Sunday  5 April, 2024 {HMC} The Criminal Investigation Department of the Somali government has on Sunday released ten suspects who were arrested for their alleged involvement in the killing of a Somali man employed at the Somali Civil Aviation Authority in Mogadishu.

A joint investigation conducted by Somali forensic experts, with assistance from the Turkish Police Forensic Laboratory, revealed that there is no connection between the released suspects and the murder.

Several people were apprehended for their suspected involvement in the killing of Nasir Muse Abdirahman known as Dahable. The body of the deceased man, aged 32, was found by Mogadishu police at his residence in El-Qalow village, located in the Wadajir district, in February 2024.

The CID’s findings emerged a week after Somaliland accused the federal government of torturing Members of Parliament who visited the detainees and demanded their immediate release.

However, there is no evidence to support Somaliland authorities’ claim that federal lawmakers were tortured by federal police officers in Mogadishu.

Sunday  5 April, 2024 {HMC} Somali Deputy Prime Minister Salah Ahmed Jama met with Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan in the Gambian capital Banjul, where the 15th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) commenced on Saturday.

Jama and Fidan discussed methods to strengthen bilateral relations and enhance cooperation between Turkey and Somalia on the sidelines of the Islamic Summit Conference.

Since the beginning of 2024, Turkey and Somalia have intensified their relationship. The two countries have signed agreements on defense, economic cooperation, as well as oil and gas cooperation. Following the signing of a defense and economic agreement between Somalia and Turkey in February of this year, a Turkish Navy vessel, the TCG Kınalıada F514, arrived at the Port of Mogadishu last week.

Turkey has made significant investments in Somalia, particularly in education, infrastructure, health, and has provided extensive humanitarian aid.

The 15th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) started on Saturday in the Gambian capital Banjul.

World leaders from the 57 member countries of the OIC and beyond are expected to attend, said the OIC in a statement ahead of the summit. Representing Türkiye at the event is Hakan Fidan, the country’s foreign minister.

It added that the summit aims to strengthen unity “in collectively addressing the pressing challenges facing the Ummah (Muslim community) and expanding cooperation and solidarity among member countries in the pursuit of our shared goals as enshrined in the charter.”

The OIC added that the summit also aims to “expand our domestic economy and revitalize small and medium enterprises,” in addition to “taking the opportunity to share the wealth of Gambian and African culture with the world.”

The summit, taking place through Sunday with the central theme “Enhancing unity and solidarity through dialogue for sustainable development,” will address global issues, notably the current situation in Palestine and the ongoing Israeli war in the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 34,000 people.

During the summit, three key documents – a draft Palestinian resolution, draft Banjul statement, and the draft final document – will be presented to the Council of Foreign Ministers and subsequently to the summit for discussion.

Aletha Adu Political correspondent
Sunday May 5, 2024

Labour incumbent beat Tory candidate Susan Hall, despite inaccurate claims by ‘excited Tories’ that she might run him close

Sadiq Khan has been elected mayor of London, winning a historic third term after a dramatic contest.

Khan was declared the winner over the Conservative candidate, Susan Hall, on Saturday afternoon, with 43.8% of the vote.

The London mayor was booed as he began his victory speech. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank you, London,” he told an audience at City Hall before a heckler walked across the stage shouting, “Khan killed London.”

He pressed on, noting: “It’s been a difficult few months. We faced a campaign of non-stop negativity,” but went on to praise his team for leading a campaign that responded to “fearmongering with facts, hate with hope, and attempts to divide with unity”.

Hall, his rival, appeared stony-faced as Khan made his speech, and slightly shook her head in disapproval as Khan told the crowd he would be a mayor for all Londoners, including those who did not vote for him.

Khan had described the battle as a “close two-horse race” when polls predicted he had a 25-point lead over his Tory rival, in what appeared to be an effort to encourage Labour loyalists and more apathetic Londoners to vote.

According to London Elects, which manages the mayoral and London assembly elections, voter turnout was only 1.5% down on 2021, at 40.5%. Bexley and Bromley, led by the Conservatives, had the highest constituency turnout with 48%.

Khan’s team became confident of winning the race after Labour took the North East and West Central constituencies from the Conservatives.

On Saturday morning, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, had said he was confident of Khan’s victory and described the mayoral race as “effectively the last stop on the journey to the general election”.

Speaking in Mansfield, in the East Midlands region that has selected the Labour candidate as its first mayor, Starmer said: “He [Khan] has got two terms of delivery behind him and I am confident that he has got another term of delivery in front of him.

“But look, if you look across the country, I am standing here in Mansfield in the East Midlands, where we have won a significant victory in the mayoralty here, but that is the pattern across the country.”

The victory in London followed a tense Friday night, described by Labour sources as a “24-hour vacuum” because a pause on London mayoral counts had enabled “excited” Tory activists to fill social media with rumours of polling predictions being “completely wrong” and Hall posing a much greater threat. It led some Labour insiders to believe the possibility that the candidates could be a few points apart.

This mayoral election was the first held after changes to the voting system that were introduced by the Conservatives. It had been made into a first-past-the-post contest with photo ID required at polling stations, measures that had been expected to harm Labour’s vote.

Aides working for Khan had argued that a Labour victory would be heavily reliant on turnout.

Senior Labour figures acknowledged that the party’s stance on Gaza had weakened support in local elections in areas such as Oldham, Pendle and Bolton. It led some to accept early on Saturday that London voters could still send the party a message, despite Khan’s call for an immediate ceasefire weeks after the 7 October attacks.

Activists warned that some voters in London felt the party had “taken its core vote for granted”, as Keir Starmer celebrated historic wins in Blackpool, Hartlepool and Thurrock on Friday.

A London Conservative MP criticised Hall’s campaign for being too focused on channelling “anti-Khan” sentiment and failing to provide voters with a vision of what she would actually do, contrasting her campaign with those of other Conservative mayoral candidates.

“Ben Houchen and Andy Street are both up against the difficult climate Susan Hall is also facing – an ‘anti-Tory’ sentiment – but with bold ideas, they are making it through,” they said. “In London there’s been no positive vision and Hall is hardly a local champion. She has only set out what she won’t do.”

The results came after more Labour victories in mayoral elections in the north of England on Saturday. Steve Rotheram won the Liverpool mayoral election, while Andy Burnham was re-elected in Greater Manchester and Tracy Brabin won a second term as mayor of West Yorkshire.