June 2, 2016 | Morning Headlines
MPs Among The Dead In Al-Shabaab Attack On Mogadishu Hotel
02 June – Source: Aljazeera – 406 Words
A suicide car bomber has crashed his vehicle into a gate outside a hotel in the Somali capital, and the attack was followed by gunfire, killing at least 15 people including two members of parliament, police said.
Al-Shabab fighters claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s attack targeting Mogadishu’s Ambassador Hotel, which is frequented by diplomats, government officials and Somalis visiting from abroad. The two politicians killed in the attack were identified by the police as Mohamud Mohamed and Abdullahi Jamac. Both victims lived in the hotel. At least 20 other people were wounded.
“We attacked the hotel with a car bomb and we went inside,” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, Al-Shabaab’s military operations spokesman, told the Reuters news agency. Fighting was still going on as of 19:00 GMT on Wednesday, and sources told Al Jazeera two suspects were still holed up at the top floor of the hotel. Authorities also said the suspects could be armed with suicide vests and may be holding hostages. Earlier reports said special forces have taken control of the hotel. But a Reuters reporter and residents said they could still hear sporadic gunfire.
Mogadishu police said some fighters had apparently burst into the hotel. Sources told Al Jazeera that at least three fighters were involved in the attack. The attack happened shortly before the arrival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Mogadishu. Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Adow, reporting from Nairobi in neighbouring Kenya, said Ambassador Hotel is located along the road Erdogan “was supposed to take from the airport to the presidential palace”.
Adow also reported that the attack “has the signature of Al-Shabaab”, adding that it was not the first time the hotel, popular with politicians, was targeted: “They want to send a message that although they might have lost control of the city, they can still carry out such attacks with audacity,” he said.
In February, at least nine people were killed when Al-Shabaab fighters set off a car bomb at the gate of a popular park near a hotel in the capital. In January, an attack on a beach-front restaurant killed at least 17 people. In recent attacks, the armed fighters have also taken civilians as “legitimate targets”, Al Jazeera’s Adow said.
Al-Shabaab, which seeks to topple Somalia’s government, was driven out of Mogadishu by the African Union force AMISOM in 2011, and last year was ousted from strongholds elsewhere in the south by AMISOM and the Somali National Army.
Key Headlines
- MPs Among The Dead In Al-Shabaab Attack On Mogadishu Hotel (Aljazeera)
- Jubbaland Forces Backed By Commandos Attack Al-Shabaab Base (Goobjoog News)
- Saudi Arabia Pledges 10 Million Dollars Support To Somalia (Shabelle News)
- Militant Behind 2015 Garissa Attack Killed In Somalia (Voice of America)
- U.S. Targets Al-Shabaab Leader With Drone Strike In Somalia – Pentagon (Reuters)
- Renewed Calls For Transparency As US Drones Target Terrorists (Voice of America)
- Turkey: Africa’s Friend Compatriot And Partner (Aljazeera)
- Alleged War Criminal Worked As Security Guard At Dulles Airport Lawsuit Claims (ABC News Radio)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Jubbaland Forces Backed By Commandos Attack Al-Shabaab Base
01 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 237 Words
Jubbaland forces backed by Somali commandos on Tuesday night launched ground assaults on an Al-Shabaab base in southern Somalia. The operation targeted Bula-Gaduud locality, which lies 40 kilometers 30 outside Kismayo town in the Lower Jubba region.
U.S. trained troops were on the ground advising the Jubbaland forces, who engaged in a gun battle with Al-Shabaab fighters in the base. According to senior military officials in Kismayo town identified as Abdi, four Al-Shabaab fighters including three mid-level commanders were killed in Bulo-Gaduud village near Kismaayo town.
“During the course of the operation, four militants were killed in a single place near Kismaayo town just last night… Their weapons and ammunition were confiscated by Somali commandos,” said the official. The US funded and trained Somali units Alpha Group or Gaashaan, and the Danab (Lighting) are now active and ready to conduct surprise attacks on Al-Shabaab strongholds while using human intelligence sources on the ground as well as intercepting cell phone communications used by the militants leaders and commanders.
In the past few days, Somali commandos and foreign forces have stepped up ground and air offensives against Al-Shabaab strongholds in Lower Shabelle region, including Taratorow and Sabiid villages. Somali government officials have not confirmed the operation, but the forces have conducted several operations inside the country.
Saudi Arabia Pledges 10 Million Dollars Support To Somalia
01 June – Source: Shabelle News – 425 Words
Of the over 32,000 people who have to date fled to Somalia from war-torn Yemen, almost 20,000 will receive protection and emergency assistance through a USD 10 million project funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KS-RELIEF), and implemented by IOM and UNHCR, in close coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia, regional and local authorities.
This joint response will benefit Somali returnees, Yemeni refugees, migrants and host communities. The project aims to support the capacity of local authorities to manage migration in a safe, orderly, and humane manner. It also aims to make it easier for people seeking protection and return assistance to address their needs and access these services. Families fleeing the Yemen crisis will also benefit from improved access to durable solutions that will enable them to become increasingly self-reliant and resilient.
The intervention will be rolled out in close coordination with the Somalia Task Force on the Yemen Situation, a country-level response and coordination mechanism established by IOM and UNHCR on 1 April 2015 to plan for and respond to the crisis. The Task Force comprises all relevant UN humanitarian agencies and the NGO members of the Somalia Humanitarian Country Team.
Mohammed Abdiker, IOM’s Director of Operations and Emergencies, said: “This is a hugely important contribution that will go a long in ensuring we provide much needed assistance to very vulnerable Somali returnees, migrants and refugees fleeing from the Yemen conflict. This significant and generous gesture from the Saudi government and people, further emphasizes and underlines their humanitarian commitment to supporting the Somali people and the international agencies aiding them.”
“The majority of arrivals have indicated regions in South Central Somalia as their final destination. Reintegration of Somali returnees poses additional challenges, as the widespread conflict and political strife have crippled essential infrastructure and more than three quarters of the population lack access to health care, proper sanitation and safe drinking water,” said Gerry Waite, IOM Somalia’s Chief of Mission.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Militant Behind 2015 Garissa Attack Killed In Somalia
01 June – Source: Voice of America – 236 Words
Somali officials say the organizer of last year’s massacre at Garissa University College in Kenya is dead, killed in a late-night military operation.
Mohamed Mohamud, better known as Dulyadeyn, was head of Al-Shabaab’s feared “Amniyat” unit and masterminded the April 2015 attack on the college that left 148 people dead, nearly all of them students. A senior Somali official, speaking on condition of anonymity, says U.S. helicopters fired missiles, hitting the car in which Dulyadeyn and two others were travelling.
However, a security minister in the Jubba region, Abdurashid Janan, told VOA Somali that the militant was killed by the U.S.-trained Somali commando unit known as Danab, or lightning. The attack took place in the southern Somali town of Bula-Gaduud, about 30 kilometers north of Kismayo.
Residents, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concerns for their safety, said they heard the sounds of fighting overnight. “We could hear heavy gunfire and several blasts,” one said. “We could also hear sounds of planes flying overhead and at dawn this morning, we saw the government troops transporting three bodies.”
Both the Kenyan and Somali governments had offered rewards for Dulyadeyn. Somalia’s National Security Agency has confirmed his death. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. military nor Al-Shabaab. U.S. troops officially play an “advise and assist” role with Somali forces and the African Union force in Somalia, known as AMISOM.
U.S. Targets Al-Shabaab Leader With Drone Strike In Somalia – Pentagon
01 June – Source: Reuters – 247 Words
A U.S. air strike last week targeted a senior leader of the al Qaeda-linked militant group al Shabaab in Somalia, but the Pentagon was still assessing the drone strike operation’s results, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
Abdullahi Haji Da’ud was targeted in a U.S. air strike on May 27 in south Central Somalia, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement: “Da’ud was one of al-Shabaab’s most senior military planners and served as a principal coordinator of al-Shabaab’s militia attacks in Somalia, Kenya, and Uganda,” Cook said.
The strike comes a few months after the United States targeted an al Shabaab training camp in Somalia in an airstrike that the Pentagon says killed more than 150 fighters. Cook said that Da’ud had also worked as the head of the militant group’s intelligence and security branch.
“Da’ud has been responsible for the loss of many innocent lives through attacks he has planned and carried out,” the statement said. The group, whose name means “The Youth,” seeks to impose its strict version of sharia law in Somalia, where it frequently attacks security and government targets, as well as hotels and restaurants in the capital.
Renewed Calls For Transparency As US Drones Target Terrorists
01 June – Source: Voice of America – Video: 2:55 Mins
From the recent U.S. strike in Pakistan that killed the leader of the Afghan Taliban to a March strike in Somalia that killed at least 150 members of the militant group Al-Shabaab, the United States has escalated its use of drones under President Barack Obama. As the administration prepares to release, for the first time, an accounting of those killed in such strikes, VOA correspondent Aru Pande has more on the expectations of transparency for a program long shrouded in secrecy.
Alleged War Criminal Worked As Security Guard At Dulles Airport, Lawsuit Claims
01 June – Source: ABC News Radio – 449 Words
A private security guard at Dulles International Airport had his access withdrawn this week after his employer was made aware of a lawsuit alleging he had committed “war crimes” in Somalia. The civil suit alleges that Yusuf Abdi Ali, 63, — a former commander in the Somali National Army who later moved to Alexandria, Virginia — tortured a Somali national in 1987.
The man bringing the suit claims that, at Ali’s direction, he was beaten, kicked, striped naked and shot because Ali believed he was a supporter of an opposition group that had recently stolen a water tanker. Ali himself repeatedly shot the man and left him for dead, the suit claims, asking his guards to dispose of the body.
Officials with Master Security, a contractor that provides security guards to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), told ABC News they were not aware of the pending civil litigation against their employee untilTuesday, but have now placed Ali on paid administrative leave while they investigate. The civil suit was first reported by CNN.
According to the Fallston Group, an executive advisory firm hired by Master Security, Ali had worked with the security company “for a couple of years,” and had gone through a battery of background checks. All Master Security employees are subject to “the full, federally mandated vetting process in order to be approved for an airport badge,” MWAA said, noting the vetting includes a criminal history record check by the FBI and a security assessment by the Transportation Security Administration. Master Security employees working at Dulles must also be licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“As a sign of Turkey’s continued commitment to the future of Somalia, I will inaugurate the new Turkish embassy in Mogadishu, which is Turkey’s largest diplomatic mission, during my forthcoming visit.” — Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey.
Turkey: Africa’s Friend, Compatriot And Partner
01 June – Source: Aljazeera – 770 Words
Over the next days, Turkey’s political and business leaders will embark on a historic visit to Uganda, Kenya and Somalia. We will seek to promote closer cooperation with our regional allies, develop solutions to shared challenges and explore mutually beneficial opportunities.
Many people in the world associate the African continent with extreme poverty, violent conflict and a general state of hopelessness. The people of Turkey have a different view. We believe that Africa deserves better.
First, the continent has a young and vibrant population at a time when Europe and other parts of the world are rapidly ageing. If the world cooperates with local and national governments in the region, we can create avenues for young people to make a positive impact on their communities. African women, likewise, have the potential to become more active players in economic and social life.
Moreover, Africa is a continent blessed with vast natural resources. Uganda and Kenya, among others, have not only large oil reserves but also plenty of fertile land and regular rainfall. To be clear, the rest of Africa is no different, even though years of colonial rule and exploitation stripped local communities of what rightfully belongs to them. If the world stops acting out of greed and focuses on helping the African people to help themselves, the continent could become an economic powerhouse.
Finally, the people of Africa have an entrepreneurial spirit that could potentially turn the continent around. Despite decades of exploitation and various challenges, the continent has always found a way to survive through innovation. As Africa assumes a more prominent role in the international arena, this spirit of entrepreneurialism will help to build a safer future for the next generation.
Since 2002, the government of Turkey has been working hard to help African nations to discover their potential and take steps in the right direction. In an effort to reinvigorate our long-neglected ties with the continent, Turkey in 2005 launched an African initiative to cooperate more closely with our friends and allies in the region.