SOMALIA / BUUR-HAKBA

Somali government troops, with the backing of African Union forces, have met with elders and other influential leaders in Buur-Hakba, as part of efforts to secure the strategic town which they captured from Al Shabaab fighters on Wednesday (February 27). AU/UN /IST

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:24
• Production Date: 1 March 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: AFRICAN UNION - AU; AFRICAN UNION MISSION IN SOMALIA – AMISOM
• Subject Topical: PEACE AND SECURITY; DISARMAMENT; TERRORISM
• Geographic Subject: SOMALIA
• MAMS Id: U130301d

Description

STORY: SOMALIA / BUUR-HAKBA
TRT: 2.24
SOURCE: AU/UN IST
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: SOMALI/ENGLISH/NATS

DATELINE: FEBRUARY 28, 2013

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, bridge on the outskirts of Buur-Hakba
2. Med shot, AMISOM troops checking the bridge
3. Med shot, AMISOM Ugandan Contingent Commander Brigadier Michael Ondoga touring the bridge
5. Wide shot, troops and vehicles leaving the bridge
6. Med shot, vehicles driving away
7. Med shot, children watching the troops patrolling
8. Med shot, Ondoga walking through Buur-Hakba town
9. Wide shot, AMISOM troops walking in town
10. Wide shot, Somali National Army (SNA) and AMISOM commanders meeting town elders
11. Close up, Buur- Hakba town elders
12. Med shot, elders meeting with SNA and AMISOM troops
13. Med shot, SNA and AMISOM commanders at the meeting
14. Med shot, Somali National Army Chief of Staff at the meeting
15. Med shot, elder during meeting with AMISOM
16. Med shot, Ondoga addressing the elders
17. Wide shot, elders clapping
18. Close up, elder responding to Ondoga
19. SOUNDBITE (Somali) Mohammed Ali, Buur-Hakba Elder:
“The propaganda that we had been told by the Al Shabaab was that you would kill us and kill our livestock. It’s not true and we can see that with our own eyes. They just wanted to scare us, but we can see that it was a lie and that there is peace.”
20. Wide shot, AMISOM troops and elders shaking hands after meeting
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Brigadier Michael Ondoga, AMISOM Ugandan Contingent Commander:
“Linking up Mogadishu with Baidoa, Kismayo, Beletweyne and capturing this area, was precisely in line with that strategic objective, and we are yet to continue from here because this is like 70 percent of what we intended to do, to effectively link up Mogadishu with Baidoa, so that we expand the humanitarian space for people living along this axis and then also open the road so that people can freely move between Baidoa and Mogadishu.”
22. Wide shot, AMISOM troops playing football with children
23. Med shot, troops and children playing

Storyline

Somali government troops, with the backing of African Union forces, have met with elders and other influential leaders in Buur-Hakba, as part of efforts to secure the strategic town which they captured from extremist Al-Shabaab fighters on Wednesday (February 27).

Buur-Hakba, located in central Somalia, is the hometown of Al-Shabaab spokesperson, Muktar Robow. The militants fled the town without a fight against a recent wave of Somali National Army (SNA) and AMISOM offensives on key towns in the Bay Region of the Horn of Africa country.

AMISOM’s head of the Ugandan contingent, Brigadier Michael Ondoga and leading officers in the Somali National Army toured the town and met with community elders, who expressed their willingness to work with the troops in the fight against the Al-Qaeda-linked fighters.

Mohammed Ali, one of Buur-Hakba’s elders who attended the meeting expressed his relief that AMISOM’s contingent was there to help them,

He said, “The propaganda that we had been told by the Al Shabaab was that you would kill us and kill our livestock. It’s not true and we can see that with our own eyes. They just wanted to scare us, but we can see that it was a lie and that there is peace”.

Brigadier Ondogo also shared AMISOM’s commitment to respect the Somali culture and protect the livelihoods of the population from the extortion and repression they faced under Al Shabaab. Buur-Hakba is 160 kilometres from Mogadishu and is a commercial line for the country because it links the capital Mogadishu, with Baidoa, one of Somalia’s biggest cities.

Brigadier Ondogo said that linking up Mogadishu with Baidoa, Kismayo, Beletweyne and capturing that area, was precisely in line with that strategic objective. He added that, “we are yet to continue from here because this is like 70 percent of what we intended to do, to effectively link up Mogadishu with Baidoa, so that we expand the humanitarian space for people living along this axis and then also open the road so that people can freely move between Baidoa and Mogadishu”.

Reports from Buur-Hakba relay that calm prevails as the SNA and AMISOM troops are monitoring all routes in and out of the town. Shortly after the joint forces took the town, Somali Prime Minister, Abdi Farah Shirdon declared that the Mogadishu - Baidoa was safe for travelers.