June 22, 2015 | Morning Headlines

Main Story

Al-Shabaab Attacks Training Base In Mogadishu

21 June- Source: Garowe Online – 152 Words

On the fourth day of the holy month of Ramadan, Al-Shabaab gunmen attacked training base in Mogadishu’s Shibis district highlighting rise in militant operations in central and southern Somalia, Garowe Online reports. A spokesman for Ministry of Security said, the dawn raid by Al-Shabaab gunmen has been foiled, while pro-militant media writes, attackers were returning fire inside the training base where intelligence officers are trained. The attack reportedly began with suicide bomber entering the base, but other reports claim that all Al-Shabaab fighters were killed. The pre-planned dawn assault marks the fourth since the beginning of Ramadan. On Thursday, an attack ended in failure after suicide bomber and militants on foot tried to lay siege to a building housing conference delegates in Adado town in central Somalia. On Saturday, Al-Shabaab fighters briefly overran Afgooye town, some 30 kilometers west of Mogadishu, seizing armoured vehicles.

Key Headlines

Al-Shabaab Attacks Training Base In Mogadishu (Garowe Online)
A Government Official Working At The Office Of Somali PM Shot Dead In Mogadishu (Wacaal Media)
Six Puntland Soldiers Die In Fatal Accident (Garowe Online)
Al-Shabab Claims Victory Over Ethiopians As Somali Government Thwarts Attack By The Group On Mogadishu (Somali Current)
Somali Prime Minister Reaches Kismayo (Goobjoog News)
Somalia’s Al-Shabaab Militants Assassinate Kenya Official In Northeast: Police (Mail & Guardian/AFP)
Kenya Police Reservist Shoots Mandera Boy After Night Prayers (The Star)
Suspect In Lamu Al-Shabaab Raid Arrested (Daily Nation)
Kenya Wages War On Smugglers Who Fund Somali Militants (Reuters)
Blind Students Ask For High School (Radio Ergo)
Solution To Terror Attacks That Ignores Somalia Is Ineffectual (Daily Nation)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Six Puntland Soldiers Die In Fatal Accident

21 June- Source: Garowe Online – 123 Words

At least six Puntland government soldiers died in fatal car accident on Garowe-Lasanod road according to medics on Sunday morning, Garowe Online reports. 19 others, 16 of who are in critical condition were injured after their anti-aircraft gun mounted pick-up truck suddenly veered off the road and overturned.The wounded soldiers were rushed to Garowe General Hospital for medical treatment.The soldiers have been serving with Presidential Security Unit (PSU) and were heading from military base in Tukaraq to the capital, Garowe before the armoured truck overturned. With little rehabilitation, roads are in bad condition and have caused many car wrecks since Somali state collapse in 1991.

A Government Official Working At The Office Of Somali PM Shot Dead In Mogadishu

21 June – Source: Wacaal Media – 109 Words

Suspected Al-Shabaab Gunmen have assassinated a senior official working at Somali PM office in Mogadishu, the latest in a string of Al-Shabaab attacks targeting army and government employees. Witnesses said assailants armed with pistols shot and killed Anwar Hajji Dhayib at Macmacanka area in Mogadishu’s Dharkenley district while he was heading to his workplace in the early hours on Sunday morning. The assassins escaped from the crime scene freely after executing Anwar who worked as Treasury Secretary for Somali prime minister’s office, reports said. Al-Shabaab, a militant group linked to Al-Qaeda has vowed to increase the intensity of its attacks against the Somali army bases & African Union troops during the holy month of Ramadan.

Somali Prime Minister Reaches Kismayo

21 June – Source: Goobjoog News – 171 Words

High delegation led by Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali has on Sunday reached Kismayo, the administrative capital of Interim Jubba Administration.The premier and his delegation were warmly welcomed at the airport by IJA leaders, MPs and traditional elders. The delegation was escorted to the presidential palace of Jubba administration where Premier Omar is expected to hold talks with IJA leaders. Reports say that the reason behind Omar’s visit is to iron the dispute between the federal government and Jubbaland which rose after the federal parliament voted out the legality of Jubbaland assembly which was formed last month. On June 6th, Interim Jubba Administration has cut off all relations with Somali Federal Government over the passing of controversial no-confidence vote on the newly formed IJA regional Assembly.

Al-Shabab Claims Victory Over Ethiopians As Somali Government Thwarts Attack By The Group In Mogadishu

21 June – Source: Somali Current – 211 Words

Somalia interior ministry said in a statement it has thwarted an attack by the militant group Al-Shabab on an unspecified government installations and a football field in Mogadishu. Mohamed Yussuf, the spokesman for the ministry confirmed that they were most likely planning to attack a soccer field in the capital Mogadishu.“We got an actionable intelligence report that a vehicle was ferrying the militants to the city and we stopped before it reached its destination,” he said. He stated that the Somali security forces successfully thwarted the sinister operation and killed all the militants.

Mr. Mohamed Yussuf added the militants entered into a civilian building, when they were stopped by the security forces, but there has not been any reports of civilian casualties. Al-Shabaab has vowed that it would scale up its attacks over the holy Month of Ramadan prompting the government to deploy more security across Mogadishu and other key towns. Meanwhile, the group today displayed a cache of weapons and military hardware they allegedly confescated from Ethiopian forces that are part of the Amisom forces. The group yesterday engaged in a gunfight with the Ethiopian forces at Bulo Jame’o in the Bay region. Ethiopian troops have yet to comment on Al-Shabaab’s claim.

Blind Students Ask For High School

19 June – Source: Radio Ergo – 135 Words

Students at Al Basir School for the blind in Mogadishu are asking for help to open a secondary school. The students are sitting for the final primary education exam, but have no access to secondary education. Abikar Ali, the principal of Al-Basir, said there was no high school specialising in education for the blind in Somalia. Amal Abdullahi Omar, 15, is sitting for the class eight exams. She fears her aspiration to advance her education would have to stop there unless local people stood up to support her and other blind students in furthering their education. Abdirahman Jaylani Maye, also in class eight, said: “many people in our neighbourhood could hardly believe that I am able to study and learn! I proved them wrong and now I want to pursue my studies.”

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somalia’s Al-Shabaab Militants Assassinate Kenya Official In Northeast: Police

21 June – Source : Mail & Guardian/AFP- 279 Words

A Kenyan government administrator in the country’s restive northeast has been gunned down by suspected members of the Somali militant group al-Shabaab, police said Sunday. Mohamed Barre Abdullahi, a local chief in Wajir, which is close to the Somali border, was shot dead after finishing evening prayers at a local mosque on Saturday.“The assailants trailed him to the mosque before taking cover to wait for him as he was praying. They then followed him until he was some short distance away from the place of worship, before pulling the trigger,” said Wajir County police commander Samuel Mukindia.

He said the attackers were pursued by a police patrol but managed to escape under cover of darkness.Kenyan security sources said the attack was likely carried out by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab, which has stepped up operations in Kenya’s northeastern border region, including drawing up an alleged “hit list” of local government officials who have spoken out against the group—branding them “agents of infidels”. The assassination came only three days after the Kenyan government lifted a two-month dusk-to-dawn curfew in the region bordering war-torn Somalia. The curfew was lifted to mark the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, a period commonly marked by an upsurge in Shebab attacks.

Kenya Police Reservist Shoots Mandera Boy After Night Prayers

21 June – Source: The Star – 99 Words

A Kenya Police Reservist on Thursday night shot a 14-year-old boy after night prayers in Mandera. Officers in a KPR vehicle shot Abubakar Khamis outside the Arabia Stage mosque. President Uhuru Kenyatta ended the curfew imposed in Northeastern as Muslims observe Ramadhan. Doctors at Mandera General Hospital said Khamis was shot in the shoulder and lost a lot of blood. “15 hours have elapsed since my son was shot yet no security official has explained what happened,” his father said. Mandera county commissioner Alex Nkoyo was not available for comment.

Suspect In Lamu Al-Shabaab Raid Arrested

21 June – Source: Daily Nation – 410 Words

A man suspected to have been wounded when Kenya Defence Forces killed 18 Al-Shabaab attackers on June 14 was arrested in Voi on Saturday. Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet confirmed the arrest, saying police suspect he was among the attackers at a military camp in Lamu County. He said the suspect was helping police with investigations. “We have one man in custody in Voi. He claimed to have sustained a gunshot injury while in South Sudan. No one in his right mind could have travelled that far with such a wound without seeking medical assistance,” he said. “We suspect that the gunshot wound must have been sustained in the neighbourhood – probably Lamu County. We are interrogating him,” he said. Following the Lamu attack, the IG said security teams have captured footage that the suspects were recording. “Our defence forces were able to repulse the attackers in Baure; we have been able to identify how the terrorists were preparing to cause harm to Kenyans,” Mr Boinnet said.

The police boss spoke on Saturday at the Moi International Airport after a visit to the Skembo area of Changamwe, Mombasa County. The Inspector-General at the same time appealed to Kenyans to help in the identification of the 40 suspected Al-Shabaab attackers who attempted to take over the military camp in Lamu County. He said pictures of the suspects had been given to the media and the world so that Kenyans and other people may help identify them. “National security is a collaborative effort; it is a responsibility for every Kenyan and not just the police. We must act to secure our country and it is my appeal to Kenyans to help us identify these individuals,” he said. Mr Boinnet called on all returnees from Somalia to continue surrendering themselves to security agencies, saying they would not be arrested but will be rehabilitated to join the rest of the society in nation-building.

Kenya Wages War On Smugglers Who Fund Somali Militants

21 June – Source: Reuters – 980 Words

When Kenyan police arrested six men in the vast Dadaab refugee camp near the Somali border last April, their ultimate aim was to dismantle a decades-old sugar smuggling trade that is funding Somali militants waging war on Kenya. The arrests, coming weeks after four al Shabaab gunmen massacred 148 people at nearby Garissa university, were part of Nairobi’s new strategy to choke off the flow of money to Islamists whose cross-border raids have hammered Kenya and its tourism industry. While cash from sugar smuggling may amount to only a few million dollars, experts say such sums are enough for attacks that need just a few assault rifles, transport and loyalists ready to die – such as the Garissa raid or the 2013 assault on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall that killed 67 people.

“It’s like the government is awakening,” said a senior Kenyan security source from Garissa region, adding the authorities had previously often “turned a blind eye to all these things because a lot of people were benefiting – but at a cost of security.” However if a lasting impact is to be secured more must be done, say security and diplomatic sources. That includes rooting out corruption in the police force and going after smuggling cartel bosses as well as the middle men detained so far. The move to tackle the cross-border trade may prove as vital as the military offensive against al Shabaab inside Somalia by African Union peacekeepers and Somali soldiers that has pushed the group into smaller pockets of territory. “Unless al Shabaab sources of revenue are chopped off, we are not going to see the end of instability in south Somalia and the region,” said Rashid Abdi, a Somalia expert based in Nairobi.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government has taken steps to halt the trafficking of sugar from the southern Somali port of Kismayu to Kenya’s frontier and has set up a special unit in the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to dismantle smuggling cartels, the security source said. Days after the Garissa attack, Kenya published a list of 85 entities and individuals with links to al Shabaab. That list did not elaborate on the links, but a government document marked “secret” and reviewed by Reuters detailed how 30 listed people were involved in smuggling. The six men arrested in Dadaab on April 18 were on both lists. “The sugar barons pay illegal levies – or protection fees – to the al Shabaab who in turn uses the proceeds to fund terrorist activities/operations,” says the “secret” document, drawn up by the government on April 25. Sugar smuggling is lucrative in Kenya, where the local industry is protected from imports as part of an agreement with Kenya’s African trading partners. So the commodity in Kenya is sold at an inflated price compared to global markets.

UNHCR resumes repatriation of Somali refugees from Kenya

20 June – Source: Global Post/Xinhua – 430 Words

The UN refugee agency has resumed voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees from Kenya after a month- long suspension due to bad weather conditions in the Horn of Africa nation. The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said in its latest Bi-weekly Update on Saturday that voluntary return movements resumed on June 9 following a temporary suspension of return convoys due to rains that made roads impassable in Somalia. “During the first half of June, three convoys with a total of 265 returnees departed Dadaab and arrived safely in Somalia. The total number of returnees provided with return support packages since December 2014 stands at 2,313 individuals,” UNHCR said. The repatriation is being done through a framework agreed upon in a tripartite agreement among Kenya, Somalia and the UNHCR. The estimated number of Somali refugees in the country is 423,244. The Kenyan government has announced plans to repatriate 100,000 refugees by the end of this year.

Dadaab refugee camp, currently home to some 350,000 people, is the largest settlement in the world. For more than 20 years, it has been home to generations of Somalis who have fled a country embroiled in conflict. The UN refugee agency says Kenya remains a very important country for UNHCR as it has been hosting refugees for more than 20 years. In the report, UNHCR said the voluntarily return process is being strengthened and new returns areas were announced on June 4 to allow more refugees who have expressed their desire to return to do so. “This includes Mogadishu, Jowhar, Afgoye, Baledweyne, Wanlaweyn, and Balcad districts in Somalia. This is in addition to the existing areas of return Kismayo, Baidoa and Luuq,” it said. According to UNHCR, while reintegration assistance will only be available in the nine indicated areas thus far, the return package will be given to all refugees seeking assistance to voluntarily return to any area of Somalia.

OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE

“Clearly, there is urgent need to reassess the goals of the invasion. Reassessment must acknowledge two contradictory realities. On the one hand, it is unlikely that KDF’s continued presence in Somalia will return an outright victory against Al-Shabaab. On the other hand, it is also unlikely that withdrawing from Somalia will result in an end to insurgent attacks in Kenya.”

Solution To Terror Attacks That Ignores Somalia Is Ineffectual

19 June – Source: Daily Nation – 1, 073 Words

It is clear that since our defence forces’ retaliatory invasion of Somalia on October 26, 2011, the neighbouring country has become a critical part of Kenya’s security thinking. This is partly because Al-Shabaab has ratchetted up its attacks in Kenya, thereby heightening the threat levels. The attacks have occurred not just with increasing frequency but also with growing gruesomeness, causing disruptions and uncertainty across the country. This has posed several dilemmas, especially one between accomplishing the mission in Somalia or withdrawing from the country. There are many other dilemmas associated with the major one, including new challenges to the security forces on how to conduct counter-terrorism actions based on transparency and human rights, and deal with historical grievances and the marginalisation it has engendered.

These dilemmas have raised the need to carefully study and understand how these attacks have transformed the security landscape in Kenya. Kenya needs to re-strategise on the Somalia challenge and how it continues to impact on security in the country. As Ndung’u Wainaina argued in the Daily Nation issue of Thursday, we should come up with ‘‘a coherent, well-defined and comprehensive security policy with a clear implementation plan”. It is clear, though, that a local solution that ignores Somalia will not be effective in securing the homeland. Kenya did not articulate its target for the invasion of Somalia. It also did not come up with an exit strategy. When the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) launched retaliatory attacks in Somalia following repeated Al-Shabaab-backed kidnappings and attacks in parts of Kenya, General Julius Karangi, then KDF commander, noted that the ‘‘campaign is not time bound’’. He defined the target as ‘‘a highly degraded Al-Shabaab capacity’’.

In actual combat, however, KDF sought to push back the Shabaab insurgency deeper into Somalia. They strove to create a friendly buffer zone in Jubaland that would enable effective policing of the Kenya border zone. This, it was assumed, would deter further attacks in Kenya. Little attention seems to have gone to the complicating realities such as the historic marginalisation of this border zone. This reality has been useful for Al-Shabaab since such a remote and under policed zone provides the right environment for recruitment into the movement and enhancing terrorist attacks. Kenya went on to pursue Al-Shabaab in Somalia, eventually ending up controlling the port of Kismayu in 2012.