SOMALI MEDIA
04 Jan- Source: Raxanreeb- 231 words
Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has declared on Tuesday that the new parliament comprising of 225 MPs will be selected in the June 2012 following the agreement reached in Garowe last month.
After a closed-door meeting with joint committee which is due to finalize the preparation of the new federal constitution, the prime minister said that his government will work tirelessly to adopt the constitution of which the draft is to be completed in the next few months.
“We have a very short period with large amount of duties to adopt the new constitution and form a new and small parliament” the prime minister told reporters in his office in Mogadishu.
He said that the adoption of the new federal constitution is the mandate of a constituent assembly which its number is 1,000 members and will be selected by the “stake holders”.
“We expect the new legislative body to be ready in June” he added.
Al Shabaab call on residents to fight against Ethiopian forces in country
04 Jan – Source: Radio Bar- Kulan – 135 words
Al Shabaab fighters have called on the residents of Jowhar District of Middle Shabelle Region, south-central Somalia to prepare to fight against Ethiopian forces that captured Beled Weyne town of Hiiraan Region, central Somalia, Radio Bar-Kulan reported on the 2nd of January.
“Al Shabaab’s head of fighters today called on the residents of Jowhar to join the fight against Ethiopian forces which recently captured parts of central Somalia, using vehicles with loudspeakers”, added the source.
This comes after pro-government forces, moderate Islamists backed by Ethiopian forces captured several parts of central Somali regions and are now advancing into other strongholds of al Shabaab in the region.
Fighting breaks out in Gedo region
04 Jan- Source: Somalia Report- 221 words
TFG and ASWJ forces fought against al Shabaab militias on Tuesday in Likooley village in the Garbahaarrey District. There were no casualties reported yet, since communications in that area are out of service.
“There was a brief confrontation between the two groups. After a short engagement, the militants ran away. Our forces are now in control of the area where the fighting took place,” an ASWJ spokesman told Somalia Report.
Forces of Ethiopian and Somalia soldiers, who recently finished training in the Doolow District of Ethiopia, were taken to the Luuq and Beled Xaawo districts of Gedo Region to take part in operations against al Shabaab.
“Forces comprised of Somali-trained youths with support from our Ethiopian neighbours are establishing bases in the region and are ready to eradicate al Shabaab from Somalia,” Abey John, a TFG officer in Gedo, told Somalia Report:
“the Somali government is aware of the Ethiopian troops, there is no secret they are present. We welcome anyone who will help us to get rid of these militants who have kept peace and prosperity far from Somalia,” he added.
Somali Defence Minister Husayn Arab Ise declared, a day after Ethiopian troops captured Beled Weyne, “the operation to fight against al Shabaab and eliminate them from the country,” saying that the struggle has begun in all of the regions controlled by al Shabaab militias.
Al Shabaab leader has commanded suicide bombers
04 Jan- Source: Radio Kulmiye, Andulus- 132 words
An audiotape released by al Shabaab propaganda outlet radio Andalus, the Somali al Shabaab leader Sheikh Ahmed Abuzubeyr praised the suicide bombers in Somalia. The leader says suicide bombings against enemy targets is a cautious duty to every Muslim people in the world.
Muktaar Abuu Zubeyr has also sent a message to the Somali Diaspora community in the world, saying they have to stand with the Mujaahidiin (al Shabaab) in Somalia supporting their brothers in arms, he said. Al Shabaab has been engaged in warfare against the TFG and the African Union peacekeepers of AMISOM which they say are African Christians whose goal is to invade Somalia.
TFG soldier kills three civilians in Mogadishu
04 Jan- Source: Radio Kulmiye- 50 words
A TFG soldier shot dead three civilians in KM4 junction of Mogadishu on Tuesday afternoon. The reason is still unknown and Hodan district administration confirmed the incident.
This is not the first time a government soldier opens fire on innocent civilians in the war-torn city of Mogadishu.
Al Shabaab “conscripting child soldiers” in Galgadud region
03 Jan- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 209 words
Al Shabaab is stepping up a child soldier recruitment campaign in parts of Galgadud region, reports say.
Reports say that al Shabaab has been for the last three days recruiting underage children in El-der area to counter forces battling the outlawed group in parts of the region. The group has reportedly trained over 40 youngsters in several mosques in the area.
Ahlu Sunna’s former area district commissioner Hussein Mohamud Osoble told Bar-kulan that the group has recently resorted to recruit children and elderly men, an act he strongly condemned.
Osoble claimed that they received three young boys who escaped from the rebel group after they were allegedly kidnapped from Elasha Biyaha area.
He said they are trying their best to avert child conscription in the region.
Ahlu Sunna recently accused the al Shabaab group of stepping up child soldier recruitment campaign in the areas under its control and called for immediate action.
ASWJ’s executive committee deputy chairman, Ahmed Abdullahi Mohamud, told Bar-kulan that his group has in the past raised concern of the escalating child soldier recruitment in areas controlled by al Shabaab.
He claimed that al Shabaab took advantage of the recent drought and hunger in the country to recruit children into its militias by giving food and other handouts to their parents.
Eight militants killed in southwestern Somalia airstrike
04 Jan- Source: Somalia Report- 245 words
An airstrike killed eight al Shabaab militants and injured more than 10 after alleged Kenyan planes bombed an al Shabaab convoy passing through Wataraka village in Baardheere District on Tuesday afternoon, according to reports from the Gedo Region of southwestern Somalia.
Sources close to the Transitional Federal Government and pro-government militias of Ahlu Sunnah wal Jama’a of Gedo Region told Somalia Report that the airstrikes occurred while the militants were fetching water from the well in the village.
Sheikh Muhammad Husein Al-Qadi, an ASWJ spokesman, spoke with Somalia Report: “we received information that eight terrorists were killed and 13 others were injured, while their fighting vehicles and military equipment were destroyed. It’s great to see the enemy being destroyed badly. We can’t confirm for you which airforce carried out the airstrikes, I think either Kenya or America, but know that all our neighbouring countries and friends share our fight with these warmongers, attempting to spread their deviant ideology through east Africa,” he said.
Local residents told Somalia Report that two vehicles carrying al Shabaab casualties were taken to local clinics in the Baardheere District, while those who were severely injured were taken to hospital in Baydhabo, in the Bay Region.
“Locals have been afraid since the airstrikes started last month, many people have fled the areas near to al Shabaab. Both the government and al Shabaab have indicated they are preparing for war in the Gedo Region,” a local added, asking to remain anonymous.
Tense fighting rises up in parts of southeast Somalia
04 Jan- Source: Radio Shabelle- 109 words
A tense situation between Somali government soldiers backed by the Kenyan army and al Shabaab fighters has increased in parts of Gedo region in southwest Somalia, following the Kenyan incursion into Somalia, residents said on Wednesday.
Residents say tension is hight in many districts, including Bardhere district and villages in that region, following military movement conducted by Somali government soldiers backed by the Kenyan army and al Shabaab fighters.
The region has been tense as bitter clash between the two rival sides continued at the border regions of Somalia with Kenya.
Somali government troop officials in the region stated that they are committed to drive the militants out of that region as soon as possible.
04 Jan- Source: Mareeg Online- 170 words
At least 5 candidates are contesting for the post of parliament speaker of the TFG after former parliament speaker, Sharif Hassan Sheik Adamo was dismissed in the middle of last month, reports said.
Some of those candidates are expected to declare their interest in the post at an assembly which is due to be held at the parliament building today, even though dispute among lawmakers remains unsolved, reports said.
Mohamed Guled, one of the Somali MPs and member of the electoral committee told local F.M stations in the capital that they are having a crucial meeting and will listen to the speeches of the candidates and would go ahead with their duties, reports said.
Galmudug state President bans firearms in Galkayo town
03 Jan- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 14 words
Galmudug’s president, Mohamed Ahmed Alin on Tuesday outlawed the carrying of illegal firearms within Galkayo town, Mudug region.
President Alin made the announcement while meeting security officers from his Galmudug-administered southern part of the city.
He urged the security officers not to allow illegal firearms in the city, saying that they should deal with defiant individuals seen carrying firearms in town.
He said the ban is aimed at curbing the activities of criminal elements trying to unleash terror on residents in the city as well as bolstering security situation.
Alin also called on security officers in the region to tighten security in Galkayo town.
Kenyan forces detain around 100 people in Madera town
04 Jan- Source: Radio Shabelle- 141 words
Reports from Madera town in northeast of Kenya on Wednesday indicate that around hundred of Somalis living in the town were arrested by the Kenyan security forces overnight, following attacks and explosions against the military forces in the town.
Witnesses said the arrests followed an operation conducted overnight by the security forces which was meant to hunt down the mastermind of a landmine blast which targeted yesterday a Kenyan military convoy passing in Madera town, causing casualties in the army.
Reports also say the Kenyan military forces have been detaining teenagers originally from Somalia, whom the security forces are blaming for the latest incidents in Mandera town and taken into custody.
The military operations were reported to have halted the business activities and public movement in the town of Madera in northeast Kenya.
TFG, Kenyan troops capture Fafadun town, South Somalia
04 Jan- Source: Radio Mogadishu, SONNA- 185 words
A key al Shabaab leader in the strategic Gedo region in Somalia has been killed as Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) and Transitional Federal Government (TFG) troops capture Fafadun town in the northern sector.
Kenyan military spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir in his latest update posted on Twitter on Wednesday added that two other militants were also killed in the latest attack that left one Kenyan soldier injured.
KDF and TFG advanced from Busar town. During the operation, two AK-47’s, 3 Browning Pistols and 3 HF radios were captured.
“Out of the engagement 3 al Shabaab (were) killed, 2 AK-47, 3 Browning Pistols and 3 HF radios captured. 1 KDF slightly injured” Chirchir tweeted.
The al Shabaab terrorists are pulling out from positions they were holding ahead of the Somali National Army’s advance against them. There are widespread reports from residents in all those areas, reaching the national media and confirming the flight of all al Shabaab top leadership, moving out in long convoys disguised as ordinary private transport and leaving behind youngsters to face the might of the Somali Army, while they are retreating to safe havens.
Regional education minister kidnapped in central Somali town
03 Jan – Source: Radio Simba – 172 words
Pirates have reportedly kidnapped Galmudug regional administration Education minister in Gaalkacyo town, central Somalia, privately-owned Radio Simba reported on 3 January.
“We have made contact with the minister and confirmed that he was abducted by pirates. “Security departments of the administration are in search of who was behind the abduction of the minister and later on will speak to the media,” Radio Simba reports.
Reports confirm that the abduction comes after the “minister freed a young boy from the pirates which they held as hostage in Gaalkacyo and he refused to give the pirates ransom they were demanding in exchange of the release”, according to the source.
Puntland to improve agricultural sector in the region
04 Jan- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 133 words
Puntland is stepping up agricultural development programmes in parts of the region in order to boost agricultural output in the region, officials say.
Puntland’s Agriculture minister, Mohamud Salah, said his ministry is currently working on plans to improve the agricultural sector in Puntland, especially areas suitable for farming.
The minister made the announcement after meeting members of Puntland’s Agricultural Committee in Garowe.
Salah blamed lack of skills among farmers as a factor affecting agricultural output in Puntland.
The minister said he was surprised to see livestock herders using insecticides meant for spraying on farms to treat their livestock in some parts of the region.
He said such chemicals can create risks for their livestock, saying that he will call for legislations to curb such misuse of farm chemicals and reduce the risk involved.
REGIONAL MEDIA
04 Jan- Source: African Review- 305 Words.
The African Union is set to launch a new integrated military strategy to fight the al Shabaab extremist group in Somalia.
Defence ministers and army chiefs of six East African countries are scheduled to meet Wednesday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to discuss the proposed new approach to tackling the Islamist group.
The AU’s Peace and Security commissioner Ambassador Ramaten Lamamra said the consultation meeting would go over the unified plan which had been prepared by experts.
Ambassador Lamamra said he was however constrained to explain in detail the content of the proposed strategy as it was a classified working document.
Defence ministers and army chiefs from the troop contributing countries– Ethiopia, Djibouti Kenya Burundi, Somalia and Uganda– will take part in the final consultation on the plan.
Sources who participated in the preparation of the document said the military strategy would task each country with different zones and aimed at avoiding contradictions in the military interventions.
04 Jan- Source: the Standard- 219 words
Two Kenya Revenue Authority officials escaped death after a vehicle they were using to patrol the Kenya-Somalia border in Mandera missed a remote controlled explosive device.
The device exploded near Mandera District Cereals and Produce Board depot two minutes after the vehicle carrying the officials passed the area.
Mandera East DC Benson Leparmorijo said the attackers targeted the vehicle for unknown motives, but they missed it after the device failed to explode as planned.
He said no body was arrested in connection with the incident. Hundreds of curious onlookers went to the scene and this made it hard for police officers to pursue or identify the suspects.
Mandera town has experienced several incidents of attacks mainly targeting security and Government vehicles since Operation Linda Nchi began in early October last year.
03 Jan- Source: StarAfrica-104 words
The Chief of Defense Staff and Ministers of Defense of the AMISOM Troops of contributing countries (TCCS) as well as other councils, will today meet at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to actively pursue and complete the consultation process towards the finalization of the strategic concepts of the new phase in the implementation of the AMISOM mandate.
Participants at the meeting will include: the AU Commission, Chiefs of Defense Staff and Ministers of Defense of the AMISOM TCCs (Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda) alongside other interested countries.
02 Jan- Source: Daily Nation, Shabelle- 250 words
Kenya has promised to investigate reports that a Ugandan rebel group is recruiting Somali refugees living in the country to topple President Yoweri Museveni’s government.
Internal Security assistant minister Orwa Ojode denied knowledge of the presence of Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) elements in the country.
“I am not aware of any rebel groups in Kenya, give me time to counter-check the information because I’ve been away in China,” said Mr Ojode.
A new report released by the United Nations claims that the rebel group is using Nairobi as its economic and financial hub.
“Nairobi has served as the hub of ADF economic and financial activities,” says the report by a group of experts investigating compliance with UN sanctions against rebel groups operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Described by the panel as “a Ugandan Islamist rebel force” seeking to overthrow the Ugandan government, the ADF is said to include about 1,000 combatants.
It has recently recaptured a territory lost to the DRC military, the report says.
Kenyan authorities raided a Nairobi home a few months ago and captured one of the sons of ADF leader Jamil Mukulu, the UN panel reports.
04 Jan- Source: Gulf Times- 52 words
The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani has received a written message from Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed on bilateral relations and issues of common concern. The message was handed over by Somali Ambassador Omar Sheikh Ali Idriss during a meeting yesterday with the Emir at Al Wajbah Palace.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
04 Jan- Source: AP- 87 words
Kenya’s military says its forces killed three militant fighters from al Shabaab in a battle in Somalia.
Military spokesman Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir said Wednesday that one Kenyan soldier was also killed in the battle.
Chirchir said that Kenyan and Somali troops are advancing north. Kenyan troops entered Somalia in mid-October to attack al Shabaab militants and have been supported by Somalia’s weak army.
Since then Ethiopian troops have entered Somalia on the country’s west, who along with African Union troops in Mogadishu are squeezing al Shabaab fighters on three sides.
03 Jan – Source: NPR News – 1642 words
Reports point to a dramatic rise in rapes of women and girls in Somalia, where severe drought and famine have killed tens of thousands of people and forced countless more, especially females, into refugee camps. Host Michel Martin speaks with Jeffrey Gettleman, East Africa bureau chief for The New York Times.
Jeffrey, it’s nice to have you back once again. Happy New Year to you.
JEFFREY GETTLEMAN: Happy New Year to you.
MARTIN: And before we begin, of course, we need to remind everyone that this is a story about sexual violence against women, so it’s very disturbing and the conversation may not be suitable for everyone.
Jeffrey, to that end, we were talking earlier. I’m imagining it’s difficult to shock you at this point after many years overseas, but you were telling us that you’ve found this disturbing, that you were surprised, in fact, by the extent of this issue.
GETTLEMAN: Yeah. And I was also very frustrated that there wasn’t a lot being done about it. I have written about human rights abuses and atrocities across this part of Africa, in Sudan and Congo and Kenya and Somalia, but usually, there’s a response. What was really disturbing and frustrating about Somalia is that there are thousands of women who seem to have been victimized recently and in horrible ways. You know, I wrote about girls who are buried up to their neck in sand and then stoned to death. You know, girls that were gang raped in front of younger family members.
And this stuff is happening, you know, across southern Somalia and there’s almost nobody working on it and helping these women recover from this abuse.
MARTIN: What do we know about the people who are – or what do we think we know about the people who are attacking these women? What’s motivating this increase in these really disturbing, sadistic attacks?
GETTLEMAN: Well, it’s a few things. The first thing is the famine. The famine has caused massive displacement in Somalia. We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of people who have trekked out of their villages because there’s no food and sought help, either in Kenya, Ethiopia or a camp inside Somalia.
And, often, the displaced people are disproportionately women and children. The men sometimes stay behind to guard what little possessions the family still has or they get caught up in a conflict and that’s what we’ve seen in Somalia. So the majority of people coming into these refugee camps are women, single women, often young women. And that has created an opportunity for anybody with a weapon to abuse them and so we’ve seen that.
Then, on top of that, this phenomenon that’s happening with the Shabaab Islamic group. The Shabaab control large parts of southern Somalia. They say that they’re trying to push forward a puritanical, you know, strict form of Wahhabi Islam. They have rejected western music, western dress. They’ve even given women problems about wearing bras. And they have started this thing called temporary marriages where they demand that families give them young girls to be their wives for their fighters and their commanders, but it really is just rape. Often, the women are treated horribly for a couple weeks and then discarded.
And the people I was talking to were saying that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of cases of this going on right now.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
03 Jan- Source: Star Tribune- 552 Words
These days, there are worries within the Somali community in Minnesota, as well as in other states: How can people safely send money to loved ones in the Horn of Africa — and, more specifically, in Somalia — following the Twin Cities-based Sunrise Community Bank’s decision to close the accounts of its Somali American Money Transfer Businesses?
This decision means that Somali-Americans cannot contribute to the fundamental support of their loved ones. There are no other ways to safely transfer money to Somalia, where there are no functioning banks.
One question is what the impact will be, in the short and the long terms, if Sunrise (the bank that handles a large amount of Somali money transfers from Minnesota) and other American banks won’t work with the hawalas?
Another question is whether the hawalas will work with the U.S. government to find a solution.
Somalia’s GDP is one of the lowest in the world; its economy is heavily dependent upon remittances from Somalis in the Western diaspora. Remittances have provided a safety net for Somali families subsisting within an anarchic and stateless land for the past 15 years.
03 Jan- Source: Exodus Cry Blog – 751 Words
The last thing Somalia needs is military unrest. With droughts wreaking havoc on the entire southern half of Somalia, and neighboring countries willing to invade to “help” (the last time Ethiopia invaded Somalia, the casualties ranged in the millions), this is the exact wrong time for a militant Muslim faction to arise and assert tribal dominance. But arise one did: al Shabaab.
Drought and famine alone do not cause people to flee, the Guardian points out. While Kenya has seen refugees from all of the Horn countries in decades past, recently only one population of farmers is fleeing across international borders: Somalia’s. The reason is that for the last 20 years Somalia has lacked a stable government, and al Shabaab currently has control of much of southern Somalia.
Seeking shelter from the famine and military transcription by roaming al Shabaab militias, refugees have gone generally to one of two places: Mogadishu, the bombed out shell-of-a-capital-city that has never really recovered from an American-led war maneuvers in the mid 1990’s, and Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp.
While Dadaab technically sits in Kenya, the border is nothing more than an imaginary line through the desert, one boldly crossed first by al-Shabaab militants when they raided Dadaab and abducted several aid workers, then crossed later by the Kenyan military in an effort to route insurgents allegedly hiding in 10 Somali towns.
04 Jan- Source: Conflict Kenya Blog- 1475 Words
Mistrust between security agencies and the civilian population in the frontline regions bordering Somalia may jeopardise Kenya’s military operation against the al Shabaab militant group and even frustrate ongoing homeland security efforts.
A grassroots crisis meeting organised over the Christmas weekend by the Kenya Muslim Youth Alliance (KMYA) in collaboration with the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM) to discuss the sudden rise of grenade and machinegun attacks in Garissa Town revealed that many residents of North Eastern Province are unwilling to assist the government arrest perpetrators of these attacks and even prevent some of the attacks because security agents simply ignore their input or end up victimising the very people who volunteer information.
For example, a fact-finding mission organised by KMYA in collaboration with the SUPKEM was told the brutality visited upon good Samaritans who rushed to assist security officers injured when an explosive device blew up the vehicle they were riding in around the Daadab refugee camp has discouraged local people from assisting the government in security matters.
“We fear victimisation and that is why we would rather say nothing and run away when our help is needed. Youth leaders recently reported that they came across a plant devices near the refugee camp and when they reported to the police, they were instead beaten and locked up for interrogation as suspects,” a local youth leader said.
SomaliNet Forum Thread
During early December, Best friends Farmaajo and his defence minister Abdixakiin Fiqi and Dr. Axmed Ducaale participated in hope conference 2 in Rome, the event took place in the Italian parliament, it was organised by Shukri Siyaad and the italian parliament speaker.
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