Somali National Security Agency displays senior militant
defector in Mogadishu
21 Sept,2011….416 words
Somalia’s National Security Agency (SNA) has on
Tuesday shown the media, an alleged militant leader who recently surrendered to
the Somali government. Mustaf Hassan Mohamed, was paraded before a group of
journalists at the agency’s headquarter in Mogadishu. Mohamed is allegedly the
leader of the militant group in KM 13, on the outskirt of the capital before he
defected to the government side, where he sought amnesty. Mohamed thanked the
Somali government for giving him amnesty after defecting from the rebel group,
adding that he decided to abandon the outlawed group.
The agency’s director Ahmed Hassan Fiqi said the
government will always give amnesty to militia fighters once they renounce
violence and surrender to the relevant government authorities. The recent
defection of the militant leaders comes a month after a group of six al Shabaab
rebel fighters armed with light weapons surrendered to Ahlu Sunna
administration in Garbaharey town, Gedo region.
Abdullahi Ahmed, one of the defectors said they
opted to join the Ahlu Sunna group after realizing that they were part of a
group who has no mercy for the Somali population. He accused his former militia
group of misinterpreting Islam and urged others still fighting for the militia
group to be cautious of al Shabaab’s wrong concepts aimed at fighting against
the sovereignty and the integrity of Somalia.
Ahlu Sunna officials said they are welcoming the
defection of young militia fighters who have been lured into the fighting after
they were brainwashed by the militia.
Somali gov't warns foreign firms taking tax from Mogadishu
airport
The supreme court of the TFG on Tuesday warned
foreign firms that it is not allowed to take tax from planes landing at
Mogadishu international airport. Aidid Ilka Hanaf, Somalia’s Supreme Court
chief told the local press that the government wills not allow the foreign
companies operating at Mogadishu airport like SKA air and logistics to tax and
take income from the airport.
Mr. Ilka Hanaf pointed out that it is necessary
that the ministry of Air, Ground and Maritime Transport to take its responsibility
about the income from Mogadishu airport. The Supreme Court chief speaking to
the government has suggested that SKA is free to hire staff not Somalis and
with the ability of conducting operations and services inside the airport.
Gunmen kill Puntland MP in Galkayo town
Unknown armed gunmen have murdered a
parliamentarian from the administration of Puntland, in central Somalia town.
Reports emanating from Galka’yo town suggested that Mr. Abdurrahman Ahmed Hajji
was gunned down by two unidentified men armed with pistols while walking inside
the neighbourhood in Galka’yo town.
The murderers immediately escaped from the area,
according to local residents. The security forces of Puntland reached the spot
and cordoned off all streets leading to the murder area to conduct search
operations, locals noted.
Neither group has so far claimed the
responsibility of the attack nor has Puntland released any comments about the
incident. Puntland authorities suspect al Shabaab of plotting numerous
assassinations against Puntland officials.
Puntland President’s meetings with businesspeople and TFG
parliamentarians
The President of Puntland State of Somalia, H.E.
Abdirahman Mohamed Mohamud (Farole), has led meetings with members of
Puntland’s business community and has received a visiting delegation from the
Parliament of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Mogadishu. On Sept.
18, the President met with 20 members of the Puntland business community at the
State House in Garowe, primarily entrepreneurs who conduct business in livestock
export sector and commercial shipping industry.
Mr. Mohamud Hayir, chairman of Puntland’s
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, opened the meeting with an introductory
statement about the “new risks” posed by Somali pirates. Mr. Hayir stated that
Somali pirates have hijacked ships and boats that leave or are destined for
Puntland’s Port of Bossaso, the State’s economic lifeline.
Meeting with TFG parliamentarians
President Farole received a 10-member visiting
parliamentary delegation from the TFG. The discussion covered a range of
topics, including TFG-Puntland relations, which are now improving as well as
the current security developments in Galkayo, Puntland’s gateway to southern
Somalia. The TFG parliamentary delegation included: MP Mohamed Abdi Yusuf; MP
Barre Ugas; MP Hassan Abshir Farah; MP Ali Ismail Abdi Giir; and MP Abdirashid
Irro.
The visiting delegation briefed the president
about the purpose of their visit and their intention to join the ongoing
dialogue process in Galkayo. Earlier this month, Puntland government forces
launched a counter-terrorism operation targeting al Shabaab extremists hiding
out in Galkayo. More than 60 militants were killed and 22 arrested during the
two-day security operation. The TFG parliamentarians discussed with Puntland
leaders the possible role they could play in the ongoing dialogue process that
aims to isolate the terrorist group from local affairs. Later, the President
hosted an honorary dinner for the visiting delegation.
Moderate islamist Ahlu Sunna group infighting deteriorates
Infighting and internal wrangle within Somalia’s
moderate Islamist group of Ahlu Sunna Waljama (ASWJ) is reportedly
deteriorating with the announcement that a new administration defected from the
group in Abudwak district of Galgudud region in central Somalia on Tuesday. The
leadership of Ahlu Sunna Waljama in central Somalia accused the TFG of being behind
creating inner-conflict and splitting the group in parts.
In an interview with the media Prof. Hirsi
Mohamoud Hilowle better known as (Laba Gari), the chairman of Ahlu Sunna in
central Somalia said that the government of Somalia is trying to split the
moderate group in the aspects of military and leadership. Hilowle said his
group will do any step responding government’s destructive moves.
Judge killer executed by firing squad in Puntland
A man convicted of killing a judge was executed
by firing squad in the Puntland port city of Bossaso in northeastern Somalia on
Tuesday Garowe reports. Puntland Attorney-General Mohamud Aw’Osman told local
news agencies Jama Abdulle Abdullahi, 35, as executed at 9:00 in the morning of
Sep. 20, 2011 in Bossaso’s eastern neighborhood of Biyo Kulule. Present were
Puntland’s Attorney-General, Bari Region attorneygeneral, judge of Bari Region
appeals court judge of Bari Region, Bari Region police commissioner, and
commander of Bossaso central prison.
Mr. Abdullahi, who is the younger brother of
former pirate chief now spending his second year in a Puntland prison Mr.
Boyah, was convicted of killing Bossaso court judge Abdinasir Haji Aden in
Bossaso on Sept. 14, 2011.
Puntland holds suspects in Galkayo city
Reports from Galkayo region say that security
forces of Puntland have made an operation there and held suspects as Puntland
MP killed there last night. Operation of Puntland security forces came as an
armed group killed member of the Puntland state parliament, Abdirahman Ahmed
Kudha last night in Galkayo, reports said.
An exclusive interview with the UN envoy to Somalia
ambassador Mahiga by Hiiraan Online
This interview was conducted on September 18,
2011 by Hiiraan Online reporter in Canada, Hassan Geedi Santur
Kenya: Police Hunt for al Shabaab recruiters in coast
DETECTIVES are looking for people reported to be
recruiting youths into al Shabaab and other illegal groups in Coast province.
The Star exclusively broke the story of a suspect who confessed youth were
being trained for al Shabaab at a coast resort. The report said 15 Yemenis,
Somalis and a Pakistani were recruited into the al Shabaab and smuggled into
Kenya for training the youth early in the year.
The confession was made by Ally Abdulrasoul who
had been arrested by the Anti-Terror Police Unit. Coast Provincial Criminal
Investigations boss Ambrose Munyasia confirmed that the police and ATPU are
hunting for the suspects. “It is not that we are conducting this hunt for the
last few days, it is something we have been doing and we'll make sure they are
smoked out,” he said. Munyasia added that the Coast police are well equipped
for the job. Coast Provincial Commissioner Ernest Munyi had said the outlawed
Mombasa Republican Council is behind the illegal recruiting. Yesterday, MRC
Secretary-General Randu Nzai said the government's claims were a smear campaign
to tarnish the name of their group. Sheikh Amir Banda, the Council of Imams and
Preachers of Kenya Likoni representative also said leaders were on high alert
and would always notify each other in case of any intrusions in the area.
Yemeni forces arrest Somalis said hired by tribal chief to
kill protesters
A group of armed Somalis were arrested today at
Kintaki Roundabout and taken to the field hospital at the Sanaa University
Square. Upon investigation, it appeared they were paid by the socalled Hamid
al-Ahmar to kill the protesters and are currently held at the 1st Armoured
Division camp.
Eyewitnesses: The citizens of Al-Qaeda and
Kintaki Roundabout neighbourhood in Amanat Al- Asimah (the governorate within
Sanaa where government bodies and ministries are located) praise the security
forces for purging their streets of terrorist elements.
Clinton urges al Shabaab militants to let food aid into
Somalia
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged al
Shabaab, the Islamist militant group that controls parts of drought-stricken
Somalia, to allow food aid into the south, where 300,000 children may starve to
death.
“I don’t understand what possible political or
ideological benefit comes from allowing women and children to starve in areas
you’re responsible for,” Clinton told a United Nations meeting in New York
yesterday. Aid agencies are mostly barred from operating in areas held by the
al-Qaeda-inspired rebel group that has been fighting to oust the Western-backed
administration led by President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed for the past four
years. Much of south and central Somalia is under the control of al-Shabaab,
which withdrew from Mogadishu last month, allowing the government to take back
power in the capital.
The most devastating drought in six decades in
the Horn of Africa has hit Somalia the hardest, with famine in six southern
regions putting 750,000 people at risk of death in the next four months, according
to an e-mailed statement from the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs today.
New US drone bases to strike Somalia, Yemen: report
The United States is building an array of secret
new drone bases to conduct strikes against al- Qaeda targets in Somalia and
Yemen, according to the Washington Post. One of the new installations is being
set up in Ethiopia, a close US ally in the fight against the Islamist Shabaab
that controls much of Somalia, while another is being established in the
Seychelles, the Post reported late Tuesday.
A small fleet of so-called
"hunter-killer" drones -- able to fire Hellfire missiles and
satelliteguided bombs -- already based on the Indian Ocean archipelago resumed
operations this month after a pilot mission demonstrated that they could
effectively patrol Somalia from there, it said. The Post said the United States
is also conducting drone missions over both Somalia and Yemen from the small
African country Djibouti, seeking to weaken Al-Qaeda affiliates in both
countries.
"It’s a conscious recognition that those
are the hot spots developing right now," it quoted a former senior US
military official as saying. The United States regularly launches drone strikes
against suspected militants along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where it
claims to have greatly degraded Al-Qaeda's core leadership.
However, US officials have expressed growing
alarm about the growth of Al-Qaeda in increasingly lawless regions in both
Somalia and Yemen, fearing that such militants could launch attacks on the
United States. In late June the Post reported that two senior commanders of
Somalia's al Shabaab insurgency believed to have ties to Al-Qaeda in Yemen were
wounded in what appeared to have been the first US drone strike on the country.
An al Shabaab official in the area of the reported attack described an aerial
bombing raid on an al Shabaab base that wounded several fighters, including
foreigners, and said he believed it was carried out by US aircraft.
Somali children win guns and grenades for Qur'an recital
An Islamist-backed radio station in Somalia has
awarded assault rifles and hand grenades to the winners of a children's Qur'an
recital competition. Andalus radio, which is run by al Shabaab militia, said on
Monday that the first prize was an AK-47 and £450. The runner-up received an
AK-47 and £320, while the child who came third received two F1 hand grenades
and £250. The three children also received religious books.
Pictures of the senior Islamist leader and
spokesman Sheikh Mukhtar Robow presenting the awards in Elasha Biyaha, about 11
miles from Mogadishu, were posted on an rebel-affiliated website. Al-Shabaab
controls much of southern Somalia and is trying to overthrow the transitional
government in Mogadishu. Designated a terrorist organisation by several western
governments, the group has links to al-Qaeda and practices an extreme version
of Islam. In certain areas al-Shabaab leaders have banned musical ring tones,
films, football broadcasts, dancing at weddings and even shop signs written in
English or Somali, rather than Arabic.
Punishments include double amputations and
stonings. The rebels have also systematically recruited children under 15 to
fight for them, according to Amnesty International. The Qur'an recital contest
has been running for three years and takes place after Ramadan. The two
previous award ceremonies have occurred in Kismayo, an al Shabaab stronghold on
the far southern coast. In 2009, prizes included hand grenades, anti-tank mines
and an AK-47. The winners of that contest were between 17 and 20 years old.
The age of the winners of this year's
competition, who represented the towns of Elasha Biyaha, Kismayo and Mogadishu,
are not known. Radio Andalus takes it name from Andalusia in southern Spain,
which was part of the Islamic empire at various times between the eighth and
15th centuries.
Somalia famine and drought situation report no. 14
his report is produced by OCHA Somalia in
collaboration with humanitarian partners. It was issued by OCHA in New York. It
covers the period from 15 to 20 September 2011. The next report will be issued
on 27 September 2011. I. Highlights / Key Priorities • Partners are scaling up
response activities in order to reach the worst-affected population to avert
further unnecessary deaths. Food assistance partners have reached 1.39 million
people in crisis so far in the first two weeks of September, compared to 1.3
million throughout the month of August. • An estimated 585,000 urban dwellers
in Somalia are projected to be in crisis by December if interventions are not
scaled up, a quarter more than the first half of the year. • According to
UNICEF, children constitute 80 per cent of the worst-affected population in the
current famine.
First prize for a child in Somalia: an AK-47
A typical prize for a children’s contest might
be a backpack, a lunchbox or maybe some toys. Not in Somalia.
Over the weekend, a Somali radio station run by
the al Shabaab, the most powerful Islamist militant group in the war-ravaged
country, held an awards ceremony to honor children who were experts al Shabaab
trivia and at reciting the Koran. The prizes? Fully automatic assault rifles
and live hand grenades. The contest itself was held during Ramadan, the Muslim
holy month of fasting, and featured questions that the al Shabaab seemed to
think every child should know, like which war was Sheik Timajilic (a famous al
Shabaab warrior) killed in?
Without a functioning central government,
Somalia has some of the lowest schooling rates in the world, and many Somali
children are more familiar with rifles than rulers. Contestants in the al
Shabaab quiz included children from all across Shabaab-controlled areas of
Somalia, most of the southern third of the country. The children competed live
on air from the many radio stations nationwide that the al Shabaab control.
On Sunday, the awards were handed out at a
ceremony held at the Andalus radio station in Elasha Biyaha, a small town near
Mogadishu, the capital. (Andalus was the part of Spain seized by the Arabs in
the middle Ages.) The first- and second-place winners won AK-47 assault rifles,
some money and Islamic books. The third-place winner was given two hand
grenades. The contestants were 10 to 17 years old.
It was not clear how exactly the sponsors determined
the winners — or the choice of prizes. But at the awards ceremony, Sheik Muktar
Robow Abu Monsur, who is widely considered a moderate al Shabaab leader,
proudly said, “Children should use one hand for education and the other for a
gun to defend Islam,” according to Somali accounts of the event.
Al Shabaab and other militant Islamist groups in
Somalia have become famous for their zeal in enforcing their strict
interpretation of Islamic purity. Last year, al Shabaab outlawed school bells
in a southern Somalia town after deciding that they sounded too much like
church bells. Al Shabaab have also banned bras, gold teeth, dancing and soccer,
deeming them un-Islamic, and barred many Western aid groups, even though
Somalia is suffering from a famine and tens of thousands of people have already
starved to death.
Another militant Somali group, Hizbul Islam,
ordered radio stations to stop playing music, which forced broadcasters to
eliminate even the faintest suggestion of harmonious sounds from their daily programming.
Some stations substituted the musical introductions to news broadcasts with the
sounds of gunshots, engine roars, car horns and animal grunts. Somalia has
subsisted without a functioning central government for two decades. The country
is now fragmented into various zones of loose control, with Islamist groups,
clan militias, regional administrations and a very weak, internationally
supported central government battling one another.
UN to target corrupt Somalis with new sanctions
Corrupt Somali politicians could face travel
bans and have their foreign assets frozen under tough new United Nations
sanctions, a U.N. official said Tuesday, a move that analysts said could also
help get desperately needed food aid to the country's growing number of famine
victims.
A team of eight investigators is due to begin
work this week. It's the first time senior Somali politicians could face
consequences for corruption in the 20 years since the country dissolved into
civil war. The country's justice system has virtually stopped functioning and
there has been no system to hold politicians in the famine-struck Horn of
Africa nation to account. "Corruption has been identified as one of the
main obstacles to the peace process," said Matt Bryden, who heads the U.N.
arms monitoring group on Somalia, which provides an annual report to the U.N.
Security Council. "This sends a clear signal that corruption and political
obstruction will no longer be tolerated."
The monitoring group was set up 10 years after
an arms embargo was imposed on Somalia in 1992, when hundreds of thousands were
dying from famine and the country was in the grip of a clan-based civil war.
The group's mandate was to report anyone selling weapons to fuel the conflict.
In 2008, the U.N. decided it should be able to punish violators by imposing
sanctions that include travel bans and freezes on assets such as bank accounts
and property.
The list of possible sanctions was expanded the
same year to include anyone obstructing access to humanitarian aid. That's a
huge problem in Somalia, where Islamist militant groups have denied many aid
agencies access to territory they control and militias in areas controlled by
the U.N.- backed government steal and sell food.
In July, the sanctions mandate was expanded
again to include corruption and those blocking the peace process. The new
mandate came at the same month famine was declared in parts of the country.
Tens of thousands of people are estimated to have died and the U.N. says 750,000
are at imminent risk of starvation. Now, Bryden said, anyone could be
sanctioned for threatening peace and security or for blocking or stealing
humanitarian aid or government funds.
"Our investigations will help the sanctions
committee ensure that violators are held accountable," he said.
"These sanctions are most effective against those with an international
profile — those with foreign passports, with foreign bank accounts, and those
who travel."
On the potholed streets and among the
bullet-riddled buildings in the capital, Mogadishu, there's little to show for
the tens of millions of dollars donated to the Somali government over the past
two years. The mayor has put up a few streetlights and international aid
agencies fund a few trash collections. But schools, hospitals and roads are in
a state of advanced decay.
Al Shabaab, militia clashes claim five in Somalia
20 Sept - Source: All Headlines News - 188 words
At least five people were killed and three
others wounded in fighting between al Shabaab Islamic militants and local
militia in the settlement of Miira-Taqwa, 32 kilometers from Mahaday, the
second-largest city in the Middle Shabelle region, residents said Tuesday.
“Al Shabaab launched the attack and local
militias fought fiercely against them,” said Mohamed Mahad, a resident in
Mahaday. Al Shabaab has imposed a night curfew in Mahaday after two of its
fighters were killed by local militias earlier this month and the local
militias retreated to the Taqwa settlement.
“The local militia is against strict rules and
farmland taxations imposed by al Shabaab,” said Khalif Ahmed, an elder from the
Middle Shabelle region speaking at a press conference in Mogadishu. Local
residents fled the settlement for safety amid concerns that the insurgents could
launch retaliate attacks.
Since the start of the revolt against al Shabaab
in the region, additional insurgents were arriving in Mahaday and other key
towns in the region. Al Shabaab pulled out of key positions and strongholds in
Mogadishu in early August, calling the retreat as tactical but vowing to
continue its fight against government and African Union peacekeeping forces.
UNHCR scales up aid for Somalis as rainy season approaches
In Somalia, families continue to seek help from
aid agencies as the famine spreads. As a result, the United Nations refugee
agency (UNHCR) has scaled up its presence in Mogadishu and Somalia’s border
regions, providing food and medical assistance. And now, with the rainy season
just around the corner, it’s taking steps to make sure Somalis are prepared for
the expected October rains.
“What we are doing in Mogadishu now is
continuing our distributions of emergency assistance packages, basic household
items, plastic sheeting, so that people can take shelter from the rains, which
are on the way,” explained Andy Needham, spokesperson for the Nairobi-based
office of the UNHCR.
Needham has just returned from a three-week
visit to Mogadishu. He added, “We are scaling up our distribution of blankets.
We have about 60,000 blankets in stock in Mogadishu which we want to distribute
to IDP’s (internally displaced people).” The UNHCR is working to avoid a repeat
of deaths from hypothermia and weather-related illnesses that occurred during
the famine of 1992 in Somalia during the October rainy season, said Needham.
The agency is also trying to make sure that children under five in the IDP
camps have additional warmth at night.
Even when the rains come, Needham said there’s a
long road ahead before Somalia can begin recovering from the drought and
famine. He said it will take two successful cycles of rain, planting and
harvest before the country can expect to see any type of recovery. “So
unfortunately what we are looking at -- we’re going to be in this emergency
response situation until at least August 2012,” said the UNHCR spokesperson.
The Somalia death toll mounts but Africa sleeps on
The Times Editorial: Within three months of the
UN's declaration of famine in Somalia, the world's attention is slowly shifting
away. The story of dying children and displaced citizens has lost its sexiness
factor for most people, other than those working for aid agencies such as South
Africa's Gift of the Givers.
But things have got far worse since that July
announcement. Almost half of Somalia's population of 3.7million has been
affected by the famine and UN estimates say that tens of thousands have already
died most of them children. Neighboring countries have been affected as well,
with Somalis moving into refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. But the
heart-rending pictures are slowly disappearing; the lenses of the world's
photographers are ready to turn elsewhere. The global aid agencies are there,
but where is the humanitarian focus of governments around the world?
For Britain and France, ushering in a new regime
in Libya has been paramount, if the pictures of the shameless Nicolas Sarkozy
and David Cameron are anything to go by. The plight of more than a million
Africans has certainly not warranted the personal attention and intervention of
Zuma, Mbeki, Sarkozy or German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Our president has much
more serious business to attend to at the UN, in New York - while two of his
wives fight for the right to be his official spouse.
It would be infinitely
preferable to see the president's plane land in Somalia, and his wives holding
children in their arms, so that the world would know that we care about those
on the continent who have nothing to offer in terms of business deals or oil
wells. But to ask governments on this continent to take the lead in saving our
own is perhaps too idealistic. Who cares if a few more thousands of Africa's
children die?
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