August 11, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Somali Commandos Apprehend Top Al-Qaeda/Al-Shabaab Leader In Galkayo
10 August 2016 – Source: Goobjooge.com- 138 Words
Somali special forces have arrested high profile Al-Shabaab operatives, during an operation in the central Somali town of Galkayo. The well-coordinated night raid was conducted by combined commando forces from the Somalia National Army (SNA) in coordination with Puntland Security (PS) agents.According to local media reports, an unspecified number of Al-Shabaab suspects, including foreign nationals, were apprehended during the concerted security crackdown that reportedly targeted various neighborhoods.
Said Abdallah Abubakar Al-Sudani, an explosive material expert of Sudanese origin, was among the high ranking Al-Shabaab elements apprehended in the Wednesday raid, the media reports said, citing unnamed security sources privy to the operation.This development comes barely a week after an American-trained SNA commando contingent attached to the elite Danab (Lightning) brigade was deployed to Galkayo, in an attempt to arrest growing insecurity in the Mudug provincial capital.
Key Headlines
- Somali Commandos Apprehend Top Al-Qaeda/Al-Shabaab Leader In Galkayo (Goobjooge.com)
- Two dead Four Injured In Somali Army Base Attack (Shabelle News)
- Hiiraan And Middle Shabelle State Formation Conference To Be Moved To Mogadishu (Jowhar.com)
- IMF Sees Financing For Somalia If Government Sticks To Reforms (Business Times)
- Somali Women Vow To Push For Gender Equality In The Next Election (AMISOM)
- The Harrowing Lives And Deaths Of Muslims Victimized By Islamist Extremism (Washington Post)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Two dead, Four Injured In Somali Army Base Attack
11 August – Source: Shabelle News – 116 Words
Unidentified gunmen have attacked a Somali military base outside the southern agricultural town of Afgoye in Lower Shabelle region on Wednesday night.The attackers who are believed to be Al-Shabaab members have fired rockets and hand grenade bombs at the army base, before engaging heavy gunfire with the Somali troops.
Local residents, who spoke to Radio Shabelle said loud explosions and gunfire were heard around the army base as both sides used RPGs and heavy artillery.At least two people said to be civilians were killed and four others injured in the fight between Somali government forces and the suspected Al Shabaab militants.Neither Somali military nor Al Shabaab did issue any statement on the attack.
Hiiraan And Middle Shabelle State Formation Conference To Be Moved To Mogadishu
11 August – Source: Jowhar.com – 128 Words
Reports indicate that the conference to establish an administration for Hiiraan and Middle Shabelle will soon be transferred to Mogadishu. A reliable source confirmed to Jowhar.com that plans to move the conference venue to Mogadishu, which are at advanced stage, are geared at speeding up the formation process..
Sources add that the move is aimed at encouraging some of the clans from Hiiraan region to participate in the process, having initially declined to participate in the ongoing conference in Jowhar. The proposal to move the conference venue to Mogadishu is part of a by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) aimed at establishing an administration for the two regions. According to reports, delegates representing the two regions will assemble in Mogadishu where they will elect a President for the administration.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
IMF Sees Financing For Somalia If Government Sticks To Reforms
11 August – Source: Business Times – 470 Words
Somalia may be eligible to tap financing from the International Monetary Fund and other multilateral lenders if it maintains a reform program intended to help rebuild the country’s war-shattered economy, the IMF country head said.Prospects for peace after more than two decades of conflict have been boosted after Somalis agreed to elect a new administration on Oct 30, Samba Thiam said in an e-mailed response to questions Aug 9.
The IMF expects the Horn of Africa nation to open up to foreign capital as the government continues to improve its management of the economy, he said.”Progress has been made already in the areas of investment law, procurement, contract concessions, public financial management and anti-money laundering,” Mr Thiam said.”If the current and subsequent programs are successfully implemented, in the future Somalia may indeed access IMF financing.”
Somalia’s US$6 billion economy has been devastated by civil war that began in 1991 and a subsequent Islamist-militant insurgency that has destroyed much of the country’s political and economic institutions, according to the World Bank.Income per capita is estimated at US$435, making Somalia the fifth-poorest country in the world.
The IMF and World Bank are supporting a raft of reforms that are making Somalia’s business sector “more attractive,” Mr Thiam said. Donors have provided US$10 million to develop local skills, he said.The IMF has also backed a plan by the Central Bank of Somalia to print its own currency by 2017, Mr Thiam said. The bank is in the final phase of discussions with donors to secure funding for currency reforms, Governor Bashir Issa Ali said in a phone interview from the capital, Mogadishu.
Somali Women Vow To Push For Gender Equality In The Next Election
09 August – Source: AMISOM – 717 Words
Somali women have vowed to continue their push for special seats in parliament in the forthcoming electoral process.The women, who congregated in Beletweyne, the headquarters of Hiraan region, last week, urged clan elders and delegates, who will participate in electing members of parliament, to ensure women are also nominated to meet the 30 percent quota reserved for them in both houses of parliament.“We can take part in the affairs of the country as Somali women, regardless of province, district or village. We need to play our role diligently to realize the 30 percent quota in parliament and then focus our energies on achieving the same in all sectors and branches of government” Nadifo Abdi Dirshe, Director of Regional Coordination in the Ministry of Women and Human Rights said.
Ms Nadifo urged women to vet parliamentary candidates and lobby for the election of those who have played a role in improving the lives of women and fighting for their rights.Somalia is planning to hold indirect elections before year end to elect new members of parliament and president who will serve the country for the next four years. Somali women are currently pushing for the implementation of the 30 percent quota in both lower and upper houses, where 275 and 56 seats respectively will be contested.
Asha Abdulle Siyaad, the Chief Coordinator of Somali Women’s Leadership Initiative, concurred with Ms Nadifo’s sentiments, saying women have a right to be involved in the decision making process on the forthcoming electoral process.Ms Asha urged the Federal Government and regional leaders to include women in the National Leadership Forum meetings, which brings together the country’s top leadership, adding that they were also stakeholders in the country’s affairs.The participants, drawn from various women organizations, expressed concern over resistance from some quarters towards the 30 percent quota rule.They, however, promised to soldier on and ensure the rights of women and their involvement in the affairs of the country are realized.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“For six years, I lived under Sharia law imposed by the terrorist group Al-Shabaab. I was hung by my wrists for watching a World Cup match. One time the terrorists caught me walking on the beach with my girlfriend, and they whipped us. Muslim terrorists hate Muslims like me even more than they hate you, because they view me as a traitor,”
The Harrowing Lives, And Deaths, Of Muslims Victimized By Islamist Extremism
11 August – Source: Washington Post – 810 Words
When Islamist terrorists killed a priest in France last month, it was front-page news. Yet when terrorists in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, killed more than a dozen civilians that same day, the story received much less prominent coverage. This was despite the amazing revelation that one of the Mogadishu suicide bombers was reportedly a former member of the country’s parliament — quite a news hook, as they say in journalism.
As a Somali who spent years reporting from Mogadishu and Nairobi, I understand such editorial decisions. For readers and listeners in developed countries, France is clearly a different world than Somalia. Yet I am concerned that as Republican Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and far-right Europeans translate Islamist extremism into Islamophobia, the West will continue to ignore the huge numbers of terrorism victims worldwide who are Muslim.It goes without saying that terrorism victims in the developing world are humans whose lives are as valuable as those in the West. Less appreciated is that our cultures are also as valid, and are being destroyed. As recently as the early 20th century, Mogadishu was known as the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was a capital of Arabic trade and learning for centuries. The historic center contains the remains of medieval sultans’ palaces, ancient mosques among the largest in Africa, even a stone lighthouse built before Columbus arrived in the Americas.
I grew up surrounded by death and destruction in Mogadishu. I have been staring into gun barrels as long as I can remember. First it was rebel militias fighting the central government; then, after there was no more government, came the Islamist terrorists. Escaping death was for the lucky. I watched fighters shoot old men for target practice. I saw wailing mothers forced to leave dead babies by the roadside, unable to bury them. I saw my own sister starve to death. One day my father kissed me goodbye; the rebels were killing all the men, so he had to leave. He returned 10 years later. Before I could tell him I thought he must have been dead, he said he was surprised I was still alive. I guess we were both just lucky.
TOP TWEETS
@Daudoo:Former #Mogadishu mayor Hassan Mohamed Hussain “Mungab” appointed as #Somalia‘s state minister of justice.
@HassanIstiila:#BREAKING Unidentified assassins have shot and killed a prominent elder in Somali capital, Mogadishu overnight #Somalia
@fqdayib:#Somalia #Women have always been a force to reckon with. These are the giants upon whose shoulders we stand today.
@Zoe_Flood:Backgrounder on newly arrived US Ambassador to #Somalia, first in 25 years, by @ElsaABuchanan:
@lasoco:IMF Sees Financing for Somalia If Government Sticks to Reforms – Bloomberg http://j.mp/2aO8O7w #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
A scene from Somalia’s coast.
Photo: Ali Ducaale.