June 21, 2012 | Daily Monitoring Report.
2 South Africans freed from Somali pirates
21 Jun – Source: AP – 93 words
Somalia’s defense minister says that two South Africans who were taken by Somali pirates in late 2010 have been freed. Defense Minister Hussein Arab Isse told a news conference in Mogadishu Thursday that Deborah Calitz and Bruno Pelizzari have been released. The two were at the presidential palace in Somalia’s capital.
The two were captured in late 2010 from a yacht off the coast of Tanzania. The pirates originally demanded a ransom of $10 million. The South Africans’ 20-month captivity is among the longest periods hostages have been held by pirates in Somalia.
Key Headlines
- Somali PM gives details of the roadmap talks in Nairobi (Radio Bar-kulan)
- 2 South Africans freed from Somali pirates (AP)
- AU Special Representative concerned with living conditions in IDP camps (AMISOM)
- Acting Premier Receives High Delegates from France (Radio Mogadishu)
- Somalis ask aid agencies to resume (Standard Digital News)
- Local IDPs in Galka’yo camps complain of aid corruption (Shabelle)
- USAID funds $1 million projects in Somaliland (Somaliand Press)
PRESS RELEASE
AU Special Representative concerned with living conditions in IDP camps
20 Jun – Source: AMISOM – 244 words
On the occasion of the World Refugee Day today, the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (SRCC) for Somalia Ambassador Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra has expressed his deepest concern at the pathetic conditions in which Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) are living.
Ambassador Diarra noted with regret that Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Somalia continue to live in very congested centres with poor sanitation and sometimes without access to clean drinking water which he said has been a cause of many diseases within the camps.
The AU Special Representative called on aid agencies and other stakeholders to intensify their efforts to alleviate the suffering of IDPs by providing at least the most basic services of food , shelter and clothing to those in need. He said; Â With the security situation in Mogadishu and the surrounding districts improving, I wish to appeal to humanitarian organizations to scale up their operations and reach as many displaced persons as possible with the much needed humanitarian assistance.Â
The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has helped the Somali National Army (SNA) to liberate Mogadishu and other districts outside the capital thereby ensuring safe corridors for humanitarian agencies to access those in need.
He said; Â By liberating as many areas as we have done recently, we are fulfilling our mandate of securing humanitarian corridors to allow for the delivery of assistance to Internally Displaced Persons and I wish to ask aid agencies to seize this opportunity.Â
SOMALI MEDIA
Somali PM gives details of the roadmap talks in Nairobi
21 Jun – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 175 words
Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali has given more details of the ongoing roadmap talks in Nairobi. The PM said the talks are follow up of all agreements made during the recent Addis Ababa meeting by the signatories of the roadmap in order to facilitate the end of the transition period.
Key points among the agreements were a series of deadlines in order to build relevant institutions like the arbitration committee, the team resolution committee and the 135 elders committee in order to review and adopt the new constitution.
Ali said the participants are also discussing the setbacks they face in implementing the roadmap including the establishment of arbitration board that should have handled any disputes that may arise among elders and other key points agreed during the Addis Ababa meeting last month.
The PM added that the international community assured them that they will pay the funds they pledged in order to facilitate the process. The two-day meeting which kicked off in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday is set to be concluded later today.
Acting Premier Receives High Delegates from France
20 Jun – Source: Radio Mogadishu/OPM – 239 words
The deputy Prime Minister of Somalia Hussein Arab who is also the minister for defence received Mrs. Elizabeth Barbier, the France Ambassador to Kenyan and the representative of France government to African affairs in Mogadishu where they discussed the improving security and political issue as well as the two countries relations. Present in the meeting was the commander of the Somali armed forces General Abdikadir Ali Diini.
In a joint press conference, Mr. Arab said the French delegation came on a monitoring visit adding that it was not first time for Mrs. Elizabeth to visit Mogadishu. “Mr Elizabeth came to Mogadishu in 2008. Mogadishu was different then. Significant security strides have been made. The city is rekindling, a fact which stunned Mrs. Elizabeth. There is heavy traffic jam and frenzy of activities. This is clear indication of how security has improved,” Arab said.
The two leaders discussed political achievements, the security issues, the roadmap and the ending of the transitional period of the government. On her part, Mrs. Elizabeth expressed her happiness in coming to Mogadishu. She stated that her discussions with the Somali officials mainly concerned security, political issues, and economic aspects and to support the peace process enshrined in the roadmap. Mrs. Elizabeth thanked the government for welcoming her to Mogadishu adding that she brought with her a goodwill message from the French government.
Local IDPs in Galka’yo camps complain of aid corruption
21 Jun – Source: Shabelle – 156 words
The internal displaced people (IDPs) living in makeshift camps in Somalia’s central town of Galka’yo, accused Galmudug state of diverting the international humanitarian aid intended for them. The IDPs lay their blame on some Galmudug state officials, namely Aweys Ali Sa’eed, the deputy governor of Mudug region and Ahmed Mohamud Hassan better known as (Basto), the Deputy Interior Minister of Galmudug. These officials have been accused of diverting and mismanagement of the aid meant for the IDPs in Galka’yo town. “The IDPs are complaining of widespread humanitarian aid corruption and expressed greater concern over the actions of the Galmudug authorities,” a displaced person complained on condition of anonymity.
USAID funds $1 million projects in Somaliland
21 Jun – Source: Somaliland Press – 208 words
USAID announced over $1 million in grants to thirteen businesses, nonprofits, and institutions in Djibouti’s southern neighbour, Somaliland, this week. The grants were provided through the Partnership Fund Grants Program which was implemented by Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI).
The initiative launched in December 2011, called on potential Somali Entrepreneurs to produce concept papers at core of sustainable business initiatives. The program specifically aimed to emphasize and strengthen partnership with the Somali private sector to create the wealth and jobs that will reduce poverty in Somaliland.
The grants ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 were available in two grants mechanisms for business ideas where commercial viability could be established in a cost sharing agreements. For the Small Grants pool, the cost-sharing arrangement involved grantees covering at least 25 percent of the cost, for example an applicant applying $20,000 needed to contributed at least $5,000 into the pool.
Those eligible for the Global Development Alliance (GDA) grants mechanisms were required to join in an equal partnership or one-on-one cost sharing agreements. The minimum contribution on this pool was $50,000. During a reception held in Mansor Hotel in Hargeisa, the Minister of Commerce, Abdulrisak Khalif Ahmed said the agency received more than 292 entries.
UNHCR strives to safeguards Somali lives as World celebrates refugees day
20 Jun – Source: Radio Kulmiye – 148 words
Speaking in an exclusive interview conducted by radio Kulmiye the spokesman for the UN refuguee Agency, Adrian Awards said UNHCR is doing its best efforts to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees including millions of internally displaced people in Somalia and those who crossed the borders into neighbouring countries.
Besides inside Somalia, Adrian pointed out the agency is working tirelessly in countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Djibouti and Egypt where he siad UNHCR is helping Somali migrants who fled from their country because of the Chaos and the mayhem.
Refugee day is marked around the world on June 20, 2012 as Somali refugees and internally displaced people still continues to face dire conditions in their country and outside Somalia as a result of the prevailing famine and the impact of long running conflict in the country since the collapse of former regime led by Mohamed Siad Bareh in 1991.
‘Militant boy’ gunned down in Beledweyne
21 Jun – Source: Bar-kulan/ Radio Mogadishu/Somalia Report – 99 words
TFG soldiers in central Somali town of Beledweyne on Thursday gunned down a young boy who allegedly attacked them with hand grenades. A government military official, Yussuf Hundubey, told Bar-kulan that the boy was shot dead after he tried to escape arrest. Hundubey said none of their personnel sustained injured following the grenade attacks.
The attacker lopped hand grenades into their base near a Bridge in the town where Ethiopian troops frequently fetch water for their domestic use. A nighttime curfew has been in place in the town since the fall of the area from the rebel rule early this year.
Meanwhile, Somali government security forces seized explosive devices and al Shabaab suspects in the central Somali town. The Deputy Governor of Hiiraan region, Ahmed Osman Inji, told Radio Mogadishu that they seized the explosive devices after a tip off from informants. He said police are questioning the suspect.
Kenyan Anti-terrorism police Impound Container at Mombasa Godown
21 Jun- Star Radio/ Star / Citizen TV- 55 words
Anti-terrorism police officers are still scanning a container suspected to be loaded with explosives with the help of foreign experts. The container was recovered in Changamwe at a warehouse where police recovered fake Somali passports. Coast PPO Aggrey Adoli says they will also be conducting random inspections of containers at the Port of Mombasa.
Somaliland keen on independence at London conference
20 Jun – Source: Garowe Online – 160 words
Officials from Somaliland and the southern Somali government are meeting in London to discuss the future of Somalia and Somaliland, Garowe Online reports. Officials from the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia and the breakaway region of Somaliland began talks in an undisclosed location in London. The Somaliland-Somalia meeting was an issue agreed on at the London conference earlier this year.
According to the final communiqué from the London conference held in February, this conference was organized to open up talks between the two governments to clarify their future relations. For twenty years, Somaliland’s stance has been to gain independence from Somalia. Despite talks between the two governments Somaliland officials maintain that they are seeking independence.
Speaking to the Somaliland media in Hargeisa Foreign Minister Dr. Mohamed Abdullahi Omar assured that Somaliland would not renounce its bid for independence. “We should maintain our dignity as an independent nation, deserving of international respect. Our sovereignty is non-negotiable,” Dr Omar said.
35 Somalis drown in Lake Malawi
21 Jun – Source: Shabelle – 102 words
Malawi police has recovered 35 bodies believed to be Somalis who drowned in Lake of Malawian the northern border district of Karonga. Police say there could have been as many as 60 Somalis in the boat that was coming from Tanzania with the intention to enter Malawi illegally. The boat capsized, according to police. Lately, a number of illegal immigrants, mostly from hunger-striken Ethiopia and war-torn Somalia have been arrested trying to sneak into the country through uncharted routes. Karonga District Commissioner, Gasten Macheka, is said to have gone to the area where the bodies were recovered Tuesday to assess the situation.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Somalis ask aid agencies to resume
21 Jun – Source: Standard Digital News – 425 words
Mrs Shamso Bashir Isse sat pensively at the waiting bay in Afmadow Health Centre in Somalia with her sick two-year-old daughter. She had been queuing at the facility for one hour alongside dozens of mothers waiting to see the only ‘doctor’ in the region. The buibui clad 29-year-old woman uses a scarf to whisk away houseflies from the pale face of her daughter, Zainabu.
“Zainabu has had stomach problems for the last one week and the pills we were given by a neighbour have not helped her,” Isse said through an interpreter. Isse expects her daughter to be treated at the hospital, even though she has no money to buy drugs.
Though the locals call it Afmadow Health Centre, it can hardly pass for a dispensary. Hassan Mursil, the clinical officer, is the only health manning the facility, assisted by two staff.
Besieged al Shabaab leader rallies followers as noose tightens
20 Jun – Source: Africa Review – 263 words
The besieged Somali fundamentalist group al Shabaab has sought to rally support from followers, calling for a united position against the common “enemy”.
Supreme leader, Sheikh Mukhtar Abdurahman Abu Zubayr, Monday called for the Islamist movement’s regional authorities to provide more support as Somali army forces and troops from the African Union close in on its last stronghold, Kismayu.
In a taped message, Abu Zubayr also urged the Wilayaat (authorities in areas it controls) to have a single position in the fight against what he called “the enemy of Allah”.
“I would like you to build awareness of the public in your jurisdiction in the fight against the enemy of Allah,” he said, adding that it was important for the Somali clans to support the Harakatu al Shabaab al Mujahedeen (al Shabaab).
Dadaab camps staring at a crisis
20 Jun – Source: Star – 540 words
Today marks the world refugee day, yet, as years pass; there is nothing to celebrate for the Somali refugees who live a shadow of lives in Dadaab. The camps now have a bigger population than Nakuru, Kenya’s fourth largest city and their population face poor living conditions, recurrent disease outbreaks, insecurity and indefinite exile.
Since October 2011, the deterioration of the security environment in the camps and the closure of registration centres for newly arrived refugees have seriously hampered the delivery of health and other essential services in Dadaab. Under these conditions, it is only a matter of time before Dadaab heads once again for a humanitarian emergency probably of much larger scale than that witnessed in the first half of 2011. Indeed, with insecurity curtailing aid actors’ ability to rapidly expand their operations, the type of surged intervention that overcame last year crisis is not anymore feasible.
Dadaab camps were created in 1992 to accommodate mainly refugees next to the border with Somalia after it became impossible to provide them with assistance and protection due to chaos and insecurity. 20 years later, history seems to repeat itself but with a very unfortunate twist this time. Instead of being relocated to safer areas, refugees may be left with only two options: to continue suffering in the camps or return to war-torn Somalia.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
2 South Africans freed from Somali pirates
21 Jun – Source: AP – 93 words
Somalia’s defense minister says that two South Africans who were taken by Somali pirates in late 2010 have been freed. Defense Minister Hussein Arab Isse told a news conference in Mogadishu Thursday that Deborah Calitz and Bruno Pelizzari have been released. The two were at the presidential palace in Somalia’s capital.
The two were captured in late 2010 from a yacht off the coast of Tanzania. The pirates originally demanded a ransom of $10 million. The South Africans’ 20-month captivity is among the longest periods hostages have been held by pirates in Somalia.
Islamic Radicals in Retreat
21 Jun – Source: Strategy Page – 820 words
Al Shabaab has lost its fearsome reputation, and that has proved to be a very costly defeat. More local militias are forming to drive out al Shabaab gunmen. With so many al Shabaab gangs destroyed (by combat and desertions), the remainder have fewer allies to call on if they run into local opposition. Many local al Shabaab groups had turned into gangsters, living off extortion and theft. Word has gotten around about the many defeats al Shabaab has suffered this year, and encouraged more opposition to the Islamic radical group.
The core al Shabaab members are preparing to shift to being terrorists. That means trying to blend in, or go hide in a thinly populated area. This is particularly unpleasant for Kenya, which has suffered from Islamic terrorism for decades. But it’s a step up from al Shabaab launching raids across the border, and providing logistical support for terrorists in Kenya. The demise of al Shabaab will put an end to all that. The Islamic terrorists are handled like another criminal gang in Kenya, one that specializes in mass murder rather than stealing. Sin Somalia the final blow to al Shabaab, the Islamic army, will be the capture of Kismayo, which is now surrounded by the Kenyan armed forces (the army on the land side, the navy off shore.) Without Kismayo al Shabaab cannot afford to pay a lot of gunmen or buy weapons and equipment. They go back to being a bunch of Islamic fanatics with a dream.
Somali migrants ‘drown in Malawi’ in Karonga district
21 Jun – Source: BBC – 130 words
At least 47 Somali migrants have drowned when their boat capsized on Lake Malawi, police say. The boat, believed to be carrying 60 people, capsized late on Monday in the remote northern district of Karonga. Police say the boat arrived from Tanzania.
A BBC correspondent in Malawi says the country has become a key staging post for migrants fleeing drought and conflict in Somalia and Ethiopia trying to reach South Africa. Northern Region police spokeswoman Norah Chimwala told the BBC that 47 bodies had been recovered so far.
Police have not found any survivors and the other migrants are feared dead as the water in Lake Malawi is cold in the Southern Hemisphere winter. Ms Chimwala said the boat may have capsized due to being overloaded with people and goods.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Terrorism is not the cause of Somalia’s chaos. It is a symptom of the lack of governance that has plagued the country for over two decades. Without a government committed to enforcing the rule of law and defending its population against malevolent forces, illegal militias, criminal groups, and terrorism will thrive.”
Somalia: Terrorism Is a Symptom of State Failure
20 Jun – Source: Heritage Blog – 407 Words
The African Union’s mission to Somalia (AMISOM) is having marginal success in pushing the terrorist organization al Shabaab out of its occupied territory. Al Shabaab militants have retreated from strongholds in Baidoa, Afmadow, Afgoye, and the crucial port city of Kismayo. African military leaders are confident that their thankless task of defending the failed state is finally paying off. Nevertheless, until Somalia’s political situation is resolved, any initial success that AMISOM has will be unsustainable.
“A new mission to enhance the maritime capacities of five countries (Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, the Seychelles and Somalia) will be launched under the CSDP this summer. This civilian mission, EUCAP NESTOR, will address two main objectives: strengthening of the seagoing capacity of the beneficiary countries and the rule of law in Somalia, especially in Puntland and Somaliland, where a land-based coastal police force will be set up and trained.”
Fight against piracy: Tactical gains pave way to future stability
20 Jun – Source: Euro Politics – 588 Words
The successful application of the EU’s comprehensive approach to combating piracy has resulted in fewer vessels captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia in 2012. At a press conference, on 19 June, organised by the European Naval Force Somalia (EU NAVFOR) Operation Atalanta encouraging progress was reported in improving safe navigation around the Horn of Africa.
Piracy in the Western Indian Ocean has been escalating since the mid-2000s, constituting a serious threat to security, international shipping and development efforts in the region. The EU NAVFOR Atalanta operation was launched in December 2008 under the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) with the following mandate: the protection of vessels delivering food aid, deterrence and repression of acts of piracy off the Somali coast and the monitoring of fishing activities in the area.
Top tweets
@inkermangroup #Piracy:Bad weather, lack of investment and increased anti-piracy activities seeing slow down of attacks in#Somalia http://bit.ly/PyhgX3.
@BeenThereSawIt #Somalia and Somaliland hold secret, 1st ever meetings in London. Will they go for integration, or separation?? http://bbc.in/LfDC1j.
@Aynte Here in #Mogadishu, nobody is talking about the#Somalia and #Somaliland talks in #London. Everybody is focused on post-August transition.
@EmbaMexNze #Mogadishu‘s newest hero is a young engineer who’s putting up solar-based street lights. #Somalia#Hope via (@Aynte) #Rioplus20.
@26AIsmail This is how #shabaab trains kids. feel sorry for those kids who live with them. they’re innocent! #Somaliahttp://pic.twitter.com/
@robynleekriel South african hostages freed by somali captors. They are apparently at villa somalia. #somalia .
Image of the day
Signatories of Somalia’s political process dubbed “the Road Map” meet in Nairobi, Kenya. Photo: Raxanreeb Website.