February 20, 2012 | Morning Headlines.
Garowe II meeting ends with signing of agreement
18 Feb – Source: OPM – 335 words
The Somali constitutional conference of Garowe II was concluded last night with tangible outcomes including the best constitution for Somalia, the type of the parliament and implementations of the Garowe Principles.
A well-organized closing ceremony was held in the Puntland State University compound where Somali leaders including President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, speaker of parliament Sharif Hassan, Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Puntland president Abdirahman Farole, Galmudug president Mohamed Alin and Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a leader were present.
Present in the occasion was the UN envoy to Somalia Ambassador Mahiga, minister for Islamic Affairs of Djibouti Hamud Suldan, deputy representative of African Union Wafula Wamunyinyi and other representatives from the international community.
Key Headlines
- Mahiga praises the recent Garowe II conference (Source: Radio Bar-kulan)
- Somali speaker flies to UK to attend London conference (Source: Mareeg Online)
- Kibaki to lead delegation on Somalia conference (Source: Daily Nation)
- William Hague: Why UK Somalia conference matters (Source: BBC)
- Car explodes in compound of Somalia’s CID HQ in Mogadishu (Source: Shabelle)
PRESS STATEMENT
Garowe II meeting ends with signing of agreement
18 Feb – Source: OPM – 335 words
The Somali constitutional conference of Garowe II was concluded last night with tangible outcomes including the best constitution for Somalia, the type of the parliament and implementations of the Garowe Principles.
A well-organized closing ceremony was held in the Puntland State University compound where Somali leaders including President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, speaker of parliament Sharif Hassan, Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Puntland president Abdirahman Farole, Galmudug president Mohamed Alin and Ahlu Sunna Wal Jama’a leader were present.
Present in the occasion was the UN envoy to Somalia Ambassador Mahiga, minister for Islamic Affairs of Djibouti Hamud Suldan, deputy representative of African Union Wafula Wamunyinyi and other representatives from the international community.
President of Puntland Dr. Farole said the agreement was a memorable one for the Somali leaders adding that there were some challenges in the beginning but were later solved. He also said the agreement was one that will change a lot about the situation of Somalia.
Ambassador Mahiga also spoke at the closing ceremony and said in a humorous way, “It was successful, we are victorious. We have all won”. He added that after the conclusion of the meeting, he phoned the Secretary General of the UN Banki moon and informed him of how the Somalis have agreed.
“After I informed Banki Moon about the agreement at the Garowe meeting, he told me that it was a good thing and that he will inform the world about it” said ambassador Mahiga. Mr Mahiga also said he apprised Mr. Jean Ping, head of the African Union, about the successful completion of the meeting and the agreement.
President Sheikh Sharif also spoke at the signing ceremony terming the agreement as historic to the Somali in and outside the country.
On the other hand, the Somali leaders signed the agreement in front of the people. It is worth noting that the conference was different from other conferences held since it was held in the country and was concluded at 12.00pm and the ceremony ended at 1.00am.
The vigilance of the Somali security forces saved countless lives from an attempted Al Qaeda terrorist attack
18 Feb – Source: TFG – 146 words
Department and the SNSA the Somali Intelligence Service foiled an attempted Al Qaeda terrorist attack intended to murder and m
This brilliant detective work the whole thing started when a suspicious car was spotted and taken to a secluded part of the CID compound and the occupants arrested for interrogation. While the interrogation was in progress and the car was awaiting inspection, it exploded by itself. There was no loss of life, and only very minor injuries to two people.
The Acting Minister of Information, Posts and Telecommunication, H.E. Abdullahi Bile Noor, said today “We must thank God for saving our people from this Godless Al Qaeda enemy and we must also congratulate our security forces for their vigilance and brilliant performance.”
“We wish the injured a speedy healing of their wounds and the government will do everything possible to help them and their families.” The Minister concluded.
SOMALI MEDIA
Mahiga praises the recent Garowe II conference
19 Feb – Source: Radio Bar-kulan, Radio Mogadishu – 143 words
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Ambassador Augustine Mahiga has hailed the proceeding and the outcome of the recently concluded Garowe II meeting on constitution.
Mahiga said: “The stakeholders of the Roadmap came with bigger constituencies to Garowe; the agenda was very elaborate, they not only elaborated the principles which everyone wanted to be done but they did so in a very satisfactory way”.
Garowe conference comes to a close
19 Feb – Source: Garowe Online – 499 words
Despite long deliberation and much consultation, the second Somali national consultative constitutional conference which was held in Garowe has successfully come to a close. The Garowe II principles document was signed by President of the TFG Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Gaas, Speaker of Parliament Sharif Adan Sharif Hassan, Galmudug President Mohamed Ahmed Alim, Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jama’a representative Khalif Abdulkadir Noor and Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole.
Al Shabaab attacks government, AMISOM troops in Somalia
19 Feb – Source: Radio Shabelle – 151 words
Fierce fighting between goverment forces backed by AMISOM troops and al Shabaab fighters took place at Mogadishu’s Kaaraan District on Saturday evening. Eyewitnesses said that the clashes erupted when al Shabaab fighters attacked a joint government/AMISOM base at Jamhuriya neighbourhood in Kaaraan District. It has so far been established that three civilians were killed and several others wounded during the clashes.
Al Shabaab militants oppose Garowe conference product
19 Feb – Source: Shabelle – 136 words
Al Shabaab insurgents who want to topple Somalia’s UN-backed government have gone up against the recently ended UN-affiliated national constitution conference held in Garowe town, the capital of Puntland.
Sheik Ali Mohamud Ali Rage, the spokesman of al Shabaab fighters told reporters that the meeting was aimed by Somali leaders to mislead the culture of women and eradicate sharia law, as he put it.
Somali speaker flies to UK to attend London conference
19 Feb – Source: Mareeg Online – 144 words
The Speaker of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Parliament Sharif Hassan Sheik Aden has on Sunday flown to United Kingdom to take part in the upcoming conference on Somalia. A number of MPs are accompanying Somalia speaker’s trip to UK where an international conference with officials from more than 50 countries around the world to discuss the current situation of Somalia will take place on the 23rd.
Al Shabaab kidnap and arrest traders in central region
18 Feb – Source: Radio Mogadishu, SONNA – 166 words
Confirmed reports from Eel-Garas town located in the Somali central region of Galgadud suggest that al Shabaab extremists have arrested a number of traders there after they declined to pay huge sums of money that the extremists had requested. Local traders told SONNA that more than 21 traders were placed behind bars for refusing to obey to al Shabaab’s directives. Most of the traders have been subjected to pay huge sums of money in fines by the group commanders.
Somali president: al Shabaab, Al-Qaeda will be purged from the country
18 Feb – Source: Shabelle – 108 words
Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, the president of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government said Saturday al Shabaab and al Qaeda will be eradicated from the country in next to no time, as he put it.
Addressing the crowd at the end of the Garowe II conference, he promised that his government will spare no time in defeating al Shabaab and al Qaeda in the country.
Car explodes in compound of Somalia’s CID HQ in Mogadishu
18 Feb – Source: Somalia Report, Shabelle – 115 words
A suspected al Shabaab suicide bomber has detonated an explosives-laden 4×4 vehicle inside the Criminal Investigations Department compound near the KM4 junction, one of Mogadishu’s busiest intersections, witnesses and officials told Somalia Report today. The casualty figures remain unknown, although initial reports say that several TFG soldiers, as well as civilians were killed.
TFG and Ethiopian troops en route to Bay & Bakol region
19 Feb – Source: Garowe Online – 112 words
Ethiopian and TFG troops were seen leaving the district of Luuq headed to Bay and Bakol, Garowe Online reports. According to local sources, the troops left Luuq on Saturday night. Luuq was a base for the allied forces after they had forced out al Shabaab from the area earlier this year.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Kibaki to lead delegation on Somalia conference
19 Feb – Source: Daily Nation – 388 words
President Kibaki will lead a high-powered Kenyan delegation to a conference on Somalia in London meant to pull together international effort.
Top officials from more than 40 countries and multi-lateral organisations converge in London on Thursday with the aim of delivering a new international approach to Somalia.
Somalia leaders agree key transitional government deal
19 Feb – Source: Daily Nation – 403 words
Key Somalia groups have reached an agreement on a number of pending transitional government tasks, including a federal structure for a future government and representation in parliament.
Delegates from the presidency, cabinet and the parliament of Somalia’s TFG met representatives from the authorities of Puntland, Galmudug and moderate Islamist group Ahlu Sunna wal-Jamea for three days in Garowe town to hammer out a final deal.
Arab League convenes to tackle Somalia developments
19 Feb – Source: Kuwait News Agency – 150 words
Arab League held Sunday an extraordinary meeting to formulate the Arab stance of the latest developments in war-torn Somalia.
“There is a need for Arab coordination for overcoming the humanitarian, security and economic crisis in the Arab League member Somalia,” Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Arabi said in his speech before the meeting held here at the level of representatives of member states.
Military says making further advances in southern Somalia
19 Feb – Source: Coastweek, Xinhua – 981 words
Kenya’s military said on Saturday they have made further advances in an effort to wipe out Somali militants who have been posing a security threat on its territory.
Kenya Defense Force also said they have liberated a total of 95,000 square kilometers of Southern Somalia from the al Shabaab since they launched cross border incursion 126 days ago.
“The success we have achieved so far is unimaginable given the unconventional fighting methods of the militants,” he said.
Besieged al Shabaab fighters dig in for new fight
19 Feb – Source: Africa Review – 217 words
Al Shabaab militants are digging in for a big fight after they lost important positions to pro-government troops last week.
Reports say that hundreds of militants have deployed to the southern outskirts of the capital Mogadishu in preparation for counter attacks after ceding territory to AU peacekeepers last week.
The mainly hooded fighters were armed with light and heavy weapons, with most of them were positioned at Eelasha Biyaha, a large settlement between Mogadishu and Afgoye town, some 30 kilometres south of the capital.
Kenya has lost 10 soldiers in Somalia offensive
18 Feb – Source: Capital News – 604 words
Military spokesman Cyrus Oguna on Saturday revealed that Kenya had lost 10 soldiers, since its incursion into Somalia, four months ago.
Oguna told journalists that the military operation against al Shabaab militants inside the war-torn nation has left 10 other soldiers hospitalised and two kidnapped, while another is listed as missing at sea.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
William Hague: Why UK Somalia conference matters
19 Feb – Source: BBC – 533 words
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague says that the London conference on Somalia comes at a “moment of opportunity”. Things have improved in Somalia, and Britain is bringing the international community together to help get the political processes in place, he said.
He told the BBC the conference mattered because Somalia had been “world’s most failed state for the last 20 years”.
It had been a “humanitarian catastrophe” for a year and a potential base for terrorism and piracy, he said.
Ban welcomes political deal reached at Somali constitutional conference
20 Feb – Source: UN News Centre – 263 words
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the political agreement reached by Somalis at a national constitutional conference, saying the accord “sets out clear steps for ending the transition and putting in place a constitutional order” in the war-scarred, impoverished country.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Mr. Ban said the stakeholders who took part in the so-called Garowe II conference, which wrapped up on Friday, deserved credit for reaching the agreement.
Al Shabaab suicide bombers to launch series of attacks in time with David Cameron conference
19 Feb – Source: Telegraph – 420 words
The warning, from senior al-Shabaab leaders and repeated on the militants’ Twitter page, came after seven Somali officers were injured when a car-bomb exploded at a police station in Mogadishu, the capital.
“The explosion was the beginning of a series of suicide and bombing attacks that mujahedeen fighters plan to carry out in Mogadishu in the coming days,” Sheikh Abdulaziz Abu Musab, an al-Shabaab spokesman, said.
Somalia’s Islamists to intensify bombing campaign
18 Feb – Source: AFP – 432 words
Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-allied Shebab rebels warned Saturday they were stepping up a bombing campaign in the war-torn capital Mogadishu, a day after a car bomb at a police station wounded two.
Shebab spokesman Sheikh Abdulaziz Abu Musab said the extremist Islamist fighters had prepared a string of suicide bombers in their battle to topple the weak Western-backed government and the African Union troops who guard it.
British Muslims recruited to fight for ‘al-Qaeda’ in Somalia
18 Feb – Source: Telegraph – 132 words
Up to 50 British “volunteers”, including white Christian converts and British-Somali men, have been recruited to fight for Al Shabaab, the al-Qaeda inspired Somali terrorist group.
Intelligence experts believe the British volunteers form the core of an international force of foreign fighters drawn from the United States, Canada, Europe and East Africa.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“The London conference is important in creating awareness in Europe and Americas of visible international action against the possibility of Al Shabaab and Al Qaeda mastering capability to destabilise a region that is of high geo-strategic value to international peace and security. This makes the search for a political solution to the Somali problem more urgent than before.”
Somalia has now entered a critical stage
18 Feb – Source: The Star – 843 Words
The British government will host a diplomatic conference on Somalia in London on 23rd February, 2012. Soon after the announcement, William Hague, Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary made an unexpected visit to Somalia, the first in more than twenty years by a British Foreign Secretary. This is a significant development from a major western country.
“In my view there were numerous strategic oversights or assumptions on our part. In particular, international support that was not forthcoming as fast as was hoped. We claim to have weakened the Al Shabaab yet need international support to enter Kismayu. We now hope that the partnership between the Al Shabaab and Al Qaeda will attract an international coalition. It is your ‘war’, fight it!”
We must pull out foreign troops, give Somalia back to its people
18 Feb- Source: The Standard- 580 Words
The United Kingdom will host a conference on Somalia next week on February 23. I have also been invited to the UK to attend a conference on Somalia next month. This conference seeks to bring together “senior level practitioners and policy makers, community representatives, analyst and academics… and draw on expertise from the US and Europe, alongside Somali experts, academics and community leaders based in the UK, Somalia and East Africa”. Both the conferences are broadly organised under the auspices of the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Over the last few years, I have been invited to various international initiatives and conferences on Somalia. Internationally, there is broad acknowledgement that fight against terrorism cannot be won only through military means. I am also not in doubt that no solution for Somalia will succeed if the people are not in the centre and in deed own the process. My principle though for participation has been to support any genuine efforts aimed at the resolution of the crisis in Somalia. Human rights actors both locally and internationally are alive to the attendant violations as a consequence or under the guise of combating terrorism directly linked to the Somali crisis. The impact of the crisis to Kenya’s Muslim community and in particular Kenya’s Somali community is evident. The resolution of this crisis has Kenya’s Muslim community as one of the principal beneficiaries.
“While the hierarchy and allegiances in Shabab can be fluid, there are generally two camps. One faction is led by Moktar Ali Zubeyr, better known as “Godane,” which supports Al Qaeda’s ideology of a global jihad. The other faction maintains a nationalist focus. It wants to bring Islamic law to Somalia and is opposed to intervention by foreign forces, such as the Kenyan and Ethiopian troops currently battling the Shabab in the south.”
Somalia’s Al Qaeda: A chance for Shabab to negotiate?
18 Feb – Source: The Star – 858 Words
When the bombs are exploding in Somalia, like one did again Friday afternoon near a police station in the heart of Mogadishu, the name of the group that is responsible seems insignificant.
A week ago Al Shabab, the Somalia-based insurgency group that has been waging war against both the country’s Transitional Federal Government and the African Union peacekeeping mission, would have claimed sole responsibility for the blast, which injured two.
But on Feb. 10 Ayman al Zawahiri, the leader of Al Qaeda, announced an official merger with the Shabab to create a new group that some are calling Al Qaeda in East Africa, or AQEA.
Does a merger between Al Qaeda franchises, or a new acronym, matter?