August 14, 2013 | Morning Headlines.
Somali refugee turned TV journalist
13 Aug – Source: BBC – 87 words
Jamal Osman tells us about a life which was turned upside down by war in Somalia, but which led to a career as an award-winning journalist. Hitendra Wadhwa explains why he wants his students at the Columbia Business School to examine their inner lives; Piper Kerman remembers her time in a women’s prison after being found guilty of drug-smuggling – her book is called Orange is the New Black . And Dame Judi Dench on the highlights of her long acting career. Her memoirs are called And Futhermore.
Key Headlines
- 6 killed 20 others wounded in Bakol clashes (Garowe Online)
- Federal government responds to Ex-prime minister’s accusations
- Armed men kill government soldier in Mogadishu ( Radio Shabelle)
- FIFA instructor arrives in Mogadishu to conduct Somalia course (Midnimo News Centre)
- Kenyan parliament official linked to funding Al Shabaab threatens legal action (Standard Media)
- Lull in piracy yet to see drop in shipping fees (Daily Nation)
- Somali refugee turned TV journalist (BBC)
SOMALI MEDIA
Federal government responds to Ex-prime minister’s accusations
13 Aug – Source: Shabelle – 107 words
Somalia’s Deputy Minister for Information Abdi Shakur Ali Mire has responded to the remarks made by former prime minister Ali Mohamed Gedi. The Minister who spoke on behalf of the government said that politicians make false accusations that undermine the current government in the public with the intention of dividing the Somali population along tribal lines.“We know those who campaign for clan politics with the intention of displacing the Somali communities in the own land,” said Mr. Mire. The deputy minister accused the former PM for making negative remarks to gain a political space after he failed to gain a seat in the current government.
6 killed, 20 others wounded in Bakol clashes
13 Aug – Source: Bar-kulan/Garowe Online – 75 words
Six people have been killed, 20 others wounded in heavy clashes that had erupted in Garasweyne area, 50KMs away from Huddur district of Bakol region in southern Somalia on Monday night. The clashes occurred after Somali government forces raided bases of the al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab militant group in the area. Speaking to Bar-kulan, Bakol region governor Mohamed Abdi Tall stated that the government troops attacked rebel-held bases to drive the outlawed group out of Bakol region.
Armed men kill government soldier in Mogadishu
13 Aug- Source: Radio Shabelle – 82 words
Men armed with pistols shot dead a government soldier in the busy Bakara market in Somali capital, Mogadishu. The incident totals to 3 government soldiers killed by armed gunmen in the last 12 hour. Government soldiers arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting incident but the armed men took off quickly disappearing in the busy market. A witness told Radio Shabelle that government soldiers have become the prey to unknown gunmen who operate in parts of Mogadishu including the Bakara market.
Somali Business man injured in Marka
13 Aug – Source: Radio Mustaqbal – 106 words
Reports from Marka town of Lower Shabelle region in the southern of Somalia say that a prominent business man was injured after armed men attacked him in the district. Unknown armed men reportedly attacked the businessman identified as Muktar Sharifow. The businessman was taken to a local hospital in Marka where he is being treated. The perpetrators were not identified since they wore masks when they were conducting the attack. The attackers fled the scene immediately after the attack.
FIFA instructor arrives in Mogadishu to conduct Somalia course
13 Aug- Source: Midnimo News Centre-357 Words
With Somalia in preparations for the first FIFA level course to be held in the country, FIFA instructor Ulric Mathiot has arrived in the cSFF-Secretary-General-Abdi-
REGIONAL MEDIA
Kenyan parliament official linked to funding Al Shabaab threatens legal action
13 Aug – Source: Standard Media – 163 words
A key official of Parliament sensationally linked by a United Nations report to funding Somalia’s al Shabaab militants has announced plans to take legal action to defend his reputation and that of Pumwani Riadha mosque, where he sits as a management committee member. At the same time, the official, Ali Abdulmajid, has written to the Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo requesting him to open fresh investigations into the matter to confirm whether the claims in the UN Monitoring Group latest report on Somalia and Eritrea are accurate. He also requested Kimaiyo to make public the results of previous police investigations into similar claims made by the UN group last year. The probe had been ordered by former police commissioner Matthew Iteere. A pained Abdul Majid told The Standard Tuesday that the UN report has seriously soiled his reputation and that Pumwani Riadha mosque in the eyes of Kenyans and his workmates and has been left with no option but to salvage his credibility.
Lull in piracy yet to see drop in shipping fees
13 Aug – Source: Daily Nation – 178 words
Falling pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia are yet to translate into lower shipping costs as companies continue to pay heavily to keep the bandits at bay. Data from the International Marine Bureau (IMB) indicates that increased policing of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden has seen piracy decline to a seven-year low in the first six months of 2013. IMB reports that there were nine piracy incidents along the Gulf of Aden in the first half of the year, a sharp drop from the 69 attacks during a similar period last year. Worldwide, the bureau recorded 138 piracy incidents against the 177 reported in the first half of 2012. “IMB attributes this significant drop in the frequency and range of attacks by Somali pirates to actions taken by international navies as well as preventive measures by merchant vessels,” said the bureau in a July 2013 statement.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali refugee turned TV journalist
13 Aug – Source: BBC – 87 words
Jamal Osman tells us about a life which was turned upside down by war in Somalia, but which led to a career as an award-winning journalist. Hitendra Wadhwa explains why he wants his students at the Columbia Business School to examine their inner lives; Piper Kerman remembers her time in a women’s prison after being found guilty of drug-smuggling – her book is called Orange is the New Black . And Dame Judi Dench on the highlights of her long acting career. Her memoirs are called And Futhermore.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Ega’s novel is a must-read for anyone who wishes to know/understand the torturous history of a society in conflict and transition. It shows that both clan inscriptions, when viewed as what Freud termed “traumatic neurosis,” (i.e., a revenant occurrence that is hard to leave behind,) and its corollary, catastrophe, have a history.”
Suturing Somali Wounds
13 Aug- Source: Wardheernews-2715 Words
I first heard of Abdi Latif Ega’s debut novel Guban last November, when, towards the conclusion of an event where I was the discussant of scholar Mahmood Mamdani’s new book Define and Rule, Mamdani asked me out of the blue: “Have you read Gubaan?” Unsure of what he was saying, I replied, What? “Gubaan,” he said, with a stress on the consonant “b” followed by a long “a” vowel. Sensing my perplexity, he wrote it down on a piece of paper: Guban. Oh, I said. What is it about? “It’s a novel by Abdi Latif Ega. Have you read it?” He repeated the question. No, I said, to which Mamdani simply retorted: “Shame on you.” From the tone of his retort, I knew he had given me an assignment, a challenge. “I’ll read it,” I said, without even asking who Ega was or what the novel was about. But of guban, the coastal plain in northern Somalia known for its sweltering heat and humidity, this much I knew from my intermediate school geography back in Somalia, taught by Mike Roomey of the Peace Corps: Guban, “burnt,” from gub, “to burn or scorch,” refers to “the barren coastal strip” in northern Somalia, now Somaliland.