April 26, 2015 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Puntland President Vows To ‘Degrade’ Al-Shabaab Insurgents

26 April – Source: Horseed Media – 138 Words

Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali ‘’Gaas’’ has vowed to defeat Al-Shabaab militants following the deadly attack on UNICEF staff members last week. Arriving back from an official trip to Ethiopia on Sunday, the president of the semi-autonomous region said that his administration is capable of ‘’destroying’’ the insurgents who claimed responsibility of the powerful bomb attack in Garowe. “When the enemies are defeated on the front line, they come back and attack soft targets to cause mass killings…We will degrade them,’’ he said in a press conference. Police officials revealed that they have arrested several suspects linked to the attack and are under interrogation. In October last year, Puntland forces captured a major Al-Shabaab base in the northern region of Galgala. They used the mountain ranges to launch attacks on the region which has been stable for many years.

Key Headlines

Puntland President Vows To ‘Degrade’ Al-Shabaab Insurgents (Horseed Media)
Premier Sharmarke: Regional Administration For Hiraan And Middle Shabele Regions In The Pipeline(Wacaal Media)
Somalia PM Calls Remittances Shut Down By Kenya ‘Worrying’ (Garowe Online)
Investigations Of UN Mini-bus Attack Are Still Ongoing But Will Be Concluded Soon Says Gaas
(Goobjoog Media)
Somalia Government Urges Somali Diaspora To Support Somalis In Yemen (Somali Current)
Somalia’s Al-Shabaab Kills Three Officials Former Lawmaker In Mogadishu (International Business Times)
Somalia FM Says His Country and Kenya Are On Good Terms (VOA)
Garissa KMTC Closed As Government Fails To Provide Security (Daily Nation)
Minneapolis Nonprofit Tests Program To Pull Teens From Terror’s Grasp (Star Tribune)
What Kenya Wants From Somalia (Hiraan Online)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Premier Sharmarke: Regional Administration For Hiraan And Middle Shabele Regions In The Pipeline

26 April – Source: Wacaal Media – 169 Words

Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia Mr. Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke has said that his administration is initiating the process for the formation of a regional administration for Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle regions. Although the Premier did not give timelines, he hinted that the process may start immediately after the completion of a similar one for the central regions that is currently underway in Adaado. “As you know, the process to set-up an administration for the central regions is underway, it is going smoothly in Adaado although it has taken us some time and we hope to successfully conclude soon so that we can embark on a similar process for Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle” said the Prime Minister. Sharmarke’s sentiments come at a time when there is intense lobbying at Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle regions ahead of the expected process. Elders from the two regions recently released several resolutions and expectations following a series of meetings they held to deliberate over the issue.

Somalia PM Calls Remittances Shut Down By Kenya ‘Worrying’

26 April – Source: Garowe Online – 241 Words

Federal Government of Somalia’s Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke said on arrival at Mogadishu’s Adan Ade airport that the shutdown of remittance firms is worrying Somalis, Garowe Online reports. Prime Minister Sharmarke disclosed that Somalia government voiced its concern over the decision to close down money transfer services which have long been a lifeline for the Somalis living in the neighboring country.

“We revealed to Kenya leadership that thousands of Somalis whose relatives live abroad are reliant on remittances,” said Sharmarke. “We discussed the ease of money transfer services restrictions, and we hope [Hawalas] will restart operation in the coming weeks in line with banking policies”. Meanwhile, the Somali Prime Minister expressed hope about the voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees in Kenya, emphasizing the need for conducive environment before tripartite cooperation between Somalia, Kenya and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees resettlement can begin.

“The repatriation of refugees would not be mandatory, it would follow efforts and [Somali Government] is working on the possible return targets, we will assess security situation and livelihoods,” he added. Prime Minister Sharmarke on Saturday returned from official visit to neighboring Kenya. In early April, Kenya announced assets freeze of individuals and entities suspected to be funding Al Shabaab activities. Somalis abroad are believed to have remitted over $2 billion to Somalia over the last two decades of chaos. Kenya shares porous border into which Al-Shabaab militants sneak to conduct terror operations.

Investigations Of UN Mini-bus Attack Are Still Ongoing But Will Be Concluded Soon, Says Gaas

26 April – Source: Goobjoog Media – 241 Words

President of semi-autonomous regional state of Puntland, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas who was in Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia for official duty has returned to Garawe town on Sunday. President Gaas told the media that investigations are underway and that the police are interrogating suspect arrested in connection with attack on UN mini-bus. “The investigations of UN mini-bus attack are close to conclusion and the result will be shared with the media and the public” he said. On the other hand, Gaas highlighted that an incident occurred in one of the Puntland’s prisons whereby soldiers taken out forcefully one of prisoners in that jail and went away with him.“We have no appetite with such actions done by some of our soldiers and I affirm that they will be bought before justice to pay the price”

Somali Government Urges Somali Diaspora To Support Somalis In Yemen

26 April – Source: Somali Current – 148 Words

Somalia’s government has urged Somalis around the world to help Somalis in Yemen as the government is set to start evacuation process in the coming days. Speaking to the media, Somalia Foreign Ministers Abdi Salam Hadliye urged Somalis around the world to help the government to evacuate Somalis who are trapped in Yemen war zones.“We are calling our citizens to participate the evacuation process by contributing anything they can,” he appealed. According to Mr. Hadliye, the government has put in place strategies to evacuate Somali citizens who are trapped in the ongoing conflict in Yemen and are to start evacuating in the coming days. The government said it will use water transport to move Somalis in Yemen since it’s the cheapest means of transport available. Early last months, most foreign countries evacuated their its citizens from Yemen when Saudi led Coalition started air strikes against Shia Houthi rebels.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somalia’s Al-Shabaab Kills Three Officials, Former Lawmaker In Mogadishu

26 April – Source: International Business Times – 272 Words

Somalia’s al Shabaab militants killed two city council officials, a former parliamentarian and a senior prison officer in Mogadishu, police and the rebel group said on Sunday. The al Qaeda-allied group has stepped up its gun and bomb attacks in the Horn of Africa nation over the past week. Six people were killed in an attack on a vehicle carrying U.N. staff in the semi-autonomous Puntland region on Monday, and a suicide bomber killed 10 in a restaurant in Mogadishu on Tuesday.

Gunmen shot dead the former lawmaker and two city council officials on Saturday, and a senior prison officer was killed near the Bakara market in Mogadishu on Sunday, Major Nur Afrah, a police officer, told Reuters. Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for all the killings and vowed to carry out more attacks. “We killed the lawmaker, the two city officials and the prison colonel on Saturday and Sunday. We shall continue killing them,” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, told Reuters. The militant group has carried out regular attacks in Somalia and neighbouring countries aimed at imposing its strict interpretation of Islamic law and overthrowing the Somali government, which is backed by Western donors and African peacekeepers.

It often targets officials and politicians for assassination. The group, which once controlled Mogadishu and large chunks of territory in other regions, was driven out of the capital in 2011 and has been losing ground since then. But it still launches frequent guerrilla-style attacks and has struck across the border in Kenya. This month, it claimed responsibility for an attack on a university in northeast Kenya that killed 148 people.

Somalia FM Says His Country And Kenya Are On Good Terms

25 April – Source: VOA – 414 Words

Somalia’s Foreign Minister Abdusalam Hadliye Omer says that in this “turbulent time,” his country nevertheless has a warm relationship with neighboring Kenya, which has provided troops to fight al-Shabab. Kenya has attributed recent terror attacks on its territory to the presence of Somali refugees in its sprawling Dadaab camps, a claim denied by the refugees. Some Kenyan authorities have called for the camps to be closed and their residents to be sent to liberated areas under the control of African Union forces and the Somali government. In an interview Saturday with VOA, Omer noted that “there are elements in our region that want to divide us” by pitting nations and religions against each other. But he said he was not bothered by reports that Kenya, for security reasons, has considered building a wall along its border.A country can do as it wishes, Omer said, but he asked whether any such wall would solve security problems. Omer said that Somalia believes the border should be open to allow trade, the movement of people, and the sharing of culture and education. He said Somalia needs the human resources of Kenya “to come and help us rebuild Somalia.” “I think there is a lot of good will and good relationships to build on, rather than to divide” the countries. Walls, he said, “are not the answer.”

He expressed gratitude for the young Kenyan men and women who had come to battle al-Shabab forces in the Juba Valley, and he said there should be stepped-up sharing of intelligence and surveillance among countries fighting such Islamist groups. The Somali army at present, he said, is “strong enough to kick out al-Shabab,” noting that the group had been left with diminished resources. But terror groups, he said, are now looking for “soft targets” in Somalia and Kenya, such as hotels and universities, which because of their openness to the public are difficult to defend.Attacks on such targets, he said, are designed only to cause the highest possible amount of damage to communities. Elements of al-Shabab, he said, simply want “to cause harm.” There’s a good story to tell about refugees returning to Somalia from the Dadaab camps and from Yemen, Omer said, denying that he had characterized all of them as posing a security threat. The refugees are running to Somalia, not away from it, he noted — though elements within such groups, he said, may want to slip back into the Horn of Africa and create chaos.

Minneapolis Nonprofit Tests Program To Pull Teens From Terror’s Grasp

26 April – Source: Star Tribune – 1299 Words

They have known each other barely a month, but their lives are linked by a shared story — the struggle to find a new identity in a new land. One is a quiet, lanky Somali-American teen from Minneapolis, arrested by the FBI last fall and accused of trying to join a brutal terrorist group in the Middle East.The other is a Somali-American schoolteacher who came to the United States when he was 12 without a hint of English on his tongue. He teaches history at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, where he’s the coach of a scrappy debate team and an eloquent instructor who shows his students the power of words to change minds. Today, Abdullahi Yusuf and Ahmed Amin find their paths intertwined — drawn into an intensifying global terrorism fight through an unusual new experiment to see if radicalized Somali-American youths can be talked off the path of violence and extremism. Amin and a team of religious scholars and teachers pulled together by Heartland Democracy, a Minneapolis nonprofit serving at-risk youths, have been assigned by a federal judge to mentor Yusuf, an 18-year-old who, like the six young men arrested on conspiracy charges last week, stands accused of trying to leave the United States to be a terrorist. U.S. District Chief Judge Michael Davis diverted Yusuf to the Heartland project in what is thought to be a first for the federal court system in a terror case.“Someone’s life is on the line,” said Amin. “Many [of the accused] are great kids, but kids who are lost. It’s for us to help them discover who they are — and not who they are told they are by being brainwashed.”

With Minnesota thrust again into the international struggle against Islamist violence, Amin and his colleagues also find themselves walking a path that could lead to a new form of justice in such cases.“This is all new territory for us,” said Mary McKinley, Heartland’s executive director.Yusuf came to the attention of federal investigators in the Twin Cities last spring, when he applied for an expedited passport but couldn’t answer basic questions about his plans to travel to Istanbul. He would be the first of nearly a dozen young Somali-Minnesotans now caught up in a yearlong federal grand jury investigation. The FBI placed him under surveillance and, a few weeks later, stopped him as he tried to board an overseas flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. From the first, Yusuf showed signs that his life could be redeemed. An FBI agent testified that, after Yusuf was stopped at the airport in May, he ceased associating with other suspects in the terrorism investigation. Considered low-risk, he was an ideal candidate for Heartland Democracy’s new effort.After Yusuf was arrested and charged, in November, Davis made it clear that he was keeping him on a short tether. He ordered Yusuf to wear a GPS-tracking ankle bracelet and to check in frequently with probation authorities after his first court appearance.

Garissa KMTC Closed As Government Fails To Provide Security

25 April – Source: Daily Nation – 369 Words

A second institution of higher learning in northeastern was closed indefinitely on Saturday over security concerns.This is after the government allegedly said it could not provide armed security to the institution. Addressing the press while closing the Garissa Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC), institution’s Principal Mr Omar Osman said they reached at the decision after area County commissioner said the government has no security personnel to be deployed to the institution. “The institution has formally requested the local county commissioner to provide armed security to ensure our children are safe from terror gangs, however, we were told the government has no such arrangements,” he said. The college offers nursing courses to over 250 students. Mr Osman said as heads of the institution they cannot hold the students at ransom considering the massacre at Garissa University College within Garissa town where 148 people were killed.

He said the affected students, will be redeployed to other medical colleges in the country such as Kipenguria, Kabarnet, Thika, Muranga and Kitui to continue with studies uninterrupted. However, he said, the students will face a lot of challenges since a part from Kepenguria, other colleges were not offering the Enrolled Community Nursing (ECN), which is offered at the college. “It is unfortunate that a second college that has been serving an entire northern region has to be closed simply because the government can’t provide security to its children. How will the move be perceived by our enemies”, he said while he bid the students in an emotional farewell. Mr Osman said the students’ morale had been dampened as they were uncomfortable to relocate from Garissa to new colleges as they have adapted to the local environment, academic and the non- academic staffs.”There were some students who were coming from as far as Moyale and Mandera counties and here again they are supposed to move to a new environment and far-flung areas such as Kipenguria or Kabarnet. What will be in the minds of these students,” he said. Despite the closure of the college, the principal noted, the academic and no-academic staffs will remain in the institution as they wait for new directives either requiring them as well to be transferred or otherwise.

OPINION/ANALYSIS/CULTURE

“Instead, they should try to convince other Kenyan MPs that Kenya alone cannot successfully defeat Al-Shabab and they need the full-partnership of the Somali government. Despite Somalia’s fledgling government and continuously being at the brunt of Al-Shabab terrorist attacks, still nobody knows better than them how to root out these terrorists from their hiding holes around the country and its border with Kenya.”

What Kenya Wants From Somalia

23 April – Source: Hiraan Online – 923 Words
Most peace-loving Somalis acknowledge the recent attacks of Al-Shabab terrorists inside Kenyan are un-Islamic, inhumane and most importantly do not advance the Somali cause. However, the recent news that “Kenya vows not to withdraw from Somalia” promptedmost of Somalis’ mind to wonder the roots of Kenya’s resolve to keep its troops inside Somalia, despite suffering devastating back-to-back terror attacks from allegedly Al-Shabaab terrorists. For some time now, especially after the last decade Kenya has been quite keen to interfere in Somali politics that eventually led the unilateral invasion of its troops in Somalia in 2011, at the pretext of rooting out the Al-Shabab terrorists. Now, that Kenya faces an existential threat due to its economy’s dependence on Western tourism and investment, both of which have been badly damaged by the vicious and unpredictable attacks of alleged Al-Shabab terrorists.

Notwithstanding, Kenya is bent on getting bogged down in Somalia, which has signaled a deep distrust among most Somalis to wonder, what exactly does Kenya want from Somalia, including its unofficial annexation of the Somali port town of Kismayo, which sanctions Kenya to capitalize on the port’s revenues, not to mention violating the UN embargo on the sale of charcoal. However, the most damaging allegation against Kenya’s malicious involvement in Somalia is its illegal annexation of Somalia’s maritime territorial waters, which Kenya believes to hold tremendous amounts of oil deposits and fishery that they’ve already licensed Western oil companies to begin their explorations. This is currently disputed at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Netherlands and Kenya is fathomably apprehensive that it might lose a huge potential economic zone in the Indian Ocean. But the important question that Kenya needs to answer is: whether in the long run its illegitimate gains from Somalia outweigh the sacrifices of its security and entire economy?