May 30, 2012 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Somali president escapes Islamist ambush unhurt

29 May – Source: Jowhar Online/Mareeg Online/Hiiraan Online/BBC Somali Service – 58 words

Somalia’s president Sharif Shekh Ahmed escaped an ambush unharmed Tuesday as Al-Qaeda linked Shabaab fighters attacked his armoured convoy in territory recently wrested from the extremists, officials said. “Desperate terrorist militants tried to disturb the visit of the president at the Afgoye corridor by ambushing his convoy, but security forces repulsed them,” said Somali security official Mohamed Moalim.

Key Headlines

Somali rebels ambush presidential convoy no casualties (Source: Reuters/VOA/Washington Post/Global Post)
President Sharif visits Afgoye corridor for the first time ( Source: Bar-kulan)
Kenyan Police release photo of suspect in Kenyan capital blast (Source: Daily Nation)
“Turkey has fulfilled all promises made to Somalia” (Source: Turkish Press)
Somali business community urged to invest local sport ( Source: Somaliweyn)
Six officials from Djibouti arrive in Beledweyne (Source: Bar-kulan)
Pirates make phone threats to hostages’ families as ransom unpaid (Source: National)

SOMALI MEDIA

Somali president escapes Islamist ambush unhurt

29 May – Source: Jowhar Online/Mareeg Online/Hiiraan Online/BBC Somali Service – 58 words

President Sharif visits Afgoye corridor for the first time

29 May – Source: Bar-kulan – 125 words

President of Somalia, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed along with some of his cabinet members and military officers on Tuesday visited Afgoye corridor and the market town of Elasha Biyaha. It is the first visit of President Ahmed to Lower Shabelle region since he became president; he talked to the people in Elasha Biyaha urging them to reopen their businesses and asking them to cooperate with the government and AMISOM security officials.

Somali business community urged to invest in local sport

29 May – Source: Somaliweyn – 148 words

The president of the national Olympic committee of Somalia Duran Ahmed Farah has called on Somalia’s business companies to help the development of Somali sport in terms of financing the local sports activities.

“There is no any sport in the world that goes without sponsorship, so on behalf of the Somali National Olympic committee I urge the Somali business communities in and outside Somalia to help invest our sport so that we can over come the challenges ahead” the Somali NOC president Duran Ahmed Farah said.

Six officials from Djibouti arrive in Beledweyne

29 May – Source: Bar-kulan – 107 words

Six Djiboutian officials on Tuesday arrived in Beledweyne city to make way for Djiboutian peacekeepers to be deployed in Beledweyne as part of African peacekeeping mission in Somalia. The officials met with TFG and Ethiopian military commanders and officials from the city before they were escorted to military basis in the town. No official statement has been released so far regarding the discussions between the sides.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Kenyan Police release photo of suspect in Kenyan capital blast

29 May- Source: Daily Nation- 194 words

Police have circulated a photograph of a suspect they believe was behind Monday’s blast in Nairobi that left 33 people injured.

Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the man, Emrah Erdogan, is believed to have entered Kenya from Somalia on May 3 and appealed to the public to volunteer information.

Pirates make phone threats to hostages’ families as ransom unpaid

29 May- Source: National- 678 words

Their telephones ring day and night, with Somali pirates on the other end threatening to beat their loved ones, force them to stand in the sun and go without food.

Incessant and increasing numbers of phone calls have alarmed the wives, children, cousins and other relatives of the 22 hostages on board the MV Albedo with continuous demands for ransom.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somali rebels ambush presidential convoy, no casualties

29 May – Source: Reuters/VOA/Washington Post/Global Post – 124 words

Somalia’s al Shabaab rebels ambushed an armored convoy carrying the country’s president during a rare overland trip outside the capital on Tuesday, a Reuters witness said. President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was unharmed in the attack which occurred on the outskirts of Elasha town, located between Mogadishu and the former rebel stronghold of Afgoye, about 30 km (18 miles) northwest of the city.

“Turkey has fulfilled all promises made to Somalia”

29 May – Source: Turkish Press – 125 words

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu delivered a speech at a gathering of representatives of Somali civil society groups in Istanbul on Sunday, emphasizing that that resolving the conflict situation in Somalia was one of Turkey’s highest foreign policy priorities.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

““Operation Linda Nchi” (“Protect the Nation”), which began in October, was sold to Kenya with the same “offense as defense” playbook that took the United States into war with Iraq. Ministers assured Kenyans that the invasion would be quick and easy, focused on the “hot pursuit” of kidnappers and pirates who had been terrorizing Kenya’s northern coast. Like the promises of a slam dunk in Iraq, none of those projections have been true. Eight months on, the fight against Al Shabab — which even Somalia’s president has called “unwelcome” — is proceeding with only middling success.”

Kenya’s Forever War

29 May – Source: NY Times Blog – 557 Words

A bomb exploded in downtown Nairobi on Monday — the eighth such attack in as many months. It was a far more sophisticated operation than the makeshift grenades that have been tossed from moving cars and into small churches and bars in the recent past. This bomb was big enough to send at least 30 Kenyans to the hospital.Arriving on the scene to cries of “baba” (“father”), Prime Minister Raila Odinga called the attackers “cowards” and swore, “Kenya will not surrender to terrorists.” The malefactors had not been identified, but he already reasoned that the responsible parties “want to scare investments, they want to scare tourists, they want to scare the people of this country generally.”