Day: February 12, 2023

The United States military reported Sunday that 12 al-Shabab militants were killed in a new airstrike in central Somalia.

The U.S. Africa Command known as AFRICOM said in a statement that the “collective self-defense” strike occurred February 10 “at the request of the Federal Government of Somalia.”

The strike occurred in a remote area approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) southwest of the Indian Ocean port town of Hobyo, about 472 kilometers (293 miles) northeast of Mogadishu, according to the statement.

AFRICOM did not specify the location, but Somali government media reported it took place in Donlaye, near Amara town in Galmudug state. The Somali government claimed 117 militants were killed in Friday’s operation.

Brigadier General Mohamed Tahlil Bihi, infantry commander of the Somali national army, told state media that the militants were in trenches fighting against Somali government forces. He also confirmed an airstrike targeted the militants during the firefight with Somali forces.

AFRICOM said the strike took place in a remote location and assessed that no civilians were injured or killed.

“U.S. Africa Command will continue to assess the results of this operation and will provide additional information as appropriate,” the statement read. “Specific details about the units involved and assets used will not be released in order to ensure operations security.”

It’s the third “collective self-defense” strike by the U.S. military in Somalia this year.

The previous two strikes occurred January 20 near Galcad town, killing approximately 30 al-Shabab fighters, and January 23 near Harardhere town, killing two militants.

In addition, the U.S. conducted a counterterrorism operation January 26 that killed Bilal al-Sudani, a key Islamic State Somalia branch commander in the Cal-Miskaad mountains in the Puntland semi-autonomous region.

The Somali government has been engaged in military operations aimed at recovering territories from al-Shabab. The U.S. and Turkish governments have been providing air support to the Somali army.

Both governments are also training elite Somali forces who have been at the forefront of the recent military operations.

Source: Voice of America

PRETORIA, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa teed off at the Presidential Golf Challenge (PGC) in a bid to drum up financial and technical support for the Adopt-A-School Foundation.

Addressing the media ahead of the tee off, Ramaphosa explained that traditionally, the PGC is held every year following the State of the Nation Address (SONA).

“Every President nominates the charity or the entity that should benefit from the proceeds of… an event like this. We are truly grateful to have sponsors who have been supporting the work that we do and in our case, it is the Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation that is a beneficiary.

“[The foundation] works with schools through the Adopt-A-School Foundation and adopts almost 600 schools in the country and enables those schools to function properly. Education must be delivered in a way that it produces well educated young people,” he said.

Talking about his chances on the golf course, the President did not rate his skills very highly.

“My golfing skills are atrocious. They have really declined. I haven’t played golf in more than a year so I don’t really regard myself as a golfer. Now I just putt around,” he said.

Answering questions from the media, Ramaphosa assured the public that the State of Disaster he announced during the SONA will not be subjected to any looting of state coffers.

“There’s not going to be any looting. There’s just going to be a process of ensuring that we deal with the crisis and we will be following all the processes, the rules and the regulations to speed up the process of enabling Eskom to be able to deal with the challenges of generation and transmission.

“That’s what the State of Disaster is going to be addressing so if there is any money that is going to be deployed, it’s money that is going to be deployed to Eskom – to entities that are going to enable us to deal with the energy crisis. There’s no form of money that’s going to be parcelled out to individuals,” he said.

He further emphasised that although he cannot give a firm date on when load shedding will end, the State of Disaster provides the tools to bring the country closer to that time in a shorter space of time.

“The State of Disaster is going to give us the instruments, the capabilities of dealing with this energy crisis and that is what the state of disaster is meant to do – including appointing a Minister of Electricity who’s going to be focussed … on ensuring that we deal with load shedding and restore the capability of Eskom working with the board and the management on an on hand basis.

“[The minister] will be in my office because in the end, it is a responsibility that the people of South Africa have imposed on me so I must pave the way with all the capability to deal with it. Whatever criticism that may be, it is criticism that is misguided because what we should be focussing on is load shedding and dealing with it,” President Ramaphosa said.

Source: Nam News Network