January 2, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Suicide Car Bomber Outside Mogadishu Airport Kills 3: Police
02 January – Source: Associated Press – 237 Words
A Somali police officer says a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at a security checkpoint near Mogadishu’s international airport, killing at least three people.Capt. Mohamed Hussein says the bomb detonated Monday as security forces were searching cars at the checkpoint, a few hundred meters (yards) from the main base of the African Union peacekeeping mission.
The checkpoint is close to United Nations offices and the Peace Hotel, which is often frequented by foreigners and officials. The powerful blast blew roofs off nearby buildings.A second blast and heavy gunfire could be heard at the checkpoint after the attack, but there were no immediate details.The Al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremist group Al-Shabaab, which often carries out such attacks, quickly claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack through its radio arm, Andalus.Despite being ousted from most of its key strongholds across large parts of south and central Somalia, the homegrown group continues to wage deadly attacks across the country.
Somalia’s capital has seen frequent bomb attacks at hotels and military checkpoints. In July, two Al-Shabaab suicide bombers detonated explosives-laden cars outside the office of the U.N.’s mine-clearing agency and an army checkpoint near the African Union’s main base, killing 13.
The assaults have threatened this Horn of Africa nation’s attempts to rebuild from decades of chaos. The country’s presidential election, a key step toward recovery, already has been delayed multiple times because of security and other concerns.
Key Headlines
- Suicide Car Bomber Outside Mogadishu Airport Kills 3: Police (Associated Press)
- Jubbaland Vows To Fight Al-Shabaab (Goobjoog News)
- Somali Prime Minister Tours Newly Built Senate House Building In Mogadishu (Goobjoog News)
- Al-Shabaab Group Publicly Executes An official In Southern Somalia (Garowe Online)
- US Supports Ugandan Troops In Somalia (New Vision Uganda)
- Arkansa National Guard Soldiers Depart For Somalia Horn of Africa (Thv11.com)
- How The US War On Piracy Brought One Somali To A West Virginia Prison (The Guardian UK)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Jubbaland Vows To Fight Al-Shabaab
02 January – Source: Goobjoog News – 238 Words
Somalia’s southern regional state, Jubaland has vowed to launch a major assault on fewer bastions remaining under the control of Al Shabaab fighters. Jubaland troops backed by African Union peacekeepers have wrested control of several areas from Al-Shabaab fighters in Lower Jubba region.
President of Jubbaland, Ahmed Mohamed Madobe said that Jubbaland would launch a military offensive aimed at wiping Al-Shabaab out of major districts in Somalia’s Lower and Middle Jubba regions. Madobe pointed out that regional forces backing by AMISOM are preparing to wage deadly offensives on pointed strongholds used by Al-Shabaab fighters.
He said that his regional state was committed to consolidating the war against Al-Shabaab fighters in Middle Jubba region. “We were able to eliminate military bases in the region which Al-Shabaab carried out its subversive operations against government in the capital and other regions,” he said. He said that the troops were deployed in response to a request from the public to assist the administration in restoring peace and stability in the region.
The Jubbaland government is facing security challenges from Al-Shabaab despite the group recently losing key towns in southern Somalia. Al-Shabaab, which is believed to have thousands of fighters in its ranks, controls much of Middle and Lower Jubba in southern Somalia and regularly launches attacks in the capital Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab has since resorted to tactics that include suicide bombings and assassinations of government officials.
Somali Prime Minister Tours Newly Built Senate House Building In Mogadishu
02 January – Source: Goobjoog News – 113 Words
Newly elected senators led by Somalia’s Prime Minister, Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke have visited newly reconstructed building in Somalia’s capital city, Mogadishu which is intended to be used by the Upper House members. Somalia’s biggest international partner, Turkey, has reconstructed and furnished the building which is located in the Shibis district. The prime minister lauded the Turkish government and its people for their full support to the people of Somalia.“It’s momentum to the Somali people as their new Upper House body acquired this building and the building will be used for senatorial sessions,” Sharmarke said. Other notable senators who accompanied the prime minister included, Abshir Bukhari, Abdi Ahmed Dhuhulow and Abdirisaq Jurrile.
Al-Shabaab Group Publicly Executes An official In Southern Somalia
02 January – Source:Garowe Online – 229 Words
The Al Qaeda-linked militant group,Al-Shabaab has publicly executed a senior official whom it accused of collaborating with Jubbaland state in Jilib district. Col. Salah Bashir Omar, 80, who was convicted of being a member of Jubbaland forces in Afmadow was tied to a pole and shot dead by a firing squad in an open square in Jilib town in Middle Jubba region on Sunday afternoon.
“The Islamic court in Jubba regions carried out the execution of Col Salah Bashir Omar who worked for Jubbaland State Intelligence Agency in Afmadow town,” said Al-Shabaab Judge during the execution. Sources said Omar was abducted by Al-Shabaab fighters from Afmadow town in Lower Jubba region in November for allegedly helping Kenyan Defense Forces (KDF) to kill Al-Shabaab leaders.
Jubbaland state has released a statement concerning the execution of the alleged army officer. The statement said he was a local traditional elder kidnapped by Al-Shabaab from Afmadow two months ago. In Jilib, Al-Shabaab has paraded three officials in November 2016, including former Afmadow District Commissioner Abdisamad and his son, whom the group said they will face firing squad for working with Jubbaland state.The militant group was pushed out from key major towns in southern and central Somalia, but still carries out sporadic attacks against pro-government forces and allied AMISOM forces to overthrow the western-backed Somali Federal government in Mogadishu.
INTERNATIONAL
US Supports Ugandan Troops In Somalia
02 January- Source: New Vision, Uganda – 341 Words
The US government, through the department of state, has handed over non-lethal equipment to support the Ugandan military contingent in Somalia.The equipment support is worth billions of Ugandan shillings, according to a statement by Maj. Robert Kamara, the Uganda contingent spokesperson.The lot includes two dozers, four motor graders, four Compact rollers and four front-end loaders.
Others are two trailer tractors, two low bed vehicles, four recovery trucks, two tele-handlers and an assortment of spare parts.James Watters, the site coordinator at the US department of state, handed over the equipment on behalf of the US government.He reiterated his government’s continued support to AMISOM in the fight against terrorism and commended the good work of the African Union (AU) peacekeepers in support of the Somali government.
The Uganda contingent commander in AMISOM, Brig Sam Okiding, received the items on behalf of the Ugandan government at the AU’S Halane camp in the Somali capital Mogadishu.He appreciated the continued support from the US government towards the fight against terrorism in Somalia and to the UPDF in particular.
He said the machinery donated is enough to establish a ‘Mission Enabling Unit’ that could carry out various infrastructural projects in Somalia to enhance peace and security.“These machines will help in the rebuilding and maintenance of the main supply routes used by the AU forces. This will enhance free movement and safe passage, hence facilitating humanitarian activities, governance and Somalia’s recovery process,” added Brig Okiding.
Arkansa National Guard Soldiers Depart For Somalia, Horn of Africa
02 January – Source: Thv11.com – Video: 02:10 Minutes
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Somali piracy had been a problem since the turn of the century but it intensified in 2008, when the number of hostages taken from merchant and private ships jumped from 177 to 815 in just one year. Hijackings and attempted hijackings in the Gulf of Aden, a popular shipping route, increased five-fold that year, according to statistics from the International Maritime Bureau,”
How The US War On Piracy Brought One Somali To A West Virginia Prison
01 January – Source: The Guardian, UK – 1685 Words
Mohamed Hassan Farah, a Somali in US federal prison, has little in common with the 19th-century seafarer Thomas Smith besides the fact that they are among the few people to be convicted of piracy on the high seas in a US court.While Smith and 13 of his crewmates were hanged in 1820 for boarding and pillaging 30 vessels in three months – including one by the name of Irresistible – Farah is expected to be handed a life sentence in a matter of weeks.
He will serve his time in a US prison after being first detained thousands of miles away and convicted using laws that are centuries old.Farah is one of only 28 Somalis to be convicted of piracy in the US in recent years following a multinational crackdown after a spike in attacks and kidnappings.Besides costing the global commerce $18bn a year, Somali pirates have taken several lives – including four Americans traveling on a private yacht – and terrorized the people they kept hostage, as famously depicted in the film Captain Phillips.
Speaking by phone from prison in Glenville, West Virginia, he tells the Guardian about the night in 2010 he and his five crew got into a gun battle with the US navy in the Gulf of Aden, an encounter in which he lost a leg and which ultimately culminated in his incarceration. He protests his innocence and, while the prosecution described him and his co-defendants as serious threats, Farah is still confused as to how he ended up in a cell in West Virginia.He claims his craft was returning from smuggling people from Somalia to Yemen when their ship broke down and left them stranded at sea for seven days without food or water. He said he had fallen asleep by the engine of the skiff when he was jolted by the sound of an AK-47. The gunshots were let off by a crewmate who had spotted a vessel in the distance and had hoped to attract help, Farah said. At the later trial a key question was whether the initial shot was in the air or at the ship.“After he shot, we all woke up, and started screaming at each other,” said Farah, who uses a wheelchair and communicates with people in the prison with sign language as he does not speak English. The crew quickly realized this was no ordinary vessel: it was the USS Ashland, an American navy ship.
According to court testimony from the USS Ashland crew viewed by the Guardian and Farah’s account, the navy responded by firing on the skiff with an MK-38, a machine gun that can tear through helicopters and armored vehicles. A bullet hit Farah’s crewmate fatally in the chest and he watched the man fly overboard. Before he could jump in the water, another shot struck their tiny boat. It hit the engine, causing an explosion that set the whole boat ablaze.Farah said he went in and out of consciousness. His crewmates – now covered in burns – trod water and held him up. Unbeknown to him at the time, one of his legs had been blown off in the explosion. Eventually a navy reconnaissance team came out to round the men up. “I was unconscious when we got on the [US navy] boat,” he said, speaking to the Guardian via a translator. “Afterwards, they said we were pirates who kidnap boats, that we were carrying weapons.”
TOP TWEETS
@kamalhajjiahmed : Breaking: Deadly car bomb hits outside#Mogadishu airport #Somalia.
@Daudoo : PIC: Huge destruction in/outside Peace Hotel in#Mogadishu after today’s truck bomb attack. At least 15 people reportedly killed. #Somalia
@IlyaGridneff : “I’ve never been to Horn of Africa. Actually, I never really have been out of Arkansas,” #somalia bound troop said
@elhadjiabdinoor : #Somalia Aviation closes Aden Abdulle Int Airport following today’s explosions. All planes redirected elsewhere- Airport Official
@kushmention : Thoughts & prayers are with families & Friends of those killed or injured in today’s explosion in # Mogadishu
#Somalia #Prayformogadishu
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Leaders of Puntland and Galmudug pose for photo after signing an agreement on the Galkayo conflict.
Photo:@omabha