Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 14 November 2017
Syria providing ground for closer Somalia:

Turkey-Russia relations US-targeted Islamic State
could be significant threat
By V. ISACHENKOV Russia has backed Syrian use of de-escalation zones
Associated Press President Bashar Assad, and included a commit- By ABDI GULED
CARA ANNA
MOSCOW (AP) — The lead- while Turkey has supported ment to a peaceful solu-
ers of Russia and Turkey dis- his foes. tion governed by a Gene- Associated Press
cussed their next steps in Moscow and Ankara found va peace process. MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The Islamic State group’s
Syria during talks Monday themselves on the verge Putin said he briefed Er- growing presence in Somalia could become a “sig-
that underlined the close of a direct conflict in 2015 dogan on the U.S.-Russia nificant threat” if it attracts fighters fleeing collapsing
coordination between the when a Turkish jet shot statement and also told strongholds in Syria and Iraq, experts say, and already
two countries that have down a Russian warplane the Turkish leader about his it seems to be influencing local al-Shabab extremists
played key roles in the Syr- on the Syrian border. talks with the Iranian lead- to adopt tactics like beheadings.
ian conflict. The two nations managed ership during a trip to Teh- The U.S. military this month carried out its first drone
Wrapping the hours of talks to mend the rift and, to- ran earlier this month. strikes against IS fighters in Somalia, raising questions
held in the Black Sea resort gether with Iran, struck a “Our joint work with Turkey about the strength of the group that emerged just
of Sochi, Russian President deal earlier this year to cre- and Iran has brought con- two years ago. A second strike targeted the fighters
Vladimir Putin hailed “very ate de-escalation zones crete results,” Putin said. on Sunday, with the U.S. saying “some terrorists” were
productive” discussions that helped reduce fight- “Violence has abated, and killed. The Islamic State group burst into public view in
with his Turkish counterpart ing in Syria. favorable conditions have Somalia late last year as dozens of armed men seized
President Recap Taya Er- Putin’s discussions with Er- been created for advanc- the port town of Qandala in the northern Puntland re-
dogan., dogan followed a week- ing an inter-Syrian dialogue gion, calling it the seat of the “Islamic Caliphate in So-
The meeting was the sixth end statement on Syria ap- under the U.N. auspices.” malia.” They beheaded a number of civilians, causing
the two leaders have held proved by Putin and Presi- Erdogan expressed a simi- more than 20,000 residents to flee, and held the town
this year, a pace that re- dent Donald Trump on the lar view, saying that de- for weeks until they were forced out by Somali troops,
flects the complexity of the sidelines of an APEC sum- escalation zones in Syria backed by U.S. military advisers.
situation in Syria, now in its mit in Vietnam. helped “set the ground for Since then, IS fighters have stormed a hotel popular
seventh year. The statement affirmed the political settlement.”q with government officials in Puntland’s commercial
hub of Bossaso and claimed their first suicide attack at
Somaliland polls close in presidential vote a Bossaso security checkpoint.
This long-fractured Horn of Africa nation with its weak
central government already struggles to combat al-
The current president is Shabab, an ally of al-Qaida, which is blamed for last
stepping down after his month’s truck bombing in the capital, Mogadishu, that
five-year term was contro- killed more than 350 in the country’s deadliest attack.
versially extended for two- The Trump administration early this year approved ex-
and-a-half years because panded military operations in Somalia as it puts coun-
of a shortage of funds and terterrorism at the top of its Africa agenda. The U.S.
a drought. Muse Bihi Abdi, military on Sunday told The Associated Press it had
the candidate for the ruling carried out 26 airstrikes this year against al-Shabab
Kulmiye party and his main and now the Islamic State group.
challenger Abdirahman Irro For more than a decade, al-Shabab has sought a
from the opposition Wada- Somalia ruled by Islamic Shariah law. Two years ago,
ni party are slight favorites some of its fighters began to split away to join the Is-
over Feisal Ali Warabe, a lamic State group. Some small pro-IS cells have been
veteran politician from the reported in al-Shabab’s southern Somalia stronghold,
opposition party UCID. but the most prominent one and the target of U.S.
The new president will serve airstrikes is in the north in Puntland, a hotbed of arms
a five-year term that can smuggling and a short sail from Yemen.
Ruling party candidate Muse Bihi Abdi speaks to the media after be renewed once.
casting his vote in the presidential election in Hargeisa, in the The vote was be monitored The IS fighters in Puntland are now thought to number
semi-autonomous region of Somaliland, in Somalia Monday, by a British-funded team of around 200, according to a U.N. report released this
Nov. 13, 2017. More than 700,000 registered voters across month by experts monitoring sanctions on Somalia.
Somaliland are expected to cast their votes Monday to elect 60 international observers The experts traveled to the region and interviewed
their fifth president, as the ruling party faces a strong challenge from 27 countries. several imprisoned IS extremists.
from opposition candidates. Somaliland, a haven of rel- The U.N. experts documented at least one shipment
(AP Photo/B. Kaariye) ative peace in northwest- of small arms, including machine guns, delivered to
By ABDI GULED to prevent the spread of ru- ern Somalia declared its the Islamic State fighters from Yemen. “The majority of
Associated Press mors about election results. unilateral independence arms supplied to the ISIL faction originate in Yemen,”
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) More than 700,000 vot- from Somalia in 1991. IS defectors told them. A phone number previously
— Polls have closed and ers registered to cast their However, no country has used by the IS group’s U.S.-sanctioned leader, Ab-
the counting of votes has votes at more than 1,600 so far recognized it as an dulqadir Mumin, showed “repeated contact” with a
begun in Somalia’s semi- polling stations across So- independent state. phone number selector used by a Yemen-based man
autonomous region of So- maliland amid tight securi- Some voters said they hope who reportedly serves as an intermediary with senior IS
maliland which is electing ty in the peaceful enclave. Monday’s election will help group leaders in Iraq and Syria, the experts’ report says.
their fifth president Monday This election was be the first Somaliland’s push for inter- While the Islamic State group in Somalia has a small
as the ruling party faces a in Africa one to use iris-scan national recognition. number of foreign fighters, the Puntland government’s
strong challenge from op- biometric technology to “We hope it’ll be a peace- weak control over the rural Bari region where the IS
position candidates. prevent anyone from vot- ful election that will prove group is based “renders it a potential haven” for for-
Results are expected by Fri- ing more than once, said to the world that Somalil- eign IS fighters, the report says. The IS group’s growing
day. Somaliland’s electoral of- and deserves an interna- presence brought an angry response from al-Shabab,
The Somaliland govern- ficials. Three candidates tional recognition,” said which has several thousand fighters and holds vast
ment will block access to are running for president Barkhad Jama, a resident rural areas in southern and central Somalia, in some
social media during the following weeks of election in Hargeisa, Somaliland’s cases within a few dozen miles of Mogadishu.q
vote-counting period to try campaigns. capital.q