May 14, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Al Shabaab raids joint troops in Gof-Gadud
14 May – Source: Bar-kulan/Hiiraan Online – 143 words
At least 5 people were reported to have been killed and 10 others injured in heavy clashes between al Shabaab militant and Somali government troops backed by AMISOM forces on Monday in God-Gadud village, located at south-west Baidoa, capital of Bay region. Five killed, among them two civilians, while nine of the wounded ten are reported to be civilians as well.
Reports add that the clashes occurred after fighters of the al Qaeda-allied militant of al Shabaab ambushed bases of the Somali Federal Government troops and AU peacekeeping forces in Gof-Gadud village of Bay region.
Speaking to Bar-kulan, Somali government commander in Gof-Gadud Mohamud Mohamed Jirey stated that the joint troops of the Somali government troops and AMISOM forces resisted al Shabaab raid. This is not the first time al Shabaab militant attacks Gof-Gadud bases of the Somali government troops and AU peacekeeping forces in Gof-Gadud village.
Key Headlines
- Al Shabaab raids joint troops in Gof-Gadud (Bar-kulan/Hiiraan Online)
- Two people killed in Garowe Puntland (Radio Daljir/Al Shahid/Jowhar Online)
- Germany arrests alleged Somali pirate accountant (AP)
- Secure and stable situation reported from Lower Shebelle as AMISOM and Government troops conduct Operations (Radio Mustaqbal)
- AMISOM convenes consultative meeting with Somalis in diaspora (Hiiraan Online)
- Families fault State over KDF soldiers’ payout (Standard Media)
- Al Shabaab says it killed over 3000 AMISOM forces in Mogadishu (Radio Mustaqbal/Radio Dalsan/Hiiraan Online/Raxanreeb)
- Minnesota youths were sent to fight in Somalia (Star Tribune)
- Floods in Somalia kill 7 displace thousands (Press TV)
- Kenya to revive police reservists in Garissa to fight al Shabaab (Sabahi Online)
SOMALI MEDIA
Al Shabaab raids joint troops in Gof-Gadud
14 May – Source: Bar-kulan/Hiiraan Online – 143 words
At least 5 people were reported to have been killed and 10 others injured in heavy clashes between al Shabaab militant and Somali government troops backed by AMISOM forces on Monday in God-Gadud village, located at south-west Baidoa, capital of Bay region. Five killed, among them two civilians, while nine of the wounded ten are reported to be civilians as well.
Reports add that the clashes occurred after fighters of the al Qaeda-allied militant of al Shabaab ambushed bases of the Somali Federal Government troops and AU peacekeeping forces in Gof-Gadud village of Bay region.
Speaking to Bar-kulan, Somali government commander in Gof-Gadud Mohamud Mohamed Jirey stated that the joint troops of the Somali government troops and AMISOM forces resisted al Shabaab raid. This is not the first time al Shabaab militant attacks Gof-Gadud bases of the Somali government troops and AU peacekeeping forces in Gof-Gadud village.
Two people killed in Garowe , Puntland
14 May – Source: Radio Daljir/Al Shahid/Jowhar Online – 84 words
Two unidentified gunmen assassinated two civilians last night in Garowe, capital of Puntland state. Witnesses said the men armed with pistols shot dead civilians in Garowe town last night. The witnesses added that the gunmen fled immediately before Puntland security forces arrived at the scene. Reprts from Garowe confirmed that the security forces arrested number of people suspected in the incident.
Secure and stable situation reported from Lower Shebelle as AMISOM and Government troops conduct Operations
14 May – Source: Radio Mustaqbal – 173 words
Somalia’s government forces backed by African Union Mission in Somalia(AMISOM) have conducted military operation in the last days in parts of Lower Shebelle region as the drivers expressed concerns over men dressed in uniform of Somali troops who waylay their vehicles.
The governor of Lower Shebelle region Abdikadir Nor Sidi said that the government forces and AMISOM conducted the joint operation targeted on the trouble-makers and robbers on the main roads in the region.
Mr. Sidi said the government forces are committed to maintain the security of the region and will also hunt those who commit crimes against the civilians. The road linking Mogadishu to Marka is reported to be safe and secure.
New health centre opened in Jowle IDP camps, Garowe
14 May – Source: Radio Ergo – 262 words
International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Puntland Ministry of Health have jointly opened the first health centre serving more than 7,000 internally displaced persons in camps at Jowle, just outside Garowe. Hussein Hassan, an IOM spokesperson, said: “We saw there was a great need for a health facility to provide essential primary health care in the camps. The centre will be run by seven health workers from the health ministry. This is part of a plan to reach all IDP centres in Puntland with health services.”
The health centre has an emergency section and a mother and children health care unit. Mohamed Abdiqani, chairman of Shabelle camp at Jowle, welcomed the new centre. “This is a good start, a development which we all wholeheartedly welcome, as we will no longer have to see mothers in labour and sick children having to be transported to town for medical attention, at times late in the night, and where transport means are hard to come by,” he said.
Saynab Ugas Yasin, the deputy minister of health, officially opened the new health centre, promising modern equipment and services for all IDPs. She urged the health workers to serve the people with sincerity, devotion, and as humanely as possible.
Al Shabaab says it killed over 3000 AMISOM forces in Mogadishu
14 May – Source: Radio Mustaqbal/Radio Dalsan/Hiiraan Online/Raxanreeb – 299 words
Al Shabaab, the anti-government element in Somalia, said it had killed over 300 soldiers in the capital during battles against AMISOM backing Somalia’s government troops. The spokesman of al Shabaab for the operation Sheikh Abdi-Aziz Abu Mus’ab speaking to their radio said that al Shabaab fighters killed over 3000 which UN reported in this week.
“We heard the number of UN, but it is far from the truth, we killed over that number of AMISOM troops during the battles against them in Mogadishu,” said the spokesman. The price paid by Uganda and other countries trying to pacify Somalia came into focus again last week, as the United Nations said that up to 3,000 peacekeepers had been killed in six years.
U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told a news conference in New York that countries like Uganda, which has the largest contingent of soldiers, and Burundi, had paid heavily trying to control a country largely in the hands of Islamist al Shabaab terrorists. Uganda has about 7,000 troops in the Horn of Africa country.
AMISOM convenes consultative meeting with Somalis in diaspora
13 May – Source: Hiiraan Online – 316 words
A consultative meeting organized by AMISOM was held in London to enhance participation of the Somali diaspora in the reconstruction process of the country. James Gadin who organized this meeting said the aim of the conference is to engage with Somalis in London to listen their views and recommendations and provide more information about the country’s current situation.
The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia, Ambassador Mahamat Saleh Annadif opened the meeting and explained to to participants the role of AMISOM and the developments made since they started operating in Somalia.
He called all Somalis in the diaspora to play a positive role in the country and engage to the country’s rebuilding process. Participants raised questions, why AMISOM did not succeed to liberate all areas under al Shabaab control.
Somaliland VP meets with UK embassy officials in Ethiopia
13 May – Source: Somaliland Informer – 159 words
Somaliland Vice President Abdirahman Abdilahi Ismail who is currently in Addis Abab, Ethiopian capital city has held talks with UK embassy officials in Ethiopia on Monday.
The UK embassy officials in Addis Ababa were headed by Chris Allan, Deputy Head Mission and were accompanied by second secretary of the embassy. The two sides held deep and lengthy discussions that centered on deepening and strengthening bilateral ties between the two nations.
The VP thanked the UK government for the unwavering support that it provides to Somaliland. He pointed out that the two countries have long standing ties that existed for ages. The UK embassy officials said that UK remains ready to stand by the people of Somaliland and has hailed the talks that started for Somalia and Somaliland.
Refugees from Dadaab descend on Elwaq, Gedo region
13 May – Source: Radio Ergo – 221 words
Authorities in Gedo’s Elwaq district say 670 people have returned home to the area from the refugee camps in Dadaab, north eastern Kenya, since the start of the gu’ rains two months ago.
Elwaq assistant district commissioner, Sahel Malim Aden, told Radio Ergo that the movement home has stepped up, as nine vehicles carrying more than 240 families had arrived since the beginning of May. The returning families cited difficult conditions and insecurity as the main reasons for leaving Dadaab.
Amina Mahad, returning from Ifo camp, confirmed that insecurity had pushed her family to return to Gedo: “We were in Ifo refugee camp for the past three years, a family of nine, and we were initially among those displaced by drought and famine from this region. Widespread rape and insecurity are among the things which made us leave the refugee camp now,” she said. Amina said their main problems were lack of shelter, food, and medical treatment. She said they had not received any aid since returning to Gedo.
Somaliland opposition leader blamed for meeting with Somali President
13 May – Source: Raxanreeb/Universal TV/Somali Channel – 175 words
Somaliland Information Minister Abib Diriye has blamed senior opposition leader for holding secret meeting with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud last week in UK, RBC Radio reports. Feysal Ali Warabe, the chairman of UCID, the biggest opposition party in Somaliland, a breakaway northern Somalia region has reportedly met with Somalia’s Federal Government ministers in Birmingham, UK during last week after the conclusion of the international conference on Somalia future hosted by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
“We condemn and see s unfortunate meeting between Feysal Ali Warabe and Somali government officials, such meeting is against the independence of Somaliland.” said the region’s information minister Abib Diriye in a press conference in Hargeisa on Monday.
The minister noted that they did not know the motive behind such meeting in UK while he said Somaliland has made clear its position towards joining Somalia and its political process. Somaliland, which declared its breakaway from Somalia in 1991 boycotted to attend the London conference in Somalia which the world leaders pledged billion of dollars to rebuild post-war Somalia.
Xagla-Tosiye dismiss resignation allegations
13 May – Source: Bar-kulan – 111 words
Somaliland Minister of Resettlement and Rehabilitation Saleban Isse Ahmed (Xagla-Tosiye) has dismissed allegations suggesting his resignation from the ministry.
Speaking to reporters in Hargeysa on his return from Djibouti, Xagla-tosiye said that he has been in to Djibouti for work supposes and some of the news reported by the Somaliland media regarding my resignation is baseless.
Saleban Isse Ahmed, Somaliland Minister of Resettlement and Rehabilitation also stated that there is no dispute between him and Somaliland president Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud Silanyo. Some of the Somaliland media stations in Hargeysa had been reporting that the dispute between the minister and Somaliland president has emerged and he is on the verge to resign.
Council of Ministers pass Puntland Constitutional Court Law
13 May – Source: Garowe Online – 131 words
The Council of Ministers in Puntland government of northern Somalia passed the state’s first-ever law establishing the Constitutional Court, in a move that advances the ongoing democratization process in Puntland, Garowe Online reports.
The Council of Ministers convened for their weekly Monday meeting, with Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole chairing the meeting at State House in Garowe, capital of Puntland. The government’s legal team presented the Constitutional Court Law, with the Ministers discussing the new law, government sources tell Garowe Online.
The new Constitutional Court will consist of the five Supreme Court judges, who are presently in office, combined with four new qualified judges selected from civil society in Puntland. Once the Constitutional Court Law is passed, the new judges will appointed within 30 days, according to the new draft law.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Families fault State over KDF soldiers’ payout
14 May – Source: Standard Media – 284 words
Families of soldiers who died in the line of duty during the recent Operation Linda Nchi in Somalia claim the Government has ‘forgotten’ them. They say the compensation for their loved ones killed in action during the operation by the Kenya Defence Forces has taken too long, despite assurance from senior military officials that they would be assisted to move on with lives.
Kenya to revive police reservists in Garissa to fight al Shabaab
13 May – Source: Sabahi Online – 734 words
The Kenyan government is planning to revive the Kenya Police Reserve (KPR), a programme to train and arm a civilian corps, to help fight al Shabaab militants from within the local community in Garissa.
Garissa has borne the brunt of al Shabaab’s attacks in Kenya after the Kenya Defence Forces sent troops into Somalia in October 2011. Led by Police Inspector General David Kimaiyo and Internal Security Permanent Secretary Mutea Iringo, the National Advisory Security Committee has been investigating a series of such attacks in April.
During a meeting on April 20th, the committee recommended engaging citizens in urban Garissa for anti-terrorism operations. The KPR was formed in 1948 to assist the police in maintaining law and order across Kenya.
Piracy declines off Somali coast
13 May – Source: Al Jazeera – 02:33 min
For years, Somali pirates used to hold shipping to ransom. Companies were forced to run convoys through the Gulf of Aden, and into the Indian ocean. But it has now been one year since they last hijacked a ship off the Horn of Africa, and the Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon thinks a solution to the piracy problem has been found. Al Jazeera’s Peter Greste reports from off the coast of Mogadishu.
Al Shabaab recruiting youth online
12 May – Source: Star News – 110 words
The Somali and Kenyan youth have been cautioned against being recruited to the al Shabbab terror group through the social media. Speaking at a social media forum that brought together Kenya and Somali youth at Laico Regency Hotel in Nairobi yesterday, Somali Ambasador to Senegal Mohamed Hussein Owliyo and Somali’s former director of National Security Intelligence Ahmed Moalim said terror groups like al Shabbab have shifted to recruiting youth through social media.
“They can send you a friend request on Facebook, follow you on twitter and get to know more about you. The information you post on twitter or Facebook is never safe,” Owliyo said.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Floods in Somalia kill 7, displace thousands
14 May – Source: Press TV – 230 words
Floods in many parts of Somalia have claimed the lives of seven children and displaced thousands others according to figures released by the UN humanitarian office for Somalia (OCHA).
The UN has listed the towns of Baidoa, Jowhar, Miido areas of southern Somalia as the worst affected by the recent floods. Other areas which have also been affected include Wanlaweyn in Lower Shabelle, Hudun district in Sool and Dharoor in Sanaag as well as Abudwaq in the Galgadud region of central Somalia.
Safety concern posed by stagnant water in some of the affected regions was also raised. The UN warned of major health risks, including increased incidents of cholera, diarrhoea and malaria.
Minnesota youths were sent to fight in Somalia
13 May – Source: Star Tribune – 543 words
Two men were sent to prison Monday for their key roles in what prosecutors said was a terrorist “pipeline” to send young men to fight in the Somali civil war. Muhamud Said Omar, 46, a janitor at a Minneapolis mosque, who was convicted in 2012 of aiding foreign terrorism, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors had asked for 50 years.
Kamal Said Hassan, 28, also of Minneapolis, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to aiding terrorism and lying to the FBI, was sentenced to 10 years. He could have received up to 38 years, but prosecutors cited his extensive cooperation which helped them win other convictions.
The sentences cap a federal investigation lasting more than four years. Authorities sought to shut down a recruiting effort that lured more than 20 young men to Somalia, several of whom died fighting or in suicide bombings.
Germany arrests alleged Somali pirate accountant
13 May – Source: AP – 158 words
German police arrested a man who allegedly acted as an accountant for Somali pirates blamed for the hijacking of an oil tanker in 2010, authorities said Monday. The man, who was identified only by the initial ‘M’, was arrested Wednesday at a center for asylum seekers in the central city of Giessen, Lower Saxony state police said in a statement.
“According to initial investigations he was responsible for the seized ship’s food supply as well as the bookkeeping, which formed the basis for distributing the ransom money to the pirates involved,” police said, adding that the man had made a partial confession.
A court has ordered him held pending an indictment on charges of kidnapping and serious bodily harm, which can carry a prison sentence of five to 15 years. Police said the man’s fingerprints were found on the Marida Marguerite, a German-operated tanker carrying $10 million worth of fuel when it was hijacked in early May 2010.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Somalia needs aid, support, and lots of both. To build a strong and secure Somalia, donors must treat Somalia as a viable and developing state, not as a charity case.”
Donors must invest in Somalia’s future
14 May – Source: The National – 376 Words
Somalia has long been synonymous with suffering. A combination of civil war and famine has, over the last few decades, displaced more than a million people and robbed generations of a healthy future. Women have paid a disproportionate price – sexually assaulted in horrific numbers. But there have been many other victims as well. Finally, after being seemingly forgotten by the international community, Somalia is once again at the top of the global development agenda. And the UAE is helping to keep it there.
The UAE is among the 50 countries and organisations that gathered in Somalia Conference 2013 held in London in support for the government as it works to reform and build political stability. Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi, the UAE Minister of Development and International Co-operation, announced the country’s pledge of Dh183 million for peacekeeping missions. This came after a recent agreement with the UK to provide Dh11.6 million in funding to help Somalia fight sexual violence.
There are many questions that need to be asked here. For one, how well equipped is the Somali government to administer this tranche of cash? Can the administration of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud efficiently use it to improve security, bolster the economy, get people working, protect women and rebuild a shattered nation?
“Conventional wisdom in Mogadishu towards the London Conference was that Somalia’s problems have now become a global concern and its future agenda are now taken seriously into major Western cities.”
Can Britain fix Somalia?
13 May – Source: African Arguments – 862 Words
Last week, Somalia’s donors and international partners came together in London to lay down the foundations of post-transitional government in the country. The London gathering, which brought together over 50 heads of state and hundreds of international organizations, marked a new and unprecedented level of involvement by the international community in the country.
In his opening remarks, Prime Minister David Cameron said in the clearest terms that Somalia matters to UK (and the international community at large) as young Somali minds remain at risk of being poisoned by the propaganda of al Shabaab, going on to export terrorism and extremism beyond Somalia’s borders.
He adds “anyone who thinks this isn’t a priority…I’d say look what we’ve done in the past and look where it has got us – terrorism and mass migration”. He went on to say “we made that mistake not in the Horn of Africa, but Afghanistan”. The UK has two primary national interests in Somalia: that the country never becomes a haven for terrorists operating against UK interests and that the perpetual chaos does not precipitate another wave of mass migration to the UK.
In pursuit of these two interests it has reopened its embassy in Mogadishu – the first Western embassy to relocate there since the civil war, has hosted two major conferences on Somalia in London in the past year and pledged millions of dollars to the reconstruction of the country.
More importantly, the new UNSRG is a veteran British diplomat and will spearhead one the biggest UN-integrated missions in the country. The strategic objective for this mission is, according to the resolution, to help Somalia build on political gains made over the past year and support the government’s core policy priorities.
Top tweets
@OCHASom 500K children reached with vaccines in southern #Somalia 4 the 1st time in 4 yrs. 500K remain not vaccinated http://bit.ly/18HjNIW @WHOsom.
@KatrinaManson #Galmudug President Qeybdiid signed away an oil block: “We are not feeling any guilt for this kind of thing” #Somalia http://on.ft.com/12ptVCv.
@stephenmachua East Africa bore the economic and social burden in restoration of stability of #Somalia Says @UKenyatta in #AfricaLeadershipDialogues.
@JuniorDirie #Somalia International trade will be an effective one soon as Piracy declines off Somali coast http://aje.me/15ADGTb via @AJEnglish.
@UNPOSomalia #UNSG: #UNSOM will support efforts of the #Somali Government to strengthen police, justice & corrections http://bit.ly/13UnKqt @UN_DPA.
Image of the day
Over 200 kilos of unexploded ordnances (UXOs), captured from al-Shabaab militants, are destroyed outside of Mogadishu at a safe location. Photo: Daily Nation.