February 11, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Explosion hits northern Galkayo town
11 Feb – Source: Bar-kulan/Raxanreeb/Shabelle/
A car bomb has exploded outside a police station in Puntland administered northern central Somali town of Galkayo, reports say. The Monday morning explosion occurred when a car laden with explosives went off few meters outside the station. There are reports of casualties but details still remains scanty as police have sealed off the scene of the explosion.
The explosion destroyed several police cars parked outside, according to locals who spoke to Bar-kulan shortly after the explosion. It is not clear who may be responsible of the attack was claimed Somalia-based al Shabaab group, which said on its twitter account that it had killed 9 police officers.
Galkayo which straddles the border separating semi-autonomous Puntland from the self-proclaimed separate region of Galmudug to the south has seen violent assassinations and organised crimes in recent months. On Wednesday last week, police arrested more than 200 people orchestrating insecurity in the region. In late July last year, Puntland’s area security Chief Col. Warsame Yussuf Ahmed was injured in blast that ripped through the town.
Key Headlines
- Explosion hits northern Galkayo town (Bar-kulan/Raxanreeb/Shabelle/
Somali Memo/Garowe Online/Radio Risaala) - Security official Killed in Mogadishu (VOA Somali Service/Radio Kulmiye/ Al Shahid)
- Somali President to Somalis: “The world is ready for us so let us move forward” (Shabelle)
- Somalia PM says govt committed to press freedom (Africa Review)
- U.N. monitors see arms reaching Somalia from Yemen Iran (Reuters)
- Jubaland conference to kick off in Kismayo Feb 23 (Radio Bar-kulan)
- Former prime minister of Somalia visits Minneapolis with hopeful outlook (Mn Daily)
- Somaliland coast guard captures Yemeni fishing boats (Sabahi Online)
SOMALI MEDIA
Explosion hits northern Galkayo town
11 Feb – Source: Bar-kulan/Raxanreeb/Shabelle/
A car bomb has exploded outside a police station in Puntland administered northern central Somali town of Galkayo, reports say. The Monday morning explosion occurred when a car laden with explosives went off few meters outside the station. There are reports of casualties but details still remains scanty as police have sealed off the scene of the explosion.
The explosion destroyed several police cars parked outside, according to locals who spoke to Bar-kulan shortly after the explosion. It is not clear who may be responsible of the attack was claimed Somalia-based al Shabaab group, which said on its twitter account that it had killed 9 police officers.
Galkayo which straddles the border separating semi-autonomous Puntland from the self-proclaimed separate region of Galmudug to the south has seen violent assassinations and organised crimes in recent months. On Wednesday last week, police arrested more than 200 people orchestrating insecurity in the region. In late July last year, Puntland’s area security Chief Col. Warsame Yussuf Ahmed was injured in blast that ripped through the town.
Security official Killed in Mogadishu
11 Feb – Source: VOA Somali Service/Radio Kulmiye/ Al Shahid – 166 words
Somali capital Mogadishu witnessed last night two separate incidents, where security official killed in Shibis, Banadir region, also unidentified gunmen hurled a grenade in a house of one of the members of the Somali Parliament
Witnesses confirmed that unknown men armed with pistols assassinated the unidentified security officer in Shibis district in Mogadishu before fleeing the scene. There is no group which claimed the responsibilities of the attacks, but it is part of the operations carried out by elements of al Shabaab militia, according to security sources.
The assassination came moments after when unidentified men also hurled a grenade on the home of Abdiwali Ibrahim Modey one of the members of the Somali parliament. Modey told Voice of America Somali service that unknown assailants threw two hand grenades at his house, adding that the attack did not result in casualties.
Jubaland conference to kick off in Kismayo Feb 23
11 Feb – Source: Radio Bar-kulan – 159 words
The much awaited Jubaland conference aimed at crafting a regional administration bringing together Lower Juba, Middle Juba and Gedo regions of Somalia will kick off Saturday, February 23, according to the technical committee tasked with the formation of Jubaland administration.
The committee said over 500 delegates from the Mogadishu-based central government, IGAD member countries and local elders from the three regions are expected to attend the conference in Kismayo. Speaking at a press conference in Kismayo, committee chairman Moalim Ibrahim Mohamed Monday said the conference will be the latest attempt to form a regional administration for the locals of these regions.
Committee members also expressed confidence that the upcoming conference will be fruitful as a regional administration will be formed soon afterwards. Since the fall of al Shabaab’s rule in Kismayo later last year, there have been efforts in and outside the country to set up a regional administration for locals in these regions under the banner of Jubaland State.
Somali soccer referees prepare for FIFA training course
11 Feb – Source: Raxanreeb – 143 words
Somali Football referees are under huge preparations for a FIFA level refereeing course for the country’s elite referees. The course is slated in the neighbouring Djibouti next month according to a press statement by SFF secretary General Abdi Qani Said Arab on Sunday evening.
The Secretary General said in his press statement which was issued at the SFF headquarters here in Mogadishu that the referees are undergoing daily training sessions in the capital and other regions in the country, as kind of their preparations for the FIFA course.
“Here we have fully talented instructors including former international referees Abdi Abdulle Ahmed and Hassan Mohamed Mahmoud—I am very confident in the knowledge and experience of the instructors who are capable of coming with referees of high quality to the FIFA course in Djibouti” SFF secretary general Abdi Qani Said Arab mentioned in his statement.
Puntland bans import and use of polythene bags
10 Feb – Source: Garowe Online – 154 words
The Puntland government has announced that they have banned the import of polythene bags into Puntland, Garowe Online reports. The Puntland parliament passed a law banning the import of polythene bags into Puntland after seeing the devastating effects the polythene bags have on the environment.
A Puntland committee on the banning of polythene bags was announced and will be working closely with several Puntland ministries such as the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Ports, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Information.
The State Minister for Good Governance Mohamed Farah Isse Gashan a member of the committee against polythene bags explained to the media the effect the bags have on the environment and the importance of the ban. “The polythene bags have an effect on the health of our livestock, animals in general, individuals and our environment and people carrying, importing and buying bags will be fined and could face jail term,” said Minister Gashan.
Somali President to Somalis: “The world is ready for us so let us move forward”
09 Feb – Source: Shabelle – 148 words
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who returned back from a trip that took him to Europe and Egypt, has told at a news conference in Mogadishu that the world community is ready to help Somalia and its people but the Somalis are first needed to help themselves and start rebuilding their nation after long years of chaos and war.
“We have to move forward from where we are now,” said the president during his news conference in which he detailed about his trip to the headquarters of the European Union, London and finally the Islamic summit in Cairo.
The president said that at the Islamic summit in Cairo, leaders from the Islamic world have discussed Somalia and ways to help Somalia and he mentioned that the summit donated economic fund to Somalia which would be administered by a joint commission from Somalia and the Islamic development bank.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Somaliland coast guard captures Yemeni fishing boats
10 Feb – Source: Sabahi Online – 140 words
The Somaliland coast guard on Friday (February 8th) captured two boats operated by Yemeni nationals fishing illegally off in Somaliland’s waters. In an operation conducted in Karin district, 100 kilometres east of Berbera, the coast guard arrested 32 fishermen, according to Somaliland coast guard chief Admiral Ahmed Osman Abdi.
“They were engaged in illegal fishing in Somaliland waters and we will try them according to the law,” Abdi told Sabahi, adding that the men have been transferred to Berbera to face trial.
Even though the Somaliland Ministry of Fisheries has licensed some fishing boats, Yemeni fishermen routinely violate the law, Abdi said. “In the last few years, we have captured several illegal Yemeni fishermen, and they have been convicted in court,” he said. Somaliland is not against foreign fishing boats, but they have to get the legal permits, Abdi said.
Somalia PM says govt committed to press freedom
10 Feb – Source: Africa Review – 236 words
The Somali Government is planning to establish the legal framework for a free press and properly regulated telecommunications sector, an official has said. This comes as international outcry grows over harassment of journalists in the restive country.
Speaking on Saturday during a consultation meeting on Telecoms and Media Law in the capital Mogadishu, Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon said the government is keen to establish a legal framework for a free press.
“My government is very much committed to seeing a free media. The media also has its social responsibilities. Anyone who harms a journalist harms our society. Modern society cannot live without a free press,” he said. He commended telecommunications and media companies for maintaining their operations in the country amid chaos.
With improved security, investors eyeing Somalia
09 Feb – Source: East African – 484 words
Somalia is becoming attractive to investors with two business conferences lined up for May and June in London and Nairobi respectively. Sources close to the government of Somalia say improved security has enhanced investor confidence, including those seeking contracts in reconstruction in a country where infrastructure has been reduced to a bare minimum by over 20 years of war.
With resources like oil, minerals and a long coastline, Somalia is proving more attractive than even South Sudan, which has been bogged down by internal conflicts and persistent tensions between Juba and Khartoum.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Former prime minister of Somalia visits Minneapolis with hopeful outlook
11 Feb – Source: Mn Daily – 174 words
The former Prime Minister of Somalia, who oversaw the drafting of the new constitution and helped lead the country toward stabilization, visited Minneapolis over the weekend. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, who led the country from 2011 to 2012, conducted forums in English and Somali on Friday and Saturday, focusing on his personal account of ending the transitional government and his hopes for the country’s future.
Ali’s visit highlights the stabilization of the East African country in recent years and the optimism of Somali-Americans to return and contribute. “This ushers a new era and a new beginning for the country,” he said in English to a diverse crowd at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs on Friday night. “Hopefully this will also bring a substantive to the morale and material being of the Somali people.”
The former prime minister’s visit comes about three weeks after a visit from current Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, as well as the United States’ decision to officially recognize the Somali government for the first time since 1991.
U.N. monitors see arms reaching Somalia from Yemen, Iran
11 Feb – Source: Reuters – 151 words
As the United States pushes for an end to the U.N. arms embargo on Somalia, U.N. monitors are reporting that Islamist militants in the Horn of Africa nation are receiving arms from distribution networks linked to Yemen and Iran, diplomats told Reuters.
The U.N. Security Council’s sanctions monitoring team’s concerns about Iranian and Yemeni links to arms supplies for al Shabaab militants come asYemen is asking Tehran to stop backing armed groups on Yemeni soil. Last month Yemeni coast guards and the U.S. Navy seized a consignment of missiles and rockets the Sanaa government says were sent by Iran.
According to the latest findings by the monitoring group, which tracks compliance with U.N. sanctions on Somalia and Eritrea, most weapons deliveries are coming into northern Somalia – that is, the autonomous Puntland and Somaliland regions – after which they are moved farther south into Shabaab strongholds.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Arriving in Burao was uneventful as my first hotel ended up being an amazing deal at $10 a night. I ate some goat and fell asleep early. The next morning, after realizing there was nothing to do in the town, I decided to settle in and chew some chat with the locals. This was exciting at first because apparently no one in Burao has ever seen a white person chew chat.”
Into the Somaliland Mountains and to Burao
09 Feb – Source: Travel Blog – 710 Words
I set off from Hargeisa in mid-morning for the small mountain town of Sheikh, as suggested by the Director of Tourism. The ride was in a cramped shared taxi that was reminiscent of West Africa. We stopped for food and tea in a number of places before we finally climbed into the mountains that surrounded Sheikh.
When I finally uncramped myself, I realized that I was in a beautiful natural environment with mountains ringing the town. I stayed in a small boarding house with students who were taking their international examinations in the town (apparently the number one secondary school in the country was there as well as the best vetrinary school in the Horn of Africa). The biggest problem was that it was really cold! As low as 6 degrees at night!
I spent my first night just wandering around talking to local people, all of whom thought I was a journalist, until I finally went to bed. I accidentaly fell asleep for 14 hours and awoke at 11am! I ended up finding a small restaurant with a Syrian cook who begged me to ask him to make something other than Somali food. He made me some lunch and dinners for the rest of my stay. He even gave me a knife and fork to eat it with!
Top tweets
@SomaliPM #Somalia is undergoing “a profound transformation” and #UN is adjusting to positive “new realities” here http://bit.ly/Y3VLyH.
@IdiAuslander Many students spoke of working in Somalia after their studies. A lot of optimism about Somalia’s future. #Somalia #Kenya #Diaspora.
@HIPSINSTITUTE #UN body that monitors arms embargo on #Somalia says #alShabaab receives weapons consignments from #Yemen & #Iran http://bit.ly/UTICxQ.
@Anisa_Hajimumin The #Somali civilians will not give up arms, it takes time and money to do it. Give incentives for exchange of the arms! #Somalia.
@OCHASom Nw plans to relocate internally displaced people from centre of #Mogadishu. …p://bit.ly/WDRiam #Somalia.
Image of the day
Players play final match of Somalia’s 4th women handball championship as thousands of zealous spectators watch in Mogadishu on February 10, 2013. Photo: Raxanreeb.