September 10, 2015 | Morning Headlines

Main Story

ISIL Recruiting Fighters In Puntland

09 September – Source: Hiiraan Online – 292 Words

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIL) began recruiting fighters in Puntland according to a parent, family members and other relatives who live in Bossasso. The parents and relatives interviewed by Hiraan Online said that their children were forcibly taken by ISIS recruiters operating in the region. Around 40 children mostly under the age of 18 went missing since Friday and a group of smugglers have been reportedly registering new fighters who will fight along ISIL jihadists in Syria and Iraq.

In an interview with Hiiraan Online, Hodan Farah Osman, 37, said that her young son was abducted by anonymous people working for ISIL on early Sunday morning while on his way to College. “We have informed Puntland authorities and my son Jibriil Hamud was 18 and he was studying at PIDAM College. In fact they brainwashed him I think,“ a distraught Hodan said over a telephone interview.
Accounts from local residents in Sanaag region suggest that a boat carrying around 40 snatched children as they approached at Dur-duri shore near Laasqoray port on Friday, making this the first of its kind in northern Somalia.“My son contacted me through phone and said we have run out of options. We are therefore asking Puntland President to address this matter and return our children,” she said. “At least four phone calls to security minister Abdi Hersi Qarjab went unanswered.” she added For the past four years Somalia’s Al-Qaeda linked group of Al-Shabaab, who are based in Gal-gala rigid hills, have been waging guerrilla style attacks against the state forces of Puntland. This abduction of Somali young people to fight in the trouble spots of the Middle East for ISIL is a concern that all parents shared and would like immediate action to tackle.

Key Headlines

ISIL Recruiting Fighters In Puntland (Hiiraan Online)
Second Day Of Deadly Clashes Leaves 8 Dead In Central Somalia (Garowe Online)
Jawaari Threatens To Resign If Tug Of War In Tabling Motions Does Not End (Wacaal Media)
Japan Donates 56 Vehicles To Somali Police (Radio Dalsan)
India Says Indians Bombed In Boats Between Yemen And Somalia (ABC News)
Yemen’s Refugee Crisis Is Spilling Over Into Somalia (Defense One)
Al-Shabaab Has Changed Its Tactics. AMISOM Must Do So Too (African Arguments)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Second Day Of Deadly Clashes Leaves 8 Dead In Central Somalia

09 September – Source: Garowe Online – 141 Words

At least eight fighters from the opposing sides have been reported killed in the second day of deadly clashes in a row in central Somalia town of Abudwak, Garowe Online reports. Medics and witnesses said, the fighting raged between forces loyal to Interim Galmudug administration and moderate Islamists, Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamea early in the morning. The deadly clashes which dragged from Tuesday into late on Wednesday flared up after Ahlu Sunna militiamen raided a building housing Galmudug Commerce Minister Abdilatif Abdullahi Warsame. A spokesman for Galmudug and Deputy Minister for Constitution, Mohamed Hayir Nur told the media that Ahlu Sunna fomented the deadly violence. The heaviest armed confrontations began in Abudwak’s October neighborhood where residents are fleeing. Unverified reports indicate that Galmudug soldiers managed to seize Abudwak Police Station, with Ahlu Sunna militias regrouping in vicinity, 3km off Abudwak town.

Jawaari Threatens To Resign If Tug Of War In Tabling Motions Does Not End

09 September – Source: Wacaal Media – 263 Words

Speaker of the Federal Parliament Prof. Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawaari has threatened to hang up his boots if members do not urgently resolve their differences that led to tabling of motions and counter-motions. Jawaari expressed concern over the increasing standoffs in the country saying he was sick and tired of continued jostling in the house over petty matters that can be resolved without tabling motions. The speakers says he tried to convince members to resolve their differences through dialogue but his efforts were met with deaf ears. “Tabling two motions to counter each other is a solution to the country’s predicaments. It only wastes the valuable time of the people and government of Somalia. I have tried in vain to convince conflicting sides to settle their differences out of court” laments Jawaari.

Jawaari’s seats is proving too hot to bear for him as he seems to unable to withstand pressure from both sides making him contemplate resignation. He now wants urgent resolutions of all standoffs in Parliament failure to which he will walk away. The house is set for the battle of all motions as a section of Parliamentarians tabled a motion against the Federal President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud while those allied to the President tabled another one to counter it. The latter group wants the courts to investigate claims by their colleagues leveled against the president to save his reputation. The latest development is a culmination of tug of war that is synonymous with the Somali Parliament which has been accused of using its powers to arm twist other arms of government.

Japan Donates 56 Vehicles To Somali Police

09 September – Source: Radio Dalsan- 187 Words

The government of Japan has donated 56 vehicles to the Somali National Police in a handover ceremony attended by senior Somali government officials including, the Minister for security, the Chief Commander of the Somali Police, AU officials and officials from the United Nations: “We really appreciate how the government of Japan every now and then helps the Somali government on different sectors, and now it’s vehicles and soon we are expecting them to donate us police uniform and other police equipments” said Mohamed sheikh Hassan Hamud the Chief Commander of the Somali National Police.

On the other hand the representative of the government of Japan to Somalia Mr. Tomohiro Tommatsu has issued a brief statement related to the donation. “These vehicles we are donating to the Somali National Police are purposely meant to serve the Somali people and the government of Japan is always ready to assist the Somali government at every level of assistance,” said Mr. Tommatsu. This is not the first time for the government of Japan to donate vehicles to the Somali National Police to serve the people, there were several other occasions.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

India Says Indians Bombed In Boats Between Yemen And Somalia

09 September – Source : ABC News – 243 Words

Warplanes bombed two boats carrying 20 Indian crew members as the vessels traveled between Somalia and Yemen, India’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday, a day after the Yemeni coast guard said a Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemeni Shiite rebels bombed boats off the war-torn country’s coast.Thirteen crew members are alive and seven are missing, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said in a statement. He said authorities are trying to gather more information. He didn’t elaborate on who may have carried out the attack.Yemeni coast guard officials said Tuesday that a Saudi-led coalition attacked more than five boats off the Yemeni coast in airstrikes, the same day the Indian boats were bombed. Officials with the rebels, known as Houthis, said the boats were carrying fishermen and weren’t connected to them. It wasn’t immediately clear if the two incidents were the same.

Yemen’s Refugee Crisis Is Spilling Over Into Somalia

09 September – Source: Defense One – 482 Words

There are now nearly 1.5 million displaced people in Yemen, though their plight is no less dire than those pouring out of the battlefields of Iraq and Syria. As of August 2015, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) estimates there are over 1,439,000 internally displaced people in Yemen—the result of conflict between Houthi rebels and coalition forces led by Saudi Arabia. Their plight has been largely overshadowed by the humanitarian emergency spilling out of Syria and ISIL-occupied regions of Iraq to the north, but the situation is no less dire.

In fact, these people are so desperate to escape they are fleeing for one of the least politically stable regions on Earth. Yemen has long been a “transitory country,” as they are known, for refugees fleeing political unrest and economic hardship in the Horn of Africa—a region of East Africa consisting of Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), prior to the sudden escalation of Houthi insurgency in Jan. 2015, Yemen was host to approximately 246,000 registered refugees, 95% of whom were ethnic Somalis.

As fighting has intensified on the streets of major migrant hubs like Sanaa and Aden, that trend has reversed itself. Ethnic Somalis who fled their war torn country in the 1990s are returning in droves, resettling primarily in the breakaway region of Somaliland, in cities like Berbera and Hargeisa. (These are cities that, in stark contrast to the Somali capital of Mogadishu, actually enjoy relative calm and stability.)

OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE

“Since 2010, AMISOM has conducted three major joint offensives with a mix of Somali forces against Al-Shabaab. The latest, dubbed Operation Jubba Corridor, began in July and involves Ethiopian and Kenyan troops targeting the three regions (Bay, Bakool, and Gedo) that have borders with their two countries. The operation has so far succeeded in dislodging al-Shabaab from two of their major stronghold towns – Bardere in Gedo and Dinsoor in Bay. The militants had controlled these towns for the previous eight years,”

Al-Shabaab Has Changed Its Tactics. AMISOM Must Do So Too

09 September – Source: African Arguments – 1387 Words

When Al-Shabaab’s elusive leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was killed in a US air strike in Sablale on 1 September 2014, there was a widespread belief that the Islamist group’s operational capabilities might dwindle. But one year later, this has not proved to be the case. Rather, it seems the militants have lost little of their ability and remain an unyielding force determined to destabilise Somalia and the region.

In the early morning of 1 September 2015, on the first anniversary of Godane’s death, Al-Shabaab fighters rammed a car full of explosives against an African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) military base in Janale, 90km southeast of Mogadishu. A large number of fighters, close to 200, then stormed the base. The Ugandan AMISOM soldiers manning the base were overpowered and there were multiple casualties, though there is confusion over the exact numbers – al-Shabaab claimed it killed 70 peacekeepers, while the Ugandans put the number at just 12.

The terror attack was one of the worst attacks against AMISOM since it began operations eight years ago, though it was not unusual in the force’s recent history. A similarly devastating assault occurred just a few months ago in June, when Al-Shabaab killed over 50 Burundian troops in an attack in the same region. AMISOM responded by hastily withdrawing soldiers from 10 towns in the area, ceding them to al-Shabaab control. AMISOM justified the move, referring to it as “re-adjusting and re-organising”.