January 6, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report.
7 Shabaab, 2 Somali soldiers killed in Galgala clashes
05 Jan – Source: World Bulletin – 218 Words
At least seven Al-Shabaab fighters and two government soldiers were killed on Mondayduring an army offensive against the group’s main base in Somalia’s Galgala Mountains region. “Puntland forces targeted Diine Digle, where Al-Shabab has a military base,” Abdulkadir Sumaysane, a Puntland government official, told The Anadolu Agency. “We have now captured the base from the terrorists,” he said.
Puntland is a semi-autonomous region in northern Somalia. “Our soldiers killed seven of them [Al-Shabaab militants]. We lost two soldiers and two others were injured,” said Sumaysane. The army offensive was launched on Sunday. The insurgent group, for its part, claimed on its Andalus radio station and website to have killed four government soldiers. The claim, however, could not be independently verified.
Key Headlines
- Ethiopian troops to escort emergency food aid (Radio Goobjoog)
- CPJ calls upon Somali government to free detained journalists (Radio Bar-Kulan)
- The situation in Lower Shabelle (Radio Danan)
- Politician accuses of Interim Juba Administration of committing human right violations (Radio Goobjoog)
- Grazing land being grabbed in Nugal (Radio Ergo)
- I recorded statement under duress soldier tells court (New Vision)
- Al-Shabaab ‘disintegrating’ after airstrikes defections (Sabahi Online)
- Seven Shabaab two Somali soldiers killed in Galgala clashes (World Bulletin)
- Kenya’s security act threatens refugees (IRIN)
- Calgary police identify Rosedale murder victim search for vehicle in connection (Calgary Sun)
SOMALI MEDIA
Ethiopian troops to escort emergency food aid
06 Jan – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 215 Words
Reports from Bula Burte district of Hiran region confirm that heavily armed Ethiopian troops under AMISOM reached the district in the last few hours. The military commander of Mahas district, Mohamed Mumin Saney, accompanying the troops told Goobjoog FM that troops advanced from Mahas district and other surrounding areas in the region. He added that their aim is to escort food aid to the conflict and drought hit areas in Hiran and Galgadud regions. The Federal Government of Somalia, in an effort to support drought-affected and displaced people in Bula Burte district and other areas in Hiran region sent at least ten trucks carrying food supplies.
Federal government officials in the region confirmed that federal government forces forcefully opened the blocked roads, and enabled the delivery of the essential food to the affected people. Al-Shabaab imposed tight sanctions by blocking the main trade routes leading to Bula Burte, and other major cities in Hiran region after allied forces pushed them out of their main strongholds in the region. Some towns and districts under regions in South-Central Somalia had remained blockaded by Al-Shabaab which halted the transportation of aid and other emergency supplies to the affected residents living in those areas.
CPJ calls upon Somali government to free detained journalists
06 Jan – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 109 Words
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called upon the Federal Government of Somalia to free detained Radio Risala journalists. CPJ East Africa representative Tom Rhodes has said the journalists cannot be detained for simply performing their professional duty while calling upon Somali authorities to free them immediately. Senior advisor to the Somali information ministry, Abdirahman Omar Osman, has told CPJ that he will discuss the issue of detained journalists with the acting information minister and work towards their release.Last week, Somali security forces detained two journalists from Radio Risala; they shut down the station, and it remains off air.
The Situation in Lower Shabelle
06 Jan – Source: Radio Danan – 161 Words
Busleey, Eel Waregow, Buulo Naagey, and Ay Buutey which are all in Lower Shabelle’s Marka, Janaale and Number 50 Districts have all been hot spots for feuding clan militias in the past couple of years. Those villages were deserted by residents after recurrent and continues fighting. Their houses were burnt down. The residents fled to the remote areas to escape crossfire. The inhabitants of those areas were agro-pastoralists. Local leaders in Marka, Janaale and Number 50 Districts said earlier fighting has ensued. They blame the federal government in Mogadishu for turning a blind eye on the clashes and deteriorating survival condition of the people of Lower Shabelle. Elsewhere, the new administration of South-west State of Somalia is engaging itself in efforts so as to try to broker a lasting peace in the region. There are currently talks that are underway and a ceasefire which holds despite the fact that rival clan militias are still present in the areas where they fought.
Politician accuses of Interim Juba Administration of committing human right violations
06 Jan – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 182 Words
The Interim Administration of Juba in Southern Somalia has been accused of committing serious human right violations in Kismayo, the administrative capital of the regional state. Traditional elders and politicians allege that civilians face serious abuses such as torture, killings and other conflict-related abuses, pointing the finger at Jubaland forces. Politician Mohamed Aden, in Lower Juba region, told Goobjoog FM that the violations against civilians are increasing, but the administration hasn’t taken steps to punish nor prosecute the military and police officials accused of committing planned killings, rape and other life threatening acts.
The politician called on the Federal Government of Somalia, the international community and human rights groups to intervene, and assess the increasing violations in the region. “ I urge the government of Somalia, international community and human right groups to immediately get involved and investigate the abuses against civilians,” Mr. Aden said. The Jubaland administration has denied the allegations.
Grazing land being grabbed in Nugal
05 Jan – Source: Radio Ergo – 223 Words
Local pastoralists in Shimbiraley village, 70 km northeast of Garowe, say land grabbers are threatening their livestock’s future. Saleban Omar Salad, a herder, told Radio Ergo large tracts of land in the area were being seized by businessmen. “People come from urban areas to grab large pieces of land, some as big as five km here where we used to graze our livestock. They are trying to make money out of it by selling grass, and we have nowhere else to graze our animals,” he said.
Local elder, Yussuf Osman Hersi, warned that such moves would threaten the co-existence of people, and could trigger clashes. “Such business interest in grazing and farm land could lead to armed confrontation between angry pastoralists and the investors,” he said. “We don’t want a situation whereby recurrent conflict occurs in the area.” Hersi urged the Puntland administration to work with the community to resolve the problem. Deputy Commissioner of Nugal, Abdirahman Issa Mohamed, warned that his office would take stiff action against those involved in the grabbing. “We have already rescued some pieces of land the grabbers had taken, and we will not allow it to continue,” he said. Illegal land-grabbing is spreading to Nugal Valley and has already reached remote rural villages where clashes have erupted between pastoralists and grabbers.
REGIONAL MEDIA
I recorded statement under duress, soldier tells court
06 Jan – Source: New Vision – 307 Words
The Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) soldier facing charges of fuel theft while deployed in Somalia on a peace-keeping mission has denied the charges. Pte. Ismail Sebidde, 29, a militant formerly attached to AMISOM as a tanker driver, appeared before the General Court Martial on Monday.
He said he was forced by the state to record a statement incriminating him of the offences he faces. “I was forced to agree that I issued out 610 litres of diesel and also to allow making the accountability for the fuel by a group led by Maj. Fredrick Kangwamu, the lead prosecutor,” he told the army court in Kampala.
Sebidde added that this was done in house located in Ntinda, a city suburb, last year. He noted that during the same interrogations, the same group of seven people coerced him into recording things which were against his wish regarding fuel theft in Somalia. He added that to have made a statement incriminating him, he thought the group would favour him during prosecution and award him a lighter sentence to the offence.
Al-Shabaab ‘disintegrating’ after airstrikes, defections
05 Jan – Source: Sabahi Online – 1, 090 Words
As al-Shabaab’s leaders are killed in targeted airstrikes and its fighters are defecting in large numbers, the Somali government and its allies have the opportunity to take advantage of the group’s weakened state, analysts say. “The losses that al-Shabaab has sustained in the last two years seem to be a threat to the existence of the group,” said Abdirahim Isse Addow, director of state-run Radio Mogadishu and former spokesperson for the Islamic Courts Union, the organisation from which al-Shabaab splintered.
“The signs of disintegration are very evident in al-Shabaab,” Addow told Sabahi. “No group can continue to exist when it loses the support of the society within which it exists.” As a result of the military offensive by the Somali government and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), al-Shabaab has lost the income it used to receive from important cities such as Barawe, Kismayo, Bulo Burde and El Bur, he said. In addition, he said, al-Shabaab’s internal conflicts, which have plagued the group for the last three years, have had a lasting impact in dismantling the group’s leadership. The divisions within the group were so deep that it eventually led former al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane to commission the killing of many of his former commanders, including al-Shabaab co-founder Ibrahim Meeaad al-Afghani, American-born jihadist Abu Mansour al-Amriki and Maalim Burhan, Addow said.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
7 Shabaab, 2 Somali soldiers killed in Galgala clashes
05 Jan – Source: World Bulletin – 218 Words
At least seven Al-Shabaab fighters and two government soldiers were killed on Monday during an army offensive against the group’s main base in Somalia’s Galgala Mountains region. “Puntland forces targeted Diine Digle, where Al-Shabab has a military base,” Abdulkadir Sumaysane, a Puntland government official, told The Anadolu Agency. “We have now captured the base from the terrorists,” he said.
Puntland is a semi-autonomous region in northern Somalia. “Our soldiers killed seven of them [Al-Shabaab militants]. We lost two soldiers and two others were injured,” said Sumaysane. The army offensive was launched on Sunday. The insurgent group, for its part, claimed on its Andalus radio station and website to have killed four government soldiers. The claim, however, could not be independently verified.
Kenya’s security act threatens refugees
05 Jan – IRIN.org – 914 Words
Human rights groups are warning that Kenya’s controversial Security Amendment Act still poses a threat to refugees’ rights despite a high court decision on Friday that suspends parts of the bill for 30 days pending a full court hearing. The suspension included a section of the wide-ranging bill, popularly known as the ‘anti-terror’ law, that amended Kenya’s Refugees Act. The amendment stipulates that, “the number of refugees and asylum seekers permitted to stay in Kenya shall not exceed 150,000.”
Currently there are over 600,000 refugees, asylum seekers and stateless people living in Kenya, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Although the cap of 150,000 can be reset by the National Assembly, rights groups fear that the new amendment will result in large numbers of refugees being forcibly returned. This would amount to refoulement, a serious contravention of international refugee law.
Somali refugees disproportionately affected. Amnesty International argues that while the new law, if enforced, would inevitably lead to refoulement, it could also be discriminatory in its implementation. “We’re very concerned about who will be targeted to be sent back,” Michelle Kagari, Deputy Regional Director for East Africa at Amnesty International, told IRIN. “We have been documenting that refugees, and Somali refugees in particular, have been disproportionately targeted by the link between refugees, terrorism and Kenya’s security operation in Somalia.”
Calgary police identify Rosedale murder victim, search for vehicle in connection
05 Jan – Source: Calgary Sun – 243 Words
Calgary police identified a Somali man murdered in an alley in the city’s northwest late last week. An autopsy has confirmed the deceased is 23-year-old Murat Osman Omar. His cause of death is still to be determined, police say, but officers were called to the area of the 1400 block of 8 St. N.W. about 3 a.m. Jan. 2 to investigate gunshots, and Omar’s body was found soon after. At this time no suspects have been identified in connection to the young man’s slaying. Police believe Omar’s life was taken in a targeted attack and Imam Abdi Hersi, who has been in contact with the young man’s family, said they believe he was lured from his home by phone calls.
Investigation into the city’s second homicide of 2015 continues, with police now looking for a silver 2000 to 2003 model Acura MDX in connection. Meanwhile, police say there’s no new information about the city’s first homicide of the year, 26-year-old Abdullahi Ahmed, who was critically injured in a mass shooting at a Killarney home Jan. 1 during a New Year’s celebration, and died soon after in hospital. Six others were injured in that shooting. Currently there are no suspects in that incident either. Both victims are of Somali descent, but police have said investigators don’t believe there’s any connection between the two murders. Motives for either man’s slaying remain unknown.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Yet despite the menace to Somalia’s democratic ambitions, diaspora Somalis have rushed to participate in the new government from day one. This is just the latest in a long trend of Somalis abroad backing their kin in the Horn of Africa.”
This woman wants to prove that Somalia is serious about democracy
05 Jan – Source: GOOD Magazine – 791 Words
Fadumo Dayib is an accomplished woman. The 42-year-old mother of four spent 12 years as a healthcare and development specialist with organizations such as the European Union and United Nations, tackling problems like forced migration, gender issues, and HIV/AIDS prevention. And as of this September, Dayib, both adoctoral candidate at the University of Helsinki and fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, is also angling to become Somalia’s first female president. In her candidacy, she acts not an isolated individual, but also as the apotheosis of Somalia’s female and diaspora populations’ ballooning political heft.
Although she currently resides in Finland, Dayib was born in Somalia, but fled during the African nation’s atrocious civil war in the 1990s, living in a Kenyan refugee camp for a time before finally making her way to Scandinavia. But like many members of the Somali diaspora, she has remained deeply engaged with her country. And, despite the countless warnings about how dangerous Somalia is for women, Dayib has decided to channel that engagement into political participation at the highest level. Set to return to her native country early this year, she will campaign on a platform of education, minority protection, and youth employment.
“Somalis are now in a race against time. They face the dilemma of either hanging together or getting hanged separately. That is why Ethiopia’s role in AMISOM must be resisted in every peaceful aspect, and the Somali government as well as all cardboard presidents of different sizes must be pressured to change course.”
Somalia’s new race against time
05 Jan – Source: Foreign Policy Blogs – 1,483 Words
Despite the roller coaster of political and security-related drama that dominated the headlines in this past year, I still remain optimistic about Somalia’s future — cautiously of course. For Somalia, a New Year’s resolution is an existential affair of “change now or cease to exist.” That said, change requires certain level of self-awareness through which intention is cultivated. It also requires strategy and the will power to implement.
Somalia has a long “to do” list all of which are important, though some being more important than others. Over the years, I have written about the significance of organic reconciliation and how it is crucial for fixing our broken nation and healing our traumatized hearts. I still insist it is the only way to save our rapidly disintegrating nation. There are many hurdles that make such reconciliation an arduous proposition and there is one particular that makes it impossible- Ethiopia’s stealthy ever-expanding influence on the ground both militarily and politically. Here I excluded Kenya because the deterioration of security in its mainland and Parliament and public pressure makes its emulative project unsustainable.
Top tweets
@UNSomalia: Hamdi Osman, a #Somali radio presenter with#Radio Beletweyne speaks about her media career:http://bit.ly/1xtnnEf #SomaliaRising
@AU_PSD: #AU will continue 2 work closely w/ #UN & other Partners 2 ensure that #AMISOM is adequately supported: Comm #Chergui
@africamedia_CPJ: A bad weekend for #Somalia media wi/ 5 journalists detained –3 still under detention, @Radiorisaala,@NUSOJ_Somalia http://cpj.org/x/5e85
@Jubaland: #Kismayo‘s city planning projects underway, as street renovation projects begin. #Jubaland #Somalia#Progress
@Daudoo: For 3rd consecutive day, deadly battle b/w #Puntland& #AlShabaab is taking place in #Galgala mountain. Both sides claiming victory.#Somalia
@farahblue: #Somalia According to article 97 (3) of the country’s constitution, the president has no right to get involve PM’s cabinet selection process
Image of the day
Folklore dancers gather at Daljirka on Fridays. Revival of Culture. Dance for Peace. Photo: Mogadishu Images