14 Dec 2011 – Morning headlines
Key Headlines:
- Somali parliament dismisses speaker of parliament Sharif Hassan(Source: Shabelle Radio Mogadishu Kulmiye Risaala)
- UN seeks $1.5b to fund aid projects in Somalia (Source: CBC News)
- Relief food distributed in Gedo(Source: Radio Bar-kulan)
- Intelligence officer injured in landmine blast at fete in northern Kenya( Source: KTN TV)
- Kenyan forces pledge further push into Somalia(Kenyan forces pledge further push into Somalia)
SOMALI MEDIA
Somali parliament dismisses speaker of parliament Sharif Hassan
13 Dec – Source: Shabelle, Radio Mogadishu, Kulmiye, Risaala – 262 words
The Transitional Somali Parliament which held meeting in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday have formally dismissed the speaker of the parliament Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, and 280 MPs voted in favor of one of the lawmakers to continue the sessions of the lawmakers. The MPs accused the speaker of the Somali parliament Sharif Hassan of refusing to open the meeting of the parliament and respond to the charges against him.
http://www.shabelle.net/
Relief food distributed in Gedo
13 Dec – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 111 words
A non-governmental organization based in Canada, SCREDO has distributed relief food in Gedo region of the war-torn Somali nation to help people who are hardest hit by perennial droughts. The relief food is composed of flour and cooking oil which were distributed to one thousand households in Bulla-Hawo, Dolow and Lug districts where each household got 25 kilos of flour with cooking oil.
Al Shabaab’s Crackdown against Civilians
13 Dec – Source: Somalia Report – 36 words
al Shabaab fighters in the port city of Kismayo arrested 15 people, including youths and community elders, after accusing them of having links with Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government’s forces (TFG) and Kenyan Defense forces (KDF), residents said.
Fighting between Somali, Kenyan forces, al Shabaab fighters takes place in the South
13 Dec – Source: Mareeg Online, Somalia Report – 95 words
Heavy battle between rebel group of al Shabab and Somali transitional federal government backed by the Kenyan forces occurred in Tabta village close to Afmadow district of lower Jubba region, southern Somalia, reports said.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Al Shabaab Says Somalis in Kenya Are Apostate Ones
13 Dec – Hadhwanag Times – 116 words
The al Shabaab on Sunday dubbed all Somalis in Kenya are apostate ones. Sheikh Hassan Takar, one of al Shabaab members made the comments while addressing at a mosque in Elasha Biyaha neighbourhood just side of Mogadishu.
Floods hit Gedo region of Somalia
13 Dec – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 126 words
Hundreds of Somali farmers in Gedo region of Somalia have lost their planted crops after Juba and Dawa rivers flooded, leaving neighbouring districts grappling with the problems brought in by the floods. Among the districts flooded by the two rivers are Lug, Dolow and Bulla-hawo where the farms were submerged.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Al Shabaab attacks Kenya’s security forces
13 Dec – Source: Standard – 990 words
In the past two days, al Shabaab have struck thrice at Kenya’s security personnel based at the border of North Eastern Province with explosives, with the latest attack coming on Monday in Wajir during a Jamhuri Day rally.
The attack, which left three people critically injured, came a day after two other explosions killed an Administration Police officer and injured nine soldiers both in Wajir and Mandera.
http://www.standardmedia.co.
Intelligence officer injured in landmine blast at fete in northern Kenya
13 Dec – Source: KTN TV – 105 words
Kenyan security officer, his driver and two women have been injured after a vehicle they were travelling in hit a landmine in Wajir, north-eastern Kenya, privately-owned KTN TV has reported.
According to the report, the senior intelligence officer who recently escaped a gun attack by unknown people in the district, was in a convoy of vehicles leaving a ceremony marking Kenya’s 48 independence anniversary when his car which was the last in the convoy, hit the landmine.
Playing With Lives In Somalia
13 Dec – Source: Al Shahid – 262 words
Militants fighting to overthrow the Transitional Federal Government in Somalia have caused untold suffering in that troubled land.
Military strikes, suicide bombings and the imposition of harsh rule in areas of the nation that they control have prolonged the turmoil that has gripped the country for more than two decades. Drought and famine also are taking a tremendous toll, and here too the al Shabaab rebels are making their presence felt. Amid a concerted international aid effort to provide
http://english.alshahid.net/
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UN seeks $1.5b to fund aid projects in Somalia
13 Dec – Source: CBC News – 293 words
The United Nations is seeking $1.5 billion to fund hundreds of lifesaving projects in famine-struck Somalia next year, a top humanitarian official said Tuesday.
The 2012 appeal is based on realistic assessments of the emergency needs of four million people who are still in crisis months after famine was declared in July, said Mark Bowden, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator for Somalia. The funds will cover food, health and education projects.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-
Kenyan forces pledge further push into Somalia
13 Dec – Source: AP – 115 words
Kenyan troops and their Somali allies say they will push deeper into insurgent-controlled territory in Somalia now that rains have stopped. Mohamed Ibrahim Farah, the spokesman for a Kenyan-allied Somali militia at Somalia’s southern tip, said on Tuesday that troops would move within the week.
A Somali militia that was partly trained and funded by Kenya captured the ramshackle town of Ras Kamboni about a month ago after al Shabaab insurgents withdrew.
Somalia’s rare window of hope
13 Dec – Source: BBC – 900 words
The BBC’s Barbara Plett accompanied UN secretary general Ban ki-Moon to the Somali capital, Mogadishu and found a rare mood of optimism that a solution to the country’s numerous problems could be on the way. After two decades of war, beset by drought and famine and home to both the lucrative piracy industry, which threatens shipping across the Indian Ocean, and Islamist militant groups, Somalia is perhaps the ultimate failed state.
But with Islamist militants now ousted from the capital, Mogadishu, there is a brief window of opportunity to set up a working government, which is the only way to tackle these problems, UN officials say.