August 24, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Regional Troops Clash With Al-Shabaab In Southwest Somalia
24 August – Source: Voice of America – 245 Words
Two days of clashes between Al-Shabaab and regional forces in southwestern Somalia have killed at least 15 people, officials said. The fighting took place outside Moragabey village in the Bakool region. Forces of the Bakool government and surrounding regions have recently stepped up military operations to open roads blocked by Al-Shabaab.
Intermittent clashes continued Tuesday after Al-Shabaab attacked a base used by regional government forces Monday, according to officials. Sources close to the Somali military told VOA that the dead include eight soldiers and seven Al-Shabaab militants. Pro-Al-Shabaab media reported the village was captured by their fighters Monday, but the mayor of the nearby town of Huddur, Mohamed Moallim Ahmed, and residents disputed the claim.
“They [Al-Shabaab] failed to seize it [Moragabey]. It’s in the government soldiers’ hands,” Ahmed told VOA Somali. Ahmed said nine soldiers were also wounded in the attack. The government sent reinforcements from Huddur town. Military sources in the Bakool region told VOA Somali that regional forces have so far succeeded in opening the road between Huddur and el-Barde, near the border with Ethiopia, but several other towns remain besieged.
Key Headlines
- Regional Troops Clash With Al-Shabaab In Southwest Somalia (Voice of America)
- Senior Al-Shabaab Official Killed By Somali Forces In South Central Somalia (Goobjoog News)
- Somaliland Petitions For International Recognition (Hiiraan Online)
- 1 Killed In Blast At Minister’s Residence (Shavelle News)
- Walking The Road With Somali Police (AMISOM)
- Al Shabaab Fighters Are After Me Says Ex-terror Suspect (Standard Digital)
- Dadaab Power Station To Spur Garissa Growth (The Star)
- President’s Trip To Jigjiga: Lessons To Be Learned (Wardheer News)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Senior Al-Shabaab Official Killed By Somali Forces In South Central Somalia
24 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 207 Words
A senior Al-Shabaab commander was killed on Tuesday during a fight between Somali forces supported by AU troops and Al-Shabaab fighters in the south-central Bay region. The fighting took place outside of Qansah-Dheere town after Somali forces raided the group’s training camp. Southwest State Minister for Militia Rehabilitation, Hussein Hassan Mohamed, told reporters that a senior Al-Shabaab official was among those killed in the operation.
“They (Al-Shabaab) attempted to make resistance, but we overpowered them and killed eight of the terrorists including a senior official whose name is Hassan Ganey,” Hassan said, adding the joint forces suffered no casualties. Forces of the Bay government and surrounding regions have recently stepped up military operations to open roads blocked by Al-Shabaab.
Al-Shabaab fighters who were driven from the capital in 2011 want to overthrow the internationally recognized government led by President Hassan Sheikh. The group usually launches attacks on military bases, hotels, government offices and carry out ambushes against convoys of African Union troops supporting the Federal Government of Somalia. On Sunday, over 23 people died and more than eighty people injured after two suicide bombings hit local government offices near busy Dayaha market in Galkaayo town 720km north of Somalia’s capital city, Mogadishu.
Somaliland Petitions For International Recognition
24 August – Source: Hiiraan Online – 253 Words
A petition calling for an international recognition for the breakaway northern Somalia republic of Somaliland as independent country has gathered more than 1, 021,000 signatures, in a new push which aims to draw global attention. Sa’ad Ali Shire, Somaliland’s Foreign Minister said that the enclave would submit the outcome of the petition which started to collect signatures in April from the international community with the hope of a ‘positive’ response.
“This petition letter reflects the needs of the Somaliland people, thus it’s our hope that the international community will respect and consider their feeling.” The minister said at an event delivering the petition result which was attended by leaders including president Ahmed Silanyo.
It’s unclear if the international community which had long resisted repeated appeals by Somaliland to be recognized as an independent state will respond to the new petition signed by people in Somaliland. However, government officials described the current petition as ‘significant’ which may attract a ‘positive’ attention by the international community.
Meanwhile, the new petition runs alongside a similar petition that Somaliland filed at the UK parliament early this year. The six-month long petition which already attracted 2,117 signatures is yet to reach its 10,000 to have the UK government respond or be considered for debate by the parliament. Somaliland, a breakaway region in northern Somalia has declared a unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991; however, no country has so far recognized it as an independent state.
1 Killed In Blast At Minister’s Residence
24 August – Source: Shabelle News – 118 Words
Unidentified gunmen have hurled a grenade bomb at a building housing the state minister of defense and several lawmakers of Somali federal government in Mogadishu last night. At least one person was killed in the attack which took place in Hamarweyne district, according to an area police chief Lieutenant Colonel Abdulkadir Ahmed Shire Matoote.
“One civilian was killed, and three others were hurt in the grenade blast in the official’s residence in Hamarweyne district,” Motoote said during an interview with Radio Shabelle over the phone. No group has yet to claim responsibility for the attack, but Al-Shabaab has carried out several deadly blasts in the seaside city in the past, targeting government officials.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Walking The Road With Somali Police
24 August – Source: AMISOM – Video: 24:00 Minutes
The exit strategy of AMISOM hinges on the readiness of the Somali Security Forces to take charge of the security of the country. AMISOM Police takes stock of the journey towards a well trained, professional, accountable, responsive and representative Somali Police that meets the expectations of the Somali people.
Al-Shabaab Fighters Are After Me, Says Ex-terror Suspect
24 August – Source: Standard Digital – 516 Words
A former terror suspect says Al-Shabaab sympathisers are after his life after he refused to train their members. Daniel Ocheso Wesa,35, from Mombasa County says he has approached police for protection to no avail. He has now turned to human rights groups for help but even then all he has received are referrals.
Ocheso, once arrested in 2015 on terrorism-related claims, says he is also worried about the safety of his three-year-old daughter, Ashley Wesa. “She is the only family I have. I lost my other 16-month-daughter in February. She fell sick while were in hiding and died,” says Ocheso. He adds: “My wife (Faith Masumbuko) went back to her parents and my in-laws have been accusing me of putting her life in danger.”
A Kenya Human Rights Commission official confirmed Ocheso approached them for assistance. “We referred him to The Cradle (which handles children’s welfare) because of his daughter. They are better placed to help him,” said the official who did not wish to be named. However, Ocheso went to The Cradle only for them to refer him to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). He thought help had arrived only for KNCHR to send him to the Federation of Women Lawyers, who again referred him to Kituo cha Sheria.
Dadaab Power Station To Spur Garissa Growth
24 August – Source: The Star – 278 Words
Energy CS Charles Keter yesterday commissioned the Dadaab power station. It will provide electricity to more than 200,000 people have electricity connection under the Rural Electrification Programme.The project is co-funded by UNHCR and the Kenyan government for Sh200 million. Dadaab and neighbouring public primary schools will have electricity next month, Keter said.
The CS said his ministry will extend power connections to the nearby trading centres as soon as it receives funding from the World Bank. He said the program to extend connection to rural areas will improve education standards and small-scale traders’ business. We will receive $100 million (Sh1 billion) from World Bank to extend power to off-grid areas. This will cover most of the areas,” Keter said.
The CS said so far 597 primary schools in Garissa county have been connected to power through the recently launched national grid and solar panels. The remaining eight will be connected within a month, Keter said. He said the second phase to be funded by the government and the African Development Fund at Sh15 billion will see supply power to Fafi and Wajir South constituencies.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Of course, Somalia may not eliminate terrorism against soft targets any time soon, but with the right tools implemented it should be able to disrupt the organizational, financial and ideological network of terrorism that reside in the hands of known extremist clerics.”
President’s Trip To Jigjiga: Lessons To Be Learned
24 August – Source: Whardeer News – 1,426
President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud’s visit to Jigjiga marks a paradigm shift in the Ethio-Somali relations. It is the first time in history that a sitting Somali President officially visits the Somali inhabited region of Ethiopia, and this comes at a time when the region has a self-rule within an ethnic-based federal system (Dawlad Deegaanka Soomaalida Itobiya).
The visit was facilitated by the PM of Ethiopia and by his Foreign Minister, who mingles well with Somalis in the Diaspora. Somalis will be debating the merits and demerits of the visit for many years to come. That is not the focus of this piece. Alas, I am focusing on security related lessons that Mogadishu could learn from Jigjiga. More on this later.
Received at Wiilwaal Airport with a red carpet by the President of the Somali Regional State, Abdi Mahmoud Omar, Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud was taken in a motorcade to the statehouse past the newly erected symbolic statue of Sayyid Mohamed Abddille Hassan. The meeting between the two Somali sides comes at a momentous time, especially when Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud’s government is in painful bind with Al-Shabaab terrorists.
If President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud has learned one or two lessons from his visit to Jigjiga, it better be how to implement measures that help defeat religious-based terrorism, lest the Somali Regional State succeed exactly to do that.
Prior to the meeting of the two sides, President Abdi Mahmoud Omar gave an interview to Cakaratv, a locally run TV station, where he chided “riot instigators” in the northern part of the Country. He strongly rebuked the futile attempts by the forces of what he termed “chauvinists” (“timkitanyoch”) to reverse the motion of federalism in his country. This sentiment is widely echoed by an overwhelming majority of Somalis in Ethiopia and elsewhere.
TOP TWEETS
@Vatescorp : #Somalia: Somaliland Voter Registeration Starts in Sool Province http://ow.ly/utW1303wMBD
@TheTrueSomalian: #Kenya softens its position on Dadaab refugee camp closures and refugees repatriation to #Somalia@Dadaabrefugees
@omabha : Raising the stakes: Expect reaction to US military action in Somalia – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette http://dlvr.it/M5vdGv #Somalia
@faoinsomalia : Kismayo is 1 of 50 fishing hubs in #Somalia. We’re making small scale artisans a priority in our #fisheriessector.
@Abdi_AlSheikh : Somalia: Jowhar elders blame Federal Govt for ‘meddling’ – Garowe Online http://dlvr.it/M5tQrF #Somalia
@GeopoliticalJD : Regional Troops Clash with Al-Shabaab in Southwest #Somalia | VOA #AlShabaab
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Tighter collaboration between AMISOM and SNA will be key to securing the upcoming electoral process and countering Al-Shabaab, the regional body’s Force Commander, Lt. Gen. Osman Noor Soubagleh said Monday.
Photo: AMISOM