September 17, 2018 | Morning Headlines
Somali MP Fighting For Life After Car Bomb Attack
16 September – Source: The East African – 132 Words
A member of Somalia’s federal parliament is fighting for his life in hospital after surviving a car bomb attack. A bomb attached to Mr Mohamed Mursal Borow’s car went off in Mogadishu on Saturday night, killing his driver on the spot and inflicting serious injuries on the lawmaker. He was taken to the Erdogan Hospital where is is recuperating.
The fatal explosion occurred at a crossroads next to the National Theatre, a landmark in the city centre. Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre was among officials who visited Mr Borow at his Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the hospital. “We will closely follow the situation of the injured MP,” said the Prime Minister. The jihadist group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack on the legislator who represents a constituency in the southwest state.
Key Headlines
- Somali MP Fighting For Life After Car Bomb Attack (The East African)
- Mogadishu Municipality Vows To Kick Out Robbers From The City (Shabelle Media )
- Somali Schools Linked To Fethulan Gulen Handed Over To Turkish Aid Agency (Halbeeg News)
- Mogadishu Military Court Jails Five For Al-Shabaab Membership (Goobjoog News)
- AMISOM To Use Modern Technology To Help Secure Gains Made In Somalia (AMISOM)
- The Kismayo Conference: A Failing Grade (Hiiraan Online)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Mogadishu Municipality Vows To Kick Out Robbers From The City
16 September – Source: Shabelle Media – 153 Words
Two gunmen were killed and eight others arrested during a police raid at a roadblock along the Dharkeynley-Kahda road in Mogadishu. The spokesman for the Somali Police Force, Col Kassim Ahmed Roble, said the two men who have been robbing members of the public along the highway, were killed in a confrontation with the government’s security forces on Saturday.
“The Somali police aimed at arresting the gunmen but unfortunately they resisted capture, leading to a confrontation and their eventual death,” said Col Roble. “They died during an exchange of fire, but we managed to capture eight of their companions,” he added.
The deputy governor of Banadir region in charge of Security, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, alongside other government officials, arrived at the scene moments after the confrontation. Mohamed commended the police for their commitment to maintaining law and order. He underscored his administration’s will to support similar operations in order to secure the city.
Somali Schools Linked To Fethulan Gulen Handed Over To Turkish Aid Agency
16 September – Source: Halbeeg News – 240 Words
Educational institutions associated with a movement of Fethullah Gulen were on Sunday handed over to Turkish aid agency. The Turkish Maarif Foundation has formally taken charge of the said Turkish Schools in Somalia.
According to Russian owned TV, the government of Ankara has changed the administrators of the schools: “The schools, with up to one thousand Somali students, have now been transferred to the new administrators,” the station reported.
Somali deputy Minister for Education, Faisal Omar Guleid who spoke at the handing over ceremony in Mogadishu welcomed the move saying the agency will improve the education by providing good quality education: “Maarif provides excellent, good quality education for Somali students. Somali parents are very happy with these opportunities offered to their children,” Mr. Guled.
The Turkish government set up Maarif Foundation in 2016 with an aim to administer overseas schools linked to the Fethullah Organisation, which Turkish government recently blacklisted as a terrorist group. Mr. Fethullah Gulen, a 77-year-old Imam, the founder of Gulen Movement, left Turkey for the United States in 1999 and has been living in self-imposed exile in America since then.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused him of being the mastermind behind the 2016 failed coup in Turkey, where more than 200 people were killed, a charge Mr. Gulen has denied. Since the coup, the Turkish government has gone after Gulen-linked schools across the world. Somalia has since shut down the schools manned by Fethullah Organisation.
Mogadishu Military Court Jails Five For Al-Shabaab Membership
15 September – Source: Goobjoog News – 98 Words
A military court sitting in the capital city of Mogadishu on Saturday sentenced five Al-Shabaab militants to between two and five years in jail after finding them guilty of belonging to the milia group. Military Court Judge, Hassan Ali Shute, declared the five – Abukar Abdi Abiikar, Abdirisaq Shaahid Aden Kheyreon, Saleebaan Muhsin Sheikh Mohamed, Abdi Ali Isaq Elmi and Ilyaas Isse Sheikh Ali – guilty of being member of Al-Shabaab. Two of the defendants, Abdi Ali Isaq Elmi and Ilyaas Isse Sheikh Ali, were handed five year jail terms while the remaining three were handed eight year jail terms.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
AMISOM To Use Modern Technology To Help Secure Gains Made In Somalia
16 September – Source: AMISOM – 416 Words
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) will enhance its use of modern technology during the transition period to ensure gains made in securing the country are not eroded. The Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (DSRCC) for Somalia, Simon Mulongo, said Somalia’s stabilization process had reached a critical stage that needed more investment in modern technology, mainly force multipliers and enablers, to ensure no security gaps occur during the drawdown phase.
Last year, the United Nations Security Council authorized conditions-based withdrawal of AMISOM troops and handover of security responsibility to Somali national security forces. The AU Mission has already withdrawn 1000 troops and more withdrawals are expected next year. “AMISOM is in a setting that’s very complex. It’s operating in an environment that’s very sophisticated. It requires improved and new ways of thinking and acting. It requires improved capacity to secure the forces when they’re moving and when in their bases,” said the DSRCC during a recent workshop on the use of technology as a force multiplier, held in Mogadishu.
The two-day workshop discussed how technology can be applied to address logistical challenges faced in the battlefield and was attended by senior officials from UNSOS and AMISOM together with police and military focal point officers from the six Sectors. Mr. Mulongo noted that the technology employed as force enablers and multipliers should be sustainable if they are to make a difference in the war against Al-Shabaab, especially during the transition period.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Unfortunately, these regional leaders consider themselves independent states that can sever ties to Mogadishu as they please. Furthermore, the regional leaders’ action is an example of how they do not want to be part of the solution in the country. Their divisive move gives the appearance that the SFG is the “adult” in this relationship.”
The Kismayo Conference: A Failing Grade
15 September – Source: Hiiraan Online – 767 Words
In early September, the Somali regional leaders met in Kismayo. It was a meeting where President Mohamed Farmajo was not present, but yet his big portrait was so visible that it covered the pictures of the five regional leaders. The Somali Federal Government (SFG) was the main topic of the conference.
Any honest, smart politician will first assess and examine a political move. Will it succeed or will it fail? Based on this assessment, the politician takes the most prudent action which will make sure his move is successful. At the Kismayo Conference, that was not the case.
The major issue is not why the conference took place in Kismayo, but the outcomes of the gathering. The conference revealed a chasm between the regional leaders and their own constituents, their poor standing in public opinion, the extent of their limited power, and their unwillingness to work with the Federal Government.
Members of the international community have been working diligently to make sure Somalia has a viable federal government. For the past several years, the international donors, mostly the European Union, have spent millions of dollars to assist both the Federal Government and the regional states in capacity building, leadership training, security matters, and a multitude of social and educational projects. Numerous international conferences were held in London and Brussels to appeal to Western donors and other nations to help Somalia.
What did the Kismayo Conference do? It issued a communique by the regional leaders cutting ties with the Federal Government. This unwise action is an indication that these regional leaders haven’t learned much from the trainings and support system they have been getting from the international community in working hand in hand with the Federal Government to solve problems of the Somali people.