August 4, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Four Al-Shabaab Militants Killed In Southern Somalia
03 August – Source: Xinhua News – 171 Words
At least four Al-Shabaab militants were on Wednesday killed in heavy fighting between the group and security forces at Bula-Haji, 90 kilometers west of Kismayo in southern Somalia, officials said. Spokesman of Jubbaland State, Sayid Ahmed told reporters that special security forces conducted the successful operation that led to the death of the insurgents.
“Jubbland special security forces carried out the operation at Bula-Haji location, there was heavy fighting, but our forces overpowered and killed 4 Al-Shabaab militants, They recovered four Ak47 rifles and a civilian bus in which they robbed from locals in this town, we will hand over the car to a female who belonged to it soon,” Ahmed added.
Ahmed did not however said if there were some casualties from the security side during the fighting. But the group has been facing backlash from several areas in Lower Jubba region in the same areas in the past three months after Somali, African Union troops and U.S. drones conducted airstrikes and ground battle against the militants.
Key Headlines
- Four Al-Shabaab Militants Killed In Southern Somalia (Xinhua News)
- Somali President Opens National Leadership Forum In Mogadishu (Shabelle News)
- Somalia Plans To Build Roads Linking Different Parts Of Country To Boost Trade (Goobjoog News)
- Kenyan Police Foil Al-Shabaab Attack In Border Region (Xinhua News)
- AMISOM Donates Office Equipment To Somali Police Force (AMISOM)
- Sh360m Cocaine: Detectives Link ‘Missing’ Vessel To Al-Shabaab (The Star)
- Olympics 2016: Somali Athletes’ Hard Road To Rio (BBC)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali President Opens National Leadership Forum In Mogadishu
03 August – Source: Shabelle News – 105 Words
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud officially opened the National Leadership Forum (NLF) in the capital city of Mogadishu on Wednesday. The meeting, attended by the Prime Minister, Omar Sharmarke and regional state leaders, is scheduled to continue for two days.
Briefing the press, State Minister for the Presidential Palace, Mahad Mohamed Salad, said the forum will focus on arriving at an agreeable model of the electoral process this year, women’s political participation as well as finalizing the setting up of an electoral commission for conflict resolutions. The forum is also expected to weigh on the election dates and probably announce new dates for the elections.
Somalia Plans To Build Roads Linking Different Parts Of Country To Boost Trade
03 August – Source: Goobjoog News – 204 Words
Somalia’s Ministry for Works plans to link different parts of the country by constructing roads that will facilitate trade across the country. Announcing this, the Minister of Works Salah Sh Osman also hoped that peace returns to the the country to allow for infrastructural development.
“We have decided to open up the new roads across the nation to enable faster movement of goods and boost trade,” he said. Speaking at meeting held in Mogadishu, Osman revealed that the Ministry planned to launch projects to upgrade bridges, ports and roads in the country.
“We will start to repair and reconstruct bridges, roads and main ports in Somalia, most of which were were destroyed during the civil war in the country,” Osman said. However, the Minister urged the public to help the government by collecting property taxes revenue.
Somalis were last subjected to property taxation system in 1991, before warlords overthrew the central government of President Mohamed Siad Barre, plunging the country into endless conflict which led to the permanent destruction of the country’s economic infrastructure.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Kenyan Police Foil Al-Shabaab Attack In Border Region
03 August – Source: Xinhua News – 208 Words
Kenya’s security forces on Wednesday repulsed Somali militants who had planned to raid a security camp in Mandera County along the Somalia border. Deputy County Commissioner Eric Oronyi said the insurgents had targeted an Administration Police camp in Lafey region but the police moved swift and repulsed them.
“Our officers shot at the suspected Al-Shabaab raiders and managed to repulse them back to Somalia,” Oronyi said. The regional government official said the suspected Al-Shabaab raiders were working in cahoots with locals in gauging alertness of security agents.
“Al-Shabaab are working with a few locals in gauging area security preparedness in bid to future attacks,” Oronyi said the raiders surrounded the police camp after which security officers engaged them in a fierce gun battle. The Al-Shabaab have in the past five months attacked communication masts in bid to cut police from immediate response.
The Somali militants have been targeting military and police vehicles either by laying an ambush or planting explosives on the road in northeast region especially in Mandera and Garissa counties. Kenya, currently engaged in the fight against the militia group in southern Somalia where its soldiers under, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has been registering impressive gains and extending humanitarian assistance to the local population.
AMISOM Donates Office Equipment To Somali Police Force
03 August – Source: AMISOM – 478 Words
AMISOM police today donated an assortment of office equipment to the Somali Police Force (SPF) to help enhance efficiency and improve service delivery. The donation, which included computers, printers and biometric equipment, is meant to revamp the force’s human resource directorate, which is core to the proper functioning of the SPF.
The equipment was handed over by the AMISOM Police Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Apenteng Baffou, to the SPF Commissioner, Maj.Gen. Mohamed Hassan Sheikh Hamud, at a ceremony held at the force’s headquarters. CSP Baffou said the donation was part of AMISOM’s mandate to enhance the capacity of the SPF and enable it perform its key function of maintaining law and order.
“By the click of the button you will have all the information on how many personnel there are in a region or unit. We have connected the office of the Human Resource Director and we are going to connect yours too,” Chief Superintendent of Police Baffou who represented AMISOM Police Commissioner told the SPF Commissioner.
The biometric database developed by AMISOM will be used for registering all SPF personnel by capturing their biographical data and other critical information. The data collected will enable the human resource directorate know the numerical strength of the force, the number of personnel per rank and deployments of each officer.
Maj.Gen. Hamud thanked AMISOM for the donation, which, he said, will go a long way in resolving some of the challenges faced by the force: “I think one of the biggest challenges we face is in the human resource department because as we experience war and lack of lawlessness in some areas, we are likely to face defections because of welfare issues. As a result, I am grateful to AMISOM for supporting the SPF.”
Sh360m Cocaine: Detectives Link ‘Missing’ Vessel To Al-Shabaab
03 August – Source: The Star – 349 Words
The vessel in which Sh360 million cocaine was found at Kenya’s Mombasa port might have ferried weapons to Al-Shabaab in Somalia. MSC Posetano docked at Mombasa on July 27 and departed without authorisation on July 29 shortly after 100kg of cocaine hidden in a shipment of brown sugar was seized.
It was spotted in Mogadishu on Wednesday on its way to the Port of Kismayo, said Kenya Maritime Authority acting director general Cosmas Cherop. He did not give details of the crew and the vessel’s next destination but said they can be obtained from the Kenya Ports Authority.
Officials from the US-based Drug Enforcement Agency and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said they believe the vessel carried weapons and drugs: “That is why it was quickly sneaked out of the port,” a source said. President Uhuru Kenyatta had ordered the destruction of all vessels carrying narcotics. One was blow up in August 2014 and another in August 2015.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“The road to the Olympics has not been an easy one. Their training sessions at Mogadishu’s Banadir Stadium were not helped by the lack of proper equipment and the poor state of the track.”
Olympics 2016: Somali Athletes’ Hard Road To Rio
03 August – Source: BBC – 441 Words
Somalia – the nation that produced double Olympic champion Mo Farah – has sent only two athletes to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. Runners Maryan Nuh Muse and Mohamed Daud Mohamed are joining more than 11,000 athletes there. But why such a small team?
The problem is not lack of talent. Both Farah, who won two gold medals at London 2012, and Mohammed Ahmed, who made his Olympic debut then, coming 18th in the 10,000 metres, were born in the Somali capital Mogadishu. But both were competing for their adoptive countries, having left Somalia with their families when they were youngsters. Mo Farah now represents Great Britain and Mohammed Ahmed runs for Canada.
Firstly, the Somali Olympic National Committee has little by way of a budget for its athletes. The team does not have private doctors. Any medical treatment needed must come from public hospitals, themselves under-funded and lacking proper equipment. It began preparations for the Rio in 2014 by deciding to appoint a technical group charged with travelling widely in Somalia to identify and train potential competitors.
But spotting talent outside Mogadishu has been hampered by the fact that some areas are still under the control of militant Islamist group Al-Shabaab. And many young Somalis have been leaving the country to try to escape the violence and poverty.
One was sprinter Samia Yusuf Omar, who represented Somalia at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. She initially moved to Ethiopia, in part to avoid being harassed by local militants who disapproved of Muslim women competing in sport.
Her story inspired a graphic novel by Richard Kleist entitled “An Olympic Dream”.But Samia’s dream was shattered in 2012 as she drowned when a boat in which she was trying to reach Europe capsized off the Libyan coast.
Mohamed Daud Mohamed, 20, will compete in the 5,000-metre race. Born in neighbouring Kenya, he is a former footballer. The Rio games will be his first international competition. Maryan Nuh Muse, 19, has already represented Somalia in various African and international competitions including the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in China. She will be running in the 400 metres race.