HARGEISA(Wajaalenews);Mogadishu – Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab has claimed responsibility for a string of attacks in the capital Mogadishu and warned that violence will intensify during Islam’s holy month of Ramadan.

“Mujahedeen fighters carried out operations inside Mogadishu killing several of the apostate government soldiers,” Shabaab spokesperson Abdulaziz Abu Musab told AFP on Tuesday.

He warned soldiers that the group will “target them on the streets and inside their bases”.

Five blasts were reported on Monday, including a roadside bomb that killed at least two people when it ripped through a market busy with shoppers buying food to celebrate the breaking of the Ramadan fast with their families at sunset.

A car bomb later killed a government official, while three other blasts at checkpoints killed at least one soldier.

“We call on the apostate soldiers to stay away from the streets otherwise we will kill them one by one,” Musab said.

The threats echoed warnings made last week by the Shabaab commander in Mogadishu, Sheikh Ali Mohamed Hussein, who said the capital would become the “frontline” for assaults.

Security

Shabaab fighters fled fixed positions in Mogadishu three years ago and have since lost most large towns to a 22 000-strong UN-backed African Union force, fighting alongside government soldiers.

But they still hold sway in vast swathes of the rural hinterland from which they regularly launch guerrilla raids.

Recent Shabaab attacks in Somalia have targeted key areas of government, or the security forces, in an apparent bid to discredit claims by the authorities and AU troops that they are winning the war.

Government security officer Osman Ali said a transport ministry worker was killed on Monday when a bomb hidden beneath his car “exploded as he drove off”.

In a separate attack, witnesses said one soldier was killed when grenades were hurled at checkpoint, hours after another soldier was shot dead in the capital’s key commercial centre, Bakara Market.

“Men armed with grenades attacked a military post. There was heavy blast followed by gunfire,” a witness, Hussein Ahmed, said.

Security has been boosted in the capital, and Somali President Hassan Sheik Mohamud gave a televised address at the start of Ramadan saying his government would do all it could to stop attacks.

Source: AFP, Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Somali delegation in Ghana on a mission to acquire election management

Accra, Ghana – A 5-member delegation, including two women, from Somalia arrived in Accra, Ghana, yesterday to participate in an 11-day election management course organized by the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in partnership with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC).

The Somali Deputy Minister of Information Honourable Abdullahi Olad Roble led the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) delegation which includes Mrs Zahara Hassan and Mr Abdifitah Mohamud. AMISOM is represented by Senior Political Affairs Officer, Ssebirumbi Kisinziggo, while the civil society is represented by Mrs Nafisa Santur.

The election management course will offer participants the opportunity to learn theory and to engage in field work.

“The mission is aimed at engaging KAIPTC for collaboration towards more capacity building in Somalia, and in line with AMISOM’s mandate to support the FGS in establishing the required institutions and to create conducive conditions for the conduct of free, fair and transparent elections by 2016,” Mr. Kisinziggo said.

The course, which was sponsored by the United Nations Support Office for AMISOM (UNSOA), will cover: Election management Bodies (EMB), Standards and Principles for Election Administration, Legal Framework, Electoral Systems, Electoral Operation, Public Outreach, Election Observation, Electoral Integrity, Electoral Process, Election, Conflict and Security, Election Dispute resolution, Election Monitoring and Evaluation, Women, Gender and Election, Stakeholders Management, Global, Regional and National Best Practices.

Source: AMISOM, Tuesday, July 1, 2014