January 4, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Three Killed In Al-Shabaab Attack On Police Station In Warmahan
04 January – Source: Goobjoog News – 138 Words
Two suspected Al-Shabaab fighters and one Somali soldier was killed early Monday in an attack by Al-Shabaab armed group on the southwestern town of Warmahan that is located less than 30km of the capital, a local official has said. “The terrorists attacked the town this morning. Their target seemed to be the police station, which they unsuccessfully tried to burn down. We lost one of our soldiers in the fighting but our soldiers killed two fighters” the town’s police commandant, Abdi Ibrahim Shaamow said.
Shaamow refuted that the armed group members had briefly assumed control of the town. “The group was repulsed by Somali troops and disappeared into the bush,” he said. Al-Shabaab remains dangerous, unpredictable and bold, known for audacious and chilling attacks. Their fighters routinely target the Somali government in Mogadishu and many other towns. The group has also sought to terrorize neighboring Kenya.
Key Headlines
- Three Killed In Al-Shabaab Attack On Police Station In Warmahan (Goobjoog News)
- Barawe District’s Head Of NISA Arrested For His Role In Yesterday’s Clashes (Wacaal Media)
- Somaliland Sets Voter Registration Date (Hiiraan Online)
- ISWA Parliament To Elect Speaker Two Deputies (Wacaal Media)
- Garissa University Reopens After Massacre That Left 147 Dead (The Star)
- Probe Called Over Somali Refugee’s Return To Nauru (Radio New Zealand News)
- Somalia Housing Boom As Mogadishu Emerges From Ashes Of War (Capital FM/AFP)
- The Cool Runnings Of The Refugee Crisis: Somalia’s Bandy Team At Home On Ice (The Guardian)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Barawe District’s Head Of NISA Arrested For His Role In Yesterday’s Clashes
04 January – Source: Wacaal Media – 71 Words
The head of the National Intelligence and Security Agency – NISA in Barawe district has been arrested after he was implicated in yesterday’s clashes between members of the Somali National forces. Confirming the incident, a spokesman of the Lower Shabelle administration Mohamed Shino said up to eight people including civilians were killed in the clashes of yesterday. He added uneasy calm has returned in the town after the forces were dispersed.
Somaliland Sets Voter Registration Date
04 January – Source: Hiiraan Online – 181 Words
The breakaway northern Somalia region of Somaliland has announced 16 January as the start date for voter registration for presidential elections, an announcement endorsed by opposition parties. Somaliland has earlier announced that it will hold presidential elections in 2016, amid political uncertainty over the current presidential controversial term extension last year which sparked protests and counter-accusations by the government and opposition parties.
“Considering submissions by the electoral commission, the president of the republic of Somaliland declares 16 January as the start date for voter registration.” said a statement from president Ahmed Silanyo’s office Sunday. Opposition parties have countersigned the president’s announcement, urging the electoral commission to assist the government in facilitating the election process for the election to ahead on schedule.
The president has also declared Togdheer region as the launching point for the voter registration process, despite challenges facing the region recently engulfed by draughts and water shortages. Somaliland, a breakaway region in northern Somalia has declared a unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, however, its attempts to gain an international recognition hasn’t so far accomplished success.
ISWA Parliament To Elect Speaker, Two Deputies
04 January – Source: Wacaal Media – 83 Words
The parliament of the Interim Southwest State of Somalia is today set to elect its speaker and two deputies in Baidoa. Candidates made their speeches before the house yesterday. Security has been beefed up in the city of Baidoa ahead of the sitting of the house that will elect the officials. Head of State Shariff Hassan urged MPs to elect an able leader who will take the house to greater heights. A 13 member committee has been appointed to oversee the elections.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Garissa University Reopens After Massacre That Left 147 Dead
04 January – Source: The Star – 174 Words
Garissa University College is set for reopening on Monday, nine months after Al-Shabaab killed 147 people in a siege that lasted hours. Of those massacred in the April 2 attack, 142 were students. Seventy nine were injured. A memo to staff and students stated that an academic board meeting would take place following the reopening. All academic and non-academic staff were asked to report back on Wednesday, when prospective students will obtain information on courses.
“All continuing students are expected to complete the semester fees on reporting,” read the memo from the office of the registrar, academic and student affairs. On November 17, the French government said it will pay fees for a year for 109 Garissa University College students who survived the April 2 al Shabaab massacre. The students, who were transferred to Moi University in Eldoret, will also be given a living allowance, the French Embassy said. The Embassy said Ambassador Rémi Maréchaux will hand the aid in a show of solidarity to students who have not received any financial support.
Probe Called Over Somali Refugee’s Return To Nauru
04 January – Source: Radio New Zealand News – 147 Words
An Australian lawyer has asked for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to examine the immigration department over the way it handled the case of a Somali refugee who sought an abortion after she was allegedly raped on Nauru. Last October, the Australian government flew her to Australia and returned her secretly on a chartered flight back to Nauru, saying she had changed her mind about the procedure.
However, the lawyer Kellie Tranter has told the Guardian Australia that new emails challenge the veracity of the statement. At the time, the immigration minister Peter Dutton said she had changed her mind about having an abortion, and that reports to the contrary were a fabrication. Ms Tranter has called for an investigation of the matter. Abortion is illegal in Nauru. Australia has been criticised for its policy of sending asylum seekers arriving by boat to its processing centres abroad.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“The streets in the new estate offer a very different vision of Mogadishu. Those returning to Somalia — including investors wanting to start new business in the their homeland — say the Daru Salaam estate offers them a more secure place to live.”
Somalia Housing Boom As Mogadishu Emerges From Ashes Of War
03 January – Source: Capital FM/AFP – 736 Words
Somalia’s elegant colonial villas were left in ruins by two decades of street fighting among warlords, and the seaside capital Mogadishu was dubbed the most dangerous city in the world. But now new housing estates are being built amid an economic boom as diaspora Somalis return and newly wealthy businessmen capitalise on the relative peace in the city.
Some seven kilometres (four miles) outside Mogadishu in a formerly largely rural area, new homes are springing up, with almost 50 houses now ready on an estate, builders say. Mohamed Abdullahi Ali, from Salaam Somali Bank, said it was a “great honour” to back the estimated $20 million (18 million euro) project.
Construction began in early 2015 and the project was touted as offering commercial returns and helping rebuild the nation. “It is a new neighbourhood for all Somalis to buy affordable homes, by leaving the densely populated neighbourhoods of Mogadishu, and to come and stay with families here,” Ali said. “According to our plan, we are going to build 500 homes that can cover the residential needs for 500 families in the first stage, and then will construct more houses.”
“Regardless of the political tensions, the players feel they are peaking. Hussein describes time with his team-mates as true, real, cool, and beautiful: what motivated us was representing our country – that’s what I’m most proud of.”
The Cool Runnings Of The Refugee Crisis: Somalia’s Bandy Team At Home On Ice
04 January – Source: The Guardian – 837 Words
Most of Somalia’s bandy team had never seen snow or ice before they arrived in Sweden as refugees in their late teens. Three years on they are furiously practicing the sport – a version of ice hockey played with a ball – in the hope they will be selected to represent Somalia at the third bandy world championships, to be held in Russia in February.
The team are based in the small Swedish town of Borlänge, around 200km north of Stockholm, which is home to more than 3,000 Somalis. It’s Cool Runnings 2.0, set to the backdrop of the refugee crisis. Hans Grandin, who sits on the Somali team’s board, was nearing retirement when he realised he wanted to do something to change the social fabric of his town. “Integration is not, was not, as good as it can be. It takes a long time, especially in Sweden, where people are cold and slow,” he says.
“There was already a refugee football team, and I thought we could do something similar, helping the Somalis get on ice.” The team’s chairman, Mursal Ismail, a 34-year-old who has lived in Sweden since 2002, said it’s an important way “for Somalis to show themselves doing good things for their host country.”
TOP TWEETS
@Daudoo : #AlShabaab “take over” #Somalia military base in#Warmahan, 60km NW of #Mogadishu, troops retreated to#Afgoye, dead bodies seen – Witness
@abdirizakmire : Somalia’s seaport bustles with business as trucks come to off load ships of their cargo. #SomaliaRising#Somalia
@LailaInNairobi : 2 Indonesian males freed after spending 3 months in a #Puntland jail for illegal fishing in #Somalia.http://bit.ly/1O4lkLp
@JAKAMUNGA: One of the most interesting African elections to watch this year 2016 is #Somalia elections later in August.
@junaidegale : Chine awarded contract to build and manage Hobyo port in #Galmudug #Somalia …
@Somaliupdate: #US Shuts Down Drone Base in #EthiopiaUsed To Target #AlShabaab in #Somaliahttp://somaliupdate.com/
@Safaraa20Ahmed : A #billboard in #Yemen thanks #Somaliafor hosting #Yemenirefugees who fled their country’s ongoing#conflict.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
Somalia’s seaport bustles with business as trucks come to off load ships of their cargo.
Photo: @amisomsomalia