May 16, 2016 | Morning Headlines

Main Story

Turkish Airlines Resumes Flights To Mogadishu After Somali Plane Bombing

15 May Source: Hiiraan Online – 179 Words

Turkish Airlines resumed flights to Mogadishu, the latest international airliner to resume its flights to the Somali capital few months after the Al-Qaeda linked Al Shabab group bombed a Somali airliner which made an emergency landing with a gaping hole on its side, officials said Sunday.

A suspected suicide bomber detonated a bomb allegedly planted in a laptop inside Daallo airlines on early February which damaged the plane’s fuselage. Only one person thought to be the bomber died after he sucked out of the plane. The development comes days after the Turkish national carrier deployed its own security staff at the Mogadishu airport to provide security to company’s planes flying to Mogadishu.

The mysterious mid-air explosion in Daallo Airlines’ aircraft has sent alarm across the world as security experts warned that the attack showed militant group’s desire to add attacks on air transportation into their global jihad catalog. In October last year, a Russian airliner was brought down by a bomb in Egypt’s Sinai, killing all 224 people on board. The ISIS group claimed it was behind the bombing.

Key Headlines

Turkish Airlines Resumes Flights To Mogadishu After Somali Plane Bombing (Hiiraan Online)
Puntland President Fires Top Security Commanders (Garowe Online)
Somalia Marks May 15 National Youth Day (Garowe Online)
Jubaland President Fires First Deputy Replaces With Longtime Opposition (Goobjoog News)
Somalia Police Bust Mogadishu Terror Cell Explosives Displayed (Garowe Online)
Somalia Promotes New Fish Diet To Fight Hunger (Al Jazeera)
Al-Shabaab Militants Flee As Military Onslaught Intensifies In S. Somalia (Xinhua)
War-Weary Somalis Flee For Europe As Rebuilding Comes Too Slow (Bloomberg)
Somali Refugees Deserve Better Than Being Sent Back To Danger (Daily Nation)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Puntland President Fires Top Security Commanders

15 May Source: Garowe Online – 172 Words

The President of Somalia’s Puntland Government Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has fired two senior security commanders in a step towards major police reform on Sunday, Garowe Online reports. Police Boss Abdirizak Mohamud Yusuf, and the commander of Paramilitary Birmadka Forces Osman Hassan Uke were both removed from their posts following a recommendation delivered by a fact-finding committee established by Puntland President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali on May 5.

Ali appointed former Mudug Governor Abdulkadir Shire Farah (Ereg) as a caretaker Police Commissioner. On May 14, Garowe Online learned that Ali was pondering a decision on the two commanders allegedly blamed for responsibility for a crossfire of shootout that left Puntland Security Minister Abdi Hirsi Ali (Qarjab) wounded.

Qarjab is recuperating at a hospital in Djibouti after a shot penetrated into his thigh during gunfire in the base of paramilitary units in Bossaso port city. A commander succumbed to gunshot wounds, and five soldiers sustained injuries in the incident. Puntland President says, the sacking is a key step to implementing a package of security reforms.

Somalia Marks May 15 National Youth Day

15 May Source: Garowe Online – 164 Words

Somalia has staged events in commemoration of National Youth Day, and the 73th anniversary of Somali Youth League (SYL) founding on Sunday, Garowe Online reports. Federal Government of Somalia (FGS)’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud led celebrations in Mogadishu, and laid a wreath at SYL monument in remembrance for independence heroes.

Mohamud later in the day released a statement, extending his congratulations to Somali youth everywhere on the Youth Day, and the beginning of the country’s march to independence. “Today, we are marking the patriotic and heroic role of Somali Youth League (SYL) whose members sacrificed their life for a long struggle to independent Somalia,” President Mohamud said in a statement from his office.
The President urged young Somalis to unite, and rebuild the country as Somalia confronts threats of terrorism.

Founded in 1943, Somali Youth League (SYL) spearheaded the country’s struggle for independence. A colorful event that will bring in most senior politicians is expected to be held at Mogadishu municipality on Sunday evening.

Jubaland President Fires First Deputy, Replaces With Longtime Opponent

15 May Source: Garowe Online – 117 Words

Jubbaland president Ahmed Islam Madobe has fired his first deputy Col Abdullahi Ismael Fartag and replaced him with Mahamud Sayid Aadan, one of the rival politicians who were against the Kismayo-based administration.

In a presidential decree Sunday, Madobe retained second deputy president Abdikadir Haaji Mohamed Yusuf. The development follows reconciliation talks earlier this year between Madobe’s administration and the Marehan clan in the Gedo region which had protested exclusion from the Jubaland dministration. Sources say Fartag fell out with Madobe after the February talks which aimed at including more people from the Gedo region in government where he (Fartag) also hails from. Fartag, the source said, felt threatened by the inclusion of more people from his clan.

Somalia Police Bust Mogadishu Terror Cell, Explosives Displayed

15 May Source: Garowe Online – 149 Words

Somali security forces in Mogadishu have recovered a huge amount of explosive materials to be used for a foiled terror bid overnight on Saturday, Garowe Online reports. Banadir Police Commander Ali Gaab has displayed explosives belonging to Al Shabaab militants to the media. Ali Gaab said, the police busted a militant cell in Mogadishu’s Hawlwadag district where terrorists were preparing explosives.
The seized devices included laptops, explosive-laden cars, and suicide blast chemicals.

“You can see what is lying before you tonight. At every moment, terrorist groups want to harm our country and people.We ask Somali people to provide us with every tip possible,” the security official said at a press briefing in Mogadishu. A list of militants who wanted to execute criminal operations is also now in the hands of security agencies. Security forces have foiled a series of terror bids in the last few weeks in southern Somalia.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somalia Promotes New Fish Diet To Fight Hunger

15 May – Source: Al Jazeera- Video: 2:32 Minutes

War-Weary Somalis Flee For Europe As Rebuilding Comes Too Slow

15 May- Source: Bloomberg – 639 Words

When hundreds of Somalis were reported drowned in the Mediterranean last month, Abdi Deeq didn’t rethink his plans to flee the Horn of Africa nation and risk the illicit crossing to Europe. More than two decades of Somali civil war and a bloody al-Qaeda-aligned insurgency have left the 22-year-old student with little hope his country is becoming safer or more prosperous. Even as the capital, Mogadishu, rebuilds and elections are scheduled this year, near-daily bombings, rampant corruption and few career opportunities mean he’s one of many young Somalis who see moving abroad as their only choice.
“Many students who were my classmates risked their lives going to Europe — some died in the sea and others survived,” Deeq said in an interview in the city. “I am ready to join those friends.”

The exodus doesn’t bode well for Somalia, a country of an estimated 10.5 million people that has been mired in conflict since the late 1980s and is trying to use advances against the Islamist militants to attract investors to rebuild the economy. The departure of youth, who should be playing “a pivotal role in Somalia’s socio-economic progress,” will have a “negative impact” on the country’s development, according to Fadumo Abdi Warsameh, chairwoman of the Somalia National Youth Organisation.

.Al-Shabaab Militants Flee As Military Onslaught Intensifies In S. Somalia

14 May- Source: Xinhua – 163 Words

Fighters from Al-Qaeda linked Al-Shabaab terrorist network on Friday fled from their strongholds in the middle Shabelle region of Southern Somalia following a fierce military onslaught from Somali forces and the African Union troops. Dahir Mohamed, a senior commander in Somali national army, told Xinhua the Al-Shabaab fighters were overpowered by the military operation and retreated to avoid casualties.

“The Al-Shabaab militants fled from towns in middle Shebelle region once they learnt that the military onslaught was so severe,” said Mohamed Eye witnesses also revealed to Xinhua the militants fled from their camps following the military assault. Several towns in southern Somalia have been liberated from Al-Shabaab this year.

Meanwhile, a military operation to flush out Al-Shabaab from their hideouts in the Bakool region of Southwest Somalia will be launched soon. Local officials confirmed to Xinhua the forthcoming military operation is aimed at loosening the grip of Al-Shabaab militants in towns and villages located in southwestern parts of the horn of African nation.

OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE

“People who were born in or who have lived in a refugee camp for 25 years cannot suddenly be expected to go to a country they barely know or remember. The most humane option would be to give them citizenship. This is what Tanzania did with its Burundian refugees.,” suggests Rasna Warah.

Somali Refugees Deserve Better Than Being Sent Back To Danger

16 May – Source: Daily Nation – 712 Words

The reasons the government has given for its sudden decision to close down the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps, which are home to some 600,000 refugees, mostly from Somalia, South Sudan, and other neighbouring countries, are not only baseless but smack of xenophobia and scapegoating. Dr Karanja Kibicho, the principal secretary for the Interior, claims that the refugee camps pose a security risk to Kenya and that the Westgate mall and other terrorist attacks in Kenya were planned at the Dadaab camp.

This claim is unfounded as none of the Westgate terrorists were identified as being from Dadaab. In fact, some of the terrorists named in the more recent attacks were not even Somalis but Kenyans. The principal secretary insists that the refugees will be safe when they return to Somalia because the Kenya Defence Forces “have liberated large swaths of Somalia from the hold of Al-Shabaab” and that even “UN workers traverse much of that liberated country with relative safety”.

What he does not explain is why Kenyan and African Union forces are still in Somalia if the country has returned to normality or why the staff of the UN and other international organisations still travel in armoured cars and are not allowed to leave the relatively safe Green Zone near the airport in Mogadishu. The only place in Somalia that could be considered safe is the self-declared independent state of Somaliland, where there are no Kenyan forces present and which is not likely to take in the refugees. The government says that the camps are neglected due to a shortfall in aid. This may be true now, but a major humanitarian summit is scheduled to take place in Istanbul next week when the international community will make a case for more support and aid for refugees.