April 15, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Clan Militias Dispute Claims Three Lives In Hiiraan Region
14 April – Source: Goobjoog News – 105 Words
At least three people are confirmed dead and two others seriously wounded following clashes between clan militias in Hiiraan region of Somalia. The tragedy occurred after a dispute over pasture and territory between members of two clans turned to a deadly conflict. The fight took place in Yarmouk Village, some 24 kilometers to west of the regional capital, Baladwene. Several of the wounded victims were taken to the main hospital of Balawene for treatment. Elders from region have called for immediate ceasefire between the groups and preparations to diffuse the tension are ongoing according to one of the elders. There are fears, however, that the militias from both sides are reinforcing their stock of ammunition and food, an act that is likely to escalate the situation.
Key Headlines
- Clan Militias Dispute Claims Three Lives In Hiiraan Region (Goobjoog News)
- Somalia Sudan Agree To Boost Ties (Garowe Online)
- Four Injured In Balad Hawo Grenade Explosions (Shabelle News)
- Calm Returns To Adado Following Airport Skirmish (Shabelle News)
- AMISOM Holds Public Forum On Women’s Rights And Political Participation (AMISOM)
- Minnesota Man Pleads Guilty To Trying To Join Islamic State (Reuters)
- Somali Journalists Lived In Fear Of Colleague-Turned-Al-Shabaab Ally (Voice of America)
- Kenya On High Alert Over Planned Al Shabaab Attack (Citizen TV)
- Somalia Is Still Fragile But Fragile Is Progress (African Arguments)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia, Sudan Agree To Boost Ties
14 April – Source: Garowe Online – 207 Words
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and his Sudanese counterpart Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir have agreed to step up cooperation in various fields, Garowe Online reports. During a state visit by the Somali leader to Khartoum, the bilateral meeting between the Somalia and Sudan delegations focused on strengthening partnership in economy, trade, security, culture, education and governance.
The two countries have also agreed to form a strategic cooperation council at ministerial level in a gesture for growing ties. After a pact was signed between the two countries in all the above listed areas, Mohamud expressed appreciation for the continued support Sudan has given to Somalia during the civil war period and at present. He further called for deepened Sudanese assistance.
President mohamud also noted that Somalia was preparing for national elections expected to be held this year, a development he noted shows the huge progress made by Somalia. The Sudanese President pledged more support for Somalia and assured his Somali counterpart of his country’s commitment to Somalia’s peace process. Al Bashir hoped that Somalia will be in charge of its security in the near future, for the East African country to stand on its own feet again. Sudan has in the past offered hundreds of scholarship grants to Somali students.
Four Injured In Balad Hawo Grenade Explosions
14 April – Source: Shabelle News – 143 Words
Four people, including a woman were wounded in twin grenade blasts that occurred on Thursday evening in Balad Hawo town in Gedo region, near Somali border with Kenya, an official said. Confirming the incident, Balad Hawo District Commissioner Yusuf Abdirahman Abdulkadir said unknown assailants hurled grenades into the residence of Abdifitah Nur Matan, a Somali federal lawmaker.
Abdulkadir said he could not confirm the perpetrators of the bomb attack, but he believes Al Shabaab members wanted to assassinate the parliamentarian: “The MP has escaped unharmed from the attack, but four civilians, including a woman have been slightly injured in the double hand grenade explosions,” said Balad Hawo DC. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes a day after the city’s commissioner survived an assassination attempt after a bomb fitted on his car exploded outside his office.
Calm Returns To Adado Following Airport Skirmish
14 April – Source: Shabelle News – 106 Words
Calm has finally returned to the central town of Adado in Galgaduud region following heavy gunfight at the city’s main airport on Wednesday. This follows spirited efforts by local elders and several Galmudug state ministers, including vice president Mohamed Hashi Garabey, to bring the warring sides to the negotiation table. Adado, which serves currently as the interim capital of Galmudug state, has been relatively calm compared to the other major towns in Galgaduud region in central Somalia.Wednesday’s battle flared up after two militiamen loyal to leading Khat traders clashed at the Adado airport over an undisclosed dispute.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
AMISOM Holds Public Forum On Women’s Rights And Political Participation
14 April – Source: AMISOM – 594 Words
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in collaboration with communities in Bay region recently hosted a public forum on women`s participation and representation in politics ahead of the 2016 general elections in Somalia.
The engagement was facilitated by AMISOM and the Federal Ministry of Women and Human Rights Development to raise awareness among young women in South West region on the importance of gender mainstreaming in the democratization process in Somalia. The discussion, attended by some of Somalia’s influential women, also provided a platform for the intergenerational learning and exchange of views, all aimed at preparing young female university students to take active role in the forthcoming elections and peace making initiatives in Somalia.
The event was graced by top personalities including the Bay Region Governor, Abdirashid Abdullahi; Deputy Chairperson of Female Caucus of the Federal Parliament, Maryam Maalim Issack; the head of women in Bay region, Muraya Ibrahim Mader; representatives of the Ministry of Human Rights and Women’s Development; representatives from AMISOM and members of the local community.
Speaking at the forum, the Bay Region Governor, Abdirashid Abdullahi, emphasized the need for women to actively participate in the country`s political and democratization process, to help achieve peace and development in Somalia. Mr Abdullahi appealed to young women, to take up politics and seek representation in both the 2016 general elections and in the on-going state formation process in Somalia.
“Your role is to participate in all issues of politics because no one will stand up for your rights if you don’t. Your positions will be filled by men if you are not there. Fight for your rights,” Governor Abdirashid said. Hawa Sokor Ali, the head of Baidoa Women Group, said women have registered considerable success under the ISWA Administration because of unity among residents.
“The secret to our success is that we involved and consulted with our traditional elders, our youth, our district and regional administrations and our Members of the Federal Parliament. As a result, our role was clearly defined. The South West Constitution stipulates that women should be allocated 20 percent of the seats, we got 21 percent, “she said. Muraya Ibrahim Mader, the head of women in Bay region, urged women to participate and ensure representation at all levels in the political process of the country, if their voices are to be heard.
Ms Mane Ahmed, AMISOM Gender Officer, thanked the women in Baidoa, youth and leaders for supporting participation of women in the affairs of the country: “We came here today to congratulate the South West women and especially Baidoa women for their great achievement in fighting for parity in the Regional Parliament. We also came to learn from your experience so that we can support women to properly address the barriers to their political participation,” said Ms Ahmed.
Minnesota Man Pleads Guilty To Trying To Join Islamic State
14 April – Source: Reuters – 197 Words
A Somali-American man from Minnesota pleaded guilty on Thursday to trying to join the Islamic State and fight for the militant group in Syria, prosecutors said. Adnan Farah, 20, plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office said. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. A sentencing date has not been set yet.
More than 80 people have been charged since 2014 in U.S. federal cases related to Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the Brussels bombings in March that killed 31 people and the Paris attacks in November that killed 130. Islamic State is also known as ISIS or ISIL and controls territory in Iraq and Syria. Farah was arrested with five other men in April 2015.
The government claimed that the group worked for 10 months to join the Islamic State. All six men are friends or relatives with connections to other men who have tried or succeeded in going overseas to join Islamic State or Al Shabaab, a militant group based in Somalia. Farah’s lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Somali Journalists Lived In Fear Of Colleague-Turned-Al-Shabaab Ally
14 April – Source: Voice of America – 877 Words
How does a Somali radio reporter become a spy and collaborator with Al-Shabaab? Former journalist Hassan Hanafi Haji was executed by a Mogadishu firing squad Monday for his role in the murders of five colleagues as part of an Al-Shabaab campaign to control local media coverage of the Islamist extremist group.
One of Hanafi’s first targets was the popular private radio station Horn Afrik: “He was a risk living among us,” said reporter Falastin Iman, who woke to gunfire one August morning in 2007 to find Horn Afrik colleague Mahad Mohamed Elmi shot dead outside her door. When they took Elmi’s body to the hospital, Hanafi was waiting there.
“He was there to make sure the situation of Mahad, if he died or if he is alive,” Iman said. “He was very dangerous for the journalists because he knew us. He was not like the other al-Shabab members.” Hanafi went to Elmi’s burial later that day. In a televised confession that he later said had been obtained through torture, Hanafi said he was at the funeral to identify the car used by Iman and Horn Afrik director Ali Iman Sharmarke.
Leaving the ceremony, their car was hit by a roadside bomb. Sharmarke was killed. Iman took shrapnel to her head: “When my superiors are not happy with a journalist, they would call me and ask me about that particular journalist,” Hanafi told Somali state television. “I would provide the information. Sometimes they would inform me who is the next journalist to target and sometimes not.”
Tracing Hanafi’s path from radio reporter to Al-Shabaab agent, VOA spoke with many of his former colleagues, including Liban Abdi Ali, who first worked with Hanafi at Radio Voice of the Quran: “The man I knew was very social who liked taking good times with his friends,” Ali recalled. The changes began, he said, when Hanafi started covering Sharia courts and became “a different man, violent, full of hatred and libelous statements against journalists, especially his former friends.”
“Some of his colleagues tried to deradicalize him,” Ali said, “but he was a hard-liner and went too far into the ideology. He believed to die for it.”Reporter Abdirahman Yusuf al-Adala was Hanafi’s roommate. As his colleague became more radical, al-Adala said, Hanafi “was always calling me, either threatening me or telling me about how they executed other journalists.” Al-Adala said Hanafi sought “to terrorize me with sarcastic words over the death of colleagues.” When Hanafi invited reporters to a February 2009 news conference, Al-Shabaab gunmen killed then-Horn Afrik director Sa’id Tahlil Ahmed en route: “We watched him die in front of us,” al-Adala said. “Hanafi knew about the assassination and facilitated it. That was the day I realized that my former colleague was ruthless with inhuman intentions.”
Kenya On High Alert Over Planned Al Shabaab Attack
13 April – Source: Citizen TV – 80 Words
Security has been intensified in Malindi following reports of a planned terror attack. According to Malindi Deputy County Commissioner Gideon Ombongi, the Al Shabaab militia is planning to use suicide bombers to execute the attack. According to Intelligence reports, Al Shabaab are planning to carry out attacks in the area with the objective of causing extensive damage. Six out of 11 suicide bombers have been sent to the Coast region with the aim of executing the attack, according to reports.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“The new government has also made substantial security gains. Working closely with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and military advisers from several non-African countries, the Somali government has significantly degraded the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab and pushed its fighters to the nation’s geographic margins. Greater stability in Somalia and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, its cooperative partner to the north, has also contributed to the sharp decline in Red Sea piracy,”
Somalia Is Still Fragile, But Fragile Is Progress
14 April – Source: African Arguments -1063 Words
For more than two decades, Somalia was synonymous with a failed state − a country controlled by terrorists and warlords, lacking an effective government and beset by recurring cycles of man-made and natural disasters.No doubt, Somalia remains a work in progress. But as the world’s attention has shifted to other nations on the brink of collapse such as Yemen, Libya and the Central African Republic, Somalia’s quiet progress has made a return to anarchy increasingly unlikely. Today, Somalia, one of the world’s poorest nations, is rebuilding its economy and re-establishing a functioning government.
The influx of international diplomats augurs well, as does the relocation of more United Nations staff from Nairobi to Mogadishu. The foreign nations who have established strong presence in Mogadishu also provide a sense of optimism and much needed economic revivalism to the capital. Most importantly, the noticeable Turkish and United Arab Emirates compounds provide a necessary public perception of security for Villa Somalia (the president’s compound) and continue to provide optimism for regional and international bodies to stay engaged inside Somalia.
A additional milestone on this journey was passed in January when the Obama administration nominated Stephen Schwartz, a career diplomat and longstanding Africa specialist, to become ambassador to Mogadishu, ending a 23-year lapse. This move highlights how ties between the US and Somalia have strengthened since 2013 when Washington ended two decades without formal bilateral relations.
However, Somalia’s upgrade from failed state to fragile one must be seen for what it is. Somalia remains vulnerable to political, security and economic shocks. There’s a danger that shiny symbols of normalcy like the return of MasterCard Inc. last year − the first by a company that relies on the international payments system − could lead to complacency among donor nations that face other pressing needs. After a quarter-century of conflict, Somalia cannot tackle its reconstruction alone. For progress to continue, it will need sustained assistance −aid that also pushes Somalia’s government and people to assume growing responsibility for their own security and economic development.