Somalia thread for the week ending May 29

Shabelle Media: Bitter confrontations restart around Mogadishu’s main market

Intense confrontations between Somali troops backed by AU forces and Al shabaab fighters on Monday restarted near Bakaara, Mogadishu’s largest and busiest market in the capital.

Heavy crackling of machine gunfire could be heard in many parts of Hodan and Howlwadag districts.

Al shabaab and Somali troops are struggling and fighting the control of Bakaara market where the government believes to be a stronghold for militants.

Most of the combats are continuing in the intersections of Adan Adde, Howlwadag and Bakaara.

HOL: Death, Destruction in Mogadishu as Newlyweds killed in AMISOM Shelling

At least seven people including newlyweds have been killed as a result of AMISOM shelling in Somalia’s restive capital Mogadishu as heavy fighting between forces of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia and Al-Shabaab fighters intensified on Sunday night.

AMISOM forces raided Mogadishu with artillery shelling hitting settlements within Yaaqshid district of the capital which has been the stronghold of the opposition Al-Shabaab. Eye witnesses told Hiiraan Online that two newlyweds were among the dead following the offensive that has not spared a colorful wedding ceremony.

...

Scores of others injured were reportedly rushed to different hospitals in Mogadishu as seething anger and frustrations bent the minds and hearts of the friends and families of the couples who died ...

Shabelle Media: Al shabaab official: Businessmen must take their guns against TFG

Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, an aAl shabaab officials on Monday called for the businessmen to take their guns and take part in Al shabaab fighting against the transitional federal government and AMISOM forces.

He made the statement while he was speaking at news conference held at the center of Bakaara, Mogadishu’s largest market.

Mr. Aweys said that the Bakaara market had been attacked and businessmen should defend their properties from what he called the adversaries of Islam.

He called for the traders of Bakaara to show restrain and endurance during the raid of Somali government and African Union peacekeepers.

From a May 23rd AMISOM press release:

TFG forces, supported by AMISOM troops, have advanced in a rapid offensive to secure Wadnaha Road (National Street), the southern boundary of Bakara Market, after two days of extensive joint operations.

The Southern and Western edges of Mogadishu’s famous Bakara Market are now under control of government troops, as they seek to push the extremists out of their longstanding stronghold.

Al Shabaab casualties are estimated to be around 22 dead and 40 injured. AMISOM has suffered two fatalities and five injured.

...

[The Force Commander, Major General Nathan Mugisha, said] “We must reiterate our appeal to the business community. We appreciate that these are difficult times, and we urge the public to minimise movement in and around Bakara until the security operations are complete. We urge the business community to help us push the insurgents out of Bakara."

From a May 24th H.S.M. press release:

in the light of the unfolding events in Mogadishu, the sinister motives of the Ugandan and Burundian troops, along with their apostate allies, has become apparent to all.

At a time when the people of Mogadishu are recovering for the severe droughts that had crippled much of the country in the recent months, and started rebuilding their shattered lives, the African crusaders embarked on a brutal campaign to demolish everything the innocent civilians have thus far managed to construct.

Although the people of Mogadishu are being fought for their determination to adopt the Islamic Shari’ah as their source of governance, the crusaders, who serve as mercenaries propelling America’s global war on Islam along the East African coast, have this time focused primarily upon the destruction of their economy.

...

The African crusaders were not alone in their attempts. Lured by greed and an opportunity to pillage and plunder the wealth of the civilians, the apostate militia, aided by the tanks and artillery of the African crusaders, launched an offensive on Bakara Market, where tens of thousands of civilians gather every day to earn their living. And as the people went about their usual businesses, the militia raided them with mortars, shells and bullets, specifically targeting large companies, hotels, warehouses and stores, and indiscriminately killing dozens of innocent civilians. The shelling was not confined to the Bakara market, but also targeted heavily populated residential areas, hospitals and other markets in Yaaqshiid, Huriwaa and Kaaran districts, killing and injuring hundreds of civilians.

By the grace of Allah, the Mujahideen repelled the attack of the crusaders and their apostate militia, killing their senior commanders including Dooha Koofi, the commander of the militia guarding the Presidential Palace and dozens of their soldiers.

VOA: Battle for Mogadishu's Bakara Market Proves Costly, Complicated

ICG's Abdi warns that any major fight will be difficult for government and AMISOM troops.

"The problem is that Bakara is a very difficult place," added Abdi. "It is a maze of tightly packed kiosks or stalls. It is teeming with humanity, traders, shoppers. It is a very difficult place to control and al-Shabab have used Bakara market to launch mortar attacks on TFG positions."

The other problem is civilians. Bakara is the busiest, most populated part of Mogadishu, and perhaps the largest legitimate component of southern Somalia's economy remaining after two decades of chaos and war. With al-Shabab hiding behind it, Abdi fears the worst.

"They use the civilian cover there and so it has been very difficult for many of the past TFG government to move in because of the fear that that will cause massive civilian casualties," added Abdi. "If AMISOM is closing in and about to take it, then the question is: "at what cost?"

...

On March 22, just 60 days ago, Somali Prime Minister Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed pledged to remove al-Shabab within 90 days. With a month left, the world will be watching to see if Somali and international forces can make good on his promise.

Shabelle Media: Businesses on hold, businessmen complain of fighting at Bakaara market

All the activities of businesses are on the second day on hold as Somali businessmen are complaining about fighting at Bakaara market, the biggest market in the Somali capital Mogadishu.

Some of the businessmen told Shabelle that the fighting between Somali government forces backed by African Union peacekeepers and Al shabaab had extensively impacted the activities market.

The business community called for the government and AMISOM to reopen all the roads leading to the market and stop fighting inside and around the Bakaara.

AFP:

"We have decided to move out of Bakara market before it is too late. Our property could be in jeopardy if the two sides fight," said Mohamed Odawa, a trader who was piling the building materials he sells onto several donkey carts and preparing to move them to safety along an alleyway.

He said this was the first time in the two decades of the market's chaotic existence that traders have ever moved out of Bakara, which was set up in 1991 after the fall of the Siad Barre regime.

"Most of the roads leading to the market have been shut down because of the fighting and no one is coming to shop here anymore," Odawa added.

Shebab fighters had dug trenches within the market and were taking positions on top of the tallest buildings there, Odawa said, while government forces backed by African Union troops were positioned at several key intersections leading to the market.

"Who can trust leaving their property between two burning fires? There are tanks facing the market and Shebab fighters are committed to defending their positions so what we expect is only devastation," said Shamso Ismail as she loaded her stocks of clothing onto a cart.

She said hundreds of businesses have been shut down and their contents moved out of the market since Tuesday when tension rose in the area.

A Somali government security official urged the traders to stay put and said that by evacuating the market they were allowing themselves to be "dragged into the war."

-- -- --

How to not follow the money...

AP: More than $70 million missing in Somalia; politicians accept briefcases of cash

Somali politicians are returning from Arab nations with briefcases of cash, and a Somali government watchdog report obtained by The Associated Press found that more than $70 million of it is missing instead of being used to fight terrorism, piracy or hunger.

The large cash payments encourage politicians to hang onto power while paying little attention to crucial needs in a country devastated by two decades of war.

...

“Politicians want to keep the status quo. They`re profiting from it,” said Abdirazak Fartaag, the head of the Public Finance Management Unit, a Somali government body charged with overseeing the country`s financial management. “We have to hold these big shots accountable.”

Somalia`s prime minister told AP the government is trying to be more transparent by working from a budget and making records public.

In a 22-page report due to be released Wednesday and obtained exclusively by AP, Fartaag documented cash payments that came from Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and other donors in 2009 and 2010 totaling more than $75 million. Only $2.8 million was accounted for by the government. He based his report, which was written for the Somali government, on interviews with politicians who witnessed the payments or received money in Mogadishu, Somalia`s capital.

Fartaag said in his report that the Somali government is missing more than $300 million once internal revenues from the port, airport, khat trade and telecommunications are added to the Arab millions that have vanished.

A separate AP investigation established that cash payments from Arab nations continue amid a lack of transparency over how much money politicians accept and what happens with it.

Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed told AP in an interview in Mogadishu in April that his government received one payment of $5 million dollars from a Middle Eastern country this year that he “believed” to be the United Arab Emirates.

But Finance Minister Hussein Halane told AP in April that he accompanied the prime minister twice to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, this year and had seen Mohamed personally receive $5 million in cash each time. After more than 50 phone calls and e-mails from AP over six weeks, the government produced documentation showing that only one payment of $5 million was deposited into the country`s Central Bank. The other payment remains unaccounted for.

...

The government is constantly appealing for more cash to fight the insurgents, even as it fails to account for money already received.

...

Somalia`s prime minister and the finance minister say the government deposits these donations in Somalia`s Central Bank, a newly renovated building in downtown Mogadishu whose fresh coats of paint stand out from the smashed gray concrete rubble around it.

“We are trying to be more transparent. We have a budget. We have public records of our finances,” Mohamed said.

Halane said that not all cash was necessarily deposited in the government`s account because some was spent on “legitimate and documented” expenses by officials before being deposited. The AP was not able to get details of these expenses. Officials did not respond to repeated requests for further documentation.

...

It`s not clear how much is paid for by donors and how much by the government, which raises revenue from the port, airport, and other sources. There are no public records.

The government`s term expires in August and it wants to extend for another year. It also wants more cash, but Western nations appear reluctant to give for now.

“Transparency and accountability are critical,” said Cheryl Sim, counselor for Somalia affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Kenya. “Donors have a right to know their taxpayers` contributions are being used as intended. Constituents have the right to know how their government is spending the aid it receives. Unaccounted-for assistance funds are troubling, especially in Somalia.”

Not a single mention in this "AP exclusive" featuring statements from officials of various govts on this June 2009 contract w/ PricewaterhouseCoopers
Somalia hires PwC to monitor aid

At the demand of international donors, the besieged government has asked PwC to set up money tracking systems to ensure that aid sent to Somalia, including $67m (€48m, £41m) pledged in April, is spent as intended and not stolen by corrupt officials.

...

PwC has undertaken similar work monitoring donor payments in Afghanistan and Sudan. It declined to discuss details of the Somalia project, citing client confidentiality and security issues.

Abdusalam Omer, a senior adviser at Somalia’s finance ministry, said PwC would set up and act as the trustee of an account in Mogadishu, the capital, for donor funds, most of which are intended for security, health and education.

He said the mechanism to be set up by PwC should speed up the arrival of the $67m pledged by donors, including the US and the European Union, to strengthen security forces.

...

The process will begin with PwC informing the relevant ministries when funds arrive. It will verify that their spending plans match donor objectives, release funds and ensure they get into the hands of intended recipients.

“If the money is for salaries it will be transferred to the Somali employees and PwC will get receipts and signatures to show they got it,” Mr Omer said. The money flows will be recorded in a new computer system and reports sent back to donors every 15 days. “The bottom line has to add up,” he said.

PwC is not being paid a retainer but will receive a commission of between 2 per cent and 4 per cent on all funds that reach their intended destination, Mr Omer said.

In common with most accountancy firms, PwC is renowned for its extreme aversion to litigation risk in developed markets. In Somalia it will face physical risk. Many non-Somali diplomats and aid workers who go to the country restrict their visits to a day or two and travel in armoured vehicles with Somali guards carrying machineguns.

“We need to make people confident the money will not be used to buy a house in the UK,” said Ahmedou Ould Abdullah, UN envoy to Somalia, alluding to the UK connections of many senior Somali officials.

Shortly thereafter U.S. Secretary of State Clinton even commended President Sheikh Sharif and his cabinet for hiring Price Waterhouse to analyze and monitor funding that goes into the TFG.

What's up w/ this oversight?

-- -- --

HOL: Somali Government informed AMISOM against Shelling populated settlements

Somalia’s armed forces on Thursday warned against shelling of settlements to avoid death of civilian non-combatants in the capital Mogadishu where an ensuing fighting led to heavy loss of lives and properties over the past few days.

General Abdikariim Yussuf said the army has sent message to the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia (AMISOM), asking them to take all measures to avoid civilian casualties.

Speaking to reporters in the restive Mogadishu, Gen. Yussuf said that his force has been avoiding any contact with ordinary populations, shelling only strongholds of Al-Shabaab fighters.

"AMISOM take orders from the Somali army and we have asked them to avoid shelling in populated settlements and to take necessary measures in order to avoid civilian deaths. We only allow them to shell Al-shabaab’s frontline” said the army official.

He described their aim as one that targets to reduce loss of lives and properties among Mogadishu residents particular in villages where the ongoing battle is fierce.

The statement from the Somali army came barely a few hours after criticism from a cross section of Somali lawmakers who urged both the TFG and AMISOM forces to halt the bombardment of the influential Bakara Market.

The legislatures said the Market which is the largest in Somalia offers livelihood to thousands of people who eke out living through business activities. They warned any further shelling could only lead to more death and destruction.

IRIN: Internet lifeline cut in Mogadishu

Telecommunications companies based in Somalia’s largest open-air market have been hit by stray shells in the latest round of fighting, leading to internet failure in the past four days.

"Our internet service has been down since 24 May," a senior official of an internet service provider, who requested anonymity, told IRIN on 26 May.

The official said many people's livelihoods depend on internet use; "for many businesses and journalists, the internet is their lifeline".

He said his company was trying to revive the service. "We depend on the telecoms companies and when they get hit we are also hit."

A local radio journalist told IRIN he was unable to send his reports to his station based outside the country. "It is very frustrating."

The three major telecommunications companies, Nationlink, Hormood and Olympic, have their most important equipment at Bakara market, which has been a flashpoint in the fighting between insurgents and government troops backed by African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeepers in the past two weeks.

"When we were setting up, in the 1990s, Bakara market was the safest place but now it is the most dangerous," another official of a telecommunications company said.

The official told IRIN the headquarters of Hormood - the largest telecommunications firm in the country - in Bakara had been repeatedly hit by shells, killing and injuring staff and destroying equipment.

...

AMISOM spokesman Maj Paddy Ankunda told IRIN on 27 May that the mission was urging civilians not to expose themselves to crossfire.

"We have secured the road nearest Bakara as well as the southern and western edges of the market; I cannot put a time tag on how long the fighting will go on but we are urging civilians to get out of entanglement [in the fighting] as they will become increasingly vulnerable," Ankunda said.

"..if Al-Shabab chooses to continue fighting, they will bear the responsibility for the damage caused to Bakara market," Ankunda said.

...

Ali Mohamed Siyad, chairman of Mogadishu's Bakara market traders, told IRIN the latest fighting around the market had been among the worst in years.

"A lot of businesses are being lost and the government, so far, has not responded to our appeal to safeguard Bakara," Siyad said, adding, "Many people are losing a lifetime's worth of work."

Siyad said Bakara was not the only place where Al-Shabab had a presence in the city. "They [government troops] should be fighting them in areas less crowded and with less property to damage and destroy, instead of the biggest market in the country. It makes you wonder what the real purpose is."

Medical sources told IRIN the number of injured seeking help was growing daily.

Ali Muse, who runs the city's ambulance service, told IRIN his teams had collected 75 bodies and more than 249 civilians wounded from the market area and nearby neighbourhoods in the past eight days.

"We are receiving many families, including very small children and those of school-going age," said Duniyo Ali Mohamed, head of the medical department of Madina Hospital.

She said the beds at the hospital were full and many families were sleeping under trees. She said the hospital also had to deal with families fleeing their homes.

"We are not equipped to deal with displaced people," she said.

Reuters: Seizing Mogadishu will not end Somali conflict

"It will be hard and messy to take control of Bakara market," said David Shinn, adjunct professor of international affairs at George Washington University and a former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia.

"(This) would, inevitably, render the peacekeepers and the regime they prop up even less popular than they already are, strengthening al Shabaab in the process," said J. Peter Pham with U.S. think-tank the Atlantic Council.

Failure, though, to flush the rebels out would be tantamount to conceding control of the market, Pham said, at a time the government is desperate to show donors bankrolling the country that it can quash the insurgency.

Seizing Bakara market would deal a major psychological blow to al Shabaab, but it would not be a mortal blow to the four-year insurgency that has cost tens of thousands of lives.

The militants hold sway over much of central and southern Somalia and can lean on other sources of revenue, including taxes from ports under their control and a cut of some ransoms paid to pirate gangs.

"After a short period of euphoria, all that really changes is the area that AMISOM forces must secure has just grown that much larger and the number of peacekeepers required just jumped as well," said Pham.