March 28, 2012 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Briton held in Mogadishu was ‘carrying suspicious materials’
28 Mar – Source: Guardian – 658 words
A British citizen who was detained at the airport in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on Tuesday said he wanted to travel to an al Shabaab stronghold and was carrying suspicious materials, including hundreds of CDs, an African Union military spokesman said. The man, identified as Cleve Everton Dennis, was detained by security operatives of the African Union peacekeeping force, AMISOM, at the airport when he arrived on a flight from Nairobi in neighbouring Kenya.
Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda, an AMISOM spokesman, said Dennis had been handed over to the Somali National Security Agency for further questioning. Dennis, who was born in 1966, was travelling on a British passport.
“He had documents but he appeared very suspicious ad we arrested him,” Ankunda said on Wednesday. “He said he was going to Kismayo. Now, Kismayo is an al Shabaab area so we really got interested in him.”
Key Headlines
- Ala Sheikh group demands UN envoy to leave country (Shabelle Media)
- Briton held in Mogadishu was ‘carrying suspicious materials’ (Guardian)
- Iranian navy battles off somali pirates saves merchant ship (Trend)
- Former Somali president welcomes conferences anti-al Shabaab operations (Radio Mogadishu)
- KDF Somali forces clash with al Shabaab 6 killed (Shabelle)
- Museveni applauds UK for AMISOM support (New Vision)
- Al Shabaab claims deadly mortar attacks in Mogadishu (Radio Kulmiye Radio Alfurqaan Andulus)
- MPs accuse Somali president Prime Minister of “breaking law” (Shabelle)
- Somali man pleads guilty to manslaughter charges (Radio Bar-kulan)
- Arab Foreign Ministers to discuss crisis in Syria Palestine and Somalia (Saudi Press Agency)
- UK checking report of Briton arrested in Somalia (AP)
SOMALI MEDIA
Ala Sheikh group demands UN envoy to leave country
28 Mar – Source: Shabelle Media – 195 words
An extra-ordinary meeting attended by members of parliament, politicians, elders and religious scholars under Ala Sheikh group [pro-Somali president] in Mogadishu called on the UN special envoy to Somalia, Ambassador Augustine Mahiga to leave the country “as soon as possible.”
The participants accused Mahiga of “planning to impose colonialism” on the country and to “divide” it. They urged the Transitional Federal Government to seek the removal of Mahiga from the office of United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS).
The Head of Somali Religious council, Ahmad Dhicisow said the UN envoy “imposed” colonialism on the country. He described the making of a constitution for the country at a time when Somalia is “divided” as “dark times.”
Speaking at the same venue, MP Sheikh Ahmad Mukhtar, said the reason why the international community wants the country to end the transitional period is based on self interest. He said the international community is after what it could not get when the country was in a transition period. Sheikh Ahmad Dhicisow said they are planning a peaceful demonstration against Mahiga and the new constitution. He urged government and security agencies to ensure the security of the protesters.
Former Somali president welcomes conferences, anti-al Shabaab operations
28 Mar – Source: Radio Mogadishu – 95 words
Former Somali president Abdikasim Salad Hassan has warmly welcomed both the conferences taking place inside the county and operation against al Qaeda-linked group of al Shabaab carried out by Somali national forces and allied forces, Radio Mogadishu reported..
President Hassan also sent his condolence message to the relatives and people of Somali for the death ex- president Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed who died last week in the united Arab Emirates and was buried in the country early this week. He urged Somali people to support efforts aimed at forming a strong government for Somalia.
KDF, Somali forces clash with al Shabaab, 6 killed
28 Mar – Source: Shabelle – 169 words
Heavy clashes between Somalia government soldiers backed by Kenyan Military and al Qaeda affiliated al Shabaab militants took place overnight in south western Somali region of lower Jubba, military officials said.
Reports said the battle erupted shortly after the militants attacked military positions controlled by TFG and Kenyan forces in Hosingo village near the border with Kenya, causing casualties on both sides.
A senior Somali force commander in the region told Shabelle, on condition of anonymity, that both sides have exchanged heavy artillery fire and machine guns. “Somali and Kenya forces fought back and repelled the attackers, killing four al Shabaab fighters and while two soldiers were also killed during the attack.”
Al Shabaab claims deadly mortar attacks in Mogadishu
28 Mar – Source: Radio Kulmiye, Radio Alfurqaan , Andulus – 127 words
A senior al Shabaab official Mohamed Hassan Omar Abu Abdurrahman who spoke to a pro-al Shabaab radio, Andlus says the group was responsible for the deadly mortar attacks that claimed the lives of civilians in Mogadishu within the past four weeks.
The official said fighters were behind the mortar attacks that were targeted on the presidential palace, Villa Somalia. At least 9 people were killed after mortar fired from unknown locations missed targets and landed in several camps of internally displaced people near the palace.
MPs accuse Somali president, Prime Minister of “breaking law”
28 Mar – Source: Shabelle – 120 words
Somali members of parliament have accused top government officials of “breaking the law” at a meeting they held in the parliament building in Mogadishu. Abdirahman Jim’ale Ahmad, one of the MPs who spoke at the meeting announced that the positions of the president and the prime minister “are now vacant”, adding that the two leaders are only engaged in self interests. He further said that legislators have legal rights to hold elections to elect a new leaders if the current leaders fail to play their roles.
Speaking at the same venue, MP Mohamedd Daqane Ilmi Aar said ministries are yet to relocate to their headquarters even after government took control of Mogadishu, adding that it shows the failure by the government.
Media watchdog condemns assault on Somali journalist
27 Mar – Source: Radio Shabelle, Somalia Report – 156 words
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Sunday’s shooting of radio journalist Mohaiyadin Hassan Mohamed in the capital Mogadishu, and calls on civil authorities to ensure his safety. Two unknown gunmen opened fire at Mohamed, the news director of Shabelle Media Network’s radio station, as he walked home from work at around 6 pm (1600 UTC), news reports said. T
he journalist told CPJ that he ran after the gunmen began shooting at him, and that one bullet grazed his chest. Islamist insurgents al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the shooting, according to Somalimemo, a website that supports the al Qaeda-affiliated group. The group has also claimed responsibility for the 2010 murder of journalist Sheikh Nur Mohamed Abkey.
“This attack on Mohyadin Hassan Mohamed is the latest example of the deteriorating press freedom climate in Somalia,” said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. “Authorities must immediately ensure Mohamed’s safety as well as the security of all journalists working in the country.”
Former Somaliland President meets incumbent President
27 Mar – Source: Somaliland Press – 155 words
The Former President of Somaliland Hon Dahir Rayale Kahin has for the first time paid a courtesy call to the President of Somaliland H.E Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud (Silanyo) since leaving office on the 27th July 2010. Today’s visit that former President Dahir Riyale made to incumbent president Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo office has been welcome with a positive review from all sectors of Somaliland citizens.
President Silanyo and former President Rayale held a closed door meeting although source present said at the meeting confirmed that both leaders discussed issues pertaining to the current situation in the county e.g peace, security and democracy.
The meeting lasted little more than one and half hours and at the end of the meeting both presidents took some photos. The former president Dahir Rayale became the president of Somaliland after the death the late president Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal in 2003 until 2010 when lost the elections to the incumbent President Silanyo.
Somali man pleads guilty to manslaughter charges
28 Mar – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 172 words
A 23-year-old Somali refugee arrested in the Canadian town of Edmonton pleaded guilty Tuesday to the unprovoked attack that left a “happy-go-lucky” man dead in what was at first believed to be a bike accident.
Mohamed Jama Yusuf was charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the fatal beating of Sean Murphy, 51, who died three weeks later. Yusuf was arrested by Edmonton police on Jan. 2 when he was found downtown along Jasper Avenue. He was supposed to have appeared in Ottawa Superior Court on Oct. 11 on a charge of second-degree murder, but he never showed up, prompting a Canada-wide warrant for his arrest.
In June 2009, he was released from custody on strict bail conditions that included residing with his mother at her home in Edmonton. The Ottawa court heard that Yusuf had punched Murphy, knocking him off his bicycle, then kicked and stomped him on the ground outside a Merivale Rd. Mac’s Milk. The defence is seeking to reduce the Crown 12 years to five years in prison.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Museveni applauds UK for AMISOM support
28 Mar – Source: New Vision – 355 words
President Yoweri Museveni has commended the British Government for its support towards the African Union (AU) to establish peace in war torn Somalia. AU-led AMISOM force that is largely manned by Uganda forces and Burundi, is fighting against al Shabaab which is a terrorist group that is sponsored by al Qaeda. The President was Tuesday meeting the visiting British Minister for Africa, Henry Bellingham, who called on him at State House, Entebbe.
Museveni and the visiting British Minister discussed bilateral and regional issues, especially the developments in Somalia. The Minister was accompanied by the British High Commissioner to Uganda Martin Shearman.
The United Nations Security Council has recently boosted AMISOM’s strength to 17,700 and availed more resources so that the AU force can further contribute to the peace process in Somalia. Since August last year,AMISOM forces have driven al Shabaab terrorists out of the Somali Capital of Mogadishu.
Last month, the international community gathered in London, UK to show confidence in the Somalia-led peace process and with a new mandate and support from the international community, the AU forces are expected to expand their operations in the rest of Somalia against the lawless al Qaeda backed al Shabaab.
Arab Foreign Ministers to discuss crisis in Syria, Palestine and Somalia
27 Mar – Source: Saudi Press Agency – 68 words
Dr. Nabeel Al-Arabi, the Secretary General of the Arab League confirmed that the Arab Foreign Ministers are scheduled to discuss situations in Syria, Palestine and Somalia at a meeting set for tomorrow in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad to prepare for the Arab summit. In remarks to reporters, he stressed that the Arab Foreign Ministers will discuss also the evacuation of the Middle East from comprehensive destruction weapons.
Inside Story – Fighting Somalia’s pirates onshore
26 Mar – Source: Al Jazeera – 25: 15 min
The EU recently authorised its ships and helicopters to carry out missions to fight pirates inside Somalia. Can the new, expanded mandate end piracy or make matters worse for the African state? Guests: Yusuf Omar Al-Azhari, Will Geddes, Afyare Elmi.
Burnt, divorced and forced to drink urine – Somali refugees speak
27 Mar- Source: Observer – 1295 words
It is like the world is a basketful of curses for Ahmed Mohammed, 30. Once a free man, Mohammed now lives like a slave.
Mohammed’s life is of many sorrows. When he fled from Somalia to escape the raging war, he found himself in Uganda in 2001. And although he has managed to find refuge, he has found himself in some kind of hell. That he has never had a decent wink of sleep in Uganda is one of the many worries compounding his heart. On the day I visited Mohammed at his home in Mengo-Kisenyi, a dirty-brown flimsy gate opened up to the dusty compound shared by many clustered houses.
Raho Warsame Ali, one of the inhabitants of this humble setting, walked me to the door of Mohammed’s room, knocked and walked away. The door creaked open and a dirty cracked cement floor peered into view. I wasn’t sure whether I was entering a happy home or a dungeon. A stuffy odour crept into my nose. The room was dead silent except for the intermittent sounds that were a result of Mohammed blowing his nose. Stains of original paint hinted at the room’s former beauty.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Briton held in Mogadishu was ‘carrying suspicious materials’
28 Mar – Source: Guardian – 658 words
A British citizen who was detained at the airport in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, on Tuesday said he wanted to travel to an al Shabaab stronghold and was carrying suspicious materials, including hundreds of CDs, an African Union military spokesman said.
The man, identified as Cleve Everton Dennis, was detained by security operatives of the African Union peacekeeping force, AMISOM, at the airport when he arrived on a flight from Nairobi in neighbouring Kenya.
Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda, an AMISOM spokesman, said Dennis had been handed over to the Somali National Security Agency for further questioning. Dennis, who was born in 1966, was travelling on a British passport.
“He had documents but he appeared very suspicious ad we arrested him,” Ankunda said on Wednesday. “He said he was going to Kismayo. Now, Kismayo is an al Shabaab area so we really got interested in him.”
UK checking report of Briton arrested in Somalia
28 Mar – Source: AP – 106 words
Britain’s foreign ministry said it is investigating reports that a British passport holder was arrested inSomalia on suspicion of links to a terrorist group. The ministry said Wednesday in a statement that it was checking claims that the 45-year-old was detained at the airport in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu after traveling from Britain via Kenya.
Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper quoted Abdirahman Osman, a spokesman for Somali’s prime minister, as saying that the Briton was suspected of ties to al Qaeda linked terrorism.
Diplomats have recently warned that several dozen Britons, including those with no family ties to Somalia, have traveled to the country to fight alongside al Shabaab militants.
Maldives halts rescue attempt on hijacked ship
28 Mar – Source: AP – 102 words
The Maldives says it has abandoned an attempt to rescue a Bolivian-flagged cargo ship hijacked by pirates because it has drifted away from its territorial waters. The National Defense Force says the vessel identified as MV Eglantine was hijacked in the Indian Ocean waters off the Maldives on Monday. A coast guard vessel began tracking the vessel.
Defense Force spokesman Lt. Abdulla Ali said Wednesday they abandoned the operation Tuesday evening after the ship left Maldivian waters. Piracy has emerged as a major threat to merchant ships in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea. Somalia-based pirates hijack ships and crew for ransom.
Iranian navy battles off somali pirates, saves merchant ship
28 Mar – Source: Trend – 240 words
Iranian Navy got involved in a shootout with somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, Fars reported. The Navy managed to save a merchant ship from the pirates, who fled after the shootout. No casualties were reported.
On Feb. 26 Iranian fleet of warships thwarted a pirate attack on Iranian oil tanker North of a strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The Oil tanker came under attack by 6 Somali pirate speedboats 35 miles North of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. The Iranian naval forces and commandos’ swift action forced the pirates to flee the scene.
Another similar incident happened on March 10, when another Iranian oil tanker escaped the Somalian pirates attack, with the help of Iranian Navy in the Aden Gulf. The Iranian Navy has been conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden since November 2008, when Somali raiders hijacked the Iranian-chartered cargo ship, MV Delight, off the coast of Yemen.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Dividing Somalia into territories based on tribal divisions is not a good solution. The tribes are nomadic and do not have specific regional demarcations. The tribes crisscross regions that are overlapping. An example is Somaliland, Khatumo State and Puntland and vice versa. And rest of Somalia is in similar situation. Therefore, creating Somali government based of territories will lead to civil war and any government based on semi-autonomous regions will not last.”
Istanbul Conference, Somaliland, Khatumo State and Puntland
28 Mar – Source: Real Taleex – 1198 Words
The London Conference was an attempt to extend a helping hand to Somalia. The coming-up Istanbul Conference is hailed as the conclusion of the grand plan to stabilize Somalia. This brings both good news and bad news. The good news is, a helping hand is what Somalia needs and the bad news is its neighbors are not enthusiastic about stable Somalia.
After Somalia’s central government collapsed, decades of civil war followed- leading different tribal groups unable to feel bound by provisions of international agreements. What exasperated the divide between the tribes is the history of Somalia itself. Somalia, unlike many African countries has no proper defined borders based on ethnic and linguistic distinctive lines. It is based on division of European powers that contested and divided Somalia based on regional alliances. The countries that annexed portions of Somalia have always hoped a weak government or none at all. The collapse of the central government of Somalia provided an opportunity to achieve that end.
“Arresting the TFG officers means Kenya is taking sides and choosing Ras Kamboni which is the more powerful fighting force on the ground right now. It’s a pragmatic choice but one that could backfire.”
Kenya has fractious allies in southern Somalia
27 Mar – Source: Global Post Blog – 314 Words
One reason why foreign military interventions founder in Somalia is that outsiders are incapable of understanding the overlapping and interlocking webs of clan and business allegiances on which Somali society rests. Back one group and you make yourself enemies of the others, pick the wrong allies and you’re in serious trouble. Kenya is learning all this on-the-hoof in southern Somalia which it invaded in mid-October.
“When debating the rationale for the London Conference, most observers missed one very important motive – the lure of oil – and that there is plenty of oil in Somalia. The Guardian and the Observer newspapers, did not. Although they pointed out that renewed commitment by Britain to restore stability in Somalia hasn’t officially been linked to the discovery of oil, they did point out that the timing of the London Conference follows close on the heels of this discovery.”
Somalia: The lure of oil
27 Mar – Source: Leadership Online – 1088 Words
The highly publicised London Conference on the future of Somalia, organised by the David Cameron, took place on 23 February 2012 at the same venue, Lancaster House, where the independence of Zimbabwe was negotiated. This conference, however, did not deliver any significant breakthroughs – not that any were really expected. Yet, it did raise international expectations.
After the fall of Siad Barre in Somalia in 1991, the country imploded. Since then, 18 conferences, aimed at instituting a credible and effective government have failed. Today, Somalia is the very definition of a failed state.
The London conference was supposed to offer fresh thinking on Somalia’s current political dynamics, broaden international representation in efforts to tackle its dilemmas and strengthen the role of the UN in the country.
“Somali pirates now operate in a space covering 2.5 million square nautical miles, about the size of the continental United States. Their activities have reached waters off the coast of India, making it more difficult for naval forces to reach the scene quickly enough to thwart pirates, Shapiro said.”
State Department: Too Much Water to Patrol in Fight Against Somali Pirates
27 Mar – Source: National Defense Blog – 725 Words
Efforts to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia have had the unintended consequence of pushing pirates farther out to sea and giving them more control of the Indian Ocean, said the State Department’s lead official on counter-piracy policy.
The U.S. Navy worked with partner countries to set up a nearly 500-mile long corridor in the Gulf of Aden to ensure safe travel for commercial vessels. The transit zone is heavily patrolled by naval forces and even used by some countries for convoy operations. It is used less now by pirates, who have set their sights on bigger targets farther away from shore.
Top tweets
@AhmedChinoy After successful negotiations, we have finalized the safe return of the #Sailors aboard the MV Albedo. #CPLC#MVAlbedo #Pirates #Somalia.
@Abdirik According to the policies adopted by the current TFG in the country, #Somalia is for sell at a throw away price.
@borzi_borzi @IdiAuslander what future for #Somalia‘s country and her people? when it do no have oil, gold or mineral all world it forget..Good luck.
@dhanjes A proxy war in #Somalia: Eritrea supports the Islamist Shabab militias, while Ethiopia backs the fledgling TFG in Mogadishu.
@AllanDuncan101 @MorningAfrika #somalia I can see the EU expansion in land going horribly wrong what is needed is a totally different approach to the issue.
@euphoric_LIGHTS Smh Western media continues to blameSomalia‘s fallacy on piracy and instability. Nothing on discovered oil and minerals. #colonization.
Image of the day
Somali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on Tuesday paid a courtesy visit to Adado, the capital of Somalia’s central state of Himan and Heeb. The central regions are currently witnessing deadly clashes between al Shabaab and Ahlu Sunna fighters.