November 14, 2013 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Somalia: 360 reportedly dead in Puntland cyclone amid rescue operations

13 Nov- Source: Garowe Online-590 Words
Amid rescue operations, 360 people are reportedly feared dead and the number could reach 400 in Somalia’s northeastern region of Puntland, Garowe Online reports. Puntland Marine Police Forces (PMPF) have been attempting to transport an emergency supplies, consisting of non-perishable food items, tents, medicines and blankets but worst-hit areas became inaccessible after flash floods collapsed an important bridge connecting the capital Garowe to the port city of Bossaso. Puntland Disaster Management and Rescue committee says, flooding is still ongoing as rains have heavily inundated the remote rural areas and the coastal towns at higher level than expected. Rescue teams deployed by the government are also trying to reach the faraway vicinities by donkey carts.

Key Headlines

Somali military court sentences soldier to death(Radio Mogadishu/Dalsan)
Torrential rains cause havoc in Ali Hayr Awdal region(Radio Bar-kulan)
President Museveni promotes 693 UPDF officers( New Vision)
ICRC refurbishes Kismayo General Hospital(Radio Bar-Kulan)
Khalifa receives letter from Somali president (Gulf Today)
In Somalia New Militant Defectors Aid Spy Service( AP/Washington Post)
Somalia’s Hormuud rings up telecom profits despite anarchy(Reuters)

SOMALI MEDIA

Somali military court sentences soldier to death

13 Nov- Source: Radio Mogadishu/Dalsan/Kulmiye/Bar-kulan-110 Words
A military court in Somalia has on Wednesday sentenced a serving Somali soldier to death for deliberately killing another soldier. Abdullahi Mohamed Muse Keyse, the spokesman for the military court told reporters in Mogadishu that Abdirahman Hassan Adow was charged with the murder of a fellow soldier Ismail Ahmed Ali in Mahaday district on October this year. Keyse stated that the convicted soldier was also facing another count of disobeying orders to deploy in the battlefield. He said that the court found him guilty, adding that the soldier has 30 days to appeal the verdict.

Torrential rains cause havoc in Ali Hayr, Awdal region

13 Nov- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 99 words

Reports from Awdal region in Somaliland indicate that torrential rains in the past 70 hours have injured two people in Ali Hayr location. Mohamed Aw-Ahmed Ateye, an official from the local council in Baki village told Bar-kulan that the heavy downpours have injured two civilians while destroying over 116 houses in the area. He said that unconfirmed number of livestock had also been killed or are missing.
He added that many of the affected are now confined to a school building in Ali Hayr, asking authorities to provide emergency aid.

Somalia: 360 reportedly dead in Puntland cyclone amid rescue operations

ICRC refurbishes Kismayo General Hospital

13 Nov- Source: Bar-kulan-125 Words
International Committee of the Red Cross has started renovation work on the main hospital in the port city of Kismayu in Lower Jubba region. Ahmed Sadak is one of the hospital staff and he tells Bar-kulan that the renovation process is expected to continue in the next two weeks. He said that there will be a second phase of refurbishment work in the near future to rebuild the badly damaged parts of the hospital. Sadak thanked ICRC, saying that the hospital was in bad shape and the renovation work was greatly needed. Some of the residents of the city who spoke to Bar-kulan expressed their satisfaction with the work of ICRC on the hospital which has not seen decent services in the last five years.

REGIONAL MEDIA

President Museveni promotes 693 UPDF officers

13 Nov- Source: New Vision-100 Words
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has promoted and commissioned UPDF officers to ranks ranging between Brigadier and 2nd Lieutenant. The promoted officers include brigadiers Dick Olum, the Commander of the Ugandan Contingent in Somalia and Matthew Gureme, the Chief of Staff of the Uganda Rapid Deployment Capability Centre. Among those retired are Maj. Gen. Benon Biraro, Brig. Bernard Rwehururu and the Ssabanyala, Baker Sebaggala Kimeze. The UPDF public information officers were also promoted to ranks ranging between Major and Lieutenant. They include Henry Obbo, Chris Magezi, Stanley Malisaba, Ronald Kakurungu and Robert Kamara, who has just returned from Somalia.

Khalifa receives letter from Somali president

13 Nov- Source: Gulf Today/WAM- 61 words

Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has received a letter from Hassan Shaikh Mohamud, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, dealing with bilateral relations and the situation in Somalia. The letter was delivered to Dr Anwar Bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, when he received on Tuesday his Somali counterpart, Dr Mohamed Nour Ja’al.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

In Somalia, New Militant Defectors Aid Spy Service

13 Nov- Source: AP/Washington Post/ABC News-665 Words
Abdi Ali is awakened by a text message alert asking for urgent help: Five militants on a civilian bus are on the way to Mogadishu. A former al Shabaab foot soldier, Ali has defected from the Islamic extremist group and now helps Somalia’s intelligence agency hunt down militants. The job is dangerous: Ali’s former militant colleagues now hope to kill him and other defectors like him. Ali does a quick scan around his neighborhood before scurrying along a dirt road and jumping into a car with tinted windows. The car drives to a government checkpoint where Ali helps soldiers search cars. “We have moles reporting their activities in their ranks. They’re coming,” Ali says. Moments later he receives a second text message that says the militants have changed their route. Nearby his colleagues frisk a man for explosives or a gun. The suspect is arrested and driven away. “They come through here and get arrested, but many slip through every day,” Ali said. “The city has many entrances they can use.”

Somalia’s Hormuud rings up telecom profits despite anarchy

13 Nov- Source: Reuters/Yahoo News-449 Words
Hormuud Telecom Somalia, one of the largest mobile operators in the country, plans to halve rates from the current $0.02 per minute once a newly laid fibre optic cable network is functional, its chief executive said on Wednesday. The company has been operating since 2002 despite the anarchy that has plagued Somalia, and has survived over the years only because of the warring parties’ need for communications, chief executive Ahmed Yuusuf said. The company makes some $40 million in turnover annually, although the average revenue per user is a mere $2 from its 2 million subscribers, Yuusuf said. Since 2005, the firm has lost more than 50 employees to the shelling and gunfire that have bedevilled Mogadishu and much of the Horn of Africa country for 22 years. Fighting has eased markedly of late since Islamist al Shabaab militia were driven out of Mogadishu, with life for many Somalis quieting down and many diaspora Somalis coming back, but sporadic guerrilla attacks persist.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“A forthcoming Al Jazeera documentary takes an in-depth look at the grievances that Kenyan-Somalis have toward the Kenyan government and how al Qaeda-affiliated group al Shabaab is taking advantage of this to establish a foothold in the region.”

New film investigates al Shabaab and the Somali-Kenyan divide

13 Nov- Source: News24-555 Words

In Not Yet Kenyan, Al Jazeera correspondent, Mohammed Adow, travels to his hometown of Garissa to investigate the growing division between Kenyans and Somalis, as well as the escalating violence caused by serious insecurity in the region. As a past victim of the Kenyan government’s actions against ethnic Somalis, Mohammed asserts that the horrific massacre at Westgate Mall, although shocking, was not surprising. Following Kenya’s invasion of Somalia in 2011, there have been more than 100 attacks in the country by al Shabaab and its sympathizers. Local resident, Omar Yusef, says, “We feel very insecure, bearing in mind the police station is just 300 meters away. Killing someone is becoming as easy as slaughtering a chicken, so you keep on counting your days. If you wake up tomorrow, just thank God.” Another resident holds the government accountable and vents his anger to Mohammed: “I blame our government, which sent its troops to Somalia and let al Shabaab fighters loose on us. It’s the government that is to blame.”