June 3, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
President Erdoğan In Somalia Opens Africa’s Largest Turkish Embassy, Other Projects
03 June – Source: Daily Sabah – 187 Words
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived in Somalia Friday, on the third and last leg of his East African tour to open Turkish sponsored projects including health facilities and the largest Turkish embassy in Africa.Turkey’s role in Somalia has gained significance since Erdoğan’s visit in 2011 as prime minister, the first head of the Turkish government to visit Somalia.
Turkey’s engagement in Somalia has made visible changes to the country in many areas from health to infrastructure. Bilateral agreements have also been signed, including treaties to train the Somali national army, and Turkish Airlines has started flights to the capital of Mogadishu. Turkey’s efforts have paid off, and the increasing relationship between the two states has brought attention to the region and many have started to question Turkey’s involvement in Somalia.
Turkey also provided Somalia with over $400 million in the biggest aid campaign to the country in its struggle to fight starvation. Turkey is set to open its first military base in Africa at which Turkish military officers will train Somali soldiers and troops from other African countries to fight al-Shabaab, military sources said in January.
Key Headlines
- President Erdoğan In Somalia Opens Africa’s Largest Turkish Embassy Other Projects (Daily Sabah)
- National Consultative Forum Concludes As Leaders Agree To Hold Next Session In Baidoa (Puntlandi.com )
- NISA Investigating Mobiles Phones Used By Al-Shabaab Militants In Mogadishu Hotel Attack (Radio Dalsan)
- Kenyan Government Welcomes Death Of Garissa Attack Mastermind (Goobjoog News/VOA)
- International Community Condemns Mogadishu Hotel Bombing As Death Toll Rises To 16 (Xinhua)
- Kenya’s Plan To Shut Dadaab Refugee Camp Criticised (Al Jazeera English)
- ISIL Case Trial Triggers Fear In A Community (Star Tribune)
- Somalia Hopes For Better Future Despite Attacks (BBC News)
NATIONAL MEDIA
National Consultative Forum Concludes As Leaders Agree To Hold Next Session In Baidoa
03 June – Source: Puntlandi.com – 163 Words
The National consultative forum that brought together Federal government leaders and heads of regional States has successfully concluded its deliberations in Mogadishu.
Sources indicate that contentious issues such as the allocating Banadir region electoral slots in the Upper House was brushed aside with leaders agreeing “not to waste time” on issues that were not part of the original agreement, endorsed by the National Leadership Forum (NLF).
Discussions over other matters, including replacement of deceased traditional leaders who took part in the selection of the current parliament in 2012, are said to have consumed most of the time. Discussion on this issue was not concluded and the same has been carried forward to the next meeting.However, the country’s top political leaders agreed on many other issues including holding the next session in Baidoa on June 25. Ethiopian forces will provide enough security for the meeting. The full schedule and timing of the elections are set to be officially announced at the next meeting.
NISA Investigating Mobiles Phones Used By Al-Shabaab Militants In Mogadishu Hotel Attack
02 June – Source: Radio Dalsan – 157 Words
Fresh details have emerged concerning the deadly attack on Mogadishu’s Ambassador hotel on Wednesday.Officers from the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) are in possession of two mobile phone devices believed to have been used by militants who carried out the attack on the hotel.
Preliminary investigation indicate that the attackers originated from Lower Shabelle region of Somalia but they were guided around the city by an undisclosed suspect who is a resident of Mogadishu. Another report shows that the explosive car bomb attack used was assembled in the capital Mogadishu and NISA officers are zeroing in on the individual who was behind this arrangement.
A short video clip that is crucial to the investigations was also found in one of the mobile phones as well as drinking water used by the fighters shortly before the attack.More than 20 people, including two prominent Members of Parliament, were killed in the attack.
Kenyan Government Welcomes Death Of Garissa Attack Mastermind
03 June – Source: Goobjoog/Voice of America – 303 Words
Kenya’s government has welcomed the reported death of Dulyadeyn, the Al-Shabaab militant who allegedly organized the massacre at Garissa University College in April 2105, says Kenyan spokesman Erick Kiraithe.
In an interview with VOA in Nairobi, Kiraithe said the death will help heal the wounds left by the deadly assault: “What we would want to say as a government is that every victory against terrorism is very welcome,” Kiraithe said. “The pain and suffering of the parents, friends and relatives of those who died in Garissa is still very fresh among us and, therefore, there is a little bit of relief that those who were responsible are finally getting it, although it would have been greater for us if we had an opportunity to bring them to justice.”
Mohamed Mohamud, better known as Dulyadeyn, was believed to be the organizer of the gruesome attack, in which Al-Shabaab gunmen killed 148 people, nearly all of them students. Miriam Njeri was a student at Garissa University at the time, but transferred to Moi University in Eldoret after that school admitted all Garissa students unconditionally following the attack.
“And now that the mastermind is dead, I’m so happy and so relieved,” Njeri said. “I’m so relieved that they will not plan another attack on another university, but I’m also afraid that another mastermind may come up.”
Dulyadeyn was reportedly killed Tuesday night in Bulo Gadud, a town loyal to al-Shabab, about 30 kilometers north of the port of Kismayo. A local Somali official told VOA that Dulyadeyn was killed in a raid by U.S.-trained Somali commandos. Another official said the militant was killed by U.S. missiles. However, a U.S. military spokesperson said Thursday that American forces played only an “advise-and-assist role” in a ground operation carried out by the Somali National Army.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
International Community Condemns Mogadishu Hotel Bombing As Death Toll Rises To 16
03 June – Source: Xinhua – 694 Words
The international community has roundly condemned the deadly attack on Wednesday carried out by Al-Shabaab militants on the Ambassador Hotel, Mogadishu as death toll rose to 16.In separate statements receivedon Friday, the UN Security Council, the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Britain and the U.S. including the UN top envoy in Mogadishu vowed to stabilize Somalia despite increased attacks from the militants.
The UN Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, stressing those responsible for these killings should be held accountable.”The Council further stressed the need to take measures to prevent and suppress the financing of Al-Shabaab, and any other terrorist group in Somalia,” the statement said.
The 15-nation Council reiterated their determination to support the peace and reconciliation process in Somalia, underlining that neither this nor any other terrorist attack would weaken that determination.A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the gates of the hotel on Wednesday, killing 16 people so far and injuring over 30 others.Between four and six militants then entered the premises, exchanging fire with hotel security guards and Somali security forces until the situation was brought under control earlier this morning.
Kenya’s Plan To Shut Dadaab Refugee Camp Criticised
03 June – Source: Al Jazeera English – 382 Words
The Kenyan government’s plan to close the Dadaab refugee camp is “logistically impractical”, according to Somalia’s ambassador to the US.
Ahmed Awad sounding the warning on Thursday, saying that shutting the complex – which is home to at least 340,000 people – could damage relations between Kenya and Somalia.”I think Kenyans and Somalis have developed closeness throughout the years,” Awad told Al Jazeera.”This issue should not undermine the progress that our countries have made together.”He called on the Kenyan government reconsider its plans to close the complex by November.”To force 340,000 people to a place where they have nothing, to go back after 25 years of absence, you wipe out all the goodwill that you have got from these refugees,” Awad said.
Dadaab is the world’s largest refugee camp. It is comprised of five camps and its population is largely Somali.The complex opened in 1991 as a temporary shelter for Somalis fleeing civil war, but prolonged violence and insecurity has turned the vast area into a virtual city.Kenya now says Dadaab has become a hive for the al-Shabab armed group, and that it is a strain on the country’s economy.However, Somalia’s Awad says: “The Kenyan government should respect the call of the international community, the humanitarian community and the sister country of Somalia. “If you have tolerated 25 years of Dadaab refugee camp, it doesn’t take much with the help of the international community, with cooperation from Somalia, to give a time, as we have already agreed, for a voluntary return of these refugees in a very humane way.”
ISIL Case Trial Triggers Fear In A Community
03 June – Source: Star Tribune – 658 Words
As jurors deliberate the fate of three men charged with conspiring to support the terrorist group ISIL, Twin Cities Somali community members are bracing for the verdict in a trial that already has created divisions in the community and disturbances in the courtroom.Abdirahman Daud, 22; Mohamed Farah, 22, and Guled Omar, 21, are charged with conspiring to follow other Minnesotans to Syria between 2014 and 2015 in an effort to join the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The jury completed its first full day of deliberations Thursday afternoon and is expected to resume Friday morning.
At a recent community meeting Daud’s mother, Farhiyo Mohamed, and Farah’s mother, Ayan, said they have felt isolated from friends because people fear they will come under government scrutiny if they lend the families support.“Since our kids are on trial, many are scared of us,” Mohamed said.“Some relatives don’t call us anymore,” said Farah, who has two sons in jail. Adnan Abdihamid Farah pleaded guilty in the case before the trial began.Many young Somali-Americans said the ISIL case has affected their studies and even the atmosphere at their work, but only a few agreed to be interviewed.Mustafa Mohamed, a student at Normandale Community College and security guard for the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, and Ali Saleh, a Minneapolis Community and Technical College student, were close friends of the young men charged with conspiring to join ISIL.“After they got locked up, the world looks at us different,” Mohamed said. “People say: ‘You people are attracted to weapons. You people are terrorists.’ ”
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“With elections due in a few months, and Ramadan approaching – a time when Al-Shabaab traditionally ramps up its car bombs and suicide attacks – the city is on high alert,”
Somalia Hopes For Better Future Despite Attacks
02 June – Source: BBC News – 1190 Words
The cool new rooftop pizza joint was buzzing with the hip kids snapping selfies and watching the sun set over Mogadishu when the deep crunch of an explosion made everyone jump.
A thick and acrid plume of smoke drifted up from behind one of the nearby high buildings and the crowd started to realise it was another bomb blast in their city.We heard a sporadic crack of gunfire and then the sound of sirens – as ambulances headed to the scene through the city’s congested streets.
The huge suicide car bomb had been just the start of the attack.Al-Shabaab fighters had used it to breach the front entrance of the Ambassador Hotel and had rushed in, opening fire.It’s a fortified residence used by high-profile Somalis and members of parliament – two British-Somali MPs were killed along with around a dozen other people. Many others were injured.
It came as a real shock to Maryan Hassan, a British-born lawyer who we were interviewing on the roof terrace when the car bomb went off and the gunfire started.It’s just the second big explosion she’s experienced since moving to Mogadishu permanently in January.”It’s the same story as everyone else – I came to make a difference,” she said, talking about the high number of Somalis, like her, returning from the diaspora from places such as Britain, Canada and America.
“My parents were married in London and my brothers and I were all born and raised in the UK, but I grew up constantly knowing I was Somali,” she said.”My parents were definitely at the core of why I’m so passionate about Somalia.”
With two degrees in law, and a specialism in arbitration, Maryan has already has become the prime minister’s legal adviser, but the al-Shabab attack nearby while we talked was a clear reminder of the risks.”I don’t think anyone comes back to Mogadishu and says it’s going to be an easy ride,” she said.”You’re obviously having to come back to a society that you were not raised in, so socially there’s a lot more obstacles to overcome as opposed to security.”
TOP TWEETS@Goobjoognews:#Somalia Somali government says it will tighten #Mogadishu security a day after deadly attack @abdirashidmd:Horde of #Somalia mothers waving Turkish flags in Mogadishu street ahead of Erdogan’s landing. @SalahOsman0:Last minute preparation of welcoming Turkish Pres @RT_Erdogan #Somalia will always be grateful 2 Turkish Government @MinisterHashi:Turkish Prez Erdogan just landed in#Mogadishu, #Somalia. His Third visit here since 2011. It is safe to come here. Welcome Mr. President! @RedCrescentTR:TRC provides hot meal to 8000 people every day in #Somalia. Our 11 tons ship is at the harbour. |
IMAGE OF THE DAY
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Residents of Mogadishu wave Turkish and Somali flags to welcome Turkish President.