15/03/09 (B490) Nouvelles de Somalie (5 articles en Anglais)

________________________ 5 – Shabelle (En Anglais)

Deux morts et 7 blessés dans une explosion à Mogadisco. //Blast kills two in Mogadishu

At least two security guards of Wadjir District commissioner have been killed and seven others including the district commissioner have been injured in a roadside bomb that targeted his car, an official and witnesses told radio Shabelle on Saturday.

Residents said, Ahmed Hassan Adow better known as Ahmed Da’I, has been injured, his driver and one of his security guards have been killed in the explosion.

Abdifitah Ibrahim Shaweye, the deputy Mogadishu mayor confirmed that the district commissioner was wounded and was rushed to the hospital.

A security official, his brother, and two of his security guards were killed in a roadside bomb in Mogadishu on Wednesday.

Mogadishu has been relatively peaceful these days but today’s bombing raises the concern that Islamists will continue the insurgency.

________________________ 4 – Shabelle (En Anglais)

Le Premier ministre somalien déclare que les milices des tribunaux islamiques vont se joindre aux forces armées gouvernementales. // Government to train its soldiers

Somalia’s Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmake said Saturday that the Islamic Courts Union forces and the government soldiers will be joined together.

The prime minister held a press conference in the presidential palace and said that the government will give training to the joint forces to maintain their work for the nation.

Prime Minister Sharmake said that the government will continue the reconciliation process and will do something about the security of the country.

He welcomed the peace efforts by some Somali elders and Islamic clerics who have been trying to mediate between the government and the Islamist opposition.

He also nominated a committee that will keep an eye on the income from the sea port and airport of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.

Mr. Sharmake said the government will help the displaced people who fled from the fighting in Mogadishu.

________________________ 3 – Shabelle (En Anglais)

Les membres d’Al Shebaab découvrent un charnier avec 13 corps dans un bâtiment qui avait été utilisé par les forces éthiopiennes. // Al-Shabab discovers Dead bodies from ex-Ethiopian base

More than 13 dead bodies have been discovered by al-Shabab Islamists in Hassey Factory Building in Baidoa, which had been an Ethiopian base before they withdrew from the town in January, officials said on Saturday.

Some journalists and local elders were invited to the former factory of Hasey about 4 kilometers east of Baidoa to view the bodies.

The spokesman of al-Shabab Sheik Mukhtar Robow (Abu Mansoor) said he was very sad about the bodies which seemed that the Ethiopian troops killed them during their unpopular occupation in Somalia.

“As you can see they have cruelly killed our brothers and this is the same thing jointly done by the governments of Somalia, Ethiopia and the United States,” said Abu Mansoor.

“I prayed them from Allah to be martyrdoms since they have been killed for their faith and in their country,” Abu Mansoor added.

He called on al-Shabab Islamists to investigate other compounds used by Ethiopian soldiers to look for other dead people that may have been killed during the Ethiopian occupation for the past two years.

The bones of the bodies have been excavated by al-Shabab Harakat in the compound where the Ethiopian troops left after they killed them apparently and more people saw the bodies.

________________________ 2 – Shabelle (En Anglais)

Un haut responsable de l’éducation au sein des milices Al Shebaab, déclare que son groupe a imposé que les armes privées détenues par les habitants de Bardhere soient présentées et déclarées. // Islamists impose order to legalize guns of the people in Bardhere town

Sheik Mohamed Muhumad Isma’il known as (Gadaashay), a head of education of al-Shabab administration has said on Saturday that they have imposed order to the people of Bardhere town in south-western Somalia to bring their weapons and legalize.

Reports from Bardhere say that the administration ordered to all the people of the town to bring their weapons in the station of the town with in 48 hours and he added that the administration had also ordered to the people to close the business centers and stop the walking on the streets by the time of the prayer.

Sheik Gadaashay told Shabelle radio that the administration’s decision of gathering weapons for legalizing is to keep the security and know the number of guns in Bardhere town.

Sheik Gadaashey said that that the people who refuse to bring their weapons with in the time they mentioned will be seen as the enemy of the Islamic administration of al-Shabab in the town and the administration will take over their weapon.

Asked about recently fighting with Ahlu Sunna Waljama’a Organization in Bardhere, Sheik Gadaashey replied that they had never fought with Ahlu Sunna Waljma’a Organization adding that they fought with groups backed by Ethiopia and said that they will not negotiate with those militias against them.

The Islamic administration of al-Shabab in Bardhere town imposed a curfew in Bardhere town earlier and banned buying and selling Kat in the town which the people accepted it but it is unclear how the people will welcome the new step of legalizing the guns in Bardhere town.

________________________ 1 – Shabelle avec XINHUA (En Anglais)

L’envoyé spécial du Président des Nations unies, tout en se déclarant satisfait des progrés accomplis par le nouveau gouvernement somalien, lance un appel urgent pour la communauté internationale soutienne les efforts de paix et d’unité en Somalie. // UN envoy urges full support for new Somali government

The UN top envoy for Somalia Friday lauded progress made in the past month by the new government of the Horn of Africa country, which has been torn by factional strife since the overthrow of Siad Barre in 1991.

In a statement issued in Nairobi, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’ s Special Representative Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah encouraged the Somali Government of National Unity to continue working towards peace and stability and urged Somalis and the international community to support it.

« President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the Speaker and Prime Minister have demonstrated responsible leadership in all fields and the unity Government is now functioning from the capital, » said Ould-Abdallah said in a statement.

« I am pleased by the number of patriotic Parliamentarians who have returned to Mogadishu to start their work. Both branches of the administration need concrete diplomatic and material assistance. »

The formation of the government last month, and its return to the violence-plagued capital, Mogadishu, followed on the 2008 UN-facilitated Djibouti Agreement between the Transitional Federal Government and the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia, in which the two agreed to end their conflict.

Ould-Abdallah called for concrete diplomatic and material assistance for both branches of the administration.

« The Council of Ministers has met a number of times and passed important measures, including on the implementation of Sharia Law.

« All these developments will not only help the move towards normality inside the country, but will also help secure Somalia’s image and reputation abroad. There is now absolutely no excuse for any Somali to continue plotting to destroy more Somali lives. »

Ould-Abdallah said that planning was underway for the next meeting of the High Level Committee, which was tasked to look at issues including political cooperation and justice and reconciliation. He added that there would also be a meeting of theJoint Security Committee shortly.

« I am happy to see a vast majority of Somalis working together for the first time in many years to take the primary responsibility for their own future, » he said.

« The international community must do its part to fully support the new Government. This help is not needed at some point in the future, but right now. There is no alternative to supporting this administration, and through it, the people.

The envoy said President Ahmed has received offers of support from Africa, the Middle East, Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere and that this is extremely encouraging.

« Somalia is now fully back on the international agenda and will be discussed at the Security Council on March 20 and at the upcoming League of Arab States Summit in Qatar, » he said. (Xinhua)