August 7, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.
Kenya: Government to pull KDF troops out of Somalia
07 Aug – Source: The People – 354 Words
The Kenyan Government says it is ready to withdraw the Kenya Defense Forces from Somalia as they have accomplished its mission. In a joint communique through Principal Secretaries in the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs, the government says it is ready to comply with the conclusion reached by the Heads of State and Governments of the African Mission In Somalia (AMISOM) troops.
“We are ready to exit Kismayo and this must be done in an orderly manner to avoid compromising security gains achieved,”said Monica Juma, the Defence PS. Juma said the principal reason for KDF incursion into Somalia has been achieved and as a government they are ready to handover the mantle as long as the process is done in an orderly manner.
She said she will meet the Chief of Defence Forces Jeremiah Karangi and give the exact details when the troops will exit Somalia. “The chief of KDF will meet soon to discuss on the modalities of handing over Kismayu to Somalis,” she said. Juma dismissed claims that KDF is controlling business in Kismayu, saying the troops are only present in Somalia to provide security and help in its stabilisation.
Key Headlines
- Former TFG PM set to contest for Puntland presidency (Somaliland Press/Hiiraan Online/Universal TV/Bar-kulan)
- Somalia: New British ambassador on first visit to Puntland (Garowe Online /Universal TV/Radio Mustaqbal)
- Kenya: Government to pull KDF troops out of Somalia (The People)
- Al Shabaab vows more attacks warns Mogadishu residents (Radio Dalsan)
- Kenya opposes plan to hand over Kismayo port (Daily Nation)
- Hiiraan region bans counterfeit money promises food assistance to affected poor (Sabahi Online)
- Former Tory leader spearheads Somalia oil deal (Financial Times)
- Somalia unveils new agency for maritime security (Ngr Guardian)
- IOM Moves to Tackle High Youth Unemployment in Somaliland (Sociolingo News)
SOMALI MEDIA
Former TFG PM set to contest for Puntland presidency
07 Aug – Source: Somaliland Press/Hiiraan Online/Universal TV/Bar-kulan – 152 words
The former Prime minister of the Transitional Federal government of Somalia Prof. Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gas has announced his intentions to run for president in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region on Tuesday. Gaas stressed that Puntland administration needs political and economic change.
The former Prime minister said his decision to run for President in the next Presidential elections had being influenced by the people of Puntland who are desperate for political change in the semi-autonomous region. Dr. Gaas vowed to do something about the region’s political crisis, create jobs for the youth and also do something about the worsening economy.
Dr. Gaas’s announcement comes a day after president Farole broke off ties with Mogadishu government after accusing of refusing to share power and foreign aid with the regions in line with the country’s federal structure, as well as taking its eye off the fight against al Qaeda-linked Islamist militant.
Somalia: New British ambassador on first visit to Puntland
07 Aug – Source: Garowe Online /Universal TV/Radio Mustaqbal – 89 words
The UK Government’s new ambassador to Somalia Neil Wigan on his first two-day visit Tuesday to Puntland since being appointed to the post in June.
Puntland Cabinet ministers received Ambassador Wigan’s delegation at Garowe airport and the visiting delegation engaged in meetings with Puntland government leadership, including President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole.
Government sources told Garowe Online that the discussions covered a range of topics, including Puntland’s democratization progress, security, the federal constitution and cooperation with Federal Government, managing international aid, and UK-funded projects in Puntland.
Al Shabaab vows more attacks, warns Mogadishu residents
07 Aug – Source: Radio Dalsan – 143 words
The extremist group, al Shabaab has vowed to carry out more attacks in the capital, Mogadishu. The group’s spokesman Abdiaziz abu Mus’ab said that the group was planning more attacks against government bases and the bases of the African Union peacekeepers.
“So far we have carried out more than 270 attacks against the invaders and we will continue to target them,” he said in a recorded voice posted on the pro- al Shabaab websites.
He warned the residents of Mogadishu to refrain from the government offices and the buildings of the African Union forces, adding that going to those places will endanger themselves. “We are worried about civilians killed so we warn all the Muslim people not to be close to those bases,” he stated.
Somalia prepare for Eid al-Fitr celebrations
07 Aug – Source: Qalin News – 184 words
Residents in the Somali capital Mogadishu, the rest in the country and Muslim world are preparing for the celebration to mark the end of Ramadhan.
Parents with their children are seen in the main markets in Mogadishu in the past days. Bakara, Suq-bacad, Hamarweyne markets and other markets in Benadir region were busy with people buying clothings, foodstuffs and other products.
Reports say some of the foreign and local aid agencies distributed cloths and cash to orphans and poor children in the Mogadishu and other regions in the northeast, northwest and south central Somalia in order to enjoy the celebrations.
‘PNEB certificate enjoys wide recognition’-Puntland Ministry of Education
06 Aug – Source: Garowe Online/Raxanreeb – 106 words
Puntland Ministry of Education has announced that Puntland National Examination Board (PNEB) certificate of grade twelve students is recognized many countries in Africa and Asia on Tuesday, Garowe Online reports.
Speaking at a press conference held in Puntland capital of Garowe, the Director General of Puntland’s education ministry Mohamed Abdiwahab Ahmed told that Puntland government has been concerting greater effort in improving the education sector by recruiting qualified teachers for both primary and secondary schools.
“We also harmonized the curricula in conformity with our priorities and through flawless procedure, the ministry gives single examination to grade twelve students who were prepared for universities,” said Mr. Ahmed.
REGIONAL MEDIA
KDF, AMISOM Anniversary
06 Aug – Source: KTN – 3:50mins
Kenya marks fifteen years since the bomb blast that changed the nation’s perception of what exactly the war on terror was. Today marks yet another anniversary, for a people who lived under terrorists for well over two years. August the sixth 2011 was the day that Amisom forces in Mogadishu flushed the al shabaab out of the city. KTN’s John-Allan Namu is just back from Mogadishu, and now reports on a city that is slowly shaking off the scent of war.
Hiiraan region bans counterfeit money, promises food assistance to affected poor
06 Aug – Source: Sabahi Online – 650 Words
Residents in Beledweyne, capital of Somalia’s Hiiraan region, have expressed mixed views on the regional administration’s recent ban on the counterfeit money that has been the main tender in some areas for more than a year. The counterfeit notes were printed on a machine in the Himan and Heeb regional capital of Adado, according to Hiiraan regional administration Deputy Chairman Khalif Abdi Omar.
The fake money, known as “white notes”, differs from banknotes circulating in Mogadishu in the serial numbers and the paper used to print it. The notes circulated in some areas of Galgadud, Himan and Heeb, and Hiran regions, including Beledweyne, Adado, Dhusamareb and Guriel, for more than a year before the July 25th ban. The city of Abudwak in Galgadud however implemented the ban last year.
“No one regulates this money, and it has no limit because each new car that comes is carrying new money,” Omar told Sabahi. “To avoid inflation, we decided to stop [using] the money that is made in Adado and use the money that is used in Mogadishu.” The administration decreed that Hiran region will use money issued by previous transitional federal governments until Somalia’s Central Bank is able to manage the national currency, Omar said.
Kenya: Government to pull KDF troops out of Somalia
07 Aug – Source: The People – 354 Words
The Kenyan Government says it is ready to withdraw the Kenya Defense Forces from Somalia as they have accomplished its mission. In a joint communique through Principal Secretaries in the Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs, the government says it is ready to comply with the conclusion reached by the Heads of State and Governments of the African Mission In Somalia (AMISOM) troops.
“We are ready to exit Kismayo and this must be done in an orderly manner to avoid compromising security gains achieved,”said Monica Juma, the Defence PS. Juma said the principal reason for KDF incursion into Somalia has been achieved and as a government they are ready to handover the mantle as long as the process is done in an orderly manner.
She said she will meet the Chief of Defence Forces Jeremiah Karangi and give the exact details when the troops will exit Somalia. “The chief of KDF will meet soon to discuss on the modalities of handing over Kismayu to Somalis,” she said. Juma dismissed claims that KDF is controlling business in Kismayu, saying the troops are only present in Somalia to provide security and help in its stabilisation.
Kenya opposes plan to hand over Kismayo port
06 Aug – Source: Daily Nation – 213 Words
Kenya has opposed calls for its defence forces to cede control of Kismayo port and airport to the Somali government. It has instead proposed that control of the two installations be negotiated between the federal government and leadership of the federal member states in line with the Somali constitution.
Defence Principal Secretary Monicah Juma and her Foreign Affairs counterpart Karanja Kibicho told a news conference on Tuesday that this would avert a sense of discrimination and lack of equity in the regions. The two officials warned that attempts to circumvent this requirement would undermine the fragile peace, leading to “serious deterioration of the security situation.”
The government officials said the decision had elicited “disturbing reactions and heightened tension within and outside Somalia.” The matter was brought up on Sunday by leaders of countries contributing troops to the African Union Mission in Somalia at a meeting in Uganda.
Row over Jubaland threatens to sour Kenya, Somalia ties
06 Aug – Source: Standard Media – 138 words
Officials of Jubaland State say they have, cleared Kismayo of Mogadishu-backed militia. The army chief confirmed this just days after the military and militia clash left dozens dead. Although Kenya Defence Forces ( KDF) and other AMISOM troops fighting al Shabaab entered Kismayo on October 1, last year, the city remained dangerous.
Warlords maintained control of several pockets in the city; militia killed civilians and erected illegal checkpoints. Now, the Jubaland administration says it has fully secured the port city. This follows the routing of two warlords – Barre Aadan Shire (Hiiraale) and Iftiin Xasan (Baasto) – in a three-day gun battle that ended last Sunday.
“Kismayo… is free of hostile gunmen and warlords,” General Ismail Sahardid, the army chief, told this reporter on the telephone from Kismayo. “It is absolutely safe for the first time since we arrived here.”
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Former Tory leader spearheads Somalia oil deal
06 Aug – Source: Financial Times – 708 words
Michael Howard, the former leader of Britain’s Conservative party, has spearheaded the first oil deal with the new government of Somalia, a country destroyed by two decades of civil war, piracy and terrorism. Lord Howard, who joined newly formed company Soma Oil and Gas as non-executive chairman only three months ago, signed the deal in Mogadishu, the shelled-out capital of Somalia where al Qaeda-linked jihadists mount regular suicide bomb attacks, during his first visit there on Tuesday.
Interest in oil and gas exploration along the east African coast has surged after commercial quantities of oil were discovered in Kenya and Uganda along with gas in Tanzania and Mozambique further south sending many wildcat explorers into high-risk nearby prospective areas including Somalia. “Because of the obvious reasons it’s very much underexplored,” Robert Sheppard, Soma’s chief executive who is also an adviser to BP, told the Financial Times after the signing, citing the many security issues. His company, formed this year, will put armed guards on board ships to ward off Somali pirates who have previously commandeered vessels and demanded millions in ransom pay-offs.
The weak new government, the most representative in years, said earlier this year the broken state was too fragile to risk oil exploration because it was likely to pit different regions and warlords against each other. UN investigators also said in a report this year that inconsistencies in the legal framework regulating oil “risk exacerbating clan divisions and therefore threaten peace and security”.
Somalia unveils new agency for maritime security
07 Aug – Source: Ngr Guardian – 195 words
Somalia will set up a new coastguard force to combat piracy as well as to strengthen its control over its territorial waters and natural resources, the country’s presidency disclosed recently. A deal signed between Somalia’s defence ministry and a private company, The Atlantic Marine and Offshore Group, aims to create a coastguard from scratch for the war-torn nation, whose pirate-infested coastline is one of the longest on mainland Africa.
“Instituting a coastguard is essential for the establishment of the rule of law within Somali waters,” said presidential spokesman Abdirahman Omar Osman, adding that the Netherlands-based company would provide “structure, assets and services” to develop the force. However, no details were given as to the potential size and capability of the proposed force, nor any financial details of the deal.
The coastguard will also provide “protection of fishing grounds from illegal foreign fishing boats” as well as “protecting natural resources,” Osman added, without giving any time frame for it to be set up. The announcement, according to agency reports follows efforts by the internationally-backed government in Mogadishu to claw back authority over Somalia’s territorial waters, including areas bordering Kenya potentially rich in oil and gas deposits.
Kenya says ready to hand over control of Somali port city
06 Aug – Source: Reuters – 218 words
Kenya said on Tuesday it was ready to hand control of the strategic Somali port city of Kismayu to a recognised leader, but warned that a chaotic exit would embolden al Qaeda-linked insurgents in southern Somalia. Kenyan troops, as part of an African Union peacekeeping force, routed al Shabaab rebels from Kismayu in September but fighting flared up and dozens of civilians died as rival warlords have battled in recent weeks for control of the lucrative trade flowing through the city’s port.
Tensions have been simmering for months between Kenya and the central Somali government, which accuses Nairobi of backing Ahmed Madobe, a former warlord whose militia fought beside the Kenyans and who now controls Kismayu. Mogadishu opposes Madobe’s leadership. “The government of Kenya is ready to handover the two ports but it must hand over to someone and that someone must be a negotiated process,” Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho told a news conference, referring to the city’s airport and seaport.
“Otherwise if (Kenya) just left, we would be sliding back to where came from.” In a country where political support and access to resources is founded on clan loyalties, Somalia’s central government has struggled to exert its influence over its many regions and agree on how to share power under a federal political system.
IOM Moves to Tackle High Youth Unemployment in Somaliland
06 Aug – Source: Sociolingo News – 167 words
Soaring unemployment in Somaliland, especially among school-leavers and university graduates, has fuelled an increase in irregular migration, drug addiction and conflict, according to a study conducted by the Somaliland National Youth Organization (SONYO). This contributes to the irregular migration of hundreds young people who set off on a perilous journey to Europe across the desert. This movement has caused a massive brain drain of skilled and semi-skilled young people from Somaliland.
According to Somaliland’s National Development Programme, unemployment among youth stands at 75 per cent, which is much higher than the nation’s average of 61.5 per cent in urban areas and 40.7 per cent in rural and nomadic areas. Unofficial estimates show that at least 65-70 per cent of Somaliland’s 3.5 million people are under 30.
The study which was carried out in December 2010 by SONYO, in conjunction with the Dutch Oxfam-Novib, indicated that out of 800 people interviewed, only 25 per cent were employed. “We are not incompetent. We are not lazy.
Students from Somalia given help thanks to grant
06 Aug – Source: ITV News – 253 Words
More help will be given to students of a Somali heritage who are struggling at school, after a Sheffield education charity secured a £19,000 grant. Somali Education Breakthrough will use the money to help young Somalis living in Sheffield who are not performing well in school and facing cultural barriers.
The charity already provides support to Somali families by helping them to understand the British school system and by providing study support evenings. Ismail Yusuf, management committee representative at Somali Education Breakthrough, said: “We have discovered that many young Somalis have an education attainment that is below the national average and there is a great need to close this gap.
“According to recent Sheffield statistics, Somali pupils are excluded from schools almost 2.5 times more than British children. This funding will help us to attract more young people to use our after school services, work more collaboratively with schools and provide advice and guidance on employment opportunities.”
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“The message from Mogadishu reminded Turks of the bombings in Istanbul nearly a decade ago, carried out by al Qaeda. It also reminded them that Ankara cannot trust or be involved with these groups, which refuse partnership with any party unless it sets the terms and conditions.”
Who’s that knocking on Turkey’s door in Somalia?
07 Aug – Source: Asharq Al Awsat – 663 Words
Had the latest attack that targeted the Turkish embassy in the Somali capital of Mogadishu achieved its desired damage, losses would have been far higher than they were. The vigilance of the guards, who killed some of the attackers before they could detonate their explosives, prevented their plan to take out Turkish diplomats and security figures. It would have been the largest such attack to date.
The al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab movement released a statement claiming responsibility for the attack. In it, the group justified targeting Turkey because its policy of “supporting the apostate regime [in Somalia] and seeking to suppress the Shari’a order.”
We were about to accept this scenario, which is considered logical given that Turkey—especially over the last five years—has increased its reconstruction, development and humanitarian projects, which extend far beyond Somali borders. Turkish embassies have become active missions that work around the clock to block such organizations from finding supporters, according to the Turkish foreign minister Ahmet DavutoÄŸlu.
“The story of Judith Tebbutt and her husband David, who were captured in 2011 on the border between Kenya and Somalia, is all the fuller in book form, where the small, astonishing details filter through.”
A Long Walk Home by Judith Tebbutt: A story told with heroic self-control
06 Aug – Source: New Statesman – 865 Words
To read news reports of western visitors taken hostage in what have, until quite recently, been thought of as idyllic holiday destinations is to experience a chilly frisson and a feeling that it might be just as well to take a vacation somewhere (Cornwall, say) where kidnapping for ransom is still relatively uncommon.
But some stories linger in the mind for longer than the day’s headlines and, for me, Judith Tebbutt’s kidnap in late 2011 was one of those. Her husband, David, who was murdered during the violent incident on Kenya’s border with Somalia in the course of which Judith was taken hostage, was the friend of a friend who told me that Judith was partially deaf. I thought of her often during her captivity with pity and horror, wondering how she was surviving and how her only son, Ollie, then 25, was coping with the death of his father and the abduction of his mother.
In September 2011, Judith and David Tebbutt were on safari in the Masai Mara game reserve. Africa was a place of special significance to them. They met and fell in love in Zanzibar in 1976, when David and Judith’s first husband, Peter, were both employees of the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines. Judith had married young, to a chap from her home town of Ulverston whom she had met while working at an electrical components factory.
Top tweets
@OCHASom Latest #Somalia #Humanitarian Snapshot gives an overview of the humanitarian situation in July – take a look!http://bit.ly/14xFPPw.
@t_mcconnell What connects Tory grandee Michael Howard and the war-wracked state of #Somalia? Oil, of coursehttp://thetim.es/156kGFj for @thetimes.
@amisomsomalia PHOTOS OF THE DAY: #Mogadishu now: 2 years after al Shabaab http://on.fb.me/11glzLn W.
@chefafrik One of the top #Somalia # food blogs. Meet the team behind “The Somali Kitchen” blog http://ow.ly/nHdJy #afriyum#31writenow.
@oxfamnz Somali migrants send home ~$1.3bn in remittances each yr – This lifeline must be kept open! #Somalia [Report]http://shrd.by/gDmA8T.
Image of the day
Somali Minister of Natural Resources Abdirizak Omar Mohamed, left shakes hands with Michael Howard, non-executive chairman of Soma Oil and Gas after signing Oil & Gas Seismic Agreement in Mogadishu on August 06, 2013. Photo: Hiiraan Online.