July 14, 2015 | Morning Headlines

Main Story

Somalia Takes Kenya To International Court of Justice Over Sea Border

13 July – BBC News – 255 Words

The Somali government has submitted its dispute with Kenya over their sea border to the International Court of Justice. The disputed ocean territory stretches for more than 100,000 sq km. Tests have shown potential reserves of gas in the area. The dispute has been going on for the last six years, keeping investors away because of a lack of legal clarity over who owns potential offshore oil and gas reserves. The BBC’s Rage Hassan says Somalia wants the maritime border to continue along the line of the land border to the south-east, while Kenya wants the sea border to go in a straight line east. Somalia’s Attorney General Ahmed Ali told the BBC that his government would present a 150-page document arguing its case at the ICJ, which is UN’s top judicial body, based in The Hague. Kenya’s Attorney General Githu Muigai told the BBC that Somalia had no right to claim what is Kenya’s territorial water. He also confirmed that some concessions have been given to foreign companies to explore oil and gas. The application comes days after the Kenyan government said it had received a pledge from Mogadishu that it wanted to solve the case out of court. In 2014 the ICJ gave Somalia the go-ahead to file the case after efforts to settle the dispute outside the court had failed. The ICJ has asked the Kenyan government to respond by 27 May 2016, after which hearings will begin formally. It may take several years before the court rules on the matter.

Key Headlines

Somalia Takes Kenya To International Court of Justice Over Sea Border (BBC News)
Residents Start To Flee After Kenya Airstrikes Death Toll Rises (Horseed Media)
Mogadishu Municipality Displays Draft Local Economic Development Strategy (Mareeg Media)
Three People Killed In Clan Clashes In Amara (Goobjoog News)
Uganda On High Alert As It Marks Kampala Bombing Anniversary (Wacaal Media)
32 Killed In Al-Shabaab Attack In Somalia (Xinhua)
Livestock Carrier Sinks Off Gulf of Aden (Marinelink.com)
Al-Shabaab Unit Formed To Cripple Kenya (The Star)
Former Minnesotan Works To Improve Equality For Women In Somalia (Star Tribune)
The Ups and Downs Of Somalia’s July 1 (Hiiraan Online)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Residents Start To Flee After Kenya Airstrikes, Death Toll Rises

13 July – Source: Horseed Media – 229 Words

Hundreds of terrified residents have been forced to leave their houses after Kenyan warplanes shelling left dozens of civilians dead over the weekend, elders and local officials say. The families are abandoning their homes in the villages of Lan-kura, Dibole and Yaqle, which are all located along the Somalia-Kenya border. “There is an exodus out of these three villages as we speak. It started after the strikes. People are fleeing towards other towns,” one local elder told local media outlets by phone. Meanwhile, the death toll of civilians killed in the weekend airborne attack carried out by Kenyan warplanes apparently targeting Al-Shabaab militants has increased. It has been confirmed by an official in the area and other witnesses that over 20 people have lost their lives, including children and women.

The Somali Federal Government has not yet spoken of this incident which has left many Somalis angry. On the other side, neither the Kenyan military nor the government has issued a statement concerning the latest strike as both countries are involved in a sea dispute. Kenya sent forces into Somalia in 2011 to fight the al-Qaeda-inspired Islamist group, which has carried out a series of bombings and kidnappings in the region. Nairobi officials have said they will keep their troops in Somalia for as long as necessary to win the war. Kenyan troops are fighting alongside African Union forces.

Mogadishu Municipality Displays Draft Local Economic Development Strategy

13 July – Source: Mareeg Media – 275 Words

In a meeting held at Mogadishu, the local government of Mogadishu has exposed a five years strategy from 2016 on Local Economic Development designed to be applied in Mogadishu. According to the Abdikadir M. Ahmed (Dalha), Mogadishu Municipality LED Officer, the strategy is developed under wide consultation and participation of Mogadishu LED forum encompassing the municipality, private, (Somali chamber of commerce) and civil society sectors for a period of six months. The formulation of this strategy is part of local economic development program that the municipality has been undertaking in Mogadishu in collaboration with private and civil society groups to boost Mogadishu local economic growth. The strategy has five key objectives derived from SWOT analysis of Local Economic Assessment carried out in Mogadishu. It reveals number of programs to respond to the economic related needs in the capital Mogadishu.

The strategy proposes economic infrastructure rehabilitation, capacity building for municipality personnel, create conducive business legal framework, promoting employment opportunity and Mogadishu investment and entrepreneurship promotion. Iman Nor Ikar, the Deputy Mayor of Mogadishu said” it is the momentum to develop strategy promoting local economy” he added that it is very vital to assess markets prior to the launching technical vocational trainings to know the market and skill demands for employment opportunities after trainings. Mogadishu municipality has been progressing recently in the local economic development program and it was February this year that it carried out business data collection exercise in four districts in Mogadishu to assess business environment. The city of Mogadishu looks like it is recovering and new reflection of commercial and rebuilding activities have been seen for the last two years that marks a better and brighter future.

Three People Killed In Clan Clashes In Amara

13 July – Source: Goobjoog News – 131 Words

Reports from Mudug region indicate fighting broke out between two clan militias Monday morning claiming three lives and injuring several other people. The cause of the brawl is not yet clear but sources say that the sides disagreed on a borehole prompting new clashes in the area which has struggled with prolonged drought. Sources told Goobjoog News the cause of the fighting could not be established but initial reports say the two groups had a quarrel over a borehole but escalated into a fierce fight. “The traditional elders, clerics and intellectuals are making efforts to ease the tension and hostilities between the two clans in the area,” said a witness. Arguments over land use, boreholes and pasture have perennially contributed to fighting among Somali clans who are largely pastoralists.

Uganda On High Alert As It Marks Kampala Bombing Anniversary

Ugandan forces were put on high alert as the horn of African country marks the 5th anniversary of the July 11, 2010 Kampala bombings. Speaking in an interview with Xinhua, Ugandan police spokesman Patrick Onyango said that they have deployed heavily armed contingents of police and military personnel along major streets in Kampala to prevent any terror attacks during the time of marking what has become one of the darkest days of Uganda. “We beefed up the security of Kampala by deploying troops everywhere including plain clothed officers” said Onyango. Top Ugandan officials and civilians are expected to gather at Kyadondo, one of the two areas that were hit as people watched a football match. 13 suspects are currently undergoing trial on suspicion of orchestrating the attack. They include Somali, Kenyan and Ugandan national.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

32 Killed In Al-Shabaab Attack In Somalia: Update

13 July – Source: Xinhua – 173 Words

A total of 32 people, including 25 militants were killed Monday in fighting between Africa Union (AU) forces and the Islamist group Al-Shabaab in the southern Somali district of Rage Celle, a local official said. Al-Shabaab militants launched an attack on the district but were repulsed by government troops and the AU forces in Somalia, known as AMISOM, according to Rage Celle Mayor, Yusuf Haji Mohamod. “Five soldiers and two civilians died in a tense fighting lasted for two hours and half,” Haji Mohamod told Xinhua. “We also managed to kill 25 militants during the attack and now the situation is under control,” he added. Local resident Jelle Warsame told Xinhua there was a heavy exchange of gunfire and were “many casualties among the residents”. Most of the residents fled their homes after the attack took place in the early morning, another resident Muuse Barow said. Al-Shabaab, which is allied to Al-Qaeda, has been fighting for years against the Somali government and carried out waves of attacks in the country and neighboring Kenya.

Livestock Carrier Sinks Off Gulf of Aden: Update

13 July – Source: Marinelink.com – 131 Words

A cargo ship carrying thousands of livestock was sailing from Somalia to the United Arab Emirates when it encountered high waves and strong winds and sank off the coast of Gulf of Aden. All animals are perishing and two of the 29 crew still missing. The more than 30-year-old ship was believed to be carrying more than 3,000 animals. A nearby vessel was able to rescue 29 crewmembers and the search for the missing two seafarers is ongoing. The cargo was for local businessmen based in Puntland merchants having businesses in the UAE. Livestock is the mainstay of the Somali economy, contributing 40 percent to the Somali Community Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Every year, Millions of animals are exported through the ports of Berbera in Somaliland and Bossaso in Puntland

Al-Shabaab Unit Formed To Cripple Kenya

13 July – Source: The Star – 371 Words

A unit of Al-Shabaab terrorists code-named Jeysh Ayman, many of them Kenyans, is responsible for the terror attacks in the country, the Star has learnt. Jeysh Ayman’s objective is to wrest control of Kenya’s predominantly Muslim Coast from the national and county governments. They believe this can be done by carrying out attacks to destroy the tourism industry and ruin the economy. They calculate that attacking the Kenyan government and Christian targets will create chaos in the country. The six-year-old group was founded by a Kenyan Somali, Maalim Ayman, aka Abdiaziz Dubow Ali, of Mandera county but also has Somalis and foreign fighters within its ranks. Former Al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane directly funded Jeysh Ayman’s activities. He was killed in a US airstrike in September 2014.

Key Kenyan fighter Mussa Assad also died, but Ahmed Iman Ali, Abdifatah Abubakar Abdi, also known as Musa Muhajir, and Maalim Ayman operated along the Kenya/Somalia border. Intelligence reports indicate that JA, as the terror group’s unit is popularly referred to among jihadis, was initially formed to conduct ambushes and raids along the border but later included attacks on Kenya Defence Forces and Amisom troops among its targets. Ambush squads like the so-called ‘10 Metre Squad’, composed of between 10 and 15 fighters, have concentrated their operations in Kenya’s Lacta Belt area, a Northeastern region, and have a base in the vast Boni Forest. They are better equipped than all other units, with most of the fighters armed with AK-47 rifles, hand grenades and machineguns. They are trained to navigate treacherous terrain, walk long distances and use donkeys and camels for transportation.

OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE

“Somali women are very strong, very independent. Hassan admitted, however, that she has to be diligent, as a woman whose name is at the forefront of a movement. Some people might see us as aggressive, maybe diaspora. Everything that you do, you have to take risks, she said. There are going to be challenges, because it’s not easy to change society.”

Former Minnesotan Works To Improve Equality For Women In Somalia

13 July – Source: Star Tribune – 1,019 Words

The first time Zainab Hassan voted, the experience was “near and dear to my heart,” she said. Born in Somalia, and raised under a dictatorship, Hassan had grown up believing she would never have the right to elect her country’s leadership. But after immigrating to the United States in her late teens and waiting years to become a citizen, she finally cast her first ballot at a polling site outside Washington, D.C. It was a midterm election, but the lower profile of the voting did nothing to dampen her enthusiasm. “It was exciting,” she said. “You’re practicing democracy.” After two decades of civil war and a more recent Islamist insurgency, Somalia is working to rebuild and is on track to hold a parliamentary election in 2016 when President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s term ends. Amid the momentum, Zainab Hassan, who lived in Minnesota for 14 years, is working to make sure women in Somalia are granted access to this fledgling democratic process.

In June, she launched the Somali Gender Equity Movement (SGEM) with nine other leaders from Somalia and the diaspora. The meeting, which brought together more than 150 people in a St. Louis Park hotel conference room and was live-streamed around the world, was seeking to get women into positions of power — the first step in a larger movement to improve equality in a country that has been criticized for high rates of rape and other violence against women. “We want to raise the way women are perceived in society as well as in politics,” Hassan said. “We need women to participate.”

The Ups and Downs Of Somalia’s July 1

12 July – Source: Hiiraan Online – 1,235 Words

During this July Somalia turned 55, but it was on 1st July 2001 when I happened to meet Mustafa Sheikh Elmi, one of the best playwrights and composers in Mogadishu, sitting with folks at a tiny tea shop. It was at Huriwa district in the north-western suburbs of the city. At the time, Mogadishu was basically split into fiefdoms and the portions ruled by clan-based militias that were directed by battle-hardened warlords: Mohamed Qanyare, Osman Atto, Hussein Aideed, Muse Yalahow, you name it. Each possessed merciless militias that waged assaults on each other as well as ravaging entire neighbourhoods. They kept Somalia drifting like a piece of wood in a river. All of a sudden, one of the men sitting with Mustafa blew a whistle, saying, “Hey chaps, don’t you realise today is July 1.”Mustafa said that he knew it was the first day of July, Somalia’s Independence and Unity Day, adding, “I am not surprised that it was deliberately killed.” He recalled the actual Independence Day in Mogadishu in 1960. He said that he was a young tailor then, working hard to earn a living.

“To Somalis on that day, independence meant everything,” said Mustafa. “It was an event that people were talking in anticipation for months.” Following a short pause, Mustafa continued, “When Somalia’s flag, the five-point star, was raised above the parliament building at the heart of Mogadishu while the Italian flag was lowered, to me the air moving through my mouth suddenly started testing sugary.” He anticipated that in independent Somalia, everything would be unrestricted and people could walk to the shops to get what they wanted, free of charge. “That was the overwhelming feeling about a nation gaining its independence,” he remarked, adding that even criminals were expected to stop their bad acts and that all citizens would become like brothers and sisters.The festivities continued for a whole day, with individuals spontaneously hugging each other.

More recently, I asked Aidarous Ahmed Hassan, an engineer in Mogadishu, if he could remember anything about Independence Day. “When the national flag was raised above the parliament building at midnight and people cheered, I sought to go home,” said Hassan. “I was just 8 years old.” “But, after walking for about 10 minutes along Bondhere street towards my family house, fireworks filled the sky,” he remembered. “Being my first experience, I believed the fireworks were live embers descending on my body.”He remembered how much he got frightened and cried, and the way a young couple found him and consoled him. “The couple was nice to me and escorted me home.”