May 3, 2012 | Morning Headlines.
Dhusa Mareb blast victims airlifted to Ethiopia
02 May – Source: Radio Bar-kulan, Shabelle, Radio Kulmiye – 133 words
Seven victims of the recent suicide attack in central Somali town of Dhusa Mareb have been airlifted to Addis Ababa for further treatments, reports say. A chartered private plane transported the victims from Guri’el town to Addis Ababa, according to the area district commissioner, Osman Isse Noor. Among the airlifted victims are the former Information Minister Ahmed Abdisalan and politicians Hussein Samatar and Abdirizack Issack Bihi, both MP’s.
Key Headlines
- Somaliland ban political demonstrations (Source: Garowe Online)
- Somalia PM plans constitutional government by August (Source: VOA News)
- US steps up training for African force in Somalia (Source: New Vision)
- Al Shabaab recruits students in Kismayo (Source: Radio Bar-Kulan)
- VP Saylici opens a new passenger terminal at Hargeisa International Airport (Source: Somaliland Press)
SOMALI MEDIA
Dhusa Mareb blast victims airlifted to Ethiopia
02 May – Source: Radio Bar-kulan, Shabelle, Radio Kulmiye – 133 words
Seven victims of the recent suicide attack in central Somali town of Dhusa Mareb have been airlifted to Addis Ababa for further treatments, reports say. A chartered private plane transported the victims from Guri’el town to Addis Ababa, according to the area district commissioner, Osman Isse Noor. Among the airlifted victims are the former Information Minister Ahmed Abdisalan and politicians Hussein Samatar and Abdirizack Issack Bihi, both MP’s.
Somaliland ban political demonstrations
02 May – Source: Garowe Online – 221 words
Days after opposition leaders were arrested in Hargeisa, the Somaliland government has banned all political demonstrations. On Tuesday, 3 officials from 3 different political parties were arrested by a special response team organized to break up the protests before they began. The officials who were Ali Borsed, deputy leader of the Democratic party, Fowzia Haji Aden leader of the NDB and leader of the Jamhuriya party Mohamed Odawa. The leaders were released a few hours after the arrest.
Al Shabaab recruits students in Kismayo
02 May – Source: Bar-kulan – 116 words
Al Shabaab in the port city of Kismayo is forcibly recruiting students from schools in the city, reports say. Militant leaders on Wednesday visited Ahmed Ibnu Hambal School and ordered teachers to line-up over 50 students to be registered militant training’s. Militants forcefully assembled young boys for registrations after the school administration remained reluctant to the rebel order.
VP Saylici opens a new passenger terminal at Hargeisa International Airport
02 May – Source: Somaliland Press – 147 words
Vice President Abdirahman Abdillahi Ismael (Saylici) officially opened a newly Build Terminal at Hargeisa International Airport. Speaking during the opening of a new terminal and the ground-breaking ceremony for a new runway at Hargeisa International Airport, VP Saylici said it was a landmark event for the revival of the fortunes of the country.
REGIONAL MEDIA
President Kibaki urges EU to back repatriation of Somalis
02 May- Source: Capital News- 591 words
President Mwai Kibaki has called on the international community to facilitate voluntary repatriation of Somali refugees to safer areas in their country that have so far been liberated from al Shabaab militants.
US steps up training for African force in Somalia
02 May – Source: New Vision – 160 wrds
At a training camp in Uganda, a dozen soldiers crouch, weapons raised as they make their way down a dirt road between shipping containers set up to look like buildings in the Somali capital. Standing by, observing the Ugandan troops at work, is a U.S. marine, Major Mark Haley.
“Here is where we are going to teach urban warfare, how to fight building to building,” Haley said as the Ugandans moved between containers scrawled with graffiti reading “City of Death” and “Hell Zone”.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UN expert on human rights urges restoration of justice system
02 May – Source: UN News Center – 490 words
An independent United Nations expert today urged Somalia’s authorities to restore a legitimate justice system in the capital, Mogadishu, and in the country’s southern and central regions, with assistance from the international community.
Coming face to face with Somalia’s al Shabaab
02 May – Source: BBC News – 1,700 words
Freelance journalist Hamza Mohamed recounts the day he was able to put a human face to the Somali Islamist insurgent group al Shabaab, in this article published in the latest issue of the BBC’s Focus on Africa magazine.
There is shelling not far from the hotel where I am staying. At the break of dawn I will be making my way out of Mogadishu and into al Shabaab-controlled Elasha Biyaha, to meet the group’s media coordinator.
Somali PM plans constitutional government by August
02 May – Source: VOA News – 590 words
The TFG is making preparations to hand over power to an elected government in August. The surprising development is being engineered by a Somali-American technocrat intent on ending his native country’s reputation as a failed state.
Somali community mourns victims of suicide bombing
02 May – Source: Ottawa Citizen News – 226 words
Members of Ottawa’s Somali community are mourning the death of a Somali member of Parliament and wounding of a former community leader following a suicide bombing in the central Somali town of Dusamareb on Tuesday.
Ahmed Abdisalaam Haaji Adan, a former Ottawa resident, was wounded in the attack and is reported to be in hospital, although the extent of his injuries cannot be confirmed.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“When Ugandan troops arrived in Mogadishu as the first AMISOM contingent, and were later joined by Burundi, the Somalis didn’t think they would ever eject Al Shabaab from the city.There was good reason for it. Several of the young militants in Al Shabaab grew up in war and in the ruins of Mogadishu. They know the mangled city like the back of their hands.Al Shabaab, AMISOM officers will tell you, is one of the most accomplished urban guerilla outfits in the world”.
The madness and chaos of Somalia is good: Tales from a broken country
02 May- Source: Daily Nation- 708 words
I just returned from the Somalia capital, Mogadishu. I got the first taste of Somalia in the departure lounge of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
The lounge was full of Somalis who were to take the flight, and they were quite rowdy. Some passengers would leave the lounge and walk into the embarkation area to look out for “our plane” as if it were a matatu.
Yet, that was nothing compared to what happened in Mogadishu on the return leg. Total madness and chaos. Inside the airport was as bad, because the place was full of hustlers.
Even to get a departure card, there is a fixer trying to make a cut.We went to Villa Somalia, a high security area because that is where the offices of President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali are located.
Outside the Villa Somalia compound, the place looked like a market. There were all sorts of people sitting around on benches and on the grass, arguing, laughing, and making noise.