September 21, 2018 | Daily Monitoring Report

Two Al-Shabaab suspects were on Thursday evening arrested in Eastleigh. “We have obtained information that the militants could be plotting to infiltrate their operatives into the country to stage attacks,” police said. The police have asked Kenyans to continue being vigilant. “While every effort is being made to uncover and neutralise such plots, we call on the public to exercise higher levels of alertness and to report promptly anything noted,” police said on Twitter.

Last week, security agencies in Garissa arrested two suspected Al-Shabaab accomplices in Ijara and Liboi towns. Northeastern commissioner Mohamed Birik said the two are a Kenyan from Gatundu in Kiambu and a foreigner of European origin. The European was arrested in Ijara town while inquiring about where to board public vehicles to the border town of Hulugho.

Key Headlines

• Two Al-Shabaab Suspects Arrested In Eastleigh (the-star.co.ke)
• TV: Somali Government Approves Joining United Nations Disability Convention (Somali Cable TV)
• Radio: Galmudug State Call On Cessation Of Hostility At Somali-Ethiopia Border (Dalsan Radio)
• Investors To Gain From Kenya And Somaliland Ties (nation.co.ke)
• Shabaab Remains Major Security Threat To Kenya (nation.co.ke)

NATIONAL NEWS

TV: Somali Government Approves Joining United Nations Disability Convention

21 September 01:22:40 – Source : Somali Cable TV – 118 Words

The Somali cabinet meeting held on Thursday in Mogadishu, approved the government to join the United Nations Charter of Disabilities Rights, that was submitted to cabinet, by the Ministry of Women and Human Rights Development. Briefing the media the Deputy Minister of Information Adan Isak, said that the meeting also discussed several other issues including a strategy to increase national awareness, security, justice, procedures for governmental agreements and public property. The United Nations Charter for Disabled People was approved by the United Nations in New York on December 13, 2006, and the first countries signed and joined on March 30, 2007.

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Radio: Galmudug State Call On Cessation Of Hostility At Somali-Ethiopia Border

21 September 08:08:04 – Source : Dalsan Radio – 125 Words

Galmudug state President Ahmed Dualle Haf, called on warring sides in Dacdheer on the Ethiopia-Somali border, to cease hostility and refrain from further attacks. Speaking at the Dusamareb, Galmudug state capital, the president urged the two warring sides to immediately stop the fighting, and promised to send traditional elders and peacemakers, in order to resolve the conflict.

Several people were killed and others injured, when two armed group from both sides of the border clashed at Dacdheer on Thursday. Dacdheer is located at the furthest part of Galgaduud, and is adjacent to the Somali Ethiopian region. One of the warring sides involved in the conflict is reported to be members of Liyu police (Ethiopian Somali region paramilitary unit).

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Investors To Gain From Kenya And Somaliland Ties

20 September – Source : nation.co.ke – 357 Words

Investment opportunities are expected to be seized as foreign relations between Kenya and Somaliland grow. Mr Bashe Awil Omar, Somaliland’s envoy to Kenya, said his country seeks to ensure its ties with Kenya are cemented.

“The cooperation between Kenya and Somaliland will see trade between the two countries grow. We will also work on improving security in the region and empower the hundreds of thousands of youth to invest or further their education,” Mr Omar, the former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, said on Wednesday.

With a liaison office already set up in Kenya, Mr Omar said he plans to meet Kenyan government officials to explore opportunities for the benefit of citizens. Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991 and is seeking international recognition. “We (Kenya and Somaliland) are already working together when it comes to security and fighting terrorism in this region. But there is so much that remains to be done for us to cooperate and coexist together,” he added.

Among the areas that need to be bolstered are trade, agriculture, education and health. “These are the areas we want to work on. It is a tall order but I do believe we will soon get rid of restrictions and open the space for our people to easily travel between the two countries,” he said.

He said there are over 18,000 Somaliland citizens residing in Kenya, and as the bond improves more are expected to trickle in. Somaliland boasts of a stable and democratic government, its own currency (the Somaliland shilling), and an independent judicial system guided by a constitution that facilitates the rule of law.

Furthermore, it is planning to revamp the Port of Berbera on the Gulf off Aden into a regional trade hub after a $442 million (Sh44bn) deal with Dubai-based development firm DP World. The port will have access to the maritime highways that connect Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa – firmly establishing the semi-autonomous State as a gateway to East Africa.

 

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OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE

““Al-Shabaab is an adaptable and resilient organisation and, although its capacity has been blunted since 2013, it will remain an enduring threat to security in the region,” Mr Murithi Mutiga, deputy project director for the International Crisis Group, said.””

Shabaab Remains Major Security Threat To Kenya

21 September – Source : nation.co.ke – 414 Words

The Somalia-based Al-Shabaab militant group remains a potent threat to security in the region, although its capacity to stage regular attacks in urban areas has been degraded. The International Crisis Group, a conflict-prevention think tank, in a report released on the fifth anniversary of Westgate Mall terror attack, warns against complacency despite the reduced number of attacks in cities including Nairobi and Mombasa.

The report, titled Al-Shabaab Five Years after Westgate: Still a Menace in East Africa, says that the al-Qaeda affiliate has adapted in a number of ways following its reduced ability to carry out bombings and gun and grenade assaults in urban areas. Since 2015, Al-Shabaab has increasingly tried to recruit youths outside its traditional hotspots at the Coast and in the North Eastern.

It has instead turned to western and central Kenya regions in an effort to find new fighters, including many Christian youths who, as recent converts to Islam, are more easily manipulated due to their limited understanding of the region. It has instead turned to western and central Kenya regions in an effort to find new fighters, including many Christian youths who, as recent converts to Islam, are more easily manipulated due to their limited understanding of the region.

Al-Shabaab has also focused on targets in the border region, where it has killed dozens of policemen and soldiers, principally through the lethal use of improvised explosive devices. A crucial additional change has been a shift by militants from the Kenyan coast to the Pwani region of Tanzania, where Shabaab has forged alliances with local militants and staged numerous attacks, many of which have passed without notice internationally.

Since 2014, particularly in the town of Kibiti within Pwani, Al-Shabaab and affiliated militants have beheaded dozens of ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi officials, killed policemen and staged assaults on moderate Muslim clerics. Crackdowns by Tanzanian authorities have in turn forced some of the militants to migrate further south to Mozambique, which has seen a spate of attacks in recent months.

“Al-Shabaab is an adaptable and resilient organisation and, although its capacity has been blunted since 2013, it will remain an enduring threat to security in the region,” Mr Murithi Mutiga, deputy project director for the International Crisis Group, said. The report criticises Kenya’s initial response to the Westgate attack, which involved the roundup of dozens of Somalis in what was dubbed “Operation Usalama Watch”.

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TOP TWEETS

@lasoco: Intelligence officers in Somalia agree to strengthen collaboration in the fight against Al-Shabaab – Reliefweb http://j.mp/2pyeevr

@ZakiTimacade: BREAKING:Armed assailants with Pistols ,suspected to be Alshabab Jihadists killed a female student inside UNISO university in Mogadishu.Murderers reportedly fled from the scene as the motive behind for killing remain sketchy -Witnesses

@arabnews: Five years after Al-Shabab fighters burst into a luxury shopping mall in #Kenya’s capital that left 67 people dead, analysts say the #Somalia-based extremist group has been pushed down #Africa’s east coast as far as Mozambique as its threat expands

@UNSomalia: Everybody in #Somalia wants #peace, and each in their own way is working towards it. On 21 Sept, the Int’l Day of Peace, we use music to convey the meaning of peace for Somalis. http://vimeo.com/234309918
#Peace4Somalia #PeaceDay

@HarunMaruf: A man from one of the most prejudiced and discriminated clans has been burned to death in Mogadishu on Thursday because his son married a woman from the so-called “high-ranking” clans, per sources http://youtu.be/cYKmPNydHd4 . Relatives blame In-laws for perpetrating the brutal attack

@AbdurahmanShar: @DrBeileh ‘If there is instability in #Somalia, it is because of the debt that does not allow the country to get resources #DebtCancellationforSomalia

IMAGE OF THE DAY

Somali Finance Minister, Abdirahman Duale Beileh met with Local and International non-governmental organizations to discuss on how they can help in lobbying for Somalia’s debt cancellation process in Nairobi.
Photo : MohammedYarrow