Saturday 8,Febr,2025 {HMC}  Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud met with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala to discuss strengthening bilateral ties, focusing on security, economic development, and joint efforts to combat terrorism.

The talks reportedly included discussions on the role of Ugandan troops in the African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) and potential plans to establish new military bases in Somalia’s Southwest State.

However, the Somali federal government has not formally responded to the proposed bases.

Following the meeting with Museveni, President Mohamud departed for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to attend an extraordinary conference addressing the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The conference, attended by regional leaders, aims to bolster collective efforts to resolve the crisis and promote regional stability.

Somalia reaffirmed its commitment to regional peace and cooperation, with officials highlighting its willingness to support initiatives that foster development and long-term security in the region.

Source Hiiraan online

Saturday 8,Febr,2025 {HMC} Forces from Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region have captured swathes of territory from Islamic State during a weeks-long offensive they hope will draw increased international support, according to officials and Reuters reporters.

The advances come against an IS faction that has gained in importance and was the target last week of the first air strikes of U.S. President Donald Trump’s new administration.

Before those strikes, Reuters reporters who gained rare access to the village of Balidhidin, which IS controlled for a decade, saw Puntland security forces patrolling and residents circulating on foot near the carcasses of army trucks destroyed in recent fighting.
The village is in the middle of the northern Golis Mountains, which are the stronghold of IS in Somalia and were also the site of the U.S. strikes. Villagers said security forces had captured other areas too.

Many in Balidhidin had fled the harsh rule of the militants, especially after they killed the district commissioner in 2021. They took refuge in nearby villages and the port city of Bosaso.

“There was a lot of fear. We were threatened,” said Saido Abdirahman, who had just returned to Balidhidin. “Although we were mothers who were indoors, there was fear which made people flee.”

IS in Somalia – with an estimated 700 to 1,500 fighters in Puntland’s mountains – is much smaller than al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab, which controls large parts of southern and central Somalia. But it has become an increasingly important part of its parent organisation’s worldwide network in recent years, analysts say.

It has been aided, officials and analysts say, by an influx of foreign fighters from the Middle East and other African countries and revenues earned by extorting local businesses.

Some media outlets reported last year that its head, Abdulqadir Mumin, had become IS’s global leader, citing U.S. officials. IS has not confirmed the move.

CALL FOR SUPPORT

The U.S. military has carried out periodic air strikes against the group for years and also helped train Puntland’s security forces.

Mohammed Aided, Puntland’s information minister, told Reuters that the region’s security forces had captured 250 square kilometres, including 50 bases, from IS since December 31 in the biggest offensive against the group in years.

Puntland’s military spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday that the security forces had killed at least 85 IS militants in battles over the past two days, while 17 soldiers also died.

Aided said there was no coordination on the operations with the federal government in Mogadishu, which Puntland’s government stopped recognising altogether last year, and called for more foreign support.

“This is an international war on terror. We request the international community to supply with us experts, hardware, anti-mines, and anti-drone facilities that can jam drones of terrorists. It is a difficult war,” Aided said.

Matt Bryden, a Somalia analyst and co-founder of the Sahan Research think tank, said the Trump administration, some of whose members have publicly derided the Mogadishu government as weak, might look to boost direct security cooperation with local authorities like Puntland to fight IS and al Shabaab.

“There’s already a recognition that the federal government of Somalia is no longer really a credible partner in fighting against armed extremist groups,” he said.

In response to written questions, Information Minister Daud Aweis said the Somali federal government appreciates the support of international partners and “maintains ongoing security engagements with relevant stakeholders, including Puntland, to ensure the effectiveness of counterterrorism operations.”

“Strengthening Somalia’s federal institutions and ensuring a cohesive national strategy remain critical for sustainable security and stability,” he said.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Reporting by Feisal Omar in Balidhidin and Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu; Writing by Giulia Paravicini; Editing by Aaron Ross, Aidan Lewis and Michael Perry

Saturday 8,Febr,2025 {HMC} US President Donald Trump has said he is revoking Joe Biden’s security clearance and access to daily intelligence briefings, after his predecessor did the same to him four years ago.

“There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform.

“JOE, YOU’RE FIRED,” the Republican added in a reference to his catchphrase on the reality TV show, The Apprentice.

Trump has already revoked the security clearance of more than four dozen former intelligence officials whom he accused of meddling in the 2020 election in Biden’s favour.

Trump posted on Friday evening that Biden “set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former Presidents”.

He said Biden “could not be trusted with sensitive information”, citing a justice department inquiry into the Democrat’s storage of classified files, which concluded that while there was no need to press criminal charges, Biden had a poor memory.

The investigation said Biden was unable to recall significant life events such as the year his son, Beau, died and when he served as vice-president to Barack Obama. Biden rejected that characterisation at the time.

The former president, who has taken some time away from the limelight since leaving his post last month, did not immediately respond to Trump’s move on Friday.

The BBC contacted Biden’s talent agency, which recently signed him, but no response was immediately forthcoming.

In 2021, Biden stopped Trump from receiving classified intelligence briefings, the first time an ex-president had ever been denied such information, which is traditionally given as a courtesy.

He justified the move by saying Trump could not be trusted because of his “erratic behaviour”, even before the 2021 US Capitol riot, which Democrats accused Trump of inciting in the last days of his first term.

“What value is giving him an intelligence briefing?” Biden said at the time. “What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?”

In 2022, federal agents discovered classified files in Trump’s Florida home and he was charged with wilfully retaining defence information. He pleaded not guilty, and the case was ultimately dropped once he was re-elected.

Since returning to office, Trump has taken steps to revoke the security clearances and protections of other top officials linked to the Biden administration.

Among those whose security clearance and detail has been retracted is former top US military commander Mark Milley, a vocal critic of Trump.

The new Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, has also ordered Milley’s “conduct” to be investigated, and his military grade to be reviewed.

Trump has also revoked the security detail of former chief medical adviser to the president, Anthony Fauci, who led the US response to Covid-19.

Trump said at the time the decision was “very standard” and that it was not possible for everyone to have security protection for the rest of their life because they worked for the government.

He ended security protection for his own former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Secret Service protection for his former National Security Adviser, John Bolton, last month.

The president has also ordered that the security clearance of dozens of former intelligence officials, including two ex-CIA directors, be revoked.

They signed a letter in 2020 suggesting that reports about a laptop owned by Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, were a Russian hoax.

But the computer, whose trove of data contained evidence of drug abuse, prostitution and foreign business deals, was real.