September 24, 2014 | Morning Headlines.
Somali, AMISOM troops seize Baar village, Hiiraan region
23 Sept – Source: Radio Mogadishu/Radio Bar-kulan – 133 words
Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops serving under the African Union Mission in Somalia, (AMISOM) on Tuesday seized the village of Baar, which lies 30 KM west of Beledweyne. Mohamed Ibrahim Abdullahi, the deputy security officer in Hiran region told Bar-kulan that the allied forces seized the village from al Shabaab militant group. He added the allied forces seized the village after al Shabaab fighters fled their positions in area. The deputy security officer vowed that the military campaign against al Shabaab will continue until the militant group is kicked out of their remaining positions in the region. The forces that seized the village on Tuesday are part of the military campaign against al Shabaab militant group dubbed “Operation Indian Ocean” which is jointly carried out by Somali and African Union forces.
Key Headlines
- Somali AMISOM troops seize Baar village Hiiraan region (Radio Mogadishu/Radio Bar-kulan)
- German journalist freed in Somalia after 2 1/2 years (Reuters)
- Somalia: Urgent food aid for 36 000 displaced people (ICRC)
- Marka administration arrests dozens in security operation (Radio Goobjoog)
- Kenyan Security Strategy Wanting – Experts (Star News)
- Somaliland President Silanyo confers with Norway’s Special Envoy to Somalia (SLNTV)
- UN delegates supervise IDP camps in Bulo-burte (Radio Goobjoog)
SOMALI MEDIA
Somali, AMISOM troops seize Baar village, Hiiraan region
23 Sept – Source: Radio Mogadishu/Radio Bar-kulan – 133 words
Somali government forces backed by Ethiopian troops serving under the African Union Mission in Somalia, (AMISOM) on Tuesday seized the village of Baar, which lies 30 KM west of Beledweyne. Mohamed Ibrahim Abdullahi, the deputy security officer in Hiran region told Bar-kulan that the allied forces seized the village from al Shabaab militant group. He added the allied forces seized the village after al Shabaab fighters fled their positions in area. The deputy security officer vowed that the military campaign against al Shabaab will continue until the militant group is kicked out of their remaining positions in the region. The forces that seized the village on Tuesday are part of the military campaign against al Shabaab militant group dubbed “Operation Indian Ocean” which is jointly carried out by Somali and African Union forces.
German-American journalist freed from two years and half captivity
23 Sept – Source: Radio RBC/BBC Somali Service/Risaala/Kulmiye/
A German-American journalist who was kidnapped by Somali pirates two years and half before has been released today after a long negotiation, Somalia’s Mudug region governor in the Semi-autonomous region of Puntland Mohamed Yuusuf said. The journalist Michael Scott Moore was flown from Galkacyo on Tuesdayafternoon [local time] to Nairobi after local officials secured him from the captors. A special aircraft landed in Galkayo airport and flown the journalist to Nairobi. “We were informed that the foreign journalist will be handed to us just before noon today and later we received him through one man in a car. We secured him as he was in good condition.” the governor told RBC Radio. The governor added that it was not immediately clear if the release of Moore came through ransom payment. “We only held him for fifteen minutes as we were waiting for his flight.
Marka administration arrests dozens in security operation
23 Sept – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 89 words
Federal government forces have conducted massive operation in Marka district of Lower Shabelle region. The operation came after federal government soldier was gunned down by unknown assailants in the town. Security forces in hot pursuit of the attackers searched the houses in all the villages of Marka town. Unspecified number of people mostly youth were arrested during the massive operations whose investigations is underway. Security officials have not known any comment about the operations and the murder of the soldier.
Somaliland President Silanyo confers with Norway’s Special Envoy to Somalia
23 Sept – Source: SLNTV/Somaliland Informer/Horn Cable TV – 159 words
Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo on Tuesday received at the presidential palace Norway’s Special Envoy to Somalia Mr. Jens Mjaugel who arrived in the country on official working visit to Hargeisa. During the meeting they exchanged views on number of issues ranging from Norway providing assistance to Somaliland’s oil exploration projects, exploiting marine and fishery resources and moderating the ongoing dialogue between Somalia and Somaliland talks. Somaliland’s Foreign Minister Hon. Mohamed Bihi Yonis has announced that Norway will assist in the fight against regional piracy projects in the Horn.
UN delegates supervise IDP camps in Bulo-burte
23 Sept – Source: Radio Goobjoog – 173 words
High level delegates from United Nations reached Bulo-burte district of Hiran region on Tuesday. The delegates’ trip to the district accompanied by Hiran governor Abdifatah Hassan Afrah and other officials supervised the IDP camps in the district. After the supervision, the delegates took closed door meeting with Bulo-burte administration, elders and politicians. The elders presenting the needs of the people asked the delegates to give a helping hand to the thousands of families affected by the prolonged drought and conflicts, reopen the roads leading to Bulo-burte blocked by Al-shabab and other issues of great importance. On their side the UN delegates promised to deliver immediate humanitarian assistance to the affected people in Hiran region especially Bulo-burte district and the newly captured areas by the joint forces.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Kenyan Security Strategy Wanting – Experts
23 Sept – Source: Star News – 251 words
Rachel used to run a beauty salon in Nairobi’s Westgate shopping centre. A year ago, as she tried to escape from the carnage unleashed by Somali Islamist militants, she was hit by a grenade. She lost her right foot and still has shrapnel embedded in the other. Now on crutches, Rachel does not know whether she will be able to walk again and needs round-the-clock care from her family. “Sometimes… I feel like running, but I remember my two feet were hurt. So I tell God to give me grace, but it is not easy,” she told IWPR. “Sitting in the house for long [periods] with pain here and there makes me feel more traumatised, but I know one day I will stand on my feet.” A year on from the Westgate mall attack, Rachel is still coming to terms with her injuries. “You don’t know what the doctors are going to tell you,” she said. “And then the nightmare of staying in the hospital for long — that is not what you had prepared for your life. It becomes more and more hard.” According to the Kenyan government, 67 people died and more than 200 others were injured when al Shabaab militants stormed the four-storey shopping mall on September 21, 2013.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia: Urgent food aid for 36 000 displaced people
23 Sept – Source: ICRC – 316 words
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), assisted by the Somali Red Crescent Society, just completed a distribution of food to over 36,000 displaced people in the town of Beledweyne, in the central part of the country. In addition, 4,000 children under five years of age and 860 pregnant women were provided with one-month supplies of therapeutic nutritional products. “In the Hiiraan region, a combination of poor harvest, drought and protracted conflict forced many people in remote areas to relocate from their homes to Beletweyne, increasing the density of displaced people in the surrounding camps and exacerbating the already fragile food security situation there,” said Kristy Manners, the ICRC’s nutrition specialist for Somalia.
German journalist freed in Somalia after 2 1/2 years
23 Sept – Source: Reuters – 163 words
A German-American journalist held hostage in Somalia for 2-1/2 years was freed on Tuesday, according to German and Somali authorities and his former employer, Spiegel Online. The 45-year-old journalist, Michael Scott Moore, arrived in the capital Mogadishu on a small plane on Tuesday and was in good health, Spiegel Online said. Moore, who had worked for Spiegel before his abduction, was kidnapped by armed militia in the city of Galkayo in January 2012 while researching a book on piracy. “The Western journalist was released,” Abdi Yusuf, interior minister of the semi-autonomous region of Galmudug in central Somalia where he was abducted, told Reuters. He added that, as far as he was aware, no ransom was paid.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“If the space between the AMISOM troops and the weak Somali defense forces remains as wide as it is, President Obama’s so-called success in Somalia will not be the reality on the ground, even at a future date — and al Shabaab will continue to operate with impunity and seek to attack targets well beyond the confines of Somalia’s borders.”
One Year After al Shabaab’s Westgate Attack in Kenya
23 Sept – Source: Huffington Post – 786 words
Sunday marked the first anniversary of al Shabaab’s four-day siege of the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya, where 67 people were killed and 170 injured. One year later, al Shabaab, the official al Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia, remains a threat to U.S. partners and interests in the region. Despite President Obama’s rhetoric that Somalia is a success story that the U.S. should seek to imitate in Iraq and Syria, U.S. backed forces in Somalia (namely the African Union’s Mission in Somalia, or AMISOM) are a long ways from defeating al Shabaab and handing off internal security to Somali defense forces. The likelihood of another spectacular commercial shopping center attack in the region remains as real today as it did a year ago. In fact, a similar style attack was recently foiled in Kampala, Uganda, and only because of cooperation between U.S. intelligence and Ugandan security forces. In what would have likely been a large-scale attack, Ugandan security forces uncovered sophisticated weaponry, suicide vests, and vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIED) in several terrorist cells in and around Kampala.