August 25, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Somali President: UAE Supports Our Country’s Construction Process And Fight Against Terrorism
24 August – Source: Goobjoog News/WAMO – 251 Words
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has commended the United Arab Emirates’ outstanding gesture by President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan to support his country.
He also expressed gratitude to Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for their role in supporting the development process Somalia.President Mohamud noted the historical ties that bind the UAE and Somalia, and welcomed the support provided by the UAE in humanitarian and development areas and its efforts to fight terrorism.
In an exclusive interview with the “Al Ittihad” newspaper, the Somali President said the UAE government and its people have been at the forefront in standing by the people of Somalia since the collapse of the central government in 1990 and the outbreak of civil war. The UAE has provided significant contributions to alleviate the suffering of the Somali people along with opening of schools, hospitals and clinics.
He also pointed out that the UAE has effectively contributed in supporting the Somali government’s efforts to restore security and stability through the training of Somali police and military personnel along with establishing training centres and barracks for recruits.
The Somali leader stressed that his country had made great strides in addressing terrorism posed by the “Al-Shabaab” movement. He pointed out that the Somali people have a long and rich legacy of tolerance and coexistence with others. The President praised the role played by the Arab Coalition’s navy to prevent the flow of weapons and terrorists into Somalia.
Key Headlines
- Somali President: UAE Supports Our Country’s Construction Process And Fight Against Terrorism(Goobjoog News/WOMA)
- Army Colonel Shot Dead In Somali Capital (Anadolu Agency)
- Victims Of Galkayo Attacks Are In Serious Condition – Medics (Goobjoog News)
- Garowe Hospital Offers Fistula Treatment For Patient Mothers (Goobjoog News)
- Five Arrested After Grenade Attack In Mogadishu (Xinhua News)
- UNHCR Says 18000 Refugees Leave Dadaab Camp For Somalia In 2016 (Prensa Latina)
- 11th Somali Man In Minnesota Charged With ISIL Support (USA Today)
- Former ICU Financier Slams ‘insupportable’ Al- Shabaab ‘Kill Bombing’ Policy (Hiiraan Online)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Army Colonel Shot Dead In Somali Capital
24 August – Source: Anadolu Agency – 103 Words
A Somali colonel was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in western part of capital Mogadishu on Wednesday, eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency. Col. Yahya Haj Ali was killed while he was going to his office at the Ministry of Defense, eyewitnesses present at the scene said.
Ali died on the spot. The attackers fled before police arrived at the crime scene. No group immediately claimed responsibility of the attack, but responsibility for similar attacks has been claimed by the Al-Shabaab militant group. The group had claimed last Sunday’s twin suicide attack that killed at least 13 people and dozens injured in Galkayo, central Somalia.
Victims Of Galkayo Attacks Are In Serious Condition – Medics
24 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 166 Words
Some of the people injured in twin bombings that hit local government offices in Galkaayo town are said to be in a serious condition. Abdirisaaq Mohamed, a medical official, said the conditions of some of the 52 people being treated of injuries sustained in Galkayo attack are in a “serious” state.
“The injuries are serious and the multiple fractures suffered by the victims have made their treatment complicated,” said Mohamed. On Sunday at least 23 people were killed and over 80 others were injured in the attack that targeted a government building near a crowded market. Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the attack, whose victims included schoolchildren.
Garowe Hospital Offers Fistula Treatment For Patient Mothers
24 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 204 Words
A week free medical camp for obstetric fistula patients kicked off on Wednesday at Garowe hospital in the semi-autonomous regional state of Puntland to benefit women. About half of the patients are women who suffer from a condition known as vesicovaginal fistula, while the other half are women with old perineal tears which need reparation.
Abdisamad Ahmed, the hospital director said “Our aim is to bring on board as many women as possible to benefit from this service that will enable them lead a normal life afterwards.” The hospital launched an awareness campaign in the town to inform the public of the fistula camp. Announcements were broadcast on radios and messages were sent by SMS on mobile phones.
The hospital has dedicated a special team including doctors, nurses and its Specialized Reproductive Health clinic for the surgical medical camp: “One of our key goals in addition to offering reconstructive surgery is training local surgeons on fistula surgery,” said Dr Ahmed.
He said women commonly suffer a lifetime of social rejection when they are unable to seek treatment for fistula. An obstetric fistula is a hole between the vagina and rectum or bladder that is caused by prolonged obstructed labour, leaving a woman incontinent of urine or faeces or both.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Five Arrested After Grenade Attack In Mogadishu
24 August – Source: Xinhua News – 147 Words
Police in Somalia on Wednesday arrested five suspected Al-Shabaab militants in the capital Mogadishu where a grenade attack in Hamar-weyne district killed one person and wounded three others a day ago.
Hamar-weyne Police Station Commander, Abdukadir Ahmed Shire, told journalists that the security operation was aimed at pursuing perpetrators behind the grenade attack at the house of the state minister of defense on Tuesday night.
“Terrorists hurled grenade into the house of the state minister of defense last night. It wounded four people, and one of them died in the hospital,” Shire said. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Al-Shabaab Islamist group carries out periodic attacks in Mogadishu in its fight against the Somali government. Somalia’s security forces and the African Union peacekeeping troops are battling the militants, and have pushed them back to southern Somalia
UNHCR Says 18,000 Refugees Leave Dadaab Camp For Somalia In 2016
24 August – Source: Prensa Latina – 220 Words
At least 24,000 refugees from the expansive Dadaab camp in northeastern Kenya have so far been assisted to voluntarily return to Somalia since a tripartite agreement was signed in 2014, a senior UN official has said.
Speaking during the commissioning of a power station in Dadaab, Wella Kouyou, the deputy representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to Kenya, said in 2016 alone, 18,000 have voluntarily gone back to Somalia.
Earlier this year, the Kenyan government announced that it would shut down the camp, saying it was a breeding ground for terrorists. The country had witnessed a series of attacks instigated by Al-Shabaab militia.One of the deadliest attacks was at Garissa University College in April 2015 in which over 140 people died, most of them students and also against the Westgate shopping center.
Mr Kouyou said the UNHCR will continue to work with the government to ensure that refugees return to Somalia voluntarily and are accorded safety and dignity: ‘We will also make sure that a rehabilitation programme for the refugees is carried out alongside the repatriation process.
11th Somali Man In Minnesota Charged With ISIL Support
24 August – Source: USA Today – 217 Words
Federal prosecutors have brought terrorism charges against an 11th man from the Minneapolis Somali community, alleging that the 20-year-old suspect used proceeds from a legal settlement related to the city’s deadly 2007 bridge collapse to ultimately finance his travel to Syria two years ago.
Mohamed Amiin Ali Roble, still believed to be fighting for the Islamic State in Syria, was identified in interviews with other alleged conspirators who have been cooperating with federal investigators. According to court documents, Roble began using at least part of a $91,654 settlement from a lawsuit filed in the aftermath of the 2007 Minneapolis bridge collapse, which left 13 dead and 145 injured, to finance his 2014 travel to Istanbul.
The Turkish capital is a popular gateway for foreign fighters traveling to Syria. And federal prosecutors said Roble, who has since surfaced in photographs from the conflict zone in Syria, has never returned. Roble’s parents initially filed the bridge lawsuit against the state, an engineering firm and the contractor, asserting that their son was one of the 145 injured in the collapse.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“They say Al-Qaeda is doing these things, but I have to say I am not supportive of the killing, bombing of civilians and mosques by Al-Shabaab.” — Abukar Omar Adani, former Al-Shabaab financier
Former ICU Financier Slams ‘insupportable’ Al- Shabaab ‘Kill, Bombing’ Policy
23 August – Source Hiiraan Online – 347 Words
A top Somali businessman, who helped to finance the ousted Islamic Courts Union has hit out at the Al-Qaeda linked group in Somalia for its sustained killing and bombing campaign against civilians in the horn of Africa nation.
In a rare criticism by the businessman, who often maintains a low-profile away from political spotlight, Abukar Omar Adani called on the group to change strategy and spare human lives. Al-Shabab has waged a deadly guerrilla war across large parts of Somalia with a view to impose sharia law into the largely conservative country that is recovering from decades of war.
“They say Al-Qaeda is doing these things, but I have to say I am not supportive of the killing, bombing of civilians and mosques by Al-Shabaab.” said Abukar Omar Adani at a press conference in Mogadishu on Monday.
Mr. Adani has however called for Somalis to practice sharia law by avoiding ‘lies’ by western governments: “It’s better that we live side by side peacefully rather than heeding to christians’ dictatorial terms and policy.” The 80-years-old businessman said.
Having lived a self-imposed exile in Mogadishu for years after Ethiopian troops ousted the Islamic fighters in 2007, Mr. Adani, a Mogadishu-based influential businessman who had previously been mentioned as the chief financial backer of the Islamic Courts Union, returned to Mogadishu after Ethiopian army pulled out of Somalia after a peace deal between the then Somali transitional government and the Islamist group in Djibouti.