February 18, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Somali Government Arrests Two Al-Shabaab Ring Leaders In Dinsoor Town
17 February – Source: Goobjoog News – 207 Words
Ring leaders of the Al-Shabaab militant group have been arrested in a joint security operation conducted by Somali and African Union peacekeeping mission forces in Diinsoor town. Diinsoor District Commissioner, Ibrahim Mohamed told journalists on Wednesday that the Al-Shabaab leaders were netted during a home to home security search carried out in the area.
“Somali National Army with support from AMISOM conducted a joint security operation against Al-Shabaab group here in Diinsoor. We arrested two ring leaders and recovered weapons during the operation. We believe they were planning to carry out an attack,” Mohamed explained that the operation was aimed at ensuring total security in Diinsor District. The suspects, who are being held in custody, will be interrogated with a view to squeeze more information from them, which may lead to the arrest of their colleagues who are still at large.
Government and regional leaders have vowed to conduct a major operation against Al-Shabaab in the area. The group has previously engaged the AU peacekeepers and the Somali government in lethal attacks, especially in regions bordering Kenya. Over the last three years, though, Al-Shabaab has lost control of key towns in the south and central Somalia. Nonetheless, the militants still execute deadly bomb attacks in the main towns of Somalia including in the capital of Mogadishu.
Key Headlines
- Somali Government Arrests Two Al-Shabaab Ring Leaders In Dinsoor Town (Goobjoog News)
- Somali Government Denies It Directed MPs To Go Through Airport Checks After Plane Bombing (Hiiraan Online)
- Kenyan Doctor Held For 18 Months Rescued In Galmudug Central Somalia (Goobjoog News)
- Somali Police Chief Arrives In Beledweyne On Troop Visit (Shabelle News)
- Kenya To Tackle Radicalisation With New Prison For ‘Extremists’ (Reuters)
- Ethiopia Puntland To Strengthen Regional Security Infrastructural Cooperation (The Ethiopian Herald)
- Tell Us Names Number Of KDF Soldiers Killed In El Adde Attack Raila Asks Uhuru (The Star)
- Why It’s Important To Honor Home Languages In Schools (The Seattle Globalist)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somali Government Denies It Directed MPs To Go Through Airport Checks After Plane Bombing
17 February – Source: Hiiraan Online – 297 Words
The Somali government has denied issuing a new directive ordering the country’s legislators to go through security screening at the international airport in the capital of Mogadishu as part of new security measures imposed following a recent mid-air explosion of a Somali airline.
Security minister, Abdirizak Omar, has explained that such a move has not been undertaken following the blast on Daallo Airlines early this month: “There is no directive issued by the Security Ministry, which states that Somali MPs will have to go through security screening at the airport,” said the minister at a press conference in Mogadishu on Wednesday.
Mr. Omar reiterated that the government will not carry out any practice that violates the legal immunity of the legislators. His remarks follow complaints by several MPs, who said they were subjected to random security checks at the airport despite having identified themselves as parliamentarians.
Kenyan Doctor Held For 18 Months Rescued In Galmudug, Central Somalia
17 February – Source: Goobjoog News – 72 Words
A Kenyan doctor, who was kidnapped by gunmen 18 months ago in Adado town, central Somalia, has been rescued by Galmudug forces. The operation took place at Xilibi, which is 160 kilometres from Adado town: “The doctor is currently in the hands of Galmudug security forces and will be taken to Adado town,” The administration is expected to hold a press conference in the coming few hours to give details of the operation and status of the rescued doctor.
Somali Police Chief Arrives In Beledweyne On Troop Visit
17 February – Source: Shabelle News – 107 Words
The Chief of Somali Police, General Mohamed Sheikh Hassan Hamud, arrived in the central town of Beledweyne, the regional capital of Hiiraan on Wednesday, an official said. On arrival, the Somali Police Commander-in-chief received a warm welcome at Beledweyne airport by city’s police officers and the African Union troops.
“The Police chief has arrived in Beledweyne to visit troops based in the town and hand over to them five police vehicles donated by United Nations,” said Beledweyne District Commissioner, Ma’lin Qalafow. Gen Mohamed Sheikh Hassan urged the police and AMISOM troops in Beledweyne to boost security of the town and prevent possible Al-Shabaab attacks.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Kenya To Tackle Radicalisation With New Prison For ‘Extremists’
17 February – Source: Reuters – 247 Words
Kenya, which has suffered attacks by Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militants, will build a special prison to house “violent and extremist” offenders to keep them from influencing other prisoners, President Uhuru Kenyatta said. Kenyatta did not say which groups he was referring to, but Kenya has been hit by gun and grenade attacks by Al-Shabaab, whose fighters were behind a massacre at the Garissa University, about 200 km (120 miles) from the Somali border, in April.
“We will establish a new prison to hold violent, extremist offenders – the truth of the matter is that we cannot allow them to spread their poison to vulnerable Kenyans,” he said in a speech seen by Reuters on Wednesday. His speech, read at a graduation ceremony for guards on Tuesday, gave no timelines for the prison’s establishment. Kenya already has several maximum security jails, such as Kamiti Maximum in Nairobi.
Last June, Kenyatta promised a new campaign to stop people joining violent radical groups and to fight the influence of Al-Shabaab, saying convention policing methods would not be enough to tackle the threat from radicalised men and women. Some of the gunmen involved in the biggest attacks on Kenyan soil in recent years, including the attack on Garissa University, were Kenyan citizens who had joined Al-Shabaab. Al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab has staged a string of attacks in Somalia and surrounding countries aimed at imposing its harsh brand of Islam and overthrowing the Somali government, which is backed by Western donors and African peacekeepers.
Ethiopia, Puntland To Strengthen Regional Security, Infrastructural Cooperation
17 February – Source: The Ethiopian Herald – 163 Words
Officials from Ethiopia have committed to sustain, “in an organized manner”, scholarship opportunities granted to Puntland. The Puntland State of Somalia expressed its readiness to further strengthen bilateral ties with Ethiopia by creating a conducive environment in various areas such as regional security, border sharing, trade as well as investment.
During a discussion with Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros Adahnom on Wednesday, State President Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gas said it was a great opportunity to strengthen ties with Ethiopia on trade, investment and regional security to fight Al-Shabaab and other fundamentalist groups in the region. The two officials as well discussed on ways of sustaining relations to work on migration issues and in other sectors that would benefit both countries. Puntland is endowed with resources such as minerals, oil, gas, fish, and livestock, among others.
According to Ministry Spokesperson Tewolde Mulugeta, Dr. Tedros has also assured the President that the scholarship opportunities granted by Ethiopia to Puntland officials and security force members would be sustained in an organized manner.
Tell Us Names, Number Of KDF Soldiers Killed In El Adde Attack, Raila Asks Uhuru
17 February – Source: The Star – 337 Words
It is high time Kenyans were told exactly what happened in the attack by al Shabaab in Somalia that left dozens of KDF soldiers dead, Opposition leader Raila Odinga has said. Raila asked the government to issue a comprehensive statement on the attack on a remote African Union base in El Adde on January 15.
Raila said Kenyans should be told the number and names of soldiers who died as they defended the nation and deserve to be honoured and remembered: “We should be told the names of our gallant sons who perished in Somalia, those who were injured and the plan that the government has to compensate families to ensure they continue living like they did when their breadwinners were alive.”
Al Shabaab militants claimed the soldiers they killed numbered 100 and said they kidnapped others but did not specify how many. The former Prime Minister further asked the government to specify its strategy for exiting the war-torn country, whether it will take “two, five, 10, 20 or even 100 years so that Kenyans can prepare themselves psychologically and know how to handle the situation”.
“I was in government when we decided that our military should move into Somalia to protect our border after Al-Shabaab kept on attacking us but we would like to know what the government’s long-term plan is,” he said. He spoke at Osupuko village in Trans Mara West sub county, Narok county on Wednesday, during the burial of Private Elias Kirionki who was killed in the attack. Kajiado Central MP Memusi Kanchory asked the government to expedite the payment of gratuity to families whose members died in the attack
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Without strong, positive messages from schools and surrounding communities, immigrant children often abandon their home language, reject their home culture, lose their ability to communicate with their families and fail to benefit from the recognized development benefits of bilingualism.” — Nimco Bulale, education organizer with OneAmerica.
Why It’s Important To Honor Home Languages In Schools
16 February – Source: The Seattle Globalist – 723 Words
After civil war broke out in Somalia, my family moved to Uganda in search of security. Following years in an indeterminate state as refugees, we finally landed in Seattle. My first encounter with the American school system rattled me. My mother dropped me off at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Seattle’s Central District, and said, “nabad gelyo,” “goodbye” to me in Somali.
Before I even began settling into the classroom that day, my teacher told me that, in order to be successful, it was important that I only speak English, emphasizing that my Somali language skills would not be helpful. If only this teacher knew then what we know today: Knowledge of more than one language can boost a child’s creative thinking and problem-solving skills and, when children have a strong understanding of their home language first, it actually helps facilitate learning a second language such as English.
Thankfully, my mother worked hard to ensure my siblings and I kept speaking Somali, but many other immigrant students systematically discouraged from speaking their home language were not so lucky. Even today, families encounter the misleading attitude and popular narrative that speaking another language can confuse children and detract from English learning. That’s why today, immigrant rights organization OneAmerica, launched a statewide “Speak Your Language” campaign.
More than 180 languages are spoken in South King County alone, and in many parts, more than a quarter of the population speaks a language other than English. Linguistically diverse families are a growing asset to our schools and communities, and we need to continue advancing policies and systems that recognize this, while helping to close the opportunity gap in our schools.
As an education organizer with OneAmerica, I took part in a December community event at South Seattle’s Graham Hill Elementary School, coordinated in partnership with their Parent and Teacher Association and the school. The aim was to celebrate and learn about the many languages spoken within the school, and increase pride in bilingualism and multilingualism among students and their families. I was able to tell the parents about opportunities students have to earn high school credit for demonstrated proficiency in their home language and show them a video that was actually translated in their home language. During small group discussions, parents expressed that it is important for schools to honor students’ native language and help students realize that being multilingual can create career opportunities. They made a commitment to speak their home language to their children through storytelling and daily activities.