January 22, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.
William Hague: UK cannot prevent terrorism in Africa
21 Jan – Source: The Guardian – 528 words
Britain cannot prevent terrorism in Africa but it can look to the model of the rebuilding of Somalia as an example of how to help failed states, William Hague has said. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the foreign secretary was challenged as to whether Britain had stoked the civil war in Mali by allowing weapons to enter the country from Libya.
Hague countered that the west’s intervention in Libya had “mitigated” the crisis in Mali by foreshortening the conflict in Libya. He insisted the spread of weapons and extremism could have been even worse if Muammar Gaddafi’s regime had been allowed to survive for longer. Hague was speaking before a fresh Commons statement by David Cameron on the crises in Mali and Algeria, which is expected on Monday afternoon. The prime minister said over the weekend that it might take decades to rid Africa of terrorism.
Hague said: “Certainly weapons, Tuareg people coming out of Libya, have contributed to this situation that then al Qaeda in the Maghreb have been able to take advantage of.”. “We were involved, if you recall, in saving lives in Libya. I think, actually, if we had not been doing that, because what we did actually shortened the Libyan conflict, these problems would have been, if anything, even greater.
“If the Libyan conflict had gone on for longer, there would have been an even greater flow of weapons and an even greater opportunity for extremists to take hold in Libya.” He added: “While the Libyan situation may well have contributed to what has happened in Mali, I think the action that the western world took in Libya, if anything, mitigated that.”
Key Headlines
- Kuwait Amir meets Somali President in Riyadh (Kuwait News Agency)
- Man dies in Jowhar after bomb prematurely explodes (Bar-kulan/Jowhar Online/Radio Mogadishu/Shabelle/Hiiraan Online)
- Prominent Somali journalist praises Prime Minister Shirdon’s kind gesture (Shabelle)
- Former Puntland VP dies in Nairobi (Bar-kulan/Garowe Online/RBC)
- William Hague: UK cannot prevent terrorism in Africa (The Guardian)
- Soldiers temporarily seize Eritrean Information Ministry (Al Shahid)
- German prosecutors indict suspected terrorist linked to al Qaeda Somalia’s al Shabaab (Canada News/AP)
- HRW urges Kenya not to force 55000 refugees into camps (Radio Risaala/Human Rights Watch/Radio Kulmiye)
- Somalia’s Defence Minister attends Somalia Core Group meeting in Ankara (Mfa.gov.et)
SOMALI MEDIA
Man dies in Jowhar after bomb prematurely explodes
22 Jan – Source: Bar-kulan/Jowhar Online/Radio Mogadishu/Shabelle/Hiiraan Online – 118 words
A man believed to be a suicide bomber died Monday night after explosives he had went off in Jowhar town, Middle Shabelle. The body of the man was found badly damaged after the explosion was heard in the area, according to locals who spoke to Bar-kulan on condition of anonymity.
Government forces who arrived at the scene of the incident said the body of the alleged bomber-to-be has been severely damaged. No one else was hurt in the explosion. It is not clear who the man was and his target in the town. Police say they are investigating the motive behind the incident that shocked the local population.
HRW urges Kenya not to force 55,000 refugees into camps
22 Jan – Source: Radio Risaala/Human Rights Watch/Radio Kulmiye – 236 words
The Kenyan authorities should halt their plan to forcibly move 55,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers from cities to overcrowded and underserviced refugee camps, Human Rights Watch said. Citing a number of grenade attacks in 2012, the authorities contend the move will improve Kenyan national security and lead to the return of Somali refugees to Somalia.
The plan would violate refugees’ free movement rights and would almost certainly involve the unlawful forced eviction of tens of thousands of refugees from their lodgings in the cities, Human Rights Watch said. The long standing humanitarian crisis in Kenya’s refugee camps also means the relocation would affect refugees’ ability to make a living and unlawfully reduce their access to adequate food, clothing, housing, health care and education.
“Kenya is using the recent grenade attacks to stigmatize all refugees as potential terrorists and to force tens of thousands of them into appalling living conditions in already severely overcrowded camps,” said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher and advocate for Human Rights Watch. “The plan to forcibly transfer tens of thousands of people from the cities to camps is unlawful and will cause extreme hardship.”
Former Puntland VP dies in Nairobi
22 Jan – Source: Bar-kulan/Garowe Online/RBC – 100 words
The immediate former Puntland vice president Hassan Dahir Mohamud has died in a hospital in Kenya, where he has been fighting for his life for the last few weeks.
He died Tuesday morning in a hospital in Nairobi where he has been undergoing treatment for an unspecified illness, according to his successor Abdisamed Ali Shire, who spoke to Bar-kulan.
Mohamud served under the regional leader Mohamoud Muse Hirse popularly known as Adde Muse between the period 2005 and 2009. Shire extended his condolences to the family, relatives and the entire people of Puntland for the loss of the former leader.
Prominent Somali journalist praises Prime Minister Shirdon’s kind gesture
22 Jan – Source: Shabelle – 124 words
Shukri Said, a Somali journalist based in Rome and who works for La repubblica newspaper in Italy, has praised the recent visit to Shabelle media network by Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Saa’id after the killing of Shabelle journalist, terming it as important gesture and a step to be followed by other leaders.
In a phone interview, Mrs Said called the Prime Minister’s visit to Shabelle as a world class leadership to share pain with the Somali journalists who work under dangerous situation where sometimes they get killed.
Shukri Said has called on the Somali government to ensure the safety of all Somali journalists in general and those of Shabelle media network in particular as they became the most targeted journalists in the capital and Somalia.
Al Shabaab frees detained elders
21 Jan – Source: Bar-kulan – 126 words
Al Shabaab militants group has released 14 traditional elders from a militant cell in Diri settlement, some 43 kilometres from El-bur town, Galgadud region. The 14 were part of 17 elders earlier detained by the group for allegedly defying militant order compelling them to contribute 220 camels in support of the group, according exiled Ahul Sunna Wal Jama area chief Abdi Hassan.
He said the Islamist group demanded the camels in securing the release of the remaining three elders in their custody, adding that the elder are being held in a militant-run detention centre in El-bur town.
Local elders in the region reportedly appealed to the Somali government and Ahlu Sunna militia group to intervene the situation and dislodge militants from the region to end the suffering of the locals.
Somalia PM Shirdon attends Mogadishu rally to support U.S. decision
21 Jan – Source: Garowe Online/Universal TV/SNTV – 149 words
Somalia’s Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon attended a public rally in Mogadishu on Monday, held in support of the U.S. decision to officially recognize the Somali Federal Government. Prime Minister Shirdon joined Somali officials and hundreds of people at a public rally held near Villa Somalia presidential compound, in Mogadishu.
“I thank everyone for attending this peaceful gathering to support the U.S. Government’s decision recognize the Somali Federal Government for the first time in 22 years,” said Prime Minister Shirdon, adding: “The U.S. Government has stood by Somalia and its people through difficult times and we view the U.S. as an important ally and friend of Somalia.”
Prime Minister Shirdon told the public rally that Somalia has emerged from the transitional period, underlining that “Somalia has established a new constitution, a new parliament and elected government leaders, and Somalia is moving forward.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Soldiers temporarily seize Eritrean Information Ministry
22 Jan – Source: Al Shahid – 161 words
Some 200 Eritrean soldiers on Monday stormed the Ministry of Information in the capital Asmara forcing the state media to broadcast a statement about releasing political prisoners, diplomatic sources say.
The soldiers got into armored personnel carriers later in the day and drove back to their base south of the capital. They reportedly ordered news readers at the government-run television and radio station – the only source of media for the authoritarian state – to read a statement that they will implement the country’s constitution.
Somalia’s Defence Minister attends Somalia Core Group meeting in Ankara
21 Jan – Source: Mfa.gov.et – 137 words
Somalia’s Defence Minister, Abdikarin Hajji Mohamud Fiqi, returned to Mogadishu on Sunday (January 20th) after attending a meeting of the Somalia Core Group in the Turkish capital of Ankara. The meeting, on Friday last week, discussed the rebuilding of the Somali army and the needs of the Somali government.
It was attended by representatives of the US, EU countries, the African Union, participants from Gulf countries and from the troop-contributing countries of AMISOM. The Minister said on after the meeting that participants had agreed to support the new government in Somalia and take part in rebuilding and strengthening the Somali army.
Somali Core Group meetings, take place every three or four months and bring together countries undertaking projects in Somalia. Turkey recently signed an agreement with Somalia on training, technical and scientific cooperation in the military field.
Newly elected Hargeisa council aims to address city’s garbage problem
21 Jan – Source: Sabahi Online – 605 words
Hargeisa residents say they have high expectations of the newly elected municipal council’s ability to clean up the piles of garbage strewn in the city’s streets. The recently elected body started work on January 5th, vowing to address residents’ needs and complaints, with a focus on public service, said council member Ahmed Siad Muhumed.
“We will focus on sanitation, strengthening public neighbourhoods and district boards that will work with the municipality on peacekeeping and development, as well as improving the beauty of the city,” he told Sabahi.
The previous council, which was in power for 10 years, was not effective in addressing the city’s garbage problem because it was mired in internal conflicts, said Hargeisa-based analyst Bashir Haji Ismail, adding that the issue has become a public health concern.
Kuwait Amir meets Somali President in Riyadh
21 Jan – Source: Kuwait News Agency – 42 words
The Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah met Monday with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Sidelines of the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit, Currently underway in Riyadh. The meeting was attended by the official delegation accompanying Sheikh Sabah.
Mohamud’s visit to United States opens door to further diplomatic success
21 Jan – Source: Sabahi Online – 931 words
Somali officials and civil society organisations welcomed the first United States recognition of a Somali government in over two decades, a breakthrough that many see as a sign of further diplomatic success for Somalia around the world.
The last time the United States recognised a Somali government was in 1991 before President Mohamed Siad Barre’s regime collapsed, leaving Somalia a battlefield for civil strife and terrorism.
Last week, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and his delegation met with senior American officials in Washington including President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough, as well as officials from the World Bank.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
German prosecutors indict suspected terrorist linked to al Qaeda, Somalia’s al Shabaab
21 Jan – Source: Canada News/AP – 119 words
German prosecutors have indicted a man on suspicion of being a member of al Qaeda and Somalia’s al Shabaab terror group. Prosecutors say 24-year-old German national Emrah Erdogan is also suspected of two cases of manslaughter, incitement to robbery and feigning an imminent terror attack in Germany in 2010.
The federal prosecutors’ office said in a statement Monday that Erdogan travelled in May 2010 from Germany to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, where he joined an al Qaeda training camp.
He is accused of travelling to Somalia in 2011 to join al Shabaab and taking part in attacks that led to the deaths of several Ethiopian troops allied with the Somali government. Erdogan was arrested in Tanzania in June 2012 and deported to Germany.
William Hague: UK cannot prevent terrorism in Africa
21 Jan – Source: The Guardian – 528 words
Britain cannot prevent terrorism in Africa but it can look to the model of the rebuilding of Somalia as an example of how to help failed states, William Hague has said. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the foreign secretary was challenged as to whether Britain had stoked the civil war in Mali by allowing weapons to enter the country from Libya.
Hague countered that the west’s intervention in Libya had “mitigated” the crisis in Mali by foreshortening the conflict in Libya. He insisted the spread of weapons and extremism could have been even worse if Muammar Gaddafi’s regime had been allowed to survive for longer. Hague was speaking before a fresh Commons statement by David Cameron on the crises in Mali and Algeria, which is expected on Monday afternoon. The prime minister said over the weekend that it might take decades to rid Africa of terrorism.
Hague said: “Certainly weapons, Tuareg people coming out of Libya, have contributed to this situation that then al Qaeda in the Maghreb have been able to take advantage of.”. “We were involved, if you recall, in saving lives in Libya. I think, actually, if we had not been doing that, because what we did actually shortened the Libyan conflict, these problems would have been, if anything, even greater.
“If the Libyan conflict had gone on for longer, there would have been an even greater flow of weapons and an even greater opportunity for extremists to take hold in Libya.” He added: “While the Libyan situation may well have contributed to what has happened in Mali, I think the action that the western world took in Libya, if anything, mitigated that.”
Hague pointed to Somalia as a model for western policymakers, stressing the progress the country had made towards stability in the past year. He referred to the London conference designed to bring about a legitimate government with strong African forces engaged in fighting terrorism. He said these forces funded by the west had also received strong diplomatic and humanitarian support from the rest of the world including the UN.
“What we do not want in these countries like Mali is that 20 years of failed state that preceded all of that in Somalia,” he added. He said a critical part of the Somali story had been to ensure the development of a legitimate permanent government rather than a transitional government imposed from the outside. He said there had to be a similar readiness to negotiate inside Mali between north and south.
UK gives £2.2m to Somalia piracy crackdown
21 Jan – Source: BBC – 322 words
The UK is to give £2.2m to support international efforts to crack down on piracy off the coast of Somalia. Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said attacks in the region were falling but the position was “fragile and reversible”.
The money will go to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s counter piracy programme. It will be used to improve prison infrastructure and tackle corruption in the Somali penal system.
In a written ministerial statement, Mr Burt said: “Last year saw a dramatic decline in pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia – to just 35 – with the number of ships seized falling by over 80% compared to the previous year.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Overall President Hassan deserves kudos as he has proven to the skeptics that he is the right man for the job. Those who met him personally in DC described him as cordial and down to earth. This is the kind of leadership that Somalia needs. Finally here are my two cents of advice for the president. Many Somalis are in dire need of food, health, clean water and education and they have nobody but you and your team, Mr. President. You need to execute a plan of action that addresses these needs. Also good leaders listen to the voices of their public; I encourage you to do the same. Kudos again for the well accomplished visit.”
President’s Visit to the USA: My Personal Impression
21 Jan – Source: Hiiraan Online – 1100 Words
President Hassan Sheikh’s visit in Washington, DC was exceptionally successful. It was historic in many facets such as his reception at the white house with president Obama, his conference at CSIS and his presence at the formal recognition event of Somalia by the US, the first time since 1991. This was a major victory that will lead to a new era for Somalia. As stated by Secretary Clinton the progress has been building for several years and finally the US felt that the president’s visit in DC was the perfect time to reward the leadership of Somalia and its people.
Listening to his speeches and interviews I felt the president was smart, eloquent and visionary. Speaking to the Somali communities in DC area the president said “my goal is to wipe out the many bad names of Somalia, explicitly the most corrupt nation on earth, the nation of pirates and terrorists”. Personally, I was very touched with these words; it made me very proud to see for the first time that there is a president with real aspirations and commitment to improve the image of his country.
The president spoke of federalism which is one of the most contentious issues of Somalia, where he reiterated that Somalia is a federal country. The word federalism scares a lot of Somalis and that is why it is such a hot issue. Unfortunately it is falsely implied as the creation of clan states. It is this myth that ignites clan emotions, polarizing the communities and making it harder to achieve peace and stability. During my tenure as the Committee of Experts (CoE) for the Somali constitution almost all Somalis we talked to agreed on a decentralized system of government, but there was a contrast division among the people on whether Somalia should adapt regional states or regional autonomy.
“So today is milestone. It’s not the end of the journey but it’s an important milestone to that end. We respect the sovereignty of Somalia, and as two sovereign nations we will continue to have an open, transparent dialogue about what more we can do to help the people of Somalia realize their own dreams.”
US diplomatic recognition symbolizes a walker for united Somalia
21 Jan – Source: Suna Times – 1212 Words
January 17, 2013 is a memorable day for the entire people of Somalia. It will be marked as a day for jubilation. It is the day the US government abandoned its misguided policy towards Somalia and formally recognized the central government of Somalia after 22 years of avoidance, indifference or miscalculation. US diplomatic recognition symbolizes a walker or underarm crutch for united Somalia. To move fast forward, two challenges that need quick actions are the mobilization of international aid package and the overcoming of internal divisions based on clan loyalty, past injustices, collective mistakes, fear of the future or political self interest.
The people and government of Somalia are now delighted and grateful for the surprise decision of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton not only to liberate Somalia from Al Shabab, pirates but also from foreign subjugation and manipulations as well as from self destructive Hobbesian mind-set.
This historical move must be a vindication come late for the former US State Department Political Officer for Somalia Michael Zorick who was removed in 2006 from his position after he dissented from the G. W. Bush Administration’s counter-terrorism policy towards Somalia and late congressman Donald Payne who challenged Ethiopia’s involvement in Somalia.
The announcement is also a triumph for Professor Michael A. Weinstein of Perdue University who consistently spoke for the best interests of the powerless and voiceless Somalia, for John Prendergast who wrote in 2006 the article Our failure in Somalia, for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars for its report Pathways to peace in the Horn of Africa: What Role for the US?, the Human Rights Watch, and for Somalis who sacrificed their lives, resources and time for the dignity, freedom, unity and respect of Somalia.
Top tweets
@albanyassociate BBC News – UK gives £2.2m to Somalia piracy crackdown http://bbc.in/UM9VpU.
@SomaliaNewsroom #Somalia President Mohamud attends Arab Economic and Social Development Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabiahttp://english.alshahid.
@MajorEChirchir #Somalia Stability Somalia stability has never been this close in two decades. Where is the tipping point to prosperity? Allah bless Som.
@biryaniaddict Somalia has a population of 10 million people with 1 million mobile phone subscribers. The country has a 3G infras… http://myurl.pk/BMaep.
@EUTMSomalia #finalparade is approaching.#EUTM recruits ready to return to home to #Somalia as part of the SomaliNationalArmedForces pic.twitter.com/rH8Kk6vy.
Image of the day
A man holds on to a American flag during a rally welcoming the announcement that the United States has officially recognized Somalia’s government, after more than two decades, in Mogadishu on Jan. 21, 2013. Photo: Reuters.