December 22, 2015 | Morning Headlines
Intelligence Officer And Central Bank Employee Shot Dead In Mogadishu
21 December – Source: Horseed Media – 135 Words
A Somali intelligence officer was killed on Monday in broad daylight by unknown gunmen as he was riding in his car, sources confirmed.The attack took place in the Taleh district of the capital Mogadishu, a Somali government officer and some witnesses told Horseed Media without giving further details. The attackers fled after the shooting and no group has yet claimed the responsibility.
But such attacks are always carried out and claimed by the extremist group al-Shabaab.The shooting came the same day a Somali Central bank employee was also gunned down by unknown gunmen in another neighbourhood as he was heading to his work in the morning.Mogadishu has witnessed a string of suicide bombings, assassinations and drive-by shootings ever since the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group was flushed out of the capital four years ago.
Key Headlines
- Intelligence Officer And Central Bank Employee Shot Dead In Mogadishu (Horseed Media)
- Somali President Arrives In Beletweyne City (Shabelle News )
- Somali Troops Targeted In Marko Grenade Explosion (Shabelle News)
- Kenyan Muslims Shield Christians In Mandera Bus Attack (BBC News)
- A-grade Students And Care workers Celebrated At Somalian Awards In Ealing (Getwestlondon)
- Somali Bantus Celebrate 10 Years In Lewiston (Sun Journal)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali President Arrives In Beletweyne City
21 December – Source: Shabelle News – 111 Words
A high-level delegation led by the president of the Federal Republic of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has reached Beletweyne, the regional capital of Hiiraan.The president has arrived in the city’s airport to a rousing welcome by high-ranking officials and national-flag waving residents who turned out in a large numbers to receive the delegation.Somali national army (SNA) and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have been deployed at various points in the city to improve security ahead of the president’s arrival.Reports from Beletweyne indicate that president Mohamud is expected to meet with elders and the newly appoint Hiiraan governor Yusuf Ahmed Hagar (Daba-geed) who replaced Abdifitah Hassan Afrah.
Somali Troops Targeted In Marko Grenade Explosion
21 December – Source: Shabelle News – 97 Words
One person was wounded when Somali government troops in the southern coastal town of Marko were targeted in a grenade explosion , according to eyewitnesses.The blast occurred when unknown assailants threw a hand grenade at troops on security patrol in the conflict-hit town, injuring a pedestrian.Afterwards, the security forces arrested 30 people in connection with the grenade explosion after carrying out an operation. No group has yet claimed credit for the bomb attack on the army.Marko lies 110Kms north-west of Mogadishu and it is the provincial capital of Somalia’s southern strategic lower Shabelle region.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Kenyan Muslims Shield Christians In Mandera Bus Attack
21 December – Source: BBC News – 287 Words
A group of Kenyan Muslims travelling on a bus ambushed by Islamist gunmen protected Christian passengers by refusing to be split into groups, according to eyewitnesses.They told the militants “to kill them together or leave them alone”, a local governor told Kenyan media.At least two people were killed in the attack, near the north-eastern village of El Wak on the Somali border.The Somali based Al-Shabaab group is the main suspect for the attack.It has not said if it was responsible, but often carries out attacks in Kenya’s north-east.The bus was travelling from the capital Nairobi to the town of Mandera.
When Al-Shabaab killed 148 people in an attack on Garissa University College in April, the militants reportedly singled out Christians and shot them, while freeing many Muslims.Last year, a bus was attacked near Mandera by Al-ShabAab militants, who killed 36 non-Muslims travelling to Nairobi for Christmas celebrations.”The locals showed a sense of patriotism and belonging to each other,” Mandera governor Ali Roba told Kenya’s private Daily Nation newspaper.
A-grade Students And Care workers Celebrated At Somalian Awards In Ealing
21 December – Source:Getwestlondon-306 Words
A-grade students and a woman who has been a foster carer for 10 years were celebrated at the Somali Achievement Awards in Ealing on Saturday (December 11).The awards, two of which were sponsored by Ealing Council , was held in Greenford Hall by the Horn of Africa Youth Association to celebrate achievement in the UK’s Somali community.
Celebrated students were from Dormers Wells and Fetherstone School, Southall , Acton High, Acton , were presented with awards for academic excellence in their exams by Councillor Binda Rai, council cabinet member for children and young people.Councillor Rai congratulated the students “who have done so well and are fantastic role models.”She also thanked foster carer Amina Robleh “who is a wonderful example of how foster carers can transform the lives of children and young people.”We always need people like Amina and I hope that her story will inspire others to become foster carers.”Amina said: “I am so proud of his achievements, getting into a top university, passing his driving test and securing a job. Fostering wasn’t easy at first, but the support from Ealing has been great and it has given me so much experience.”Among the awarded students was Ifrah Mohamed, former Featherstone High student who achieved three A grades at A level, and is now studying to be a dentist.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Forging a new community in Lewiston had challenges, Libah said. A big one was helping their children succeed in school.In 2006 and 2007 Somali Bantu students got more “white cards,” meaning they were written up for disciplinary action, than any other group at Lewiston Middle School, Libah said. Bantu youth had little or no school experience,”
Somali Bantus Celebrate 10 Years In Lewiston
21 December- Source: Sun Journal – 669 Words
With speeches, food and dance, the Somali Bantu community Saturday celebrated its 10th anniversary of calling Lewiston home.At the celebration at Longley Elementary School, congratulatory speeches were given by Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, and Colby College professor Catherine Bestemen, who lived with Somali Bantus before Somalia’s civil war.Muhidin Libah, 36, was among the first Somali Bantus to come to Lewiston in 2005. Today, he’s the executive director of the Somali Bantu Community Mutual Assistance Association.Despite a hard life, he seems to smile all the time.“Lewiston is our home,” he said. Here he and others have done something they couldn’t do in Africa: organize and make things happen.
The Somali Bantu Community Mutual Assistance Association has created programs in farming, conflict resolution, financial literacy and women’s empowerment. Another organization, the Somali Bantu Youth Association of Maine, has provided soccer leagues, tutoring, English-speaking classes and citizenship classes.“I’m really happy we’ve been able to bring all our people together in a place we can help them,” Libah said. Things people take for granted, such as running water and school for all children, are luxuries they didn’t have in Kenya or Somalia.“How far we’ve come as a community is huge,” said Rilwan Osman, who co-founded the Somali Bantu Youth Association. Bantus have not had the kind of success in other states that they have had in Lewiston, Osman said.”In 2006-2007 we had no high school graduations,” Osman said. “Now our kids are graduating from high school and going to college. To me that is huge.”
There are two groups of Somali refugees in Lewiston, the ethnic Somalis who first arrived in 2001, and the Somali Bantus who began arriving in 2005.The earlier group had exposure to education in their country; the Bantus did not. Before the war, they farmed in rural villages.Libah moved to Lewiston after one year in upstate New York and 20 years in a Kenyan refugee camp. He pointed out that the Bantu community here doesn’t have many old people. Many didn’t make it.When Libah was a boy, he fled war-torn Somalia with his family, walking nonstop for 12 days to Kenya. It was dangerous. The weak and old died along the way, he said.“There was no food, no water,” he said. “You faced a lot of animals that wanted to eat you.”