August 29, 2012 | Morning Headlines.

Main Story

Somali parliament elects new speaker

29 Aug – Source: Reuters – 500 words

Former cabinet minister Mohamed Osman Jawaari was elected speaker of Somalia’s parliament by a majority vote on Tuesday to lay the groundwork for a new government in the war-torn Horn of Africa country.
The next step in a Western-backed plan to end two decades of strife is the election of a president charged with the task of rebuilding institutions plagued by corruption and infighting.

Key Headlines

SRSG statement on the election of the Speaker of the new Somali Parliament (UNPOS)
Somali MPs choose Mohamed Osman Jawari as speaker (various)
Captured Marka still intense (Radio Kulmiye)
Police hold 12 over Rogo protests in Mombasa (Daily Nation)
Virginia: $21 million award in Somalia torture case (NY Times)
A Somalia refugee’s new life barriers to immigration and the role of sport (The Guardian)

PRESS STATEMENT

SRSG statement on the election of the Speaker of the new Somali Parliament

28 Aug – Source: UNPOS – 118 words

Mogadishu, The Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Dr. Augustine P. Mahiga offers his warmest congratulations to the Somali people on the election of a new Speaker of Parliament. Professor Mohammed Sheikh Osman (Jawari) was today overwhelmingly selected to represent the New Federal Parliament. The election of Deputy Speakers will take place in the immediate future, laying the groundwork for the election of the President, which the SRSG calls on all parties to ensure takes place “within ten days.” Around 230 participated in today’s voting, which was held at the Police Training Academy in Mogadishu.

SOMALI MEDIA

Somalia gets new federal parliament speaker

28 Aug – Source: Somaliweyn/Mareeg Online/Hiiraan Online/Bar-kulan/Radio Kumiye/Horseeed Media – 101 words

The election of the new Somali federal parliament speaker took place at Gen. Kahiye Police Academic near Mogadishu international airport in Mogadishu yesterday; the election was won by Professor Mohamed Osman Jawari, the new federal parliament speaker. Prof. Mohamed Osman Jawari got 119 votes while the second-runner Prof. Ali Ali Khalif Galeyr, the first TFG premier of Somalia in 2000, got 77.

Prof Mohamed Sh Osman Jawari, became Speaker of new Somali Parliament after the withdrawal of Prof Ali Khalif Galleyr.

28 Aug – Source: Hiiraan online/ Mareeg online/Garowe online / Jowhar online – 270 words

Interim Chairman of both the new Parliament and Parliamentary Election Committee has officially announced that Prof Mohamed Sh. Osman Jawari is the elected Speaker of the new Federal Parliament of Somalia following the withdrawal of Prof Ali Khalif Galleyr from the participation of the final voting.

The Chairman said that in the first round of the three planned rounds, Prof Mohamed Sh Osman Jawari got 119 votes short of 20 votes for outright victory. The other four candidates were Dr. Ali Khalif Galleyr who got 77 votes, Mr. Abdi Hashi Abdullahi got 23 votes, Mr. Abdirashid Mohamed Hiddig got 10 votes and finally Mr. Hassan Abshir Farah got 5 votes.

Captured Marka still intense

28 Aug – Source: Radio Kulmiye – 120 words

Somalia troops with the assistance of the African Union Mission Troops,yesterday morning pushed al Shabaab out of Marka, the third-largest port in Southern Somalia. The dawn operation met little resistance as the AMISOM and Somali National Army troops steadily advanced to Shalambood and established a defensive position there.

Somaliland: NEC sets the 28th of november as fixed date for local elections

28 Aug – Source: Somaliland Press – 124 words

The Somaliland National Election Commission has announced a fixed date set for candidate’s from the various political parties participating in the upcoming local council elections to submit their papers with the electoral commission and also all governmental employees taking vying for seats to relinquish their post.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Somalia’s new Federal Parliament elects speaker in landmark vote

28 Aug – Source: Africa Review – 126 words

Somalia’s new Federal Parliament has elected Prof Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari, a professional lawyer and MP, as its first speaker in a landmark ballot. Prof Jawari won the most number of votes Tuesday at an election held at the Scuola Polizia (Police Academy) in Mogadishu, garnering 119 votes from the 236 MPs present in the hall.

Police hold 12 over Rogo protests in Mombasa

28 Aug – Source: Daily Nation – 123 words

Twelve people have been arrested in Mombasa during a confrontation between police and rowdy youth protesting the killing of radical cleric Aboud Rogo. Ten were bundled into a police van at Majengo area while two others were taken into custody near Msikiti Musa in the restive town. Earlier, tension was high as the protests entered a second day.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somali MPs choose Mohamed Osman Jawari as speaker

28 Aug – Source: BBC – 500 words

Former minister Mohamed Osman Jawari has been elected as Somalia’s speaker of parliament in the latest step in a UN process to end decades of war.
Mr Jawari was chosen by MPs, who were sworn in last week. His rivals all withdrew from the race.
He is from the Rahanweyn clan, meaning outgoing speaker Shariff Hassan Sheik Adan is unlikely to be president when that post is filled in the coming days.

Somali parliament elects new speaker

28 Aug – Source: VOA – 300 words

Somalia’s parliament has elected a new speaker, taking a major step in a U.N.-backed plan to create a stronger and more permanent government.

Mohamed Osman Jawari won the speaker’s post in a vote by legislators in Mogadishu Tuesday. Jawari held a significant lead after the first round of voting, and was named speaker after his opponent in a planned run-off dropped out.

Somali parliament elects new speaker

29 Aug – Source: Reuters – 500 words

New Somali parliament speaker elected: official

28 Aug – Source: AFP – 400 words

Veteran Somali politician Mohamed Osman Jawari, a former minister, was elected as the speaker of the war-torn nation’s new parliament, the outgoing interim speaker said Tuesday.

The United Nations-backed process, which will culminate in lawmakers choosing the country’s new president, is the latest bid to end two decades of instability in the Horn of Africa nation.

Somalia’s parliament elects new speaker

28 Aug – Source: Press TV – 400 words

The parliament elected Jawari in the capital Mogadishu on Tuesday. Jawari, who was a former minister, is a legal expert who helped draft a new constitution for the African country. The parliament is set to elect a president, who will in turn appoint a prime minister to form a cabinet, in order to put an end to eight years of transitional governments.

Somalia lawmakers select new speaker

28 Aug – Source: AP – 550 words

Somalia’s parliament Tuesday elected former labor minister Mohamed Osman Jawari as the new speaker, a key step toward the election of a president and the country’s transition from a failed state to a nation with an effective government.
The process to select Somalia’s next government has been criticized for corruption and threats of violence, international observers say. Nonetheless, some praise it as a watershed moment in the Horn of Africa nation’s road to peace and stability.

Somalia parliamentarians select a former labor minister as speaker in secret ballot

28 Aug – Source: Washington Post – 102 words

Somalia’s parliament has a new speaker after 228 legislators Tuesday elected former labor minister Mohamed Osman Jawari. The speaker’s selection is a step toward the election of Somalia’s next president. Jawari, who led in the first round of voting, was challenged by Ali Khalif Galaydh, who had been Somalia’s prime minister during the U.N.-backed caretaker government whose mandate expired on Aug. 20.

Virginia: $21 million award in Somalia torture case

28 Aug – Source: NY Times – 177 words

A federal judge in Alexandria awarded $21 million to seven people who sued a former prime minister of Somalia who is now living in Virginia, claiming he tortured and killed his own people more than two decades ago. Seven Somali natives filed the lawsuit in 2004 against the former prime minister, Mohamed Ali Samantar, 76, of Fairfax, saying he ordered the killings and torture of members of a minority clan.

UN condemns killing of staff member in Somalia, urges more protection for humanitarians

28 Aug – Source: UN News Center – 166 words

The United Nations in Somalia today condemned the killing of a humanitarian worker serving with the UN food relief agency in the country’s south. Yassin Mohamed Hassan, a staff member of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was killed on Monday morning in an attack by an armed group in the Somali port city of Merka.

A Somalia refugee’s new life, barriers to immigration, and the role of sport

28 Aug – Source: The Guardian – 119 words

Earlier this year we reported on Omar, a Somali teenager who fled a refugee camp in Libya when war broke out last year and was living in a camp on the country’s border with Tunisia. In our new film, we meet Omar as he prepares to start a new life in Sandviken, northern Sweden. He is met at Stockholm airport by the Swedish migration board, visits a doctor and learns what margarine is.

SOCIAL MEDIA

CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS

“Under his leadership we expect the Somali parliament to reform itself, do its job in lieu of engaging in unending conflict with the executive branches of the government. Nevertheless, there is a daunting task a head and the road to stability will not be smooth. It will require patience, commitment to succeed and focusing mainly on the commonalities rather than the differences. He will need to build a strong team to achieve the real democratic reform for the parliament. He is a good listener, someone who can work with anybody without any reservations and above all he is not a polarizer. He understands the ailment of the Somali parliament and will for sure bring the right remedy.”

The New Speaker of the House, Mr. Jawari: a New Dawn for Somalia

28 Aug – Source: Hiiraan Online – 571 Words

The public will begin to breathe fresh air following today’s election that ended of electing a great man, a true Somali for the speaker of the house. Mr. Jawari is a man believed to bring stability and rules of law in a notorious parliament known to be one of the most chaotic parliament in the world as previous speakers veered from their traditional role of impartiality, and neutralityleading to a political standstill that had paralyzed the nation. Somaliais a country that has suffered enormously in the hands of its rogue citizens. It is a celebration for all peace loving Somalis to witness such a great change in the Somali politics. Jawari’s election is also a sigh relief and a happy end for UNPOS, the international community and the public who knew the process to end the transition to be fraudulent, but still hoped for a better outcome.