October 1, 2013 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Somali Parliament discusses motion on its standing orders

30 Sept – Source: Raxanreeb/SNTV/Dalsan – 85 words

Somalia federal parliament has started on Monday to discuss its laws after the house members tabled a motion to amend it, RBC reports. According to parliament secretary, the house started to discuss a motion on the house after some members have violated, he said. Other members who spoke with RBC before Monday’s sitting stated that the main issues on the motion will be about the work schedule of the house and also preventing absenteeism of the members from major parliament sessions.

Key Headlines

Somali Parliament discusses motion on its standing orders (Raxanreeb/SNTV/Dalsan)
Government committee meets elders in Beled-Weyne (Bar-kulan)
Five killed in Kenya refugee camps (Raxanreeb/Radio Star)
District administrations set to be created in Galgadud says governor (Bar-kulan)
Kenyan intelligence warned of terror threat before attack (Daily Monitor)
Somaliland” Lasanod Municipality Clears Hawkers from Town Streets (Somaliland Sun)
Briton freed without charge after Kenya mall attack (AFP)
UN raised red flag over terrorists (Daily Nation)
‘White Widow did not lead Nairobi’s Westgate mall bloodbath Somalia’s al Shabaab Islamists say’(News Online)
Turkish aid in Somalia: the irresistible appeal of boots on the ground (The Guardian)
MI5 fears over 60 Somali jihad plotters in UK (Express News)

SOMALI MEDIA

Somali Parliament discusses motion on its standing orders

30 Sept – Source: Raxanreeb/SNTV/Dalsan – 85 words

Government committee meets elders in Beled-Weyne

30 Sept – Source: Bar-kulan – 92 words

A committee from the Somali Federal government’s interior ministry has today met with elders and intellectuals of Somali central region of Hiiraan in Beled-weyne. The meeting was discussed ways to form an inclusive regional administration in the area, the meeting will be discussed on how Al-Shabaab rebel group can be dislodged from the rest of the region where it still remains active. General Director of interior and internal security of the Somali government Abdi Abti-don Halane told Bar-kulan that the meeting is aimed to bring together the different parts of the community.

Five killed in Kenya refugee camps

30 Sept – Source: Raxanreeb/Radio Star – 82 words

At least five civilians were confirmed dead after gunmen shot them in the Northeastern Kenya refugee camp of IFO on Sunday night, RBC reports. The shooting took place at a teashop where people were chatting, according to residents. In another incident unidentified men threw a hand grenade at Dhagahley refugee camp, which is the second refugee camp in Kenya wounding five others. The Kenyan police forces were reportedly reached the area and begun investigations as the assailants fled from the area.

District administrations set to be created in Galgadud, says governor

30 Sept – Source: Bar-kulan – 96 words

Galgadud region governor Hussein Ali Wehelie (Cirfo) stated that there is ongoing process of creating district administrations as the term of the incumbent district administrators run out. Speaking to Bar-kulan, Cirfo said that they are waiting for a committee from government’s interior and internal ministry who will help the region authority on establishment of regional district administration. Cirfo further added that the new administration officials will be selected according to their experience and hard work. Mr Cirfo urged the locals to work with government committee and regional administration to create new district administration in the area.

Somaliland” Lasanod Municipality Clears Hawkers from Town Streets

30 Sept – Source: Somaliland Sun – 97 words

A large number of makeshift kiosks and other hawking structures have been removed from the Lasanod town Central Business district-CBD. According to the local council boss mayor Abdulqadir Jama Salah the town clean up campaign which is in conformity with directives from the interior ministry headquarters in Hargeisa was undertaken by Sool region police officers and the employees of the local government. Speaking to the press in Las anod town Mayor Abdulqadir Jama Salah, said, “This cleanup campaign shall continue until all illegal traders and their makeshift structures are removed from all estates in Las Anod town”.

REGIONAL MEDIA

UN raised red flag over terrorists

30 Sept – Source: Daily Nation – 127 words

The UN had in June warned that Al-Shabaab remained a potent force in causing instability in the region even after being hit by the Kenyan military. A report by UN Monitoring Group on Somali and Eritrea says the militia continues to profit from illegal charcoal trade in parts of Somalia it still controls.The militants also continue to cash in on illegal arms, human trafficking and protection of illegal fishing vessels in Indian Ocean. The report, which covers part of early this year, could have provided Kenyan security agencies with vital information on the group’s capabilities ahead of what security experts have termed as a well-planned Westgate Mall attack. At least 67 people died and 175 were injured when hooded al Shabaab attacked the mall a week ago.

Kenyan intelligence warned of terror threat before attack

30 Sept – Source: Daily Monitor – 119 words

Some members of the Kenyan cabinet and defense officials were warned about the possibility that the terror group al-Shabaab was planning to carry out a Westgate-style attack a year before gunmen stormed the Nairobi mall, according to several police and intelligence sources. The warnings were made by the country’s National Intelligence Service as part of regular situational reports given to cabinet members, the inspector general of police, members of the National Security Advisory Council and military intelligence. The media have seen an electronic version of those reports, which contain an extensive list of terror threats from several regions across Kenya over an extended period, but they also specify al-Shabaab posed a threat to several targets, including Westgate Shopping Mall.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

‘White Widow did not lead Nairobi’s Westgate mall bloodbath Somalia’s al Shabaab Islamists say’

30 Sept – Source: News Online – 128 words

SOMALIA’S al Shabaab militant say no woman joined them in the Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall massacre, dismissing claims that British ‘White Widow’ took part. “We once again openly declare that no woman was involved at Westgate,” al Shabaab said on Twitter, reiterating it had a policy of “not employing sisters for such missions”. “A week after Westgate, the Kenyan government and Western intelligence officials failed to uncover the facts and details of the Westgate Operation,” it added, playing up an apparent lack of information on the attackers and details of how the massacre was planned and carried out. “The Kenyan govt (government) is still chasing its tail by holding on to the hopeless notion that a woman led the attack,” the group said in another Twitter post.

Turkish aid in Somalia: the irresistible appeal of boots on the ground

30 Sept – Source: The Guardian – 129 words

There is an old Somali proverb “I tus oo i taabsii”, which is loosely translated as “show me, let me feel it”. This is the metric by which Somalis will judge commitments made at a recent conference in Brussels, where international donors pledged €1.8bn for Somalia. Indeed, before the ink was dry on the compact, many Somali observers took to social media to question the significance of the agreement. Somalia has a complicated relationship with donors. For the past 20 years, most have been located in Nairobi due to security concerns. While there are signs that some are slowly relocating to Mogadishu – the UN has already started moving in and the UK has re-established an embassy (of sorts) – frustrations remain with the pace of the shift.

Briton freed without charge after Kenya mall attack

30 Sept – Source: AFP – 138 words

Kenyan police have released a British man without charge after he was arrested in Nairobi following the attack on a shopping mall by Islamist militants, British sources said on Monday. “We can confirm that a British national has been released from custody in Nairobi,” a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said. A diplomatic source added: “As far as we’re aware he’s free to go.” British media reported that the man was aged 35 and of Somali origin. He was reportedly arrested while trying to fly out of Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport a week ago, as the siege continued. He apparently attracted attention because of bruising to his face, his dark glasses and suspicious behaviour. The four-day bloodbath at Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, which Kenyan forces brought to an end last Tuesday, left at least 67 people dead.

MI5 fears over 60 Somali jihad plotters in UK

30 Sept – Source: Express News – 141 words

The news emerged as Foreign Office officials confirmed that a sixth Briton had been identified among the 67 men, women and children killed by members of the al Shabaab militant group during the four-day siege in Nairobi’s Westgate shopping centre. According to security sources, the list contains 40 Somalis thought to be recruiting for the jihadist group and a further 20, mostly British so-called “clean skins”, who have committed no crimes but are thought to have links to the extremist organisation. While al Shabaab continues to focus its efforts on securing an Islamic state within its spiritual homeland in Somalia, experts last night warned that an internal power struggle could see the terror group, which has financial backing from al Qaeda, shift its attentions to any country – including Britain – that supports African Union forces in efforts to contain it.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“If you’re flying from Mogadishu to Nairobi, the security checks are slow and thorough. All planes make an extra stop in northern Kenya just to search the passengers one more time. But it is easy enough to drive through the bush, bribe any policemen you stumble across, and vanish into the dusty streets of Eastleigh, the chaotic, thriving Somali neighbourhood in Nairobi.”

Somalia and Kenya: Blood brothers

30 Sept- Source: BBC Blog-775 Words

In the aftermath of the violent shopping centre siege that left dozens of people dead, many in Kenya and neighbouring Somalia are searching for answers about why and how the attack could happen. A few months ago, I was sitting in Dr Yaseen Nur’s kitchen, above his private hospital in Mogadishu. Some wounded soldiers had just been brought in to the Somali capital – the survivors of a massive roadside bomb that had gone off on the outskirts of the city. Dr Nur – a short, talkative man – was taking a break from surgery, sipping tea, and telling me a chilling story about a young relative – a 19-year-old – who had recently arrived on his doorstep unannounced. The young man had grown up in exile in Germany, like so many who have fled abroad to escape Somalia’s endless anarchy.