February 29, 2012 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Somali’s Al-Qaeda al Shabaab fighters flee in to Yemen

28 Feb – Source: Radio Kulmiye – 119 words

Hundreds of al Shabaab fighters have recently moved in to Yemen seeking for refuge according to the Yemen’s officials in the region. Reports from Yemen indicate that a large number of fighters ais crossing the borders to join in their colleagues in Yemen.

Key Headlines

“Unidentified” gunmen shoot dead Somali radio director in capital (Radio Shabelle/AP)
Galmudug member of parliament assassinated in Galkayo (Hiiraan Online)
Al Shabaab militia arrests 7 youths in Kismayo (Radio Bar-Kulan)
9 dead 2 wounded in southern Somalia fighting (Radio Shabelle)
Denmark piracy raid off Somalia leaves two dead (Reuters)

SOMALI MEDIA

“Unidentified” gunmen shoot dead Somali radio director in capital

28 Feb – Source: Shabelle, Radio Kulmiye, Risala, Radio Mogadishu – 95 words

Unidentified gunmen tonight killed the director of Radio Somaliweyn in Mogadishu.The gunmen armed with pistols shot dead Abukar Mahamud Kadaf in front of his house at the Hawo Tako neighbourhood in Mogadishu’s Wadajir District. Reports say the killers, numbering two, escaped shortly after the murder. An eyewitness said that government security forces arrived at the scene and conducted operations but made no arrests.

Galmudug member of parliament assassinated in Galkayo

2b Feb – Source: Hiiraan Online – 118 words

A member of the Parliament of Galmudug state has been shot dead in Galkayo town in central Somalia. Eyewitnesses say Abdullahi Mohamed Siyad (Shirwa) was shot in a market at the city center of Galkayo. The Mudug province commissioner of Galmudug has confirmed the death of the MP and denounced it in strong terms. “Today,unknown gunman assassinated Mr. Abdullahi Mohamed Siyad a member of parliament, we can’t tell who is behind this crime, but we will carry out investigations”, said the province commissioner Mohamed Guled Guure.

Al Shabaab militia arrests 7 youths in Kismayo

28 Feb – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 89 words

A security operation conducted by al Shabaab insurgents in Kismayo port town lead to the arrest of seven youths last night. Most of the youths were arrested from cafeterias located in the town and later taken to Kismayo central detention camp.

2 killed in Mandera attack against Kenya army

28 Feb – Source: Shabelle – 136 words

At least two people have been killed in an attack by armed men at Mandera town, north east Kenya, officials and residents said on Tuesday. Witnesses told Shabelle Media that the attack targeted a checkpoint on the outskirts of Mandera town and controlled by Kenyan troops, killing a soldier while the other casualty was reported to be from the attackers’ side.

Somali’s Al-Qaeda al Shabaab fighters flee in to Yemen

28 Feb – Source: Radio Kulmiye – 119 words

Yemen beefs up security to block al Shabaab militia penetration

28 Feb – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 93 words

Reports from Yemen indicate beefing up of its security following reports that al Shabaab militias from Somalia are crossing the Indian ocean en route to Yemen. Yemeni navy air forces and security personnels are currently in preparations to block the Al-Qaeda linked al Shabaab militias from Somalia to enter their country.

9 dead, 2 wounded in southern Somalia fighting

28 Feb – Source: Shabelle – 158 words

At least nine people have been killed and more injured in a heavy fighting between Somalia government forces and Al-Qaeda linked militant group of al Shabaab in Lower Jubba region, south of the country, officials say on Tuesday. Witnesses say, the battle broke out at around 12:00 a.m. local time after the militants attacked a TFG military convoy coming from Dhoblay town to Qoqani district in Lower Jubba region.

Former president moves in to Ethiopia as official residency after years of asylum life in Yemen

28 Feb – Source: Radio Kulmiye, Hiiraan Online – 132 words

Somalia’s former president Abdulah Yusuf is reportedly removing in to Ethiopia’s capital Adisababa for another asylum seeking attempt to insure his safety after fleeing from Somalia in 2009 when Ethiopian troops pulled out from Somalia.

REGIONAL MEDIA

WAMY chief receives Somalia’s Minister of Education, Higher Education and Culture

28 Feb – Source: Saudi Press Agency – 118 words

The Secretary General of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), Dr. Saleh bin Sulaiman Al-Wahaibi received here today Dr. Ahmed Aidid Ibrahim, Somalia’s Minister of Education, Higher Education & Culture
During the meeting, they discussed the joint cooperation programs in the fields of education between the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and the Somali Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Culture.

Senior al Qaeda official killed in Mogadishu attack

28 Feb – Source: Star – 294 words
A senior foreign al Shabaab official was killed last night after the man he was deputizing was killed in January in a suspected US drone attack. Sakr was killed in an explosion in Mogadishu last night in what is suspected to have been a trap laid for him. He was the deputy of Lebanese al Shabaab commander Bilal Al Berjawi who was killed in Elasha Biyaha. Sakr was expected to take over the command of a number of foreign militia fighting alongside al Shabaab against AMISOM and TFG troops.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somali radio station boss shot dead

28 Feb – Source: AP – 240 words

Gunmen on Tuesday shot down the head of a radio station in Mogadishu, the latest in a string of attacks on journalists in war-torn Somalia, police and a colleague said.

“Two men armed with pistols shot him dead, he instantly died and the assailants escaped the scene,” said Mohamud Hurshe, who worked with Abukar Hassan Kadaf, the head of the Somaliweyn station.

Denmark piracy raid off Somalia leaves two dead

28 Feb – Source: BBC/Reuters/Washington Post – 181 words

The Danish Navy has said two hostages have been killed as a Danish warship confronted a pirate vessel off the coast of Somalia. The Absalon was patrolling the Gulf of Aden under Nato command, reports say.

The Danish ship fired at the pirate ship to force it to stop, the Danish navy said on its website.

There were 17 pirates and 18 hostages on board the pirate ship, said its statement.

Danish navy frees hostages off Somalia, 2 killed

28 Feb – Source: Alert Net – 303 words

Two people held hostage by suspected Somali pirates were killed during a rescue operation by the Danish navy that succeeded in freeing 16 other captives off the horn of Africa, the navy said on Tuesday.

The Absalon, a Danish warship serving in NATO’s counter-piracy mission Ocean Shield, fired on the suspect boat, a traditional dhow, after it disobeyed orders to stop, the navy said. Seventeen suspected pirates were arrested.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“In blatant contradiction to the statement that “decisions on Somalia’s future rest with the Somali people,” which is true, the London conference decided for Somalia and stripped Somalia of its indivisibility, sovereignty and polity. The participation of the conference by several delegations from Somalia for the absence of a national leader who represents the voice of Somalia before the international community did undercut Somalia’s common cause. The invitation of the ousted Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Adan under Ethiopian pressure was also a snub to large segment of the Somali population and show of Ethiopia’s veto power over Somalia.”

London Conference stripped Somalia of its indivisibility, sovereignty and polity

28 Feb – Source: Suna Times – 1403 Words

The communiqué of February 23 Conference on Somalia, dominated by the International Contact Group (ICG) and the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia fell far short of all expectations. The promised new approach or step-change by the British leaders to tackle the root causes of insecurity and lack of functional government responsible for the inexorable decline of 20 years in Somalia did not materialize. Concretely, nothing in the communiqué responds to the solution of the well described dreadful situation in Somalia, a country suffering for wars and natural disasters. The reason is a matter of conjecture.

“Take the Kenyan incursion into southern Somalia, for instance. Kenya’s aim is to capture the port of Kismayo, which is the main base of pirate operations and a key conduit for al-Shabaab men and material into the organisation’s southern Somalia strongholds. Kenya is struggling to capture Kismayo. It would greatly welcome any help it could get from its fellow Africans, especially in putting up a naval blockade of the port.”
“South Africa, with its considerable naval strength, is an obvious candidate. But South Africa seems to be concerned that Nairobi is getting bogged down in Somalia and has no exit strategy, so it is reluctant to get involved, preferring just to offer its usual peaceful support to the Somali peace process, such as constitution-drafting, training bureaucrats etc.”

Taking inaction too far

28 Feb – Independent Online – 666 Words
British Prime Minister David Cameron’s international conference on Somalia in London last Thursday helped to put the 20-year-old, rather neglected crisis in that country more firmly on the world’s agenda.

That was good. Probably the increased attention helped to pay dividends retroactively even before the meeting, when the UN Security Council resolved to increase the strength of the AU’s peacekeeping force, Amisom, from about 11 000 to about 17 700.
Beyond that, the meeting of 55 nations – including South Africa – international organisations and Somali formations largely just added extra moral and political force to existing initiatives.