on the run since 2015. “Police forces are committed to sustaining operations to ensure the security in Benadir region and arrest militants.” he added.

AMISOM And UNMAS Pledge To Work Together To Counter The Threat Of IEDs In Somalia

11 September – Source: AMISOM – 268 Words

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) have pledged to strengthen their collaboration to effectively counter the threat posed by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) to the country’s stability. The pledge was made on Tuesday at a meeting between the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia Ambassador Francisco Madeira and the new Head of UNMAS Somalia, Qurat-ul-Ain Sadozai.

Ambassador Madeira and Ms. Sadozai also promised to work closely with the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) to tackle the use of Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Devices (VBIED), which has become Al-Shabaab’s weapons of choice in the capital, Mogadishu, and other parts of the country. The two officials noted that tackling the threat posed by IEDs was crucial to the implementation of the transition plan which will transfer responsibilities from AMISOM to the Somali government from 2018 to 2021. “I look forward to us working together to tackle and eliminate the threat posed by IEDs. We are happy to join forces with UNMAS,” SRCC Madeira observed.

On her part, Ms. Sadozai reiterated UNMAS’ continued support to AMISOM and briefed the SRCC on initiatives being undertaken to counter the use of IEDs. “There is need for us to work together to develop a more comprehensive approach to defeat the threat,” Ms. Sadozai who assumed office in July, this year, stated. UNMAS is a section of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, formed in 1997, to serve as the United Nations focal point for mine action. It seeks to rid the world of the threat of landmines and unexploded ordnances.

OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE

“The problem is that while air strikes and ground offensives can disrupt Al-Shabaab’s ability to conduct attacks, Somalia cannot establish lasting security without help to build sustainable governing institutions”

A Trumpian ‘War on Terror’ That Just Keeps Getting Bigger

10 September – Source: The Atlantic – 2,401 Words

On August 29, U.S. forces carried out their 21st confirmed air strike in Somalia this year. The short U.S. Africa Command (Africom) press release announcing the strike on Al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda–linked insurgency that has sought to implement a hard-line Islamic state in Somalia, resembled those that had come before it: It did not specify the kind of aircraft used, the exact location of the strike, or the identities of those killed. As with past press statements, this one also claimed that no civilians had been killed or injured in the strike.

Though America’s drone war in Somalia has been shrouded in secrecy, in the past year and a half the number of American airstrikes in Somalia have notably increased. According to multiple foreign analysts, Somali officials, and several Al-Shabaab defectors, these strikes have become one of the most effective tools in confronting the group. The air campaign has hindered Al-Shabaab’s ability to communicate, sown widespread mistrust among its members, and restricted its leaders’ mobility.

The noticeable uptick in strikes in Somalia came after President Donald Trump approved policy changes ending the limitation on drone strikes imposed by the Obama administration. In March 2017, Trump designated parts of Somalia an “area of active hostilities,” temporarily bringing them under less restrictive targeting rules.

By September of last year, his administration had reportedly approved new targeting rules for drone strikes called “Principles, Standards, and Procedures,” which dismantled several Barack Obama–era restrictions. As the Pentagon’s freedom to carry out drone strikes in Somalia has expanded, so too has the CIA’s authorities to conduct drone warfare in North Africa. According to a report from The New York Times published over the weekend, the CIA is set to conduct secret drone strikes in North Africa from a newly expanded base in the Sahara and with authorities once scaled back under the Obama administration.

This latest strike in Somalia, which occurred in the southwestern part of the country, killed three unnamed members of Al-Shabaab, according to Africom. That American airpower is necessary to fight a 5,000-man insurgency, operating mostly with old AK-47s, may seem surprising. But local forces advised by American special operators have proven unable to break a tired pattern born from ground operations:

In Somalia, the Pentagon has heavily invested in training Somali special forces. The CIA has also long provided funding to the Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA), which it uses for intelligence gathering. Yet such partnerships could come to haunt Washington: Over the past year alone, NISA has been used to violently arrest opposition leaders and journalists, a pattern that could derail the idealized sustainability that comes with building local forces’ capacity.

ADDITIONAL SOMALIA NEWS WILL APPEAR IN THE AFTERNOON REPORT

The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of AMISOM, and neither does their inclusion in the bulletin/website constitute an endorsement by AMISOM.

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