August 29, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Two dead, Three Injured In IED Blast And Gunfire In Beled-Hawo
28 August – Source: Shabelle News – 122 Words
At least two Somali soldiers were killed and three others sustained injuries in bomb explosion in Beled-Hawo city, near Somali border with Kenya on Sunday afternoon.A witness who asked to remain anonymous, told Radio Shabelle that a soldier was killed by remote-controlled bomb that targeted Somali military forces in the city’s downtown.
The explosion which was followed by heavy exchange of gunfire between two group of soldiers who suspected each other left another soldier dead, putting the death toll at two..At least three other people, including unarmed civilians have been wounded in the blast and the gunfight in Beled-Hawo city located in Gedo province.Two women are reportedly among those injured in Sunday’s Beled-Hawo violence and taken to hospital for medical treatment.
Key Headlines
- Two dead Three Injured In IED Blast And Gunfire In Beled-Hawo (Shabelle News)
- Serious Water Shortage Hits Areas In Mudug region (Goobjoog News)
- A Grenade Blast Targets Somali Troops In Afgoye (Shabelle News)
- Mo Farah’s brother ‘afraid for his life’ Over Fears He Could Be Deported To Somalia (The Independent UK)
- At least 7 Al-Shabaab Militants Killed in S. Somalia: Official (Xinhua)
- Somalia’s Forgotten Institutions (Jowhar.com)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Serious Water Shortage Hits Areas In Mudug region
28 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 267 Words
Hundreds of pastoralist families and their livestock in villages around Mudug region are facing an extreme water shortage as the water pans, boreholes and other sources of water have dried up.Ali Bashi Adan, Elgula chief, who spoke to Goobjoog news says that hundreds of rural people have flocked to towns in search of drinking water for themselves and their animals.“Insufficient short rains coupled with the almost total collapse of the rural water supply system is going to be the cause of a terrible human crisis,” Adan said.“People in here have experienced severe water and food shortages in the last two months. Just we don’t know where to find water “ he said.
The villages do not have a single water well and residents used to rely on dams and pans that are now dry.He pointed out that they currently have to rely on water brought from the district, which is 30 km away. However, most of the residents cannot afford to pay for the imported water as the price has sharply increased.A resident, Mohamed Osman, told Goobjoog News that a barrel of water now costs 100,000 Somali shillings (roughly $4.5), up from 40,000 Somali shillings before the scarcity began.They fear the water shortage will worsen and threaten living conditions for the mostly agro-pastoralist communities..He called on federal government and Mudug officials to help vulnerable people in time. Hundreds of people have displaced from their villages in Mudug region, seeking places to refuge.
A Grenade Blast Targets Somali Troops In Afgoye
28 August – Source: Shabelle News – 95 Words
Assailants believed to be Al-Shabaab members have hurled a grenade bomb on Somali military forces in the southern town of Afgoye on Saturday night.Confirming the incident, Afgoye deputy district commissioner Mahad Ahmed Hassan, told Radio Shabelle by phone the blast occurred outside military base.He said there were no any casualties on the troops as a result of the grenade attack in Afgoye last night. But some reports suggest it caused fatalities.No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb explosion in Afgoye, which is located some 30Km south-west of Somali capital, Mogadishu.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Mo Farah’s brother ‘afraid for his life’ Over Fears He Could Be Deported To Somalia
28 August – Source: The Independent , UK – 268 Words
The brother of Olympic gold medalist Mo Farah has said he fears for his life if he is deported to Somalia. Ahmed Farah, 27, moved to the UK with his brother and their parents aged two. He could now be made to return to Somalia over his false imprisonment conviction for his role in a knife raid.
The warehouse worker, who received a four-and-a-half year jail sentence, said he was a “horrible person” at the time he committed his crime but claimed prison has reformed him. “I can’t go back to where Mo and I were born – it is too dangerous,” he told the Mirror. “I’m scared I would end up dead. I feel there’s no hope for me.“I am afraid for my life. I have no roots in Somalia. People would kill me, because I’m different. They would not class me as their own.”
Ahmed, who lives in West London, says he has not spoken to Mo, 33, who lives in the US, since he left the family home to become an athlete. He was released early from prison in 2014 but told he could face deportation because of his conviction. He says legal hearings have been delayed and he has no idea when he could be sent back to Somalia.
At least 7 Al-Shabaab Militants Killed in S. Somalia: Official
27 August – Source: Xinhua News – 149 Words
The Somali army, backed by the African Union peacekeeping troops, killed at least seven Al-Shabaab militantson Saturday in a fighting at Surayo location, about 15km from Burdhubo town in the southern Somali region of Gedo, a local official said.
Aden Muhumed Ahmed, a security official in the area, told reporters that the joint forces were “in full control of the area at the moment,” but two soldiers of the Somali army were killed and another one was injured in the fighting.”Al-Shabaab militants ordered locals to pay large amounts of money which they can’t afford; the residents informed us that they were facing threats and pressure from the militants and we responded to their demand and took action on the terrorists today,” he said.The Islamist Al-Shabaab group controls some areas of southern Somalia, and frequently carries out attacks in the country in its insurgency against the government.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Imagine a once war-torn capital which now is full of cars. It even has traffic jams.However, despite all those developments, the public sector has been all but forgotten. All the governments that have existed in Somalia since 2000 have failed to make progress in promoting institutions of public interest,”
Somalia’s Forgotten Institutions
28 August – Source: Jowhar.com – 538 Words
The long civil war in Somalia caused extensive damage in the capital Mogadishu. Private and public buildings were completely ruined.Since Al Shabaab was ousted from Mogadishu in 2011, a new chapter has opened for Somalia. Many diaspora Somalis have flooded back into the country, bringing with them wealth and knowledge. New mansions are being built, and supermarkets and malls opening across Mogadishu
Mogadishu now serves as a commercial and financial center for Somalia. The city’s Bakara market offers a variety of goods, from fresh food to the newest electronic gadgets. The hotel industry continues to boom.The economy has recovered somewhat from the civil unrest, faring relatively better than other Somali cities. Principal industries include food and beverage processing, and textiles, especially cotton ginning.
Besides the real estate market and hotel industry, the telecommunications sector has also flourished.The chink-chink of hammers and nails on construction sites mushrooming across the capital has replaced the daily gun shots and skirmishes. We, the people who have been living in Mogadishu for the last ten years, can literally see before our eyes the undeniable progress made in the Somali capital in recent years.Although security remains a big challenge, if you visit the different districts of Mogadishu, you see newly built houses while others are being renovated. There are green football grounds, with young people playing together for the first time in two decades. Residents of Mogadishu even have a Peace Garden where families spend hours at the weekends.