Tunis, African Development Bank and World Press Freedom Day

Hello folks.

While still writing on Somalia (and planning to be for a while) I am in Tunisia for four days where the African Development Bank (AfDB) and UNESCO are organising interesting debates this week.

I arrived in Tunis from Paris CGD this afternoon and listened to talks around climate change issues in Africa, including projects about the Rio+20 Summit and African ambitions for it.

Meanwhile, as tomorrow, May 3rd, is World Press Freedom Day the AfDB and the UNESCO partnered to organised a two-day session about the role of press and social media in social and political changes. Accurate topics for the past twelve months for sure.

If you want to know more, follow me on Twitter: @melissachemam.

Cheers from Tunis.

New Shabaabs attacks in Somalia

According to Reuters: A Suicide bomber killed three MPs in central Somalia...

Here is the story published on Wed May 2, 2012 at 6:47am GMT by Mohamed Ahmed:

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed three Somali lawmakers on Tuesday at a hotel in the central town of Dusamareb, where legislators visiting from the capital were meeting, local authorities said.

Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels claimed responsibility for the attack, and also for a car bomb in the heart of the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday that killed one man.

While suicide bombers sent by al Shabaab militants have struck government targets and African Union troops in the capital Mogadishu often in recent years, such attacks are rare in central Galgadud region.

The delegation of lawmakers was in Dusamareb to discuss how to form local administrations in the central region of Galgadud, as part of political reforms meant to bring a string of transition governments to an end with elections in August.

Member of parliament Dahir Amin Gesow told Reuters he was in the hotel cafe when the bomber walked in blew himself up. He said several people were killed, including some lawmakers.

The spokesman for the pro-government militia which controls Dusamareb, the capital of Galgadud, said the total death toll from the blast was four.

"The bomber killed four people, including three legislators and one of our soldiers," Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abu Yusuf, spokesman for the Sufi militia Ahlu Sunna Waljamaca, told Reuters.
Dusamareb, 560 km (350 miles) north of Mogadishu, has been under the control of the Ahlu Sunna militia group for years, although al Shabaab fighters have seized the town briefly on several occasions, including in March this year.

Al Shabaab's spokesman for military operations, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, told Reuters one of their bombers was behind the attack and that Ahlu Sunna officials, Ethiopian officials and legislators had been killed.

Ethiopia has long backed Ahlu Sunna in its fight against al Shabaab, providing training and weapons. Ethiopian also sent its own troops into Somalia last year to take on the Islamist rebels, mainly to areas where Ahlu Sunna has a presence.

In Mogadishu, a bomb planted inside a car killed a man near the busy Kilometre 4 junction. Al Shabaab said it had killed him because he worked for the government.

© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved

 

Somalia Report says a Car Bomb blew around KM4 in Mogadishu

According to the website Somalia Report:

At least four people were killed and ten others were injured in two separate blasts that rocked in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, on Tuesday afternoon.

In what appears to be a forced suicide car bomber, the perpetrators detonated a four door sedan in the strategic road that links Mogadishu's main airport and KM4 junction, which is regularly used by Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and African Union (AMISOM) vehicles.

Locals said the man driving the car was a well known businessman, Arafat, who sold cars to the government and was not aligned with al-Shabaab. Independent sources said he was likely forced to drive the car wired with remote controlled explosives, which was then detonated by al-Shabaab sources nearby.

"The explosion was huge and those who carried out that explosion attached the explosive to the car. They then they used a remote control the explosion from another area where they monitored their operation,"' Saleoh Omar, a TFG official confirmed to Somalia Report.

Locals said the explosion was quick and likely premature.

“The car came out of a garage near the road and exploded immediately. We do not know the target. No government vehicles or AMISIOM were in the area. Only the driver was killed and a person passing by,” Mohamed Sa’id, an eyewitness, told Somalia Report.

Colonel Khalif Ahmed Ereg, a Transitional Federal Government (TFG) security intelligence chief for Banadir region who reached the scene, confirmed a car bomb was to blame, but suspected it was an intentional suicide bomber.

“We do not know the motive behind this barbaric attack, it seems that the intention was to damage TFG and AMISOM but it prematurely detonated. We can thank God for that. We are investigating the incident," said Colonel Khalif.

Grenade Attack in Bakara Market

Meanwhile, at least two people were killed and ten were injured, mainly civilians, when a grenade was thrown into a busy intersection of Mogadishu's largest market, Bakara. 

“The attack has happened as people were busy with their jobs. I saw many wounded people and then after the blast TFG forces opened fire into four directions so we were all scared,” Ali Ahmed, a conductor of public transport, told Somalia Report.

These attacks come as al-Shabaab fighters vowed they will increase their attacks on the capital as a warning to the traditional elders who are set to approve the new constitutional draft.

This also comes as a suicide bomber blew himself up in a restaurant in Galgadud, killing several prominent Somali lawmakers today.

Although no group has yet claimed responsibility for today's attacks, officials blame the al-Shabaab militant group battling for control of Somalia which is known for conducting suicide attacks.

Somalia Report is investigating the incident and will post an update shortly.

© Somalia Report 2012. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Somalia Report content, graphics, photographs and web site image is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent from editor@somaliareport.com. The "Somalia Report" logo is a registered trademark of Somalia Report.

Somalia in Pictures: IDPs from Mogadishu

Currently, about 300 000 internally displaced people (IDPs) live in precarious conditions in the Somali capital.

They count on the World Food Programme dry and wet meals distribution and live under light shelter, despite the drought or the floods. The UN humanitarian aid organisations hope that 50 000 of these IDPs will soon return to there home. The remaining 250 000 will have to keep on living in camps for at least months...

Somalia in Picture: Mogadishu's view from Uruba Hotel

The former Uruba Hotel used to be the most luxuous of Somalia. It is now an AMISOM military base where Ugandan soldiers guard the city centre. The view remains amazing and the whole setting is breathtaking...

Somalia in Picture: Mogadishu's seaport

In transit

April 30th, a month has gone and a third of the year 2012 is finished. 

The year of travel has proved its efficiency so far. 

In my top three: India, Liberia and Somalia. Alphabetic order.
Of course, I could not say which one has my preference; it is a matter of combination. 

I had been willing to go to India since 1998.
 
I was really looking forward to my first trip to West Africa.
 
As for Somalia, I guess, it goes back to the 1980s and the pictures we used to see on television of Somalia and Ethiopia. Then there was this great trip to Somaliland last year that I enjoyed so much.
 
I have also travelled to Berlin, London, Paris and Kenya of course.
 
Now I’m on my way to my first visit to Tunisia, my third to Ethiopia and my I-cannot-count-how-many to Nairobi, my favourite African city.



More on Mogadishu soon folks.

Cheers from JKIA.
 

Mogadishu, days + 2

Second day in Mogadishu.

The Ugandan contingent of the AMISOM is making our stay very welcoming.

We have been able to visit Mogadishu's stadium, University and 'Tropical Hotel' where Ugandan and Burundian forces have taken position within the past year and now say Al Shabaabs are totally out of Somalia's sector 1.

We are now planning to meet OCHA workers at some IDP camps on Saturday and to walk around the market and the beach front where Somalis are supposed to start coming back and enjoying a new 'normal' life.

So many encounters. But it is still difficult to be sure how far peace and security have won over in Mogadishu.

More soon. 

Mogadishu calling

On my way to Somalia again. After Hargeisa in 2011, Mogadishu, the capital.
I will be flying tomorrow from Paris to Nairobi then Mogadishu.
See you there.

Voting Day

After covering a few elections around the world, in the US in 2008, in Uganda in 2011, it is time to vote again myself.

My voting station was really busy this morning at 11.20 Paris time. Commentators were fearing abstention, but participation at 12.00 (28,29%) is the highest since 2007 (30,88) then 1981, according to the Interior Ministry's numbers. A good sign? Well, compared to the US and Uganda, participation and fairness are still running values in France.

I know so many people who decided not to vote though, disappointed by programmes, campaigns, candidates. I personally think it is highly important to participate. I agree with those who say the power of the people has shifted to other places that political politics, but it's not a reason, according to me, to give up a right many others in the world simple do not even have. Well, this is just my view.

So, French people all over the world and English-speakers interested in French politics, have a good first round. Personally, I'm more into the second one, on May 6.

--

To follow news from France in English, a few links:

RFI:
http://www.english.rfi.fr/france/presidential-election-2012-sarkozy-hollande-lepen-bayrou 

The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/french-elections-2012

and on Twitter with Paris correspondent Angelique Chrisafis @achrisafis

BBC Webiste:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17801628

Reuters:
http://www.reuters.com/places/france