October 3, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Wanted al Shabaab terrorist enters Uganda
03 Oct – Source: New Vision – 199 Words
Police has received credible information indicating that wanted terrorist Andreas Martin Mueller alias Ahmed Khaled, is said to have entered the country on Tuesday. Mueller, who is of German origin, sparked a massive manhunt in May 2012 when alongside Emrah Erdogan alias Imraan AL-Kurdy alias Salahaddin AL-Kurdy sneaked into the country via Kenya.
The duo was at the time described as foreign fighters boosting the Somalia based al Shabaab terror group, responsible for the 2010 twin terror attacks in Kampala.
According to a police statement signed by Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura, Mueller on Tuesday entered the country from Limulu, Kenya and travelled to Kampala aboard a Kaliita Bus, Reg. NO. KBF 057N.
“We need to remind the public that this terrorist, Mueller alias Ahmed Khaled, was given wide publicity when, last year, in January 2012 he, together with another terrorist, Erdogan were reported to be in Uganda” the statement read.
Key Headlines
- Somali Federal Govt: al Shabaab doesn’t represent Somalia (Somali Current)
- Jubba administration prepares for major operation against al Shabaab (Bar-kulan/Dhanaan Online)
- Wanted al Shabaab terrorist enters Uganda (New Vision)
- Somali police arrests al Shabaab suspects in central Somalia (Radio Mogadishu)
- Officials speak out of bomb explosion in Marka town (Radio Dalsan)
- Canada boosts support for Somalia security (Walta Information Center)
- US to review al Shabaab threat after Kenya mall attack (UPI News)
- AMISOM spokesman: More troops aid needed for Somalia (Sabahi Online)
- ErdoÄŸan meets with Somaliland leader in Ä°stanbul (Todays Zaman)
- Kenya to honour police bravery in mall siege (Daily Nation)
SOMALI MEDIA
Somali Federal Govt: al Shabaab doesn’t represent Somalia
03 Oct – Source: Somali Current – 115 words
Somalia’s Federal Government angrily dismissed a demand from al Shabaab calling Kenya to withdraw troops from Somalia. In an interview with Kenya’s Citizen TV, President Spokesman, Abdurahman Omar Osman aka Yarisow said that al Shabaab doesn’t represent Somalia and have no right to demand Kenyan troops to withdraw from Somalia.
Al Shabaab called on Kenya to withdraw troops from Somalia after the deadly Westgate attack that killed at least 60 people dead, threatening further similar attacks if Nairobi government doesn’t obey their demand.
“Who is al Shabaab? They don’t represent Somalia.” Yarisow said, adding that al Shabaab leaders are foreigners. Somalia’s President Spokesman appreciated Kenya’s role on restoring peace in Somalia, suggesting the importance of regional cooperation to defeat al Shabaab.
Jubba administration prepares for major operation against al Shabaab
03 Oct – Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Dhanaan Online – 164 words
Jubba Interim Administration in the southern port city of Kismayo says it’s gearing up for a major offensive against al Shabaab rebel group in key areas of Jubba regions in southern Somalia.
Speaking to Bar-kulan, the acting leader of Jubba Interim Administration Moalim Mohamed said that they have pulled troops out of the city in preparation for a major operation to dislodge the al Qaeda-inspired militant group from the rest of the regions where it still operates.
Mr Moalim said that they will specially target Jamame, Jilib and Bu’ale districts, remaining major al Shabaab strongholds in Lower and Middle Jubba regions. On the other hand, the acting leader stated that they will soon complete their administration by naming cabinet ministers and members of Parliament.
An agreement between the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and Jubba delegation that was brokered by Ethiopia in Addis Ababa from 20th – 27th August 2013 has brought months of political dispute and bloodshed in the key Somali town of Kismayo to an end.
Somali police arrests al Shabaab suspects in central Somalia
03 Oct – Source: Radio Mogadishu/al Shahid – 132 words
Somali Police officials in Hiiraan region of central Somalia announced that they have arrested members of al Shabaab terror group, who were responsible for the security unrest in the region.
Isak Ali Abdullahi, commander of the police in the region said they managed to arrest five members of al Shabaab in Beledweyne town of Hiiraan region. He added that the elements were members of a network belonging to al Shabaab, which he described as responsible for undermining the security and stability of the region.
He pointed out that the police are pursuing four other elements of the terror network, which he believes is responsible for the “criminal acts” in the region using explosives and guns.
Officials speak out of bomb explosion in Marka town
03 Oct – Source: Radio Dalsan – 118 words
A bomb explosion has targeted a military convoy of the federal government forces and the African Union forces in the coastal town of Marka. Marka district commissioner Mohamed Abdukadir Yarisow said despite the huge explosion neither the joint forces nor civilian members were hurt.
“It is Allah’s wishes that nobody was harmed in the explosion,” the commissioner told Radio Dalsan on the phone. He has blamed the attack on al Shabaab rebels fighting against the government forces and the African Union Mission [AMISOM].
The security in Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region has been improving in the past two months after the joint forces removed more than twenty illegal roadblocks set by militias and members of the government forces.
New Centre housing Mogadishu’s street children
03 Oct- Source: Radio Ergo – 154 words
The Street Children Care Centre has opened its doors to more than 200 children, providing food, a place to sleep and basic education to orphans and children abandoned by their parents and families.
Many of the children suffer from drug addiction and are undergoing a rehabilitation programme at the centre. The children are aged between four and 17 year old. Halima Mohamed, the founder of the centre, has called for support from the local and diaspora communities. She said she is taking in an average of 10 children from the streets every two weeks.
“I am happy for the new life and the beginning of a new brighter future,” said Bile, one of the street children now at the centre. The children are taught reading and writing, Somali language, religious studies, technical and arts education. There are no chairs and tables so the children sit on the floor.
Jubba denies reconciliation conference in Mogadishu
02 Oct – Source: Somali Current – 119 words
Jubba regional administration in South Somalia turned down invitation to attend a reconciliation conference in Mogadishu 36 days after Addis Ababa agreement with the central government. Jubba signed agreement with the Somalia’s Federal government on 28 August, to end months of dispute and clan fighting in Kismayo, a port city in Lower Jubba region.
The agreement signed recommends the Federal Government of Somalia to organize and convene a reconciliation conference in Mogadishu and a follow-up peace building conference to be held in Kismayo.
Moalim Mohamed Ibrahim, a top Jubba leader and the former head of delegates who formed the regional administration said they are not attending the conference hosted by FGS in Mogadishu, claiming that Addis Ababa agreement did not say so.
Unemployment damaging society
02 Oct – Source: Radio Ergo – 226 words
Twenty-three year old Ikran is one of hundreds of university graduates struggling to find jobs in Somaliland. When she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Computer and Sciences at Hope University in 2012, Ikran was happy and hopeful of getting a job to help support her family, including her mother and three siblings.
But a year later, her dreams have not been fulfilled.
“The only job I could get is giving private tuition to children in their homes,” Ikran told Radio Ergo’s local reporter in Hargeisa. She teaches English to her neighbours’ children to earn $50 a month. “I have been in school from primary to university for more than 16 years and all that schooling didn’t help to get a secure job in my country,” she said.
According to Somaliland’s National Development Programme, 75 per cent of young people are unemployed. This is one factor that pushes hundreds of youth to migrate. Many embark every month on a dangerous journey to Europe through the Sahara Desert.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Wanted al Shabaab terrorist enters Uganda
03 Oct – Source: New Vision – 199 Words
Police has received credible information indicating that wanted terrorist Andreas Martin Mueller alias Ahmed Khaled, is said to have entered the country on Tuesday. Mueller, who is of German origin, sparked a massive manhunt in May 2012 when alongside Emrah Erdogan alias Imraan AL-Kurdy alias Salahaddin AL-Kurdy sneaked into the country via Kenya.
The duo was at the time described as foreign fighters boosting the Somalia based al Shabaab terror group, responsible for the 2010 twin terror attacks in Kampala. According to a police statement signed by Inspector General of Police Gen. Kale Kayihura, Mueller on Tuesday entered the country from Limulu, Kenya and travelled to Kampala aboard a Kaliita Bus, Reg. NO. KBF 057N.
“We need to remind the public that this terrorist, Mueller alias Ahmed Khaled, was given wide publicity when, last year, in January 2012 he, together with another terrorist, Erdogan were reported to be in Uganda” the statement read.
Canada boosts support for Somalia security
03 Oct – Source: Walta Information Centre – 205 words
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird announced on Tuesday an additional support of 6.02 million Canadian dollars to promote greater stability and sustainable peace and security in Somalia.
Baird made the decision after meeting with Fawzia Yusuf H. Adam, Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
The ministers discussed the situation in Somalia, progress made by the Somali government and counter-terrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa.
AMISOM spokesman: More troops, aid needed for Somalia
02 Oct – Source: Sabahi Online – 447 words
The African Union Mission in Somalia has made progress in many areas — such as boosting security and fostering reconciliation among tribes — but much more work needs to be done, AMISOM spokesman Colonel Ali Aden Humad said.
“Today we can see that life has returned to Mogadishu, and international flights with passengers are arriving and departing,” he told Sabahi. “We see many people who have hope in Somalia’s development, either Somali nationals coming back to their country or non-Somalis saying, ‘How can we take part in the development of the country?’ Every day, there are [many foreign] governments meeting with the Somali government.”
But to accomplish its mission, AMISOM needs the international community and other African countries to step up aid to Somalia, particularly for the country’s security forces, he said.
Kenya to honour police bravery in mall siege
02 Oct – Source: Daily Nation – 298 words
Four police officers who risked their lives to save victims of the Westgate mall siege in Nairobi will receive special recognition and promotions, a spokesman for Kenya’s police chief said Wednesday. “It is just one way of boosting their morale and that of their colleagues,” Masoud Mwinyi, spokesman for police chief David Kimaiyo said.
“The Inspector General is proud of them, and as a department we are happy with what they did,” he said. The four officers are Stephen Lelei, a local police chief who sustained a gunshot wound to his leg while fighting off the attackers, Mwinyi’s driver Tawfiq Baya, Benjamin Chemjor and Aden Iya. At a ceremony in their honour, Chemjor recalled their intervention in the first hours of the four-day siege by Somali al Shabaab militants.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
How football helps Somalia
03 Oct – Source: FIFA – 4:44 min
Recently, the first FIFA Development Course in Somalia since 1986 was held in Mogadishu’s Banadir Stadium. Thirty-one coaches from across the country took part in this historic milestone for both the football association and the Somali nation and, in so doing, took a historical step forward.
In FIFA.com’s latest Video of the Week, we not only look back on this event but also take a closer look at the Somalia national team, who are hoping for fresh success thanks to two players who ply their trade in England.
ErdoÄŸan meets with Somaliland leader in Ä°stanbul
02 Oct – Source: Todays Zaman – 372 words
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan met with the leader of Somalia’s autonomous Somaliland region, Ahmed Muhammed Silanyo, in Ä°stanbul on Wednesday.
The meeting was closed to the press. Turkey holds regular direct talks between the leaders of Somalia and Somaliland, acting as a mediator to resolve the problematic issues between the two sides.
Somaliland unilaterally declared its independence as a de facto sovereign state in 1991 after a coalition of clan-based armed opposition groups ousted the nation’s long-standing military government.
Somalia wants Somaliland to be part of a united country. But the territory, which has been a haven of relative peace amid the chaos and bloodshed in the country’s south, is seeking international recognition. The international community is urging the sides to find a negotiated solution.
US to review al Shabaab threat after Kenya mall attack
02 Oct – Source: UPI – 209 words
The threat from Somali terrorist group al Shabaab deserves another look following its attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, a U.S. lawmaker said.
The international police organization Interpol sent a team to Kenya last week to help authorities investigate a terrorist attack at the Westgate Mall. More than 60 people were killed in the assault on the upscale shopping center by al Shabaab militants.
U.S. Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said al Shabaab deserves a closer look. “Following the recent brutal attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, it is critical that the United States and our allies reassess the threat that al Shabaab poses outside of Somalia and outside the region,” Royce said in a statement Tuesday.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“In the wake of the September 21st attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall, claimed by the Shabab, fears are mounting among the Somali community that they will once again be the target for reprisals.”
Kenya’s Somalis: Fearing reprisals
02 Oct – Source: The Economist Blog – 603 Words
THE arrests began before many of the bodies had been identified at the mortuary. Ahmed Adan Hefoy was asleep in the small apartment he shared with some friends in Eastleigh, a neighbourhood of the Kenyan capital where most of the Somali minority lives, when the police came.
The first he knew of the raid was when officers broke the door down. When he tried to ask them why he was being arrested one of the uniformed men grabbed him by the shoulder while another slapped him around the face. More than 50 people were seized in the raid on Mr Hefoy’s building. At another nearby block similarly rough tactics saw an elderly lady collapse from shock. She died later the same night.
The police sweep Mr Hefoy was caught up in last November followed a bomb blast on one of Nairobi’s ubiquitous mini-bus taxis, or matatus, that killed six commuters and was blamed on the Somali Islamist militia, the Shabab. With feelings running high after the atrocity, the authorities’ response was swift and indiscriminate.
People with no apparent connection to the bombing were rounded up, regardless of their legal status in the country. “We were arrested because we looked Somali. To them that means you are Shabab,” he said.
“…the International Community needs to support the Somali government and help it rebuild its own professional army to tackle the scourge of terrorism in Somalia.”
Rebuilding the Somali Army: The only way to prevent another Westgate Mall incident
02 Oct – Source: Wardheer News – 929 Words
First, I would like to convey my condolence to the families of the scores of innocent people killed in the senseless and brutal attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. The perpetrators of these heinous crimes have no place in a civilized society. They belong to a different era that is characterized by mayhem and barbarism.
One can only wonder whether they somehow managed to hitch a ride with a mad scientist, who discovered the secrets of time travel, and ended up in the wrong century.
The picture of an old woman who just identified her loved ones among the dead in the Nairobi morgue captures the pain and the agony felt by all the residents of Nairobi, the city of Kenyatta and the Mau-Mau spirit The old woman in the picture is probably asking herself what her loved ones had done to deserve such a premature and sad ending. As far as she knew, her loved ones went to the Westgate mall to enjoy their break from work or school and to have a nice time with family and friends. Unfortunately they came back in black body bags.
“Terrorism is opening the way for a no-nonsense former general to be elected president in Kenya in years to come. It would be surprising. We live in a tough neighbourhood. Today in the East African Community Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda all have presidents who were either former guerrilla chiefs or officers in the army.”
Why terrorists might decide who may turn out to be Kenya’s next president
02 Oct – Source: Daily Nation – 719 Words
I went to the Village Market the other day, and this time I had to get out of the car. The security guards searched the glove compartment, looked under the seat, and checked all the nooks and crannies.
In the past, I would have been extremely irritated. Now I calmly resign to it as necessary, all thanks to the outrageous terrorist attack on the Westgate Mall by al Shabaab militants that killed 75 people, and wounded 175.
The acceptance of these additional security procedures do tell us how the small, medium and big terrorist attacks Kenya has witnessed since the 1998 American embassy bombings could reshape Kenyan politics in years to come.
Partly because of these attacks, there is in Kenya a hankering for firm leadership, a growing desire for a steely warrior’s hand on the steering wheel of national affairs. This explains why many were frustrated with former President Mwai Kibaki’s “laid-back” style (though I found it endearing).
“Analysts say the Westgate siege attack was meant to send a message that al Shabaab is alive and retains the capacity to strike beyond Somalia borders.”
Westgate aftermath: Is KDF’s presence in Somalia a misadventure?
02 Oct – Source: The Star (Kenya) – 1213 Words
AS Kenya comes to terms with the gruesome Westgate attack that left 67 people dead and more than 200 injured, debate is raging on whether Kenya ought to withdraw its troops from Somalia or not.
Analysts are divided whether continued presence of the Kenya Defence Forces in Somalia threatens the peace and stability of the country. Other leaders say time has come to ‘dismantle’ the terror gang that has wreaked havoc in the Eastern Africa region.
“We went as a nation to Somalia to fight the war against terror unleashed on Kenyan people, Somali people and people around the world,” Kenyatta said during his address to the nation hours after the Westgate attack. “This is not a Kenyan war, this is an international war.”
“While there’s no question that al Shabaab proved their mettle in their execution of the heinous act, my bet is that they will be defeated. A debate is going on right from the biggest world capitals to the smallest rural towns in countries that love freedom.”
Vital security lessons from the Westgate terror attack
02 Oct – Source: Daily Nation – 728 Words
The Westgate catastrophe is a challenge to the conscience of Kenyans. Never before has it been to anguishing to live through a four-day ordeal, knowing that fellow Kenyans were not only being held hostage, but were also being butchered.
Terrorists struck the Kenyan dream, which is the ability to live and shop anywhere in the country without fear. The attack was a blatant affront to our way of life, which has become the envy of enemies of freedom in the region.
While there’s no question that al Shabaab proved their mettle in their execution of the heinous act, my bet is that they will be defeated. A debate is going on right from the biggest world capitals to the smallest rural towns in countries that love freedom.
Top tweets
@PeterGreste 20 years on from #blackhawkdown, is the US still gun-shy in Somalia? And is #AlShabaab partly a consequence?
@Chr_Carlsen 28 violent attacks were reported in #Somalia in September. See my interactive incident map here:http://chrcarlsen.dk/incident-
@OPride #Minnesota Congressman @KeithEllison: support#Somalia‘s full transition to statehood to defeat #AlShabaab.http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/
@SmartMonkeyTV Nigel Brennan on his ordeal at the hands of Somali kidnappers and how he was eventually freedhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?
@amisomsomalia PHOTO OF THE DAY / #AMISOM – A soldier out on a night patrol in #Mogadishu, #Somaliahttp://on.fb.me/19mTUL1.
Image of the day
A man walks up a hill from Bakara Market, 20 years after the infamous battle of Mogadishu. Photo: @tobinbjones.