December 3, 2014 | Daily Monitoring Report.
At least four killed in suicide attack on UN convoy in Somali capital
03 Dec – Source: Horseed Media/Radio Goobjoog/Radio Dalsan/Radio Bar-kulan – Words
At least four people were killed on Wednesday when a suicide bomber in the Somali capital Mogadishu rammed a car packed with explosives into a UN convoy, police said. The attack took place close to the heavily fortified gates of the airport in Mogadishu, the entrance to the “green zone” and base of foreign embassies in the Somali capital.
“The bomber drove in between the security escort and the UN armoured vehicles and detonated the car, ramming into one of the escort vehicles,” police officer Mohamed Liban told AFP. “I saw four dead people so far, but the casualties are believed to be more, we are still investigating the incident and there is chaos in the area,” Liban added. A dark plume of smoke was seen rising high in the sky after the large blast, which was heard across the seaside capital.
“The explosion was very big and there is smoke all around the area, I can hardly see people lying on the ground, either dead or wounded,” said witness Shamso Idle. “It is difficult to go nearby as police are blocking the road,” he added. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels have carried out a string of bombings and attacks in the city.
Four UN armoured vehicles were reportedly ferrying staff either from or to the airport to a protected UN base in the city. The airport zone is also the base of the 22,000-strong African Union force, which is fighting the Shebab. The UN convoy was flanked by pickup trucks carrying private security officers who provide protection for international staff in the dangerous city.
Key Headlines
- At least four killed in suicide attack on UN convoy in Somali capital (Horseed Media/Radio
- Goobjoog/Radio Dalsan/Radio Bar-kulan)
- Three children killed by land mine (Radio Bar-kulan)
- President Hassan due to attend the inaugural ceremony of Sharif Hassan (Radio Goobjoog)
- Baidoa: Sharif Hassan to be inaugurated today (Radio Mustaqbal)
- Puntland leader extends amnesty offer to militants by a month (Radio Garowe/RBC)
- First batch of Somali refugees due to return home (Goobjoog Radio)
- Mobile money short changes Baidoa’s shoe shine boys (Radio Ergo)
- Somali government moves to dispel trivial religious aspects over Mandera Attacks (Standard Media)
- Kerrow condemns massacres ( Star Kenya – 72 words)
- Al Shabaab man posts video on killings (Star Kenya)
- Militants Divide Kenya Miners by Religion Then Begin Killing (New York Times )
- Kenyan troops to stay put in Somalia – Kenyatta (South Africa)
PRESS STATEMENT
President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud Offers Condolences in Response to al-Shabaab’s Attack on Defenceless Quarry Workers in Mandera, Kenya
03 Dec – Source: Office of the President – 223 words
HE the President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, on behalf of the Federal Government and the people of Somalia, offers his sincere condolences in response to this morning’s murderous attack by al-Shabaab terrorists on defenceless quarry workers near Mandera, Kenya.
HE the President commented: “The governments of Kenya and Somalia are united in their condemnation of the actions of al-Shabaab and stand shoulder to shoulder in the fight against the scourge of terrorism in both countries. The Somali intelligence service is cooperating with its Kenyan counterparts to find those responsible for this and other recent attacks.”
HE the President continued: “We understand al-Shabaab’s ploy and we will not fall into their trap. Al-Shabaab thinks that their headline-seeking atrocities will drive wedges between Somalis and Kenyans, Somalis and Somalis, Kenyans and Kenyans. But we must prove them wrong. We must use our outrage constructively, channelling it wholeheartedly into finding those responsible and making them subject to the due process of the law.”
HE the President concluded: “We must take care to avoid the lures of al-Shabaab: rendered powerless on the battlefield, they seek to draw us into excessive responses with these attacks. We must be calm, measured, and target our responses carefully. We must remain unified, regardless of nationality, ethnicity or religion and we must remember that there is only one enemy here: al-Shabaab.”
SOMALI MEDIA
At least four killed in suicide attack on UN convoy in Somali capital
03 Dec – Source: Horseed Media/Radio Goobjoog/Radio Dalsan/Radio Bar-kulan – Words
At least four people were killed on Wednesday when a suicide bomber in the Somali capital Mogadishu rammed a car packed with explosives into a UN convoy, police said. The attack took place close to the heavily fortified gates of the airport in Mogadishu, the entrance to the “green zone” and base of foreign embassies in the Somali capital.
“The bomber drove in between the security escort and the UN armoured vehicles and detonated the car, ramming into one of the escort vehicles,” police officer Mohamed Liban told AFP. “I saw four dead people so far, but the casualties are believed to be more, we are still investigating the incident and there is chaos in the area,” Liban added. A dark plume of smoke was seen rising high in the sky after the large blast, which was heard across the seaside capital.
“The explosion was very big and there is smoke all around the area, I can hardly see people lying on the ground, either dead or wounded,” said witness Shamso Idle. “It is difficult to go nearby as police are blocking the road,” he added. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, although Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shebab rebels have carried out a string of bombings and attacks in the city.
Four UN armoured vehicles were reportedly ferrying staff either from or to the airport to a protected UN base in the city. The airport zone is also the base of the 22,000-strong African Union force, which is fighting the Shebab. The UN convoy was flanked by pickup trucks carrying private security officers who provide protection for international staff in the dangerous city.
Three children killed by land mine
03 Dec- Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 124 words
Three children have died as result of a land mine that exploded in Nasiye in Togder region of Somalia.The mother of the three who sustained injuries in the shocking incident that happened to her pastoral family. She is currently nursing her wounds in the nearby Burco hospital and medical officials have Bar-Kulan that she is in a stable condition.
This is the second land mine explosion in the area as the international anti land mine agencies are trying unearth some of the mine which are still endangering the lives of the locals. Somali civil war which broke out in 1991 following the ouster of Siad Barre regime has result several long term effects to the locals and land mines are one of them.
Sharif Hassan to be inaugurated today, President Hassan due to attend
03 Dec – Source: Radio Mustaqbal/Radio Goobjoog – 207 words
An inauguration ceremony for the newly elected president of South-west state of three regions Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan will be today held in Baidoa the headquarters of Bay region. A delegation led by the president of federal republic of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud will be attending the ceremony.
After the swear-in ceremony, Mr. Shariff will start forming his cabinet ministers as the establishment of the state’s parliament commences. The security of the district was tightened as government forces and African Union peacekeeping forces patrol the main roads. Sharif Hassan was elected as the first president of South West Somalia on 17th November in Baidoa. The president of federal republic of Somalia Hasssan Sheikh Mohamud is leading delegates heading to Baidoa to attend the inauguration ceremony of president elect of South West Somalia Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan.
Preparations of the inaugural ceremony of the newly elected president Sharif Hassan are underway, the security of the district was tightened as government forces and African Union peace-keeping troops patrol the main roads. Dignitaries from the other regions of the country are expected the attend the sworn in ceremony of Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan Sharif Hassan was elected as the first president of South West Somalia on 17th November in Baidoa.
Puntland leader extends amnesty offer to militants by a month
03 Dec- Source: Radio Garowe/RBC- 116 words
The President of Somalia’s Puntland Government Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has extended amnesty offer to militants fighting alongside Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab group by one month during a news conference in the rugged terrain of Galgala on Tuesday. “We give Al Shabaab members a new opportunity, the government extended the previous 45-day deadline for one month,” said Ali, adding that his administration will concentrate on repatriation of fleeing Galgala farmers.
Puntland leader once again reiterated government’s commitment to the elimination of terror threats. Galgala is rich in agriculture ,and more than hundred families remain displaced as a result of fierce clashes between army troops and militants.
First batch of Somali refugees due to return home
03 Dec – Source: Goobjoog Radio – 251 Words
UN agency for refugees UNHCR announced that the first batch of over 3000 Somali refugees in Dadaab refugee camps registered to voluntarily return to their locations in Bay, Gedo and Juba regions. UNHCR head in Dadab Ahmed Warsame speaking to BBC Somali service stated that the first batch of the refugees will leave the camps on 8th of December 2014.
Mr. Warsame reiterated that the refugees will be transferred to Dhoobley, the border of Kenya and Somalia with buses adding that they will be in transit for two nights before being handed over to UNHCR Somalia. He underlined that each of the refugees was given little cash of eighty dollars as well as three month food ration before returning home.
Finally he said the refugees registered to return home voluntarily as the security of the country improved to lead a more secured life in their homelands. The federal government of Somalia has not yet commented on the issue and no plans so far to relocate the refugees. Late last year the governments of Somalia and Kenya together with UNHCR signed an agreement stating that all returns of Somalis refugees from Kenya to Somalia should be strictly voluntary. UNHCR does not support forced returns.
Earlier this year the government of Kenya has deported over 300 Somali refugees from the country and many others living in the urban centers ordered back to their respective camps after security forces launched massive operations in Eastleigh in a bid to address the increasing security threats.
Mobile money short changes Baidoa’s shoe shine boys
02 Dec – Source: Radio Ergo – 623 words
As more and more Somalis shun cash for mobile money transfers for their daily purchases, Baidoa’s poor shoe-shine boys say they often end up polishing well off people’s shoes for nothing. One US dollar is equivalent to around 22,000 Somali shillings – and the only denomination in circulation is the 1,000 shilling note. It is quite normal for a customer to pay for a cup of tea by sending money to the tea shop owner’s mobile phone. But the town’s shoe shine boys, some of whom are as young as eight, usually cannot afford a phone. And if they do have access to one, most do not know how to use it.
Hussein Maalim Mohamed, aged eight, said he has been bullied by some of his customers. “They usually ask me for my number,” he told Radio Ergo’s local reporter. “When I tell them I don’t have a phone or a number, they leave without paying me!” Hussein said he had been threatened and beaten when he followed customers demanding to be paid in cash. “Recently I bought a small Nokia phone but it was stolen from me by gangs. So now I don’t have a phone and some of my customers just leave without paying me when I tell them I don’t have one. My highest earning in a day has been 50,000 shillings and I take it to my mother. Some of the customers leave without paying saying they don’t have notes in their pocket and the only way they could pay is by mobile,” Hussein said.
It costs just 2-3,000 Somali shillings to get your shoes shined in Baidoa. The boys doing this work in the streets come from impoverished families. As children, they are often bread-winners for the rest of the family. Saleban Yussuf Sharif, 12, has been shining shoes in Baidoa for three years. He takes his earnings home to feed his mother and three siblings. He has had to gain a basic understanding of how to use the mobile money system. “Every morning I take my mother’s mobile phone so that customers can use it to make a payment. When I complete shining their shoes, I wait for a text message to come in. I only listen to the beep from my phone to make sure that I received payment from a customer because I don’t know how to check my balance. I give my customers a number written on a piece of paper to send the money to. During the night when I am back in my home, I give the phone back to my mother and she tells me about the balance – two or three dollars, whatever it is. My mother always tells me to keep the mobile phone safe so I often don’t take it out,” Saleban said.
There is some sympathy among customers for the plight of the shoe shine boys. “We are aware of the shoe shiners’ plight. I pay them in Somali cash, 2,000 or 3,000 shillings, whatever it is,” said one customer, Abdirizak Ali Abdi. “This is a very little amount of money and it doesn’t need to be transferred to a mobile account. Those people who force these boys to use mobile phones should stop giving them a hard time, they shouldn’t harass poor innocent children!” Hassan Maalim Yussuf, head of the Peace and Human Rights’ centre in Bay and Bakol regions, said he was aware of the abuse faced by shoe-shiners. “They are poor children who are bread winners for their families. They shouldn’t be harassed. We are now working on a plan to help them by setting up a welfare office to monitor their problems and promote their rights,” he said.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Somali government moves to dispel trivial religious aspects over Mandera Attacks
03 Dec – Source: Standard Media – 04:19 Minutes
Somalia Ambassador to Kenya Mohamed Ali Nour says that the Killings are not religious. In an interview with KTN, the Ambassador condemned the terrorist attack and sent his condolences to the family’s of the victims.
Officials, religious leaders urge civil servants to stay in Mandera
03 Dec – Source: Sabahi Online – 1, 087 Words
Supreme Council of Kenyan Muslims (SUPKEM) Vice Chairman Abdullahi Sirat also urged civil servants to stay united and not to succumb to al-Shabaab’s desires. “Withdrawing service from Mandera is giving victory to a criminal group that does not deserve anything,” he told Sabahi, adding that citizens’ fleeing would actually help al-Shabaab revive from its death bed.
In addition, Sirat said, the exodus would punish a whole community for crimes committed by terrorists. “There are innocent children who will suffer because of the collective punishment and education performance will also suffer,” he said. “We condemn all acts of violence especially the ones aimed at the crucial service providers like teachers and health workers.”
“The resilience and religious unity we as Kenyans have demonstrated together during adversity should not be forgotten when we are about to win the war,” he added. The suffering has already started. While the full impact of the fleeing teachers will be felt in schools starting in January, health provision is already suffering, according to Mandera County Assembly Member Abdirahman Hajj Ismail. “There is mounting pressure on the few native health workers who are struggling to serve patients flocking local health facilities,” Ismail told Sabahi. “The government and private hospitals have all been affected. The suffering has already started.”
Al Shabaab man posts video on killings
03 Dec – Source: Star Kenya – 232 words
A terrorist of Kenyan origin, Ahmad Iman Ali, yesterday uploaded a video on YouTube in which he justified the killings in Mandera. In the 25-minute video shot on a beach believed to be in Somalia, Ali said the attacks were carried out to avenge the killings of Muslim leaders including Shiekh Aboud Rogo, Abubakar Shariff Ahmed and Samir Khan.
In an eloquent lecture that wrongly quotes the Quran and Hadith (tradition of the prophet Muhammad), Ali said: “Non-believers have inflicted enough pain on Muslims and it is their turn to feel the pain too.”
“We don’t fear to die after all we will die one day,” he said.“We will continue (attacks) until we meet Allah (God),” He said the killings in Mandera are meant “to cool the hearts” of Muslims who suffered in Mombasa and other places around the country. Ali who hails from Majengo in Nairobi remains in the local and global anti-terror radar. He is said to be in charge of al Shabaab recruitment.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Militants divide Kenya miners by religion, then begin killing
02 Dec – New York Times – 780 Words
The Kenyan miners were marched off in the predawn dark on Tuesday, some barefoot, others shirtless. The Somali militants methodically separated the Christian workers from the Muslims and took the Christians to the side of a hill, near a gravel pit. Then they ordered the disbelievers to lie face down. According to the Kenyan authorities, the militants killed 36 people, most of them young men. Many were shot in the back of the head, at close range, and some were decapitated. It appeared all the Muslims had been spared.
The killings, which followed a similar sequence on a passenger bus less than two weeks earlier, unnerved the Kenyan public and led to the ouster of Kenya’s top security chiefs. “Innocent Kenyan lives have been lost, in a most harrowing manner, to these animals,” said Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta. But, he said, “We will not flinch.”
Kenya has been severely hampered by Somali militants next door, a problem that never seems to go away. In the past few years, the Shabab militant group, an affiliate of Al Qaeda operating from southern Somalia, has been terrorizing Kenya with dozens of attacks, from rolling grenades into bus stops to slaughtering shoppers, as happened last year in an upscale mall in Nairobi.
Kenyan troops to stay put in Somalia – Kenyatta
03 Dec – News 24 – South Africa – 700 Words
President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed his security forces will “intensify the war on terrorism” after a spate of killings in the country by the al-Qaeda-affiliated insurgents. A group of Shabaab rebels stormed into a quarry near the border town of Mandera shortly after midnight, and police and officials said they weeded out 36 non-Muslims for execution. Those labourers not shot as they slept were placed in lines in the dusty quarry, with insurgents shooting most in the head but also beheading others. The assault came just over a week after the Shabaab executed 28 people grabbed from a bus travelling from Mandera, on the frontier between Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia.
Kenyatta, however, said Kenyan troops would stay put in Somalia, where they are now part of an African Union force battling the Shabaab and supporting the war-torn country’s internationally-backed government. “This is a war and a war that we must win, we must win it together,” he said. “The ultimate aim of this atrocious campaign is to create an extremist caliphate.” He called the Shebab “deranged animals” who had killed more than 800 people in attacks inside Kenya, including 500 civilians and 300 security officers. “We will not flinch or relent in the war against terrorism in our country and our region. We shall continue to inflict painful casualties on these terrorists until we secure our country and region.”
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“It is anticipated that the SNA sector divisions will fall in line with federal boundaries to improve coordination of forces and promote stability across Somalia. Progress on technical issues such as boundaries is essential to continue positive momentum towards the integration of our forces.”
National integration force is crucial for regional security
03 Dec – Source: Geeska Afrika Online – 545 Words
The integration of regional security forces is a critical element in both the further development of the Somali National Army (SNA) and the achievement of state-building goals, in particular the formation of a Federal Somalia. Vision 2016 and the Somali Compact, adopted by the Federal Government of Somalia in 2013 articulate specific priorities towards ensuring the security, political and development progress of Somalia. The London Security Conference (September 2014) further supported the integration of regional armed forces into the Federal security institutions as one of those priorities.
Concurrently, the FGS aims to ensure a unified national security sector structure and creating increasingly cohesive entities within that structure. Our existing partnership with Puntland, the emergence of the Interim Juba Administration (IJA), the establishment of the Interim South West Administration (ISWA), and the work of the committee for the formation of the Interim Administration for the Central Regions (IACR) are testament to the FGS’s commitment to a unified, federal Somalia. The development of a national security force, and in particular the Somali National Army (SNA) must evolve in parallel with the creation of federal states. Formally integrating the various regional security forces is the next step in this evolution.
“After decades of horror, fear, outrage and frustration, we resolved as a nation to protect our sovereignty by pursuing our enemies beyond our borders into Somalia. In October, 2011, the government authorised the Kenya Defence Forces to pursue Al-Shabaab militia into Somalia.”
Our country and our people are under attack; it is a war we must win together
02 Dec – Source: Daily Nation – 1442 Words
Our country and our people are under attack. A war has been waged against ALL Kenyans by an enemy hiding behind religion, and much innocent blood has been shed. For over two decades now, Kenya has endured immense vulnerability owing to the collapse of the Somalia Government in 1991. This space became ideal for terrorists to train and plan far-reaching attacks in the region, continent, and even abroad.
From Somalia, they inflicted murder and mayhem with impunity everywhere they went.
Kenya has, by far, borne the brunt of these terrorist attacks. In August 1998, 200 Kenyans were murdered by terrorists when they detonated a bomb at the US Embassy in Nairobi. In November, 2002, terrorists struck in Kikambala, Kilifi County, claiming over a dozen lives. Since then, a spate of attacks and abductions have threatened our people and the economy, violated our territorial integrity and insulted our sovereignty.
More recently, there has been a series of terror attacks culminating in the violence and murder at the Westgate Mall in September last year and the murders early yesterday morning in Mandera.These terrorist attacks have claimed the lives of more than 500 civilians and 300 security officers.
Top tweets
@AuIiaRahman Bomb blast hits UN convoy in Mogadishu; 3 dead: MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) A Somali police officer says a suici… http://bit.ly/11Su5qn
@CitizenTVNews Deputy President:If we hadn’t gone to Somalia at the time we did,we wouldn’t have peace in this country
@amisomsomaliaBasketball is very popular in Somalia, with both men and women are coming out to play. #SomaliaSports#Mogadishu
@GermanyinKenya #Somalia #Baidoa: inauguration of new South West State President important step for stability. Congratulation & best wishes from #Germany!
@amisomsomalia FIFA also held a Football Festival in#Mogadishu, having had no presence in Somalia in 26 years.#SomaliaSports
@Ridwaanhaji On behalf of the FGS, we are sending heartfelt condolences to the family, friends of the victims.#Somalia
Image of the day
UN convoy attacked in Mogadishu, at least four dead. Pictures from the scene of the explosion outside airport. Photo: Mo Dahir