July 26, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Al-Shabaab Beheads Respected Elder In Southern Somalia
25 July – Source: Shabelle News – 108 Words
Al-Shabab fighters have beheaded a highly respected traditional elder in a southern Somali town on Monday for allegedly collaborating with Somali Federal Government in Baay region.
The elder, who has been identified as Aden Abdullah, was brutally killed on Monday in the Al-Shabaab controlled locality, 10 kilometres away from Qansah-Dheere town in Baay region. The deputy commissioner of Qansah-Dheere, Abdulle Hassan Saney, confirmed the murder of the elder to Radio Shabelle over the phone. He said the slain elder was a ‘peace-loving’ citizen.
In a now common practice that has attracted the ire of the people, Al-Shabaab has lately resorted to killing local Somali residents in their numbers in the guise of eliminating opposition from within. Aden Abdullah is just one among the many elders who have been beheaded. In the meantime, Saney has said Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops of AMISOM contingent are in the process of launching a new offensive against Al-Shabaab in the Baay region.
Key Headlines
- Al-Shabaab Beheads Respected Elder In Southern Somalia (Shabelle News)
- Foreign SNA Forces Raid Al-Shabaab Base In Somalia (Shabelle News)
- Protests In Somaliland As Military Court Issues Death Sentences (Goobjoog News)
- Hawadle Clan Crowns Sultan To Forge Unity Political Future (Goobjoog News)
- Somali-Canadian Man Dies After Police Arrest (ITV)
- QRCS Serves Over 175000 Somalis (The Peninsula)
- Piracy Armed Robbery Off Somalia Coast Falls Drastically (Xinhua News)
- In Kenya The World’s Largest Refugee Camp Is Invited To Please Shut Down (Stars & Stripes)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Foreign, SNA Forces Raid Al-Shabaab Base In Somalia
25 July – Shabelle News – 121 Words
Somali commandos backed by unidentified foreign special forces raided a town in southern Somalia that is largely controlled by Al-Shabaab militants on Monday. The joint military operation occurred in Awdhegle town in Lower Shabelle region, targeting Al-Shabaab camps, according to local residents.
Loud explosions and gunfire were heard after the raid. Reports say heavy fighting broke out between the special forces and Al-Shabaab fighters in Awdhegle town, about 100 kilometers south of Mogadishu. There were no immediate reports of casualties on both sides. The U.S. has secret military bases in Somalia, enabling them to mount raids on Al-Shabaab.
Protests In Somaliland As Military Court Issues Death Sentences
25 July – Source: Goobjoog News – 271 Words
Hundreds of residents of Somaliland on Monday staged a protest in the towns of Sheikh, Nothern Somalia, to lament the death sentences handed down to eight people convicted of killing Berbera Port Town Police Commander.
A military court in breakaway Somaliland on Sunday sentenced eight soldiers to death for the murders of Abdirisak Yusuf Mohamed Asary, the Berbera Port Town Police Commander: “We do not believe justice was served by the court. We are asking them to review the case,” said Osman Abdi, who participated in the demonstration. He added, “we intend to fight for justice for the eight men.”
Protesters say the eight men did not deserve the death sentences in a case that has raised many unanswered questions about police conduct. According to the military court, armed assailants killed the late security commander in a gun attack in March this year.
“The court sentenced eight men to death. The court found these defendants guilty of being involved in the killing of the Berbara police commissioner and they confessed to it,” said the judge. The court’s decision follows a series of targeted killings against high ranking military officers inside Somaliland barracks in recent years.
The European Union, the United Nations and human rights campaigners have all urged Somali authorities to abolish the death sentence penalty. In 2012, a military court in Somaliland sentenced to death 17 civilians who were accused of attacking a military base.
Hawadle Clan Crowns Sultan To Forge Unity, Political Future
25 July – Source: Goobjoog News – 254 Words
There was pomp and colour in Baladweyne as a new sultan was crowned in a move expected to forge harmony, peace and cultural progress among members of the Hawadle clan.
Hundreds of the Hawadle sub-clan of the Somali community, saw Ugas Hassan Ugas Khaliif Ugas Roble anointed as the Sultan (Somali traditional king) in a ceremony held in El-Jale village, which is located on the outskirt of Beledweyne town of Central Somalia.
The ceremony was attended by religious and political leaders including Somali deputy parliament speaker, Mahad Awad, lawmaker, Mohamud Hassan Qone, Minister for internal security: “This is an institution which has existed for over 200 years. The clan system has been very strong among the Somalis. A figurehead is therefore very necessary,” Mahad Awad said.
Over twenty sultans from the neighbouring regions led the crowning of the new sultan, whose father – the powerful Ugas Khaliif Ugas Robl died. The clan had been without a sultan for some time. Roble took oath office and is now expected to rise above clan division and seek peace and unity with other clans within and outside the country.
“This is a great responsibility placed on my shoulders. I shall be the symbol of oneness and peace among all communities within and outside this region,” he said after being crowned. Although the organizers of the historical ceremony steered clear of politics, as the race to the parliamentary seats gains momentum the anointing of the Sultan is believed to have political implications.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali-Canadian Man Dies After Police Arrest
26 July – Source: ITV – 260 Words
A Somali immigrant to Canada has died following his arrest by Canadian police, Ontario’s police watchdog said. The 37-year-old man, identified by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), as Abdirahman Abdi, was beaten by a number of police officers as he tried to run into an apartment building on Sunday, according to media reports.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit said Ottawa police officers had been called in the morning with reports of a man causing a disturbance. Shortly after officers responded, there was a confrontation during which the man “suffered medical distress”. He was taken to hospital in critical condition, and later died.
An eyewitness video posted on the National Post newspaper’s website appears to show a man in a bloodied shirt lying face down on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back and his trousers pulled down before paramedics arrived and began administering First Aid. Neighbours can be heard shouting at the police in the background.
Mr Abdi’s brother told CBC that the victim has been “sick” and rarely spoke to other people. He also told CBS that Mr Abdi had lived in Canada for eight years. Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arrest. The incident comes amid intense racial turmoil in the US over reports of police brutality and racial bias.
QRCS Serves Over 175,000 Somalis
26 July – Source: The Peninsula – 436 Words
In one year of the agreement between Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) and its Somali counterpart, numerous relief and development projects were implemented for the benefit of victims of drought, amid deteriorated economic, security, and living conditions.
In total, these projects helped more than 175,000 direct beneficiaries, let alone hundreds of thousands of indirect beneficiaries from local communities.
In the medical arena, QRCS rehabilitated the medical nutrition therapy centre at the Badbaado refugee camp and provided it with medications, equipment, and staff. During 2015, the centre received 632 malnourished children, treated 715 children with severe respiratory inflammation and malaria, vaccinated 104 children against communicable diseases, distributed supplementary food rations to 632 mothers, and held 10 informative courses for 641 women on how to deal with malnutrition.
QRCS also rehabilitated and operated the Multi-Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) Centre at Forlanini Hospital, Mogadishu, serving 74 patients so far, with a target of 1,640 patients. At Afgooye Hospital, the destroyed building was rebuilt, enlarged, and equipped, and 60 medical and administrative personnel were hired to provide 24/7 health care for Lower Shabelle and Banadir regions.
Receiving 120 patients and 15 emergency cases a day on average, the hospital treated more than 32,800 patients and 4,498 emergency cases over a year. Also, 2,071 children were vaccinated, 220 surgeries were performed, and 16,866 laboratory examinations were conducted.
The hospital contracted three surgeons from abroad and set up a surgical camp to treat serious cases for free. They examined 220 patients and performed 78 general and orthopaedic surgeries. QRCS opened the Awdheegle Health Centre after construction, furnishing, equipment, and staffing. During 2015, it received 8,353 cases, offered maternal & child health services to 700 beneficiaries, held medical training courses for staff, and vaccinated children in Awdheegle and neighbouring towns.
Piracy, Armed Robbery Off Somalia Coast Falls Drastically
25 July – Source: Xinhua News – 371 Words
A global maritime agency said on Monday that piracy and armed robbery at sea has fallen to its lowest levels off the coast of Somalia since 1995 with only one incident recorded in the past six months.
A report released by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) of the International Chamber Commerce (ICC) attributed the fall in piracy attacks to preventive measures deployed by the foreign warships to thwart such attacks: “The combined efforts of the Navies in the region, along with the increased hardening of vessels and best management practices compliance, employment of privately contracted armed security personnel, and the stabilizing factor of the central government within Somalia have resulted in this positive sign,” it said.
It however cautioned ship owners and Masters against complacency, warning that Somali pirates still have the capability and capacity to carry out attacks: “The IMB believes that a single successful hijacking of a merchant vessel, will rekindle the Somali pirates’ passion to resume its piracy efforts,” says the report which was compiled between January-June.
According to IMB, suspected Somali pirates continue to hold 29 crew members for ransom as of June 30. IMB’s global piracy report recorded 98 incidents in the first half of 2016, compared with 134 for the same period in 2015. When piracy was at its highest in 2010 and 2003, IMB recorded 445 attacks a year. In the first half of 2016, IMB recorded 72 vessels boarded, five hijackings, and a further 12 attempted attacks. Nine ships were fired upon. Sixty-four crew were taken hostage on board, down from 250 in the same period last year.
“This drop in world piracy is encouraging news. Two main factors are recent improvements around Indonesia, and the continued deterrence of Somali pirates off East Africa,” said IMB director Pottengal Mukundan, Director of IMB.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“If Dadaab were actually to be emptied by the end of 2016, the exodus would rival the massive forced relocation of Rwandan refugees registered in Zaire, now Democratic Republic of the Congo, after that country was invaded by Rwanda in 1996. And according to experts, it would almost certainly violate international law, which prohibits the forceful repatriation of refugees”
In Kenya, The World’s Largest Refugee Camp Is Invited To Please Shut Down
24 July – Stars & Stripes – 2,271 Words
Nafiso Mohamed Noor says she never wants to go back to Somalia. But if the Kenyan government follows through with its plan to close the world’s largest refugee camp by the end of the year, she may not have a choice.
Noor knows what it means to return prematurely to a war zone. In May 2015, after Kenya renewed what has become a perennial threat to shutter the sprawling, windswept settlement on its northeastern frontier that houses more than 326,000 refugees, most of them from neighboring Somalia, she decided to sign up for the U.N.’s voluntary repatriation program. Better to go back on her own terms than risk being rounded up and deported without warning, she thought.
So in August, after waiting three months for the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) to process her application, she boarded a flight to the Somali capital of Mogadishu. She found her old house in Wardigle, a neighborhood whose name in Somali roughly translates to “stream” – or “channel” – “of blood,” still standing. But less than two months later, a mortar fired by al-Shabab militants crashed into her kitchen. The round sheared off her right breast, sliced a 3-inch gash in her left foot, and left shards of metal embedded deep in her left hip.
“The shrapnel is still there,” she said recently, tracing a faint crescent shape near the ball of her femur on an X-ray taken here in Dadaab. “There, it looks like a moon.” Noor returned to Dadaab as soon as she recovered from her injuries, but she once again faces the prospect of repatriation to Somalia before the war there is over. In May, the Kenyan government said it planned to close Dadaab for good, along with another refugee camp along its northwestern border that houses nearly 200,000 mainly South Sudanese refugees, citing security concerns.
Since it invaded Somalia in 2011 to create a buffer zone against the growing al-Shabab threat, Kenya has seen a dramatic surge in domestic terrorist attacks. The government claims that some of the worst attacks, including those at the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in 2013 and at Garissa University College last year, were planned in Dadaab, although it has never produced any evidence to support this.
But unlike previous threats to shutter the camp, the government followed this one up with action. It disbanded its Department of Refugee Affairs in May and later announced a plan to move 150,000 people out of Dadaab by the end of the year through a combination of voluntary repatriation, relocating non-Somali refugees, and removing Kenyans who falsely registered as refugees from the UNHCR’s rolls. The government has not addressed the discrepancy in numbers – nearly 200,000 people would remain in Dadaab even if the government succeeds in relocating 150,000 – or explained how the camp would be closed if some or most of its inhabitants decide they wish to remain behind.