The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Somalia

  • Boko Haram fighters trained in Somalia, says President

    Boko Haram fighters trained in Somalia, says President

    Mohamud seeks international coalition against terrorism

    Boko Haram fighters were trained in Somalia before returning to Nigeria,  Somalia’s President  Hassan Sheikh Mohamud , said yesterday.

    He spoke at a security conference in Germany.

    “Without a stable Somalia, the whole region of the Horn of Africa will remain unstable and by and large, the African continent. There are proofs and evidence that (for) some time Boko Haram has been trained in Somalia and they went back to Nigeria,” he said.

    “The terrorists are so linked together, they are associated and so organised, (that) we the world we need to be so organised,” he said.

    It was not clear from his comments whether he believed al Shabaab was still training Boko Haram fighters, who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

    Somalia’s al Shabaab, which has links to al Qaeda and wants to overthrow the Somali government and impose a harsh version of Islamic law, claimed responsibility for a blast this month that punched a hole in the fuselage of a plane.

    Somalia, plagued by political in-fighting, corruption and attacks by al Shabaab insurgents, has recently made limited progress towards creating a functioning political system.

    The Federal Government, the World Bank, the European Union, and the United Nations (UN) have concluded a two-week recovery and assessment mission in the Northeastern States ravaged by insurgency as part of its on-going Recovery and Peace Building Assessment (RPBA) programme.

    Led by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), Dr. Mariam Masha, the recovery and assessment team visited Adamawa, Taraba, Gombe, Bauchi, Borno and Yobe states.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Vice President, Mr. Laolu Akande, said the team actively engaged with governors, decision-makers civil society organisations, private sector players, traditional rulers, the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), emergency management, humanitarian and relief agencies and other active partners in the recovery efforts in the affected states.

    The statement said: “The field visit by the technical and humanitarian experts from the global institutions, the statement said, primarily focused on validating the processes through which data are to be collected and how to develop internationally acceptable mechanisms to maintain contact with focal points in all the States.

    “This assessment will also form the pivot for planning a broad-based public sector recovery programme for the Northeast, as well as leverage, synchronise and inform the financing initiatives and projects of Nigeria’s development partners, civil society organisations and private sector groups and organisations,” it said.

    Don’t starve troops of fund, says Onaiyekan

    A lso yesterday, The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, urged the Federal Government to remain steadfast in restoring Nigeria to the path of sanity, probity and accountability.

    Onaiyekan said at the opening ceremony of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), held at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria in Abuja: “This is not a smooth and easy process, we all are going through, but we need to go beyond the legal processes, to a serious national moral spiritual rebirth.

    “We need to explore alternative and parallel strategies, based on the moral principles of repentance, reparation and reconciliation.”

    He assured the government that the Catholic Church and some other religious groups were prepared to play a positive role in the on-going war against corruption.

    Cardinal Onaiyekan recalled the efforts of the Church towards eliminating corruption, with prayers, warnings and exhortations.

    “We have to put concrete structures of collaboration in place in the on-going war against corruption.

    “The religious institutions of the nation cannot remain aloof while a moral, spiritual battle is raging in the country,” he added.

    Cardinal Onaiyekan praised the government for the success recorded so far in the fight against the Boko-Haram insurgents.

    “It is hoped that the alleged criminal diversion of funds meant for arms into private pockets has now stopped.

    “Our gallant troops must never again be left with inadequate resources to carry out the dangerous task imposed on them on our behalf,” he said.

    He also urged the government to encourage dialogue across and within religious communities to bring about a lasting reconciliation among diverse groups.

    The Cardinal pointed out that the insurgency in the Northeast had revealed the significant presence of Christian population in the zone.

    “We still have on our hands a lot of healing and reconciliation to do before our displaced people can safely return to their homes, farms and grazing land.

    “They deserve special attention in the programmes of reconstruction and rehabilitation,” he stressed.

  • Somali to deport illegal migrants

    A Somali court has ordered the deportation of 27 Kenyans found to be in the country illegally.

    This is the first time in 25 years that Somalia will expel foreigners for overstaying their visas.

    The men have also been fined $10 (£6.50) for each day they were in the country illegally.

    The BBC reports that job opportunities for foreigners have opened up as peace has gradually returned to Somalia.

    Judge Hashi Elmi Noor said the case was a warning to others who are found to be in the country illegally.

    It is not clear how long the deportees had stayed in Somalia.

    The BBC says that a growing number of foreigners are taking up jobs in the construction and hotel industries, while others are getting teaching jobs in colleges and schools.

    According to a recent Somali law, work permits are now mandatory for all foreigners and employers are urged to give first priority to Somali nationals.

    The government is trying to create job opportunities for young people but the damage to the education system caused by the civil war has left many without crucial skills.

    Years of anarchy in Somalia followed the downfall of President Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991 and more than a million Somalis fled the country as a result, with nearly half a million ending up in Kenya.

  • Kenyan forces kill 24 Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia

    Twenty Four Al-Shabaab militants have been killed in an offensive by Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) in Somalia, military spokesman, Col. David Obonyo, said Thursday.

    Obonyo said the terrorists were confronted when the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISON) forces captured Bardere Bridge where they recovered 25 AK-47 rifles.

    “AMISOM forces together with Somalia National Army (SNA) have captured the strategic Bardhere Bridge.

    “The capture of the bridge was a culmination of AMISOM operation ‘Juba Corridor’ which started on 14 July 2015.

    “The operation commenced from Fafadun and involved the liberation of a series of towns from Tarako, Jungal – bombarded by artillery a week ago and Tawakal,” he said.

    He said that four Somali soldiers were killed during the attack that occurred early Wednesday that also left two Kenyan soldiers wounded.

    “In the morning engagement at Tawakal before capturing the bridge, 24 Al Shabaab terrorists were killed, four others were injured and one technical vehicle was destroyed.
    “The AMISOM/SNA forces seized 25 AK-47 rifles, one PKM machine gun and assorted rounds of ammunition,” he said.

    He said the Bardhere Bridge was the main gateway into Gedo, adding that the Al Shabaab militia had predominantly used the bridge to move their fighters, weapons, ammunition and contraband goods into Gedo.

    “’The loss of the bridge is, therefore, a major operational milestone in the fight against Al Shabaab and plays an integral part in shaping up operations for the ultimate capture of Bardhere town,” he said.

    AMISOM forces have intensified offensive against Al Shabaab militants as they strive to secure Kenya and the region ahead of Friday’s arrival of US President Barack Obama

  • Somali journalist shot dead

    A Somali Journalist, Abririsak Abdi, 26, has been shot dead late on Tuesday in Galkayo, the northern part of the country.

    According to Colleagues and witnesses on Wednesday in Mogadishu, Abdi, a London-based television station journalist, was shot by two masked men while sitting with colleagues in a cafeteria in Galkayo, in the semi-autonomous Puntland region.

    It was further reported that the killers escaped and that Abdi’s killing makes the third reporter to be killed in Somalia this year.

    The Somali Police, however, opined that the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab could be behind the killing.

    Colleagues and hundreds of local residents attended Abdi’s funeral on Wednesday.

    The National Union of Somali Journalists condemned the “cold-blooded murder” and urged the authorities to punish the killers.

    Earlier this year, a journalist was shot dead and another was killed in a car bombing in Mogadishu and police are still investigating the crime.

    Global media watchdog groups consider Somalia as one of the world’s most dangerous countries to work as a journalist. In 2012, 18 journalists were killed, followed by seven in 2013.

    Attackers have targeted journalists who wrote about al-Shabaab or about clan rivalries in the country. (NAN)

  • Somali pirates release US-German hostage

    Somali pirates release US-German hostage

    A German-American writer kidnapped by Somali pirates close to three years ago has been released after a ransom was paid, The Telegraph has learnt.

    Michael Scott Moore was said to be in “satisfactory” health on Tuesday and would be seen by doctors in Djibouti, the small Red Sea state to Somalia’s north where he landed a free man.

    He had been seized by 15 gunmen in January 2012 and was kept as a hostage for 977 days before being released in exchange for an unknown sum of money, several sources confirmed.

    The German foreign ministry said: “A German citizen, who also possesses American citizenship and who was kidnapped in Somalia, was freed today.” It did not name Mr Moore directly.

    Alan Cole, regional anti-piracy coordinator for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, confirmed it was Mr Moore who had been released.

  • With love from Somalia

    With love from Somalia

    Daughter of the late Chief Erhabor Obaseki Emokpae, Ewemade, got married to Olubode, son of Prof Simi Adekunle Banjoko, at a colourful wedding in Lagos. NNEKA NWANERI was there.

    Ewemade and Olubode met in a somewhat unusual way. According to Ewemade, it was at a dark point in her life. Then her friends thought it was time to stop staying locked in and dragged her to the Radisson Blu Hotel on Victoria Island, Lagos, for a night out. That was where Bode as Olubode is fondly called first met her.

    “After Blu, my friends and I thought it would be a good idea to head on to the discotheque night club. A month later, I received a message from Bode who had somehow tracked me down. We started writing each other and while it took me quite some time to warm up to him, Bode was surprisingly patient and he was very kind,” Ewemade recalled.

    Bode, who had just got out of an on and off relationship came across a picture of Ewemade via a close friend before they met.

    He said: “At first sight, I was very much captivated by her beauty, dimples and style. Finding ‘new’ love was not really on the cards for me at the time, so, I went on with life as normal. I was far away in Somalia then.

    “A few months later, I came home to Lagos for the Christmas break in 2011, and on one of those nights, I went out with ‘the boys’. First stop was Radisson for some drinks and to meet up with other friends. Then, I saw, Ewemade and ‘the girls’. I was carried away; staring at Ewemade for obvious reasons and then began to think she looked familiar.

    “At this point, I remembered ‘Made was the one I had seen in a picture, some months back.’The boys’ and I then went our way to the club for the rest of the night, and guess who showed up shortly after? Ewemade and ‘the girls’! I believe at this point, I started getting the message God had been trying to send me.

    “I went back to Somalia where I was based; I wrote her once, said hello and checked on her, but got no reply until weeks and weeks had passed. We soon became friends; we communicated every day; we clicked and our friendship grew. The communication got addictive; I enjoyed every moment and would always look forward to talking to her. We soon became an item and fell in love.”

    Their love story climaxed into marriage penultimate Saturday in Lagos as former Ewemade and Olubode exchanged marital vows before a large number of witnesses at the 1004 Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    The ceremony was officiated by Rev Canon Banji Egbinola, who spoke on the topic: “How to win God’s approval”.

    After the solemnisation, Bode, clad in a navy blue suit and white inner shirt, led his wife, Ewemade, who was in a fitted shiny gown out of the church and to a reception at the Shell Hall of the Muson Centre.

    Seats were limited for only those who had invitation cards.They were arranged asymmetrically and decorated in black and white striped overlays. There was no high table.

    The hall wore a different look from what it used to be every other time. Old school jamz were dished out by DJ Lami and the Glory Band, too, was on the stand to usher the couple and the bridal train into the gathering.

    Former Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Apostle Hayford Alile chaired the occasion.

    The Gazo Effect thrilled with a spectacular performance of a South African song “Circle of Life”, a sound track from the animated movie Lion King.

    Giving a toast, the Best Man, Chuma Emenike, prayed God to bless his friends with children and led all to click glasses.

    After a while, the bride appeared on stage in another sparkling off-shoulder gown. She looked a replica of R and B songstress Beyonce Knowles. As she sang her solo hit, Fever, she moved about the stage dancing to the rhythm of the song. She looked like a born singer and Bode was sighted on his seat grinnng like a teenager. After the performance, he led other guests to give her a standing ovation, and later led his wife to cut their wedding cake.

  • Africa Union troops ‘raped’ girls in Somalia

    Africa Union troops ‘raped’ girls in Somalia

    African Union (AU) troops raped women and girls seeking medical aid or water from their bases in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, a rights group says.

    The troops had “misused” their power over women fleeing violence and poverty, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

    One Muslim girl, aged 15, reportedly had her headscarf ripped off before being raped.

    The AU, which has some 22,000 troops fighting militant Islamists in Somalia, says it will investigate the claims.

    In 2012, the UN recorded 1,700 rapes in camps for displaced people in Somalia.

    Many were thought to have been carried out by members of the Somali security forces.

    Last year, there was a huge public outcry following claims that AU and government soldiers had gang-raped a woman in Mogadishu.

    Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict

    Al-Shabab carries out periodic attacks in Mogadishu

    A joint investigation by the AU and government dismissed the allegation as unfounded, even though neither the woman nor independent witnesses had been interviewed.

    Most of the women who were abused lived in camps for displaced people after fleeing violence and the 2011 famine, HRW said.

    “The AU can no longer turn a blind eye to the abuses on Amisom [AU Mission in Somalia] bases, as it’s undermining the very credibility of the mission,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, HRW’s women’s rights director.

    It interviewed 21 women and girls, some as young as 12, who described being raped or sexually exploited by Ugandan or Burundian soldiers in the AU force, HRW said.

    Only one rape case, in which the victim was a child, is before Uganda’s military court in Kampala, it added.

    “Some Amisom soldiers have used humanitarian assistance, provided by the mission, to coerce vulnerable women and girls into sexual activity,” HRW said.

  • 2 UN workers shot dead in Somalia

    Two UN staff members – a French national and a Briton have been shot and killed by unknown gunmen in central Somalia, local officials said.

    The victims, who were employed by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, were gunned down shortly after landing at the airport of Galkayo on Monday.

    Galkayo is a town in Mudug region, roughly 600 km north of the capital Mogadishu.

    One of the UN workers died immediately, while the other was rushed to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, Anti-Piracy Agency director Abdirisak Mohamed Dirir told dpa.

    “We do not know the motive behind the killing, but we believe it was done intentionally, and we are investigating,” said Dirir.

    An official from the radical Islamist group al-Shabaab welcomed the killings but failed to confirm or deny the group’s involvement.

    “We are very happy with this news about the killed Westerners in Galkayo today,’’ the source, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

    “Whether we (al-Shabaab) are responsible in this particular case, I will not say,’’ he added.

    UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the “cold-blooded killing’’ of the staff members and expressed his condolences to their families and friends.

    “The secretary general urges the relevant authorities to fully investigate this outrageous crime and to bring the perpetrators to justice without delay,’’ said Farhan Haq, a spokesman for Ban.

    Members of the UN Security Council were also “outraged’’ and “appalled that individuals working to support the people of Somalia have been killed as they sought to help Somalia progress towards peace and prosperity,’’ the council said in a statement.

    An airport police officer was also involved in the shooting, according to Dirir, but it remained unclear whether he belonged to the attackers or was trying to defend the UN workers.

  • Terrorism: don’t compare Nigeria with Somalia

    Spain’s Ambassador to Nigeria, Alvaro Aguilar, yesterday said the menace of terrorism in the country was minimal and should not be compared to the situation in Somalia.

    Aguilar, who spoke at the Naval Training Command (NAVTRAC), Apapa, Lagos, during a joint press briefing of the Nigerian Navy and crew members of a visiting Spanish War Ship, MV RAYO, expressed his countries readiness to partner with Nigeria in eradicating piracy, terrorism and other sea crimes from the Gulf of Guinea.

    Aguilar said: Although, the spate of terrorism in the country was of great concern to the international community, the situation was far below what is obtainable in Somalia, where the Spanish warship had been engaged in an anti-piracy mission coded Oparation Atalanta’.

    He said: “There is no doubt that the issue of terrorism is a source of concern to us, but in no way can we compare the situation in Somalia with that of Nigeria in that regard. Even piracy in that part of the continent cannot be compared to what we have here. It is not potentially as dangerous as in Somalia.

    “Spain is worried about the situation of maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. Spanish navy asked for permission from Nigeria for the vessel to berth here and perform a couple of joint exercises. The navy came here as a result of the importance of Nigeria in the continent. MV RAYO is among the world’s best three ship design with highly equipped technology.”

    Speaking on behalf of the Nigerian Navy, Captain Abraham Adaji said both Navies will train in fire fighting and other aspects of naval operations. He noted that the issue of piracy was not peculiar to Nigeria alone, disclosing that advanced colloborations have been reached at a recent meeting in Yauonde, Cameroon, for countries to harness their resources and military information to combat the menace.

    He said four Nigerian Navy officers will follow the vessel to Dakar, Senegal, at departure in order to put in practice, the trainings they would have received.

    Commanding Officer, MV RAYO, Lieutenant Commander Rafael Rodriguez, aid the vessel is a 26,000 tons dispkacementbIPV with 95m length, 14m breadth and 5m draught, with a 74 member crew and was commissioned in 2011.

    Talking about Operation ATALANTA, Rodriguez said the operation is mounted by the European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR), to combat piracy off the coast as well as facilitate shipment of aid to Somalia.

    Earlier, the Spsnidh team paid courtesy calls to the Flag Officers Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command and NAVTRAC.

  • Jonathan wobbles as Somalia beckons

    SIR: Nigeria needs more of strategic urgent socio-political manoeuverings if the current bull in the China shop will not only destroy the shop’s wares but collapse the whole edifice. No head of state has shown total lack of grasp and managerial incompetence, cluelessness and paralysis on almost every aspect of national life as the current occupant of the highest office in Nigeria. This obvious administrative skill deficit is amplified by the ordinariness that the symbol of authority in Nigeria has assumed. The jejune and pedestrian analysis of policies and the cavaliar attitudes of the emperor towards fundamental issues of state such as insecurity, corruption, the economy and a host of others have sharpened and widened the faultlines of the country.

    As emperor Nero fiddled and Rome burnt, the Nigerian emperor is antagonizing every critical sector and geo-political zone with the annoying ethnocentric

    grandstanding of the ethnic Ijaw jingoists and supremacists even in the Niger Delta region.

    The Ijaw with highest concetration in Bayelsa and other few enclaves in some coastal communities have converted the current presidency to an ethnic instrument of victimization and ascendancy to the exclusion of other minority groups in the south not to talk about the alienation of others in the appropriation of state power and resources. It is appalling that these people do not give consideration to the post-Ijaw presidency by their actions and relations with others in Nigeria’s highly combustible powerhouse.

    Under President Jonanathan, Nigeria has become a huge slaughter slab, a haven of kidnappings, a redoubt of terrorists and a centre of communal skirmishes with blood flowing like the water of River Niger. Yet the government believes that the system will continue to wobble and fumble, till 2015 when another abracadabra called election will take place without concrete effort and strong political will to arrest this drift.

    The increasing autocratization of our democracy through the gradual assault on the core tenets and ethos of democratic institutions, federalism, rule of law and constitutionalism through both subtle and crude subversion of institutions and agencies of the state is worrisome.

    All of the above coupled with the erosion of state authority in most part of the country with many arm-bearing groups such as Boko Haram, MEND, MASSOB, OPC, etc challenging the monopoly and monopolization of the instrument and apparatus of coercion and violence and holding sway in different parts of the country with the apparent inability of the present weak government in containing and curtailing it and if this is to be added to the worsening unemployment situation and grinding poverty in the land, then Somalia beckons.

    With the weakening and decapitation of the state by a wobbling emperor through his self-serving and subversive policies, implosion is imminent and the prediction of the U. S research think-tank would have been accelerated. It would be a complete somaliazation of Nigeria. I strongly pray against it but would the power that be listen. A stitch in time can still save nine.

    • Akinrolabu T. Omonitan,

    Ikeji-Ile Ijesa, Oriade LGA.,

    Osun State.