September 4, 2012 | Daily Monitoring Report.
KDF soldiers almost ready for major offensive
04 Sept – Source: The Star – 229 words
Senior military officials and their African Mission in Somalia yesterday continued to plan the attack on Kismayu following the fall of Miido, a strategic defence position on Friday. The military officials have been meeting to strategise on the attack on Kismayu which is al Shabaab’s last stronghold in Somalia after the fall of Marka, and Afmadhow in the Juba area.
This is believed to be among the last planning meetings for the attack that will involve aerial, land and sea attack by troops from Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Sierra Leone and Djibouti under the AMISOM umbrella. Senior AMISOM, Ras Kamboni brigade and Somalia National Army officials visited Nairobi last month to make final arrangements of the attack but it was postponed after the three Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) transport and attack helicopters on their are way to join AMISOM troops crashed in Mt Kenya.
It is expected that the attack and take over of Kismayu will happen before the September 20, 2012 Presidential election in Mogadishu. AMISOM troops have been pounding Al Shabaab positions with aerial and and naval attacks to soften targets before the rolling in of troops. The arrival of the long awaited Sh 4 billion frigate KNS JASIRI in the Mombasa naval base has also boosted AMISOM’s capacity to launch aerial, land and seas attacks on the al Qaeda linked insurgents last stronghold.
Key Headlines
- Somali govt imposes night-time curfew on Afgoye to improve security (Shabelle/Somaliweyn)
- KDF soldiers almost ready for major offensive (The Star)
- Al Shabaab compels Kismayo elders to support war (Bar-kulan)
- Kismayo port bombed as fresh battle renews (Raxanreeb)
- Naval forces warn Indian Ocean still dangerous (Globa Times)
- Kenyan jets bombed al Shabaab base (Radio Kulmiye)
SOMALI MEDIA
Al Shabaab compels Kismayo elders to support war
04 Sept – Source: Bar-kulan – 157 words
Al Shabaab militia in the port city of Kismayo on Monday compelled community elders to support the war they are wagging against with Somali Nation Forces and their allies in a bid to block the loss of their final stronghold.
Abdirahman Hudeyfa, one of the top-brass al Shabaab leaders in Kismayo revealed that their group is to face a hard task since they are besieged in the port city. An elder who spoke to Bar-kulan on an anonymity condition reveals that the group asked them to incorporate their youth to battle alongside the militia.
The elder added that they can’t offer any assistance to al Shabaab since they are in a period of uncertainty where every family is thinking on how to flee out of the port city. Kismayo is a stronghold of al Shabaab militia which Somali forces alongside AMISOM troops are currently planning a final assault to wipe-out the al Qaeda linked terror wing.
Somali govt imposes night-time curfew on Afgoye to improve security
04 Sept – Source: Shabelle/Somaliweyn – 91 words
Somali government imposed on Monday a night-time curfew on former rebel-held Afgoye town, just 30Km away from south of Mogadishu city, reports say. Abdullah Abdi Ahmed, DC said the curfew came into effect on Monday night, ordering locals to desert from their business centres, public gatherings in the town around the time of evening prayers 7:00pm- a move that the government wants to defend al Shabaab from attacking the district. According to the residents, the government decision follows the latest attacks on army base in the district by al Shabaab militants.
Kenyan jets bombed al Shabaab base
03 Sept – Source: Radio Kulmiye – 115 words
Kenyan military jets bombed a base run by Islamist al Shabaab rebels north of Somalia’s Kismayo port on Wednesday, local residents and officials said, but it was not immediately clear whether there were civilian casualties.
Local resident in Birta-Dheer village near Kismayu town confirmed to Shabelle Media by phone the bombardment, saying the jets hit the militants’ base near the village early hours on Wednesday. No militant casualty was also reported in the attack.
Also in the news, Kenyan military forces carrying tanks and artillery have been massing around Biibi village, a town just 85-Km away from Kismayo, the nerve centre of al Shabaab operations in the Horn of Africa country.
Tribal Clashes erupt near Galka’yo,Central Somalia
03 Sept – Source: Shabelle – 111 words
At least one person was killed and another sustained injury in heavy clashes that raged for hours on Monday in some remote villages that come under Galka’yo district of Mudug province in central Somalia, reports said.
The clashes erupted after gunman shot dead a civilian at Xero Jalle area near Galka’yo town, sparing armed fighting between two clans dwelling in the same vicinity, according to the local residents.
Ahmed Muse, an official in Somalia’s northern semi-autonomous region of Puntalnd told the media on Monday that the police are hunting down the killer, calling upon both warring sides to stop the bloodshed as soon as possible.
University of Somalia holds its third graduation ceremony
03 Sept – Source: Bar-kulan/Kulmiye – 91 words
A colourful graduation ceremony was today held for 200 students of the University of Somalia in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital city. Prof. Yahye Ibrahim, president of the University of Somalia requested the graduates to pursue their studies further and help the society using the knowledge they gained.
Mohamed Abdiqadir Nur, one of the graduates who spoke to Bar-kulan appreciated the tireless work done by the University administration which made him happy. Monday’s calibration marks the third graduation ceremony held by the University of Somalia since it was established in the year 2005.
Kismayo port bombed as fresh battle renews
03 Sept – Source: Raxanreeb – 183 words
Credible sources in Somalia’s port town of Kismayo told RBC Radio that in the early hours on Monday unknown warships bombed the city’s main port as heavy fighting renews. “The warships at the coast of Kismayo started shelling the port on Monday night around 4:30am local time, and fired 5 missiles at the port and then bombed the whole city continuously,” a resident who declined to be named told RBC radio.
There were no casualties reported yet while no one has claimed the responsibility of the bombardment. Kenyan naval forces declared attacks against al Shabaab’s stronghold earlier this month. According to local sources residents in the city have started fleeing from the city to neighboring districts and that the situation is tense.
Meanwhile, heavy gun battle between Somali government forces backed by the Kenyan forces and the Islamist fighters of al Shabaab erupted on late Monday at Janay Cabdalla area, which is on the suburb of Kismayo.
Al Shabaab executes two civilians in Barawe
04 Sept – Source: Radio Kulmiye/Hiiraan Online – 123 words
Al Shabaab executed two civilians in Barawe after accusing them as helping government soldiers to reach Shabelle region. Residents in Barawe told radio Kulmiye that the victims were boys were under the ages of 20 and they were familiar in Barawe. Al Shabaab forcibly ordered residents to watch the execution in a public place in Barawe Monday afternoon, a witnesses who spoke to radio Kulmiye says.
“The boys were familiar in the town and they were not involved in violence ever, we are wondering why they were killed,” said worried residents who spoke to radio Kulmiye by phone. Al Shabaab carried out number of public persecution in the region with out fair trails. People accused al Shabaab of carrying out unlawful death penalties.
REGIONAL MEDIA
KDF soldiers almost ready for major offensive
04 Sept – Source: The Star – 229 words
Senior military officials and their African Mission in Somalia yesterday continued to plan the attack on Kismayu following the fall of Miido, a strategic defence position on Friday. The military officials have been meeting to strategise on the attack on Kismayu which is al Shabaab’s last stronghold in Somalia after the fall of Marka, and Afmadhow in the Juba area.
This is believed to be among the last planning meetings for the attack that will involve aerial, land and sea attack by troops from Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Sierra Leone and Djibouti under the AMISOM umbrella. Senior AMISOM, Ras Kamboni brigade and Somalia National Army officials visited Nairobi last month to make final arrangements of the attack but it was postponed after the three Uganda People’s Defence Force (UPDF) transport and attack helicopters on their are way to join AMISOM troops crashed in Mt Kenya.
It is expected that the attack and take over of Kismayu will happen before the September 20, 2012 Presidential election in Mogadishu. AMISOM troops have been pounding Al Shabaab positions with aerial and and naval attacks to soften targets before the rolling in of troops. The arrival of the long awaited Sh 4 billion frigate KNS JASIRI in the Mombasa naval base has also boosted AMISOM’s capacity to launch aerial, land and seas attacks on the al Qaeda linked insurgents last stronghold.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Naval forces warn Indian Ocean still dangerous
04 Sept – Source: Global Times – 206 words
International anti-piracy naval task forces operating in the Indian Ocean on Monday warned shippers to continue with their high security measures despite over 50 percent drop in the number of attacks in the first half of 2012. International Maritime Bureau reported recently that piracy activity in the Indian Ocean dropped by 60 percent in the first six months of 2012 compared to the same stretch last year, from 163 incidents to 69.
It however warned that as many as 191 crew from up to 14 merchant vessels and fishing boats are still being held. European Union Naval Force Somalia, NATO and Combined Task Force 151 (CTF 151) called on the shipping industry to continue to take anti-piracy measures despite the current downward trend in piracy events.
“We currently see a tactical and reversible success. It is of utmost importance that pressure on Somali pirates and their business model is maintained and even increased as the strategic context, the situation in Somalia allowing for pirates to act, has not yet changed,” said Deputy Operation Commander Rear Admiral Gualtiero Mattesi. He said international navies and all merchant vessels transiting the High Risk Area, need to remain vigilant and uphold their respective responsibilities to support the fight against piracy.
Struggling to preserve Somalia archives
03 Sept – Source: Aljazeera English – 2:41 Mins
Before the fighting in Somalia, the capital Mogadishu was admired for its culture and architecture. But 20 years of conflict have turned much of the city to rubble. All that’ has left of its rich past is contained in the national archives. Nazanine Moshiri takes a look through the remaining treasure trove of Somali history.
Mo Farah becomes a role model for Somali school pupils
03 Sept – Source: Guardian – 1037 Words
Arms outstretched, mouth open wide with sheer delight and disbelief, it was for many the abiding image of the Olympics: Mo Farah sailing to his second gold medal victory, to the roars of a newly adoring nation.
For members of the UK’s Somali community it was, by all accounts, a particularly special moment. Like many Somali children arriving in the UK’s schools, Farah had battled with a language barrier. He had struggled academically, been taunted by classmates for his outsider status, and was prone to getting into fights. Now he was being embraced as a British hero.
“I was overwhelmed,” says Mubarak Ismail, a volunteer mentor to Somali children in Sheffield. “I felt so happy; it was incredible, unbelievable. The young people were even more excited. They were talking a lot about how we were like him; they like to see someone they can be proud of. They were all putting his picture on their Facebook pages, texting each other saying: ‘Did you see Mo?'”
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Yes, the progress that Mogadishu has made is encouraging. The real question, however, is whether it is enduring. With a war against al Shabaab still to be won, with a new government still to be tested and with all kinds of other issues yet to be contemplated, we won’t know the answer to this question for many months to come. Until then, let’s keep the optimism on hold.”
Somalia: Let’s keep the optimism on hold
04 Sept – Source: Daily Maverick – 987 Words
Mogadishu is the renaissance city. Rising like a battle-scarred phoenix from the ashes of Somalia’s lost decades, the seaside capital – surrounded and secured by African Union troops – is rediscovering its once legendary buzz and vitality. There are new restaurants and cafes, neglected basketball courts have been returned to their original purpose and diaspora Somalis are pouring into the city with cash and initiative.
Foreign journalists have been eager to chronicle Mogadishu’s tentative recovery, fuelled perhaps by the fact that they can now get a decent cup of coffee there. The competition among correspondents has been stiff, each trying to find the most poignant example to illustrate the improved situation.
“The Somali women is at once the most important figure in the Somali family, and also the most unimportant and marginalized. The new Somalia constitution gives many explicit rights to women, and paramount among that is that of human rights and personal rights. Beyond the constitution, more basic and more meaningful to all humanity is the rights given to women in Islam.”
Women of Somalia, Victims in search of Justice
03 Sept – Source: Hiiraan Online – 625 Words
The civil war in Somalia transformed the nation into the most infamous failed state in recent history. Somalia is now mentioned in the same league as the most infamous historical incidents. Now when a particularly serious civil war is on the horizon, like in Libya or Syria now, people talk of another Somalia.
A little discussed issue throughout the Somali crisis is the role of women, and Somali women’s special victim status. During the Somali crisis, it was the Somali women who kept the nation together. They were the backbone and the fabric that held the nation and country together while male warlords and their fighters destroyed the country in search of power, prestige, and blunder of national assets. Even the famine is man-made as it’s a direct result of charcoal export business.
The cutting of trees for charcoal has caused the desertification of the once rich agricultural lands of the south. Yet, anytime that there is talk of political representation, its women that are marginalized. The 30% target of representation is a mere pipe dream. The warlords and their special interests , using religion and mullahs, have tried to dress this pig with lipstick.
Top tweets
@simonallison So I’m not very optimistic about Somalia, no matter how many ice cream shops open or how close Kenya gets to Kismayo: http://bit.ly/TbYglf.
@IntelCenter1 al-Shabaab produces its audio/video releases in Arabic, English, Somali & French. Data ICD http://www.intelcenter.com/
@rakidi #Somalia: Olympic champ Mo Farah becomes a role model for Somali school pupils http://gu.com/p/3a4zy/tw via @guardian #London2012 #Mofarah.
@AbukarArman #Somalia: 2give “end of #transition” travesty some legitimacy, #UN should declare #UNPOS defunct immediately after the new Gov is formed!
@Hamza_Africa So far 22 presidential candidates have registered with #Somali electoral committee. $10k registration fee too much for the others? #Somalia.
Image of the day
Students celebrate after a graduation ceremony at the Somali University in the capital Mogadishu, September 3, 2012. Photo: Reuters.