September 20, 2016 | Morning Headlines
Kenya: World Court Has No Jurisdiction In Somalia Dispute
19 September – Source: Associated Press – 130 Words
Kenya says that the International Court of Justice has no jurisdiction in a case filed by Somalia covering a dispute over potentially oil-rich seabed off the two countries’ Indian Ocean coasts. Somalia launched a case with the United Nations’ highest judicial organ in 2014 asking it to rule on the maritime border between the east African states, saying that diplomatic efforts to resolve the disputed boundary had failed.
At a preliminary hearing Monday, Kenya argued that the world court has no jurisdiction because there are two other methods for resolving the dispute — a 2009 memorandum of understanding between the two countries and a United Nations maritime treaty. Lawyer Payam Akhavan, representing Kenya, told the court that “basic principles of treaty interpretation” mean that “this dispute falls outside its jurisdiction.”
Key Headlines
- Kenya: World Court Has No Jurisdiction In Somalia Dispute (Associated Press)
- Civil Society Activist Joins Race To Villa Somalia (Radio Dalsan)
- Al-Shabaab Ambushes Ethiopian Military Convoy In Central Somalia (Garowe Online)
- ISIS In Puntland Releases New Video Declaring Caliphate In East Africa (Garowe Online)
- Jubaland Set To Launch Major Offensive On Al-Shabaab Bases (Goobjoog News)
- Minnesota Mall Knifeman Was Student Says Father (BBC)
- Somalis Denounce Attempted Terror Attack On Police Station (Daily Nation)
- Security Tightened In Mandera Over Al-Shabaab Threat (Daily Nation)
- Al-Shabaab Steps Up Attacks In Run Up To The Somalia Elections (African Arguments)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Civil Society Activist Joins Race To Villa Somalia
19 September – Source: Radio Dalsan – 122 Words
Jibril Mohamed Abdulle has officially declared his candidacy for the Presidential race in Somalia later this year. The founder of Centre for Community Dialogue (CRD) has declared his candidacy in front of more than 4000 people who attended his launch event on Monday.
Born in Mogadishu in 1969, Mr. Jibril holds a Bachelor’s degree in sociology and public administration from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. His organization was instrumental in the reconciliation and state-building sectors in Somalia mainly on research aspect of federal system in the country.
Jibril is a close relative President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and worked with him in the NGO world from 2003 to 2009. He now joins the growing list of presidential aspirants eyeing for the country’s top seat.
Al-Shabaab Ambushes Ethiopian Military Convoy In Central Somalia
19 September – Source: Garowe Online – 168 Words
The Somalia-based militant group Al-Shabaab has ambushed a convoy of Ethiopian troops serving under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in Central Somalia on Monday. Senior Somali military officer told GO that Al-Shabaab fighters ambushed the Ethiopian army convoy at Dab-ugas area close to Elbur district in Galgaduud region.
“A convoy carrying Ethiopian troops of AMISOM contingent came under attack by Al-Shabaab militants on Monday morning as they left Mahas district in Hiiraan region and en route to El Bur town,” he added. Al-Shabaab fighters and the Ethiopian soldiers have engaged in fierce gun battle that lasted for several hours and the number of casualties is yet unclear, according to the military sources.
AMISOM did not comment on the attack which took place between Wabho and El Bur towns in Galgaduud region, which witnessed several clashes in the past few days. Al-Shabaab militants group is attempting to topple the western-backed Somali government and still continues to target government officials, security forces and AMISOM troops in the country.
ISIS In Puntland Releases New Video Declaring Caliphate In East Africa
19 September – Source: Hiiraan Online – 491 Words
A recently released video by ISIS group in Somalia shows Somali fighters calling for the Somali people to join their group. The video released on social media on 17 September, shows approximately 70 masked men of Somali ethnicity and foreign fighters carrying weapons and performing Eid prayers under the trees.
Speaking in Somali, Arabic, English and Swahili, the men took turns imploring people in East Africa about Jihad in a bid to recruit more fighters into the so-called fight against the government and their allies. The group vowed to overthrow the state governments, allied foreign forces and warned people from supporting the infidel governments.
Jubaland Set To Launch Major Offensive On Al-Shabaab Bases
19 September – Source: Goobjoog News – 110 Words
Jubaland would soon launch a big military operation against Al-Shabaab’s bases in the two regions of Middle and Lower Juba, security officials said. Jubaland security agencies spokesman Ahmed Arab said the offensive is aimed at driving Al-Shabaab militants out of the areas they stay in the two regions.
Arab pointed out that the regional forces backed by the African Union troops are in preparation for the operation. He said they are committed to continuing the fight against the Al-Qaeda-linked group until all towns and villages under the terrorist group control are liberated. The Jubaland administration is facing security challenges from Al-Shabaab which controls most parts of the Jubaland territories.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Minnesota Mall Knifeman Was Student, Says Father
19 September – Source: BBC – 399 Words
A knifeman who stabbed nine people at a Minnesota shopping centre at the weekend has been identified by his father as a 22-year-old student. Dahir A Adan is a Kenyan-born ethnic Somali who had been in the US for 15 years, his father told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
He said he had “no suspicion” that his son was involved in extremist activity. Nine people were injured, but no one died, in Saturday evening’s attack at the Crossroads Center mall. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility. Rasd, a news agency linked to the group, claimed on Sunday the Minnesota attacker was a “soldier of the Islamic State”.
The attacker, who was dressed in a security uniform and carrying what appeared to be a kitchen knife, reportedly made at least one reference to Allah and asked a victim if he or she was Muslim before attacking, said police. Adan had been working as a security guard for the mall’s Electrolux Home Products store, according a company spokeswoman. He was employed by security firm Securitas, she added.
The victims included seven men, one woman and a teenage girl at the shopping centre in St Cloud, 70 miles (110km) out of Minneapolis. The knifeman was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer. Authorities have not identified the attacker. But Ahmed Adan said police had told him at around 9pm on Saturday that his son died at the mall.
Investigators searched the family’s apartment, seizing photos and other materials, said Mr Adan. Police had three previous encounters with the attacker, mostly for minor traffic violations, Police Chief Blair Anderson said. Adan was a student at St Cloud State University, but had not been enrolled since spring. Minnesota has the nation’s largest Somali community, according to US census figures.
Somalis Denounce Attempted Terror Attack On Police Station
20 September – Source: Daily Nation – 373 Words
Somalis in Mombasa have condemned the foiled assail on the Central Police Station by three women terrorists. The community’s youth forum expressed disappointment with the young women whom they said “had tainted their image and that of Islam”. Speaking during an anti-radicalisation forum that brought together about 200 Somali youth at Pride Inn Hotel on Sunday evening, forum chairman Abdi Mohammed asked the government not to go for mass victimisation against the community.
“A criminal is a criminal regardless of his religion, tribe or complexion. We are pleading with the government not to single-out the Somali community for victimisation,” said Mr Mohammed, a lecturer at Kenyatta University, Mombasa campus. “What the young women did must be condemned.” As leaders of the Somali community, he said, they will not allow terrorists to misuse Muslim women veils (bui-buis) to disguise themselves when carrying out their attacks.
Mombasa deputy county commissioner Mahmoud Salim, who was the chief guest, assured that there would be no victimisation. Mr Salim dispelled rumours that Muslim women will not be allowed to cover their faces when visiting public places. “There’s nothing wrong with wearing your veils and ninja. Identification for security purposes is a must. The enemy of Islam are the ignorant Muslims who are intolerant,” said Mr Salim.
He urged parents to keep their children under watch in order to know their moves. At the same time, Mandera business community living in Mombasa has called on security agencies to come up with better ways of curbing the runaway insecurity along the Kenya-Somalia border.
Security Tightened In Mandera Over Al-Shabaab Threat
19 September – Source: Daily Nation – 330 Words
Security has been heightened in Mandera after Al-Shabaab militants overran a Somali military camp near the Kenyan border. Mandera County Commissioner Fredrick Shisia said Kenyan security agents were on high alert because the militants are using military uniforms and vehicles stolen from the Kenyan army.
The Somalia National Army (SNA) camp at Elwak, Somalia, was attacked last Friday by the militants. “We have heightened our security checks along the border since it is alleged the militants are using motor vehicles captured during the El-Adde attack in January,” he said.
He said the Friday attack was confined to Somalia but Kenyan security officers along the border from Borache/Elwak to Elrhamu and Damasa remain on high alert. Mr Shisia disputed reports that both civilians and government soldiers from Somalia had sought refuge in Kenya during the Friday ambush.
“We didn’t have any civilians trooping to Kenyan soil or SNA soldiers except one who was brought in for treatment,” he said. “Only one injured SNA soldier was received at a hospital [on the Kenya side] for treatment but no other Somali nationals trooped in,” he said. He said reports showed that the 5pm attack on Fridaytargeted an SNA camp at Elwak, Somalia.
OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE
“The Islamist militant group is determined to disrupt Somalia’s (s)election process. It has been helped in this ambition by a number of factors.”
Al-Shabaab Steps Up Attacks In Run Up To The Somalia Elections
19 September – Source: African Arguments – 1054 Words
In the lead up to Somalia’s political transition, scheduled to take place across this September and October, al-Shabaab has upped the ante. With the country preparing to select new parliamentarians, who will in turn appoint the president on 30 October, the Islamist militant group seems determined to disrupt the process and has engaged in a spate of high-impact attacks over the past few months.
Somalia’s initial plan had been to hold a popular one person-one vote election this year, which would have been the country’s first since 1967. In 1969, military general Siad Barre deposed the elected government and then ruled the country for two decades before his regime collapsed and civil war broke out in 1991.
Following a transitional period after the conflict, many hoped Somalia would be ready for a direct election this year, but that prospect has been delayed up to 2020 due to ongoing insecurity. That means that in the coming weeks Somalia will instead engage in an indirect electoral process in which the political appointments will be made by clan-based electoral colleges.
[Somalia is still fragile, but fragile is progress]
Al-Shabaab appears determined to undermine this process. On Sunday, a car bomb in the capital Mogadishu killed at least six people, including a Somali general. On the Friday before, militants attacked a town near the border with Kenya, seizing military vehicles and reportedly killing at least seven Somali soldiers. On 30 August, at least 20 were killed and 30 injured in a suicide bombing near the presidential palace. A few days earlier, a car bomb and ensuing gun attack killed ten people at a popular beach restaurant also in Mogadishu. And four days before that, suicide bombers killed more than 20 people in a local government office in Galkayo city located in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland.
In 2016 as a whole, al-Shabaab has carried out over a dozen attacks, eight of which have targeted Mogadishu, a city from which the group had previously withdrawn in 2011.