WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is offering $10 million for information leading to the arrest of two Americans in Somalia who are on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists List.
The State Department says the rewards are $5 million each for al-Shabab members Omar Shafik Hammami and Jehad Mostafa.
It says the 28-year-old Hammami is a resident of Daphne, Ala., who moved to Somalia in 2006. He has served as a propagandist for the al-Qaida-affiliated organization, attracting English-speaking youth with rap songs and video statements, and as a military commander.
The department says Mostafa lived in San Diego before moving to Somalia in 2005. He commands foreign fighters for al-Shabab, which has fought for years for control over Somalia.
Both men have been indicted in the U.S. on terror charges.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Isaq Ahmed lifted his head from his hands, his eyes clouded with tears, as he looked at the crowd gathered near the twisted wreckage from a car bomb blast that ripped open buildings and killed at least seven people in Somalia’s capital this week.
As smoke filled the air, the 30-year-old car washer recalled another suicide blast that rocked a restaurant last year where he also works and killed more than 15 people.
“I’d been feeling that peace was almost achieved, but I was wrong,” the grief-stricken Ahmed said before shuffling off to wash another car, despite the destruction nearby. “I don’t think I can keep working, because horrible images and agony are really weighing me down.”
Mogadishu has seen a relative period of peace the last 18 months, after African Union troops forced al-Shabab militants out of the city in August 2011. The city has moved past a recent history of running street battles involving mortars, rockets and tanks.
But a recent series of suicide blasts has residents worried that Mogadishu’s version of peace will be upended by regular bombings.
An al-Shabab suicide car bomb attacker targeting a convoy with Mogadishu’s intelligence chief rammed his vehicle into a civilian bus on Monday, killing at least seven people and wounding the intelligence chief.
In early March, a suicide bomber detonated explosives inside a seaside restaurant in Somalia’s capital, killing himself and one diner. In mid-February a bomber attacked a restaurant next to the Indian Ocean; only the bomber was killed.
The African Union forces’ ousting of the al-Qaida-linked fighters from the capital and surrounding regions brought back to life Mogadishu’s seaside for the first time in 20 years. Schools, shops and markets have reopened. The city government has repaired potholed streets and installed streetlights. Turkish Airlines now makes weekly flights, the first time in decades a reputable international carrier has regular flights here.
Mogadishu has also seen a revival in the arts, sports and business over the last year. Residents dance at weddings. New restaurants have opened, and construction is up. But the violence is holding back progress.
Beach-goers once flocked to Mogadishu’s sandy shores. On a recent morning, dozens of people strolled along the waterfront, dipping their feet in the water, but the nearby restaurants were mostly empty.
“Because of the attacks, our business has suffered a sharp decline,” said Hassan Ali, a manager at a beachfront restaurant in Mogadishu called Village close to where the restaurant attacks took place. “More than 50 percent of our customers haven’t returned after the attack. It’s hugely damaging to our earnings.”
Outgunned and on the defensive, al-Shabab are still battling the African Union forces, but the group has resorted to roadside bombs, suicide attacks and assassinations, instead of infantry street battles which cause high casualties.
“What’s happening is a setback to the security gains in Somalia by the government,” said Mohamed Sheikh Abdi, a Somali political analyst. “But in comparison to what has been achieved thus far in terms of security, what is happening is merely a hiccup, rather than a game changer in the long run.”
Somalia’s prime minister said this week that the attacks will have no long-term effect.
“We have made far too much progress to regress to the bad old days,” said Abdi Farah Shirdon.
However, in another worrying security sign, al-Shabab fighters in the last week recaptured Hudur, a town in southwestern Somalia, after Ethiopian and Somali troops left it. The retreat has raised fears that the Ethiopian troops who control several towns in western Somalia will make a more extensive pullout.
“They (al-Shabab) have greeted us with beheadings of two residents upon their arrival,” said Ali Daud, a resident in Hudur, by phone. “We don’t know why the Ethiopians have made that surprise departure.”
Hassan Yaqub, a member of al-Shabab, said: “If the Ethiopian Christians have abandoned two towns for now, then why don’t you expect more territorial gains?”
Nairobi, March 18, 2013-The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely concerned by a recent directive from authorities in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region banning local broadcasters from airing content produced outside the region.
In a notice issued March 13, Information Minister Mohamoud Aideed banned reproduction of any programs or materials produced by non-Puntland media, singling out three radio stations that operate outside the region, according to local journalists. “No radio station can reproduce or air any materials and programs of a media station that is not licensed under the ministry, such as Radio Ergo, Radio Bar-Kulan, and Radio Hirad,” the memo read.
Nairobi-based Radio Ergo and Radio Bar-Kulan are funded by the Danish organization International Media Support and the United Nations, respectively. Radio Hirad is based in Hargeisa, in the semi-autonomous republic of Somaliland, and receives support from the Dutch press organization Free Press Unlimited, according to CPJ research.
Local journalists say the directive may be due to the fact that two of the stations, Radio Bar-Kulan and Radio Hirad, occasionally air views of opposition politicians and, having no physical presence in the region, are able to report freely without fear of reprisal. They said it’s not clear why Radio Ergo is being targeted.
“This order appears to be designed to censor critical reporting in Puntland ahead of proposed May elections,” said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. “We call on authorities to reverse this directive immediately.”
According to local journalists, most radio stations are ignoring the ban until they receive further explanation. A network of 13 local stations issued a statement saying they will continue to air Radio Ergo broadcasts until they receive official clarification.
CPJ’s repeated calls to the Information Ministry went unanswered.
Puntland authorities shuttered independent broadcaster Horseed FM in October last year in the port town of Bossasso, according to CPJ research. The station remains off air. Authorities also temporarily suspended another radio station, Codka Nabadda, in March 2012 but re-opened the station after the owner negotiated with authorities, local journalists told CPJ.
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CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization
MOGADISHU- A suicide car bomber killed at least 10 people on Monday in the worst attack in the Somali capital this year when he tried to kill Mogadishu’s security chief near the presidential palace, police and rebels said.
Al Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group al Shabaab said it carried out the attack along Maka al Mukarram road that runs between the palace and the national theatre, a route lined by tearooms that were engulfed in fire from the blast.
A public minibus driving along the road burst into flames, when the suicide bomber set off explosives packed into his car in an attempt to kill Khalif Ahmed Ilig, the Mogadishu security chief, police and the rebels said.
Ambulance sirens wailed through the city’s congested streets and a Reuters witness at the scene saw pools of blood on the ground. Residents joined in the rescue operations, pulling victims from the tea-houses and the minibus.
Police said seven civilians, three government security officers, and the bomber died in the blast that brought part of the city to a standstill. At least seven others were injured.
“The suicide car bomber targeted a senior national security officer whose car was passing near the theatre,” senior police officer Abdiqadir Mohamud told Reuters, adding that the official had been injured.
“Most of the people who died were on board the minibus – civilians. This public vehicle coincidentally came between the government car and the car bomb when it was hit. Littered at the scene are human hands and flesh.”
The explosion could be heard several kilometres (miles) away in Mogadishu’s central business district.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, elected last year in the country’s first national vote since dictator Siad Barre’s overthrow in 1991, was in another part of the city during the blast, police said. The presidential palace stands about 100 metres from where the explosion struck.
Civil war followed the fall of Barre, which left Somalia without effective central government and awash with weapons, ushering in two decades of turmoil.
Security in Mogadishu has improved greatly since a military offensive drove Islamist rebels allied to al Qaeda out of the city in August 2011. But bombings and assassinations in Mogadishu, blamed on militants, still occur often.
The attack on Monday was the worst so far this year, police said, a stark reminder of two decades of civil strife, in a war-torn country where the central government depends heavily on a 17,600-strong African Union peacekeeping force for its survival.
“A wall, a tea-shop and two small shops collapsed from the blast. I could see injured people being pulled from under these places. There are pieces of human flesh and blood on the scene,” resident Farah Abdulle told Reuters.
“This is Maka Al Mukaram road, the riskiest and busiest street in Mogadishu.”
“REVENGE”
Al Shabaab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage said the group was behind the attack. The group, which wants to impose its strict version of Islamic law, or Sharia, said the strike was in revenge for the killing of people believed to be its members over the past few weeks.
“A car bomb by a mujahid targeted Khalif, the Mogadishu national security chief. He is seriously injured,” Rage, told Reuters. “Many of his body guards and other security officials died and many others were wounded. It was revenge.”
On Sunday, al Shabaab fighters regained control of Hudur, the capital of Bakool province near the Ethiopian border, after Ethiopian troops who have been part of an African offensive against the militants withdrew from the dusty town. It was not immediately clear why the Ethiopian troops pulled out.
In September, al Shabaab withdrew from the southern Indian Ocean port of Kismayu under pressure from African union troops, their last major urban bastion in the Horn of Africa state.
This signalled their demise as a quasi-conventional military force. However, they pledged to step up a campaign of suicide bombings and hit-and-run attacks.
MOGADISHU – A Somali judge on Sunday freed a journalist who was jailed last month for interviewing an alleged gang-rape victim in a case that sparked international condemnation over how Somali authorities treat victims of sexual violence and press freedom.
Human rights groups said the February trial of gang rape victim Luul Ali Osman and freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur was politically motivated, aimed at covering up rampant sexual abuse of women by the security forces.
Abdinur never published his interview with Osman but both were sentenced to one year in jail after the judge found them guilty of making up the story to besmirch the Somali government, a verdict that was heavily criticised by the U.S.
The U.S. State Department said the verdict sent “the wrong message to perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence” and voiced concerns of witness intimidation during the trial.
Osman was released on appeal earlier this month but Abdinur’s sentence was upheld, though reduced to six months, triggering protests from Somali journalists.
The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said that verdict was a “direct assault on press freedom” in Somalia, a country recovering after two decades of civil war and Islamist insurgencies.
Aideed Abdullahi Ilkahanaf, chairman of the Somali High Court which freed Abdinur on Sunday, told reporters: “We have no evidence to support his charges.”
Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid has promised to reform the country’s armed forces and the judiciary once the trial has concluded, acknowledging “deep-seated problems” with both institutions.
After the verdict was announced, Abdinur thanked the international community and fellow journalist for helping secure his release.
“I’m happy to be free,” smiling Abdinur told reporters.
Mogadishu: Academy Awards 2013 may have welcomed ‘Samosas’ with an open heart, but a militant group in Somalia has banned the snack without any solid reason backing it. In a way this means that people found cooking, buying, selling or eating samosas will be punished.
Last week Islamist fighters al-Shabaab (dubbed as terrorist group by some) made public announcements on this bizarre rule. The triangular shaped chow stuffed with vegetables has been a part of African cuisines for centuries. But it seems that the dish will soon find no place in the country.
A Kenyan daily confirmed that town of Afgoye is observing the prohibition. Natives anticipate that the stricter Islamist version of al-Shabaab has banned ‘Sambusas'(local name) due to their triangular shape which indirectly links to Christianity and city of Trinity.
Apparently, the veto came just after the Al-Qaida linked group refused to accept any kind of aid from UN Food Programme and that too in a country where thousands are dying from famine. The aid group has warned that over 80,000 children could die in the famine if not provided help.
WFP has completed dredging works in the port cities of Mogadishu and Berbera, which has allowed larger ships to dock and more cargo to enter Somalia.
The clear blue waters of the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean lap Somalia’s enviably long coastline of more than 3,000 kilometres. For years, ports along this coast have been neglected, littered with sunken vessels and general debris. The tide has washed in tons of silt, making the ports less accessible.This has had a damaging effect on the transport of both commercial and humanitarian cargo.
As part of a special operation, the World Food Programme rehabilitated the port in Mogadishu and then quickly turned its attention to the north-eastern port of Bossaso.
“Bossaso has become a key entry point for the northern corridor into north central Somalia, where WFP’s operations have significantly increased, especially since the droughts in 2011,” says Paul Wyatt, head of logistics for WFP Somalia.
A “bucket dredger” and crew removed the silt from the sea floor, scoop by scoop. The sediment was loaded aboard the dredging vessel and then dropped in waters about a mile beyond the coast.
“We’ve been removing silt from the inner harbour, where small vessels with cargo from Dubai and other places dock, but also the outer harbour where large relief ships dock,” says Dredger Captian Michael Dennis.
By removing 160,000 cubic metres of silt, the port depth has been increased overall by about one and a half metres. That means ships with greater drafts can now safely navigate into the port of Bossaso, because the water is deep enough for them to berth even at zero tide. The number of berthing ships has since risen by almost a third. And with bigger ships now able to dock, the tonnage of imports has gone up by 50 percent.
This has given a big boost to local trade. For WFP, it has meant the ability to transport greater volumes of food to Somalia at any one time, making its life-saving operations more efficient – and, importantly, more cost-effective.
The United States restored official relations with Somalia in January 2013 after years of civil unrest there, reflecting an increasingly stable Somali political environment. Better relations with Somalia, however, have little to do with the decrease in piracy, and the drop in offshore piracy cannot be attributed to Somali government efforts.
Piracy is a serious threat to international shipping and a rising concern for many nations because it increases the costs of shipping, drives up insurance rates, and—most importantly—often costs the lives of ships’ crews. Though the International Maritime Bureau calls the waters off the coast of Somalia particularly dangerous, the number of piracy incidents in the area reached a five year low last year because of deterrents fostered by two major changes: 1) the introduction of international naval patrols to enhance maritime security, and 2) the shipping industry’s adoption of best practices in security, such as the use of armed security personnel on commercial vessels (since incorporating this practice, no vessel has been successfully hijacked). Several nations, including the United States, deploy naval forces to the area to provide surveillance and interdiction capabilities.
By establishing their own maritime constabulary forces, developing countries in the Horn of Africa can disrupt these persistent attacks and deny pirates the use of safe haven anchorage. This type of law enforcement presence can deter maritime criminal activity, prosecute those who commit crimes in territorial waters, and protect national marine resources. The United States and its allies can assist Somalia and other developing nations to build basic capabilities by providing training and equipment to improve maritime security.
Nairobi, March 12, 2013–Somali police attacked and obstructed more than a half-dozen journalists who were seeking to cover a rape trial in Mogadishu on Saturday, as authorities continue to struggle in meeting law enforcement and free expression demands in sexual assault cases. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the attacks and calls on authorities to hold the officers accountable.Police in the Afar-Irdood district beat several journalists attempting to cover the case in regional court and forcibly removed them from the premises without providing an explanation, local journalists told CPJ. The journalists returned to the court later in the day at the invitation of the court’s security chief, who promised to discipline the officers, but the reporters were beaten and attacked again, according to news reports and local journalists. The Afar-Irdood Police Station is responsible for court security.Local journalists told CPJ they suspected the police wanted to prevent news coverageof the rape trial. The Somali criminal justice system has drawn widespread attention and outcry after a freelance journalist was given a six-month jail term for interviewing a woman who claimed she was raped by Somali soldiers. An appeals court said Abdiaziz Abdinuur had conducted the interview “without informing authorities,” a charge not based on Somali law, according to CPJ research.
While the journalists were being attacked for the second time, Police Chief Mohamed Dahir ordered the police to arrest them, local reporters said. Two journalists, Nur and Bile, were briefly detained, and their cameras confiscated. Both were released and their equipment returned after Hashi Elmi Nur, the court’s chairman, intervened on their behalf. Hashi had invited all of the journalists to attend the court case, news reports said.
Abdirashid Abdulle, a member of the local journalists union, also broke a finger on his left hand when he tried to prevent a police officer from hitting Nur with the butt of his gun, according to news reports and local journalists.
“Somali police don’t have the right to arbitrarily decide what journalists can cover in court, and they are certainly abusing their authority by resorting to violence,” CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes said. “Police have a duty to work with court authorities to ensure that legal proceedings are held in a fair and open manner.”
· For more data and analysis on Somalia, visit CPJ’s Attacks on the Press.
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CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization
that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.
BOSASSO, Somalia – Somali pirates have released a chemical tanker they hijacked a year ago with about 20 crew on board after receiving a ransom, the pirates and a minister from the semi-autonomous Puntland region said on Saturday.
The pirates said they had abandoned the UAE-owned MV Royal Grace, which was seized off Oman on March 2 last year. “We got off the vessel late last night. We happily divided the cash among ourselves,” a pirate who identified himself only as Ismail told Reuters by telephone.
The European Union’s anti-piracy taskforce, EU Navfor, said its flagship, ESPS Mendez Nunez, had sighted the Royal Grace during a counter-piracy patrol 20 nautical miles off the northern Somali coast. The tanker was sailing north from its pirate anchorage at a speed of 4 knots.
“Shortly afterwards, ESPS Mendez Nunez received a radio call from the master of the MV Royal Grace, who confirmed that his ship was now free of pirates,” EU Navfor said.
A medical team boarded the tanker with food and water. The crew were checked over, with two being given medical treatment, the taskforce said in a statement.
It said the Royal Grace was now sailing to Muscat under escort from another EU Navfor warship, ESPS Rayo.
Civil war after the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 left Somalia without effective central government and full of weapons. The turmoil opened the doors for piracy to flourish in the Gulf of Aden and deeper into the Indian Ocean.
Said Mohamed Rage, minister of ports and anti-piracy for Puntland – a region in northeast Somalia – confirmed the ransom and the release of the Panama-registered Royal Grace.
It was not clear what cargo the tanker was carrying or who paid to free the vessel, but typically ship owners and the owners of cargo pay ransoms through insurance policies.
In 2011, Somali pirates preying on the waterways linking Europe with Africa and Asia netted $160 million and cost the world economy about $7 billion, according to U.S.-based think tank the One Earth Future foundation.
But the number of successful pirate attacks has since fallen dramatically as international navies have stepped up patrols to protect marine traffic and struck at pirate bases on the Somali coast, prompted by soaring shipping costs, including insurance.
Shipping firms have also increasingly deployed armed guards and laid out razor wire on their vessels to deter attacks.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in February granted an amnesty to hundreds of young Somali pirates in a attempt to draw them away from gangs responsible for hijackings and reduce the threat to shipping in the seas off the Horn of Africa state.
