21 Jul 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- African Union Commission signs a protocol with Chinese Government on support of AMISOM
- Somali president issues urgent appeal for aid as famine hits nation
- Prof. Dalha seeks support for the newly appointed cabinet
- Disabled persons in Mogadishu appeal for aid
- Thousands of Somalis continue fleeing hunger and conflict in Somalia
- Ravaging drought hits areas in Lasqoray district
- US pledges aid for drought-stricken Somali refugees
PRESS STATEMENT
African Union Commission signs a protocol with Chinese Government on support of AMISOM
20 Jul – Source: AMISOM – 129 words
Today, the African Union Commission (AUC) and the People’s Republic of China signed a protocol to the agreement signed on 24 December 2010 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, regarding the provision of further support to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
Under the agreement and the protocol, the People’s Republic of China will provide to AMISOM equipment and material worth of 30 million RMB (equivalent to US $4,526,252 million).
The protocol was signed on behalf of the AU Commission by Mr. El Ghassim Wane, Director of Peace and Security Department, on behalf of the People’s Republic of China by ambassador Gu Xiaojie, China’s ambassador to Ethiopia and Representative to the African Union.
It should be noted that China has provided significant financial contribution to support AMISOM operations.
SOMALI MEDIA
Jerry Rawlings visits Badbado refugee camp in Mogadishu
20 Jul – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan, Radio Mogadishu, and Radio Shabelle – 165 words
African Union Special Representative to Somalia, Jerry Rawlings, on Wednesday visited Badbado refugee camp in Mogadishu, to assess the current conditions of those in the camp, focusing on feeding centers, shelters and health status of children in the camp. Banadir provincial commissioner who is also the mayor of Mogadishu, Mohamud Ahmed Noor (Tarsan), who briefed Mr. Jerry Rawlings on the current situation in Badbado said the camp is a home to over three thousands displaced families from the drought-hit regions of Bay, Bakol, Gedo, Lower Shabelle and Middle Shabelle.
Prof. Dalha seeks support for the newly appointed cabinet
21 Jul – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 179 words
Mohamed Omar Dalha, a member of parliament, on Thursday urged Somalis to support the newly appointed cabinet. In an exclusive interview with Bar-kulan, the legislator said the newly appointed cabinet ministers will face difficulties in executing their constitutionally assigned duties, if they don’t get full support from all the political classes and entire Somali population in the country since they are new to the country’s politics. On security, the legislator said government’s military activities aimed at restoring law and order in Mogadishu and other regions in the country have been hampered by internal squabbling within the ranks of TFG.
Disabled persons in Mogadishu appeal for aid
21 Jul – Source: Shabelle – 124 words
Disabled persons in Mogadishu on Thursday made an appeal for urgent humanitarian assistance. Sheikh Hussein, who is among the disabled people in Mogadishu, told Shabelle Media Network there are 70 families at IDP camps in Mogadishu’s Hodan district where they have no access to aid, health care and a lack of proper hygiene and sanitation.
http://www.shabelle.net/
Al Shabaab establishes new administration called “Kheybar” at KM 13 in Banadir region
21 Jul- Source: Radio Andulus, Somali Memo, Somaliareport- 43 words
Al Shabaab has established a new administration called “Kheybar” at KM 13 on the outskirts of Mogadishu. Sheikh Mohamud Abu Zakariya has been named as the new leader of the newly formed administration.
Ahlu Sunna says it’s too early to comment about the new cabinet
21 Jul – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan, Radio Shabelle – 64 words
Alhu Sunna Wal-jama’s spokesman, Sheikh Abdullahi Sheikh Abdirahman (Al-Qaadi), said it is too early for him to comment about the newly appointed cabinet, saying that he will wait to see what the newly appointed ministers have for the Somali people. Somali Premier Dr. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali on Wednesday night announced his eighteen member cabinet, most of whom are new to the country’s politics.
Thousands of Somalis continue fleeing hunger and conflict in Somalia
21 Jul – Source: BBC Somali Service – 84 words
A Reuter’s correspondent has told the BBC Somali Service that he has seen thousands of Somalis continue fleeing hunger and conflict in their country as they cross into neighboring states. Some of the Somalis walk for hundreds of miles to reach the border town of Liboi. Some of those who survive the ordeal move further to reach Dadaab Refugee Camp, the world’s largest, in northern Kenya. The worst drought-hit areas in Somalia include the Bay and Bakol regions, controlled by the hard-line group, al Shabaab.
Somali pirates fight over Khat in Bari region
21 Jul – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan -109 words
At least three people were seriously wounded in fighting between pirates in Baliga areas of Bari region over Khat (narcotic leaves). Two sea pirates and a civilian who was hit by stray bullet sustained serious injuries during the incident.
Elder accuses Somaliland authorities creating instability in disputed region
20 Jul – Source: Radio Shabelle – 159 words
Traditional elders in (disputed) Sool Region have accused the Somaliland administration of being responsible for the increased insecurity in Las Anod, the provincial capital of Sool Region. Sultan Muhammad Abdullahi, a prominent traditional elder in Sool Region who spoke to Shabelle while in Las Anod accused the Somaliland government of being responsible for the increased insecurity in the region. Sultan Muhammad also accused the TFG officials from Sool, Sanaag and Ceyn regions of turning a blind eye to the plight of the residents of these areas and ignoring the suffering inflicted to them by the Somaliland government.
Ravaging drought hits areas in Lasqoray district
21 Jul – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 161 words
Authorities in Lasqorey district in Sanag region are complaining of the severe drought that has hit the district and other areas in the region. Lasqorey district commissioner, Yussuf Jama Dibad, told Bar-kulan that plans are underway to support drought victims in the area. The area DC urged humanitarian agencies and Puntland authorities to assess the scale of the drought in the area and speed-up possible means of reaching those severely affected by the drought. Pastoralists in the district have started fleeing the area to urban centers in the region in search of humanitarian aid.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Kuwait committed to swift aid of Somalia – Health Minister
20 Jul – Source: Kuwait News Agency – 168 words
Kuwait pledges its commitment to coming to the aid of the people of Somalia at times of distress in the quickest way possible, Health Minister, Hilal Al-Sayer said Wednesday. Kuwait has been a staunch supporter of aiding troubled nations like Somalia under the guidance of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the minister said in a statement.
Some two aid planes carrying 20 tones of food, medicine and tents are set to head out to Somalia in a days’ time, he noted, commending Acting Premier and Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber Al- Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, for his efforts in supervising a direct air route from Abdullah Al- Mubarak Military Airbase to the troubled African nation.
The Kuwait Red Crescent was one of the first organizations to have acted swiftly to the distress calls, he emphasized. And, this aid will continue to arrive until living conditions for the drought victims are improved, he concluded. Kuwait has pledged USD 10 million in aid for the Somali people, who are suffering from malnutrition and famine as a result of the worst drought to have hit the nation in 10 years.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somali president issues urgent appeal for aid as famine hits nation
21 Jul – Source: CNN – 479 words
The Somali president issued an urgent appeal for international aid as his drought-stricken country faces a famine that has left half of the population in dire need. “The situation is very severe. The conditions are very harsh,” President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed told CNN Wednesday during an exclusive interview at his residence in Mogadishu. “We request for the international community to assist the Somalis, those within Somalia and at the borders. We urgently request quick help.”
The United Nations declared a famine in the southern part of the nation and warned that the suffering could rapidly spread without a massive and immediate international response. “Nearly 3.7 million people are now in crisis,” said U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “We need donor support to address current needs and prevent a further deterioration of the crisis.” The crisis in Somalia — a failing state mired in internal conflict and suffering the worst drought in 60 years — has been escalating for months as aid agencies have pleaded for the international community to intervene.
“Several rich governments are guilty of willful neglect as the aid effort to avert catastrophe in East Africa limps along due to an $800 million shortfall,” Oxfam said in a statement Wednesday. Thousands of Somalis have fled the country in search of food and water, trekking for days under scorching sun toward refugee camps in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia.
Others have fled the south to the violence-ridden capital of Mogadishu, where government forces have been battling Al-Shabaab militants for years. The Islamist insurgents with affiliations with al-Qaeda control large portions of Mogadishu and parts of southern and central Somalia. Internal strife in the nation, which has not had an effective government for two decades, has exacerbated drought-caused food shortages and livestock deaths. “Those who made it here (Mogadishu) are the luckiest because many of them died on the road on the way here to get help,” said Abdul Hakim Mahmoud, Chairman of the Nation’s Drought Committee.
Nearly half the people in Somalia are in crisis and roughly $300 million in aid is needed in the next two months, said Mark Bowden, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia. Aid workers call it the worst food crisis since a famine in Ethiopia in the mid-1980s that killed about 1 million people.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/
Ex-Somali PM to be deposed in war crimes suit
20 Jul – Source: Fox News – 970 words
Aziz Deria has waited seven years to confront the former Somali leader he blames for the deaths of his father, brother and thousands of his countrymen. He could have his chance this week. Somalia’s former Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Samatar is scheduled to begin a deposition Thursday in a federal lawsuit accusing him of war crimes. The northern Virginia resident pulled out of previously planned questioning by citing ill health, but a judge has ordered him to cooperate this time unless extraordinary circumstances arise.
His accuser is skeptical of his efforts to avoid the deposition. “This man knows what he has done. He will try to do anything to be away from the court system,” said Deria, a 47-year-old businessman in Bellevue, Wash. In 2004, a human rights group helped Deria and another man sue Samatar under a U.S. law that allows civil action against foreign officials responsible for torture or wrongful killings. They allege Samantar, a one-time top lieutenant to Dictator Siad Barre, committed war crimes against northern Somalia’s Isaaq clan in retribution for what he perceived as efforts to split Somalia in two.
Deria’s father is among those who killed in a crackdown on the clan, the lawsuit alleges. The Barre regime collapsed in 1991, and there hasn’t been a strong national government there since. Samatar was once one of the most important men in Africa, a power broker who used Somalia’s strategic position on the Horn of Africa to gain alternating favor from the United States and the Soviet Union. He served from 1980 to 1986 as defense minister, building one of most formidable armies in sub-Saharan Africa. He served as prime minister from 1986 to 1990.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/
US pledges aid for drought-stricken Somali refugees
20 Jul – Source: VOA – 220 words
With the drought in Somalia officially declared a famine, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, USAID, was in the Dadaab refugee camps of Kenya to pledge American support. But will that support meet the needs? USAID director Rajiv Shah arrived in Kenya Wednesday morning for a day-long visit to refugee camps surrounding Dadaab, in Kenya’s northeast. Dadaab, once a sleepy desert village, now plays host to more than 400,000 refugees, mostly from neighboring Somalia.
The influx of refugees has been near constant since the onset of conflict in Somalia, but has accelerated in recent months due to the extreme drought plaguing much of the region. Shah visited the Ifo camp as many refugees, haggard after the long journey from Somalia, stood outside the gate, waiting for relief. After a tour with U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Scott Gration, Shah praised U.S. efforts, particularly through the Famine Early Warning System, in dealing with the food and water shortages.
“Because we have been collecting the data and taking very aggressive actions since about August and September of last year, we believe those efforts have effectively mitigated some of the challenging consequences of the drought,” said Shah. He also pointed to livestock vaccination programs and past World Food Program assistance as evidence of the United States’ involvement in the east African crisis.