April 23, 2015 | Morning Headlines
Puntland Identified Suspect Of Suicide Bombing In Garowe
22 April – Source: Garowe Online – 195 Words
Puntland police identified a suspect who allegedly carried out a suicide bombing on a UNICEF vehicle. A senior police official who asked not to be named dismissed media reports that a ‘foreigner’ carried out the bombing that killed seven people, including four UNICEF employees. The official revealed that the bomber was a Somali who arrived in the region a short while ago before he carried out the attack. Security agencies have not so far released more details about the bombing which shattered the decades old stability enjoyed by Puntland residents, including foreigners working in the semiautonomous region. In the meantime, security forces have carried out a security sweep across Puntland, nabbing suspected militants. Investigations are underway, the official said. Puntland leaders have also convened a cabinet meeting to reassure international aid agencies in the region in an effort to prevent potential pull out by the agencies who lost some of their colleagues in the buss attack. Puntland security forces have been fighting Al-Shabab militants in remote mountainous villages in the region after the Al-Qaeda linked militant group sent hundreds of fighters to the area.
Key Headlines
- Puntland Identified Suspect Of Suicide Bombing In Garowe (Garowe Online)
- U.S. Somali Recruiter Not Dead Still Active In Syria: Officials (Bar-Kulan Radio)
- International Partners Welcome The Formation Of The Jubba Regional Assembly (Goobjoog News)
- Puntland Moves To Combat Illegal Fishing (Horseed Media)
- Somaliland: Activist Who Decried Executions Detained (Bar-Kulan Radio)
- Somali Refugees Ready To Return Home – UNHCR (Capital FM)
- Families Deny Somali-American Men Linked to Islamic State (Voice Of America English)
- Is Kenya’s Security Policy The Real Enemy Within? (IRIN)
- ‘Respect for UN Flag Disappearing’ UN Relief Chief Warns As Aid Workers Increasingly Targeted For Violence (UN News Centre)
- Beyond The Violent Headlines This Woman’s Instagram Shows A Different Side To Daily Life In Somalia(Huffington Post)
NATIONAL MEDIA
U.S. Somali Recruiter Not Dead, Still Active In Syria: Officials
22 April – Source: Bar-Kulan Radio – 313 Words
A Somali-American who joined Islamic State as a fighter is alive and still trying to recruit young men from Minnesota to join him, law enforcement officials and a Somali community leader said, despite a report that he might have been killed in Syria. Abdi Nur, 20, who left Minneapolis for Syria last year, is frequently in touch online with young Somalis in Minnesota to try to entice them to join IS, Twin Cities Somali community elder Omar Jamal said. “I am sure he is in touch with people as we speak right now,” Jamal told Reuters on Monday. He said local Somali youths had told him that Nur had been in contact with members of the community in recent days. Despite a report in March that said Nur might be dead, federal law enforcement officials said they believe he was still alive. They said the investigation into Islamic State recruitment efforts in Minneapolis was continuing.
Nur played a role in an alleged plot by six Americans of Somali origin to travel to Syria and take up arms with the Islamic State, according to a court document released after the men’s arrest in Minnesota and San Diegoon Sunday. Nur communicated with a person in Minnesota via the social media app Kik and also tried to help some of the arrested men obtain false passports to allow them to travel to Syria via Mexico, the criminal complaint said. One of the arrested men, Guled Ali Omar, was cited as telling other members of the conspiracy in a recorded conversation on March 16 that he thought Nur may have died in Syria because communication with him had been cut. Prosecutors said there was no evidence the six who were arrested on Sunday had plans to carry out any attacks inside the United States.
International Partners Welcome The Formation Of The Jubba Regional Assembly
22 April – Source: Goobjoog News – 210 Words
The United Nations, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the European Union (EU), African Union Mission in Somalia, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom all welcomed the formation of the Jubba regional assembly. In a press release, they said they encourage further dialogue to ensure that all clans, communities and minority groups from the Jubas feel represented. “We welcome this important development. We urge the Interim Jubba Administration (IJA) to coordinate with the Federal Government of Somalia to resolve any issues arising from the process. Forming the Assembly is a positive and important step in the implementation of the August 2013 Addis Ababa Agreement and the Jubba state formation process, and in building a Federal Somalia. Ensuring a fair and inclusive process will help build a just, peaceful society that can serve as a model for the rest of the country. We commend the Federal Government and the IJA for their contributions in the formation of the assembly. We stand ready to support the authorities and the regional assembly. We urge all parties to engage in constructive consultation and reconciliation with all stakeholders, ensuring that the interests of all communities are protected. Somalia’s international partners remain committed to supporting the nation’s peace and state-building process.”
Puntland Moves To Combat Illegal Fishing
22 April – Source: Horseed Media – 402 Words
Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland has moved to combat illegal fishing in its waters – the first ever move to fight against the illegal business in the horn of Africa nation. A Coast guard dispatched from Bossaso port on Wednesday to patrol the waters and prevent illegal fishing activities. Minister of Fisheries and Marine resources Abdinur Ilmi Binde told journalists that the administration has been working with local security agencies to address overfishing and prevent foreign trawlers from plundering their waters of the tuna needed to grow the region’s economy “Illegal fishing is a serious matter and not only our enemy but also the world. Therefore, all countries agree that it should be eradicated completely. We hope to bring illegal fishers to justice, and send a clear message that we will not tolerate pirate fishing,” said the minister.
Following the downfall of Somalia’s last functional government in 1991, the country’s 3,330 km (2,000 miles) of coastline — the longest in continental Africa — has been pillaged by foreign vessels. Last year, Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali described illegal fishing as a ‘’natural disaster’’. But influential Politicians and businessmen have been found of facilitating the illegal trade by bringing in trawlers to the regional seas from countries such as Iran, Yemen and other Somali waters, particularly off the coast of the semi-autonomous state of Puntland in the country’s North, contain some of the world’s most important stocks of tuna, anchovies, sharks, rays, lobsters, and shrimps, but they are barely monitored or policed, and wide open to legal and illegal plunder.
The illegal fishing industry is now estimated to value 4-9 billion U.S. dollars a year. The Sub Saharan countries including Somalia loose around 1 billion dollars to illegal fishing every year. Another report claims that an estimated $300 million worth of seafood is stolen from Somalia’s coastline each year, a huge amount that would be enough to build basic infrastructure in the war-ravaged nation. Somali fishermen in various regions of the country also complained to the international community about the illegal foreign fishing, stealing the livelihoods of poor fishermen, waste dumping and other ecological disasters, including the indiscriminate use of all prohibited methods of fishing: drift nets, under water explosives, killing all “endangered species” like sea-turtles, orca, sharks, baby whales, etc. as well as destroying reef, biomass and vital fish habitats in the sea.
Somaliland: Activist Who Decried Executions Detained
22 April – Source: Bar-Kulan Radio – 685 Words
Somaliland authorities on April 18, 2015, detained a prominent human rights activist, apparently for criticizing the government’s execution of six prisoners, Human Rights Watch said today. Police arrested Guleid Ahmed Jama after he made statements on the radio denouncing the executions, the first in Somaliland in nearly a decade. The authorities should immediately release him and drop the charges against him, the the Human Rights Watch. Guleid, 29, is a lawyer and the chairman of the Human Rights Centre, one of Somaliland’s few independent human rights monitoring organizations. He has been charged with “anti-national” propaganda and other crimes, and faces up to six years in prison or longer. Police initially held him in isolation and denied him contact with his family. “Human rights activists shouldn’t face prosecution for voicing their concerns,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Every day that the authorities keep Guleid in jail is another day of setbacks for human rights in Somaliland.”
The criminal charges against Guleid violate his right to free expression and appear intended to intimidate and silence criticism of the government, Human Rights Watch said. Police arrested Guleid, on the order of a regional court judge, on the morning of April 18 as he was representing clients at the regional court in Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital. Police initially took him to the Central Investigation Department and then transferred him to Hargeisa’s central police station. Guleid’s arrest came two days after the BBC Somali service broadcast an interview with him in which he criticized the government’s April 13 execution of the six men, who had been convicted of murder. Guleid raised due process concerns in death penalty cases, particularly those handled before the military courts. He also called for judicial, police, and legislative reforms. The Regional Court judge who ordered his arrest questioned him about his interview comments, a source close to Guleid told Human Rights Watch.
On April 19, the state attorney contested the order of the Hargeisa Regional Court to release Guleid on bail. In a letter to the Regional Court of Appeal, he alleged that Guleid had committed a range of criminal offenses, including “anti-national” propaganda, intimidation of the public, and publication of false information. He also accused Guleid of running an unregistered human rights organization, even though the Human Rights Centre’s registration was renewed as of January 1. The Court of Appeal suspended the lower court’s release order. On April 20, Guleid appeared before the Regional Court, which ordered his detention for another seven days and transferred him to Hargeisa Central Prison. Guleid’s lawyers were able to meet with him there. An April 20 charge sheet lists as evidence to support the charges the comments made by Guleid in his BBC Somali service interview and the Human Rights Centre’s December 2014 annual report.
Somaliland’s independent human rights groups have faced obstruction from government authorities before. In 2007, under the previous government, the Somaliland Human Rights Organization Network was effectively dismantled after a leadership struggle that was characterized by overt government interference. For years, Somaliland had no human rights monitoring organization. The Human Rights Centre was established in 2012. The current government has arrested journalists, particularly those reporting on corruption or on developments in the contested border regions of Sool and Sanaag, and harassed staff of popular newspapers. On April 21, 2015, Somaliland’s national electoral commission announced that national elections would take place in June 2016. In 1998, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which states that individuals and associations have the right “to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms.” “Somaliland’s government should ensure there is space for dissenting views and public debate on critical issues of public concern, especially as elections draw near,” Lefkow said. “The authorities need to recognize that organizations such as the Human Rights Centre are an asset to Somaliland, not a threat.”
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali Refugees Ready To Return Home – UNHCR
22 April – Source: Capital FM – 539 Words
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday said immigrants living at the Dadaab Camp in Kenya were willing to return to Somalia voluntarily. Speaking after launching a tripartite commission on the relocation in Nairobi, UNHCR said the next step was to ensure the refugees return safely and access to basic needs back in Somalia. “All refugees in Dadaab want to return voluntarily and they want to be able to have access to basic services when they return and they want to have security when they return. This is what is being worked on and this is what we owe to them -finding durable solutions for refugees,” UNHCR said.
The UN agency further said the repatriation plan for Somali refugees started in November 2013 when Kenya, Somalia and UNHCR signed a tripartite agreement. The three parties agreed that return of refugees to Somalia would be voluntary. Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed who witnessed the launch of the tripartite commission at her office said the commission will discuss the relocation of the refugees within the next three months. “The repatriation we are going to carry out is that of Somalis. We agreed we will do it as quickly as possible, before three months are over, but it will depend on available resources,” she explained.
During the meeting, the three partners agreed that the commission will scrutinise security issues and also other important factors that will boost their livelihoods and peaceful return. “Both Kenya and Somali agree we want a peaceful Somalia- it’s our objective, we are doing it as partners UNHCR, Somalia and Kenya, we will meet as frequently as possible. We have an understanding and we are resolving issues,” Mohamed said. She also said the repatriation did not only mean refugees returning to Somalia but also relocating some of them to Kakuma Refugee Camp to also implement the idea of having fewer refugee camps in the country.
Families Deny Somali-American Men Linked to Islamic State
22 April – Source: Voice Of America, English – 526 Words
The families of six Somali-American men arrested for allegedly planning to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State militant group deny the accusations. The men have been charged with conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization. The mother of two of the men, Mohamed Farah and Adnan Farah, said she knew nothing of the accusations until the FBI raided her home Sunday to detain one of her sons. “Until now I don’t know about the charges. The FBI raided our house, they held pistols at us, they herded us in the living room and then they asked us about Mohamed and Adnan,” Ayan Farah said in an interview with VOA’s Somali news service. “Our children lived in a beautiful life, with their mother and father and no problems. This is a new problem that we are facing. I don’t believe my children support those groups,” Ayan Farah said.
Prosecutors said the six men, all between 19 and 21 years old, are friends and acquaintances. Four of them were arrested Sunday in Minnneapolis, while two others were arrested Sunday in San Diego. Hodan Ali Omar echoed Ayan Farah’s doubts. She said the arrest of her brother Guled Oma, was “unjust and a set-up.” Omar said her brother is a student at Minneapolis Community and Technical College who performs his prayers and is “straight and never gets involved in gang and drug activities.” Asked if she was aware of his plans to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State group, she said her brother is an adult and people like him travel. “I travel … my schoolmates travel. I never suspect that he wanted to travel to Syria to join ISIS,” she said, using another name for the Islamist group. The other three men arrested were identified as Abdirahman Daud, Hanad Musse and Zacharia Abdurahman, all from the Minneapolis area.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said the men worked for 10 months to leave the United States and join Islamic State. The complaint said the men sought to travel to Turkey by way of New York City and San Diego, California, in an attempt to reach Syria. Ayan Farah said she and family moved to the United States to escape the insecurity of Somalia. But she said she feels U.S. law enforcement agencies are creating problems for her children and other young Somali-Americans. “To see our children being hunted here, and to use them against each other, to intimidate them and threaten and accuse them of working with those groups…I don’t believe they work with the groups.”
Is Kenya’s Security Policy The Real Enemy Within?
21 April – Source: IRIN – 1, 150 Words
Instead of threatening to eject 350,000 Somali refugees or building a wall along an entire border, experts and observers are urging Kenya to tackle the real enemies within: poor governance and stalled police reforms. Since Kenya began a military intervention in Somalia to target insurgent group al-Shabab in October 2011, there has been a spate of terrorist attacks on Kenyan soil. Most recently, 147 people were killed during a 15-hour siege at Garissa University in northeastern Kenya. The reaction of the security services to the 2 April attack deepened the perception that they are corrupt and inept.
An official inquiry is ongoing, but it is alleged that the deployment of the elite unit that eventually killed the Garissa attackers in minutes was delayed because a police chief was using the largest plane to bring his family back from holiday. The government described the response time as “reasonable.” “People are really scared,” Lone Felix, a prominent student leader and former president of Kenyatta University, told IRIN. “There’s everything wrong with the policing in Kenya.” In October 2014, Kenya’s high court halted the recruitment of 10,000 extra police officers after finding the hiring process riddled with irregularities. “They are inefficient, corrupt and incompetent”
In the aftermath of the Garissa attack, President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the 10,000 recruits to report to work, only to then see his plans quashed by the courts. “Hiring is very corrupt: you get a job if you pay, you don’t get a job if you don’t,” Professor David Anderson, an expert on security and violence in East Africa from the University of Warwick, told IRIN. “Kenyan security forces are not trained or equipped to deal with the threat that they now face,” Anderson said. “They are inefficient, corrupt and incompetent.” Similar allegations continue to dog Kenyan politics. Days before the Garissa attack, the government presented a list of 175 senior public officials accused of corruption to Senate.
‘Respect for UN Flag Disappearing,’ UN Relief Chief Warns As Aid Workers Increasingly Targeted For Violence
21 April – Source: UN News Centre – 370 Words
Yesterday’s “horrific” attack on the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) staff in Somalia is a reminder of the dangers many aid workers face on a daily basis, the top UN humanitarian official said today, urging that those who perpetrated the attacks be held accountable. Four UNICEF staff members were killed yesterday when a roadside bomb exploded alongside their minivan as they travelled to work in Garowe, northern Somalia. “Aid workers are increasingly targets, with serious consequences for our ability to reach people who urgently need help,” Valerie Amos, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a press release. “Attacks on humanitarian workers can constitute a war crime and are in total violation of international humanitarian and human rights law.”
According to the UN, such attacks have increased every year for more than a decade. In 2013, they reached a record high of 264 attacks, affecting 474 aid workers. “Respect for the United Nations flag and the Red Cross and Red Crescent flag is disappearing,” Ms. Amos emphasized. “When aid workers are attacked, they are unable to help people. Those who target aid workers are penalizing the most vulnerable people in the world; those who are struggling to survive. They are violating every principle of humanity and common decency,” the UN humanitarian chief said. In a statement honouring the victims today, UNICEF released the names of the four colleagues, who had been working since 2014 on vaccination against poliomyelitis, social mobilization with local communities, education, and administration.
OPINION/ANALYSIS/CULTURE
“The future of my country is very promising. We are living in an era when social media is a reliable source of information. And it’s fast! So, I’ve taken the opportunity to show the story of a human and pleasant side of Somalia.”
Beyond The Violent Headlines, This Woman’s Instagram Shows A Different Side To Daily Life In Somalia
21 April – Source: Huffington Post – 203 Words
Since a devastating civil war that began in 1991, Somalia has faced severe and devastating conflicts. Attacks by the militant Islamic group Al-Shabab in Somalia and surrounding countries have contributed to an international reputation for the northeast African country as a locus of deadly violence. Ugaaso Abukar Boocow, a 27-year-old Somalian woman who works for the Ministry of Reconstruction, which focuses on planning and development in the troubled country, decided to turn to Instagram to help change Somalia’s image away from its association with terror and destruction…On her vibrant Instagram account, Boocow portrays Somali dishes, places to live, and fine sand beaches — not to mention plenty of selfies in vibrant Somali prints. She’s posted nearly 500 pictures of her “human and pleasant” Somalia — and amassed 74,500 followers in the process.