September 16, 2014 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

UN, IGAD appeal for humanitarian aid for drought-hit Horn of Africa

15 Sept – English People/ Xinhua – 481 words

The UN and East Africa’s regional bloc on Monday appealed to the international community to move swiftly and avert a looming humanitarian disaster in the Horn of Africa region. In a joint statement issued in Nairobi, UN Assistant Secretary- General for Humanitarian Affairs Kyung-Wha Kang, and Mahboub Maalim, Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), appealed for immediate funds to help 14 million people who are food insecure in the region. “Displacement in Horn of Africa stand at an estimated 6.8 million people and 14 million people are food insecure, yet funding has remained at half of the appeal,” Kang said.

Key Headlines

Somali PM leads delegation to London (Radio Mogadishu)
Jowhar police foil roadside bomb attempt targeting innocent women (Radio Bar-kulan)
Somali MPs announce preliminary conference in Gedo (Radio Goobjoog)
UN IGAD appeal for humanitarian aid for drought-hit Horn of Africa (English People/Xinhua)
Uganda: Terror suspects to appear in court (Daily Monitor)
Somali-American Says Son Joined Syrian Jihadists (VOA)
Gunman opens fire on civilians in Abudwak town Galgadud region (Radio Bar-kulan)
Somalia’s al Shabaab says Uganda did not prevent attack by the group (Reuters)

SOMALI MEDIA

Somali PM leads delegation to London

15 Sept – Source: Radio Mogadishu/RBC/Kulmiye/Risaala – 158 words

The prime minister of the federal government of Somalia Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed and a delegation he was leading has flown to United Kingdom capital. The delegates include Minister of Defense and Information. Premier Abdiweli was in Baidoa, Bay regional capital in the past few days where he has attend the opening ceremony of a reconciliation conference held for conflicting political figures in the region. The prime minister stay in Baidoa was meant to back Somali parliament speaker Jawaari who was in Baidoa recently to boost the efforts to establish three-region south west administration. Before departing Aden Adde International airport, the prime minister has briefed the media on his journey to London and said that he and the delegation will attend a conference on Somali national army.

Jowhar police foil roadside bomb attempt targeting innocent women

15 Sept – Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Hiiraan net Online – 158 words

Police in Jowhar town, the provincial capital of Middle Shabelle region has successfully foiled an explosion attempt after a bomb was planted near the main police station in the town. Somali police chief in Middle Shabelle region, Khalif Abdulle Arfaye who spoke to the press said the police were informed by Somali women who were conducting cleaning up exercises on the major roads in the town. He added the police forces along with bomb disposal experts managed to successfully detonate the bomb which he said was meant to kill innocent people in the area. He praised the people in Jowhar town for the continuous collaboration with the security agencies, urging them to play their part in efforts to restore peace and security in the region.

Somali MPs announce preliminary conference in Gedo

15 Sept – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 108 words

Members of federal parliament who met in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia announced a preliminary conference which will open in Garbarey district on 20th of September a head of Juba reconciliation conference. Mohamed Ali Magan among the MPs who attended the meeting said said that they are not aware of the reconciliation conference that Interim administration of Juba is planning to open in Kismayo on Tuesday 16th of September. The remarks of the MPs comes a time when the chairman of Juba reconciliation committee Abdi Baaley Hussein declared that the administration is determined to open the conference as it was planned.

Gunman opens fire on civilians in Abudwak town, Galgadud region

15 Sept – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 106 words

At least one person was killed and another one has been injured after a gunman on Monday opened fire on civilians in Abudwak town in Somalia’s central Galgadud region. Abudwak town head of social services Khalif Abdisamad Ali confirmed the shooting incident which left one person dead to Bar-kulan. He added the assailant has escaped from the scene after opening fire on civilians adding that police and security forces have launched a manhunt operation to bring the perpetrator to justice. Meanwhile, the motives behind the shooting incident are yet to be established according to the official.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Uganda: Terror suspects to appear in court

15 Sept – Source: Daily Monitor – 389 words

The 19 terror suspects that were arrested over the weekend operation by joint security agencies are to appear in court , the deputy police spokesperson, Polly Namaye has said. “We are still holding 19 of them and they will appear in court, and that should be very soon,” said Ms Namaye in an interview with Daily Monitor. Ms Namaye confirmed the number of suspects as 19 saying they were arrested after intelligence information led the police to their cell in Kisenyi, a Kampala suburb. Ms Namaye however declined to reveal the details about the suspects saying it would jeopardise police investigations. “We are not holding them in one prison cell; we keep moving them to different cells for security purposes. She said adding that: “We are currently keeping their information to ourselves because we believe that will help us succeed in our investigations,” Namaye said. “Terrorists do not work alone; we believe the group has been working with other groups either within or outside the country, and so, we want them (suspects) to help us know who they were dealing with.” She added.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

UN, IGAD appeal for humanitarian aid for drought-hit Horn of Africa

15 Sept – English People/ Xinhua – 481 words

Somalia’s al Shabaab says Uganda did not prevent attack by the group

15 Sept – Source: Reuters – 417 words

Somalia’s al Shabaab militants denied on Monday that Ugandan authorities had foiled an attack by the group, after police in Uganda’s capital seized explosives and suicide vests and arrested 19 people. Ugandan Information Minister Rose Namayanja told Reuters that Saturday’s raid seized an extraordinary amount of explosives from a suspected al Shabaab cell that was planning an attack. Namayanja said the government believed the Kampala cell had links to al Shabaab, without elaborating. On Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Uganda asked its citizens to seek safety, saying that local authorities had uncovered a “terrorist cell” run by al Shabaab, which the United States believed was preparing for an attack.

Somali-American Says Son Joined Syrian Jihadists

15 Sept – Source: VOA – 307 words

A Somali-American man says his son has left the United States to join an Islamist extremist group in Syria. In an exclusive interview with VOA’s Somali Service, the father of Mohamud Mohamed, 19, said his son vanished from the city of Minneapolis on July 18, then called his mother from Syria four days later to tell her that he was with his “brothers.” The father says Mohamed, who normally lives with his mother in Canada, had come to Minneapolis to spend time with him during the holy month of Ramadan. He says Mohamed disappeared without warning after saying he was going to a mosque for Friday prayers.

Somalia-Kenya Maritime Dispute Handed over to ICJ

15 Sept – Source: CCTV Africa – 1:55 mins

The row between Kenya and Somalia over their maritime border is already at the international court of Justice. The two coastal nations disagree over the location of their boundary line in the Indian Ocean. The standoff could deter multinational oil companies from exploring for oil and gas offshore. Though Kenya wants direct talks with Somalia, Mogadishu says negotiations have failed before. CCTV’s Mohamed Hirmoge reports.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“The new push against al Shabaab and the killing of Godane, presumably, is hoped to free up resources from the eastern flank and focus them in central Africa and toward West Africa. In this new reality, Machar and FDLR are flies in the soup. Generally, it’s not a good time to be a rebel or rebel-backer in East Africa. They are all being served as starters now. A year is, indeed, a very long time in politics.”

This isn’t the time to be a rebel in East Africa

15 Sept – Source: NTV Uganda Blog – 550 words

Three seemingly unconnected events came to pass in eastern Africa over the past four weeks. The United Nations abandoned its ambiguous attitude toward the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan “Hutu” militia that includes perpetrators of the 1994 genocide based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and seeks to overthrow the government in Kigali. In early August the UN chief of mission in DRC warned that the FDLR must disarm or face military action. It is a hard line that the UN, perhaps because of its peacekeeping mission in DRC, had largely avoided. The US special envoy to the Great Lakes region, Russ Feingold, was even firmer, calling for the FDLR to be flushed out, and arguing that it had no justification to demand negotiation with the Rwanda government — a position that had been championed by Tanzania. He demanded the group demobilise by “no later than end of the year.” Even Angola, that was thought to be the real firepower behind the “Tanzanian option” on FDLR, shifted position dramatically.