November 13, 2012 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Somalis protest al Qaeda’s call for sustained al Shabaab war

12 Nov – Source: Bar-kulan/Raxanreeb/Somaliweyn – 90 words

Hundred of furious Mogadishu residents on Monday took to the streets in protest of recently released audio message from al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri urging its affiliate militant group in Somalia to continue fighting foreign troops in the country. The demonstration against al Qaeda leader’s call for sustained al Shabaab fighting in the country which was organised by Somalia based Centre for Community Dialogue (CCD) was attended by several top Somali military officials. Protesters accused the al Qaeda leader for trying to encourage the militant group to further destabilise and ruin the country’s future.

Key Headlines

Somalis protest al Qaeda’s call for sustained al Shabaab war (Bar-kulan/Raxanreeb/Somaliweyn)
Al Shabaab ambushes Ethiopian convoy outside Baidoa (Shabelle)
More officials leave Somaliland for Mogadishu (Somalilanpdpress)
State given 7 days on Garissa TFG soldiers (Star)
Ethiopia-Somalia: The cost of being a good neighbour (IRIN News)

SOMALI MEDIA

Somalis protest al Qaeda’s call for sustained al Shabaab war

12 Nov – Source: Bar-kulan/Raxanreeb/Somaliweyn – 90 words

Al Shabaab ambushes Ethiopian convoy outside Baidoa

12 Nov – Source: Shabelle – 109 words

Heavily armed al Shabaab fighters reportedly ambushed a military convoy carrying Ethiopian forces outside Baidoa, Somalia’s third largest city, 250 km northwest Mogadishu. Local residents said mortar and gunfire were heard around Awdinle, a small town just 15 km east of Baidoa following the ambush on Monday, causing unknown casualties on both sides. “I saw an Ethiopian military vehicle burning and dead bodies lying nearby at Awdinle area, after the fighting stopped,” said a resident.

Rights group warns of gross human rights violation in Kismayo

12 Nov – Source: Bar-kulan – 105 words

A local human rights watchdog, Fanole human Rights, has warned of gross human rights violations in the port city of Kismayo. The group’s head Ali Bashi Abdullahi told Bar-kulan that locals in Kismayo are being subjected to torture, rape and unnecessary arrests by “irresponsible people” in the city. He said several people are now being held in custody without being charged in court, adding that several women who were mistreated are now undergoing treatments in the area hospital. “The people of Kismayo were tired of such suffering during the al Shabaab rule and the same continues even after the fall of the rebel rule,” he said.

Somali Leaders Converge on Kismayo to Form Jubbaland State

12 Nov- Source: Suna Times/ Dissent Nation-272 Words

The signatories of the Jubbaland state-building project facilitated by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development have converged on the port city of Kismayo, in Somalia’s Lower Jubba province, to formalize and complete the process that will usher in the country’s youngest federal entity. The new state of Jubbaland will encompass the provinces of Lower Jubba, Middle Jubba, and Gedo, with its capital in the Middle Jubba town of Buale. If it succeeds in reconciling and securing all of those provinces, Jubbaland will be the second officially recognized federal state in Somalia. Currently, only Puntland is designated as a state according to the federal constitution since it is the only administration that meets the minimum two-province requirement for statehood.

More officials leave Somaliland for Mogadishu

12 Nov – Source: Somaliland Press – 107 words

At least three former Somaliland officials have arrived this week in Mogadishu and are expected to join the new government of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. The former vice-chairman of Somaliland’s ruling Kulmiye party, Abdirahman Abdiqadir Farah, is in the Somali capital to take up a key role. According to reports in Mogadishu, he is speculated to become the new minister of state for internal affairs, which sees him head the ministry of interior. Another official that has left Hargeisa is Mohamud Rage Ibrahim, the former Director-General of Somaliland’s Foreign ministry. Mr Ibrahim is rumored he will be appointed as the new Director-General of Somalia’s Ministry of Social Affairs.

REGIONAL MEDIA

State given 7 days on Garissa TFG soldiers

12 Nov- Source: The Star (Kenya)-332 Words

The government has been given a week to remove Somali government soldiers from the Garissa Provincial General Hospital. Giving the ultimatum, community leaders and clerics in Garissa said they pose a major security threat. Dujis MP Aden Duale supported the resolution by the leaders at a meeting at a local hotel at the weekend. He asked the government to remove the 80 soldiers being admitted at the hospital, saying the facility is unguarded, exposing patients to attacks.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Ethiopia-Somalia: The cost of being a good neighbour

12 Nov – Source: IRIN News – 120 words

Ethiopians would like to continue to be good Samaritans to the hundreds of thousands seeking refuge from drought and conflict in neighbouring Somalia, but massive camps in fragile environments have sparked concern among both the government and the people sharing space with the refugees. “We have had a million refugees at one time,” said Ayalew Awoke, Ethiopia’s deputy director for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA), the government’s refugee agency. Ayalew helped establish ARRA more than two decades ago. “But the environmental damage these camps have done to our environment is irreversible – wooded areas have turned into barren land, as happened in Hartisheikh near Jijiga [in the southern Somali region], which hosted more than 200,000 Somalis at one stage.”

SOCIALMEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“In Somaliland’s early days, it was impossible to see Somalilanders fought in Kismayo or held ministerial posts in Mogadishu driving cars in Hargiesa! The national Act, recently scrapped by the parliament, namely the Non-Participation in Somalia’s political process has encouraged massive flight by Somalilanders to Mogadishu.”

Is There Anybody Out There Who Cares About Recognition, Nationhood, and Independence?

12 Nov- Source: Waaheen-1414 Words

“What comes from the lips reaches the lips and what comes from the heart reaches the heart” I wrote this article out of patriotism when I saw evil forces tearing Somaliland, my country, apart. My country has place in my heart. It’s an article meant to bring the upheavals occurring back in home to the attention of all sons and daughters of Somaliland. Somaliland is all time low, so we must keep the long struggle that begun in early 80s until Somaliland become reality on the ground; setbacks along the untraveled territory can’t discourage us. We will persevere until outright independence— Somaliland’s recognition is at no distant. But fair criticism is an essential part of our democracy to rectify.