June 26, 2017 | Morning Headlines

Main Story

US Rescinds $5m Reward For Al-Shabaab Leader

25 June – Source : Gulf Today – 356 Words

The Trump administration has quietly rescinded a reward of up to $5 million for information about a top member of the Al Qaeda-allied extremist group Al-Shabaab in Somalia amid reports he may be in talks with the Somali government to leave the organization. Mukhtar Robow was removed from the “most wanted list” of terrorist suspects run by the State Department’s “Rewards for Justice” programme in recent days, a US official said on Friday. The official, who was not authorised to speak to the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Robow’s removal followed consultations with the Somali government but had no additional information about the step.

The official said Robow remains subject to US sanctions imposed against him in 2008 when he was identified as a “specially designated global terrorist,” but is no longer a Rewards for Justice target. A cached version of the programme’s website identifies Robow as an Al-Shabaab spokesman, military commander and spiritual leader who planned and executed deadly attacks on Somali government troops and African Union peacekeeping forces.

The removal follows reports that the Somali government is in talks with Robow, who fell out with the former Al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane. The fallout forced Robow to abandon rebel-held areas to escape an internal purge by Godane in attempt to finish off his rivals in the group. Pro-Godane fighters have since killed several senior militants, including the American-born Omar Hammami and Ibrahim Afghani, one of the group’s highest ranking leaders.

Key Headlines

US Rescinds $5m Reward For Al-Shabaab Leader (Gulf Today)
Halgan Administration To Remove Roadblocks (Goobjoog News)
Gunmen Kill Senior Military Officer In El Wak Town(Garowe Online)
Somali FM Hopes Turkish Overseas Military Camp To Boost Country’s Army (Sputnik News)
Amazing Story Of Hero Who Rescued 200 People During Terror Attack (The Mirror UK)
Refugee Chef Uses Food To Show People More Alike Than Different (Xinhua)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Halgan Administration To Remove Roadblocks

24 June – Source : Goobjoog News – Words

The local administration of Halgan in Hiiran region has confirmed it will soon initiate an operation to remove roadblocks along the way to Beledweyne. The military exercise will be conducted by the Federal military forces of Somalia backed by AMISOM soldiers. Speaking to Goobjoog News, the local Commissioner of Halgan,Guhad Abdi Warsame said the operation is planned and the soldiers are already on standby.

He pointed out that initially the forces stabilized the security of Halgan town and are now ready to remove blockades from the road. “The Federal forces and AMISOM soldiers will soon start security operation to maintain peace and they will march towards the route to Beledweyne town in order to unblock the road between us.” said Commissioner Guhad. The target road is blocked by Al-Shabaab fighters which is very difficult for the local government officials and the people to travel through it.

Gunmen Kill Senior Military Officer In El Wak Town

24 June – Source : Garowe Online – 236 Words

Suspected Al-Shabaab gunmen killed a senior military officer in the border town of El Wak town, near Somalia’s border with Kenya. A local police official has confirmed to Garowe Online, the killing of Abdirashid Barre Gurhan, by two pistol-wielding men who immediately fled the scene before the arrival of security forces. Late Gurhan was a leading commander in charge of government forces in the border town. His murder was the latest in armed assaults targeting the civil servants, government officials and security personnel.

The official who spoke on a condition of anonymity said they are conducting an operation in the town, and pursuing the killers of the officer. However, no one was arrested for the incident. “The police and security forces reached the scene later to investigate and pursue the militants. It is difficult to prevent death- the officer had no guards with him when he was killed,” he added.

Meanwhile, the militant group Al-Shabaab has claimed responsibility for the killing of the military officer through a statement posted on its affiliated online media outlets. El Wak, which is a strategic town in Gedo region, located near the porous Kenya border, is also a main supply route for Kenyan troops of AMISOM contingent, operating in southwestern Somalia. Al-Shabaab lost the town in 2011 to Somali and Kenyan troops following an offensive that pushed the militants out of their main strongholds in Lower Jubba and Gedo regions.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somali FM Hopes Turkish Overseas Military Camp To Boost Country’s Army

24 June – Source : Sputnik – 202 Words

The statement comes after media reports saying that Turkey’s largest military base abroad would be opened in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu in April with the construction costs estimated at $50 million. The base area will be about 400 hectares and will include three military schools, dormitories and depots. ”This military training camp established by our Turkish friends will be the first professional training camp for the Somali army. That is why it is very important to us … We hope that this base will reinforce the professionalism of our army,” Omar was quoted as saying by the Anadolu news agency.

The Somali foreign minister noted that the exact date of the base’s opening had not been set yet. ”Turkey constructed the airport road. The Turkish government in agreement with the Somali government has established two hospitals, schools and other projects,” Omar added, speaking of promotion of cooperation between Ankara and Mogadishu.

Somalia has been mired in an armed conflict with Islamist militants for about two decades. The crisis has delivered a serious blow to the positions of the country’s government within the country’s territory and made it rely on foreign assistance, with Turkey being one of the main investors and aid providers.

Amazing Story Of Hero Who Rescued 200 People During Terror Attack

24 June – Source : The Mirror – 711 Words

A hero of the Kenya shopping centre massacre who helped to save around 200 people has become the first civilian in 41 years to be awarded the George Cross. Ex-special forces soldier Dominic Troulan was asked to come to the rescue by a friend who told him that his wife and daughter were caught up in an armed robbery. He raced across Nairobi on his motorbike armed with just a 9mm pistol and discovered the worst terrorist attack to strike at the heart of Kenya. It turned into a four-day siege and the death toll in the wake of the militant attack was 67.

Four terrorists started to open fire on a shopping mall in a scene, which was “like an abattoir,” according to Mr Troulan. Blood was all over the wall and unexploded grenades were strewn on the ground, while children were among the dead. He added: “It was horrendous. It was absolute carnage.” British-born Mr Troulan, who was in the military for 30 years, went to the rescue of people trapped inside the building and spent six hours going in and out of the Westgate shopping mall.

He was shot at twice and fired back at the Al-Shabaab terrorists, who are based in Somalia. He later said he believed he rescued in the region of 200 people from the shopping centre. Mr Troulan, 54, was awarded a George Cross – Britain’s highest civilian gallantry medal – for his actions. The George Cross is handed out to people who carry out “acts of the greatest heroism or of the most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger.

OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE

“With his life being in danger in his country Somalia, Hassan fled to Greece when he was 16 years old all alone leaving behind his family. For a whole month, he traveled by ship up until Turkey and then with a small inflatable boat reached Greece in December 2008,”

Refugee Chef Uses Food To Show People More Alike Than Different

23 June – Source : Xinhua – 751 Words

For extrovert young chef Hassan to present his refugee journey from Somalia to Greece in a menu of 6 dishes was a bet to win during the Refugee Food Festival that run through this week in local restaurants in Athens. We met 25-year-old Hassan inside the kitchen of “Vassilenas”, a restaurant with a long history in the Greek capital, preparing a fresh salad with black eyed peas, beetroot, lime, coriander and a traditional dish from his country, a roasted mackerel with hot sauce of paprika and chili.” It is the first time I present my country’s cuisine, and I am proud that people come and taste it,” he told Xinhua.

While being used to cooking Mediterranean and Japanese cuisine for restaurants in Athens and Crete Island since 2012, it was the first-time Hassan, who was a guest chef for two nights at the restaurant, cooked Somali cuisine for so many people. The success was so huge that the owner decided to extend from two to three days the event. Run under the auspices of the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR, the Refugee Food Festival was inaugurated in Paris in 2016, and this year was expanded to 13 European cities to mark World Refugee Day.

A citizen’s initiative, the festival address to local restaurants to open their kitchens to refugee cooks with the goal to change people’s perception towards refugees, to trigger job opportunities and to make participants discover delicious meals. “Food unites people,” Hassan said as he was looking people coming in the restaurant, expressing the value of the festival. Not only people but cultures as well, as co-founder Louis Martin would say later. “We often talk about those countries through the prism of war. But these countries have much more to tell. They have culture, deep history and it is something you can find on our plates,” he explained to promote the positive approach of the refugee issue. Hassan’s story reminds us the thousands of unaccompanied minors fleeing from war-torn countries in the Middle East, risking their lives to cross the sea and dealing with traffickers within the last three years.

ADDITIONAL SOMALIA NEWS WILL APPEAR IN THE AFTERNOON REPORT

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