December 3, 2018 | Morning Headlines

Somalia: US Military Says Attack Kills Nine Al-Shabab Fighters

02 December – Source: Al-Jazeera  – 203 Words

The United States military said it killed nine fighters in an air attack targeting al-Shabab fighters in Lebede, Somalia, as part of its operations to support the government’s efforts to weaken the armed group. The military’s Africa Command (Africom) said the attack was carried out on Friday. “We currently assess this airstrike killed nine militants with no civilians involved,” Africom said in a statement late on Saturday.

The statement gave no details on those killed. US military involvement in Somalia has grown since President Donald Trump approved expanded operations against al-Shabab early in his term. Washington currently has about 500 military personnel in the Horn of Africa nation and carries out periodic air raids in support of the UN-backed government there.

The US has carried out at least 37 air raids this year against the al-Qaeda-linked group, one of Africa’s deadliest rebel groups, which continues to stage attacks in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, and other cities. The group killed at least 15 people, including a Sufi Muslim leader, in a suicide explosion in the central town of Galkayo last Friday. Al-Shabab was pushed out of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, in recent years but continues to control rural areas in the south and central regions.

Key Headlines

• Somalia: US Military Says Attack Kills Nine Al-Shabab Fighters (Al-Jazeera)
• Car Bomb Near Parliament In Capital Kills 1 Police Say (Garowe Online)
• South West Presidential Polls Put Off For Third Time Set For December 19 (Goobjoog News)
• Iron Lady Inspector Cecilia Kabube Leads Zambian Mission in Somalia (Zambia Reports)
• Radicalism In Somalia: Rethinking An Alternative Solution (Daily Sabah)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Car Bomb Near Parliament In Capital Kills 1, Police Say

02 December – Source: Garowe Online – 299 Words

At least one person was killed and two others wounded in car bomb blast in Mogadishu on Sunday afternoon. A police officer said an official working for Ministry of Post, Telecommunications and Technology died, when an explosive device was fitted into his vehicle went off, outside the parliament building near the presidential palace. The policeman who requested anonymity told reporters, that the car bomb injured two civilians who were immediately taken to a nearby hospital. The explosion was heard several kilometers  away and a thick column of white smoke, was seen rising from the scene of the blast near the Sayid junction, according to an eyewitness.

“The charred and mangled wreckage of the car remained in the street, hours after the blast as plumes of thick smoke spiraled into the air,” said one witness.  The huge blast damaged several nearby shops and many outdoor stalls along the busy Maka Al-Mukarama street, near the main police checkpoint.

No group so far has claimed responsibility of the attack, but Al-Shabaab has been responsible for such attacks, targeting government buildings and high-profile hotels in the capital. Last July, at least 15 people, including government employees were killed and dozens were wounded in car bombings and gun attack, at the Otto-compound in the same area, which houses the Ministries of Interior and Security.

The Horn of Africa nation continues to struggle to counter the Islamic extremist groups, including a pro-ISIL faction the northeastern Puntland State. Concerns have been raised over  the plans to hand the country’s security responsibility to Somalia’s forces, as AMISOM withdrawal is expected to be complete in 2020. The U.S. military has stepped up efforts against Al-Shabaab and the pro-Islamic State militants since Trump came into power in early 2017,  carrying dozens of drone strikes that killed many extremists.

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South West Presidential Polls Put Off For Third Time, Set For December 19

01 December – Source: Goobjoog News – 166 Words

South West state electoral committee has for the third time postponed the presidential election, that was scheduled for December 5th. The electoral body which was reconstituted late November, following the lack of quorum the resignation of some members, announced on Saturday that the elections will be held on December 19th.

The polls body cited the lack of adequate preparation in which, state assembly lawmakers are expected to cast their vote for a new president. The assembly is made up of 149 members. It is the third time that the elections are delayed. According to the state constitution, the presidential poll was first scheduled for November 17th, but was later postponed to November 27th and then again to December 5th.

The development comes amid the concerns raised by a group of leaders from the region,  following the deployment of federal police forces to Baidoa on Friday. However, the federal government had indicated earlier that it would cooperate with South West administration, to bolster security during the elections.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Iron Lady Inspector Cecilia Kabube Leads Zambian Mission in Somalia

02 December – Source: Zambia Reports – 438 Words

Zambia’s African Mission in Somalia (AMISON) representative Chief Inspector Cecilia Kabube says Zambians should value peace as war has a devastating effect on the general citizenry. Inspector Kabube led a night patrol in Mogadishu where journalists were also taken on a familiarization of the security situation in Somalia. Her platoon comprise forces from Somalia, Ghana, Sierra Leone ,Kenya among others.

The journalists are in Somalia on a six day assignment to get an appreciation of the war situation in Somalia. Inspector Kabube shed light on the terror acts of the world infamous El Shabab group that inducts child soldiers. “The situation is bad here, you can’t trust anyone ,some individuals even masquerade as police officers and kill innocent people .These terrorists have similar protected vehicles like ours  locally known as the Mambas so it is difficult to trust anyone we don’t trust police officers and they also don’t trust us unless the ones that we have worked with on a regular basis”, She had said.

Inspector Kabube is the team leader for Side Four group whose mandate is mentoring, advising ,reporting  and following up on the activities of Somali Police on their professional standards and Human rights obligations. She has been in Mogadishu for more than one year. “What keeps us going is prayer which is a norm for officers to commit themselves in before and after their operations as death is a normal thing , no place here in Mogadishu is safe as safety here is compromised, guns can be fired at any time  while bombs can also blast at any given time,” Kabube said.

“People here don’t fear death,a bomb may blast, kills people and others will continue with their activities at times even run to where a bomb has blasts.” However Inspector Kabube has revealed that from the time she joined the mission there has been no record of a Zambian Police officer who died from the bomb blasts or gunshots. A total of 31 Zambian Police personnel are attached to the Somalia African Mission in Mogadishu and of the number 20 are male while 11 are female.

These Zambian contingents live in AMISON safe zones were no individual is allowed to move after 22:00 hours at night expect for officers who are on night patrols. And during the night patrol journalists who were dressed in protective body colts or body arm with protective headgears and under the protection of the officers who transported them to General Kaye and old parliament building to witness the night life in Mogadishu.

OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE

“Al-Shabab has been operating in Somalia and the Horn of Africa since 2006. They have carried out many outrageous attacks that claimed the lives of many innocent people and assassinated politicians, community elders and religious clerics.”

Radicalism In Somalia: Rethinking An Alternative Solution

01 December – Source: Daily Sabah – 1149 Words

The history of Islam on the Horn of Africa dates back 1400 years. It came from the Arabian Peninsula through migration and trade, mainly from Yemen and Oman. In Somalia, during the 14th century many Somalis converted to Islam and gradually Islam became the dominant religion. Today, almost 100 percent of Somalis are Sunni Muslim and largely adhere to a Shafi’i version of the faith.

In the beginning, the Sufism interpretation of religion dominated Somali social and political spheres and allowed them to successfully accommodate religion with politics. During the anti-colonial era, Sufism played an important role and was used by anti-colonial leaders to confront and fight the colonial powers.

During state formation, although some people could argue that the state was secular, civil government leaders were affiliated with Sufism. Nevertheless, religion was never a threat to the state. However, after the coup in 1969 ended the civil government, the military regime shifted toward the Soviet Union and adopted scientific socialism. In the beginning, the military regime stayed out of religion and showed secular state behavior. However, that did not last long because the regime’s socialist political mobilization did not match well with religious traditions. And finally, the military regime had to interfere in religious practices to successfully implement scientific socialism.

Concurrently, new religious ideologies were imported to the country – mainly from Egypt and Saudi Arabia and led by clerics that had received their religious educations there. They brought different ideas and interpretations that contrasted with Sufism dogma and even declared them a null and void sect because their religious practices indicated that they committed “Shirki,” which associates partners with Allah, making them infidels.

They undermined and clashed with the military regime, claiming the righteous teachings of Islam. This marks the beginning of a radicalized interpretation of Islam. They lacked key principles that Islam promotes, such as acceptance, tolerance, peaceful debate and more. Violence has been their only choice.

Their emergence was a part of a global phenomena, part of the “awakening Islam project” taking place in the Muslim world that arrived in Somalia in the 1970s. Their arrival marked the birth of radical Islamists in Somalia. However, the military regime’s oppression and crackdown, more or less, helped them gain more supporters. They advocated for the establishment of an Islamic state, like other Islamists movements that existed, and to attain that they called for jihad.

As a matter of fact, there is confusion with the primary meaning of the word “jihad” in recent years, as some scholars argue that it’s martial in nature, while others focus on its spiritual dimensions. Linguistically, the term refers to the idea of “struggle,” and early Islamic sources draw a distinction between greater and lesser jihad. The first is regarded as individual duty and a person’s struggle to live in accordance with the religion’s obligations, while the second is regarded as efforts to bring the surrounding communities into obedience with Islam with clear instruction by how and who.