A modern-day Somali pirate off the coast in the Horn of Africa. The US Navy killed three Somalis on April 12, 2009.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Monday, March 1 05:42 pm
The Absalon, flagship of NATO's counter-piracy efforts off the Horn of
Africa, "disrupted a piracy attack in the Somali basin on Sunday and
then scuttled a mothership," the spokesman said.
The 'mother-ships' are used to move attack teams into an area from
which they can launch raids on passing ships.
"This was a very well executed operation," said Commodore Christian Rune, commander of NATO's anti-piracy mission.
"Disrupting the pirates capability just off their main pirate camps
sends a strong signal to the pirates that NATO and the international
community do not tolerate their actions" he added in a statement from the operation's British base.
"Disposing of their vessels before they can head to sea hits the
pirates before they can present a threat to merchant shipping," he
added.
Somali pirates, targeting one of the world's busiest maritime trade
routes, raked in an estimated 60 million dollars in ransoms last year.
Somalia: Hizbul Islam commander vows more war with Al Shabaab
1 Mar 1, 2010 - 11:32:12 AM
A high ranking official of Somalia’s Hizbul Islam has vowed to
intensify the fight against the rival Al-Shabaab group across war-torn
Somalia.
Sheikh Ahmed Madobe said the group is his number one enemy, vowing to wipe it out of the country.
“Al-Shabaab is an enemy and we will fight them everywhere including
Mogadishu. They want to obliterate our religion,” he said.
“We will target Al-Shabaab officials with explosions and bullets to
wipe them out of the country,” he adds.
Commenting about the defection of Sheikh Hassan Abdulahi Al-Turki, a notorious Islamist guerrilla leader to Al-Shabaab early this year, Sheikh Madobe said he has no communication with him.
“Sheikh Hassan Turki has not communicated with us since he joined
Al-Shabaab, and also he had spoken about our fight against Al-Shabaab. So, it seems he took a personal decision.”
Early this month Sheikh Madobe vowed to fight 'whoever joins
Al-Shabaab, we will also fight him', in reference to Al-Turki’s
decision.
Al-Shabaab has all along being insisting that Madobe is an
Ethiopian-backed individual has is out there to wreak chaos amongst
the Islamists.
However, top Hizbul Islam officials have maintained that the official
is still in their ranks.
The two groups broke ranks after engaging in bloody war over the
control of southern Somali regions.
GAROWE ONLINE
Somalia: Al Shabaab court sentences fighters accused of robbery
1 Mar 1, 2010 - 11:31:08 AM
A court operated by Somalia’s hardline insurgent Al-Shabaab group has on Sunday handed jail sentences to five of the group’s fighters who were accused of stealing money from a local money bureau in the restive capital Mogadishu, Radio Garowe reports.
The “ad-hoc" Islamic Court at Mogadishu’s Bakara Market found the five men guilty of making off with some USD $9,260 and sentenced then one year each, according to one of Al-Shabaab’s Judges called Sheikh Abdulxaq.
The court also delivered sentences to six other robbers who went away with $$33,400 before disappearing to government-controlled areas, he adds.
Al-Shabaab, which controls much of southern and central Somalia, has previously carried out public executions, amputations and floggings in various parts of the war-torn nation.
However, today’s judgment was different because it involved the
group’s fighters who were tasked to ‘keep and implement’ the Sharia
law in the country.
The most memorable event happened Last year October when a Somali teenage girl Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was stoned to death on by dozens of Al-Shabaab militiamen in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo sparking international condemnation.
The group, which is in the list of Washington’s most wanted foreign
terrorist group is fighting the UN-backed government in a bid to
overrun the Horn of African nation and subject it to strict version of
Sharia Law.
GAROWE ONLINE
Somalia: Top Al Shabaab leaders in Kismayo meeting
28 Feb 28, 2010 - 11:12:47 AM
Informed sources say more than 10 top officials including among others Sheikh Hassan Abdullahi Al-Turki, who recently joined ditched Hizbul Islam and Sheikh Mukhtar Robow Abu Mansur held town close door meetings, which the local media was barred from covering.
Sources, who requested not to be named, told Garowe Online that the officials were deliberating on how to counter possible government offensives on the group’s positions in the war-torn country.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Abu Mansur says his group is not planning to carry out attacks on its neighbor Kenya but requested Nairobi to stop
military maneuvering along the border.
“We are not planning to wage war against Kenya, we are more focused on ensuring security in our areas. But if we come under attack, then we must defend ourselves,” he told crowd in Kismayo.
Kenya, which officially closed its borders with Somalia in late 2006,
has strengthened its border patrol after previously receiving threats
from the Somalia-based Islamist groups.
GAROWE ONLINE
Somalia: New row emerges between top TFG officials
27 Feb 27, 2010 - 12:25:26 AM
New row has emerged between Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and parliament speaker Sheikh Aden Mohammed Nur Madobe over speaker’s tenure.
The two met on Thursday at Villa Somalia but failed to come to a
census over the issue, a well informed lawmaker told Garowe Online on condition of anonymity.
The source further states that the speaker rebuffed president’s plans
to replace him, a plan that is supported by many of Sheikh Sharif’s
close associates.
The speaker is said to be adamant to bow to the pressure of stepping down, arguing that his mandate goes hand in hand with the formation of the transition government.
In retaliation, some lawmakers allied to the speaker have also put
Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Sharmarke on the spot over what they termed his failure to implement pledges he made when appointed to the post.
The internal wrangles have also spread to the military and police,
whose commandants are said to have divided their loyalties across the two leaders.
The political dispute between top TFG officials comes at a time when
the fragile UN-backed government is preparing to launch attacks on the powerful insurgents who are determined to run the war-torn nation.
GAROWE ONLINE
Somali lawmaker urges gov’t to face parliament
26 Feb 26, 2010 - 2:07:19 AM
A Somali lawmaker has censured the embattled transition government for failing to fulfill pledges, calling on it to ask the parliament for vote of confidence.
Mohammed Sheikh Yussuf lawmaker told reporters in the restive capital Mogadishu that the government of President Sharif Sheikh Sheikh Ahmed, which recently celebrated the first anniversary since its inception, has failed to implement the federal chartered across the country.
“The government failed to execute the federal system across the
country in the one year of its existence, which was mandated to do so. Now it must ask for a vote of confidence from the parliament,”
He adds, “A motion on accountability is before the floor of the house
and this motion entails the incapability of the government to
implement the federalism in the country,”
He argues that the current government is constitutionally illegitimate
and has to seek the parliament approval to continue its work.
His sentiments come at a time when the transition government, which is a product of UN-backed peace and power sharing process held in neighboring last years, deliberates on changing the federal chartered.
The fragile government only control pocketful of Mogadishu with the
rest including southern Somalia under the hands of Al-Shabaab and
Hizbul Islam, the two main insurgent groups.
GAROWE ONLINE
Somalia/Kenya: Wetang'ula wants Maalim's conduct investigated
28 Feb 28, 2010 - 11:09:44 AM
By David Ochami
For the first time in the country’s history, Parliament will
investigate a Deputy Speaker for his activities while on official duty
abroad.
Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetang’ula has written to Parliament’s Defence and Foreign Relations Committee to investigate Deputy Speaker Farah Maalim’s activities on a tour of Somaliland in December last
year.
The cause is key speeches he is alleged to have made that reportedly promoted separatism in Somalia and fostered ethnic disharmony between Somaliland and Puntland.
Committee chairman Adan Keynan admitted at the weekend that the
minister wrote a letter seeking investigation, but declined to provide
details citing Parliament’s Standing Orders.
"It is true we have received the complaint and we are going to work on it," said Mr Keynan, who added Maalim "will be summoned soon".
According to sources, Wetang’ula wants the Lagdera MP probed for
speeches he made at various functions when he visited Somaliland
between December 22 and December 29, which allegedly caused tension in the two regions of Somaliland.
But the TFG’s Ambassador to Kenya Muhamed Ali Nur denied any knowledge of a protest by his Government, although he was aware of Maalim’s visit. He also denied knowledge of any controversy stirred by Maalim. The Deputy Speaker could not be reached for comment.
Source: Standard
Somalia: Insurgent groups at loggerheads over recent bombings
24 Feb 24, 2010 - 10:59:03 AM
Somalia’s militant groups are at loggerheads over explosions that
targeted their positions in the restive capital Mogadishu.
Al-Shabaab’s spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohammued Raghe aka Ali Dhere pointed the accusing fingers on Hizbul Islam over recent explosions in their strongholds including the capital’s main market Bakara.
“We have discovered that the people behind the blast at Bakara’s
medical stores, fuel centre and recently at the Baar Ubax intersection
were affiliated to Hizbul Islam,” he told reporters.
However, his claims were quickly denied by Hizbul Islam spokesman
Mohammed Ma’alin Ali who said they have no links whatsoever with the blasts.
"Our group is not behind the blasts that rocked Mogadishu. We view
these sentiments as fabrications, because we can’t attack our own
positions,” he said, adding that his group is still committed in the
unification of the Islamist fighters in the fight against the
government and African Union troops.
Al-Shabaab cried foul over recent blasts that target their
strongholds, which according to sources were assassination plots
against the group’s top officials.
The two armed groups, which are involved in military struggle against
the weak transition government, are also engaged in tough tussle over the control of southern Somali regions.
GAROWE ONLINE
Somalia can handle more funds directly: AU
25 Feb 25, 2010 - 9:05:28 AM
By Abdiaziz Hassan
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somalia has made progress restoring state
institutions and accountability and its administration can now handle
more funds directly, the African Union's deputy head of mission to
Somalia said.
For nearly two decades, the Horn of Africa nation has had no
functional central government and its transitional administration
controls only sections of the capital Mogadishu.
Wafula Wamunyinyi, the deputy special representative for the AU
Commission for Somalia, said the government received inadequate direct funding, and that there were still some impediments to them getting more aid.
"They were working hard in re-establishing state institutions,
coordination and implementation of the plans; they are making progress ... and taking care of the accountability system," he told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.
"They are now making progress, working some specific budgets for the first time, and that kind of thing shows there is a direction ...
Then, donors will release the funds to them eventually."
Wamunyinyi said the mission had received more than half the $213
million donors have pledged to help restore Somalia's security and
public services.
International donors agreed last April to provide the money to help
Somalia's transitional government and the 5,000 AU troops providing
security to the government.
"I think over $120 million ... has been directed to trust funds, and
some progress has been made on that," Wamunyinyi said, speaking in his office in the Kenyan capital.
"The pledges have been flowing until now, I am sure we have received most of the funds."
Rebels fighting the transitional government frequently attack the AU
troops, who have been able to do little more than protect the city's
air and sea ports, its presidential palace and a few strategic blocks
in between.
Wamunyinyi said more troops from Uganda and Burundi were waiting to be airlifted to bolster their numbers.
"These two countries will send an additional battalion each. As soon
as the logistical arrangements are done, they will move in," he said.
He said the AU's rules of engagement were adequate, and the mission could help the government hold the capital if it decided to push away the rebels.
"We are not there to fight on behalf of Somalis. If they keep away the
insurgents, that would be very good idea, a good step in the right
direction."
Source: Reuters
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