January 9, 2015 | Daily Monitoring Report.
El-Garas administration denies the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from parts of Galgaduud region
09 Jan – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 141 Words
The administration of El-Garas locality in Galgaduud region has refuted claims that Ethiopian AMISOM troops withdrew from parts of the region. Hassan Dahir Sheikh Isse, the divisional administrator of El-Garas locality, told Goobjoog FM that the Ethiopian troops are still operating in Galgaduud region. “We did not hear any information about Ethiopian troops retreating from the region, and what we know is that they are there still in the region,” said Mr. Dahir. He also stated that they were planning to to request AMISOM to march into surrounding areas where Al-Shabaab fighters are still controlling. Reports from El-Garas and the surrounding area indicate that no Ethiopian troops have left those areas. This comes a day after reports that Ethiopian troops pulled out from those areas.
Key Headlines
- El-Garas administration denies the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from parts of Galgaduud region (Radio Goobjoog)
- Somaliland: Defense Minister rejects Puntland president’s statement on Al-Shabaab entry into Somaliland (Somaliland Sun)
- Somali group wants $4.35 million in state money to fight international terrorist recruitment (Radio Goobjoog)
- Al-Shabaab burns food aid vehicles in Bay region (Sabahi Online)
- Kiyonga urges Somali soldiers compensation (The Observer)
- Somalia’s Shabaab praises ‘heroic’ Charlie Hebdo massacre (Deccan Chronicle/African/APF)
- Canadian appears in terror group’s propaganda video two years after being killed in Somalia (National Post)
- When football was outlawed (BBC Sports Hour)
SOMALI MEDIA
El-Garas administration denies the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops from parts of Galgaduud region
09 Jan – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 141 Words
The administration of El-Garas locality in Galgaduud region has refuted claims that Ethiopian AMISOM troops withdrew from parts of the region. Hassan Dahir Sheikh Isse, the divisional administrator of El-Garas locality, told Goobjoog FM that the Ethiopian troops are still operating in Galgaduud region. “We did not hear any information about Ethiopian troops retreating from the region, and what we know is that they are there still in the region,” said Mr. Dahir. He also stated that they were planning to to request AMISOM to march into surrounding areas where Al-Shabaab fighters are still controlling. Reports from El-Garas and the surrounding area indicate that no Ethiopian troops have left those areas. This comes a day after reports that Ethiopian troops pulled out from those areas.
Somaliland: Defense Minister rejects Puntland president’s statement on Al-Shabaab entry into Somaliland
09 Jan – Source: Somaliland Sun – 227 Words
Somaliland Defense Minister, Hon. Ahmed Hajj Ali Cadaami, said the message from Puntland President Abdiweli Gaas is untrue. Following the recent battle between Al-Shabaab and the Puntland military in the Galgala Mountains, Puntland authorities said Al-Shabaab crossed the border from Somaliland to Puntland. In a phone interview with Somaliland Defense Minister, Hon. Ahmed Hajj Ali Aadami, he said the Puntland president’s announcement was untrue, and that it affects the memorandum of understanding between Somaliland and Somalia.
“If I could answer Abdiweli Gaas, anyone can say whatever obsessions that he likes and from the passion you can judge, you can realize which one is true or not. And according to me no one has crossed the border and no fighters have entered our border so far,” the minister said. “We as Somaliland value most the understanding between Somalia and Somaliland and what the President of Puntland is talking about is to him and his government. So far, we recognize that Puntland is under the Federal Government of Somalia, and any fighter who enters our nation will be handled according to the law and we must stop criticism.”
Somali group wants $4.35 million in state money to fight international terrorist recruitment
09 Jan – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 325 Words
A Somali youth group wants more than $4 million in state funding for workforce training, arts initiatives and after-school programs to fight international terrorist recruitment across Minnesota. Mohamed Farah, executive director of the group Ka Joog, told state lawmakers on Thursday that the money doled out over two years would occupy at-risk Somali youth and make them less susceptible to recruiters for groups like the Islamic State and al-Shabab. “It’s an issue that we must come together to combat. It’s an ideology issue, and we must fight ideology with an ideology,” Farah told the Senate E-12 Policy and Budget Division in its first meeting of the 2015 legislative session.
Authorities say at least 22 young Minnesotans have traveled to Somalia to fight for Al-Shabaab since 2007. Minnesota is home to the nation’s largest Somali population, but the requested funding would also reach the Somali communities in Rochester, Willmar and St. Cloud, Farah told lawmakers. Farah said he wants to keep Somali youth away from negative influences so they can finish high school and pursue higher education. Minneapolis and St. Paul are already part of a national Department of Justice pilot program designed to use job training and community engagement in communities at risk for terrorist recruitment. Boston and Los Angeles are also part of the program.
Andrew Luger, Minnesota’s U.S. attorney, has spent the past 10 months meeting with Somali leaders and the law enforcement community to discuss the challenges they face in fighting recruitment, said Ben Petok, his spokesman. Luger’s office is drawing up specifics on how it will carry out the pilot program, which Petok said will be announced next month. Farah said Ka Joog hasn’t yet spoken to lawmakers about drafting a bill for the $4.35 million in state funding the group wants, which would be in addition to any money spent through the federal program.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Kiyonga urges Somalia soldiers compensation
09 Jan – Source: The Observer – 542 Words
A viable national army and cohesion in the body politic of volatile Somalia are paramount if gains made by the United Nations-backed African Union Mission (Amisom) are to be consolidated, says Defence Minister Crispus Kiyonga. Somalia plans to hold the first democratic elections in 2016, since the ouster of President Siad Barre in 1991. Speaking at the opening of a three-day Amisom 2015 retreat at Sheraton hotel in Kampala on Wednesday, Dr Kiyonga said the lack of political cohesion is likely to complicate the military and political gains made by Amisom of which Uganda is a major contributor.
The retreat was aimed at discussing the political and security future of Somalia, particularly in view of the 2016 elections. The current Amisom mandate expires on December 31, 2017. But before the mandate expires, Dr Kiyonga said, it is important to train and equip the Somali National Army (SNA) and achieve political cohesion. Troop-contributing countries, Kiyonga pointed out, have made several gains and losses. Uganda was the second African country to contribute troops to Somalia in 2007 after Ethiopia. Other contributing countries include Kenya, Burundi, Djibouti and Sierra Leone. On the gains, Kiyonga said al-Shabaab militants had been flushed out of all major towns in Somalia and severely weakened in the process.
“Some progress has been made for sure; Somalia is now back as a state,” he said. “Previously, there was nobody to speak for Somalia, but today Somalia is in the African Union, United Nations and many other [bodies]; Somalia can now speak for herself in international fora, which is a big gain.” Kiyonga said it was an act of omission that Africa and Uganda in particular delayed to intervene in Somalia. But these gains have come at a huge cost, he added. “We have lost many troops as troop-contributing countries, many have been maimed for life and a lot of military equipment has been lost,” he said.
Al-Shabaab burns food aid vehicles in Bay region
08 Jan – Source: Sabahi Online – 89 Words
Al-Shabaab militants have set fire to vehicles transporting food aid to Goof Gaduud district in Bay region, Somalia’s Radio Danan reported Thursday (January 8th). Vehicles carrying bagaash, or smaller food items, were waylaid before they were set ablaze, said Goof Gaduud District Commissioner Ahmed Adan Mohamed. The vehicles were bringing food aid from Baidoa to Goof Gaduud residents, he said, adding that the motive for the attack is not clear. Al-Shabaab has attacked convoys attempting to deliver food in the past.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia’s Shabaab praises ‘heroic’ Charlie Hebdo massacre
09 Jan – Source: Deccan Chronicle/African/APF – 187 Words
Somalia’s Shebab militants, Al-Qaeda’s main affiliate in Africa, on Friday praised the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly in Paris as a “heroic” act. “They made millions of Muslims happy by taking action. Some misguided people claim that freedom of expression was attacked, but that is not the case, and the two heroic people acted accordingly,” Radio Andalus, the official mouthpiece of the militants, said in a commentary. “They cut the head of non-believers who insulted our beloved prophet,” the radio said, adding that Osama Bin Laden had “told the West that if freedom of expression has no limit, then you have to expect your blood to be shed.” The radio also noted that the two brothers suspected of carrying out the killings had “declared that they are part of Al-Qaeda”, the Islamist network to which the Shebab are also affiliated. The Shebab, who control large areas of rural Somalia, are reported to have close links with Al-Qaeda fighters in neighbouring Yemen, where one of the two brothers suspected of carrying out the attack is believed to have trained.
Canadian appears in terror group’s propaganda video two years after being killed in Somalia
08 Jan – Source: National Post – 557 Words
Two years after he was killed while attacking the Somali Supreme Court in Mogadishu, a Canadian member of the terrorist group Al Shabab resurfaced Thursday in a propaganda video released on the Internet. The video showed former Toronto resident Mahad Ali Dhore handling a handgun and speaking into the camera in English, but did not explain why the Al-Shabaab propaganda wing had decided to release it so long after his death. “I want to speak specifically to the brothers and sisters in the West,” he said in the video, released by the U.S. based SITE Intelligence Group. “Brothers and sisters, make jihad in the cause of Allah, make hijrah [immigration] so you can come to jihad in the cause of Allah.
“Leave the material world behind and Allah the great and almighty will give you something better. Jihad is obligatory and Allah the great and almighty, if you trust in Allah, Allah will provide for you, Allah will be sufficient for you.”
Dhore immigrated to Canada from Somalia at age nine. He was a 25-year-old York University student when he left the country in 2009, telling his family he intended to stay with his aunt in Kenya. But once in Kenya, he crossed the border to an Al-Shabaab training camp. He was one of a half-dozen Somali-Canadians from Toronto who became radicalized and left the country around the same time to join Al Shabab, an Al Qaeda linked armed group trying to impose its extremist version of Islam on Somalis.
When football was outlawed
09 Jan – Source: BBC Sports Hour – Audio – 5:34 Minutes
Imagine living in a place where the FA Cup was banned.. In fact all football was outlawed! Well, when Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab were in power in Somalia that’s exactly what happened. That, along with 20 years of war, had left the national football team languishing at the bottom of world football’s rankings. The football mad nation have, however begun the long road of football redemption. Their progress has been documented in the film “Men in the Arena” by US director JR Biersmith. One of the players who tells this story, though, is Sadiq Mohammed.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Since the Somali civil war the arts scene in the Somali community has suffered. I am part of a new generation of Somalis who have grown up since then who want to create art that challenges the negative depiction of Somalis and Africans in general.”
“I belong deeply to myself”: Somali art collection
08 Jan – Source: Media Diversity – Video – 4:53/111 Words
I make art that is influenced by Somali culture and history. The horn of Africa is a historical gateway between Africa and Asia. Somali culture is rich in influences including other African cultures, Persian, Ottoman, Arab and Indian culture. Since the Somali civil war the arts scene in the Somali community has suffered. I am part of a new generation of Somalis who have grown up since then who want to create art that challenges the negative depiction of Somalis and Africans in general. My work include themes of nomadic Somali culture, historical depictions, medieval Africa, epic fantasy, Islamic spiritual themes and afrofuturism.
Top tweets
@Eye_on_Somalia: #hiiraan African Union peace keeping troops change war tactics in Somalia: KAMPALA (Xinhua) — Africa… http://bit.ly/1APsorG #somalia
@t_mcconnell: True to form, #Somalia‘s bloodthirsty Shabaab militants say #CharlieHebdo attack was “heroic”http://bit.ly/1BTeqmO
@farahblue: In his interview with the #BBC @HAliGesey of@SIMHA_SOM said “2015 will predictably be a bad year for#Somalia media”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/somali/
@Aq_TMT: Check out http://Hornofhope.org and support#Somalia
@aababaonline: #Somali government warns illegal companies operating in #Somalia http://addisababaonline.com/
@engyarisow: #Somali women are breadwinners and their education is vital to the development of #Somalia
@MogadishuNews: #Djibouti foreign minister Mohamud Ali Yusuf arrived in #Mogadishu. #Somalia
Image of the day
UNSOM congratulates Puntland’s President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas on his first anniversary and on the recent successes of the State’s security forces against terrorists in the Galgala Mountains. Photo: UNSOM