February 16, 2012 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

UN move to boost AU Somalia force seen by next week

15 Feb – Source: Reuters – 610 words

Sponsors of a U.N. resolution to boost by nearly half an African force trying to defeat Islamist militants in Somalia are seeking to have the Security Council pass it by the middle of next week, diplomats said on Wednesday. If the council does so, the authorization to increase the AU force would come on the eve of an international conference in London to discuss measures to tackle instability in Somalia and piracy off its shores.

Key Headlines

Somalis rally against al-Qaeda allies( Source: Herald Sun / AP)
2000 IDP families in Mogadishu receive aid from local agency (Source: Radio Bar-kulan)
Fresh Somalia fighting forces thousands to flee (BBC News)
TFG claims victory on the outskirts of Bardhere (Source: Somalia Report)
Official: 14 al Shabaab fighters killed in southwestern Somalia attack (Radio Shabelle)
Somali president asks for lifting of arms embargo week before international meeting on Somalia(Source: Washington Post)
Somali leader vows to “cleanse country of Al-Qaeda” (Source: Xinhua News)
London conference to tackle terrorism in Somalia (Source: Xinhua News)

SOMALI MEDIA

2nd Somalia National Constitutional Conference opens in Puntland capital

15 Feb – Source: Garowe Online – 175 words

A national conference opened in northern Somalia’s stable Puntland State on Wednesday where Somali delegates will discuss the country’s future federal constitution, Garowe reports. The conference opened at Puntland State University compound in Garowe, capital of Puntland. More than 180 delegates were present for the opening session, which featured speeches by Somali leaders and international diplomats.

11 suspected gangs detained in Dhusamareb, Galgudud

15 Feb – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 89 words
Ahlu Sunna militias in Dusamareb town have apprehended 11 suspected gangs after conducting a security operation in the area, officials say. The suspects, including alleged pirates and others who were allegedly involved in highway robbery, were arrested following an operation aimed at bolstering security in the area, according the area Deputy District Commissioner, Abdullahi Abdinoor Barre. Barre said that the suspects will be arraigned before court to answer criminal charges against them.

Official: 14 al Shabaab fighters killed in southwestern Somalia attack

15 Feb – Source: Shabelle – 145 words

At least 14 al Shabaab militants have been killed on Wednesday and many others wounded in an attack which took place in Gedo region of south western Somalia, a military official says. Ibrahim Farah, one of the TFG army officials in Gedo region said that they have launched an attack this morning on a rebel-held village nearby Gedo Garbaharay town in Gedo region, killing 14 militants from al Shabaab group.

TFG claims victory on the outskirts of Bardhere

15 Feb – Source: Somalia Report – 110 words

TFG officials based in Gedo stated in a press conference today that they have killed 14 al Shabaab militants in an attack against the insurgents on the outskirts of Bardhere district. Ibrahim Farah Saney, a TFG spokesman in Gedo, declared that their forces defeated the insurgents and are now proceeding to conquer Bardhere.

2000 IDP families in Mogadishu receive aid from local agency

15 Feb – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 158 words

A local aid group in Somalia, Save Somali Women and Children (SSWC) on Wednesday distributed dates and clothes to over 2,000 destitute families in several refugee camps in Mogadishu.

The beneficiaries, mainly women and children, were selected from ten camps for internally displaced persons in and around the capital.

Locals continue to flee as the route linking Mogadishu to Afgoye re-opens

15 Feb- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 242 words

Reports from Elasha Biyaha area, a rebel stronghold on the outskirt of Mogadishu, say normalcy has returned to the route linking Afgoye to Mogadishu after it was cut off by TFG troops on Tuesday.

By mid today, several trucks were reportedly seen transporting hundreds of fleeing individuals to safer locations the capital as tension looms in their current home area. Public transport operators hiked the fare to Mogadishu after locals started fleeing their homes.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Modest gains in war on al Shabaab – analysts

15 Feb- Source: the Star- 550 words
The Kenyan army says it has crippled Somalia’s al Shabaab rebels four months after launching an offensive to defeat them, but its superior firepower alone is unlikely to win the battle, analysts said. Military officials claim air strikes and ground assaults have scuttled the al Qaeda-linked militants and disrupted their revenue sources since the incursion began in October. “Al Shabaab is considerably weakened,” said Kenyan army spokesman Col Cyrus Oguna. “In our own assessment, 75 per cent of revenue collection ofal Shabaab has been disrupted.”

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somalis rally against al-Qaeda allies

15 Feb – Source: Herald Sun / AP – 404 words

Hundreds of Somalis have marched through the war-torn capital Mogadishu in a rare open protest against Islamist insurgents. “Down with al-Qaeda! Down with al-Shabaab!” the crowds chanted, as they marched through the streets near the presidential palace overnight, passing areas recently hit by suicide and car bomb attacks set off by the hardline al-Shahaab.

Somali president asks for lifting of arms embargo week before international meeting on Somalia

15 Feb – Source: Washington Post – 211 words

Somalia’s president asked the United Nations on Wednesday to lift the arms embargo against his country, saying the recent merger between al-Qaeda and al Shabaab has made the dropping of the arms ban necessary. Thousands of Somalis marched through the capital during an anti-militant protest attended by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed. Many of the demonstrators were shouting and angry as they protested the al-Qaida merger.

UN move to boost AU Somalia force seen by next week

15 Feb – Source: Reuters – 610 words

Somali leader vows to “cleanse country of Al-Qaeda”

16 Feb – Source: Xinhua News – 312 words

Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Wednesday vowed to rid the war-torn country of Al- Qaeda, days after the local militant group said it merged with the global Jihadist network. Thousands of people held rally in the Somali capital Mogadishu to denounce the union between al Shabaab group and Al-Qaeda network announced last week in a joint video address by leaders of both militant groups.

London conference to tackle terrorism in Somalia

15 Feb – Source: Xinhua News – 235 words

The British government on Wednesday said it hoped that an international conference to be held next week would tackle the problem of terrorism and instability in the African nation of Somalia and of piracy off its shores. Britain is to host a conference in London to discuss Somalia on February 23, and around 53 nations and organizations are expected to attend the Conference, including the Somali government and the United Nations, represented by Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

Fresh Somalia fighting forces thousands to flee

15 Feb – Source: BBC News – 311 words

Thousands of internally displaced Somalis have been forced to flee again to avoid heavy fighting in the Afgoye corridor, just south of the capital. A BBC correspondent says he saw hundreds of loaded lorries and small vehicles streaming into Mogadishu. AU forces say they launched a major assault on Wednesday on Afgoye, a stronghold of Islamic militants.

Brussels considers acting on piracy and cruise safety

15 Feb- Source: shipmanagementinternational- 394 words
European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas has not ruled out taking unilateral action to improve vessel safety following the worst cruise ship disaster for a generation and the continuation of Somali pirate attacks against merchant shipping.

The Kenyan military Intervention in Somalia

15 Feb- Source: International Crisis Group- 510 words

As Kenya advances into southern Somalia, it must act cautiously and avoid prolonged “occupation”, lest it turn local opinion against the operation and galvanise opposition Al-Shabaab can co-opt, much as happened to Ethiopia in 2006-2009. The Kenyan Military Intervention in Somalia , the latest International Crisis Group report, examines the October 2011 decision to deploy Kenyan Defence Forces (KDF) to fight the militant Islamist group Al-Shabaab in the Juba Valley.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“Shipping companies spent $1.1 billion on security equipment and armed guards in 2011, with another $635 million going on insurance, a Feb. 8 report by Colorado’s One Earth Future Foundation stated. Shipping firms pay around $5,000 a day for a four-man armed team serving for up to 20 days.”

Somali piracy begets new security industry

15 Feb- Source: outcomemag -669 words

The plague of Somali pirates marauding across the Indian Ocean has spawned a lucrative security industry that boasts 120 companies providing protection and which the Financial Times says “make more money than the pirates.”

This growing business earns revenue of some $55.2 million a month for security firms such as Hart Security of Britain and Templar Titan of the United States, which provide armed guards for around 1,500 voyages a month, the business daily says.
The pirate gangs that prowl 1,500 nautical miles eastward into the Indian Ocean shipping lanes, including the heavy oil tanker traffic coming out of the Persian Gulf, amassed $160 million in ransom money from shipping lines in 2011.

“It is not too late as yet to bring a native Somali Solution to the table. My proposal is based on the premise that the Somali is capable of acting as a rational and free citizen who is willing to determine his destiny and not merely a tribal wild card stuck in a prehistoric mental cave. And so nomad, give this proposal some thought and give it a public feedback for this may be the very last time you will have a chance of this magnitude of influencing the developments in Somalia.”

Somalia: A Grand Compromise

15 Feb- Source: Hiiraan Online- 1385 Words

Those who read my writings are fully aware that I am committed to the concept of Somaliland independence. I remain more so today than ever before. I am fully convinced that the people of Somaliland could only survive as people if they hold on to the Somaliland state. The concepts of Khaatumo, Awdal, Zeila, Maakhir , SSC and SNM is nothing but the invasion of tribal chaos from Somalia. Such an invasion and deliberate destabilization happens with every Somali Reconciliation Conference. Somaliland has survived 14 invasions of a similar nature and it will survive this one as well. Somaliland needs to free its people from the deadly epidemic of the ideology of tribal disintegration by offering more peace, more democracy, more transparency and a full measure of dignity for every citizen in place of the death, war, famine and displacement peddled by tribal hatemongers and merchants of death who love the comfort of their heated homes in the diaspora and who spend their vacations inciting Somali nomads to massacre each other just as they are about to die of starvation. Disgusting Diasopra!