NATIONAL MEDIA
Kismayo Journalists Mourn Killing Of Colleagues In The Town
16 July – Source: Jubaland TV – 92 Words
Journalists operating in Kismayo on Tuesday held a sombre ceremony to mourn the killing of two fellow journalists in a recent Kismayo terrorist attack. Media practitioners who attended the event condemned the attack that saw the death of Mohamed Sahal and prominent Somali Canadian journalist Hodan Naleyeh. The attendants extended their deepest condolences to the bereaved families of the slain journalists and other victims killed in the attack. They vowed that, despite working under adverse conditions, they will not be cowed by terrorist attacks that aim to silence and restrict press freedom.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
16 July – Source: Xinhua – 317 Words
Kenyan security forces on Monday killed three suspected Al-Shabaab militants shortly after an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated, injuring two police officers in Kiunga, Lamu town, near Kenya-Somalia border. David Lusava, Lamu East deputy commissioner confirmed the incident in the coastal town of Lamu, saying the IED believed to have been planted by the militants was targeting security units on patrol in the area. “I have received information of the IED attack somewhere in Kiunga towards the Somalia border but I don’t have the details. So I can’t even say how many have been injured or killed and whether they are terrorists or security officers,” Lusava said. “The area is under the multi-agency security operation Linda Boni, they are better placed with the details,” he added.
A police officer in Kiunga confirmed that three militants were killed during the incident. “My unit was among the first responders to the scene shortly after the RBPU (Rapid Border Patrol Unit) had been ambushed. We counted three bodies belonging to Al-Shabaab militants. They were dressed in jungle green military regalia and had around their necks, flags similar to those used by the militia group,” said the officer who declined to be named.
He said they suspect the militants might have been around 30 owing to the number of footprints located inside the bushes where they hid. “We can’t tell the exact number as they were obviously hiding so they can ambush these officers but we counted tens of different footprint patterns which suggested they were about 30 in number. Two officers were fatally wounded but have been flown out of Lamu for treatment,” the police officer said. The police believe that the militant group still remains the major threat in areas along the common border, noting that the targets include security personnel and establishments along the border as well as commuter vehicles plying routes along the border and coastal regions.
15 July – Source: Borkena – 290 Words
Ethiopian and US Defense Force kicked off today joint military training is officially opened at Peace Support Training Center, Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, on Monday, July 15, 2019, according to a press release sent to Borkena. Present during the opening ceremony were Ato Fisseha Woldesenbet (State Minister for Ethiopian Minister of Defense), Major General Yimer Ali (Ethiopian National Defense Forces Representative) and Brigadier General Habtamu Tilahun ( Commander of the Ethiopian National Defense Force Peacekeeping Center and exercise co-director) From U.S. armed forces, Major General Roger Cloutier (U.S. Army Africa commanding general) and Brigadier General Lapthe Flora (U.S. Army Africa deputy commanding general and exercise co-director) were present.
U.S Ambassador to Ethiopia, Michael Raynor, made a remark during the ceremony. “We’re enormously grateful for Ethiopia’s steadfast commitment to hosting and participating in this exercise,” he said. He also extended his “sincere gratitude” to participating nations: Brazil, Burundi, Canada, Djibouti, France, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda, and the United Kingdom.
DW Amharic reported that the number of participants is about 1100. Representatives of international organizations are also participating in the exercise. With regard to the motive of the training, DW Amharic reported that it aims to foster military skill and preparedness in Eastern Africa – the part of Africa where Al-Shabab Militants are still a threat. Ambassador Michael Raynor described Ethiopia as “the world’s largest contributor to global peacekeeping forces, and an essential partner in security cooperation efforts in the Horn of Africa, and beyond.”
The 16 days long military training has a field exercise component which will take place at the Ethiopian National Defense Force’s training center in Hurso which is close to Dire Dawa. The training is expected to happen every year.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
15 July – Source: MPR News – 985 Words
For the three years, Safiyo Mohamed has worked at the Amazon fulfillment center warehouse in Shakopee, Minn., she has felt the pressure to perform her duties as a robot would. As a stower, her responsibilities included picking, scanning and storing 260 items an hour — items of all sizes and weights that a robot delivered to her for processing.
To maintain that rate, Mohamed had to do what her robot colleague did: She would not take bathroom breaks. Or drink water. Or stretch. She feared that doing any of those things would lead her to fall behind the required rate, which would then result in the first of two disciplinary warnings, followed by a dismissal. Mohamed has survived in this environment for three years now, but many people who started working there at the same time did not. To improve the situation, she and her colleagues — Hibaq Mohamed and Nimo Hirad — have helped organized about 200 workers at Amazon’s Shakopee facility to strike six hours during Prime Day on Monday to demand better working conditions and job security.
In a statement to MPR News, an Amazon spokesperson called the protesters’ allegations “baseless,” saying that the company supports “people who are not performing to the levels expected with dedicated coaching to help them improve.” Monday’s strike is not the first time that a group of newly arrived Somali-American women with limited English has taken on the giant online retailer. The women co-organized similar protests in recent years, in which they asked Amazon to reduce the line speed and to offer prayer space.
Behind this movement is a tiny Minneapolis-based nonprofit named Awood Center, which emerged in 2017 as a powerful advocate for East African immigrant and refugee workers, especially those with low-skill jobs. Just three months after Mohamed arrived in the United States in 2016, she found herself working 40 to 60 hours a week as a stower at the Shakopee fulfillment center, earning $13 an hour. Picking, scanning and storing 260 items an hour for eight-plus hours each day and keeping up with a robot, Mohamed said, left her mentally and physically exhausted by the end of her shift. At night, she would have nightmares about messing up the required rate or getting fired. “That was because all of the people whom I started with either got injured on the job or they got fired,” she said in Somali. “After three weeks, everybody was fired. I was the only person left.” |
