April 6, 2018 | Morning Headlines
Somali Forces Repulsed Al-Shabaab Attack In Afmadow Town
05 April – Source: Halbeeg News – 260 Words
Somali forces have repulsed Al-Shabaab attack on their military in Lower Jubba region, military official confirmed. The incident happened on Thursday morning after heavily armed Al-Shabaab fighters stormed SNA base in the outskirt of Afmadow town. Mr. Mohamed Warsame, a military officer who confirmed the attack said the assault began with motor shells followed by a direct between the two sides.
“Al-Shabaab fighters attacked our base. The attack occurred at 3am. They fired motor shells on the base,” said Mr. Warsame. He confirmed the death of three Al-Shabaab fighters saying the fighters fled the bodies of the fighters at the battle field. “Three Al-Shabaab fighters were killed during the fighting; the bodies still are lying near the camp. On our side, we lost two soldiers,” he noted. He state that the forces managed successfully repulse the attackers. “Our forces are still in full control of the base. Al-Shabaab fighters were defeated,” Mr. Warsame said.
Al-Shabaab did not give comment on the fight they engaged with Somali National army. Since beginning of this month, Al-Shabaab has carried out three attacks in Lower Jubba and Shabelle regions. Last Sunday, the group’s fighters launched simultaneous attacks on three Forward Operating Bases of AMISOM in Golwein, Qoryoley and Bulamarer towns of Lower Shabelle region.
The group said its fighters killed over 59 Ugandan soldiers, a claim dismissed by Ugandan government. Uganda confirmed the deaths of four of its soldiers who were working under the framework of AMISOM. The attack was condemned by UN Security Council as it called for a swift crackdown on Al-Shabaab.
Key Headlines
- Somali Forces Repulsed Al-Shabaab Attack In Afmadow Town (Halbeeg News)
- Somali National Television Marks 35th Anniversary (SONNA)
- Children Bear The Brunt Of IEDs And Remnants Of War In Somalia – UN official (Goobjoog News)
- China Sends New Naval Fleet For Escort Mission (Xinhua)
- Crisis Averted In Somalia’s Parliament But Tensions Simmer (New York Times)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali National Television Marks 35th Anniversary
05 April – Source: SONNA – 270 Words
The 35th anniversary of the foundation of Somali National Television was on Wednesday night, marked with a very colorful occasion was, held at the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Federal Government of Somalia. Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Somalia, H.E. Mahdi Mohamed Guled, Minister of Finance, H.E. Abdirahman Duale Beyle, Minister of Commerce and Industries, H.E. Mohamed Abdi Hayer Mareye, Minister of Sports and Youth, H.E. Khadijo Mohamed Diriye, religious and civil society group leaders, musicians, media workers and journalists attended the celebration.
Mr. Abdikarim Hassan Jama, former Information Minister, recounted the difficult situations when they were relaunching the Somali National Television on 4th April in 2011, saying the challenges included, technology like internet service and security threat that some of the TV staff lost their life. ” I am congratulating the TV staff and officials on this day 35th anniversary of Somali National Television. The television was making progress in the past 7 years, I encourage that public awareness should be increased and that Waberi band and religious Imams should take their role in the fight against corruption”, Mr. Jama said.
Acting Information Minister and Deputy Minister, H.E.Abdirahman Idan Yonis said, that the SNTV took part in the liberation of many areas from the militant group of Al-Shabaab, reviving governance and building the awareness of the people. Deputy Prime Minister, Mahdi Mohamed Guled congratulated officials and journalists operating at SNTV, on this anniversary, saying the TV and Radio Mogadishu release edited and censored programs. Key selected individuals from the Civil society, religious groups, TV staff were given award certificates.
Children Bear The Brunt Of IEDs And Remnants Of War In Somalia – UN official
05 April – Source: Goobjoog News – 592 Words
Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) remain one of the single most threats to civilian population in Somalia with children adversely affected, the UN has said adding terror groups in the country were exploiting explosive remnants of war (ERW) to assemble IEDs. Speaking during the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action in Mogadishu Wednesday, deputy UN chief in Somalia Peter de Clercq said children in particular were at a risk of landmines and ERWs left behind after years of conflict.
“Each year, 75 children are killed or injured by mines and explosive remnants of war in this country. And the impact on lives and livelihoods therefore is devastating,” said Mr. de Clercq. “Many more people are killed through these improvised explosive devices along Somalia’s roads and across its cities,” he added. Years of armed conflict in Somalia have resulted in widespread contamination with ERW and landmines, as well as a steady rise in the use of IEDs – the latter remain the deadliest threat to lives in the Horn of Africa country and were responsible for killing and injuring more than 1,400 civilians last year, according to the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS).
The October 14 truck bombing in Mogadishu which killed over 500 people and injured more than 300 others exemplified the threat mines posed to the country with de Clercq describing as “one of the worst” IED bombings to ever occur in Africa. The UN top official called for scaling up of mine action programmes noting this could ‘play an important role in providing jobs in rural areas and improving livelihoods by making roads passable and allowing for the movement of goods and people’.
The theme for this year’s observance of the international day is “the role of mine action in advancing protection, peace and development,” underscoring the obstacle that IEDs, landmines and unexploded ordnance represent to the country’s economic growth and development. Also addressing the observance, the Head of UNMAS in Somalia, Alan MacDonald, stressed the importance of removing all unexploded ordnance and landmines, the contents of which are often used to assemble IEDs.
“The explosive remnants of war, of unexploded ordnance and landmines, are being used as the material to build IEDs. The biggest problem that Somalia has is the IED threat, and if we can remove the unexploded ordnance and the landmines, we will remove some of the elements of that threat,” Mr. McDonald said.
In his remarks today, the Director General of the Somalia Explosive Management Authority (SEMA), Abdulkadir Abdulle Hooshow, called for more donor support for mine disposal initiatives in the country. He said his agency has developed a national mine action strategy to guide mine disposal programmes for the next three years. “There is no proper investment in efforts to dispose of mines in Somalia and there is insufficient stakeholder coordination. There is also insufficient international funding for landmine disposal programmes and poor training,” said Mr. Hooshow.
The UN General Assembly in 2005 declared April 4 the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action calling for continued efforts – with the assistance of the United Nations and relevant organizations – to foster the establishment and development of national mine-action capacities in countries where mines and ERW constitute a serious threat to civilian populations, or an impediment to social and economic development at the national and local levels. Somalia is a signatory to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines, which requires countries to destroy all such landmines by October 2022.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
China Sends New Naval Fleet For Escort Mission
05 April – Source: Xinhua – 129 Words
The 29th fleet from Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has left east China’s port city Zhoushan for the Gulf of Aden and waters off Somali to escort civilian ships. With over 700 officers and soldiers, dozens of special operation soldiers, and two helicopters on board, the fleet started its journey on Wednesday morning.
Under the mandate of the UN Security Council, Chinese Navy began to carry out escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia in December 2008. Up to July 2017, it escorted 6,400 Chinese and foreign vessels and warned away more than 3,000 suspected pirate ships. During the missions, the navy also carried out the evacuation of Chinese nationals from war zones in Libya in 2011 and Yemen in 2015.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
““They need to dialogue and get their problems sorted out,” Mr. Lokech said in a telephone interview. “That’s what we agreed upon.” The port deal is one illustration of the growing disruption that an international dispute has created in domestic Somali politics.”
Crisis Averted In Somalia’s Parliament, But Tensions Simmer
04 April – Source: New York Times – 557 Words
A dispute between the speaker of the Somali Parliament and the country’s president briefly threatened on Wednesday to turn violent, the latest development in a complex controversy over the proposed leasing of a major port to a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates. Conflict was avoided, partly because of the efforts of an African Union soldier, but the dispute also highlighted the fragility of the federal government under the leadership of its new president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known by the nickname Farmajo, who was elected last year in a process marred by corruption.
Mr. Mohamed leads a weak federal government that is trying to wield power and influence over six states, while the Shabab, an offshoot of Al Qaeda, regularly challenges its rule with acts of terrorism. Last year, Somaliland, a stable and semi-autonomous region in the country’s north, signed a deal with DP World, a port management company based in the Emirates, to operate the port of Berbera. Somaliland considers itself an independent country, and Somaliland officials negotiated the deal directly with DP World.
But lawmakers in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, objected, saying that bypassing federal officials violated the sovereignty of Somalia. In March, Parliament voted unanimously to cancel the deal, in a motion that the speaker, Mohamed Osman Jawari, presided over. The bill, which included language that forbids any foreign investment contracts without approval by the Parliament, was put forward without input from the president or prime minister. Observers said the vote was a sign of the growing political strength of Mr. Jawari.
Allies of the president and the prime minister put forward a no-confidence motion against Mr. Jawari, which has twice been delayed for security reasons. On Wednesday, Mr. Jawari’s backers accused opponents of having accepted money to vote against the speaker. “Down with bribe takers!” they chanted. Parliamentary police officers loyal to Mr. Jawari lined up to protect the speaker’s podium. In response, state security forces loyal to the president deployed outside Parliament, raising fear that tensions between the two men could lead to violence. Soldiers from Danab, a Somali special forces contingent trained by the United States, were also deployed to secure the Parliament.
The standoff ended after Paul Lokech, who leads a Ugandan contingent of the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, brokered a deal between Mr. Jawari and Mr. Mohamed to talk through the dispute. “They need to dialogue and get their problems sorted out,” Mr. Lokech said in a telephone interview. “That’s what we agreed upon.” The port deal is one illustration of the growing disruption that an international dispute has created in domestic Somali politics.
That rift has pitted Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which are major trading partners with Somalia, against Qatar, whose financial support was widely seen as critical factor in Mr. Mohamed’s victory in last year’s presidential election. The vote against the DP World deal further strained relations between Somalia and the Emirates, which wants to see Mr. Mohamed distance himself from his Qatari patrons and their allies. “The Emiratis are waging a campaign against Farmajo,” said Joshua Meservey, a senior policy analyst on Africa and the Middle East at the Heritage Foundation. “Farmajo has refused to join an embargo against Qatar, and that has really angered the Saudis and the Emiratis. They just don’t think Farmajo is playing ball as he should.”