7 killed in Mogadishu, peacekeepers receive weapons
At least 7 people were killed Tuesday in the Somali capital Mogadishu after insurgents attacked African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM), with sources saying AMISOM has unloaded a weapons cache from a ship, Radio Garowe reports.
AMISOM peacekeepers in south Mogadishu were targeted Tuesday, with witnesses saying insurgents "burned" a water truck used by the African peacekeepers.
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Mogadishu sources said AMISOM soldiers took control of neighborhoods surrounding the capital's main port on Monday, as soldiers unloaded weapons from a military ship.
It was unclear the types of weapons that were unloaded, but residents and fishermen said they were refused to go to the port or near the coast by Somali and AMISOM soldiers.
Last week, AMISOM peacekeepers unloaded weapons from a military ship under a shroud of secrecy.
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Mareeg Online reported on Wednesday that
Al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam rebels fought for the first time between them in Yaqshid district in Mogadishu overnight, witnesses say.
Residents say the fighting started after Hizbul Islam rebels attacked Yaqshid police station, where al Shabaab militias are based.
The two sides have used heavy machine guns in the fighting. Some reports suggest that al Shabaab was chased out of the police station.
The casualties of the fighting are not known since the fighting between the two groups started at night. The fighting comes their first one in Mogadishu but the two groups fought in Kismayo and near by towns before.
The day before, they reported
Al Shabaab takes control of north Mogadishu
Al Shabaab militants have taken control of north Mogadishu on Tuesday after Hizbul Islam militias pulled out from the area, witnesses say.
The Shabaab militia has reportedly captured trenches and defensive positions in north Mogadishu after Hizbul Islam left them early on Tuesday.
It is not known the motive behind the withdrawal of Hizbul Islam militias, but there have been wars between al Shabaab and Hizbul Islam in southern Somalia towns recently.
The move comes as 20 fighters with a battle wagon from Hizbul Islam defected to the government.
The government displayed the fighters from Hizbul Islam and the battle wagon they were traveling with on Tuesday in Mogadishu.
Garowe Online reported on Wednesday that
Somali insurgent faction Hizbul Islam has vacated posts in the capital Mogadishu that it has controlled in the war against the UN-recognized Somali interim government, Radio Garowe reports.
Hizbul Islam rebels have vacated posts in Mogadishu’s Wardhigley, Kaaraan, Shibis and Yaaqshiid districts in recent days, local sources reported.
There was no explanation for the sudden military movement, but inside sources said Hizbul Islam rebels are planning to reinforce themselves in Hiran region of central Somalia.
Meanwhile, the other insurgent group, Al Shabaab, has reportedly seized control of all the posts vacated by Hizbul Islam.
A day earlier they reported that
Sheikh Abdirahman Ibrahim Ma'ow, who quit the Somali interim government to join Hizbul Islam rebels in late August, told local media during a Tuesday night interview ... that he has an appointment to meet with Hizbul Islam commanders in order to join together all the forces under a single command.
Currently, Beletwein is under the control of Hizbul Islam rebels but the rebels do not have a strong chain of command structure, according to local sources.
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More shelling of the Bakara Market
Shabelle Media: Shelling kills two, wounds 8 others in Bakara market
at least two civilians have been killed and 8 others have been wounded in Baraka market after shelling targeted to the market, witnesses and officials told Shabelle radio on Thursday.
Ali Muse, one of the emergency traffic officials confirmed Shabelle radio that they took at least 8 injured civilians to the hospitals in Mogadishu adding that several mortar shells landed into many different areas in the market.
Abshir Nor Farah ( Ba’adle), the chairman of the Somali composers’ council had talked the shelling pointing out that it was terrorizing and caused more casualties of deaths, injuries and loss of property and halted the business movement of the market.
“AMISOM paid the compensation of the Somalis’ camels which killed recently. They believe that the camel is very big so that is why they paid the costs. But the people are very small. They are nothing so that is the reason they are still continuing the bombardment to empty the people,” Abshir Ba’adle said.
How ever the case it is unclear why the AMISOM troops would not stop shelling the market, the biggest market in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Garowe Online puts the death toll at three
3 civilians killed in Mogadishu bombardment
At least three civilians were killed in the Somali capital Mogadishu in an exchange of artillery shelling between insurgents and African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM), Radio Garowe reports.
Witnesses at Mogadishu's Bakara Market said the shells killed and wounded civilians in and around the market.
“I saw two dead bodies who were men and five wounded persons,” said a Bakara trader, adding that the shells hit outside a shopping center.
Sources with Mogadishu’s Life-Line Africa ambulance service said 8 wounded civilians were wounded and transported to Daynile Hospital.
AMISOM spokesman Capt. Barigye Bahoku told reporters that the peacekeepers did not bomb Bakara Market, saying that such reports are “fabricated.”
Some businesses inside Bakara Market closed their doors and shoppers ran for their lives as the shells landed inside and outside the market, witnesses and local sources said.
Mareeg Online, despite the headline, claims five dead
Mortar shell kills two in Mogadishu
MOGADISHU (Mareeg) -- A mortar shell Thursday killed five civilians and wounded six others at a market in Mogadishu, Somalia, witnesses said.
The attack on the Bakara market, Mogadishu's largest, may have been the result of mortar shelling that the rebels fired to airport.
The shell allegedly appeared to come from African Union bases in Mogadishu. Most business centers in Bakaro were closed and people ran away from the market.
No fighting was continuing in Mogadishu at the time of the shelling. The spokesman of the AU mission in Mogadishu denied on Wednesday that their troops shell Bakaro market.
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Mareeg Online: 500 Somali soldiers get their training finished in Djibouti
500 Somali security forces have had their training ended in neighboring Djibouti on Thursday. A well organized ceremony attended by high ranking government officials from Djibouti and Somalia has been held in Djibouti.
Forces from France and Djibouti trained the Somali government soldiers in Hassan Guled Academy in Djibouti.
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Reports from Djibouti say new Somali soldiers are also being trained in Djibouti.
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Michigan-based mercenary firm reportedly gets a contract to help prop up the foreign-created/foreign-backed transitional government in Somalia
The Grand Rapids Press: Ada company wins contract to protect Somali government from terrorism, pirates
A Grand Rapids-based security firm is taking on a job few would envy: Protect the transitional government of Somalia, a failed state and breeding ground for terrorism and international piracy.
According to the Somali government, CSS Global Inc. has been contracted to provide security consulting services and training for government forces.
In a statement released Wednesday, Somali special envoy H.E. Ali Hassan Gulaid said he is “confident the expertise of the CSS Global senior staff will prove to be a valuable asset to us in our efforts to establish a safe and secure Somalia for our citizens.”
CSS Global, an affiliate of Ada-based CSS Alliance, has furnished counterterrorism services in other African nations and provided security and logistics in Iraq. Its operations team comprises former military and law enforcement personnel, including Special Forces.
“It is going to be a huge challenge,” said Chris Frain, chief executive officer and co-owner of CSS Alliance. “This is a brand-new government being stood up with the help of the international community.”
Um.. Chris... you mean 'being stood up by the international community', which is why there continues to be a problem there.
Frain said he could not comment on the size of the contract or number of security forces CSS would employ because the new government is “very sensitive” to the impact that publication of that information might have on opposition forces. He said funding for the transition government comes from the Arab League and other members of the international community.
Expecting that CSS Global Inc, alongside DynCorp and whatever CIA presence is on the ground there, now make key targets for attacks on foreigners in Mogadishu, which plays nicely into fulfilling previously-exaggerated claims of 'terrorists' posing a real threat to U.S. citizens. Of course, if those citizens weren't meddling in control over Somalia's governance in the first place...
Relatedly,
ISN: Outsourcing Africa
On 11 September 2009, the US Department of State (DOS) announced the companies it has awarded to perform various services under the AFRICAP Recompete program. The $1.5 billion contract is divided by four at 375 million, awarded to Protection Strategies Inc (PSI), DynCorp International, AECOM and Pacific Architects and Engineers (PAE).
According to a DynCorp press release, the companies that have been awarded the new AFRICAP (Africa Peacekeeping) contract will “provide training and advisory services, equipment procurement, logistical support services, and construction services to African countries.”
However, when the DOS posted the contract last year through the US government’s Federal Business Opportunities (FBO) website, it explained that because the new AFRICAP program “encompasses logistics support, construction, military training and advising, maritime security capacity building, equipment procurement, operational deployment for peacekeeping troops, aerial surveillance and conference facilitation,” potential contractors would be required to “possess a broad range of functional regional expertise and logistics support capabilities [with the intent] to have contractors on call to undertake a wide range of diverse projects, including setting up operational bases to support peacekeeping operations in hostile environments, military training and to providing a range of technical assistance and equipment for African militaries and peace support operations.”
The AFRICAP synopsis also stated that the contracts will be “implemented in countries throughout the African continent, as designated by the DOS.”
Currently, the DOS is engaged with programs involving conflict resolution and stability in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU).
(Last year's MoA post on the AFRICAP announcement is here)
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