June 8, 2017 | Morning Headlines
Female Lawmaker Survives Bomb Attack in Mogadishu
07 June – Source: Somali Update – 255 words
A female lawmaker has survived bomb explosion targeted to her vehicle in Mogadishu’s Taleh neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon, security official said. The Member of the Parliament Samira Hassan Abdulle from Jowhar was in her vehicle driving to her residence when the roadside bomb blast hit the vehicle wounding two bodyguards. According to Hodan district security official Nur Guled, the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off when the vehicle passed a distance less than a metre. “We suspect the terror group planted the IED on the roadside. We are investigating.” he told Somali Update Online.
The security official said the target of the attack seemed to be the lawmaker who survived. The MP, one of the new members of the Federal Parliament’s Lower House, was not reachable for comment. Apart from the security officials narration of the attack target, yet no group immediately claimed the responsibility of the attack. The attack comes hours after suspected Al-Shabaab gunmen shot and killed a security officer in Mogadishu, as the Mogadishu Stabilization forces continued a massive search operation in parts of the southern portion of the capital on Wednesday. The stabilization unit drawn from various security forces have been targeting illegal arms and militias within Mogadishu, and seized hundreds of weapons, stolen government soldiers’ uniforms and illicit brews from the city neighborhoods since the end of the last month.
Key Headlines
- Female Lawmaker Survives Bomb Attack in Mogadishu (Somali Update)
- Somalia’s Federal government Calls For Dialogue Djibouti Severs Ties With Qatar (Garowe Online)
- So Many Trapped Al-Shabaab Commanders Willing To Defect Minister Say (Somali Update)
- Two Government Soldiers Shot Dead In Mogadishu (Garowe Online)
- Kenya-Somalia Border Epicenter Of Evolving Face Of Terror Experts Say (Xinhua)
- Let’s Break The Cycle Of Suffering In Somalia (Huffington Post)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia’s Federal government Calls For Dialogue, Djibouti Severs Ties With Qatar
07 June – Source: Garowe Online – 223 words
In a press statement released by Somalia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, the country expressed its deep concerns and called to end the diplomatic row through dialogue between Gulf countries. “Somalia calls to all the brotherly countries involved to settle the differences through dialogue and within the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation,” read the statement. Somalia took a neutral position in the rift between Qatar and other Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt, and extended an offer to help finding solutions to the dispute among the Gulf Arab states on Wednesday. On the other hand, Djibouti announced it has severed relations with Qatar on Wednesday, joining Arab coalition in the worst diplomatic crisis to hit Gulf Arab states in decades.
Earlier, three Gulf countries and Egypt accused Qatar of supporting terrorism and destabilizing the region. Qatar-which shares its only land border with Saudi Arabia- has rejected the accusations, calling them “unjustified” and “baseless.” Yemen and the Maldives also cut ties with Qatar. “The Government of the Republic of Djibouti officially announces that it has decided to reduce the level of its diplomatic representation in Qatar.” read the statement. Djibouti said the decision was taken in solidarity with the international coalition for combating terrorism and violent extremism as well as the Gulf countries and the Arab countries.
So Many Trapped Al-Shabaab Commanders Willing To Defect, Minister Says
07 June – Source: Somali Update – 248 Words
Somalia’s Information Minister, Abdirahman Omar Osman (Eng. Yarisow) confirmed the defections of two Al-Shabaab commanders, one in Hiiraan and one in Kismayo, Somalia. Bishar Farah Mumin defected in Hiiraan last Wednesday and had been a commander in Al-Shabaab’s military wing (known as Jabha) in Hiiraan, Galgaduud and Mudug regions. Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abdi defected in Kismayo on Saturday and had been Al-Shabaab’s shadow District Commissioner of Jamame in Lower Jubba.
The recent defection of the two mid-rank militant commanders came as government forces and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) are preparing to launch fresh military offensive against the Al-Shabaab controlled areas in the Shabelle regions. “Disaffected leaders from different places and who had different roles within Al-Shabaab are defecting from the terrorist group in this Holy Month of Ramadan. So are many, many foot-soldiers.” The minister of information adds that the Somali Government continues to offer its amnesty to the members of the militant group willing to defect and refrain from its violent behavior.
“The Federal Government of Somalia offers amnesty to anyone trapped inside Al-Shabaab as long as they reject the group’s alien ideology, renounce violence and agree to cooperate in the reconstruction of Somalia.” he said. As drought affects many parts of the country, Al-Shabaab militia in the push have been facing shortage of food, according to sources, in addition to the growing pressure from the local communities who continue to oppose the group’s restrictive orders against relief operations in the areas the militia controls.
Two Government Soldiers Shot Dead In Mogadishu
07 June – Source: Garowe Online – 148 Words
Assailants believed to be Al-Shabaab assassins have shot and killed two Somali government soldiers in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday. According to eyewitnesses, the soldiers were murdered near Mogadishu’s Arwa-Itka junction in Wardhigley district, and their AK-47 guns seized by gunmen in a rickshaw. No group has so far claimed the responsibility for the killing of the Somali security force members, which becomes the third targeted assassination in capital within 24 hours.
In the aftermath of the slaughter, security officers have arrived at the shooting scene, and launched investigations to establish the reason behind the killing and culprits. The soldier’s’ death comes as troops are carrying out massive security operations aimed at stabilizing Mogadishu, since the start of the holy month of Ramadan. The security forces erected checkpoint across the city, searching public vehicles and routinely raiding suspected houses, in a bid to deter possible Al-Shabaab attacks.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Kenya-Somalia Border Epicenter Of Evolving Face Of Terror, Experts Say
07 June – Source: china.org.cn – 674 Words
The expansive Kenya-Somalia border is slowly becoming a haven for a new form of terrorism that has eluded security dragnet owing to its covert nature and sophistication. Somalia-based Al-Shabaab militants have in the last few weeks staged numerous attacks along the volatile border with Kenya using improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and landmines. Dozens of Kenyan security officers, civilians and local administrators have died in the recent past after their vehicles were blown off by explosive devices planted by Al-Shabaab fighters on the roads and thickets adjacent to the border.
Experts who spoke to Xinhua on Wednesday raised alarm over guerrilla tactics that are currently being used by Al-Shabaab militants to intimidate Kenyan security agents and civilians. Simiyu Werunga, a Nairobi-based security analyst said the evolving face of terror is a cause for concern in Kenya and the wider eastern African region hence the need for a paradigm shift in order to contain the menace effectively. “We must accept that terrorists are changing tactics and their frequent use of improvised explosive devices should raise our antenna to new levels,” Werunga said.
Kenyan security officers in May said Al-Shabaab militants were sneaking into the country in droves to stage attacks in the coast and north-eastern part of the country. Intelligence bosses said that Kenyan youth who had joined Al-Shabaab were fleeing the militant group’s strongholds in South Central Somalia to escape ferocious onslaught by regional armies. The Inspector General of Police, Joseph Boinet in early June said Al-Shabaab was planning attacks during the holy month of Ramadan in several parts of the country. The police boss singled out northern Kenya, the coast region and Nairobi as areas vulnerable for attack by Al-Shabaab returnees.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“We are farmers and our lives depend on our livestock and farming. With no rain there was no food for our cattle to eat and 30 of our cattle very quickly died. We weren’t able to grow anything, and we were forced to leave home in search of food and water.”
Let’s Break The Cycle Of Suffering In Somalia
07 June – Source: Huffington Post – 822 Words
I recently returned from spending a week in Somalia, where I saw first-hand the catastrophic effects that today’s famine is having on its people, and how drought has devastated the land they depend on. Agriculture is the country’s largest employer, with two-thirds of Somalia’s workforce traditionally relying on farming to scratch a living. But no longer, however, for years of drought have reduced fields to parched scrubland that cannot be farmed or used to sustain livestock, leading to the deaths of many thousands of cattle, sheep and goats. As a result, some 6.5 million people – half the population of Somalia – have had to leave their barren farmlands in search of food and water.
The number of people affected by the combination of drought and famine is unprecedented, with women, children and older people suffering the most – more than 800,000 children under the age of five are severely malnourished. Since March, Islamic Relief has worked to highlight the urgent need for funds to help the 16 million people in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan who are on the brink of starvation and in immediate need of food, water and medical treatment. Firstly, in collaboration with the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), through our joint East Africa Crisis Appeal, and then later through our own independent campaign.
Thankfully, the response from the British public has been phenomenal, with the DEC crisis appeal raising an incredible £50 million to enable its member charities to step up their response and provide more food, water and medical care to these millions of people. Most are women and children who walk 30km in excruciating heat in search of some food and water.
During the 2011 famine, 260,000 people died in Somalia. History looks set to repeat itself unless we act now to prevent a similar situation from happening again. I visited three camps in Somalia for people who have been internally displaced. At one of the camps I met two dear people who shared their stories with me – stories that I believe captures the pain and grief that millions of people are experiencing there on a daily basis. Fatouma, from the town of Burhakaba in the southwestern Bay region, around 250km from Mogadishu, told me: “We are farmers and our lives depend on our livestock and farming. With no rain there was no food for our cattle to eat and 30 of our cattle very quickly died. We weren’t able to grow anything, and we were forced to leave home in search of food and water.” With her husband and their six malnourished children, the family left their village with only the clothes on their backs. Their journey on foot was an arduous one. “Walking in this heat was almost unbearable, but we had no choice,” she said. “My children were sick because we couldn’t feed them. The bodies of my three youngest started to badly swell.”