April 29, 2014 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Somalia says Kenya is detaining innocent Somalis

28 Apr – Source: AP – 216 words

Somalia’s prime minister expressed concern Monday over the detention of what he says are law-abiding Somalis in Kenya, where police are conducting a security crackdown aimed at stopping terrorist attacks. Kenyan police have arrested thousands of people, most of them ethnic Somalis, following a wave of violent attacks blamed on the Somali militant group al Shabaab. Last week a car bomb exploded outside a Nairobi police station, killing two policemen and two occupants of the vehicle, both ethnic Somalis. The security operation has been strongly criticized by rights groups who say authorities are profiling Somalis, detaining them without trial, extorting refugees, holding the suspects in inhumane conditions and circumventing the law to deport some back to Somalia.

Key Headlines

Kismayu residents protest against organized killings (Radio Bar-kulan/Dhanaan Online)
Somalia Kenya in diplomatic row over detentions (Anatolia News Agency)
Somalia: Federal MPs summon Interior and National Security Ministers (Radio RBC/Somali Channel TV)
Eight die in a renewed fighting south western Somalia (Hiiraan Online)
Somalia says Kenya is detaining innocent Somalis (AP)
About 400 soldiers receive military training in Baidoa (Radio Goobjoog)
Saudi embassy protests citizen’s arrest over terror suspicion (Daily Nation)
Measles kills 2 children in Afmadow district (Radio Bar-kulan)

SOMALI MEDIA

Kismayu residents protest against organized killings

28 Apr – Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Dhanaan Online – 132 words

Residents in the port city of Kismayu in Lower Jubba region have on Monday protested against recent killings in the city. Reports say that various groups as well officials from the Interim Jubba Administration have taken part in the demonstrations. Speaking to the protesters, Kismayu District Commissioner Ibrahim Tima-jili said that the protests were in response to enormous pressure from the local population asking the authorities to tackle the recent organized killings in the city. He promised that his administration will implement new measures to maintain law and order in the city particularly night times as criminals carry out their actions at night. The commissioner called on the local residents to cooperate with security apparatus and report suspicious activities.

Eight die in a renewed fighting south western Somalia

28 Apr – Source: Hiiraan Online – 286 words

At least eight people have been killed in renewed clashes between Somali government forces and Al- Shabaab militants in the Kulan-Jareer village in the south-western Bakool region. The fighting erupted when the Somali military attacked the area to hunt a top level Al Shabaab leader and his forces who occupied the village over night. The fighting took several hours according to Somali army commander in the region Colonel Mohamed Abdirahman who talked to the media on Monday.

About 400 soldiers receive military training in Baidoa

28 Apr – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 175 words

The regional administration of South-west Somalia comprising of six regions in Baidoa has today launched training for over three hundred and fifty soldiers who will be foundation of the administration’s forces. A colorful ceremony organized by the administration held in Baidoa was attended by the president, the vice president, representatives from Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa and AMISOM, the soldiers were were given uniforms. The Minister for Interior of Regional State of South-West Somalia Abdifatah Gessey said that these forces are called Darwish forces that will be a good start of new forces that the administration will have and maintain the security of all the areas under the control of their administration. The president of South-West regional state comprising of six regions Madoobe Mohamed Nunoow while giving speech in the ceremony stated that his administration is determined to build strong forces that will defend the regional state.

Measles kills 2 children in Afmadow district

28 Apr- Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 115 words

Reports from Afmadow district in Lower Jubba region indicate that at least two children have died of measles in the last 24 hours. The children were under the age of five and were admitted to the district hospital according to the director of Afmadow General Hospital, Dr. Hassan Mursal who spoke to Bar-kulan. Dr. Mursal said that neighboring areas are also affected by the disease and lamented that there is a lack of adequate medical supplies in the hospital. He urged relief agencies in the country and the Interim Jubba Administration officials to provide medical assistance to the hospital in order to contain the spread of the disease.

Somalia: Federal MPs summon Interior and National Security Ministers

28 Apr – Source: Radio RBC/Somali Channel TV – 203 words

Members of Somali Parliament have on the second day continued to question the ministers of Interior and the National Security in Mogadishu while the two ministers replied more critical questions. In the first session of Monday’s sitting, the lawmakers of Somalia presented tough questions to the National Security Minister Abdikarim Hussein Guled who faced the House of the People for the second day. During the session chaired by the Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari, Parliamentarians raised great concern on the weakness of the country’s security apparatus and the incompetence shown by the minister and his staff. “We see that your excellency Mr Minister, that you spared nothing and that you could not bring peace and stability, so I ask will you be ready and pleased to resign in order to safeguard the nation.” MP Adil Shegow critically asked the minister.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Saudi embassy protests citizen’s arrest over terror suspicion

28 Apr – Source: Daily Nation – 277 words

The Saudi ambassador to Kenya Malhan Ghorm says his country is “contemplating” legal action against the Kenya police for “illegally detaining” their national. The ambassador further claims that this action by police was tantamount to “maligning the name of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” by associating their national with terrorism. The Saudi man, Ali Hanash Al Amri was released Monday morning after being held in Lamu. Police claimed he was heading to Somalia to support the al Shabaab.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somalia, Kenya in diplomatic row over detentions

28 Apr – Source: Anatolia News Agency – 203 words

Somalia and Kenya are in a diplomatic row over an ongoing Kenyan security operation that has seen thousands of Somalis, including a diplomat, being rounded up in a few weeks. Somali Ambassador Mohamed Nur has been recalled to Mogadishu for consultations after the recent brief detention of Siyad Mohamud Shire, a political consular at the Somali Embassy in Kenya. “I met Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed after I was recalled and he is demanding that Kenya give sufficient answers on the arrest of Mr. Shire,” Nur told Anadolu Agency in a phone interview from Mogadishu.

Somalia says Kenya is detaining innocent Somalis

28 Apr – Source: AP – 216 words

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“Kenya’s big counter-terrorism campaign could make its military’s continued stay in Somalia as part of Amisom, untenable. Uganda, which has provided the lead contingent in Amisom for years, has a president in Yoweri Museveni who must focus on what promises to be a very difficult seventh term in office (two of them unelected). Burundi, the other key player in AMISOM”

No longer at ease: War, terror stalking region

28 Apr – Source: Africa Review – 538 words

East African defence and military officials meeting in the Rwanda capital Kigali last Wednesday said the Eastern Africa Standby Force (EASF) could be ready by December this year. EASF will tackle threats of terrorism in the region, said James Kabarebe, Rwanda’s Minister of Defence. He also suggested that the force could help prevent conflicts, and be deployed to peace building. Right now, though, in all those aspects, the situation in the region is spiralling out of control. Terrorist attacks linked to the Somalia militant group Al Shabaab and its allies are up sharply in Kenya, as well as in the Somali capital Mogadishu. The Mogadishu attacks are compromising the gains made by the African Union forces in Somalia, AMISOM, in beating back Al Shabaab over the past three years.