July 29, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Puntland Hosts First Garowe International Book Fair
28 July – Source: Garowe Online – 220 Words
Hundreds of publishers, poets, authors, culture buffs and book lovers flocked the East Africa University (EAU) campus for the first Garowe International Book Fair on Thursday.
Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali alongside Education Minister and parliamentarians officially opened the three-day event, which features panel sessions and speeches by more than 30 keynote speakers. Some 572 books; dictionaries, peer-reviewed journals, children’s books, fictional, literature, cultural, and academic and general books have been placed on display.
The Garowe International Book Fair was co-organized by Somali Institute for Development and Research Analysis (SIDRA) and SCANSOM Publishers. Among the speakers lined up for the event are Prof Lidwien E Kapteijns, who is Somali culture researcher at Welesley College and the author of‘ “Clan Cleansing in Somalia: The Ruinous Turn of 1991” and Russian Somali linguist, Dr. G. Kapchits.
Guled Salah Bare, the Executive Director of SIDRA, expressed excitement at the book fair idea, which is largely funded by Puntland Government. Popular Somali literary scholar Ahmed Farah Idaja spoke at the international book fair where he availed two books.
Somalia, once considered as nation of poets has recently begun to re-assume its identity, with similar fairs being staged in Mogadishu and Hargeisa. The first Garowe International Book Fair, which has brought together publishing houses and distributors at home and in the diaspora, will end on July 31.
Key Headlines
- Puntland Hosts First Garowe International Book Fair (Garowe Online)
- Several Including Regional Official Hurt In Somalia Shooting (Shabelle News)
- Mayor: Land Dispute ‘Main Problem’ To Mogadishu (Shabelle News)
- AUC Somali Officials Map Out Strategies To Counter Al-Shabaab (CCTV)
- One Soldier Killed Six Injured In Mandera Ambush (Daily Nation)
- KSA Condemns Terrorist Attacks In France Mogadishu (Asharq Al-Awsat)
- African Piracy Focus Switches From Somalia To Gulf Of Guinea (Supply Management)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Several, Including Regional Official Hurt In Somalia Shooting
28 July – Source: Shabelle News – 86 Words
A middle-ranking Somali official was wounded critically in a shootout in central Somalia’s Mudug region on Thursday morning. The incident occurred when unidentified gunmen targeted the headquarters of Wisil town, and sprayed people with bullets, leaving several others wounded.
The spokesman of Wisil administration, Yonis Abshir, was among those injured in shooting incident, according to witnesses and medical officials who attended to him. Police are hunting the perpetrators of the crime, who escaped from the scene shortly after the gun attack.
Mayor: Land Dispute ‘Main Problem’ To Mogadishu
28 July – Source: Shabelle News – 68 Words
The mayor of Mogadishu Yusuf Hussein Jimale Madale has confessed that land disputes between residents of Mogadishu was one of the biggest challenges to the Benadir regional administration.
Reacting to the now endless and volatile land squabbles within the city, Madale reiterated that his administration had now decided to put to a stop land dispute related cases involving landowners Mogadishu. The mayor’s statement comes after Radio Shabelle recently aired reports on the land disputes in Mogadishu and giving voice for the voiceless people.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
AUC, Somali Officials Map Out Strategies To Counter Al-Shabaab
28 July – Source: CCTV – Video: 1:07 Mins
Representatives from the African Union Commission together with Somali government officials have been meeting to try and boost security across Somalia. The discussions aim at stamping out the Al-Shabaab insurgency and create a peaceful environment for the upcoming elections.
One Soldier Killed, Six Injured In Mandera Ambush
28 July – Source: Daily Nation – 268 Words
A Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldier was killed and six others injured when their vehicle drove over an improvised explosive device in Fino Town, Mandera County. The soldiers were responding to an early morning attack at the town in Lafey sub-County in which suspected Al-Shabaab militants destroyed a communication mast.
Lafey Officer Commanding Police Division (OCPD) Bosita Omukolongo told Nation on the phone that the KDF men were leading a combined team of security personnel to the scene: “We gathered in the morning and decided to go to the scene but our lead vehicle belonging to military was hit by an explosive,” said Omukolongo.
He said when the other vehicles arrived at scene of explosion, the militants started shooting at them prompting a fire exchange. The Kenyan forces killed one militant in the shootout that lasted for at least one hour: “Something has happened about an hour ago but am yet to get details because the night incident destroyed communication in the area,” said Mandera Police Commander Job Boronjo.
On June 26, another communication mast at Damasa in Lafey was destroyed by Al-Shabaab militants, who then escaped to neighbouring Somalia: “We are yet to know how many they were since the incident happened at night but all our officers at the scene can be accounted for,” said Mr Omukolongolo.
Fino warn rep Saad Abajano said it was difficult to confirm if there were casualties since communication had been disrupted. He urged the government to boost security in the area “because the destruction of the mast could be a signal that they [Al-Shabaab militants] are going to attack again.”
KSA Condemns Terrorist Attacks In France, Mogadishu
28 July – Source: Asharq Al-Awsat – 330 Words
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has condemned “in the strongest terms possible” the attack on a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray near Rouen in France where a priest was killed by ISIS followers. It further strongly condemns the attack that targeted the area around Mogadishu airport in Somalia, which resulted in a number of deaths and injuries to the African Union peacekeeping forces, special security forces and civilians..
A foreign ministry official source said of the incident: “This cowardly terrorist act is rejected by the Islamic religion, which necessitates protecting places of worship and prohibits violating their sacredness.” The source offered condolences to the victim’s family, the government and the people of the friendly Republic of France.
On the incident in Mogadishu, the Kingdom condoled with families of the victims and wished the injured a speedy recovery, stressing “support for the republic of Somalia.” The source gave the Kingdom’s condolences to the families of the victims, the Republic of Somalia’s government and people and the African Union and wished the injured a speedy recovery. The statement stressed the Kingdom’s support for the Republic of Somalia.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“According to Peter Lehr, a lecturer in terrorism studies, a major difference is that Somali piracy targeted an area traversed by major shipping lines, with traffic of tens of thousands of ships per year.“
African Piracy Focus Switches From Somalia To Gulf Of Guinea
28 July – Source: Supply Management – 799 Words
The Somali pirates who terrorised shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa a few years ago never earned themselves much of a reputation for geniality.
But according to security experts a new breed of pirates attacking shipping off West Africa are proving themselves to be even more aggressive and violent. Over four years have passed since the last major shipping hijack by Somali pirates, with no serious piracy incident from the region reported in 2015, largely due to international naval patrols, armed guards onboard ships and a more stable government in Somalia.
But experts are warning of increasingly aggressive attacks by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, mainly off the coastlines off the Ivory Coast and Nigeria and up to 100 miles out to sea. According to International Maritime Bureau (IMB) figures the first three months of 2016 saw roughly one attack per week on ships off Nigeria.
Piracy is not new to the new region, though the severity of attacks has changed. Cyrus Mody, assistant director at the IMB, said: “The Gulf of Guinea incidents have always been there, even when we had the spike of incidents in East Africa.” A report released by the IMB identified 37 incidents in the first quarter of 2015, down from 54 in the same period in 2014.
But the IMB identified a growing number of kidnappings and violent attacks on crew taking place – with 54 crew kidnapped or held hostage for ransom in 2015. Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP), an NGO, believes that 160 seafarers were targeted in attacks on shipping in the region in 2015, with 13 being killed.
“There has been a significant increase in violence including physical abuse and mock executions in 2015,” OBP said. Peter Lehr, a lecturer in terrorism studies at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St Andrews, said Somali pirates, though sometimes brutal, tended to regard hostages as a possible source of lucrative income or “money on legs”.