November 19, 2018 | Morning Headlines
Somalia: Airstrike Destroys Al-Shabaab Radio Station In Jilib Town
18 November – Source: Garowe Online – 214 Words
A suspected U.S. airstrike has destroyed a key Al-Shabaab-run radio station in a remote part of southern Somalia. The state media reported the militia group’s mouthpiece, Radio Andalus, in the rebel-held Jilib town in Middle Jubba region, was demolished by an air raid which left Al-Shabab journalists working for the station dead.
Somali security officials say the broadcaster was a mobile outfit, which could be moved easily across the areas under the control of extremists, who are fighting to oust the United Nations-backed Federal Government of Somalia. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media, did not provide further details on the Saturday night airstrike.
The Al-Shabaab officials were unavailable for comment on the airstrike, which is the latest in series of aerial bombing in the Horn of Africa country. The U.S. military has carried out dozens of airstrikes this year, including drone strikes, against the al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab terror gang.
Elsewhere, at least one person said to be a government soldier was killed and another injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion outside Mogadishu on Sunday. The blast struck a luxury private vehicle heading from the capital city towards Elasha Biyaha village, along the highway to Afgoye district in Lower Shabelle region.
Key Headlines
- Somalia: Airstrike Destroys Al-Shabaab Radio Station In Jilib Town (Garowe Online)
- Public Private Dialogue Meeting Opens In Mogadishu (Halbeeg News)
- US Ambassador Praises Somali Government Progress (Radio Shabelle)
- Boinnet Denies Claims Shabaab Bribed Police To Cross Border (Daily Nation)
- Somalia Holds First Boxing Competition Since Civil War (AFP)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Public Private Dialogue Meeting Opens In Mogadishu
18 November – Source: Halbeeg News – 263 Words
The first public-private dialogue meeting aimed at stepping up relations between stakeholders from the private and public sectors opened in Mogadishu on Sunday. The forum, which will run for two days, was officially opened by Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire. The event, which is organised by the Ministry of Commerce and the Somali Chamber of Commerce, brings together representatives from government, the business community, civil society and donors.
Speaking at the meeting, Trade Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir said Somali entrepreneurs played a vital role in the healing process of the country, which had been in an anarchy state for decades: “I thank the business community, which took part in the efforts to resolve the economic challenges facing the country. The forum of public-private dialogue has been in operation for one and a half years now, during which tangible progress has been made,” he said.
Private sector development (PSD) plays a crucial role in economic development and poverty alleviation. Somalia’s entrepreneurial private sector community is one of the country’s main assets and an important factor for sustainable development. In fragile states, however, private sector actors face major challenges, such as difficulty in accessing finance, power and markets, as well as poor infrastructure and lack of transparency in the regulatory environment.
In an effort to collectively address these issues, the PPD convened with private and public sector actors to assess and prioritize issues to ultimately achieve positive and sustainable results. The launch is the first step in the process towards building consensus on prioritized issues and building trust between the public and the private sector.
US Ambassador Praises Somali Government Progress
18 November – Source: Radio Shabelle – 136 Words
The new Ambassador of the United States of America to Somalia, Donald Yukio Yamamoto, has welcomed the massive progress made in Somalia. Mr. Yamamoto welcomed the Federal Government of Somalia’s (FGS) efforts and commitment to enhancing foreign relations, reviving the economy, and improving the security sector.
Speaking at a brief function, when he received the credential letters of the new U.S ambassador, President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo separately welcomed Mr. Yamamoto and hoped he will help to strengthen relations between Somalia and the U.S. The U.S is keen at rebuilding its diplomatic links with Somalia since two American Black Hawk helicopters were shot down in Mogadishu in 1993. Mr. Yamamoto was nominated in July this year to replace Mr. Stephen Michael Schwartz, who has been serving as ambassador to Somalia since July 2016.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Boinnet Denies Claims Shabaab Bribed Police To Cross Border
18 November – Source: Daily Nation – 482 Words
Kenya’s Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet has denied reports that police officers at the Kenya-Somalia border were bribed to let terrorists into the country. According to a United Nations report, Kenyan security forces accepted bribes from the terrorists in order to allow five suicide bombers to enter the country in February.
According to the report, investigations into a foiled attack in February 2018 revealed that Al-Shabaab operatives crossed the Kenya-Somalia border five times in three months, detected but unobstructed, by giving Sh2,000 bribes to security forces. But speaking Sunday in Mombasa, Mr Boinnet said reports of police being bribed were “close distortion and exaggeration of the UN report”, adding that “the report was based on the accounts given to the UN by our officers”.
“It has nothing at all of what was depicted by that newspaper. Those kinds of headlines do not help anybody at all but the enemy. The truth of the matter is we worked extremely hard and we do so willingly to protect and secure our people,” said Mr Boinnet in reaction to a Daily Nation report that exposed the “disturbing side of the police”.
The IG further said that the interception of a vehicle which was carrying explosives in Merti, Isiolo County was “not by chance.” Police had, during a routine patrol in Merti in February, arrested two suspected Al-Shabaab operatives — Abdimajit Hasan Adan and Mohammed Nanne Osman — as they drove the vehicle laden with bombs intended for a complex attack in Nairobi, which the UN says would have been the most significant Al-Shabaab attack outside Somalia since the Garissa University College massacre of April 2015.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Because of the conflict in Somalia, many Somali athletes compete internationally for adopted nations. Britain’s most successful track athlete Mo Farah was a Somali refugee, and title-winning female boxer Ramla Ali and her family fled Mogadishu during the war”.
Somalia Holds First Boxing Competition Since Civil War
18 November – Source: AFP – 389 Words
Somalia has held its first boxing competition in more than three decades, with young fighters in the conflict-torn nation dreaming of a career in international rings. The three-day lightweight boxing competition that wrapped up Sunday took place in the capital Mogadishu, where athletes squared off in a ring set up on a basketball court surrounded by ruined buildings that bore witness to the country’s long conflict.
The fighters were cheered by dozens of enthusiastic residents of the capital, many of whom had never seen or heard of boxing before in a country where football and basketball are far more popular, even before the war when such competitions were rare. “Boxing in Somalia stopped after the civil war and it is now reviving with the fact that the country is recovering from the war,” said Awil Gelle Ahmed, deputy chairman of the country’s national boxing federation.
The last Somali competition he could recall was in 1982. “There are significant changes which affect the political and security situation of the country and this competition is part of the changes.” Ahmed said the competition involved four teams of two people, all from Mogadishu as “we don’t have access to other regions in the country.”
The winner was 21-year-old Mustafa Mohamed Nur, who told AFP: “This was a big day for me, I have become the first Somali to win a boxing competition inside the country since the civil war.” Another fighter, 21-year-old Abdiasiz Ali Shirad, said he had begun boxing in 2014. “I want to become like Mohamed Ali and Malik Hawkins so that I can be a national boxer, this is my ambition and I want make my dreams come true,” he said.
Somalia collapsed into civil war in 1991 and since then has endured successive rounds of conflict involving clan-based militias, foreign armies and, latterly, Al-Qaeda affiliated jihadists the Al-Shabaab who stage regular deadly attacks on the capital. Because of the conflict, many Somali athletes compete internationally for adopted nations. Britain’s most successful track athlete Mo Farah was a Somalian refugee, and title-winning female boxer Ramla Ali and her family fled Mogadishu during the war. “I’m very happy to see this development which was missing for a long time. Now that the boxing competition is back I think our boxers can compete with counterparts worldwide,” said spectator Mohamed Ahmed Abdulahi.