June 18, 2012 | Daily Monitoring Report.
UN facilitated seminar for Women concludes in Mogadishu
18 Jun – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 114 words
A UN facilitated seminar for Women in Benadir region has been concluded on Monday in Mogadishu. The seminar which brought together 37 women participants was aimed at enhancing women participation in politics and their role in deciding the future of the country. It was organised by the Somali Women Affairs Ministry and facilitated by United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS).
Women Affairs Minister, Maryan Aweys, was quoted as saying that women should take advantage of the 30 percent women inclusion they were accorded in the upcoming new government. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Augustine P. Mahiga also urged Somali women to double their efforts towards ending the current political turmoil in the country.
Key Headlines
- KDF goes for al Shabaab’s heart (Standard)
- UN facilitated seminar for women concludes in Mogadishu (Bar-kulan)
- Somali Islamist chief concedes defeat in new audio message (All Puntland/Radio Kulmiye)
- Roadside Bomb in Mogadishu kills Onewounds Three (Shabelle/Jowhar Online/Hiiraan Online)
- Al Shabaab fighters offered amnesty after Afmadow falls (Standard)
- Somali government sets development programs to liberated zones (Radio Mogadishu/SONNA)
- UN: crises in Libya Somalia and elsewhere forced 800000 to flee their countries last year (Washington Post/AP)
- Alleged killers of Mogadishu journalists in custody (Bar-kulan)
SOMALI MEDIA
Somali Islamist chief concedes defeat in new audio message
18 Jun – Source: All Puntland/Radio Kulmiye – 165 words
The leader of al Shabaab, Sheikh Mukhtar Abdirahman Abu Zubayr, said in an audio message that “his fighters have been defeated in the latest military offensives in Somalia”. The leader of al Shabaab, who is also known as Ahmad Godane, said that ”many countries have lined up” in the war against his group. Godane called on al Shabaab fighters ”not to show their back or flee” as he promised ”paradise for anyone killed in defending the religion.”
He said “the world has invaded Somalia using the fighting between Sharif’s government and al Shabaab as a pretext”. He said although they have now been defeated, the ”victory will remain in the hands of the mujahideen.” He also promised for the people to build an Islamic government which he said “it will be the umbrella for all Muslims in the region. He also criticized what he said “as a grave interference by the western aid agencies or governments by bringing expired dated rations to undermine the country’s economic resources and farms, imposing sanctions on money remittances.
Al Shabaab, which is battling the weak Western-backed transitional government, has lately lost control of the capital, Mogadishu, and other key areas in southern and central Somalia . The al Qaeda-linked group is still though the most lethal militia outfit in the country and controls large tracts of lands, including the strategic southern port city of Kismayo.
Roadside Bomb in Mogadishu kills One,wounds Three
18 Jun – Source: Shabelle/Jowhar Online/Hiiraan Online – 111 words
At least One person dead and Two others sustained wounds after a roadside bomb struck a car belonging to a well-known Somali Elder in Mogadishu, witnesses said on Sunday. Elder Mohammed Hassan Haad, the chairman of Huwiya clan elders, confirmed to Shabelle Media that a vehicle carrying his two children was targeted with road side bomb on Sunday night at Hamar-Bile village in Mogadishu’s Wardhigley district.
“My two sons and a girl suffered variety of wounds in the explosion as they were driving a Surf car on Sunday night inside Hamar-Bile neighborhood. They were admitted to a hospital for treatment,” said the Elder, adding that a nearby civilian was killed.
Al Shabaab issues new orders compelling locals in Galgadud region
18 Jun – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 180 words
Al Shabaab militants in Galgadud region have reportedly ordered local traders in El-Garas, El-Lahelay and El-Qohle settlements to contribute material support to their war against the allied forces in the region. An al Shabaab militant leader whose name has not been made public allegedly ordered the local traders to contribute money and other material support to their group’s activities in the region or face the circumstances.
He threatened to punish those who fail to meet their demands. Local traders reportedly condemned the rebel order saying they will not be intimidated by such threats. Some of the local traders who spoke to Bar-kulan on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals vowed to do to all means possible to safeguard their lives and properties from the militant group following the order.
The group’s order comes just four days after it has also compelled local traders in Wajid district, Bakol region, to pay $8,000 in support of their militant activities, giving an ultimatum of two weeks. The cash strapped militia group is known for such actions whenever faced by either military pressure or financial crisis.
Somali government sets development programs to liberated zones
17 Jun – Source: Radio Mogadishu/ SONNA – 106 words
Somali Transitional federal government has revealed that it has launched development programs for the areas liberated from al Qaeda linked group of al Shabaab following an agreement signed by between USAID and the Somali government in Djibouti.
Minister of planning and international co-cooperation of the Somali government, Abdulahi Godah Barre told Radio Mogadishu that they have received assistance from American agency to develop areas freed from al Shabaab.
The minister said that they have named a committee who would set up the policy to implement those projects saying that the locals and representatives of the residences will have last decision since they are beneficiaries.
Alleged killers of Mogadishu journalists in custody
18 Jun – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 170 words
Suspected killers of Mogadishu-based journalists have been arrested in the city and handed over to the national security services (NSS) for further investigations, Benadir regional authority says.
Mohamed Yussuf Osman, spokesman for the regional administration told Bar-kulan that they arrested suspected gangs who have been on the prowl targeting media personalities in Mogadishu whose latest victim is said to be Bar-kulan’s Mogadishu correspondent Mohamed Noor Sharif. Sharif is now nursing gunshot wounds after he was attached in Mogadishu late last month.
Osman said his administration is saddened by the upsurge of organised crimes against journalists in Mogadishu and other regions in the country. He stated that they are awaiting the outcome of the NSS’s investigations into the suspects for further actions.
His sentiment comes a day after media owners and other stakeholders held talks with the regional administration to chat the way forward in tackling attacks against journalists in the war-torn capital. Press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has described Somalia as the deadliest African nation for journalists.
Scholars to review new constitution
17 Jun – Source: Radio Kulmiye – 148 words
Speaking to Kulmiye radio the Deputy Minister of Constitutional Affairs Hassan Mohamed Jima’ale said the constitution process had to be reviewed by the Somali scholars. The constitution is expected to be passed by the selected elders and religious scholars who are reviewing the draft. A meeting is now underway in Mogadishu in which the scholars are now looking onto the draft constitution.
Jima’ale told Kulmiye that after the accomplishment of this constitution, the country should desire its own future and implement reforms before August this year.
UN facilitated seminar for Women concludes in Mogadishu
18 Jun – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 114 words
A UN facilitated seminar for Women in Benadir region has been concluded on Monday in Mogadishu. The seminar which brought together 37 women participants was aimed at enhancing women participation in politics and their role in deciding the future of the country.
It was organised by the Somali Women Affairs Ministry and facilitated by United Nations Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS). Women Affairs Minister, Maryan Aweys, was quoted as saying that women should take advantage of the 30 percent women inclusion they were accorded in the upcoming new government.
The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Somalia, Augustine P. Mahiga also urged Somali women to double their efforts towards ending the current political turmoil in the country.
Puntland Minister of Ports visits Lasqoray
17 Jun – Source: Garowe Online – 149 words
Puntland Minister of Ports and Counter Piracy visited the port town of Lasqoray, after Puntland condemned attacks by Somaliland on the port city, Garowe reports. Minister Saeed Mohamed Ragge who lead a delegation of Ministers and MPs visited the port town of Lasqoray located in Sanaag region and is situated on the Red Sea.
The visit’s main purpose according to Minister Ragge, was to monitor the ongoing project to upgrade the port in Lasqoray. Minister Ragge expressed Puntland’s intentions of conducting more development projects in Lasqoray.
“It is an honor for me to be Lasqoray and I am pleased to announce that attention of the Puntland government has focused on the town of Lasqoray and how we can further it’s development,” said Minister Ragge. The ongoing project was the center of an incident involving Somaliland naval forces who attacked a group of engineers assessing the port earlier this month.
TFG endorses US combat against al Qaeda in Somalia
17 Jun – Source: Radio Mogadishu – 137 words
Minister of Interior Affairs and National Security of the Somali government has Sunday welcomed United States’ counter-terrorism campaign against al Qaeda in Somali aand Yemen that US formally acknowledged.
The White House’s semiannual report to Congress on the state of US combat operations abroad, delivered Friday, mentions what has been widely reported for years but never formally acknowledged by the administration: The US military has been taking “direct action” against members of al Qaeda and affiliates in Yemen and Somalia.
The report does not mention drones, which are remote-controlled, pilot-less aircraft equipped with surveillance cameras and sometimes armed with missiles. Minister of Home Affairs and National Security, Abdisamad Mo’allim Mohamud also indicated that the Somali government would facilitate the way to locate top al Qaeda leaders in Somalia who United States placed bounties on them.
Somalia’s Old Stadium artificial Turf arrives in Mogadishu
16 Jun – Source: Somaliweyn – 177 words
Somali Football Federation has revealed here on Saturday that the artificial turf of the country’s under construction old soccer stadium has arrived in Mogadishu, with the East African Modern Engineering company “EMECO” ending the first preparations of the field. The SFF officials disclosed the arrival of the carpet during a joint press conference by the State minister for sport, SFF president and secretary General at the Stadium Banadir on Saturday Morning.
Secretary General Abdi Qani said Arab told the press conference that the Stadium was being constructed under the FIFA funded WIN IN AFRICA WITH AFRICA project when fighting broke out in the capital just nearly four years ago and as the result the construction work stopped.
“We are very grateful to FIFA for the construction of the stadium and its continued assistance to Somalia—now we have the Carpet here and EMECO officials informed us that the rest of the materials will arrive very soon” SFF secretary General Abdi Qani Said Arab noted during Saturday’s joint press conference with the state minister for Sport Abdullahi Sheik Ali.
Ahlu Sunna to change its strategy on war on al Shabaab
17 Jun – Source: Radio Risaala – 155 words
Ahlu Sunna leaders deny that there is any kind of misunderstanding within the group and confirmed that the group would adopt new strategies on the war against al Shabaab. Colonel Hussein Mohamed Cosoble the treasurer of the Ahlu Sunna group said rebuffed rumours over disagreement within the group, adding that military operations against al Shabaab going on in the regions will be strengthened.
Mohamed Cosoble said that they had changed the tactics they used to use in combating al Shabaab in the region and he promised that the new strategy will be effective. But the colonel declined to answer when asked when these military operations were to start and where in particular.
The statement of the colonel come a time when the ahlu Sunna soldiers had abandoned all the villages which were under their administration leaving them vulnerable to al Shabaab attacks.
Somali pirates clash in Hobyo town
18 Jun – Source: Radio Kulmiye/Shabelle – 103 words
According to initial reports from the town of Hobyo armed groups of pirate have clashed after disagreement between them. At least one died and three others were wounded in the infighting. The reason behind the conflict is not yet known. But residents told radio Kulmiye that pirates have so often disagreed among them over the cash ransom money taken from the foreign Ships.
Pirates live and operate in eastern cities and other Somali coastal towns like Hobyo and Harardhereh, the pirates made the coasts of Somalia and the long Indian Ocean waters one of the world’s worst waters for shipping lanes.
REGIONAL MEDIA
KDF goes for al Shabaab’s heart
18 Jun – Source: Standard – 344 words
Kenya Defence Force now has its sights trained on al Shabaab’s last frontier and lifeline town of Kismayu, Somalia’s third largest town. It could just be days before KDF strikes the heart of the terror cell, having just liberated Afmadow.
Kismayu doubles up as administrative headquarters of Lower Juba, is the main base of al Shabaab and is considered its economic lifeline. The Islamic Courts Union (ICU) took over the town in 2006 but it was overrun by al Shabaab in August 2008.
Intelligence reports indicate that the warlords operating from Kismayu have been forcibly recruiting local youths into the cell and deploying them to fight KDF’s take-over of major towns adjacent to Kismayu.
Poachers funding al Shabaab, reveals KWS
17 Jun – Source: Daily Nation – 468 words
Kenya is losing about two elephants every week to poaching with some of the proceeds said to be used to finance al Shabaab and other criminal groups. The situation is so bad that Kenya Wildlife Service director Julius Kipng’etich recently took the fight to the US Senate.
At an African poaching crisis hearing held on May 25, the US was blamed for its lax rules on shell companies that are allowing foreign nationals to set up vast money-laundering operations that are being used by wildlife traffickers.
Mr Kipng’etich revealed the link between the surging illegal trade in high-value wildlife products and transnational criminal networks that are creating instability and funding militant insurgencies.
“Poached ivory travels through the same channels as drugs and people who are being trafficked. Terrorist organisations like al Shabaab have been linked to poaching in Kenya,” he told the hearing.
Al Shabaab fighters offered amnesty after Afmadow falls
18 Jun – Source: Standard – 359 words
Al Shabaab fighters who fled Afmadow town in Somalia after its capture by Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) have been given an amnesty to surrender. Kenyan soldiers seized the town with the support of officers from The Federal Government of Somalia and the Ras Kamboni Brigade.
The new area District Commissioner Abdihakim Omar Haji revealed that the amnesty had been extended to the militants who are suspected to have retreated to the neighbouring towns after the capture of Afmadow.
“We have given them a window of opportunity to surrender and hand over their arms and they will be integrated into the local community,” Haji told the Press in Afmadow from his office, which was reclaimed from the al Shabaab. KDF after taking over towns, hands it over to local administration picked by the local communities and its role is to set up security structures.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
UN: crises in Libya, Somalia and elsewhere forced 800,000 to flee their countries last year
17 Jun – Source: Washington Post /AP – 456 words
Crises in Libya, Sudan, Somalia and elsewhere prompted 800,000 people to flee their countries last year, the highest number in 11 years, the United Nations’ refugee agency says.
A report issued Monday by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said that, including people who fled their homes but not their countries, the total number of newly displaced people worldwide in 2011 was 4.3 million. The number of new cross-border refugees was the highest since it hit 822,000 in 2000.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“The president of Puntland State argues that to defeat the global threats of piracy, terrorism, and anarchy, the world needs to think locally. If the international community wants to get serious about helping Somalia — and combating the internationally dangerous groups that take refuge here — it must increase support for state governments, such as Puntland, and commit itself to a federalist Somalia”
How To Help Somalia
18 Jun – Source: Foreign Policy – 907 Words
Recent headlines about al Shabaab terrorist bombings in Kenya and the disruption of Somali-originated terror plots in the Netherlands have served to reinforce the conventional view of Somalia as a war-torn country lacking a functioning government and infested with extremists and pirates — the view also expressed by Foreign Policy’s 2012 Failed States Index, which once again ranked it as the world’s most unstable country.
This view is not entirely wrong. But less widely understood is that several regions in Somalia — particularly Puntland State — have functioning governments that have taken concrete steps to address the threats of terrorism, political fragmentation, and piracy that plague the country as a whole. If the international community wants to get serious about helping Somalia — and combating the internationally dangerous groups that take refuge here — it must increase support for state governments, such as Puntland, and commit itself to a federalist Somalia.
“In Somalia, the West is putting the cart before the horse. The first step is decidedly not to build imitations of representative government. Rather, it is to encourage the emergence of monopolies of organized violence at the local level. Even without international support, this is already happening. Somaliland and Puntland are proto-states in Somalia’s north, while the transitional government, in reality if not aspiration, is a proto-state around Mogadishu.”
It’s Lonely Being No. 1
18 Jun – Source: Foreign Policy Blog – 1095 Words
States are at once form and substance, theater and function. Their most fundamental function is power: territorial control through a monopoly on organized violence. And theater, or more politely “ceremony,” generally tries to make such power more acceptable to the masses, thereby turning it into authority. When Christianity spread across medieval Europe, the rulers of what was then little more than a highly violent collection of tribes embraced the practice of being anointed by bishops — and having their legitimacy recognized by the pope — as a fashionable and potent symbol of modernity.
While its trappings have evolved, theater still matters today. In fact, it is critical to saving the failed states of the 21st century, most notably Somalia, the perennial No. 1 on the Failed States Index, where theater is not facilitating stability but getting in its way. Since the mid-20th century there has been a global consensus about what constitutes a modern state: United Nations recognition, a constitution, a head of state, a judiciary, ministries of this and that. The problem with Somalia is not that it lacks these institutions — it has all of the above. But in Somalia they are mere imitations.
“Allow me to hypothesise what comes to the mind of the common ‘man’ when viewing this monument. He gets a cynical impression of other Somali communities. He thinks Somalis hate Hargeisa and its people. And that is why ‘they’ used warplanes to destroy them completely. He does not understand the complex ideology of tyranny and totalitarian regimes. His untrained microprocessor translates information into a language that he understands – tribe and tribalism. That is why they don’t ask why? But instead ask whose tribe? They can’t just get it.”
Why I think Somaliland quest for international ‘recognition’ has hit a dead end
17 Jun – Source: Raxanreeb – 1630 Words
After 21 years of aggressive quest for international‘recognition’ and ‘independence’, Somaliland looks to have changed course. The U-turn of Silanyo’s administration is telling the story. Anecdotal – and not empirical – evidences show that, Silanyo administration have come to terms with diplomatic reality. That is why they have formally embarked on ‘actively’ participating reconciliation conferences held for Somalia.
But what beats me is, what turned president Silanyo‘timid’. Of course, everyone has weaknesses. But “timidity” is a foreign element in his list of weaknesses. He is never known to be a coward. He is among the few Somali politicians who has the guts to speak the truth to power, come hell or high waters. My point? Why is the president refusing to take coward’s way out and commit political suicide to tell the better truth – black and white?
“The point here is that if you have experience of seeing the changing face of a great city like London combined with your personal and emotional commitment, then, there is nothing to stop you from doing your job and hopefully succeeding. And this is what the man, who was once a London council worker has in possession.”
From King’s Cross to Mogadishu: how one man is leading the changing face of our beloved capital city
17 Jun – Source: Hiiraan Online – 1237 Words
I know the cynic and the sceptic will accuse me of having some genealogical or other interest links with the man I am going to write about, a man that Hiiraan.com had already chosen as the person of the year 2011.
From the beginning, let me make it clear: I do not have any business or other political association with Mohamed Nur aka “Tarzan”, the mayor of Mogadishu except a very few brief encounters at some Somali meetings in London.
However and paradoxically I must say I do have some deeper connection with Tarzan that goes beyond tribal or other association! The mayor and I have lived in London almost 20 years although in different parts. We have experienced the changing face of this metropolitan city. We came to this city after the Docklands in the eastern part of London were revived economically by the Thatcher government’s regeneration projects that secured the construction of one of Europe’s financial districts with its sky-scrapers such as the Canary Wharf building, once the highest building in Europe.
“In Somalia, the international community in assisting with establishing this process seems to have, once again, crossed the fine ‘Mogadishu line’ which separates assistance from interference. What comes next is a gamble: will the process of transition deliver? And if so, at what cost for the sovereignty, self-determination and political independence of Somalia?”
Somalia: Ratifying Constitution in Dark Rooms
18 Jun – Source: Raxanreeb – 1054 Words
The peace and reconciliation process in Somalia has entered a critical juncture. A new Constitution, drafted with the help of the United Nations Development Program, is scheduled to be adopted in the next few weeks. Will the new Constitution help deliver peace to a country ravaged by more than two decades of civil war? The optimism of the international community is not shared by Somalis themselves, who instead look with deep skepticism at a document that they perceive as externally-imposed, faulty and fundamentally undemocratic.
To understand this dynamic, one should start by questioning the facts. What is wrong with the new Somali Constitution and why has the adoption of this document been met with resistance by educated Somalis, religious figures, secularists, former Somali Prime Ministers, women, scholars and by Somali Diaspora organizations?
Top tweets
@pedropizano Why #Somalia always tops list of failed states and how “The West” is approaching problem backwards@FP_Magazine http://bit.ly/N8klxo
@studentsrebuild So what, exactly, is happening in #Somalia? We’ve got a handy new infographic that explains the crisis – check it out! http://bit.ly/P6WltO.
@tresthomas_HOA #Kismayo MT @ngigeh: TFG role in South#Somalia is purely symbolic. It has very few troops & far less muscle than #Madobe in eyes of #Kenya.
@Kmohamed Though in prison in The Netherlands, a #Somalipirate has been sending #50 euros(Ksh 5,000) to his family in#Somalia every month.
@tekerebanelim #AMISOM‘s sayin 250 foreign fighters-MANY fm #UK #US-are among #AlShabaab‘s ranks! So, #drones for Washington & London are in order, no? 🙂
Image of the day
Somali president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed covers the grave of Mukhtar Mohamed Hussein, former Somali parliament speaker with soil during his burial in Mogadishu on Friday. Photo: Calanka.com