September 6, 2017 | Daily Monitoring Report
Police Say Six Kenyan Al-Shabaab Members In Somalia Desperate To Quit Group
06 September – Source: The Standard – 616 Words
A number of Kenyans fighting for Al Shabaab in Somalia want to return home after a fallout within the militia, according to intelligence gathered by the police. A confidential police report shows the Kenyans include Ahmed Iman Ali aka Abu Zinira and at least five other terrorists. According to the report, some of Iman’s loyal followers likely to decamp alongside him include Juma Ayub Otit Were aka KB, Erick Achayo Ogada aka Nabhan, Ramadhan Kioko aka Pinji aka Abu Nuseiba, Suleiman Irungu Mwangi aka Karongo aka Maalim Zakariya aka Idriss, and Mohamed Tajir Ali aka Wahome.
The five each have a Sh2 million police bounty on their heads. They were all among the co-founders of MYC in Majengo and looked up to Iman for guidance. It is Iman who recruited them while in Majengo and facilitated their travel to Somalia to join Al Shabaab around 2009. His planned move is also likely to demoralise other foreign fighters, including those from Tanzania, Uganda, Egypt, and Libya and aggravate the existing tensions between local Somali and foreign fighters. “They are contemplating defection from the group after being disgruntled and fearing execution,” reads part of the report.
The 21-page report says Iman had hatched a plot to establish his own local Jihadi group within Boni Forest in Kenya, riding on Al Shabaab’s resources. The group was to later detach from the mainstream organisation and form a splinter that would operate independently under his command. Their objective was to penetrate the country and spread its influence, particularly in the northeastern and coastal parts of Kenya.
Key Headlines
- Police Say Six Kenyan Al-Shabaab Members In Somalia Desperate To Quit Group (The Standard)
- Rift Grows As Nugal Regional Police Chief Rejects Firing (Garowe Online)
- We Will Reclaim Our Regions Under Somaliland And Puntland-Khatumo Deputy Leader (Goobjoog News)
- There Is No Known Extradition Agreement With Ethiopia Says Former Internal Security Minister (Somali Update)
- Six Years After War On Al-Shabaab Began How Safe Are Kenyans From Terrorism? (The Star)
- Seven Challenges Standing In The Way Of Somali Prosperity (TRT)
NATIONAL MEDIA
Rift Grows As Nugal Regional Police Chief Rejects Firing
05 September – Source: Garowe Online – 236 Words
The Police commander of Nugal region, Abdirashid Mohamud Aw Hussein has rejected his dismissal by the 1st deputy Chief of Puntland Police. Speaking to Radio Garowe (RG), Hussein said the decision was “unconstitutional” as the deputy Police has no the authority to sack him. “A lieutenant colonel can’t dismiss a another Lt colonel in the same ranks, so that the deputy Police commander could not send me home or appoint another me to another position,” said Hussein during the interview.
Bile Farah Ali, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Puntland Police Forces, told Garowe Online that he has issued the dismissal letter dated 4th September, 2017, without giving further details. The move comes as confusion and frustration mounting in the command of Somalia’s northeastern semi-autonomous region of Puntland Police following the suspension of Abdulkadir Farah Shire (Ereg). Shire who has been in office since 2016 was suspended last month by the Vice President of Puntland Government, Abdihakim Abdullahi Haji Omar “Amey” over the release of inmates from Garowe jail.
Mohamud Muse Bile, the chief of Garowe Central Prison has criticized Gen Mohiyadin Ahmed Muse, the head of the state’s counter-terrorism and narcotics unit for arresting students and people with TB without clear charges. Puntland VP and Chief of Police at loggerheads over the prisoners’ issue, which is parking rift between the law enforcement agency top officials as President Abdiweli Mohamed Ali “Gaas” is in Saudi Arabia for Hajj.
We Will Reclaim Our Regions Under Somaliland And Puntland-Khatumo Deputy Leader
06 September – Source: Goobjoog News – 277 Words
The self-declared state of Khatumo has claimed it intends to wrest control of regions under the control of Somaliland and Puntland. The state deputy president Abdalla Mohamed Ali told Goobjoog News Khatumo will seek to advance its cause for recognition by the Federal Government and will therefore not accept to be part of Somaliland. “We have held several consultative meetings in Buuhoodle, the interim capital with the local people and we now have a new system in Khatumo. We shall embark on getting back all locations under our jurisdiction in order to be recognised as a state, said Ali.
Ali added his state plans to take control of Sool, Sanaag and Ayn regions. Somaliland controls Sool and Sanaag regions while Ayn which is in Bari region is under the administrative authority of Puntland. “Sool, Sanaag and Ayn were initially part of the Puntland state formation but what compelled Khatumo state to be formed was the lack of response by Puntland state when sections of the current Khatumo region was attacked and invaded by Somaliland forces,” Ali noted.
Khatumo state which is not recognised as a state in line with the federalism system in Somalia is headquartered in Buuhoodle with some part of it under the control of Somaliland. Ali said Khatumo lawmakers in Puntland state assembly have been unable to help in pushing for the reclamation of their lost locations since they were occupied 8 years ago. The deputy leader ruled out possibility of talks with Somaliland noting, “We have no direct communication with Somaliland and how we shall regain Las Anod is something I cannot divulge now but I am sure it is not through talks.”
There Is No Known Extradition Agreement With Ethiopia, Says Former Internal Security Minister
06 September – Source: Somali Update – 212 Words
Former Somali Internal Security Minister of Interior Abdikarim Hussein Guled has rubbished claims by Ethiopian-Somali leader that Somalia had an extradition treaty with the neighboring Ethiopia. Mr. Guled also the former head of Galmudug regional state has rejected president of Somali-Ethiopian region Abdi Mohamud Omar’s claim that Addis Ababa secured the deal with Mogadishu during the era of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
The Ethiopian-Somali leader was referring the extradition of Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) official Abdikarim Sheikh Muse (popularly known as Qalbi Dhagah) whom Somali government handed over to Ethiopia last week. The case sparked public outrage with Somali politicians and lawmakers termed as act of breaching the constitution. “Until today, there is no known extradition agreement between Somalia and Ethiopia.” Mr. Guled said in a Facebook posting reacting to president Omar’s comments.
Mr. Guled noted that his term of presidency in Galmudug State, that his administration reached consensus with the authorities regarding Somali-Ethiopian region following inter-clan conflict at the border but there never “surrender prisoners”. “The agreement that Somalia-Ethiopian President Mr. Abdi Mohamud Omar referred was neither about extradition of prisoners nor was it national level. It was a truce-like agreement between the two regional states [Somalia’s Galmudug and Ethiopia’s Somali state] following violence at the border” Mr. Guled emphasized.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Six Years After War On Al-Shabaab Began, How Safe Are Kenyans From Terrorism?
06 September – Source: The Star – 1500 Words
Terror attacks have been a pain in the neck of Kenya for the past two decades. At the root of the insecurity is the political collapse of Somalia in 1991. It did not pose any immediate security threat to Kenya, only causing an influx of refugees that prompted the government to set up the world’s largest refugee camp, Dadaab, in Garissa county. But terror groups took advantage of the lawlessness that followed the ouster of President Siad Barre’s government to establish operational bases in the failed state, now struggling to regain its standing after more than two decades of anarchy.
Within seven years, terror group al Qaeda had taken up a significant portion of Somalia, which they would use as launch pad for terror attacks in the region, mainly targeting foreign interests and particularly the US and Israel in the region. Al Qaeda later established links with al Shabaab, which took charge of terror attacks in the region in 2006, mainly staging an insurgency in Somalia. Kenya and Tanzania became the main external targets, with bombings of US embassies in Nairobi and Dare-salaam on August 7, 1998.
In the almost simultaneous attacks masterminded by the then regional al Qaeda chief Fazul Mohammed, more than 200 people were killed and over 1,000 others injured in Nairobi, while in Dar, 11 were killed and 85 wounded. In subsequent years, terror attacks in Kenya escalated, directed by al Qaeda and targeted at foreign investments. On November 28, 2002, Israeli owned Paradise Hotel in Kikambala, on outskirts of Mombasa town, was attacked with explosives.
OPINION, ANALYSIS AND CULTURE
“Al Shabaab is the most visible problem in the international arena. The al Qaeda-linked group controls large parts of southern and central Somalia. They want to establish their so-called ideal Islamic nation. Al Shabab militants regularly carry out bombings and targeted killings. Somalis, as a result, are losing their lives and their livelihoods”
Seven Challenges Standing In The Way Of Somali Prosperity
06 September – Source: TRT World – 1162 Words
Clan supremacy, corruption, and external actors are just a few of the things preventing Somalia’s emergence as a stable and functioning state. There are seven major challenges standing in the way of building a strong, prosperous and united Somalia. They are like seven snakes wrapped around the nation and Somalia won’t move forward unless we, Somalis, untangle them all.
The supremacy of the clan is a cancer to Somali society. It’s eating away at the nation. It’s structured like an onion there are sub-clans, sub-sub-clans and so on till your cousin becomes someone else. There are several major clans and a few dozen minority clans. The big ones fight among themselves; vying for power. They also discriminate and abuse minority clans. To most Somalis, allegiance to your clan is the primary focus of loyalty. Other factors, such as Islam and nationhood, are abstract secondary ideas a matter of convenience.
Every large clan claims to be the most beautiful, the most intelligent, and the most powerful. We are clan supremacists. Therefore, powerful clans feel they have the God-given right to control and dominate others. This is Somalia’s greatest weakness as a nation. It creates conflict, injustice, and mistrust. Our enemies exploit this to divide and rule us. We, Somalis, have to realise that in the modern world, clan cannot be a substitute for a nation.
Corruption is rife in every sector and at every level. It’s a societal problem. Nothing will get done without paying bribes; whether you want to get a document from the local authority or run for the highest offices in the country. Officials ‘invest’ in their future and they have to make a profit a big profit.
Stealing money from an individual is seen as being against ‘Somali culture’ and even ‘un-Islamic.’ Stealing public funds, however, and taking or giving bribes, is often seen as a clever move. We see people praising corrupt individuals. “So and so is very clever. He was holding his government post for a few months. Look, he’s built a big house for himself, bought cars and established a big businesses.”
TOP TWEETS
@DalsanFM: BREAKING NEWS: @SomaliPM currently chairing emergency cabinet meeting on deported ONLF figure to Addis last week #Somalia
@Aadandaahir1: #Somalia military forces and #AMISOMrecapture #AlShabaab key town in #Southwest of the #country
http://www.raascawad.com/2017/
@newvisionwire: Somalia remains volatile, problematic-https://goo.gl/qwCaXi
@HarunMaruf: BREAKING: 1st agenda of the parliament is asking govt leaders to explain the “rendition” of ONLF official to Ethiopia, per source.
@JustinTBrady: $1m from the @shf_somalia transferred to@WHOSom to support national measles vaccination campaign.#Somalia
@4Faisel: #Somalia and #ICAO at loggerheads over control of#airspace
@SakariyeDhegnas: So true, yet so sad. Politicians should be judged by the content of their words not by the volume of their voices. #Somalia
@Vatescorp: #Somalia: #Uganda to Reduce Troops Deployed to AMISOM as part of phased troop reduction outlined in mandate renewal
@lasoco:Seven challenges standing in the way of Somali prosperity – TRT World http://j.mp/2wFYsRR #Somalia
IMAGE OF THE DAY
The Vice President of Puntland Abdihakim Abdullahi Haji Omar and his Galmudug counterpart Mohamed Xashi Abdi preside over a peace conference in Galkayo.
Photo: Dhacdo.com