In one of the message, ISIS said the call aims to preserve the ‘rights of the Mujahid” in Somalia, referring to militant fighters in Somalia. The call is the second one that ISIS tries to sway Al-Shabaab from its long-time terrorist partner Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda opposes ISIS activities, calling the rival group as ‘bloodthirsty’ taking an approach which it said can be seen as ‘savagery’.

The development comes as Al-Shabaab fighters have detained several foreign fighters it accused of trying to switch sides with ISIS last weeks. The unidentified fighters were arrested after the group’s leadership called its followers to stick to their allegiance to Al-Qaeda. Security analysts said that Al-Shabaab may not be ready to join ISIS by dropping Al-Qaeda which unlike ISIS sent fighters and logistics support to the group since it rose to prominence in 2007. However, the quick rise and prominence of ISIS is a worrying trend for Al-Qaeda as Islamic State leadership has started building alliance with Al-Qaeda affiliates, including the Nigeria-based group, Boko Haram which has declared its allegiance to ISIS last year.

The Islamic State group's gains over the past year have been sizeable. For nearly two decades, al-Qaeda was unchallenged as the world's most prominent terrorist organization. But IS has stormed forward to rival it — and even surpass it in places, according the British newspaper, Guardian. Perhaps more importantly, the Islamic State group has a dynamism and fervor that has seemed to fade for al-Qaeda. The IS declaration of a "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria inspired a stream of thousands of foreign fighters to join it and earned its pledges of allegiance by individual militants around the region. The group's notorious brutalities — everything from beheadings to enslavement of women from religious minorities — are seen by its supporters as proof of its purity and refusal to compromise on what it considers "God's law," according to Military and defence site, The Insider.

Key Headlines

Come and Join The Caliphate ISIS Urges Al-Shabaab (Hiiraan Online)

Two Killed In Battle Between Clan Militias In Udugley of Hiiraan Region (Goobjoog News)

Federal Minister Accuses Detained TV Journalists Of ‘Bias Against Government’ (Garowe Online)

Somalia Signs Wage Agreement With World Bank (Horseed Media)

Somalia To Redirect More Military In Al-Shabaab Fight (Citizen News)

Chinese Brands Taking Over Mogadishu Market (Xinhua)

Somalia is Fast Becoming a Business Hub Says AU Special Representative (AMISOM)

St. Anthony: Abdullahi Hussein Opens First Somali-owned Medical Practice In Twin Cities (Star Tribune)

Remembering Mogadishu (Shadowspear.com)

NATIONAL MEDIA

Two Killed In Battle Between Clan Militias In Udugley of Hiiraan Region

04 October - Source: Goobjoog News - 211 Words

Heavy gun battle between brotherly clans in Hiiraan region has left at least two people dead and wounded several others. The situation is currently calm however terrified local residents started fleeing their homes for safer neighbourhoods in the outskirt of Udugley locality and traditional elders have intervened the situation. Traditional elders, politicians and intellectuals have called for an end to fighting which has so far claimed more than two lives. Elder Hassan Usubow who spoke to Goobjoog News said that the fighting had caused unnecessary deaths and suffering to many families in the area.

"Naive young militiamen have started this fighting by torching and destroying water reservoir which prompted displacement of many people” he said. He added "The locals are very important in bringing lasting peace to their neighbourhoods and creating a good future for our people. It’s important to maintain the unity of the people in these villages.” He called on locals affected to resolve their differences for a common good of the areas, saying the people in those areas should unite and ensure that their reconciliation meetings become fruitful for the benefit of their areas and whole Puntland. This comes few days after heavy fighting erupted between two clan militias in those areas resulting in displacement of hundreds of people.

Federal Minister Accuses Detained TV Journalists Of ‘Bias Against Government’

04 October - Source: Garowe Online - 132 Words

Somalia’s Federal Government has accused two TV journalists working for UK-based channel, Universal TV of partiality and being bias in a television debate, Garowe Online reports. On Saturday, intelligence service raided Universal TV offices, arresting East Africa Director, Abdullahi Hirsi Kulmiye and presenter, Awil Dahir Salad. Speaking at a press conference in Mogadishu, State Minister for Information Mohamed Abdi Hassan said, the moderators of the debate didn’t invite pro-government guests to the programme. He insisted that the rule of law never sets offenders free. Parliament critics, who appeared in the debate, said on BBC Somali Service that the arrest of two TV journalists is illegal. Former Prime Minister, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo urged Somali security agencies to release the two. UN-backed national government in Mogadishu is often criticized for scaring media workers into silence.

Somalia Signs Wage Agreement With World Bank

03 October - Source: Horseed Media - 254 Words

Somalia’s Federal government has signed a five year agreement with the World Bank that covers salaries for government workers under the second phase of the Recurrent Costs and Reform Financing Project. The agreement was signed by the Minister of Finance Mohamed Aden Fargeti and Miss Bella Bird who is the World bank Country Director for Tanzania, Burundi, Malawi and Somalia. "This money will help us to pay the salaries of the government and regional administrations workers too,’’ said the minister. The $144 million funds has been provided by the governments of Norway, Sweden, Italy, UK and the European Union, and is expected to secure salaries for government workers who have not been paid for at least six months.

Western governments have pledged billions to the Somali government, but not as direct budget support. The government of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud irritated many Western donors over the scandal triggered by the resignation of central bank governor Yussur Abrar, who quit after only seven weeks in the job due to pressure on her to sign suspicious deals. Since the collapse of the Siad Barre government in 1991, Somalia has experienced cycles of conflict that fragmented the country, destroyed legitimate institutions and created widespread vulnerability. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and human development outcomes are now among the lowest in the world for Somalia. The Somali Federal Government was backed by the Western countries when it came to power in September 2012, but has become a source of grumbling for Somalis, as changes come in a very slow pace.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somalia To Redirect More Military In Al-Shabaab Fight

04 October - Source: Citizen News - 417 Words

Somalia must bolster its police presence in towns retaken from the Al-Shabaab militant group in order to free its overstretched military to focus on offensive action, this is according to Somalia’s Prime Minister Omar Sharmarke. Sharmarke said the plan reflects a new phase in Somalia’s fight against Al-Shabaab, which continues to launch regular assaults against Somali security forces despite losing large swaths of territory. But he conceded that cash-strapped Somalia, which recently cut its budget and is already struggling to pay its overstretched military, might not immediately have funds to pay for it.

"Now, the focus is going to be on the enemy, rather than on territory,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of the annual meeting of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. "What we’re trying to do is take the offensive. You can’t keep military soldiers guarding cities.” Al-Shabaab has been driven out of major towns and coastal strongholds since an African Union peacekeeping force and the Somali national army launched an offensive last year. But the group, which wants to topple Somalia’s Western-backed government, still holds rural areas, such as the Juba Valley corridor that leads to the strategic southern port of Kismayu.

Sharmarke said the idea to reorganize security forces was in part a response to Al-Shabaab’s attack last month on an African Union base in Somalia, killing at least 12 Ugandan soldiers, and the group taking control of several towns in recent weeks. The Somali prime minister also said the government is committed to holding elections on schedule, before President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s first term ends next August.

Chinese Brands Taking Over Mogadishu Market

04 October - Source: Xinhua - 360 Words

The ancient Arab market in Mogadishu, Hamarweyne, is bustling with activities as city residents flock there on Saturday afternoon for all manner of goods. Made-in-China brands, which stand out in this market are dotting every corner of the market, signaling changing times in Somalia as the country looks to the world's second largest economy for trade. Traditionally, Somali traders have been importing goods from Dubai and neighboring countries, but things seem to be changing as they make brisk business with made-in-China products.

"We have been importing goods from the Middle East, but most of what we get now is from China. Our suppliers now get these items from Chinese cities," Sumaya Guled, a trader in the market, told Xinhua. Sumaya said her customers are fast adapting to the new products from China, and the appeal for Chinese products is largely attributed to variety and constant supply. "The good thing with China is variety. We do not have to worry about having to tell our clients to come another day," she said. The increasing imports from China mean that Beijing is immensely contributing to the rebuilding of Somalia, a country whose infrastructure was totally destroyed over two decades of conflict.

Somalia is Fast Becoming a Business Hub Says AU Special Representative

03 October - Source: AMISOM - 542 Words

The Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia and Head of AMISOM Ambassador Maman Sidikou says it is possible to do business in Somalia, despite the disruptions caused by terror group Al-Shabaab. Speaking to the Somali business community in Minnesota, United States, Ambassador Sidikou said Somalia was on the rise economically, adding that investment by Somalis in the diaspora would give impetus to the creation of wealth. "If you look at the Somalia I see when I go through the streets, you’re just amazed by the resilience of the people to do business more than anything else. When I see the cafes, telephone companies, I see buildings coming up, cranes etc this is the best sign of the people believing in the future of their country,” the SRCC added.

Ambassador Sidikou assured the business community that whatever investment they made back in Somalia through remittances, would be secured, while AMISOM gradually stabilizes the country. "I can tell you that we’ll work, keep working hard to ensure that your investment, if you invest there, is secured. That we gradually go back to an environment where business is possible through modern systems,” he emphasized. He noted that there were clear signs that the Somali economy is on its path to recovery. He cited developments in the financial services sector such as the Automated Teller Machines (ATM) now operational in the capital Mogadishu, an insurance company that is up and running as the Federal Government works to set up a chamber of commerce.

OPINION, ANALYSIS, AND CULTURE

"Hussein, who graduated from high school in a Somali town near the Kenyan border, immigrated in 2006. He remembers American aid workers tending to sick kids in a nearby refugee camp. And when his father’s business started to fail amid strife in the area, Hussein got in line to immigrate to the United States for higher education and a medical career.”

St. Anthony: Abdullahi Hussein Opens First Somali-owned Medical Practice In Twin Cities

04 October - Source: Star Tribune - 1,033 Words

Physician assistant Abdullahi Hussein, a veteran medical professional who has worked at the Mayo Clinic and in the Cedar-Riverside area, opened his own walk-in clinic last month at 47th and Hiawatha avenues. Hussein, 32, hails from a family of traders and shopkeepers and is one of only two licensed Somali-American physician assistants in the Twin Cities area. He’s the first to go out on his own. "I am confident that I will be successful,” said Hussein, who’s been working seven-day weeks so far. "The biggest risk is not taking any risk. My goal is to help the patients, Somalis or anyone. We just don’t want them going to expensive emergency rooms, where they often have to wait … for primary care. I do an exam … treat them and tell them what they need to do to stay healthy.”

Hussein, who lives with his family in south Minneapolis, put down about $30,000 in savings and financed about $40,000 to build out space and start-up costs in a strip mall near Minnehaha Park. His financier is the Metropolitan Community Consortium of Developers (MCCD), the business-backed nonprofit that works with fledgling businesses that are not yet bankable. Iric Nathanson, a veteran MCCD finance specialist, said Hussein’s education and work experience bode well for a primary-care clinic in the neighborhood and LRT line. The business plan anticipates a $70 per visit average charge, up to 20 visits daily and $250,000 in revenue in 2016. The two-employee clinic, which is open until 9 p.m. to accommodate working parents, is certified for reimbursement by insurers.

Hussein’s walk-in clinic fits an emerging model, starting with retailers such as CVS, that offers low-cost primary care clinics staffed by nurses or physician assistants who are equipped to provide exams and deal with common illnesses in a patient-convenient setting. Most people with strep throat or an earache don’t need a full-blown clinic or hospital.

"Speaking of his experience in Mogadishu, Thetford recalled, When times were incredibly tough, what got everyone through was the teamwork; the drive to stay together, to help each other out, and never give up. That same teamwork was evident throughout the race that honored the service and sacrifice of those that came before.”

Remembering Mogadishu

03 October - Source: Shadowspear.com - 566 Words

Men and women from United States Special Operations Command assembled in the early morning hours Oct. 2, marking the 22nd anniversary of the deadly encounter and battle that followed, on the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia. Twenty-one two-man teams participated in the competition that began at the small-arms range on base and ended at the SOF Memorial near the entrance of USSOCOM. The event started with the teams carrying a training mannequin on top of a stretcher, followed by a course of fire in a simulated urban environment, followed by yet another mannequin "carry and load” to safety. Once all teams completed this portion of the event, teams lined up and began the 5K race in boots and combat uniforms.

In the special operations community, the Mogadishu Mile is a symbol of dedication and perseverance. Some participants were just beginning their military careers in 1993 and know the importance of remembering those who fought and those who fell. "I was there, but a lot of these young men and women that are in uniform [today], weren’t even born yet, so to understand and recall and also recognize is important. Also, so this [generation] knows the feats and actions they’re taking today will be honored in the future as well,” said Army Col. John Vannoy, program executive officer for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, USSOCOM.

The Mogadishu Mile route ran here honored the men who ran from a helicopter crash site to a rally point held by the 10th Mountain Division during the early morning battle more than two decades ago. The U.S. sent Special Operations Forces into Somalia in 1993 to capture General Mohamed Farrah Hassan Aidid, a Somali military commander and faction leader. When two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters lowered Soldiers onto the ground, an unexpected attack by Somalian forces spiraled into a street battle, where 18 Americans were killed and 68 others wounded.