May 13, 2016 | Morning Headlines

Main Story

U.S. Air Strike Kills Five Al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia – Pentagon

12 May – Source: Reuters – 275 Words

U.S. forces in Somalia called in an air strike on Thursday that killed five fighters from the al Qaeda-linked militant group Al-Shabaab, the Pentagon said. The U.S. forces had been advising Ugandan soldiers with the African Union mission (AMISOM) during an operation against an illegal taxation checkpoint when the Ugandans got into a firefight with 15-20 Al-Shabaab fighters.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said no American forces were wounded on the ground during the incident, which took place west of Mogadishu, the capital. “U.S. forces were not involved with this firefight. We were nearby but not directly involved ourselves,” Davis told a Pentagon news briefing, adding that the American forces were further back from the fighting, acting in an advisory role.

The United States has about 50 military personnel inside Somalia and has repeatedly targeted the group in recent months, including a strike on a senior Al-Shabaab leader in April and another on a training camp in March that killed some 150 fighters. Al-Shabaab was pushed out of Mogadishu by African Union peacekeeping forces in 2011 but has remained a potent antagonist in Somalia, launching frequent attacks in its bid to overthrow the Western-backed government.

Key Headlines

U.S. Air Strike Kills Five Al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia – Pentagon (Reuters)
Somali Cabinet Approves Anti-Corruption Bill (Goobjoog News)
Somali Forces Withdraw From Marka Town Over Unknown Reasons (Shabelle News)
International Concerns Grow As Kenya Vows To Shut World’s Largest Refugee Camps (Hiiraan Online)
Somalia Protests Against Kenyan Plan To Close Refugee Camp (Channel News Asia)
Minneapolis Terrorism Trial Focuses on IS Recruitment (Voice of America)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Somali Cabinet Approves Anti-Corruption Bill

12 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 85 Words

Somali Federal cabinet has this Tuesday passed an anti-corruption bill unanimously. The bill is designed to curb the rampant corruption practice in the country but can only be enforced after parliament approval. The cabinet also discussed latest security developments in the country including an operation to get rid of Al-Shabaab in lower Shebelle, the imminent closure of refugees’ camps in Kenya and other issues. Somali foreign ministry, interior ministry and information ministry were tasked to study the question of Somali refugees in Kenya and develop strategies about possible mass repatriation process.

Somali Forces Withdraw From Marka Town Over Unknown Reasons

12 May – Source: Shabelle News – 155 Words

The Somalia’s National Army (SNA) forces have withdrawn from their bases in the coastal town of Marka in Lower Shabelle region over undisclosed reasons, residents said on Thursday. These soldiers were previously brought into the town for intervention of clan militias, who fought against each other but locals said that they saw armored vehicle with troops vacating from their bases in the town.

In an interview with Radio Shabelle, local villagers said that all businesses and shops had been shut down on Thursday, in a bid to shun away from looting them by armed militias in the town. Several sporadic gun-shots fired by armed militias could be heard in the town of Marka, residents said on condition of anonymity.

International Concerns Grow As Kenya Vows To Shut World’s Largest Refugee Camps

12 May – Source: Hiiraan Online – 365 Words

There are growing concerns over the Kenyan government’s plan to close the world’s largest refugee camp and send hundred thousands of refugees to other countries, citing ‘reasons of pressing national security’, a development decried by rights groups and aid agencies as ‘disturbing’. In recent years, the semi-arid refugee camp in north-eastern Kenya which hosts over 300,000 people had found itself in Kenyan security’s crosshairs after deadly attacks by the Somalia-based Al-Qaeda linked Al Shabab group.

Responding to the development, the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was concerned by the decision to close the camp which has been home to hundreds of thousands in the past decades, urging Kenya to continue its “leadership role in protecting and sheltering victims of violence and trauma, consistent with its international obligations.” Established in 1991, the camp largely receives people fleeing conflict in Somalia, as well ethnic people escaping prosecution in some East African countries.

In addition, Kenya-based aid agencies joined the camp’s advocacy alliance, appealing the government to reconsider its decision which risks uprooting a large number of people who have nowhere to return. In a joint statement, the aid groups OXFAM, the Refugee Consortium of Kenya, Save the Children International Rescue Committee, World Vision, the Danish Refugee Council, Jesuit Refugee Service, Action Africa, Help International, the Lutheran World Federation, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Heshima Kenya asked the government warned that the intended closure would create humanitarian crisis.

Announcing the decision this week, Kenya’s Ministry of Interior said that the sprawling camp has become a ‘safe haven’ for terrorist groups like Al Shabab. The decision has also sent shockwaves across the refugee communities in the camp who have no desire to return to their respective countries that they fled during period of unrest and prosecutions they may face back home. “It’s a worrying decision and for me, I would rather die here than going home which I haven’t seen since my childhood.” said Ahmed Abshir, a 29 years-old Somali refugee who has been living in Dadaab since 1993. “We are here because of security which my country cannot provide for the time being.” He said by phone from the camp.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somalia Protests Against Kenyan Plan To Close Refugee Camp

12 May – Source: Channel News Asia – 322 Words

Somalia protested on Thursday against Kenyan plans to close a refugee camp packed with hundreds of thousands of Somali citizens, saying the move would increase the threat of militancy in the region. Kenya has announced a day earlier it was drawing up a timetable to shut Dadaab camp, shrugging off pleas to reconsider the move by the United Nations and rights groups.

The vast settlement on the Kenyan side of the Somali border houses about 350,000 Somalis and other refugees taking shelter from conflicts raging across the region. Kenya says militants have also used it as a base to launch attacks. But Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said any move to close it would only hurt the refugees and possibly drive more people into militancy.

“Expelling vulnerable Somali refugees at a time Somalia is making internationally recognised progress towards stability and institution building, will only increase the risk of insecurity in the region,” the ministry said. “This decision will negatively affect the majority of Somali refugees … and will make the threat of terrorism worse, not better,” it added.

Somalia’s Western-backed government is struggling to rebuild the country after more than two decades of turmoil, first at the hands of clan warlords, than Islamist militants. Kenya says fighters from Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militant group have used the camp as a launch pad for attacks on the nearby Garissa university in 2015 and other targets.

OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE

“Meanwhile, some in the Somali community expressed surprise over the composition of an all-white jury. Community leaders did not hold back that they would have liked to see jurors who are more racially or ethnically similar to the accused. The defendants are all black, migrants and Muslims.”

Minneapolis Terrorism Trial Focuses on IS Recruitment

12 May – Source: Voice of America – 1,008 Words

Three Somali-American men on trial in Minneapolis, Minnesota, face the possibility of 15 years to life in prison for allegedly conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group and commit murder outside the United States. But the trial also brings into sharp focus the radical group’s global reach and concerns within the Somali-American community about judicial fairness and how that could affect collaboration with law enforcement.

Mohamed Abdihamid Farah and Abdurahman Yasin Daud, both in their early 20s, and Guled Ali Omar are among a group of Somali-American men the FBI tracked over a period of months starting in March 2014, when one member of the group aroused suspicion when he applied for an expedited passport to travel to Turkey, but was unable to answer basic questions about his planned trip.

Bob Fletcher, a former Ramsey County Sheriff in Minnesota and Director of the Center for Somali History Studies in Minneapolis, said the prosecution has a lot of evidence showing the men intended to leave the country to join the Islamic State group. “They intend to show that these defendants were determined time and time again to join ISIL and to kill for ISIL. They are going to bring in evidence that shows that a portion of this group left in the spring of 2014; a portion of the group attempted to leave in November of 2014 and then again, two of these defendants were arrested in April 2015 in California for attempting to leave. That evidence will be powerful,” he said.

But that is not all. Fletcher said the prosecution wants to convey the brutality of IS to the court by showing the group’s propaganda images and videos including beheadings, the burning of the Jordanian pilot in a cage and other gruesome killings. Fletcher said prosecutors are using the graphic images to show that the defendants had been radicalized and then sought to travel. “They are going to show those videos and say that even after they knew of the barbarity of ISIL they attempted to leave November of 2014 and April of 2015. They will have that to show they were joining a very barbaric organization, which will be a tough evidence.”