March 10, 2016 | Daily Monitoring Report
Police Arrest Four Linked To Al Shabaab In Baidoa
10 March – Source: Shabelle News – 110 Words
Police in the southern Somali town of Baidoa city have arrested four people on suspicion of being spies of the Al-Shabaab militant group. The suspects were nabbed during a night swoop, Police Commissioner of Bay Region, Col Mahada Abdirahman, said. The police chief said they had detained the suspects during a security operation in Baidoa town following a tip-off from local residents.
One of the arrested people, who is believed to be an Al-Shabaab sympathizer, was handed over to the Ethiopian troops in the city for further interrogations, according to Col Abdirahman. Baidoa, is a strategic town in southern Somalia and is the location from where the African Union allied Ethiopian forces operate.
Key Headlines
- Police Arrest Four Linked To Al Shabaab In Baidoa (Shabelle News)
- President Mohamud: Invest In Science And Technology To Compete Favourably Globally (Goobjoog News)
- Somali Forces In Early Morning Battle With Al-Shabaab In Shabelle Region (Jowhar Online)
- Cyprus Police On Trail Of Busting A Trafficking Ring (SigmaLive)
- Garissa Attack Suspect Took Photos Of The Dead (The Standard)
- Africa Failing In Shabaab War Says US Army Chief (The EastAfrican)
- Somali Spokesman: Al-Shabaab Raid Successful (CNN)
- The Terror Never Stops In The War On Terror (BusinessDay Live)
NATIONAL MEDIA
President Mohamud: Invest In Science And Technology To Compete Favourably Globally
10 March – Source: Goobjoog News – 249 Words
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has observed that Somalia can effectively compete with the rest of the word if it invested in science and technology. The President noted he was keen on rebuilding the core sectors of the economy particularly in science and technology to boost the country’s self reliance and development. He called on Somalis to actively take part in the reconstruction process instead of depending on foreigners to develop the country.
“The reconstruction of this country is important. It’s our responsibility. We should not rely on others to develop the country. I am glad to see that Somali people have responded to my call to rebuild their country. Science and technology leads to development and I am here to congratulate the National University’s effort to revive this faculty,’ the President said. He was speaking during the laying of the foundation stone for the College of Science and Technology at the National University of Somalia, which reopened in 2014 after remaining closed for several years as a result of the civil war.
President Mohamud added that his government would launch a 500 km road connecting Mogadishu and the coastal town of Hobyo. This, he explained, would boost transport and trade in the country. He noted that the road will be the first of a kind to be constructed in Somalia adding that scholars in the country will be involved in the project. The Somali National University was established in 1954 in the Trust Territory of Somalia. It later obtained official university status in 1969.
Somali Forces In Early Morning Battle With Al-Shabaab In Shabelle Region
10 March – Source: Johwar Online – 130 Words
Reports from Miirtaqwo village in Lower Shabelle region indicate that fierce fighting broke out this morning between members of the Somali National Army and Al Shabaab rebels. Forces from the two sides reportedly used heavy weapons leading to a mass exodus of residents from the area. According to witness accounts, the battle kicked off following the attack on Al-Shabaab’s camps in Miirtqwo village by the government forces.
An officer within the government troops, who spoke on condition of anonymity, confirmed eruption of the battle between the two sides. By the time of going to the press, the casualty figures remained unknown. The SNA forces that are backed by African Union (AU) have previously taken control of some crucial villages in the Middle Shabelle region from Al Shabaab with little resistance.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Cyprus Police On Trail Of Busting A Trafficking Ring
10 March – Source: SigmaLive – 274 Words
Police in Cyprus are on the trail of a human trafficking ring of Somalis from the occupied-areas to the state-controlled territory, they said on Thursday. Andreas Aggelides, the police spokesperson, said that the Department of Immigration and Illegal migration using information they had conducted an operation a little after8:00 pm on Wednesday night. They found and stopped a vehicle that had been coming from the UN buffer zone on the road near Akaki.
The car had licence plates of the Republic of Cyprus and was being driven by a 36-year-old Palestinian man. Police had been able to determine that the man was on the island illegally, since his visa -as a political asylum seeker- had expired in October 2015. Police said that he seemed to be the trafficker. Aggelides added that police are investigating claims of conspiracy to commit a crime, illegal trafficking of people, and purposeful money laundering.
Information had be given on the 35-year-old that he had done similar things in the past. The 35-year-old is expected to appear in court within the day, the police said. In the car that had been stopped, there were four Somalis, two men and two women, aged 31, 18, 17, and 16.
Police expect that the Somalis passed to the government-controlled area through the UN Buffer Zone near Peristerona, in one of the so-called “black holes”, where there is not checkpoint. Police said that the Somalis are not planning to use the island as a stopover over, but that they want to remain in Cyprus. Turkey and Somalia have an agreement that based on which Somalis can travel to Turkey without a visa.
Garissa Attack Suspect Took Photos Of The Dead
10 March – Source: The Standard – 261 Words
Geoffrey Busolo of Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) told the court sitting in Kenya’s capital of Nairobi that Sahal Hussein, a security guard at the university, was off duty on the material day. But after the attack, he added, officers who had joined the rescue team found him taking photos of the dead students with his mobile phone.
“He could not account for his actions at the crime scene, which had been secured by officers from various units,” Busolo said. The witness said after the attack, there were officers drawn from Kenya Defence Forces, regular police, Administration Police and Recce squad, who were assigned to man the campus until the ATPU team arrived.
Busolo said on being questioned, Hussein could not explain why he was taking the photographs. The officer said immediately the rescue operation began, there was an order that no photographs should be taken, save for designated scene of crime personnel:”We sought to establish from the accused why he was taking the photographs yet there was an order restraining anybody from taking any,” Busolo told trial Magistrate Daniel Ogembo.
Hussein is charged alongside Hassan Aden Hassan, Mohamed Abdi Abikar, Rashid Charles Mberesero aka Rehani Dida and Osman Abdi Dakane with carrying out the terrorist attack and being members of Al Shabaab. Lawyers Steve Mogaka and Mbugua Mureithi sought to know how the suspects were arrested. The witness said out of the five terrorists who carried out the Garissa University attack, four were killed while the fifth accused was arrested while hiding under a bed in one of the hostels.
Africa Failing In Shabaab War, Says US Army Chief
10 March – Source: The EastAfrican – 381 Words
The fight against Al-Shabaab is failing to achieve its objectives because African Union forces are “overstretched” and the Somalia National Army suffers “endemic deficiencies,” the US military commander for Africa said on Tuesday. Gen David Rodriguez, head of the the US Africa Command (Africom), offered a bleak assessment of Somalia’s security situation in remarks to the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
His comments stood in marked contrast to assurances of substantial progress in Somalia that other US officials have repeatedly voiced. Al-Shabaab lost territory last year and was weakened in its ability to generate resources, Gen Rodriguez said. But he warned that Al-Shabaab may respond to these financial and territorial losses “by broadening its terrorist agenda throughout East Africa.”
The group also retains the ability to stage lethal attacks inside Somalia, Gen Rodriguez acknowledged on the same day that other US military officials were reporting an airstrike on a Shabaab compound that was said to have killed 150 militants. He also noted that Al-Shabaab is currently carrying out “almost daily lethal asymmetric attacks in Somalia against Amisom troops.”
The US commander’s appraisal suggested that intensive efforts by the US and other powers to improve the Somali state’s military and governance capabilities have produced few gains: “The Somali National Army remains dependent on foreign forces to conduct operations and is challenged by leadership, logistical support and clan factionalism,” he told the US Senate panel.
Somali Spokesman: Al-Shabaab Raid Successful
09 March – Source: CNN – Video: 0:44 Minutes
Somali Government Spokesman Abdisalam Aato says two top Al-Shabaab figures were among the scores killed in a U.S. attack Saturday in Somalia.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“The benefit for the US, in this type of operation, is that with limited troop presence on the ground, and the inclusion of unmanned air power, there is little consequence in terms of direct US casualties”.
The Terror Never Stops In The War On Terror
10 March – Source: BusinessDay Live – 608 Words
On Saturday, the US killed 150 human beings in an air strike. The human beings were killed at an Al-Shabaab training facility, Raso Camp, in Somalia. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook described the attack, which used both manned and unmanned aircraft, as an attack “in self-defence and in defence of our African Union (AU) Mission in Somalia … partners”. It was alleged that those attacked at the training camp posed an imminent threat to US and AU forces. This is presumably the legitimating feature for the claims of “self-defence”. But the Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald has noted pointedly that there has been little evidence provided of impending attacks, nor media efforts to push for this information.
While acknowledging the attack, Al-Shabaab has argued that the number of fatalities is overstated by the US. This attack comes against the backdrop of a rapid US military expansion in Africa that includes the building of military bases, expanded military operations, drone strikes, and plans under way for a war in Libya, with a view to tackling Islamic State.The absence of questions surrounding the attack speaks to a policy framework that has been designed to erode accountability. On the one hand, as Greenwald notes, US counter-terror policy, specifically concerning drone strikes, has morphed in ways that allow for a reconceptualised notion of enemy or militant, to include “all military-age males in a strike zone as combatants”. The grave circular logic of this is that strikes are justified because they are targeting combatants, and all those killed are deemed combatants. It is a way of thinking that criminalises the dead for the crimes of their perpetrators.
Moreover, to date there have been no US government-issued records of those killed in drone strikes, amid multiple reports of brutal attacks against civilians. Indeed, an Intercept report suggests 90 percent of those killed in Afghanistan were not the intended targets. On Monday, for the first time, the US announced that it would release a report, detailing those killed outside conventional war zones. While the reporting programme to be introduced will likely shed light, the absence of it to date speaks volumes on the absence of accountability in-built into the systems of the war on terror.
TOP TWEETS
@OCHASom:A woman in #Somalia has a 1 in 11 lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy or child birth. #SomaliWomenMatter
@Hamza_Africa:Today’s #AlShabaab base raid in Awdhegle comes after US airstrikes hit on Saturday a training camp run by the group in Hiiraan. #Somalia
@USIP:Terrorist organizations work together for mutual purposes –@mfraserrahim on #Somalia attack http://cbsn.ws/1RQeQU0
@eu_echo:”Every girl dreams of graduating from university and helping her family,” says Amal from #Somalia
@Gobanimodoon:I greet the #Somalia women on the occasion of Int’l Women’s Day. I wish them every success and happiness in life.
@somaliadev:Honoring Hawo Tako, a Somali women who resisted Italian colonialism in south #Somalia. #IWD16
IMAGE OF THE DAY
SRCC Ambassador Caetano Madeira at celebrations to mark International Women’s Day in Mogadishu.
Photo: AMISOM