May 18, 2016 | Morning Headlines
AMISOM And NISA Claim Victory Over Barire Attack
17 May – Source: Shabelle News – 158 Words
The command of African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has claimed victory inMonday’s joint attack on Al-Shabaab base in Barire town in Lower Shabelle region. According to statement posted on AMISOM Twitter, the mission said AU troops and Somalia’s newly trained Danab (Lighting) soldiers dislodged Al-Shabaab from their check point near Barire Bridge, Lower Shabelle region.
The allied forces have pushed Al-Shabaab militants out of the town and set up bases in and outside the area to prevent possible future attacks by the militants. AMISOM says they will continue degrading Al-Shabaab in Somalia and appeal for continued support for lasting peace and stability in the horn of Africa country.
On its part, the National Intelligence and Security Agency of Somalia (NISA) said attack on Barire was a big blow to Al-Shabaab as they lost a key stronghold. NISA reported in a Twitter post that Somalia’s special forces, Danab, successfully launched a joint air and ground offensive against Al-Shabaab in Lower Shabelle.
Key Headlines
- AMISOM And NISA Claim Victory Over Barire Attack (Shabelle News)
- Residents Flee Barire Town Fearing New Clashes (Goobjoog News)
- Four Killed As Clan Clashes Erupt In Beledweyne Town (Hiiraan Online)
- Al-Shabaab Beheads Man In Central Somalia (Shabelle News)
- Finland Says Refugees Can Return To Safe Afghanistan Iraq Somalia (Voice of America)
- Proposed Bill Seeks To Restrict Entry Into Kenya’s Refugee Camps (The Star)
- Two Bodies Found Near Sea Shore In Egypt’s Kafr El-Sheikh (Ahram Online)
- Kuwait Reiterates Support To Somalia’s Anti-terror Efforts (Kuwait News Agency)
- Sending Away Refugees Won’t Stop Attacks (Daily Nation)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Residents Flee Barire Town Fearing New Clashes
17 May – Source: Goobjoog News – 230 Words
Hundreds of families have fled their houses in Barire town, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Somalia’s capital fearing fighting between Al-Shabaab fighters and Somali forces backed by African union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops.
Somalia’s intelligence agency tweeted on Monday that commandos from the U.S.trained Danab unit had begun an offensive prompting hours of heavy fighting between the sides. “There are so many fighters and weapons in Barire town,” said a resident in the locality. “Some people have started fleeing the areas for fear of the fighting. Most people are saying they have no option but to move in the outskirts of the town.
Reports coming from areas near Barire town indicate that the fighters of Al-Shabaab and Somali forces had assembled and were only waiting for the fighting whistle to be blown. Mohamed (not his real name) in Barire town has confirmed to Goobjoog News that there is high tension in area, which forced many people to flee from Barire locality as fighting could kick off at any time.
“People have left the town. They have been moving out the whole the day, however the areas where want to temporarily settle have no drinking water. Tension is high as the two sides are getting reinforcement” he said.
Four Killed As Clan Clashes Erupt In Beledweyne Town
17 May – Source: Hiiraan Online – 163 Words
At least four people have been killed in ongoing clashes between two rival clan militias in the central Somali town of Beledweyne, witnesses said on Tuesday. The fighting involving Galje’el and Jajele clans’ militiamen erupted in Howlwadaag neighborhood following two separate killings of two men by attackers suspected to be from the two sides this week.
“I saw four dead bodies; the number of casualties may increase.” One witness told Hiiraan Online by phone. Militiamen from the two clans have previously also clashed over control of pastureland in the town. The number of causalities on both warring sides so far remains unclear, however, witnesses reported chaotic scenes in the town as the two sides exchanged gunfire. Clan rivalry and civil unrest started in the horn of Africa country after warlords overthrew the central government in 1991, leading to a perpetual civil strife that has since claimed thousands of lives of Somalis.
Al-Shabaab Beheads Man In Central Somalia
17 May – Source: Shabelle News – 93 Words
The Al Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militants have been accused of beheading a civilian at an area near the central town of Bulo-Burde. Speaking to Radio Shabelle, Bulo-Burde District Commissioner Abdiaziz Durow Abdi said the militants detained and beheaded an innocent man outside the town.
He said security forces of Somalia’s Federal Government were currently investigating the murder and will bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice as soon as possible. Al-Shabaab claimed the killing of the man, whom they have accused of spying on them for Somali and Ethiopian troops based in Bulu-Burde town in Hiiraan region.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Finland Says Refugees Can Return To Safe Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia
17 May – Source: Voice of America – 381 Words
Finland tightened restrictions on giving residence permits to asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia on Tuesday, saying it was now largely safe for them to return to their war-torn homes. Authorities in Helsinki, where anti-immigration political groups have been on the rise, said security had improved to such an extent that refugees would generally not be at risk in any parts of the three countries, despite the running conflicts.
There was no immediate reaction from refugee agencies. But the statement by the Finnish Immigration Service came in the face of a string of international assessments of the scale of the ongoing bloodshed and refugee crisis: “It will be more difficult for applicants from these countries to be granted a residence permit,” the immigration service said in a statement.
“It is currently possible for asylum seekers to return to all areas in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia without the ongoing armed conflicts as such presenting a danger to them only because they are staying in the country.” Asylum seekers would now only be allowed to stay if they could prove that they were individually at risk.
Somalia has been slowly recovering from more than two decades of war. But the government is still fighting an Islamist insurgency by the militant group al Shabaab, which regularly launches gun and bomb attacks in the capital Mogadishu and other cities. Islamic State still holds key cities and vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq which it seized in 2014. Despite battlefield setbacks over the past year, the militants have continued to attack civilians in areas under government control including a string of attacks last week in and around the capital that killed more than 100 people.
Proposed Bill Seeks To Restrict Entry Into Kenya’s Refugee Camps
17 May – Source: The Star – 241 Words
People who enter refugee camps without permission and address more than five refugees risk a Ksh 200,000 (about US$ 2,000) fine or five years in jail, or both. A bill to repeal The Refugee Act 2006, sponsored by Ndhiwa MP Agostino Neto, may have been driven by the Kenya government’s stand that terrorists are sneaking into the camps to plan attacks.
The bill demands thorough vetting of individuals. Allegations of attacks being planned from refugee camps, especially Dadaab in northern Kenya, have compelled the government to repatriate all its occupants and shut it by the end of November. Dadaab is near the Somalia border, hosting more than 300,000 refugees.
“No person other than the competent authority, an authorised officer or the settlement officer, may, in a designated area, address an assembly or meeting of more than five asylum seekers or refugees,” reads Neto’s bill. The bill requires the government to put in place well-structured systems of administration in hosting refugees right from their adoption to voluntary repatriation, unlike the previous Act. For instance, there are established authorised entry points for refugees into Kenya under refugee reception officers who thoroughly vet asylum seekers.
The officers will be working closely with the National Eligibility Committee headed by commissioner for refugee affairs and other offices concerned with refugees. Neto’s bill proposes a Kenya Refugees’ Trust Fund, created and supervised by at most eight trustees and chaired by the commissioner for refugees.
Two Bodies Found Near Sea Shore In Egypt’s Kafr El-Sheikh
17 May – Source: Ahram Online – 100 Words
The bodies of a 20-year-old Egyptian and a young Somali man were found near the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt’s Kafr El-Sheikh governorate in the north of the Nile Delta on Monday, state news agency MENA reported.
The bodies were found in Borg Meghezil village in the Metobas region. It is not clear how the two young men drowned. A report was filed and the prosecution will conduct investigations. In May of last year, five migrants were found on a beach after drowning, also in the same governorate, after they reportedly attempted to migrate to Europe by sea.
Kuwait Reiterates Support To Somalia’s Anti-terror Efforts
17 May – Source: Kuwait News Agency – 118 Words
Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah reiterated support to the Somali Government in all efforts it is exerting to combat terrorism.
Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled made this remark during a meeting with visiting Somali Defense Minister General Abdulkadir Sheikh Dini, at the Foreign Ministry Diwan on Tuesday. The Somali minister, meanwhile, expressed appreciation to Kuwait’s ongoing backing to Somalia’s efforts in securing stability in the country.
The meeting was attended by Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Mohammad Khaled Al-Kheder, his deputy Lieutenant General Sheikh Abduallah Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Assistant Foreign Minister for the Foreign Minister’s office Ambassador Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah and a number of senior officials at the Foreign Ministry.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“Sending refugees and asylum seekers back to Somalia, for example, where they will be exposed to Al-Shabaab’s brutality, the reason some of them fled the country in the first place, is both reckless and irresponsible. It hardly rings as a humane act.” – Gitaa Nyasani, a security and terrorism analyst based in Melbourne, Australia.
Sending Away Refugees Won’t Stop Attacks
17 May – Source: Daily Nation – 601 Words
The Kenyan government appears committed in its latest effort to close Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps. The main premise of its argument is that terrorist groups such as Al-Shabaab have been and continue to use the camps, especially Dadaab, as a recruitment and planning base as well as a staging post for executing terrorist attacks.
The government seems to believe that somehow closing the refugee camps will reduce, if not prevent, future terrorist attacks. The fact of the matter is that closing down the refugee camps will be of no practical significance in deterring future terrorist attacks. The insinuation that there is a nexus between the existence of the refugee camps and increased incidents of terrorism is, at the very least, tenuous.
I do not think the refugee camps present any greater a security challenge or threat than the sprawling informal settlements in urban centres such as Nairobi would, for example. The major difference is that the refugee camps happen to be located in far-flung corners of the country where the presence of security agencies is light on the ground, if not non-existent.
Pursuit of clan dominance by various warring factions in Somalia in the early 1990s following the overthrow of Siad Barre put the country on a trajectory to self-destruction. Since then, and despite regional and global peace efforts, the country has been swinging hopelessly between chaos and utter anarchy. The country has not had a stable government for decades now.
Dadaab camp is home to more than 400,000 refugees, nearly 60 per cent of them children under the age of 18. The camp has been a home away from home for hundreds of thousands of refugees and asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa fleeing war, persecution, and hunger. It is reasonable to make the assumption that most of the refugees and asylum seekers still in the camps and those who have managed to find a permanent home in other countries greatly appreciate the hospitality extended to them by our country. It is the right thing to do, extending a hand to those in desperate need.