20 Jul 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- Devastating drought hits areas in Bakol region
- AU delegation holds talks with President Sharif in Mogadishu
- 8000 trained Somali govt forces defect to al Shabaab
- UN wants further security guarantees for Somalia famine relief operation
- Somaliland: Telecommunication companies agree on interconnection
- Oxfam welcomes UN’s move to declare famine in Somalia
- Rawlings visits Mogadishu and calls for urgent aid to Somalia
- Arab League to send aid to Somalia
SOMALI MEDIA
Devastating drought hits areas in Bakol region
20 Jul – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 139 words
A severe drought has been reported in some districts in Bakol region and the worst affected districts are Yed, Rab-dure, El-barde, and other settlements like Ato and Lahelow. Fatuma Sahal, a resident in the region said many people are facing difficulties and most of the livestock are dead. She urged both international and local humanitarian agencies to respond to the crisis in the region to prevent further humanitarian catastrophe in the region.
AU delegation holds talks with President Sharif in Mogadishu
20 Jul – Source: Radio Shabelle, Radio Risala, and Radio Kulmiye – 105 words
The African Union envoy to Somalia, Jerry Rawlings has held separate meetings with the top leaders of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and discussed ways to appoint a strong cabinet. Rawlings, a former Ghanaian president, said “the transitional government is expected to form a strong cabinet that will tackle the country’s insecurity problem”. Rawlings made the remarks during a press conference held in Mogadishu accompanied by President Sharif Sheikh Ahmad.
Al Shabaab confiscates weapons and vehicles in Bay region
20 Jul – Source: Mareeg Online – 94 words
Al Shabaab have reportedly confiscated 20 vehicles and weapons belonging to the Dabare clan, in Diinsoor district.The weapons and the vehicles, which al Shabaab confiscated are said to be owned by one of major clans named Dabare living in Diinsor district of Bay region.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
8000 trained Somali govt forces defect to al Shabaab
20 Jul- Source: Radio Shabelle, Radio Kulimye – 149 words
The USA has said “more than 8,000 trained government forces have defected to al Shabaab”, reports privately-owned Radio Shabelle on 19 July. The USA has funded training programmes for Somali forces and was implemented by the EU countries, particularly France. “Nine thousand soldiers have been trained, however, less than a thousand of these forces are currently under the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, and the rest are believed to have joined al Shabaab,” says the report.
UN wants further security guarantees for Somalia famine relief operation
19 Jul – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 143 words
The United Nations says it needs further safety guarantees from armed groups in Somalia to be able to reach millions Somalis in need of emergency aid because of ravaging drought and conflict in the Horn of African country. The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) says it has distributed aid to 90,000 people in the capital Mogadishu and in southwest Somalia in recent days. But UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards says the United Nations is seeking significantly better access than they have at the moment to address an emergency of scale of the drought in the wartorn country. World Food Program spokeswoman Emilia Casella told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday that U.N. is asking for assurances of security and the ability to have full access to deliver and distribute aid in southern Somalia, from where humanitarian aid agencies were barred from operating over a year ago.
Somaliland: Telecommunication companies agree on interconnection
20 Jul – Source: Somaliland Press – 195 words
Today at a historic signing Somaliland’s Telecommunication Companies signed an agreement to allow interconnection for their consumers. The agreement will allow consumers to call out of network coverage without having to change SIM card or phone number. In the past each Somaliland’s telecommunication operators offered services to their own customers on their own network with no interconnection to different operator. The event at the Mansoor Hotel Somaliland’s Vice President Abdirahman Ismail Ali (Saylici) said this is a historic moment for the country; clients will no longer have to carry with them several phones or SIM Cards so that they can communicate with others. The Vice President went on to say today’s five company signings will reduce the frustration that the consumers have had with the country’s telecommunication companies which were seen as not consumer friendly.
http://somalilandpress.com/
Mary Robinson returns to Somalia 19 years later
19 Jul – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 106 words
Former President and UN High Commissioner Mary Robinson on Tuesday is traveling to Somalia for the first time since her 1992 visit brought famine and war there to worldwide attention. Before crossing from Kenya into Somalia, Mrs. Robinson told RTÉ News that she was extremely concerned about the growing seriousness of famine in the Somalia, saying world leaders needed to take greater action to ease the crisis in the country. The United Nations is expected to declare officially tomorrow that there is a famine in parts of Somalia. The former President and UN High Commissioner Mary Robinson is returning to Somalia almost after two decades with representatives of humanitarian aid agencies like Troc�¡ire, Concern and Oxfam Ireland.
Oxfam welcomes UN’s move to declare famine in Somalia
20 Jul – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 195 words
An International Humanitarian Agency, Oxfam, has praised the United Nations’ decision to declare famine in parts of southern Somalia, where over three million people have been affected by a prolonged drought.
An official with Oxfam, Barry Coates, said there is no much time to waste before declaring famine in southern Somalia, saying that the world has been turning away from the crisis in Somalia and called for an immediate response to the crisis. A top official with the United Nations said people in some regions of Somalia are at risk of starving to death due to the scale of the drought in the country. Earlier, the Somali president has officially declared famine in Somalia and called for a major international aid initiative to save lives and avert the impending disaster facing Somalia. Somalia’s current drought situation is appalling, with people dying of starvation due to the high magnitude of the drought after experiencing several years of successive rainfall failures and the concomitants rapid erosion of assets and livelihoods, rendering people in Somalia to suffer from water shortages and declining access to food that forced local population to flee to refugee camps in the neighboring countries.
REGIONAL MEDIA
AMISOM helps fight measles in Somali camp
19 Jul – Source: New Vision – 345 words
Ugandan and Burundi peacekeepers in Somalia have been deployed to control an outbreak of measles at a camp for Somalis displaced by drought. The camp sprung up in the last two weeks next to the Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu. It is estimated to hold 700 people though the number keeps increasing everyday. Many, particularly children, show signs of severe malnutrition and say they have walked for up to five days in search for food. Somalia is enduring its worst drought in half a century. About three million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.
http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/
Rawlings visits Mogadishu and calls for urgent aid to Somalia
20 Jul – Source: Citifm – 305 words
On a visit to Mogadishu, Somalia, AU’s High Representative for Somalia, former Ghanaian President Jerry Rawlings has appealed to the international community to come to the aid of the country’s people as they face the world’s worst famine in decades. Speaking to the press following talks with President Sheikh Ahmed Sheikh Sharif, Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali and Speaker of Parliament, Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, President Rawlings said he was there to see for himself the humanitarian situation in Mogadishu with a view to briefing Heads of State on the continent and across the world. He expressed solidarity with the people of Somalia saying: “We face an imminent difficulty that will cost too many lives.”
He appealed to the international community to “demonstrate compassion for Somalia” adding that its people should not be viewed through the prism of the country’s long conflict. “Prejudice or fatigue on account of the last twenty years would only serve as deterrents or impediment to the delivery of help. We must instead see the millions of men, women and children who are the innocent victims of this situation,” he said. He expressed his conviction that the world would not abandon Somalia in this time of need. President Rawlings also commended Somali factions who had hitherto blocked humanitarian aid to their areas of control for opening up those areas for aid and supplies.
http://citifmonline.com/index.
Arab League to send aid to Somalia
19 Jul – Source: Ahram Online – 144 words
The Arab League News Face book page published a statement by the League making an urgent call for all Arab states, specialized organizations, Red Crescent societies and civil society organizations to make their resources available to rescue the Somali people from their plight following a severe drought that hit Somalia this summer.The League also stressed the importance of aiding those displaced or taking refuge as a result of the disaster. The page mentioned that Arab League Secretary-General Nabil El-Arabi had assigned immediate funds from the treasury of the secretariat to distribute medical and food aid to the affected Somalis in the following days.
El-Arabi said that two Arab League delegations in Mogadishu and Nairobi – coordinated with international organizations – will oversee the distribution of aid. He implored all the Somali actors concerned to facilitate the passage of humanitarian aid to those needing it without hindrance.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
U.N. urges action as it declares famine in southern Somalia
20 Jul – Source: CNN – 302 words
The United Nations on Wednesday declared a famine in parts of southern Somalia amid the worst drought in 60 years, which has sent thousands walking for days to neighboring countries in search of food. About 5,000 Somalis have been fleeing weekly in scorching temperatures to refugee camps in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia.
“Nearly half of the Somali populations — 3.7 million people — are now in crisis, of which an estimated 2.8 million people are in the south,” said Mark Bowden, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia. The United Nations declared a famine in southern Bakol and Lower Shabelle.
Severe drought, crop failure, livestock deaths, soaring food prices and conflict have forced millions of people in several east Africa nations to flee their homes. In all, more than 10 million people are affected in n Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda and Somalia, with the latter mostly affected, according to the United Nations.
Conflict in Somalia is adding to the problem as government forces battle militants in the capital of Mogadishu. The nation has not had an effective government for two decades. “If we don’t act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia within two months, due to poor harvests and infectious disease outbreaks,” Bowden said.
Earlier this month, the al Shabaab pledged to allow aid groups access to areas under its control. The al Qaeda proxy banned foreign aid groups from operating in the country in 2009, accusing them of being anti-Muslim. United Nations officials airlifted emergency supplies to the south last week after the Islamist rebels pledged to lift the ban. The south is home to about 80% of the nation’s malnourished children, the United Nations Children’s Fund said. Aid groups declare a famine based on data from the food security and nutrition analysis unit, which uses factors such as food prices, weather conditions and malnutrition rates.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/
Somali militants recruit children, rights group says
20 Jul – Source: BBC, AFP, Bloomberg and Canada Views – 271 words
Amnesty International has said children in Somalia are being systematically recruited as soldiers by armed groups. It says most child soldiers are used by the Islamist group al-Shabaab, but says the transitional government also has children in its ranks. The conflict between the army and extremists is one of the reasons given by Somalis who have fled their country, in addition to the deepening drought. Parts of Somalia are to be declared a famine due to the worsening situation.
More than 10m people in east Africa have been affected by the crisis so far, despite an emergency appeal by aid organizations. ‘Flogging’ Drawing on interviews from over 200 Somalis who have left the country, Amnesty International says the recruitment of children into armed groups is rife. The majority of the children are aged between 10 and 17 but some are as young as eight. It says the methods used by the Islamist extremist group al-Shabaab range from luring children with promises of mobile phones and money to abductions and raids on schools.
The report says children have been used on the frontline to fight, but also in other roles such as flogging women and girls to force them to follow al-Shabaab’s strict rules regarding dress. The humanitarian emergency is particularly acute in the areas controlled by al-Shabaab, and Amnesty says this has made children even more vulnerable to being recruited into the groups, as they and their families take desperate measures to feed themselves. The report argues that the failure to tackle such violations of international law affecting large numbers of children and young people in Somalia contrasts sharply with the resources devoted to the fight against piracy off the country’s coastline.