The Pentagon’s Africa Command said on Tuesday that it had carried out the deadliest attack against the Islamist extremist group Al-Shabaab in nearly a year, killing about 60 fighters in central Somalia.
The strike took place Friday in the vicinity of Harardhere, about 300 miles northeast of Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, the military said in a statement. Africa Command officials offered no other details except to say it did not kill or injure any civilians, suggesting the militants were in a camp or massing for an attack.
The strike came after a recent spate of attacks that the Al-Shabaab have conducted against Somali security forces and their American advisers across the country.
On September 21, Al-Shabaab fighters attacked American and Somali troops 30 miles northwest of Kismayo. Ten days earlier, militants struck Somali and American forces in Mubarak.
“These sustained attacks demonstrate that Al-Shabaab retains the ability to launch conventional offensives, in addition to its terrorist attack capability,” said Bill Roggio. (The New York Times)
Sweden to interrogate oil firm over human rights violation in South Sudan
The Swedish centre-left government Thursday approved the prosecutor’s application to question Lundin Petroleum’s chairman, Ian Lundin, and CEO, Alex Schneiter, for gross human rights violations in South Sudan.
In 2010, Swedish prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation into Lundin Petroleum’s activities in Sudan and South Sudan after a report by the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan (ECOS) that the company was possibly complicit in human rights abuses in Block 5A between 1997 and 2003.
The prosecutor needs permission from the government to prosecute offences committed abroad by foreign nationals. In this case, there are suspicions against a Swedish citizen and a Swiss citizen.
Justice Minister Morgan Johansson welcomed the process due to the serious allegations.
“The case of a serious suspicion of a crime, and there is also a clear link to Sweden,” Johansson said.
Alex Schneiter, Lundin’s chief executive who was head of exploration at the time, and Ian Lundin, the company’s chairman and son of its founder, have been suspects since 2016. (Sudan Tribune)
Turkey halfway through dam construction in Djibouti
Turkey’s agriculture and forestry minister said on Thursday construction of the “Ambouli Friendship Dam” in Djibouti is halfway through.
Underscoring the dam will strengthen the Turkish-Djiboutian relations even further, Bekir Pakdemirli told Anadolu Agency that 50 percent physical realization has so far been achieved in the project.
“The dam being built by DSI (State Hydraulic Works of Turkey) will serve two purposes. Apart from providing drinking and usable water to the people in the region, the the dam will protect the capital Djibouti — where 75 percent of the country’s population lives — from overflows,” he said.
Pakdemirli also said the aim is to complete the dam in 2019, bring it into service, and have their friendship as well as the cooperation in the area of water to a higher level.
Turkey and Djibouti reached on an agreement in May 2014 to construct the dam in the flood-prone valley of the Ambouli River. (Anadolu)
Sudanese former President Abdulrahman dies aged 83
Former Sudanese president Abdulrahman Siwar al-Dahab has died in Saudi Arabia, Sudan’s state news agency (SUNA) reports on Thursday.
The 83-year-old former leader of Sudan died in a military hospital in Riyadh, the agency said on Thursday, without providing further details.
Described by his contemporaries as a deeply religious man who was “noted for his high moral behaviour”, Siwar al-Dahab was also known for his “sense of duty and nationalism”.
He was a former military officer, who served as defence minister before he led the removal of Gaafar Nimeiry in 1985; Nimeiry had been president since 1969.
Expelled by Nimeiry from Sudan with no explanation in 1972, Siwar al-Dahab moved to Qatar where he served as adviser to the then-emir, Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani.
He was called back to Sudan by Nimeiry in the 1980s and became deputy chief of staff then later chief of staff and minister of defence, the country’s most senior military officer. (SUNA)
