February 5, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.

Main Story

AMISOM Soldier Killed While Protecting Somali Workers

05 Jan – Source: AMISOM – 238 words

The AMISOM Force Commander, Lt Gen Andrew Gutti has paid tribute to an AMISOM soldier who was this morning killed in an explosion while he was protecting Somali workers in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. No other casualties were reported in the incident which took place at the Siad Barre Military Academy where the soldier was helping to secure the area for Somali workmen hired to construct a fence.

The source of the explosion is yet to be determined but appeared to be a remote controlled IED. 3 suspects have been arrested and handed over to the Somali authorities. Sending his condolences to the family and friends of the fallen soldier, Gen Gutti praised his bravery and sacrifice. He also condemned the attack which he said had put Somali lives at risk.

“We are saddened by the loss of this brave soldier though grateful that no one else was injured in the attack. It is sad that as Somalia strives to rebuild after decades of war, there are still those who would want to harm innocent citizens,” he said. “AMISOM will not be deterred in its determination to secure the safety of the Somali people and to continue to build up the capacity of the country’s security forces,” he added.

Key Headlines

Somali President Mohamud names new administration for Bay (Bar-kulan/Jowhar Online/Radio Mogadishu/Hiiraan Online)
AMISOM Soldier Killed While Protecting Somali Workers (AMISOM)
Kenyan Police officer shot dead in Garissa (Star/ Standard Media)
Somali President says darkest days are over (Sky News)
Al Shabaab arrests traders in southwestern town (Radio Kulmiye)
Yemen Sentences 17 Somali Pirates To 10 Years In Jail (Yemen News Agency SABA)
Somaliland President Silanyo Reshuffles Regional Governors (Somaliland Press/Hiiraan Online)

PRESS RELEASE

AMISOM Soldier Killed While Protecting Somali Workers

05 Jan – Source: AMISOM – 238 words

Over the last 18 months, there has been a drastic improvement in the security situation in Mogadishu, after Somali national security forces supported by AMISOM, forces the al Qaeda-affiliated, al Shabaab terror group to abandon fixed positions in the city. In December, the AMISOM Police component begun conducting night patrols with their counterparts in the Somali Police Force which have resulted in a significant reduction in criminal and terror attacks on the civilian population.

SOMALI MEDIA

Somali President Mohamud names new administration for Bay

05 Jan – Source: Bar-kulan/Jowhar Online/Radio Mogadishu/Hiiraan Online – 111 words

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has appointed an interim administration for the southwest Somali region of Bay in a decree from his office on Monday.

The new administration will be in office for the next six months and replaces the current one headed by Abdifatah Gesey. In his decree, the president named Abdi Adan Hosow as the Provincial Commissioner for Bay region and Mohamed Moalim Ibrahim as the District Commissioner for Baidoa.

The decree bearing the signature of the acting president who is also the speaker of the national assembly Mohamed Osman Jawari did not specified the time the new officials are expected to assume office.

Al Shabaab arrests traders in southwestern town

05 Feb – Source: Radio Mustaqbal – 115 words

Al Shabaab administration in southwestern town of Bardere has reportedly arrested three women for allegedly selling Khat [Mild narcotic leaves] which is considered an illegal drug in all areas under the group.

The arrested women were prosecuted of smuggling and secretly selling the Khat, defying the groups’ orders banning the trade and consumption of the drug in their vicinity.

The administration forces picked the women from the houses and taken to a cell in the town, as quoted from their relatives who spoke under condition of anonymity. Khat is a mild narcotic leaves chewed by most of Somalis inside the country and overseas.

President Farole appeals to youth in Puntland to help maintain peace

04 Jan – Source: Bar-kulan – 102 words

Puntland president Abdirahman Farole has appealed to youths in the region to help his administration maintain peace and prevent insecurity in the region. Farole made the remarks on Sunday night during a meeting with a section of the youth in Garowe town where he encouraged them to preach peace.

He urged the youths to take part in regional politics by joining political parties and have their say in the region’s leadership and decision making. Farole however promised that his administration will create jobs for the unemployed youths in the region and asked them to enroll themselves in learning institution to acquired skills.

Somaliland President Silanyo Reshuffles Regional Governors

04 Jan – Source: Somaliland Press/Hiiraan Online – 56 words

Somaliland President Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud (Silanyo) has issued a Presidential Decree reshuffling all regional governors. Presidential circulation stated as follows: In accordance with Somaliland constitution Act #90 and Act 110, I do hereby announce as of today 4/2/2013 the reshuffling of all regional governors with immediate effect.

REGIONAL MEDIA

AMISOM soldier killed protecting Somali workers

05 Feb – Source: New Vision – 306 words

AMISOM has paid tribute to one of its own who was killed on Monday in an explosion while he was protecting Somali workers in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. In a press release, the AMISOM Force Commander, Lt Gen Andrew Gutti paid tribute to the fallen soldier, whose names have not been announced.

The group says no other casualties were reported in the incident which took place at the Siad Barre Military Academy. It was at this location that the dead soldier was helping to secure the area for Somali workmen hired to construct a fence.

The source of the explosion is yet to be determined but appeared to be a remote-controlled IED. Three suspects have been arrested and handed over to the Somali authorities.

Kenyan Police officer shot dead in Garissa

05 Feb – Source: Star/ Standard Media – 73 words

A police officer was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Garissa yesterday evening. Witnesses say the Administrative Police Constable had alighted from a bus near a hotel when he was ambushed by four gunmen who shot him several times.

The suspects escaped on foot during the incident that occurred at around 7 pm on Monday. Garissa OCPD George Losku has said police are investigating the matter but arrests have not yet been made.

Yemen Sentences 17 Somali Pirates To 10 Years In Jail

04 Feb – Source: Yemen News Agency SABA – 109 words

The Court of First Instance in Hadramout governorate sentenced Monday 17 Somali to 5 to 10 years in jail after being convicted of sea piracy in territorial and international waters.

The court chairman judge Abdo al-Awadhi found the Somalis guilty of involving in hijacking boats by armed force in the territorial waters and passed a 10-year jail sentence on 16 Somalis and 5 years on the last one.

The Somali pirates were convicted of seizing a Yemeni fishing boat and kidnapping its crew in an unknown location, a matter that harm the economic status of Yemen and endanger the safety of maritime navigation in the territorial and international waters.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somalia: Roadside bomb kills 1 African Union soldier in rare IED attack

05 Jan – Source: Washington Post – 97 words

An official in Somalia says a roadside bomb has killed an African Union soldier. Floribert Biyereke, a spokesman for Burundian troops, said one soldier died after the roadside bomb exploded on Monday. Biyereke blamed the attack on the country’s Islamic extremist rebels, al Shabaab.

Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, has been enjoying a relatively peaceful period following the ouster of al Shabaab from the city in August 2011. The militant group is still blamed for infrequent suicide and roadside bomb attacks.

Extra support for children and adults in Somalia

04 Feb – Source: SOS – 395 words

Today, as the Somali president visits London, the UK government announced that Somalia will receive a further 3 million pounds in aid. Half of the money will go to supporting Somalia’s new democratic process, while 1.5 million is earmarked for providing food to around 60,000 malnourished children and mothers.

Speaking to the BBC about the additional aid, the International Development Secretary, Justine Greening, said the money would help support “tens of thousands of Somalis as they cope with a food crisis caused by drought and years of instability”.

Somalia is already set to receive 63 million pounds in aid funding from the UK in 2012/2013, as part of the bilateral aid programme. This money is targeted on four key areas – governance and peace-building, wealth and job creation, health care (particularly for women and children in reproductive, maternal and newborn health) and humanitarian assistance.

Somali President says darkest days are over

04 Feb – Source: Sky News – 673 words

The president of Somalia has told Sky News that his country is emerging from an era when it was misruled by “an international gang of criminals operating in a vacuum”. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was democratically elected last September, says that the darkest days are over and that he “is determined to make Somalia a better place, and committed to putting in place the foundations so that the rule of law will be in all areas of public life”.

On a visit to the UK to see PM David Cameron the president was full of praise for the outside intervention in his country by the African Union supported by Western countries. That intervention has pushed back various war lords and the al Shabaab Islamist groups and allowed last year’s election.

The president said he understood Foreign Secretary William Hague’s recent remarks that elements in Somalia were part of the problem of the Sahel region which threatened the UK, but he was insistent that the new government was winning the fight against terrorism and piracy.

Somalia was the clearest example of a failed state in the modern era. At times the government’s authority did not extend more than a few yards from the presidential palace and prime minister’s office. Even now, both can be subject to terrorist attacks.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“Mary Harper, the Africa editor at the BBC World Service, is the author of “Getting Somalia Wrong? Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State,” which was released in February 2012. While she is particularly interested in Somalia, which she visits regularly, Ms. Harper has reported from several other African conflict zones, including Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Sudan. India Ink interviewed Ms. Harper at the Jaipur Literature Festival.”

Five Questions For: Journalist and Author Mary Harper

05 Feb – Source: New York Times Blog – 835 Words

What are the occupational hazards of being a writer?

It is interesting how different the experience of being a writer is to being a journalist. As a journalist, you’re a writer as well, but I never realized that the two things would be so completely different. I’m a broadcast journalist so I normally write pieces that are about 30 seconds or one minute long so the challenge of writing a book was pretty big for me.

It was a slow start, but once I got into it, it was like I was a thing possessed, and I could not stop doing that. The research in a way was about 20 years of working in Somalia, and I did a lot of reading for it as well, which took about a year. But the actual writing of it took me about six months, and I did that at the same time as I was working for the BBC. So I had virtually no time for anything and had to be really focused.

What is your everyday writing ritual?

I couldn’t work at home, and I didn’t write my book at the BBC. I wrote it in two libraries in London because I kind of needed to be with other people who were working quietly. One of them is the library at the School of Oriental and African Studies, which was brilliant in terms of the resources.

My favorite place to really write was in the British Library. It’s funny because it’s quite easy to join and it’s free for all, but there was a place in the top floor called Africa room or something, and there was this chair in there that I thought of as mine, and if ever anyone was sitting on that chair I used to get angry. It was a public library so it was kind of terrible that I used to get possessive about that chair. But if someone else was sitting there, I would walk past them and try to stare them away.

“There are not only challenges, but also huge opportunities that could be capitalized on the governments’ advantage. The opportunities for the new republic are immense. Time is on the side of the government. For the first time after 22 years Somalia is gaining its sovereign status. The glory and the emotions are high among Somalis. As Mogadishu is finally becoming peaceful and receptive the president encouraged Somalis to return back home.”

The New Republic: New Dawn – New Day: Challenges and Opportunities

04 Feb – Source: Hiiraan Online – 1266 Words

The new Republic of Somalia was born in August of 2012 following the adoption of the new constitution of Somalia that led to the formation of a new parliament and the election of the speaker and the president. This was historic because for the first time since the collapse of the Somali regime, a Somali conference was held in Mogadishu to end over a decade long of a transitional period.

In the past few weeks Somalia has gained momentum subsequent to the diplomatic recognition of the USA, which then triggered series of diplomatic interests that opened doors of many countries including the EU and UK, where the president is currently on an official visit.

With al Shabaab almost on the run, the hope for a long lasting peace and stability seems to be imminent. However, there is a need for a public support to swiftly transform Somalia from a failed state to a sovereign state. It is healthy to have genuine political differences, but unfortunately those differences should not be as a ruse to mobilize clans and create animosity in the society.

Since dialogue is not part of our culture; we by and large tend to polarize and stigmatize our political differences. Let us keep in mind that a fractured society cannot build a strong nation. The first republic of Somalia was built under the premise of emotions and injustice as those in the power practically dictated the future of the country.

“But beneath the euphoria and festivity for government’s recognition in the world stage, lie persistent, audible civil war undertone. Sadly, the crises of leadership that underpinned the long, brutal civil war remain unabated. And despite all the recent, encouraging political events and improved security in the capital, Somalia’s old demons continue to haunt.”

As Somalia Emerges at the World Stage, Civil War Undertones Persist

04 Jan – Source: Somali Page – 939 Words

There was a time when Somalia’s problems seemed grave, possibly beyond the point of rescue. Twenty years of in-fighting and disunity amongst Somali factions resulted in a culture of mistrust and suspicion. The absence of central political authority turned the country into an ungovernable space. Al Shabaab, Piracy and intermittent, devastating famine characterized the country and its people. In short, the country as a whole was viewed by the international community as a tragedy that refused to go away.

That depressing characterization of Somalia as a hopeless nation, however, does no longer hold true. In light of last year’s significant political and security developments in Mogadishu, the prevalent sentiment amongst Somali people is that of hope and excitement.

The prospect of Somalia’s rebirth as a proud nation and responsible country among world nation states seems real and attainable. There is new parliament, new president and prime minister—all formed, elected and selected in the capital. And that marks first time such political exercise took place in the country.

Furthermore, the world appears to share Somali people’s euphoria —Obama administration recognized the Somali government in January 2013. The rest of the world, Europe included, is expected to follow US’s lead. Turkey has poured money and expertise in the capital to rehabilitate the crumbled infrastructure and boost the morale of city’s war weary residents. Indeed, there is a lot of good news about Somalia these days.

Top tweets

‏@UN New @IFADnews initiative encourages Somalis abroad to invest in #farming projects back home http://ow.ly/hpLun #Somalia.

‏@UNDP [VIDEO] Brave #Somali lawyers fight traditional gender roles: http://on.undp.org/hlCz5 #EqualityMonday.

@Oxfam #Somalia food crisis easing, though +1M people are still in need, malnutrition rates still high http://oxf.am/3uL.

@Hamza_Africa Street children polishing shoes at Isbahaysiga Mosque in#Mogadishu, #Somalia. 11,000 of them on Mogadishu http://roads.pic.twitter.com/A0Yt77cA.

@SomaliPM “Rape in Somalia must be put to an end”. My wife hosted a big meeting in #Mogadishu on stopping gender violence http://bit.ly/UTVJwm.

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Image of the day

Image of the day British Prime Minister David Cameron with Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud meeting in Downing Street, on 4 February 2013. Photo: FCO.