NATIONAL MEDIA
14 July – Source: Radio Shabelle – 151 Words
Somali National Army has taken new areas from al-Shabaab in Lower Shabelle region on Sunday. The troops seized Yaaqbari Weyne, MadaxMarodi and Lego villages during operation. Colonel, Mohamed Abdullahi Arale who was leading contingents from the 35th brigade of the 60th division confirmed the news to state media.
Col. Arale said his troops killed 15 fighters during the operation while destroying several vehicles used by the militants. According to sources, the operation was backed by US force air support since no confirmation from AFRICOM. The new grounds retaken by Somali troops were held by al-Shabaab fighters since 2015 when AMISOM contingents from Burundi retreated following an attack.
Somali National Army backed By AU peacekeeping troops in support from US drone strikes intensified operations against armed group al-Shabaab in recent months. The offensive by SNA has led to the recapture of key towns such as Sabiid, Barire, Canole in Lower Shabelle region.
14 July – Source: Garowe Online – 197 Words
A huge explosion was heard at a crowded tea shop in central Somalia, killing one soldier and wounding five other people, becoming the second attack in the country in a week, Garowe Online reports. The blast resulted from an explosive device apparently planted inside a teashop near Galmudug administration’s headquarters in Dhusamareb, the provincial capital of Galgaduud in the early hours on Sunday morning. “
One soldier died in the attack and five others, including Galmudug MP and the owner of the cafe sustained wounds in the blast and was admitted to hospital for treatment,” Aden Osman, a security official, told Garowe Online by phone. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. However, Somalia-based Al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamic extremist insurgents, Al-Shabaab, often carry out such attacks.
The attack shattered years of calm in the city which is hosting Somali PM Hassan Ali Khaire, who has been there in the past days for talks with local politicians and tribal elders over next Galmudug polls. On Saturday, July 13, the Premier received Qatari defense officials in the town who then toured the Somali military 21st division base to assess the training of recently integrated local militia into the army.
14 July – Source: Halbeeg – 144 Words
Somali President, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, has called government security agencies to beef up security in Jubbaland regional state. His call comes just a day after the al-Shabaab attack on a popular hotel in the southern port city of Kismayo claimed the lives of 26 people were more than 50 others wounded. “The President called upon the federal security agencies in Jubaland state to be extra vigilant about the ill intentions of the terrorist groups and ensure security.” Villa Somalia Communications office said.
President Farmajo wished a quick recovery for those injured in the heinous attack while instructing relevant state agencies to provide necessary healthcare for those who need urgent care. “The President prayed for a quick recovery to all victims of the barbaric attack.” Somali security agencies ended more than 12 hours’ hotel siege on Saturday morning. Four attackers were responsible for the assault.
13 July – Source: Halbeeg – 213 Words
Somali President, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has condemned the heinous attack on Kismayo hotel in southern Somalia. On Friday evening, Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) bomb went off at a hotel in Somalia’s port city of Kismayu where local elders and lawmakers had been discussing an upcoming regional election and was followed by gunfire.
In a statement, the president condoled with families and friends of the victims killed in the attack. “We belong to Allah and to Allah we shall return. The attack in Kismayu indicates the root of the target of the enemy of Somalia which they massacre the prominent and well as our people,” the statement reads in part. The president directed the security forces in Jubbaland to be put on high alert to maintain peace and foil al-Shabaab attacks planned to harm the public.
State-run Somali National News Agency said in a statement Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire had also condemned the attack. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack saying its fighters killed several government officials and soldiers. The group was driven out of Kismayo which is the commercial capital of Jubbaland state in 2012. The city’s port had been a major source of revenue for the group from taxes, charcoal exports, and levies on arms and other illegal imports.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
14 July – Source: EU – 131 Words
The European Union Delegation issues the following statement in agreement with the EU Heads of Mission in Somalia as well as the EU Special Representative for the Horn of Africa and the EU Common Security and Defense Missions (EUNAVFOR, EUTM, EUCAP) to condemn the terrorist attack that took place on 12 July in the city of Kismayo.
The EU Delegation is committed to a stable, democratic and prosperous future for Somalia, for the benefit of its people, in a society where pluralism, justice and human dignity prevail. The EU Delegation stays firm against those that target citizens and institutions to undermine stability and progress in Somalia. We express our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the attack and our solidarity for a prompt recovery of injuries.
13 July – Source: UN – 158 Words
In a statement released on Friday, Mr. Guterres expressed his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in the attack and wished a swift recovery to the injured. The attack took place in the port city of Kismayo where, according to media reports, a suicide bomber drove a car containing explosives into the Asasey hotel. Gunmen then stormed the building.
The terror group al-Shabab has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack, which is believed to have led to the deaths of at least 26 people, making it the worst to hit Kismayo since al-Shabaab was forced out of the city in 2012. The killings took place around 4 months after al-Shabaab set off two car bombs in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, reportedly killing more than 20 people, and injuring scores more. The Secretary-General reaffirmed the support and solidarity of the United Nations with the people of Somalia in their pursuit of a peaceful future.
13 July – Source: Daily Nation – 354 Words
A suspected Al-Shabaab terrorist has been in police custody since July 2, when police arrested him in relation to several deadly attacks in Wajir County. It is alleged that the suspect, Abdirashid Abdi Adan, was one of several attackers who planted an improvised explosive device (IED) that exploded, leaving several police officers dead, after their Land Cruiser hit it. In the incident between Khorof Harar and Konton on June 15, at least seven Administration Police (AP) officers were killed while others went missing. Wajir County Commissioner Loyford Kibaara more security officers were deployed to areas along the Kenya-Somalia border following the attack.
In a statement on Saturday, the National Police Service said Adan would face justice. “Initial investigations reveal Abdirashid is a Marehan clansman who fraudulently obtained Kenyan identification documents indicating he is a Degodia,” read the statement signed by communications director Charles Wahong’o “After his arrest, Al-Shabaab engaged in frantic activity to secure his release and frustrate investigations, including relocating his family from the border with Wajir further into Somalia.”
Mr Wahong’o said police had thwarted “numerous attacks” in the area with the people’s cooperation and that the gunmen had been pushed further into Somalia.He said that since they restricted the terrorists’ movements and illegal businesses, they had resorted to ambushing clans along the border and planting IEDs, with Kenyan businessmen in the area as their targets. On July 9, the militia group laid an IED between Kurtun and Konton in Somalia, 18 kilometres from Konton in Wajir,, targeting a Degodia businessman from the area. The device exploded killing five civilians who had been travelling in a truck. Elsewhere on the same day, a water bowser on its way from Konton to Osquruun for a water refill ran over an explosive along Konton-Osquruun road, leaving three locals dead and one injured.
The NPS asked the public for continued support in preventing such attacks. “Police are calling on members of the public to participate in securing the nation through continued cooperation with the security agencies in order to effectively root out the threat posed by the terror group along the border.”
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Somalis don’t have professional media outlets that produce high-quality journalism in English that’s about and for them. Hodan was single-handedly trying to be to that media house that global Somalis desperately wanted.”
13 July – Source: BuzzFeed News – 1326 Words
Hodan Nalayeh, who was murdered Friday by terrorists in the Somali port city of Kismayo, was the best of us, and the best of a new kind of journalist. She was part of our global diaspora, and she told stories for and about us. It was, in the end, even more powerful than her childhood dream of working for CNN, something she once said dawned on her after she could not find a job at the network. She found her way to a refugee camp in Kenya to report anyway.
“Standing in the middle of an open desert field with sand blowing in my face, I realized my fellow Somalis needed my gift of storytelling,” she once said on Somali Sideways. “I did not need CNN or any other network to be a voice for my community; I needed to create my own platform. I did not need anyone to hire me when Allah hired me for the job.”
Hodan was the model for a new kind of trailblazing journalist, a global figure tied to her global community. She was born in Somalia in 1976, and spent most of her life in Toronto and Alberta before she returned to Somalia earlier this year to document positive and uplifting stories of her people. The Somali society is global: When people fled their home country three decades ago because of a civil war, many established new lives outside Somalia. They moved to Europe, others in North America, some in Asia. All these communities are interconnected, with some families literally living across continents. Somalis, who are very much an oral and visual society, are skilled at spreading news to the rest of the community through word of mouth, and now instantly via social media. They are avid news consumers.
Hodan understood the need to disseminate inspirational videos for a society whose country was ravaged by war and conflict. She understood that Somalis were hungry to be inspired, to be shown another side of their country they normally don’t see, to hear and watch the stories of their own people told by one of their own. She never gave up hope. She launched Integration TV five years ago. Its mission was to challenge and rewrite the oversimplified and problematic media narratives around Somalia and Somalis. It was the first professionally produced media house for Somalis that really understood the power of good storytelling in the digital space. She was a generous colleague. I was already working in that space, and Hodan had reached out to me in 2016 because I was running Sahan Journal, a website that was highlighting Somali stories across the world.
While I focused on traditional reporting using the written word, Hodan used an innovative video storytelling approach to present a side of Somalia that had been left out for so long in the media narratives about Somalia. While Hodan drifted toward telling stories of her people in the Horn and East Africa, I kept building my journalism career in Minnesota. I focused on local journalism; Hodan focused on global journalism. Her brand quickly went big, and I admired her from afar.
Whenever she produced a video, she would immediately share the link and ask me to post it on Sahan. “Support me in telling Somali stories that help our people and country,” she once wrote to me.
Her decision to launch her own TV show in 2014 was inspired after she became a mother. She told a Somali radio show that as someone who grew up in Canada, she did not get the chance to learn much about Somalia. She said she realized there maybe more people like her who also didn’t know about their home country. She envisioned something better for her Canadian-born sons. “I hope when they grow up and they’re going to university, they can say they have a media that talks to them and there are positive stories about who they are and what they’re about,” she told Toronto.com in 2014. “I think it’s all about leaving a legacy for our children and giving back to the next generation.” |
