March 13, 2012 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

4,660 Kenyan soldiers to join AU Somali force: army

12 Mar- Source: AFP- 352 words

Kenya will avail 4,660 soldiers to the African Union force in Somalia, where it already has troops fighting the Al Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents, the army chief said Monday. The integration follows a UN Security Council resolution last month that increased the force’s strength to 17,731 from the currently authorised maximum of 12,000. “Our mandate in Somalia is peace enforcement. So the posture that we adopted when we crossed into Somalia last year remains the same,” General Julius Karangi told a parliamentary panel on defence.

Key Headlines

Nairobi grenade attack: al Shabaab denies Kenya blast (BBC/AFP)
Fighting in Gedo region leaves 6 dead (Hiiraan Online)
Al Shabaab open fire at wedding ceremony kill two guests (Shabelle)
Somaliland charges top government officials of corruption (Garowe Online)
Pirates attack Galmudug anti-piracy commander (Somalia Report)
Kenya gets 16 plum posts in AMISOM (Capital FM)
Al Qaeda suspects deny fundraising (National)

PRESS RELEASE

The National Security Committee’s decisions

12 Mar – Source: TFG – 147 words

The National Security Committee, chaired by the President of the Republic, H. E. SH. Sharif Sh. Ahmed and attended by the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Parliament, other members of the NSC, including Ministers, the Heads of the Armed & Security services and the Governor of the Banadir region, in its regular meeting last night made the following decisions:

1. To restart and speed up the campaign to remove those still illegally occupying state property.

2. To set up IDP camps outside the Mogadishu city limits able to accommodate all IDPs currently located and spread throughout the city with the intention of eventually returning and resettling them in their original regions.

3. That all Regional Governors and District Commissioners currently holding office in the newly liberated towns should hold those offices temporarily for three months after which elections will be held for the offices of Regional Governor and District Commissioner.

SOMALI MEDIA

Fighting in Gedo region leaves 6 dead

12 Mar – Source: Hiiraan Online, Shabelle – 177words

At least six people were killed and many others injured in a heavy battle with mortar shells between Somalia government soldiers backed by Kenyan army and al Shabaab militants in Gedo region of southwestern Somalia, witnesses said. The combat flared up after the islamist militants launched an ambush offensive on a convoy with Kenya and Somalia troops at Tarak village, a small township about 55 Km away west of BardHere district.

Ahlu Sunna claim victory over fighting in Gedo region

12 Mar- Source: Radio Risaala- 86 words

There is reportedly heavy fighting ongoing in the areas between Baardheere and Fah-Fahdhuun. Mohamed Hussein Al-qaadi, the Ahlu Sunna spokesman in Gedo, told Risaala Media that TFG and Ahlu Sunna forces are stationed within 30 km of Baardheere.The fighting is said to be intensifying.

Pirates attack Galmudug anti-piracy commander

12 Mar- Source: Somalia Report-68 words

Police from Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Galmudug fought with a group of pirates in Glakayo’s Mudug region late Saturday.The fighting between Police and pirates began after an armed group of pirates attacked Galmudug’s anti-piracy commander Abdiweli Hirsi Hassan (Farabadane) and his colleagues. Police guards defended the commander and exchanged fire with the pirates, according to the commander.

Al Shabaab open fire at wedding ceremony, kill two guests

12 Mar – Source: Shabelle – 151 words

A witness says at least two people died and six others sustained wounds after al Shabsab opened fire on a wedding ceremony at a house in Middle Shabelle region. A witness confirmed by phone that the tragedy occurred as guests at the wedding ceremony were sitting in front and inside of the house at El-adde village in the region when the fighters from al Shabaab with AK47 rifles came in and opened fire, killing instantly two participants.

Somaliland charges top government officials of corruption

12 Mar – Source: Garowe Online – 204 words

Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo sacked three top officials after they were charged for corruptions. According to local sources the three men were apprehended by the Somaliland anti corruption and good governance department after they conducted raids in the early hours of Saturday morning.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Kenya gets 16 plum posts in AMISOM

12 Mar – Source: Capital FM – 411 words

Kenya will now occupy 16 top positions in the new command structure of the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM). Chief of Defence Forces Julius Karangi said on Monday that meeting of regional military chiefs in Ethiopia had among other duties designated Kenya to take up one of the two deputy commanders’ posts.

Shaikh Nasser reiterates Bahrain’s support to the Somali people

12 Mar- Source: Bahrain News Agency- 516 words

The Royal Charity Organization’s Board of Trustees President His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa emphasized the Kingdom of Bahrain’s support to the brotherly people of the Republic of Somalia in compliance with the directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa Monarch of the Kingdom of Bahrain who is the Honorary President of the Royal Charity Organization regarding the provision of humanitarian aid and contribution into developmental projects.

Al Qaeda suspects deny fundraising

12 Mar – Source: National – 110 words

Three men accused of joining a Somali branch of Al Qaeda and collecting money for it denied the charges at the state security court today. AH and AA, both Sudanese, and MM, a Somali, are accused of joining the Al Shabab terrorist group and collecting money for it. A fourth man, MA, also Sudanese, is accused of sheltering his cousin, AH, at his house despite knowing of his terrorist activities.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Nairobi grenade attack: al Shabaab denies Kenya blast

12 Mar- Source: BBC/AFP- 256 words

Somali Islamists have denied being behind Saturday’s grenade blasts in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, in which at least six people were killed.
The militant al Shabaab “bears no responsibility whatsoever for the turbulence”, a press release says.Kenya’s Internal Security Minister George Saitoti had accused the group of throwing four grenades from a passing car at a busy bus station.

4,660 Kenyan soldiers to join AU Somali force: army

12 Mar- Source: AFP- 352 words

Somali woman shines in military training program, giving hope to European trainers

12 Mar- Source: washingtonpost/AP- 512 words

A military instructor clad in fatigues and boots who barks out orders to men half her age has become the unlikely star of a European Union program to train thousands of Somali troops. Nearly 98 percent of the trainees in the six-month class being held in a remote Ugandan village are men, but it is 40-year-old Fatuma Hassan Noor, who returned for advanced training, who often gets mentioned in discussions of what the program can be proud of after its mandate expires in December.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“While al-Shabaab is primarily responsible for the recruitment of children since late 2010, all parties in the Somalia conflict have been responsible for abuses against children. Children continue to serve in the forces of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and its allied militias. The TFG has detained children it claims were formerly associated with al-Shabaab instead of protecting and rehabilitating them. And the TFG and the African Union Forces (AMISOM) have hit schools with indiscriminate return fire.”

For Somalia’s Children, There Is No Safe Place

12 Mar- Source: The (Nairobi) Star-742 Words

When I met Xarid M. (not his real name) in Kenya in June 2011, he told me that fighters from al-Shabaab, the main Islamist armed group in Somalia, came to his school compound at noon one day and ordered him and other students to stay inside the classrooms. The fighters set-up a rocket launcher and, for two hours, fired rockets at territory controlled by the government and African Union forces.The attack drew return fire. “There were five rockets hitting around the school compound,” he told me. “One struck as we were released and it killed eight students who were walking home.”

“Empowering Somali women is a key part of our work at the British Office for Somalia. Over the last year, UKaid, through the Department of International Development, has supported interventions that directly benefit women, including providing over 6,700 women with antenatal care services; with over 6,500 under-fives immunised. We helped generate over 235,000 days of direct employment specifically for women. This is in addition to our humanitarian assistance, which has reached over 300,000 people, many of whom were women and children.”

Celebrating International Women’s Day

12 Mar- Source: FCO Blog-526 Words

Last week the world marked International Women’s Day – a day to renew our commitment to the empowerment, education and advancement of women and girls around the world.

Somalia is, according to a 2011 survey, one of the worst countries in the world in which to be a woman. Women are subjected to violence, harassment and discrimination at every level. Many are forced to give birth in appalling conditions, with little or no antenatal or postnatal care. As a result, Somali women are among the most high-risk groups in terms of maternal healthcare in the world. Yet women in Somalia make up well over 50% of society. So why do many continue to face such appalling, often life-threatening situations?

“So what beauty spots are the outsiders seeing in us as EAC? Well there is a huge market for the manufacturers and traders and the peace and security that the five countries enjoy. And you all know how good Somalis are when it comes to trade.”

Is the East African Community that attractive?

11 Mar- Source: New Times/All Africa -749 Words

Beauty they say lies in the eyes of the beholder. However that has never stopped debates on what is beautiful or not. As some people swear that they have seen the most beautiful girl or most handsome man, others think otherwise and insist they are right too.

Despite efforts through the mass media to create a notion of universal beauty, especially through events like beauty pageants, people’s aesthetic preferences will always vary from one person to another. It is against that background that I found myself musing about the attractiveness of this entity called the East African Community.

What is it about the EAC that is making it an attractive project for many outsiders? The original that had ‘died’ in the 70s was soon found to have just been in a coma when Yoweri Museveni, Daniel Arap Moi and Ali Hassan Mwinyi the leaders of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in the early 1990s agreed to resurrect it.