Thursday 17,April 2025 {HMC}  Somali government forces and allied local militia repelled an attempted Al-Shabaab attack in the Gasarta area between Baidoa and Deynuunay on Wednesday, killing at least ten militants, according to military officials.

“The Khawarij terrorists tried to carry out an attack, but our brave forces were prepared and defeated them decisively,” a Somali National Army (SNA) official said. “Their bodies remain at the scene as a clear message that such threats will not be tolerated.”

The ambush occurred in a strategic corridor linking Baidoa, the capital of the Southwest State, with the Deynuunay area, where Al-Shabaab has previously targeted military convoys and checkpoints. SNA forces reportedly responded with coordinated fire, preventing the insurgents from breaching their defensive perimeter.

Residents of Gasarta reported hearing intense gunfire during the engagement and said they were relieved the militants were pushed back before reaching populated areas.

No casualties were reported among Somali forces, and military officials say operations are ongoing to clear suspected Al-Shabaab hideouts in the vicinity.

The attack comes as Somalia continues a nationwide offensive against the al-Qaeda-linked militant group, which has waged a deadly insurgency against federal institutions for over 15 years.

Source Hiiraan online

Thursday 17,April 2025 {HMC} Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi has refuted the accusations that Kenya has been supporting Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the ongoing war with the Sudanese Armed Forces.

In an interview with the BBC on Tuesday, Mudavadi stated that Kenya “is a centre for mediation,” and has taken no side in the war.

“We only encourage peaceful conversations for peaceful resolutions. That is the extent to which Kenya has been engaged with the various parties in Sudan,” he said.

Commenting on accusations made by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua when he linked President William Ruto to RSF’s operations, Mudavadi said, “leave him out of it”.

“Leave him out of it. The former DP is having his own grievances; he was impeached by the Parliament, so I do not think we should drag him here,” he said.

Mudavadi maintained that there is a need to focus on the realities going forward, especially where Sudan’s paramilitary war is concerned.

He affirmed that Kenya remains neutral in the war, amid criticism after Ruto hosted RSF and allied groups in Nairobi in March, to sign a transitional constitution, taking them closer to forming a parallel government.

“As the Foreign Affairs CS, I would like to confirm that the session RSF had in Nairobi was for them to dialogue among themselves. They did produce their charter. This charter has been misconstrued to imagine that a parallel government was declared in Kenya,” he said.

“That is not true at all, and I intend to make that very clear at the forum (the London-Sudan Conference), that at no time has Kenya been party to any government in exile or a parallel government.”

Mudavadi said Kenya “stands for one Sudan and would like to see one Sudan”, adding that all parties in Sudan should amicably chart their path towards peace.

Representatives for various nations, the European Union and the African Union convened in London on Tuesday, where Mudavadi was present, pledging to send hundreds of millions in aid to Sudan.

“Many have given up on Sudan – that is wrong – it’s morally wrong when we see so many civilians beheaded, infants as young as one subjected to sexual violence, more people facing famine than anywhere else in the world… We simply cannot look away,” UK’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.

The war, which began on April 15, 2023, has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

Earlier in April, Gachagua claimed that Ruto was involved in shady deals with the RSF’s leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo alias Hemedti.

He alleged that Ruto has been conducting gold trade with Hemedti so that the RSF leader can acquire money to buy firearms for the paramilitary force.

“The real commander of RSF is not Hemedti, it is William Ruto. The money from gold is being cleaned through Kenya to buy firearms,” Gachagua told KTN in an interview.

Ruto has not yet responded to the claims.