November 20, 2012 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Kenyan nationals attack Somalis in Nairobi over bomb attack

19 Nov- Source: Reuters- 70 words

Police fired tear gas to disperse Kenyan nationals who threw stones and broke into the homes and shops of Somalis in Nairobi’s Somali-dominated Eastleigh neighbourhood on Monday to protest against a bomb attack in the district on Sunday. Kenyan nationals blamed Somalis for the blast. At least seven people were killed on Sunday when a bomb tore through a minibus in the Nairobi district often referred to as “Little Mogadishu”.

Key Headlines

  • Rioters attack ethnic Somalis in Nairobi (Radio Mustaqbal/Shabelle/Hiiraan Online)
  • Somali PM expressed concern about killing of journalists (Mogadishu/SONNA)
  • 40 police officers receive training in Beledweyne (Bar-kulan/Universal TV)
  • Tension as gunmen kill 3 soldiers in Garissa North Eastern Kenya (Daily Nation)
  • Kenyan nationals attack Somalis in Nairobi over bomb attack (Reuters)

SOMALI MEDIA

Rioters attack ethnic Somalis in Nairobi

19 Nov- Source: Radio Mustaqbal/Shabelle/Hiiraan Online/Radio Risaala-100 words

Inter-ethnic clashes broke out on Monday in Nairobi over a bus bomb blamed on sympathisers of Somalia’s al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab insurgents, leaving several people wounded. A reporter at the scene said police used tear gas and fired into the air to contain the violence, in Eastleigh, a predominantly Somali district of Nairobi where a bomb that went off on Sunday on a bus killed seven and wounded many more.A day after the blast, non-Somali Kenyans turned on Somalis and attacked their shops and stalls, accusing them of being responsible for the bomb. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast.

Somali PM expressed concern about killing of journalists

19 Nov- Source: Radio Mogadishu/SONNA- 103 words

The premier of the Somali Federal Government, Abdi Farah Shirdon expressed concern about the killing of the journalists and vowed that his government would pursue the journalists’ killers. He urged the journalists to be ethical and professional, avoiding everything that could damage the interest of the nation. Eighteen journalists were killed this year alone in Somalia mostly in the capital and about 20 others injured and there are no perpetrators arrested.

40 police officers receive training in Beledweyne

19 Nov- Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Universal TV/Horn Cable TV- – 90 words

Forty Somali police officers on Monday completed a two-week long training at a camp in central Somali town of Beledweyne.The officers including both senior and junior police officers have been undergoing basic trainings including ethics, how to drive and operate armoury vehicles. Officers from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) were offering the training aimed at equipping Somali police with the necessary skills. Gen. Osman Noor Subagle of AMISOM was earlier quoted as saying that AMISOM will help reconstitute and strengthen Somali forces in the region.

Kenyan police arrest hundreds of Somalis in Nairobi

19 Nov- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 116 words

Kenyan police on Sunday night reportedly conducted a crackdown in Nairobi’s Eastleigh, a suburb that has a large Somali population following a grenade attack in the area. Reports say police conducted door to door search in the neighbourhood and arrested hundreds of Somalis, mainly youths. Hussein Abdi, a Somali national living in Eastleigh told Bar-kulan police raided houses and detained Somali youths without asking for documents to determine their nationality. The Kenyan government has not yet commented on the alleged crackdown against ethnic Somali population in the city. Meanwhile business premises remained closed in Eastleigh, on Monday as police engaged riotous youths in running battles along in parts of the suburb in wake of the explosion.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Tension as gunmen kill 3 soldiers in Garissa, North Eastern Kenya

19 Nov- Source: Daily Nation- 149 words

Three Kenyan soldiers in plainclothes were shot dead by assailants in Garissa on Monday while changing a flat tyre at a car garage. The attack on the soldiers came a day after a bomb was thrown at a moving vehicle in Nairobi killing 10 people.

ATPU blames attack on chief’s camp on al Shabaab remnants

19 Nov- Source: Star (Kenya) – 200 words

Kenyan Police have linked the Friday grenade attack at Ng’omeni chief’s office in Kwale to the al Shabaab militia. According to reports compiled by anti-terrorism police unit, those behind the attack are part of hundreds of Kenyan youth who came back from Somalia after the Kenya Defense Forces successful mission in the country.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Kenyan nationals attack Somalis in Nairobi over bomb attack

19 Nov- Source: Reuters- 70 words

Police fired tear gas to disperse Kenyan nationals who threw stones and broke into the homes and shops of Somalis in Nairobi’s Somali-dominated Eastleigh neighbourhood on Monday to protest against a bomb attack in the district on Sunday. Kenyan nationals blamed Somalis for the blast. At least seven people were killed on Sunday when a bomb tore through a minibus in the Nairobi district often referred to as “Little Mogadishu”.

Kenyan soldiers killed in Garissa gun attack

19 Nov- Source: Reuters- 178 words

At least two Kenyan soldiers who are part of the African Union(AU) peacekeeping force in Somalia were killed in Garissa, a base for security forces in Kenya fighting insurgents in neighbouring Somalia, Kenya’s army spokesman said on Monday.The soldiers were taking their truck for repairs at the town’s main market when they were attacked.”The soldiers that have been killed are Kenyan Defence Force soldiers (who are part of) AMISOM troops,” Colonel Cyrus Oguna, a Kenyan army spokesman, told Reuters, referring to the African Union Mission in Somalia.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“In my opinion, in the long run, Somalia does not need a Federal system because it has a relatively small population, and is too fragile and too homogenous. However, in the current context of clan mistrust and bitterness, the Federal system can be used as an expedient arrangement – a temporary waiting station – towards a unitary state with fiscal and administrative decentralization.”

Somalia: On the Centralist- Federalist Debate

19 Nov- Source: Wardheernews-1206 Words

Sometimes we impulsively legitimize hateful words: hardliner, sectarian, clanist, Islamist, anarchist. At times, we utilize these words quite idly, at other times whimsically. We cock it and unleash it against opinions we don’t like, don’t agree with, or do not comport to our prejudices and caprices. In those rash moments, we feel we are the world, and every opinion must oblige our thinking. We feel we are the way; we are the truth. And the attendant overweening sense of own moral impeccability puts us in an undesirable situation.  We make errors in Judgment. We make mistakes. No one is immune to this. Last week, it was my turn.

The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of AMISOM, and neither does their inclusion in the bulletin/website constitute an endorsement by AMISOM.