July 24, 2013 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

EU lays groundwork for Somalia conference

23 Jul- Source: UPI- 178 words

The international community needs to come together to make good on commitments to Somalia, the EU foreign policy chief said. European leaders are preparing for a Sept. 16conference on support for Somalia. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the conference in Brussels is an opportunity to capitalize on political gains made in Somalia. “There is now a real atmosphere of activity, emerging governance and hope,” she said in a statement Monday. “It is therefore more important than ever that the international community makes good on its promises of support for the Somali people.”

Key Headlines

‘Weaker’ al Shabaab still poses hard-line threat in Somalia – UN Ambassador Nicholas Kay (The Africa Report)
South African armed gangs kill Somali man in Cape Town (BBC Somali Service)
Puntland executes Sheikh Abdulkadir Ga’amey killers (Bar-kulan/Radio Garowe)
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Receives His Somali Counterpart (Sudan vision daily/ SUNA)
Ahlu Sunna warns locals over opening restaurants during Ramadan (Radio Bar-kulan)
Somaliland police receive 20 emergency lightning cars (Somaliland Informer)
Why Somali refugees are jittery about returning home… soon (Star (Kenya))

SOMALI MEDIA

Puntland executes Sheikh Abdulkadir Ga’amey killers

23 Jul- Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Garowe/Radio Mustaqbal/Radio Risaala- 94 words

A military court in Somalia’s northern Puntland province has executed two men convicted for the killing of scholar Sheikh Abdulkadir Nur Farah (Ga’amey) mid-February in Garowe town, capital of Puntland administration. According to Puntland court in Garowe, the two who were executed were named as Abdirahman Jama Bile and Abdillahi Osman Ahmed. Security forces were deployed in the area where the execution has taken place to ward off any reprisal attacks. A court in Puntland has previously executed 13 suspected al Qaeda-linked militants in the coastal city of Bosasso in April.

South African armed gangs kill Somali man in Cape Town

24 Jul- Source: Radio Mustaqbal/BBC Somali Service-115 words

Reports from South Africa say that armed group has killed a Somali man in Cape town. The victim who was identified Abdiqadir Ahmed Ali.was reportedly killed in his business premises. The perpetrators robbed the premise before killing the victim and immediately escaping from the spot. South African gangs kill and rob the Somali business society in South Africa. South African government didn’t do much about the security of Somali people in that nation.

Somaliland police receive 20 emergency lightning cars

23 Jul- Source: Somaliland Informer- 250 words

Somaliland’s Police Commissioner Abdilahi Fadal Iiman has received 20 emergency lightning police cars from the new minister of interior Ali Mohamed Warancade on Tuesday. The New Interior Minister has been in charge of the ministry for short period and according to reports that he managed to help the police to get enough cars to do their national duty. Once the Interior minister was about to take office, he pledged to rebuild the police in the country.

Ahlu Sunna warns locals over opening restaurants during Ramadan

23 Jul- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 123 words

Ahlu Sunna moderate group in southern Somali region of has warned locals over selling food during daylight hours the Ramadan. Speaking to Bar-kulan, Ahlu Sunna spokesman in Gedo region Sheikh Mohamed Hussein Isack al Qadi affirmed that his administration will not allow cooked food to be sold in restaurants during the Ramadan.
He added that there are special forces intended to arrest whoever is found selling cooked food are now patrolling the streets of many parts of the region. al Qadi urged locals to work with security forces in order to shut down restaurants during the Ramadan. Authorities said serving daily meals are contrary to the order of Ramadan and it has been blocked the opening of restaurants during daylight hours during the month of fasting.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Why Somali refugees are jittery about returning home… soon

23 Jul- Source: Star (Kenya)- 1696 words
“I have no business going back home anytime soon. Kenya is my home for now.” This is the response by Khatra Hassan, a Somali refugee in Eastleigh, arguably the busiest commercial centre in Nairobi, when asked whether she is willing to go back to her home country. This follows the Kenya government’s repatriation order, issued through the Department of Refugee Affairs, in December. Khatra says while she will be “greatly happy” to go back to Somalia, time isn’t ripe for such a move. The mother of two is one of the half a million Somali refugees who sought safety in Kenya after their motherland plunged into civil anarchy in 1991 following the ouster of dictator Siad Bare. “Despite the tangible and positive gains made in securing my country from the threats of al Shabaab and other warlords fighting for power, I still feel more things need to be done,” Khatra, who runs a textile business in the 12th Street of Eastleigh, said.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Receives His Somali Counterpart

23 Jul- Source: Sudan vision daily/ SUNA- 124 words

The State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Salah Wanasi, received at his office the Somali State Minister for Foreign Affairs and the accompanying delegation. The Somali minister conveyed congratulations of the Somali President, Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud, to the President of the Republic, Field Marshal Omer Al Bashir, on the occasion of the advent of Holy month of Ramadan. He expressed gratitude to Sudan over the support that is extending to Somalia in a number of domains. The meeting touched on ways of bolstering the relations between the two countries, particularly in the field of education by taking advantage from the Sudanese expertise in building institutions. The meeting reviewed the issues of Somali students in Sudan.

Belgian terror suspect goes scot-free for lack of evidence

23 Jul- Source: Standard- 1993 words

Kenyan judicial authorities in Mombasa terminated charges against a most-wanted terror suspect last year after proclaiming that there was “no iota of evidence” to sustain his conviction, The Standard has established. And they have also not charged his three accomplices now in Kenyan custody despite reports that court-derived evidence has linked them to 32 terror-related charges in Europe and is readily available from Belgian authorities.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

‘Weaker’ al Shabaab still poses hard-line threat in Somalia – UN Ambassador Nicholas Kay

23 Jul- Source: The Africa Report -335 words

Terror group al Shabaab is ‘becoming weaker’ but more hard line, says the UN’s top diplomat in Somalia. Nicholas Kay, who became special representative for Somalia last month, claims the organisation has become far more fragmented over the past few years as a result of efforts by the UN, African Union and Somali forces to quell its deadly brand of Islamism. But Kay, with experience in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, admits that this month’s capture of long time target Hassan Dahir Aweys reveals little about al Shabaab in general, and warns that the region must be alert to the kinds of concentrated attacks that have hit Mogadishu in recent months.

EU lays groundwork for Somalia conference

23 Jul- Source: UPI- 178 words

The international community needs to come together to make good on commitments to Somalia, the EU foreign policy chief said. European leaders are preparing for a Sept. 16 conference on support for Somalia. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the conference in Brussels is an opportunity to capitalize on political gains made in Somalia. “There is now a real atmosphere of activity, emerging governance and hope,” she said in a statement Monday. “It is therefore more important than ever that the international community makes good on its promises of support for the Somali people.”

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“Several steps, albeit painfully slow, can be taken to mitigate the infrastructure of the war economy. Among them: Building state capacity primarily in matters security, Instituting effective regulation, Disengaging trade from conflict, Beating down the ‘warlord-businessmen’ and conduits of illegal trade, Stemming displacements. Be that as it may, the devil is in the details of these mitigation measures.”

IT’S THE WAR ECONOMY- PERIOD!!!

23 July- Source: Rays Media-2235 Words

The biggest threat to President Mohamud’s regime in Somalia is neither any of the regional administrations nor his former opponents to the presidency as the latter try to regroup; if there latest moves are anything to go by. It’s the war economy. That re-grouping, if at all it will last, sends the right signal that the imaginary wall between clans initially erected by the same and such pseudo-politicians is quickly crumpling. War and violence are economically motivated and individuals or groups use them to maximize gain. The gain however, may not necessarily be quantitative. It could be qualitative in the form of pride, perceptions and the fictitious ‘tyranny of clan numbers’ (“Laandeer”. we have seen the fluidity of these branches). From this perspective, war becomes a rational economic action which is mainly initiated and perpetuated by personal greed. Hence various identifiable groups –opportunistic businessmen, criminals, traders, and the ragtag organizations– may lust for violence and thereby establish profitable structures out of war that is then, in turn, self-fortifying.