SOMALIA IN CRISIS: REFUGEES, ASSASSINATIONS AND NEW CLASHES
Published on 23 Sep 2012 by PressTVGlobalNews
The UN refugee agency said on Friday it was closely following the situation around the Somali port city of Kismayo as thousands of residents fled in anticipation of new clashes.
Al-Shabaab militants repeatedly attack Somalia
Published on 22 Sep 2012 by PressTVGlobalNews
Barely twelve days in office and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s administration has come under great attacks in the capital Mogadishu from remnants of Al-Shabaab militants who continue to show their presence despite being ousted from Mogadishu and other major cities in Somalia by Somali and African Union troops.
On Thursday 14 people, including four journalists were killed shortly after the evening prayers in Mogadishu after two men walked into a popular restaurant opposite the National Theatre and blew themselves up.
Four other journalists were wounded in the Thursday attack. Outgoing Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali however says that the latest terror attacks are signs that the Al-Shabaab had lost its grip and was fighting a losing battle.
As a part of boosting the security situation in Mogadishu, African Union has sent Police from Uganda and Nigeria to boost the Somali Police and AU military in the fight against the Al-Shabaab who have been on the back foot in the past year.
Security situation in Mogadishu has deteriorated in the past fortnight with the killing of more than 16 people on Thursday evening including four journalists working for state and independent media in lawless Mogadishu.
Abdulaziz Billow Ali, Press TV, Mogadishu
More Assassinations Threatened Against US-backed Regime in Somalia
Pan-African News Wire
MOGADISHU – Religious rebels said they shot dead a Somali lawmaker in Mogadishu on Saturday and threatened to kill every legislator in the country.
Gunmen shot dead Mustaf Haji Mohamed outside his home after evening prayers, the latest in a wave of attacks since Somalia’s new assembly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud earlier this month. “How many times had we warned Somalis against joining the infidel government?” Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, spokesman for military operations for the militant group al Shabaab, told Reuters late on Saturday. “Let it be a good lesson for the rest.”
Mohamud’s election was hailed by his supporters and Western powers as a vote for change after more than two decades of violence. The militants were swift to brand the political newcomer a “traitor” who headed a government serving only Western interests. Mohamud was the target of a failed suicide bombing just two days into his new job. “We killed legislator Mustaf and we will kill all Somali MPs and officials one by one,” Musab said. The UN secretary-general’s special envoy to Somalia, Augustine Mahiga, called the shooting a cowardly act that was a “reminder of the challenges faced by the new institutions and administration.”
The appointment of a new, slimmed-down parliament and the first presidential vote came as African troops prepared an assault on al Shabaab’s last stronghold in the south of the country. Al Shabaab drafted in hundreds of fighters from other regions this week to reinforce the port city of Kismayu. The African Union AMISOM force said, however, there were signs of deepening internal rifts within al Shabaab. More than 200 rebels defected near the town of Jowhar, about 80 km (50 miles) from the capital, on Saturday, AMISOM said. “Al Shabaab is divided and being defeated across Somalia,” Brigadier Michael Odonga, the force’s deputy commander, said.
