01 Aug 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- Prime minister congratulates the nation on the beginning of Ramadan
- Busar clash leaves 11 dead
- Somali PM calls for Somalia aid
- Police accuses al Shabaab of killing MP in Mogadishu
- President Guelleh urges international community to aid Somalia
- Kenyan mosque’s past link to Shabaab banker
- Somalia appeals for aid boost to check refugee exodus
SOMALI MEDIA
Prime minister congratulates the nation on the beginning of Ramadan
01 Aug – Source: Radio Mogadishu, Shabelle, Kulmiye and Risala – 64 words
As millions of Muslims around the world prepare for fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, the prime minister congratulates the nation on the beginning of Ramadan, and other Muslims wherever they are on this globe for the observance of Ramadan, one of holiest months in Islam. The administrations in Somalia, including Somaliland, Puntland and Gal-Mudug also welcomed the month cordially.
Police accuses al Shabaab of killing MP in Mogadishu
01 Aug – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan, Radio Mogadishu – 117 words
The Somali police have accused al Shabaab for being behind the killing of a member of parliament in Mogadishu on Sunday night.
Speaking to the press, Mogadishu’s central police boss, Col. Ali Hirsi Barre (Ali Gab), said that al Shabaab were behind the assassination of Khalif Jire Warfa, who was shot dead last night in Mogadishu.
Mr. Warfa was shot dead by armed goons in Hamarweyne district, Mogadishu, after praying at Marwaz mosque in the area. Meanwhile the deputy speaker of the Somali parliament, Ibrahim Sheikh Mudey, sent his condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.
Hiiraan Online welcomes release of Faysal Hassan Boston
31 Jul – Source: Hiiraan Online – 281 words
Hiirraan Online reporter Faysal Mohamed Hassan a.k.a Boston who was in jail for 33 days was released from Boosaso Jail in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland after receiving a presidential pardon.
Mr. Hassan who briefly spoke with HOL reporters after his release stated that he is happy to have gotten back his freedom and is extremely excited to be reunited with his family and to be with his first born child who was born while he was in prison.
“I am happy to be free at last and the 33 days I spent jail were the darkest days of my life” said Hassan, adding that he wants to thank to all who exerted pressure and influence for my release, in particular, he thanked the Puntland administration, HOL management and staff and National Union of Somali Journalist. Similarly, he acknowledged and thanked CPJ efforts in securing his release from Boosaaso prison.
http://www.hiiraan.com/news2/
President Guelleh urges international community to aid Somalia
01 Aug- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 102 words
President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti has urged the international community to aid the drought-struck population in Somalia, where hundreds of thousands of Somalis are said to be on the brink of starvation due to severe drought that has hit the Horn of African country.
President Guelleh said that drought-stricken people in Somalia ought to be saved from starving due to the current drought and famine related crisis in the country.
Meanwhile, the president has called on traders in his country to refrain from skyrocketing food prices during the Holy Month of Ramadan in which Muslims are expected to fast as from today.
Somaliland parliament approves multiparty system
01 Aug- Source: BBC Somali Service- 98 words
Parliamentarians in Somaliland yesterday approved a multiparty system in the country where three parties have been operating for the last two decades. BBC Somali Service interviewed Said Elmi Rooble, the chairman of the parliament’s social affairs committee, over the issue. Mr Rooble said that every Somaliland citizen will be allowed to establish a political party unless it belongs to a clan, religion, or a group from one region. He also added that any group that wants to form a political party is required to deposit 20,000 US dollars in the government’s treasure before officially being registered.
Busar clash leaves 11 dead
01 Aug- Source: Radio Bar-kulan, Mareeg Online- 127 words
Eleven people have been killed and three others injured in fighting between government troops allied with Ahlu Sunna wa Jamaa on one side and al Shabaab on the other side at Busar area, 40 KM from El-wak town, Gedo region.
An officer with the government troops in the area, Adan Mohamed Siad, told Bar-kulan that government troops together with their allied Ahlu Sunna forces have achieved tangible military gains in the fight against al Shabaab in the area.
He claimed that 10 al Shabaab fighters were killed in the fighting, while one soldier was killed on their side.
Government troops have renewed the offensive against al Shabaab in Mogadishu and other parts of the country, seizing control of several strategic places in the capital, Mogadishu.
Dahabshil money transfer company donates 100,000 US dollars to drought victims in southern Somalia
01 Aug- Source: BBC Somali Service – 78 words
Dahabshil money transfer company has donated 100,000 US dollars to drought victims in southern Somalia. The company’s chairman Hajji Muhammad Said Du’ale Dahabshil said that the money came from the company as well as donations from the company’s employees all over the world.
The chairman also urged all members of the Somali business community to follow in his company’s footsteps and assist the drought victims in southern Somalia as also the international community is focusing on helping them.
Somali PM calls for Somalia aid
01 Aug- Source: Radio bar-kun, Radio Mogadishu- – 183 words
Somalia’s Prime Minister Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has called for an immediate aid for the drought stricken people in the country, while at the same time wishing fellow citizens and entire Muslim population a happy Ramadan.
In his Ramadan message to the nation, Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed said that both the government and the entire Somali population in the country have quickly responded to the plight of drought victims in the country by providing them with the necessary humanitarian aid needed to avert loss of lives due to the drought situation in the country.
The Prime Minister’s Ramadan message to the nation broadcasted on the state owned Radio Mogadishu the premier particularly thanked both the Kuwaiti government and United Arab Emirates for their immediate humanitarian support to the drought-stricken Somali people in the country.
The premier also thanked Somali government troops for their achievements in the recent fight against Al-Shabaab militia in Mogadishu, saying that they have achieved important milestones in fighting the militia and hoped that, all those who fled the country due to insecurity will soon be back to their homes.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Kenyan mosque’s past link to Shabaab banker
31 Jul – Source: Daily Nation – 293 words
Leaders of a mosque at the centre of terrorist funding allegations on Sunday confirmed that a suspected al Shabaab financier was an official of Pumwani Riyadha Mosque in Nairobi.
But they denied ever having been involved in terror activities and threatened to sue their bank, which they accused of breaching client confidentiality.
They also claimed many more public figures gave money to their mosque construction project. Pumwani Riyadha Mosque Committee members said ‘Amiir’ Ahmad Iman was the secretary of the building committee at the mosque but left in 2009 without notice.
In Mombasa, politicians and Muslim leaders defended Tourism Minister Najib Balala and Nominated MP Amina Abdalla against allegations in the UN report that they gave money that could have ended up with terrorists.
Kisauni MP Hassan Ali Joho, Mayor Ahmed Muhdhar and Mvita politician Abdullswamad Nassir set a side their political differences with Mr Balala and defended him against the allegations.
Speaking at Madrasatul Islah Al-Islamiyya in Mvita, they said Mr Balala had never associated himself with terrorism.
Botswana donates food to famine-hit Somalia
01 Aug- Source: African Press Agency- 226 words
In a drive to help the famine-hit east African country of Somalia, the Botswana government is sending on Monday a plane of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) carrying water, canned beef and other essentials to Kenya where the aid will be handed over to the World Food Programme (WFP) for distribution to Somali refugees, the Foreign Affairs minister Phandu Skelemani said in Gaborone.
Skelemani said that the donation is in response to the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon’s call.
Skelemani also indicated that it is not the first time Botswana is involved in Somalia because in 1992 BDF personnel were part of an African contingency undertaking a peacekeeping mission under the auspices of the UN.
Skelemani acknowledged that Botswana does not have bilateral relations with Somalia. “Basically, they don’t have a government, thus it is hard to help Somalis because of the instability in the country,” he said.
He reasserted that the people of Somalia need swift assistance and a response from the global community.
“Once people start dying, the response is not swift enough,” he said. According to the WFP, an estimated two million people in need of food assistance are in parts of southern Somalia which are still inaccessible.
Somalia is one of the Horn of Africa countries hard hit by a severe drought affecting about 12 million people across the region
American singer weeps for hungry families in Mogadishu
30 Jul- Source: Africa Review – 203 words
American singer, Mama Soul, has urged the United Nations and US authorities to move with speed to save thousands of Somalis devastated by a famine that has hit the country.
The singer made the appeal on Friday after visiting displaced people currently living in camps around Mogadishu. “Why are you watching at the crippling situation,” asked a teary Mama Soul.
During the visit, the singer met officials from Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government including Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali and the Mayor of Mogadishu, Mohamed Ahmed Nur alias Tarzan.
On his part, the Mayor briefed her on the current situation in Badbado camp, a home to over three thousands displaced families from the drought-hit regions of Bay, Bakol, Gedo, Lower Shabelle and Middle Shabelle.
Before traveling to Mogadishu on Friday, Mama Soul had visited the Dadaab refugee camps in North-eastern Kenya.
“You can understand the extent of the problem if you come and see for yourselves,” said the American singer while still weeping.
The plight of the famine-stricken people has been made worse by al-Shabaab’s continuous refusal to let humanitarian agencies operate in the areas under its control.
The Islamist movement rule over a large swathes of the southern and central regions of Somalia.
Only peace and railways can break the cycle of hunger in the Horn
31 Jul- Source: the Eastern African- 1029 words
It feels like we’ve been down this road before, doesn’t it? Once again the world is scrambling to deliver emergency food supplies to alleviate yet another food crisis in the Horn of Africa. Since the 1970s, it is undeniable that the region has more than earned the tag of “land of famine”.
Though famines have been recorded in the Horn of Africa since 253 BC, it is not until relatively recently that the region has become synonymous with food-related catastrophe. According to the paper,Famine in the Twentieth Century by Stephen Devereux, a Fellow of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, it was China and Russia that were the epicentres of famine. The two accounted for 80 per cent of famine-related deaths in the past century. Since the late 1960s, however, he vast majority of famines recorded have occurred in sub-Saharan Africa. And now they seem to have taken up particular residence in the Horn.
It would perhaps be comforting to blame this on droughts caused by climate change. In 2005, the acclaimed BBC documentary, Horizons, did just that, concluding that “what came out of [European and North American] exhaust pipes and power stations contributed to the deaths of a million people [in the 1984 Ethiopian famine].” However, research carried out especially since the 1980s has effectively debunked the link between drought-related crop failure and famine deaths.
The Horn of Africa experiences terrible droughts every three to four years on average, but rarely do these result in mass mortality. Furthermore, drought is not exclusive to the region. In the developed world, however, its effects are calculated in terms of economic losses, not deaths or starvation. It appears that the most critical factors affecting whether droughts are translated into mass graves are political will and a functioning transport and communications infrastructure. Or, more accurately, the lack thereof.
Somalia appeals for aid boost to check refugee exodus
01 Aug- Source: coastweek, Xinhua- 834 words
The International aid organizations should increase relief food donations to feed the needy Somali population as a strategy to stop the influx of refugees into overcrowded camps in Kenya, a Somali official said.
Somalia’s Ambassador to Kenya Mohamed Ali Nur said Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has gained territorial control of at least 85 percent of the cities in Somalia and is capable of facilitating the movement of relief food.
“There is peace. We want them (aid organizations) to feed the people in the cities to stop them from moving to Kenya in search of food,” the Somali envoy said in Nairobi on Saturday.
Kenya officially closed the border with Somalia in 2007 to curtail the flow of Somali insurgents into its territory following the launching of a military operation against suspected Islamist fighters.
“We have a moral responsibility to help the people to deal with this crisis,” said Faraah Maalim, Kenya’s deputy speaker of Parliament.
http://www.coastweek.com/3430_
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Three African troops ‘killed in Mogadishu fighting’
30 Jul – AFP, APA – 345 words
Three African Union troops were killed and dragged through the streets in Mogadishu Friday as fighting erupted between pro-government forces and Islamist rebels, witnesses said.
Fierce fighting broke out for the second day running as Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab insurgents reinforced positions following the launch of a government offensive to secure aid routes for drought victims.
“I saw three dead Ugandan soldiers dragged by the residents in Suqaholaha, they wore army dogtags around their neck,” said Osmail Yusuf, a witness.
“Their bodies were brought by the Shebab fighters from the frontline,” he added. There was no immediate confirmation from the AU mission (AMISOM), which has around 9,000 forces from Uganda and Burundi deployed in Mogadishu to protect the embattled Westernbacked transitional federal government.
An AMISOM tank was also destroyed, witnesses said, with both sides exchanging heavy machinegun and artillery fire around Mogadishu’s Ali-Kamin junction, a position government troops had taken on Thursday.
“The government and African Union took control of Ali-Kamin junction yesterday,” said Mohamed Hersi, a resident in the area.
“But they retreated back after the Shabaab sent reinforcements,” he added, confirming that the AMISOM tank was set on fire during the fighting. Both sides claimed victory in the clashes.
“The enemy tried to penetrate our positions but we have beaten them back, the mujahideen fighters killed many of them, and also seized weapons and other military supplies,” Shebab spokesman Sheikh Abdulaziz Abu Musab said. “We destroyed some of their armed vehicles including a tank which is burning,” he told reporters.
Condition of Somali refugees in Kenya worsening
31 Jul – Source: BBC – 627 words
An armed escort is recommended for the last few hours of the dusty drive up to the southern Somali border town of Dobley.
But the only direct challenge we encountered on the rutted track came from a pack of 12 wild dogs that briefly blocked our path, and then lazily chased our small convoy for a few hundred metres.
We had hoped to cross into Somalia from Kenya. The area was recently captured from the Islamist militant group al-Shabab by the western-backed Transitional Federal Government. But the Kenyan authorities at the border – whether because of new security concerns or some local tussle we never found out – refused to let us proceed.
Instead, we drove back to Dadaab – a shabby, blink-and-you’d-miss-it village now surrounded by the vast, resolutely temporary camps that make up the world’s largest refugee settlement. At dawn, the new arrivals gathered outside the UN reception centre. More than 1,200 today – a rate that hasn’t dipped in weeks.
They sat, quietly, in family groups, surrounded by their empty water cans and barely any belongings – tough people, with no sense of entitlement or outrage.
Nineteen-year-old Isha Osman sat alone, breastfeeding the only one of her three children to survive the journey. Her baby looked sick, and staff quickly came from the UN compound to escort her inside.
The scenes and stories of hardship here have been well documented over the past few weeks. All I can add is that little seems to have changed. “No rain, and too much fighting,” was how one woman, holding another feverish child, summed it up.
But one thing is different. The condition of those arriving here is deteriorating, and as the Dadaab camps become even more absurdly overcrowded some children are falling ill yet again, weeks after settling here.
At the International Rescue Committee (IRC) hospital Dr Milhia Kader told me how quick and relatively simple it was to save an acutely malnourished child. Two weeks ago she said four new urgent cases arrived each day. Now that figure has doubled.
“It’s getting worse,” she said. “More children are dying.” The problem isn’t so much a lack of food or money now; it’s more about time and logistics – a scramble to bring in enough medical staff and equipment to cope with the sheer number of new arrivals.
Around us, 28 children – some of them agonisingly thin – shared 15 beds. “Aid should be in Somalia… By the time they’re coming here it is really late. For some it is too late because they’re dying on the way. So I really agree that something should be done in Somalia,” said Dr Milhia.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/
ABC News Continues to Report “A Cry For Help: Disaster in the Desert”
31 Jul- Source: ABC News- 203 words
ABC News’ David Muir has traveled inside the famine stricken country of Somalia to continue reporting
“A Cry for Help: Disaster in the Desert.” Muir is the first American network reporter to travel to Mogadishu, Somalia to report on the worsening humanitarian crisis in Africa.
Muir is traveling with a military convoy as soldiers try to keep Mogadishu safe enough for food and aid to get to those who need it. The UN now says the severity of the crisis in Somalia makes it by far the “most serious food emergency in the world.” It is believed tens of thousands have already died in Somalia and hundreds of thousands are on the verge of starvation.
David Muir will continue to cover this unfolding humanitarian crisis for all ABC News broadcasts and platforms. His first report aired Sunday, July 31 on “This Week with Christiane Amanpour” (Watch). He will also file reports for Sunday’s “World News with David Muir” and will remain on the ground to report from Mogadishu’s hospitals and food distribution centers for “World News with Diane Sawyer” on Monday, August 1.
Last week, Muir was on the ground in Kenya reporting on the refugee crisis for “World News with Diane Sawyer.”
Hamas calls for extending urgent relief material to Somalia
01 Aug- Source: Ahlulbayt News Agency- 129 words
Hamas movement called for extending badly needed relief material to the drought-stricken Horn of Africa in general and Somalia in particular in light of the tragic conditions that befell them. The movement said in a statement on Saturday that it was following up with concern news of the drought in Somalia and other countries in the Horn of Africa, which led to a serious humanitarian tragedy that was affecting the lives of millions of people.
Hamas appealed to the Palestinian, Arab, and Islamic peoples along with the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the charitable societies, and the international organizations to extend immediate help and assistance to the people in Somalia and Horn of Africa, who are threatened with famine and death as a result of this disaster.
http://www.abna.ir/data.asp?
Pope urges action for starving Somalis
01 Aug- Source: .iol.co.za, SAPA, AFP- 660 words
The pope on Sunday urged the world not to be “indifferent” to the Horn of Africa famine, as the African Union prepares to host a donors conference for victims on August 9.
Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the suffering of millions in the region hit by its worst drought in decades in an address to hundreds of pilgrims at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, just outside Rome.
“We must not be indifferent to the tragedy of the hungry and the thirsty,” the pontiff said following the weekly Angelus prayer.
“Many brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa are suffering these days from the dramatic consequences of the famine, aggravated by war and the lack of stable institutions,” he said, calling for “compassion” and “fraternal solidarity”.
The United Nations has declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia but the effects of the drought have been felt more widely across the war-torn country, as well as in parts of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.
“It is an immense task. In this time of holiday, let us not forget to open our hands and our hearts to come to the aid of those who need it,” the pope said.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/
BLOGS/EDITORIAL/CULTURE
Al Shabaab is now clearly a regional threat
31 Jul – Source: the Eastern Africa – 414 words
Al Shabaab, the Al Qaeda-affiliated militant group operating in Somalia, has been breaking new ground, posing an increasing threat to the entire East African region. While the African Union Mission in Somalia, Amisom has managed to push the Shabaab out of major parts of Mogadishu, the group has changed tack and is now recruiting non-Somalis to their cause.
Reports that some Kenyan Members of Parliament and business people were knowingly or unknowingly funding the militia should be taken seriously by the Kenyan security agencies. It was only last week that the US Homeland Security announced that Al Shabaab has recruited more than 40 Muslim-Americans and 20 Canadians.
So far, Kenya and Uganda have borne the brunt of Shabaab attacks, but other countries in the region should now join the fight against this terror group, which has proved that it has the capacity to spread beyond Somali borders.
Al Shabaab also appears to have found a strong ally in Eritrea. There are unsubstantiated reports that Eritrea, with the help of Shabaab, had planned to attack the AU Summit in Ethiopia in January and that the Red Sea state is bankrolling the Somali militia through its embassy in Kenya.
Somalia’s urgent need this Ramadan
01 Aug- Source: the National- 378 words
Ahmedhashim Mawlid Abdi just wanted to save his family from Somalia’s devastating famine. As he attempted to take his family across the border into Kenya, the 40-year-old father of seven was arrested by the Al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab militia and thrown in jail for two days.
Over the next 17 days, his life got even worse. He escaped from the Islamist militants and reunited with his family, only for them all to be attacked by a gang that stole their food and possessions. He watched as his pregnant wife was assaulted, and his 7-year-old died of starvation.
This is both an unconscionable tragedy and – for many of the 2.2 million Somali refugees fleeing Al Shabaab-controlled areas that are inaccessible to aid groups – an all-too-familiar account.
As the holy month of Ramadan begins today, it is essential that Muslims in the UAE and around the world pay heed to these stories. Hundreds of thousands of fellow Muslims are starving in East Africa, today, at this moment.
This urgency has not fallen on deaf ears. The first phase of a UAE relief programme to assist victims was launched on Saturday. Volunteers from the Red Crescent Authority and Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Charity Foundation are setting up tent camps in Mogadishu aimed at housing thousands of people fleeing drought-stricken areas.
But much more needs to be done. One of the five pillars of Islam is performing zakat, and the charitable obligation – and privilege – is all the more pronounced during Ramadan, and during such a crisis.
As The National has reported, some UAE residents have been frustrated in their efforts to make personal contributions to alleviate the suffering in the Horn of Africa. Certainly people should consider channelling their generosity through official organisations like the Red Crescent so that aid can be delivered in an effective manner.
http://www.thenational.ae/
Famine in Somalia: The story you are not likely to hear any time soon
31 Jul – Source: Daily Nation – 427 words
I knew the real story about the famine in northern Kenya and Somalia would probably never be told when I watched a young foreign aid worker “reporting” the famine for CNN in Dadaab camp. The young white woman, clearly coached to use the opportunity of herCNN appearance to publicise her organisation, wore a T-shirt that had the word OXFAM emblazoned on it.
The look of self-righteous, politically-correct compassion was evident on her face as she talked of starving children and emaciated mothers walking for miles in search of food.
Predictably, CNN viewers saw images of skeletal children and exhausted women with shrivelled breasts, images that have launched a multi-million dollar fund-raising campaign by the UN and donor agencies.
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has asked donors to raise $1.6 billion to assist Somalia alone. Meanwhile, dozens of humanitarian agencies are clamouring to make an appearance in Dadaab in order to raise funds for their own organisations. Dutch journalist Linda Polman calls it “The Crisis Caravan”.
In her book by the same name, Polman says that an entire industry has grown around humanitarian aid, “with cavalcades of organisations following the flow of money and competing with each other in one humanitarian territory after another for the biggest achievable share of billions.”
http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/