June 15, 2012 | Daily Monitoring Report.

Main Story

Somaliland Government Appoints a broad-based national committee for Talks with Somalia

15 Jun – Source: Somaliland Press/Jowhar Online – 150 words

Somaliland government has nominated a inclusive and broad-based national committee to prepare and lay down guidelines for the upcoming negotiation meetings between Somaliland and Somalia, this was revealed by Somaliland Minister of Information and government spokesperson Abdirahman Yusuf Duale “Boobe”.

The London conference provided a unique opportunity for Somaliland to present its case in front of an international forum and the final outcome was the unprecedented distinction between Somalia and Somaliland. it is high time for TFG Prime Minister to clearly acknowledge that Somaliland is not part of the Somalia chaos and the road map intended to solve it, said Hon. Boobe.

Hon. Boobe also urged the TFG Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas, to abstain from his continued insinuations that the main agenda of the proposed talks with Somalia was reconciliation”, let him be informed that times have changed and nobody can be forced into reunification or any union.

Key Headlines

The National Security Council convened a meeting in Mogadishu (TFG)
Somaliland Government Appoints a broad-based national committee for Talks with Somalia (Somaliland Press/Jowhar Online)
Deputy AU Special Representative expresses his condolences for the death of Sheikh former Speaker of Somalia Parliament (AMISOM)
Militants defecting to Somali side after losses (AP)
The Transition Initiative for Stabilization meeting kicks off in Djibouti (Office of the PM)
Somalia’s interior minister visits central Somalia (Shabelle/Mareeg Online/Hiiraan Online/Radio Risaala/Jowhar Online)
Al Shabaab pushed back in Somalia by African peace enforcers (Guardian)
First Athletic in night time for peace in 21 years held in Mogadishu last night (Radio Kulmiye)
Local journalists released in central Somalia (Raxanreeb)
Sh83bn for defence to bolster war on terror (Daily Nation)
Local journalists released in central Somalia (Shabelle)

PRESS RELEASE

Deputy AU Special Representative expresses his condolences for the death of Sheikh former Speaker of Somalia Parliament

15 Jun – Source: AMISOM – 93 words

The AU Deputy Special Representative for Somalia, Honorable Wafula Waminyiyi has expressed his profound sadness over the death of Mr. Sheikh Mukhtar Mohamed Hussein, who once served as Speaker of the Somalia Parliament.

He said; “On behalf of the entire leadership of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and on my own behalf, I wish to express and convey heartfelt condolences, deep sorrow and sympathy to the bereaved family, friends, the TFG and the people of Somalia during this period of mourning. May the Almighty God rest his soul in eternal peace.

The National Security Council convened a meeting in Mogadishu

14 Jun – Source: TFG – 217 words

The members of the National Security Council convened a meeting today at the State House to discuss about security situation of the country. The meeting was chaired by the President of the Transitional Federal Government, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who briefed cabinet ministers about his recent visit to the newly liberated territories in Afgoi.

During his visit, President Ahmed met with the local community leaders and senior military officials who welcomed him in the great town of Afgoi. The local elders expressed their appreciation to the government’s efforts to liberate the region from the remnants of al Shabaab, a terrorist group that affiliate with al Qaeda. The President praised the sacrifices of the Somali armed forces as well as the support of African Union troops.

The Council discussed about several issues, including maintaining the security of the strategic town of Afgoi and its environs. President Ahmed pointed out the need of improving the security of the country by scaling up the military operations and defeating the terror groups.

The Council adopted three committees that will lead on three sectors, including the security, the administration and the social services in the areas to be liberated in the next few weeks. The President called for partnership with the locals to make sure they are empowered against al Shabaab and its al Qaeda affiliates.

The Transition Initiative for Stabilization meeting kicks off in Djibouti

14 Jun – Source: Office of the Prime Minister – 481 words

The Transition Initiative for Stabilization (TIS) meeting for Somalia has yesterday started at Hotel Kempinsk in Djibouti which is expected to last for four days. The meeting was organised by the transitional federal government of Somalia and in particular the National steering committee. The meeting was aided and supported by the USAID.

The participants of the meeting included traditional elders, intellects, and civil society groups from five towns like Baidoa, Beledweyn, Matabaan, Maxaas and Adaado. The civil society groups’ representative are expected to report and submit the needs, interests and the grievances in their respective areas. The needs may include water, schools, medical health, infrastructure and other public services.

Each representative from every town will present the special needs and wants before the meeting participants. USAID will, after the meeting, allocate funds to be used in the various towns for quick-impact development. The mayor of Hiiraan regions Abdifatah Hassan Afrah who addressed the attendees said that the town are in dire need of reconstruction and social services adding that there has been no tangible reconstruction since the fall of the central government of Somalia.

“The development projects will benefit Hiiraan regions which has become the hub for the TFG’s operations of the TIS. Areas such as Beledweyn, Matabaan and Maxaas will benefit from the five-year plan offered by USAID. We will present our social needs such as medical care, education and water, necessities which have become extinct for the last 20 years.” Abditafah Hassan Afrah said.

Halima Ismail, the head of the civil society groups, said that the meeting is part of the transitional initiatives for stabilization in the regions in which a committee comprising of ministers were assigned to see it through. The TIS have previously proved successful in Somaliland, Puntland and Mogadishu.

“The communication is now bottom up where the individuals concerned have a say in their affairs and what they need to be done for them. The initiatives have been started at the grass root level and the representatives will table the needs of their people. These are the efforts of the TFG aimed at elevating the social status of the people in Baidoa, Adaado and the Hiiraan region.” Halima said.

Baidoa administrator Hassan Maalim Ahmed Biikole said that the situations in Bay have been improving since the government soldiers and neighbouring forces took over the control. Biikoole added that reviving the basic services of the region is the most pressing issue. The meeting will be beneficial to the leaders and the civil society representatives drawn from the five towns and USAID will directly fund the projects without intermediaries.

The Prime Minister of Somalia is attaching special importance to areas recently captured from al Shabab in bid to provide public service and bring about peace and reconciliation among hostile communities. The premier formed a special committee to specifically deal with the healing and reconciliation process, the National Steering Committee.

SOMALI MEDIA

Somalia’s interior minister visits central Somalia

15 Jun – Source: Shabelle/Mareeg Online/Hiiraan Online/Radio Risaala/Jowhar Online – 135 words

A high-level delegation led by the Minister of Interior for Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG), Abdisamad Mo’allin Mohamud, arrived on Thursday in central Somalia.

The minister and his accompanying delegation with especial plane took off from Mogadishu landed at an airstrip in Beledweyne town, just 350 kilometers, North West Somali capital, where he held talks with local elders and the officials of Hiiraan regional administration.

Ahmed Osman, a TFG official in the region told Shabelle Media by phone that propose of the visit was to talk with the local authority for establishing full security and setting up an unanimous administration. Afterwards, the Interior Minister of Somalia Abdisamad Mo’allin Mohamud, and delegation met with the people of Beledweyne, including the elders and officials, urging to sustain the security and work each other to protect peace spoilers.

First Athletic in night time for peace in 21 years held in Mogadishu last night

15 Jun – Source: Radio Kulmiye – 162 words

Somali runners rounded in Mogadishu’s besieged streets specially the highways which links from the airport to the statehouse. This competition was a testing mood for Mogadishu’s developing stability after almost several months when the city was snacked away by the daily bombardments and fighting in the residential buildings for years according to government officials.

Members of the Somali’s transitional federal government (TFG) and other residents took part in the evening competition of running Athletic in the streets with lights being flogged alongside the roads in the capital city.

Mohamed Mohmud Nur Tarsan the mayor of the capital of Mogadishu and other officials have joyfully joined the event to monitor and see how these Athletics are going on inside Mogadishu’s streets, There were cheerful crowds watching the runners lined up in the streets. It is the firt time to see such competitions in nighttime across southern Somalia since the collapse of former military regime led by Mohamed Siad Bareh in 1991.

Local journalists released in central Somalia

14 Jun – Source: Raxanreeb – 237 words

The two journalists arrested in the Somalia’s central town of Dhusomareb two days ago were illegally sentenced to three months jail by the Sufi militia run local court and submitted to the central prison in the town but later released with the help of The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) on Thursday.

But after many contacts with the Sufi Ahlu-Sunna rulers in Dhusomareb, the NUSOJ officials succeeded to convince the court judge the charge against the journalists was baseless and they were released on Wednesday at 06:00 PM local time. The journalists were sued with false charges, accusing them of a news coverage describing the Ahlu-Sunna fighters as clan based militia but that case lacked any evidence.

The executive chairman of Ahlu-Sunna Sheik Ibraahim told NUSOJ he will intervene the case and correct the faults within the administration. Ibrahim has opologized over the journalists’ arrests and pledged for NUSOJ that this won’t happen and those who were behind it will be brought before justice.

Displaced families arrive Guri’el town

15 Jun – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 158 words

At least 54 families who have fled their homes in El-bur and Wabho towns of Galgadud region have reached Guri’el town to escape rebel brutality. Locals who spoke to Bar-kulan alleged that they fled their homes after Al-Shabaab militants who recently gained control of these towns subjected them to torture, beheading and robbery.

Others said they fled the homes after several of their relatives were killed by the militants, forcing them to leave behind their property and escape what they called rebel brutality. The Ahlu Sunna administration in the region claimed that it has distributed humanitarian aid to the displayed families.

The group’s executive committee chairman Mohamed Yussuf Hefow told Bar-kulan that most of the displaced people used to well off while in their hometowns and such handouts cannot be enough to meet their needs.

Al Shabaab attacks Somali, Ethiopians forces in Yurkud

15 Jun – Source: Shabelle – 129 words

A witness says al Shabaab fighters have launched an attack on Somali and Ethiopian troops in Yurkut village which locates near the border between Bay and Gedo regions of southwestern Somalia.

The fighting broke out when al Shabaab fighters armed with heavy and small weapons ambushed a convoy of vehicles carrying Somali and Ethiopian forces in Yurkud village, sparking face-to-face confrontation. Residents in the two nearest villages say they heard explosions and gun fire which they believe to be an indication of heavy fighting erupted in Yurkud on Thursday afternoon.

“The fighting is now over and (the al Shabaab) have been heavily repelled during the attack and many of their fighters were killed by the coalition forces,” said Isac Gees-dheer, ASWJ official who gave an interview to Shabelle Media.

Somaliland Government Appoints a broad-based national committee for Talks with Somalia

15 Jun – Source: Somaliland Press/Jowhar Online – 150 words

REGIONAL MEDIA

‘Share out’ refugees, urges relief agency

15 Jun – Source: Daily Nation – 439 words

A relief agency has called on more countries to ‘share-out’ Somalia refugees to avoid overcrowding at the Dadaab refugee camp in northern Kenya. The Doctors without Borders (MSF) Thursday warned that the camp is already overstretched and can no longer admit any more refugees.

Dr Elena Velilla, the Country Representative for MSF in Kenya, said the current system of expanding camps to accommodate more refugees has failed and could lead to another humanitarian crisis as witnessed in 2011.

“Even though people are fed, Dadaab is no longer a refuge. It is clear the current model of the camps is not working,” she said. “How many more nutritional crises or measles epidemics will it take before we start looking for a solution?”

On Wednesday, MSF, which runs a 350-bed hospital at the camp, published a statement ‘Dadaab: The Shadows of Lives’ in which the organisation argued for a new solution to the escalating number of refugees.

Sh83bn for defence to bolster war on terror

14 Jun – Source: Daily Nation – 311 words

Defence and national security intelligence have been allocated Sh83.5 billion signalling a commitment to intensify the war against al Qaeda-linked Somali terror group al Shabaab. The new defence and intelligence budget has shot up by Sh26.1 billion from Sh58.4 billion in 2011/2012.

Estimates show the budget for the Ministry of State for Defence is Sh70 billion, meaning the balance of Sh13.5 billion is for gathering intelligence. Finance Minister Robinson Githae justified the huge defence budget saying security, effective enforcement of law and order and protection of property are crucial for stability, accelerated growth and employment.

“For this reason, I have enhanced the budget allocation for national security from Sh58 billion in 2011/12 to Sh83.5 billion in 2012/13,” he said. Supplementary estimates submitted to Parliament in April showed that the Treasury was seeking an additional Sh12.5 billion “to meet increasing administration and planning expenses of the Kenya Defence Forces”, directly linking the item to al Shabaab war.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Militants defecting to Somali side after losses

15 Jun – Source: AP – 130 words

Somalia’s government spokesman says some 500 al Shabaab fighters have left the group and joined the government in a sign of disarray among the Islamist group’s ranks. Abdirahman Omar Osman said Thursday that defections have been increasing since African Union and Somali troops captured the militant-held town of Afgoye outside Mogadishu last month.
Abshir Ali Mohamed left al Shabaab this month. He believes the conservative militant movement will soon end. He said the group is suffering heavy losses.

African forces have been battling al Shabaab on three sides for the last several months. Kenyan forces are expected to attack the al Shabaab-held port town of Kismayo in coming weeks. Kismayo is the last major stronghold al Shabaab still controls. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga promised this week that Kenyan troops would take Kismayo by August.

Al Shabaab pushed back in Somalia by African peace enforcers

15 Jun – Source: Guardian – 1162 words

Soldiers from the UN-backed AMISOM force are edging towards the Islamist militants’ stronghold of Kismayo. Colonel Kayanja Muhanga is describing his troops’ latest victory when suddenly there is a rattle of machine-gun fire somewhere beyond the fortified base set among thorn trees and cacti. “That’s about three kilometres away,” the Ugandan commander says. “Mop-up operations. We know where they are.”

“They” are al Shabaab, the Islamist militia allied with al Qaeda who are in retreat. Having surrendered the capital, Mogadishu, last August, they were recently pushed out of Afgoye, a town 30 miles away, by a force of African peacekeepers aided by Somali troops.

Ethiopian forces have also driven them out of the southern city of Baidoa, and Kenyan troops, now part of the AMISOM peacekeeping force, are edging towards their stronghold in the port of Kismayo. AMISOM commanders, Somali government officials, and residents of Mogadishu say al Shabaab, which means “the youth”, is on its last legs. Its forces are scattered and weak, deprived of income and losing fighters.

French court convicts 4 in piracy trial, acquits 2

15 Jun – Source: AP – 116 words

A Paris court has convicted four Somalis in a 2008 attack on a French luxury vessel and acquitted two others. Sentences handed down late Thursday for the attack on the Ponant in the Gulf of Aden ranged from four to 10 years. The 10-year prison term went to the only man who admitted he was a pirate, 31-year-old Ismael Ali Samatar.

Two other Somalis who said they boarded the boat received seven-year prison terms. The driver of a pick-up truck used to flee was given a four-year term for complicity. The 30 people on the Ponant were freed after its owner paid a ransom of $2.15 million. The French army arrested the six on Somali territory.

Nice beaches and good shopping

15 Jun – Source: Economist – 235 words
DESPITE the obvious risks, Badel Sheikh Mohamed is buying glass windows to replace the metal shutters on his print shop, Sign Jet, near the central K4 roundabout. It is a small act of faith in the future of the war-torn Somali capital that would have been unthinkable until recently. Inside, the printers are busier than ever before, turning out colourful hoardings to advertise new enterprises.

Shopkeepers, restaurant owners, travel agents and remittance brokers are his best customers, many returning from abroad after decades in exile. Existing businesses have started to replace handwritten signs with laser-printed ones. “A year ago there was nothing opening,” Mr Sheikh Mohamed says, before warning against taking progress for granted in a city where war has long been the norm. “We think it will be peace and better than peace, but there’s no guarantee.”

Heavy bombing was always rare in Mogadishu but small-arms fire incessantly chiselled away at the city after the 1991 collapse of the central government under Mohamed Siad Barre, a socialist strongman. The destruction of buildings and roads is pretty comprehensive. And yet hope survived.

It is ten months since Islamic militants, called the Shabab, withdrew their forces from the seaside capital in what they called a “tactical” retreat. In reality, they were chased out by an African Union force that has continued to push the al Qaeda-affiliated group farther away from Mogadishu.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“For nearly two decades, a small United Nations body has managed Somalia’s airspace without Somali involvement and international oversight. Sources close to that office reveal that an internal report documented its 19 years of mismanagement, financial opacity and failure in mandate fulfilment that has bewildered the United Nations civil aviation authority.”

Somalia Must Reclaim Control Over Airspace and Waters – UN May Owe Millions in Unaccounted for Air Navigation Charges

14 Jun – Source: African Arguments – 957 Words

In 1993 the United Nations Developments Program (UNDP) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) jointly established a Technical Assistance Project to provide basic services to air transport operations through and within the airspace of Somalia. Upon its evacuation from Somalia in 1995, a temporary operational station was established in Nairobi. In May 1996, ICAO launched a Civil Aviation Caretaker Authority for Somalia (CACAS) to manage the country’s airspace and provide basic aviation services. Seven years later in December 2003, another body replaced CACAS but with little substantive difference in its mandate or its shortcomings.

Beyond providing air traffic services to flights within and through the airspace of Somalia, these successive United Nations bodies failed in the fulfilment of the rest of their mandate: i) provision of technical and operational assistance at designated airports and to local administrations in Somalia; ii) establishment and operation of a nucleus civil aviation administration for the functioning of CACAS; iii) formulation and implementation of training program for national personnel; and iv) formulation of procedures and draft regulations required for the operation and maintenance of civil aviation activities.

“One of the best pieces of advice I have ever had about reporting was given to me by my first boss at the BBC, the legendary editor of the Focus on Africa radio programme, Robin White. As he sent me off on my first trip to Somalia, he said, “Do not decide on the story before you get there. Wipe away your preconceptions. When you arrive, open your eyes and ears, and tell us what you see and what you hear. That will be the story.””

Reporting Somalia

14 Jun – Source: CIHA Blog – 1101 Words

Whenever I come back from a reporting trip to Somalia, people ask me if I was scared, if I was shot at, if I came across any pirates, starving people or terrorists. They assume I have been in great danger and that I have seen terrible things. They think either I am battle-hardened and brave, or that there is something deeply wrong with me for wanting to go to such a place and to try to tell its story.

They look a bit disappointed when I tell them there wasn’t any shooting on the day I visited Mogadishu, that the pirate I met appeared gentle and civilized, and that I feel safer in the Somali city of Hargeisa than in almost any other part of Africa, or Europe for that matter.

Top tweets

@sbullen100 #Mogadishu #Somalia gets first solar street lights! http://bit.ly/KxpYqn Why aren’t these everywhere?

‏@SomWarMonitor interesting case #Eritrean travelled from#Sweden to join #alShabab in #Somalia to be then arrested in#Nigeria http://bbc.in/LGaUmX.

‏@UnniKarunakara Women, children and elderly continue to arrive in #Dadaab, but it is not longer safe for them. #Somalia #MSF http://bit.ly/Mth5eN.

‏@soobaxblog Meet Chris Mullaly, an ordinary man, doing the extraordinary for children in #Somalia @soobaxblog:http://tmblr.co/ZtAi0xNOLQ0P.

@Sojeede The population in Mogadishu has grown from 1.5 million to 2.5 million residents in one year, #Somalia #Mogadishu http://bit.ly/NAxjF2.

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Image of the day

Image of the day For the first time solar-powered street lights have been switched on in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu in a ceremony officiated by the Mayor. Photo: Radio Mogadishu