Deputy Commissioner of Yakshid District in north Mogadishu, Somalia
Rahma Dahir Siad, addressing a youth conference in the capital on May 20
2012. She was killed by gunmen on July 17, 2013. ABDULKADIR KHALIF |
NATION MEDIA GROUP
Thursday, July 18, 2013
A woman state administrator has been killed in Somalia and two reporters shot and injured in the war-torn country.
The Deputy Commissioner of Somalia's Yakshid
District in north Mogadishu, Ms Rahma Dahir Siad, was killed near her
home on Wednesday evening.
The journalists, Mr Mascud Abdulahi Adan, of
Dalsan radio and Mr Mohamed Farah Sahal, for Goobjoog radio, were
attacked on Wednesday evening in Kismayu, according the National Union
of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), in south Kismayu.
NUSOJ condemned the attack.
"We condemn the attack on the journalists in the
strongest terms possible and call for an urgent investigation to bring
the attacker to book," said Mohamed Ibrahim, NUSOJ secretary-general.
Ms Siad's killing was first made public by the Mogadishu Deputy Mayor on Security Affairs, Mr Warsame Mohamed Hassan Jodah.
“Ms Rahma was attacked and killed around Sheikh Hassan Adde Mosque, near Fagah Crossroad,” said Mr Jodah.
The killers managed to flee before security officials reached the scene of crime.
Yakshid District Commissioner Mohydin Hassan Jurus
told the media on Thursday that his district security forces had
apprehended four suspects.
“We suspect two of those detained to be the perpetrators of the murder of my deputy,” said Mr Jurus.
Violence,
including assassinations, landmine explosions and suicide missions have
recently escalated in Somalia, especially since the leaders of
Al-Shabaab promised to multiply their attacks during the Holy Month of
Ramadhan.
Meanwhile, Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah
Shirdon met the New Deal High Level Task Force (HLTF), a committee
preparing documents for the forthcoming international conference on
Somalia in Brussels, Belgium.
“The government is fully committed to
the New Deal for Somalia Conference in Brussels, set for September 16,”
said Mr Shirdon after listening to reports from the HLTF on Wednesday.
“We
will be going to Brussels with our own plan for development and we
expect the full support of the international community, so that Somalia
can bounce back from the huge destruction of the civil war.”
In June,
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud said: “On 16th of September,
Baroness (Catherine) Ashton and I will convene the New Deal for Somalia
Conference in Brussels, and present to the international community our
key political, security and developmental priorities for Somalia guided
by the New Deal principles for fragile states agreed in Busan in 2011.”
Baroness
Catherine is the Vice-President and High Representative of the European
Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, while the New Deal sets
out five peace and state building goals to guide priorities and
engagements in fragile states.