July 1, 2016 | Morning Headlines

Non-locals In Mandera Barred From Bus Journeys during Ramadan Due To Al-Shabaab Fear

30 June – Source: Daily Nation – 466 Words

Non-locals living in Mandera will not be allowed to travel by bus until the end of the Ramadhan period due to security threats posed by Al-Shabaab militants, the county security committee has said. Acting Mandera East Deputy County Commissioner Yonah Nyawir said this was a “short-term” move aimed at reducing tension and allow for the reorganisation of security operations.

“We are not really [barring] people from traveling from Mandera or Nairobi but we are saying they should use alternative means,” said Mr Nyawir. He said the decision was taken due to the security situation in Mandera after the loss of five police officers on June 20 as they were escorting a bus in Kotulo. Mr Nyawir said although the decision was not popular with many travellers, those wishing to travel will have to abide by it until the situation improves.

“Those wanting to travel can use [aircraft] or pick-ups plying the Mandera-Takaba-Moyale-Marsabit route until the situation returns to normal after Ramadan,” he said. Mr Nyawir dismissed claims that security escorts had been withdrawn, stating that other security agencies (besides police) have been incorporated. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a bus company manager told the Nation that the Mandera County police commander had called them for a meeting on Monday and directed all bus companies in Mandera not to allow non-Somalis on board.

Key Headlines

• Non-locals In Mandera Barred From Bus Journeys during Ramadan Due To Al-Shabaab Fear (Daily Nation)
• Somali Religious Leaders Denounce New Gender Law (Radio Dalsan)
• Al-Shabaab Is Suspected In Blast That Killed Pedestrians (Presna Latina)
• US: Don’t Fund Child Soldiers Abroad (Human Rights Watch)
• Kenyan Refugees May Be Forced To Join Al-Shabaab Or Face Sexual Abuse If Repatriated To Somalia(International Business Times)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Somali Religious Leaders Denounce New Gender Law

30 June – Source: Radio Dalsan – 223 Words

The Somali religious council has denounced new gender law by the Ministry of Women and Human Rights Affairs. Sheikh Bashir Ahmed Salad who spoke to the media during a press conference in the capital Mogadishu has harshly criticized the content of the new bill submitted by the minister to the parliament. He said the new law which the ministry is pushing the parliament to approve is against the Islamic teachings and culture of the people in the horn of Africa state. The religious leaders have cautioned the government leaders to review the law which they said is a threat to the Islamic teachings in the large Muslim country.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Al-Shabaab Is Suspected In Blast That Killed Pedestrians

30 June – Source: Presna Latina News Agency – 201 Words

A landmine blew up in the town of Lafoole, in the Lower Shabelle region, 240 miles from Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, killing at least 20 people and injuring many more,it was reported today. The explosion was triggered by a vehicle that drove over the incendiary device. The victims were those in the vehicle and a number of other civilians, many of whom were vegetable vendors and pedestrians. All the injured were taken to the local hospital for medical treatment.

It is suspected that the attack could have been the handiwork of Al-Shabaab, an Islamist outfit, faction of which are affiliated with al-Qaeda that has a stronghold there. A week ago, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a vehicle packed with explosives, right outside the gates of a Mogadishu hotel. Al-Shabaab gunmen then entered the premises and fired at civilians. As many as 15 people were killed and 25 injured in the terror attack.

Somalia suffer a protracted war since 1991 when armed groups ousted President Mohamed Siad Barre. Since 2006, Somalia is the scene of confrontations between government forces supported by the international coalition of the African Union(Amisom), against members of Al-Shabaab.

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US: Don’t Fund Child Soldiers Abroad

30 June – Source: Human Rights Watch – 687 Words

The Obama administration should require foreign governments receiving United States military aid to immediately end their use of child soldiers, Human Rights Watch said today. On June 30, 2016, the US State Department issued a new list of countries implicated in the use of child soldiers as part of its annual Trafficking in Persons report. The list of 10 countries includes Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

The 2008 Child Soldiers Prevention Act prohibits certain forms of US military assistance to countries that either use child soldiers in their national armed forces or support militias or paramilitaries that recruit and use child soldiers. The president can waive the prohibition for national security reasons. Since the law went into effect in 2010, the Obama administration has issued such waivers in 26 of 33 cases, allowing governments using child soldiers to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in US military aid.

“Many of the governments listed by the State Department receive US military aid year after year despite their continued use of children as soldiers,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “President Obama should make clear that countries using child soldiers are going to lose US military support.”

OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE

“When you go back to Somalia, you’ll become suspected by the government and the al-Shabaab group because you come back from Kenya. They will ask: ‘Is he a spy for the government or for Al-Shabaab?'”

Kenyan Refugees May Be Forced To Join Al-Shabaab Or Face Sexual Abuse If Repatriated To Somalia

30 June – Source: International Business Times – 875 Words

Forced recruitment, gender-based violence and persecution: these are just some of the threats that Kenya’s Somali refugees claim they could face if Kenya went ahead with its plans to expel them from its territory. For more than 20 years, Kenya has been home to generations of Somalis who have fled their war-torn country and, with the assistance of the international community, their host country was able to give them three main options: local integration, resettlement or repatriation.

In the latter case, Raouf Mazou, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) representative to Kenya, confirmed up to 120,000 people had voluntarily returned to Somalia’s ‘safe pockets’ in the past five years. More recently, the now-defunct Department of Refugee Affairs said that 10,000 refugees had been assisted to return home while another 50,000 had spontaneously returned without any assistance between February and April 2016.

However, the authorities’ plans to reduce the population of the Dadaab refugee camp by half via voluntary and expected forced repatriations of 150,000 Somali refugees by the end of the year would put Somali men and woman at risk of serious, and at times deadly, threats. In war-torn Somalia, the majority of male refugees claim they would become a target for both the al-Shabaab Islamic extremist group linked to al-Qaida, which has been waging a deadly insurgency against the Somali government, and government security forces.