April 17, 2015 | Morning Headlines.
Adado Conference Kicks Off In Central Somalia
16 April – Source: Garowe Online – 181 Words
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud officially launched the state formation conference in Adado town, in Galgadud region of central Somalia, on Thursday, Garowe Online reports. In attendance were Interior Minister Abdirahman Odawa alongside other cabinet members, parliamentarians, the state formation technical committee head Halima Ismael, UN envoy to Somalia Ambassador Nicholas Kay, IGAD’s Mohamed Abdi Afey, Turkish Ambassador Olgen Bakar and Ugandan envoy Nathan Mugisha. Mohamud said in his opening remarks that convention is open, asking traditional leaders to finalize the 510 delegates who will elect the regional president in two weeks.
The conference follows weeks of deadlock over the venue of the state formation conference and the anticipated and contested headquarters of the forthcoming federal state. Although mobile phone masts in central Somalia were affected by heavy rains, sources tell Garowe Online that some breakthroughs were made in regards to solutions over key differences. Mohamud and international community representatives have flocked into Adado in preparation for the convention launch. On Wednesday, insiders confirmed to Garowe Online that 100 delegates from Dhusamareb were denied entry into Adado.
Key Headlines
- Adado Conference Kicks Off In Central Somalia (Garowe Online)
- Government Forces In Mareeray Launch Operations To Remove Roadblocks (Goobjoog News)
- Kenyan Lawmakers Against Forceful Repatriation Of Somali Refugees (Radio Bar-Kulan)
- Downpour Disrupts Traffic In Mogadishu (Garowe Online)
- Beletweyne Schools And Universities Booming (Radio Ergo)
- Somali Al-Shabaab University Massacre Gunmen Were Kenyans: Report (Daily Nation/AFP)
- Taekwondo: Somali Exile Fights For Olympic Dream (The Peninsula Qatar)
- Matar Al Kaabi Minister Of Religious Affairs Of Somalia Discuss Cooperation (Emirates News Agency)
- Pope Pleas To Kenya University Gunmen To “Come To Their Senses” (Reuters)
- South African Authorities’ Xenophobic Remarks ‘Contributed To Outbreak Of Violence’ (RT)
- Should Kenyan Troops Pull Out Of Somalia? (Standard Media)
- Al-Shabaab’s Kenyan Ambitions (International Crisis Group)
SOMALI MEDIA
Government Forces In Mareeray Launch Operations To Remove Roadblocks
16 April – Source: Goobjoog News – 119 Words
The administration of Mareeray locality has successfully managed to get rid of checkpoints set up by gunmen in the area. Mareeray chief, Sayid Baale Mayaw who spoke to Goobjoog FM said that they uprooted the illegal road barriers which had created negative impacts on the passengers and public vehicles of Mareeray. “The government forces in Mareeray launched [an] operation intended to clear the bad elements operating in the area including the gunmen who set roadblocks” he said. He added that forces apprehended several gunmen who set illegal road barriers in the area. Roadblocks interrupt people’s daily lives because the armed men at the checkpoints demand large sums of money which the drivers typically cannot afford to pay.
Kenyan Lawmakers Against Forceful Repatriation Of Somali Refugees
16 April – Source: Radio Bar- Kulan – 310 Words
Kenyan parliamentarians on Wednesday pledged dialogue with the international community to facilitate voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees. Ekwe Ethuro, Speaker of the Kenyan Senate, said the East African nation will abide by international protocols to ensure repatriation of Somali refugees does not compromise their safety. “The government has an obligation to respect international commitments as we embark on a process of repatriating Somalia refugees. We have commenced discussions with UN Refugee Agency to explore the best modality of returning these refugees to their homeland,” Ethuro told journalists in Nairobi. He was speaking during a forum for parliamentarians in the great lakes region that discussed terrorism and eruption of new conflicts.
The Kenyan government has vowed to fast-track repatriation of Somali refugees as part of a long-term war against terrorism. Deputy President William Ruto said last week Kenya had given a three-month ultimatum to repatriate all Somali refugees in the country’s Dadaab refugee camp. He added the government will initiate forceful relocation of the refugees once the three month deadline is over. Officials from the UN Refugees Agency early this week urged Kenya to reconsider the decision to relocate Somali refugees. They stressed that Kenya is signatory to the Geneva Convention that obligates countries to treat persons fleeing from war and persecution with dignity. Kenyan lawmakers are opposed to the repatriation of Somali refugees until their security is guaranteed. According to the Senate speaker, Kenya will abide by domestic and international legal instruments to facilitate smooth relocation of an estimated 350, 000 Somali refugees. “The decision to repatriate Somalia refugees is based on the current national security threats we are facing. We need to protect our territory from infiltration by terrorists but the law must be followed,” Ethuro said. He said that refugee camps located in Kenya’s northern frontiers have been infiltrated by terrorists.
Downpour Disrupts Traffic In Mogadishu
16 April – Source: Garowe Online – 94 Words
Heavy rains that lasted 24 hours brought vehicular traffic to standstill, waterlogging low-lying areas in Mogadishu on Thursday, Garowe Online reports. Photographs taken from several scenes show cars floating in high-depth waters on account of flash floods. Downpour is said to have damaged some sections of state highways in Mogadishu, forcing hundreds to stay indoors. Somalia Government offices-bound commuters are among those disrupted by heavy rains. Meanwhile, a thunderstorm left two teenage boys dead in Hareri Adle village which lies a few kilometres away from agriculture-rich town of Balad.
Beletweyne Schools And Universities Booming
16 April – Source: Radio Ergo – 243 Words
The number of children and young people going to school and university in Beletweyne has risen dramatically over the past two years, according to local educators and parents. Abdisalan Abdullahi Elmi, the registrar of Hiran University, told Radio Ergo’s local reporter there were now nine high schools and six universities in Beletweyne. Most of which opened in the past two years. Abdinasir Farah Elmi, chairman of development services in the region, said research in 2014 showed that 800 students had finished high school and 500 had joined university. Students are even coming to schools in Beletweyne from remote rural areas and villages across the border in Ethiopia. Al-Ihsan primary school provides free education for children from displaced families and poor families.
Dr Qassim Ahmed, the administrator, said they opened in 2013 with 115 children and now have over 400 students. In 2014, the school had enrolled 86 girls and 73 boys. Halima Mohamed Hussein, a mother in Hawatako neighbourhood, said parents had understood the importance of educating girls. “Two of my daughters are enrolled at Al-Ihsan primary school. Girls are committed to learning more than boys, who are busy thinking about doing other things apart from school!” she said. Beletweyne education has made a good recovery since it hit a low point in December 2008, when armed groups killed four teachers at the former Hicap School, leading to the subsequent closure of the school and displacing of many teachers.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Somali Al-Shabaab University Massacre Gunmen Were Kenyans: Report
16 April – Source: Daily Nation/AFP – 340
All four gunmen from Somalia’s Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab who carried out the Kenyan university massacre earlier this month were Kenyans, reports said on Thursday. The militants attacked the university in the northeastern town of Garissa on April 2, lining up non-Muslim students for execution and killing 148 people in what President Uhuru Kenyatta described as a “barbaric medieval slaughter”. One of the four gunmen killed by Kenyan special forces who ended the day-long siege has already been named as Abdirahim Abdullahi, an ethnic Somali Kenyan national who was top student and law graduate. But Kenya’s major Daily Nation newspaper, quoting unnamed intelligence reports, said the other three gunmen killed were also Kenyan, believed to be from the port city of Mombasa and the far western district of Bungoma.
The fact that all four are reported to be Kenyans highlights the Somali insurgents’ ability to recruit within Kenya. “Identities will be confirmed once their fingerprints are matched,” the Nation said, citing intelligence officials. There was no immediate response from Kenyan police to confirm the report. After the attack, Kenyatta warned that the terrorists were “deeply embedded” inside Kenya, not just Somalia. A $215,000 (200,000 euro) bounty has also been offered for alleged Shabaab commander Mohamed Mohamud, a former Kenyan teacher said to be the mastermind behind the attack. While the Shabaab emerged as a Somali Islamist group in 2006 in Mogadishu, they have recruited across the wider region.
The group has carried out a string of revenge attacks in neighbouring countries, notably Kenya and Uganda, in response to their participation in the African Union force fighting them in Somalia. Following the attack the Shabaab warned of a “long, gruesome war” unless Nairobi withdraws its troops from Somalia, saying the gunmen carried out the Garissa attack in revenge for the “systematic persecution of the Muslims in Kenya”. Shabaab fighters also carried out the Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi in September 2013, a four-day siege which left at least 67 people dead.
Taekwondo: Somali Exile Fights For Olympic Dream
16 April – Source: The Peninsula Qatar – 292 Words
Faisal Jeylani Aweys has not seen his native Somalia since he fled 14 years ago, but he lives in hope of winning an Olympic medal for his war-torn country. And Aweys’ chosen sport of taekwondo has a way of throwing up medals for countries in trouble such as Afghanistan — so why not Somalia? Aweys grew up in a country at war and his mother died from cancer when he was still a small boy. He left with a sister for Switzerland at the age of 13. “I discovered a life, that of an adolescent, because up to then, my life had only been running away.” Inspired by his mother who had been a taekwondo athlete, Aweys also took up the martial art. “My French teacher knew a bit of my story and told me to ‘go for this’. Out of respect for her, I did it. It was a way to get closer to my mother.”
Now he teaches taekwondo in Lausanne and is ranked 60th in the world in the under-58 kilos category. In Switzerland, Aweys quickly became a black belt and qualified to become a referee and coach. “For a long time, I fought in the name of my club, not Switzerland, as I did not have a passport,.” he said. Married and with a young child, Aweys decided to halt competition in 2010 because he thought sport would dominate his family life. But the secretary general of the Somali Olympic Committee, Duran Farah, went to the Lausanne Open tournament and Aweys’ life changed again. “He was looking for top level athletes. At first I was not very keen, but I had no real excuse not to fight, so I said yes.”
Matar Al Kaabi, Minister Of Religious Affairs Of Somalia Discuss Cooperation
16 April – Source: Emirates News Agency – 174 Words
Dr. Mohammed Matar Al Kaabi, Chairman of the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, has held discussions with Abdulkadir Sheikh Ali, Minister of Religious Affairs of Somalia. Al Kaabi gave a presentation on the progress of the authority as well as the services provided in the light of the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Supreme Council Members, Their Highnesses the Rulers of the Emirates. He also praised the leadership’s interest in serving mosques. The Somali Minister was briefed on the authority’s efforts in the field of spreading its message and vision. He also expressed his admiration of the distinguished services provided by the authority, wishing that all other religious institutions would benefit from the authority’s experience.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Pope Pleas To Kenya University Gunmen To “Come To Their Senses”
16 April – Source: Reuters – 181 Words
Pope Francis on Thursday appealed to Somali Islamist militants who killed 148 people at a Kenyan university last month to stop their brutality and “come to their senses”. He told Kenyan bishops visiting the Vatican that he prayed for those killed by acts of terror, ethnic and tribal hostilities in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa. “I think most especially of the men and women killed at Garissa University College on Good Friday,” the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics said. “May those who commit such brutality come to their senses and seek mercy.”
The gunmen hunted down Christians while sparing Muslims in that attack. Francis has repeatedly expressed alarm about Christians being targeted for their faith and condemned the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts in Libya in February. He urged the visiting bishops to work with Christian and non-Christian leaders to promote peace in predominantly-Christian Kenya. Al Shabaab said Garissa was revenge for Kenya sending troops into Somalia to fight alongside African Union peacekeepers against the Islamist group.
South African Authorities’ Xenophobic Remarks ‘Contributed To Outbreak Of Violence’
16 April – Source: RT – 746 Words
Violent attacks against foreigners erupted in South Africa because politicians don’t want to take the situation seriously and only worsen it by their statements, says Abdirizak Ali Osman, Secretary General of the Somali Community Board of South Africa. Nearly a week of anti-immigrant riots in the South African city of Durban have claimed at least five lives and displaced more than a thousand people. Locals have looted and torched shops run by immigrants and attacked their owners, accusing them of stealing their jobs. The similar outbreak of violence against immigrants took place in 2008. The latest unrest came after xenophobic statements made by Edward Zuma, son of President Jacob Zuma. He said the country is “sitting on a ticking time bomb,” while foreigners are “taking over”. The leader of the largest ethnic group in South Africa, Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, reportedly said that “[foreigners should] pack their bags and leave.”
According to Abdirizak Ali Osman, Secretary General of the Somali Community Board of South Africa these statements have contributed “a lot” to the violence. “It seems that the people actually take this statement from Zulu seriously and they have decided to act on his behalf and started looting from the foreigners in Durban and somewhere else. So it’s obvious that these statements and these remarks coming from the leaders are one of the factors that contributed to the violence against foreigners in South Africa,” he told RT. Migrants who got attacked complain that people who looted their shops and took their property also wanted them to “leave the country” or even “to kill them,” Osman said. He added that migrants are facing violence not only in the coastal city of Durban, but in other areas across the country. The reason why the situation, reminiscent of that in 2008, occurred again is because politicians do not want to take matters seriously, Osman said. He said that while there are a lot of migrants who arrived in South Africa for economic reasons, there are also many refugees who had to flee their home countries because they face persecution there.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Any withdrawal at this time will be very dangerous for this country. It would mean a stronger enemy and more terrorism,” said Meru Senator Kiraitu Murungi. Powerful countries “If a thief attacks you after you had hired a watchman, will you sack them because you were raided?” posed Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen. But Opposition leaders insisted attacks on Kenyans are due to Kenya’s involvement in Somalia. “We demand withdrawal of Kenya’s military from Somalia with speed. The rain started beating us when we insisted on sending troops to Somalia. This is not a safe country any more,” said Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka.”
Should Kenyan Troops Pull Out Of Somalia?
16 April – Source: Standard Media – 894 Words
Government supporters say pulling the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) out of the troubled Horn of Africa nation will not halt terror attacks in Kenya and will only undermine national security. But many in the Opposition argue the troops’ presence in Somalia has become costly, both in lives lost and materially, while moderates advocate for a review of military strategy while keeping boots on the ground. President Uhuru Kenyatta, the Commander- in-Chief of the KDF, has vowed the troops, who went to Somalia in 2011 in pursuit of terrorists who had breached the country’s borders, would remain there until they accomplish the mission to vanquish Al-Shabaab and stabilise the country. “I guarantee Kenyans that my administration shall respond in the severest ways possible to the Garissa attack, and any other threat to us,” President Kenyatta said on April 4 in an address after the attack on Garissa University College in which he asked Kenyans not to fall for the false narratives propagated by terrorists. Governor Ali Roba, who has been a target of terror attacks in his county of Mandera, where dozens have been killed, says KDF should only pullout after Somalia’s security has stabilised.
“I know some people are of the view that the troops should be withdrawn and it’s very easy for them but for us, who have been hardest hit by the terror attacks, KDF is really doing a good job staying there,” said Mr Roba, whose county shares a 300km border with Somalia. Senate Speaker Ekwe Ethuro is also opposed to the suggestion. “No way. We should even add more soldiers to Somalia to get rid of Al-Shabaab completely,” said Mr Ethuro. The new Moderator of the Presbytarian Church of East Africa, Julius Mwamba, has said the war against Al-Shabaab in Somalia must continue. “Mr President, terror can never be defeated through cowardice, but by boldly facing and vanquishing the enemy,” Mr Mwamba said during the 21st PCEA General Assembly in Nairobi. Murang’a Governor Mwangi wa Iria said the presence of the Kenyan soldiers in Somalia should not be politicised by leaders, but supported.
“They went there for a purpose which must be accomplished before leaving. Al-Shabaab are not attacking Kenya because KDF is in Somalia. They started attacking long before and hence the decision to move in. We must deal with the enemy both within and without,” said Kiambu Governor William Kabogo. “The argument that we should exit is weak and a fallacy because there is no evidence that the terrorists will then cease attacks. Let’s make Somalia peaceful because we get attacked for being a soft target primarily due to the 700km long border with Somalia,” argues Senate deputy Speaker Kembi Gitura. “A withdrawal will be seen as a sign of cowardice and provoke further attacks inside our territory. But the Government must beef up security along the border to forestall further incursions,” said Isiolo Governor Godana Doyo. Nyeri Governor Nderitu Gachagua said withdrawal would be tantamount to giving in to the demands of an evil terrorist organisation that “thrives in creating fear and shedding blood”.
Siaya Senator James Orengo said history shows that even powerful countries like the US withdrew troops from hotspots like Afghanistan and Iraq. “We know very well the consequences of war of occupation and it will cost us. We should just withdraw our troops from Somalia to end this,” he said. Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo said the Government should rethink its strategy on Somalia, arguing that Ethiopia has a long borderline with Somalia yet it is not attacked. But Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo said: “President Kenyatta should first reorganise the chain of command in the security forces for an effective force to fight Al-Shabaab.”
“Some of these things are brewed from Kenya and it is going to be difficult to help fight terrorism if Al-Shabaab is being brewed within the Kenyan borders,” said Nominated MP Oburu Oginga, adding that construction a wall between Kenya and Somalia is “pure corruption”. “After the Garissa attack, it is time for the Government to think of withdrawing its troops from Somalia. We will win the war against terrorism if our military will be deployed at the border to secure the country,” said Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya. “They should have a human wall of soldiers. Let them come and line at the border day in and out to ensure security. Withdrawing the troops should be viewed as a technical retreat to organise the forces and not a failure,” said Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga. Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo asked the Government to publish a timetable of how and when Kenyan forces will be withdrawn.
“Still, the domestic threat to Kenya – umbilically linked to Somalia – is gathering momentum. This makes the political and administrative strategy to combat extremism all the more critical. The shock of Westgate triggered bad policy decisions that cost the government support, including mass arrests and internment in Nairobi’s immigrant-heavy Eastlands estates, violent raids on mosques in Mombasa, and suspected extrajudicial killings of Islamic sheikhs sympathetic to Al-Shabaab. The subsequent Al-Shabaab attacks in Mpeketoni and Mandera brought further polarisation between different ethnic and faith communities, as well as thinly veiled aspersions cast about “opposition” involvement.”
Al-Shabaab’s Kenyan Ambitions
15 April – International Crisis Group – 1,291 Words
Al-Shabaab’s 2 April attack in Kenya that killed 147 people at a university in Garissa, 120km from the border with Somalia, has again cast doubt on the Kenyan government’s ability to keep its citizens safe. Three members of Crisis Group’s Horn of Africa staff consider here the implications of Al-Shabaab’s longstanding ambition to broaden its campaigns from Somalia into the wider East Africa region. In its statement following the attack, Al-Shabaab claimed it acted to avenge atrocities it alleges have been committed by the Kenyan military deployed in Somalia (now part of the African Union peace-support operation AMISOM). This puts pressure on the Kenyan commitment to that mission. Al-Shabaab also claimed that its fight is to liberate “all Muslim lands under Kenyan occupation”, including “northeastern province and the coast”. Despite being anachronistic given Kenya’s recent divisions into county based government, this language chimes with pan-Somali nationalist and irredentist slogans of the 1960s and 70s.
Furthermore, trying to sow domestic divisions in Kenya, Al-Shabaab claimed it was taking revenge for historic injustices against Muslims in the country. It hopes in this way to prompt draconian responses from the government that would further embed the narrative of an anti-Islamic Christian government and gain more recruits. It also claimed that it spared Muslims in the Garissa attack, echoing directives on minimising Muslim deaths most recently heard from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen. Nevertheless, Al-Shabaab still killed Muslims at the university; in Somalia, most of its victims are Muslims. President Kenyatta’s immediate statement that extremists are deeply embedded in Kenya is significant. The statement, as well as the fact that the government offered a ten-day amnesty to all youth who have joined Al-Shabaab, is a new acknowledgement of the home-grown threat. Since the 1998 al-Qaeda attack on the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, and a second al-Qaeda attack that hit Mombasa in 2002, the government has consistently downplayed the home-grown threat and blamed extremism on outsiders.
Kenya was spared further attacks until 2011, although extremists, including Al-Shabaab and sympathisers, used the country and its main towns for radicalising, recruiting and fundraising throughout this period. There was an uptick of attacks after 2011, apparently because of the Kenyan government training of anti-Al-Shabaab Somali militias and Kenya’s direct intervention into southern Somalia in October of the same year. These ranged from low-level incidents to the high profile mass-shooting that killed four attackers and 67 other people in the Westgate Mall in September 2013. Al-Shabaab is not without Kenyan supporters. As previous Crisis Group reporting has shown, extremism thrives on a groundswell of Muslim grievances, radicalised by wider global trends and writings. It is clear that the government underestimated the domestic ‘blow-back’ of its 2011 Somalia intervention.