August 16, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.

Main Story

Response of Somali Federal Government response to MSF Ceasing Operations in Somalia

16 Aug – Source: Office of the Prime Minister – 224 words

The Federal Government of Somalia is deeply saddened by the decision of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to withdraw its operations from Somalia. Federal Government of Somalia recognizes the invaluable contribution MSF has had on Somali territories during the darkest periods of its history. Their hard work, commitment and perseverance resulted of many lives being saved.

“We are deeply thankful and extremely indebted to MSF for the extraordinary work they have done in Somalia. Their involvement over the past 20 years has provided life saving services to the most inaccessible communities. We understand the many challenges MSF have faced over the years and stress that the new Somali Government is ready to help overcome them” Dr. Maryan Qasim, Minister of Human Development and Public Services.

Federal Government of Somalia reiterates its commitment and is working towards providing secure working environment to all aid agencies so they are able to provide the life saving services they do. Dr. Maryan Qasim strongly encouraged and seriously requested that MSF review its decision. “It is unfortunate that this decision will directly affect the lives of thousands of vulnerable people.

Key Headlines

Response of Somali Federal Government response to MSF Ceasing Operations in Somalia (Office of the Prime Minister)
Somali Minister receives FIFA play present (Radio Mogadishu/SNTV/Raxanreeb)
First ever FIFA grassroots training course launched in Mogadishu (Raxanreeb/Bar-kulan)
Omamo defends KDF on Somalia trade allegations (Daily Nation)
US army trains Ugandan military officers for Somalia mission (Sudan Tribune)
80000 Somali refugees head home (Star News)
Somalia Asks Medical Group to Reconsider Withdrawal (VOA News)
Riddleyton house fire hero Abdullahi Guled gets Australian citizenship (Herald Sun)

PRESS RELEASE

Response of Somali Federal Government response to MSF Ceasing Operations in Somalia

16 Aug – Source: Office of the Prime Minister – 224 words

We fear that this decision will lead to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis”. This decision of MSF has created a critical vacuum that needs to be filled. Dr. Maryan Qasim urgently requests international community and donor countries to offer their support.

SOMALI MEDIA

Somali Minister receives FIFA play present

16 aug – Source: Radio Mogadishu/SNTV/Raxanreeb – 161 words

Somalia’s Minister for Public Service Development Drs Maryan Qasim has lauded the relocation of FIFA events to the capital Mogadishu pledging that Somali government will give more priority to the promotion of football which she described as the “most shining” sporting activities in the country.

She was speaking during a meeting with FIFA instructor Ulric Mathiot at the civil service development Ministryon Wednesday where she received FIFA fair play award from the expert on behalf of the world’s top football governing body FIFA.

During his speech, the FIFA expert thanked Somali government for creating a secure environment to organize such course and praised Somali Football Federation for the huge job they are doing in the country.

The main objective of the instructor’s visit to the ministry was to brief the Somali government on the importance of the grassroots course for the development of football in a country whose institutions were completely destroyed by civil wars and anarchy.

First ever FIFA grassroots training course launched in Mogadishu

16 Aug – Source: Raxanreeb/Bar-kulan – 138 words

For the first time in its football history, the war-weary Somalia has seen FIFA grassroots course being held in the country, an event which is termed as a “historic approach” by the Somali Football Federation which has been operating in one of the most dangerous countries in the world for the past two decades during which the SFF missed beloved volunteer colleagues including its former president Said Mahmoud Nur.

It was 1986 when the last FIFA course was held in Somalia, but the grassroots course is the first of its kind that Somalia gets from the world football governing body.

Somali Football Federation Secretary General Abdi Qani Said Arab who first addressed at the launching ceremony gave detailed information on the course and the efforts spent by his federation to get such course organized in the war-devastated country.

“Illegal Fishermen shall face law if Caught”, says Somaliland’s Fisheries DG

15 Aug – Source: Somaliland Sun – 109 words

The government is determined towards the beneficial exploitation of its marine resources, noted Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources which is consolidating commercial activities within Somaliland’s territorial waters especially as pertains to the deterrence of illegal fishing by international concerns.

Director General at the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine resources Mohamed Elmi Aden ‘Ilka’ase’ was speaking at his Hargeisa offices where he also revealed that plans are in final stages towards availing local fishermen and fishmongers maximum returns and sustainable livelihoods from their trade.

Said he, “The government’s intent is to protect national marine resources through the enforcement of relevant laws thus deter unauthorized harvesting by foreign owned vessels”.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Omamo defends KDF on Somalia trade allegations

16 Aug – Source: Daily Nation – 248 Words

The Kenyan soldiers in Somalia are neither engaged in local politics nor business and are only there to fight terrorism, the Defence Cabinet Secretary said Thursday. Ms Raychelle Omamo said the Kenya Defence Forces was a disciplined military, whose mandate in Somalia was to fight terrorist groups that posed a threat to Kenya. The troops would only leave once peace was restored in the troubled country, and which would be of strategic importance to Kenya.

The KDF has liberated large swathes of southern Somalia from al Shabaab, including seizing the strategic Kismayu Port, but has been accused of propping up some warlords and seeking to control the lucrative charcoal trade, the lifeline of local militias.

“The KDF is a disciplined force, which has conducted itself to the highest standards and has not in any way been engaged in local politics or trade,” she said. The KDF is now part of the stabilising force under Amisom that will remain in the country, until a multinational force is ready to take charge, as the regional Heads of State Summit held in Kampala resolved recently.

US army trains Ugandan military officers for Somalia mission

16 Aug – Source: Sudan Tribune – 140 words

The US army has trained 145 Ugandan military police officers who are set for deployment in Somalia under the auspices of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The soldiers were passed out on Wednesdayat a military training facility in the central Uganda district of Nakaseke.

The state controlled New Vision daily newspaper reported on Thursday that the training covered various aspects of military police training such as public order management, conducting military operations in an urban environment, medical skills and manning checkpoints, among others.

Lt. Col William Wyatt, the Chief of Cooperation at the US embassy in Kampala was quoted by the New Vision as saying that the Ugandan soldiers had benefitted from skills needed in an operation environment. In March 2007 Uganda was the first country to deploy troops in Somalia followed by Burundi, Djibuti and Kenya.

80,000 Somali refugees head home

16 Aug – Source: The Star News – 94 Words

Over 80,000 Somalia refugees have voluntarily returned to their country following the restoration of peace in the lawless state. Interior cabinet secretary Joseph Ole Lenku said records from the immigration departments indicate that the families have already relocated and resettled in various parts of Somalia.

Ole Lenku said the government will not relent on his plans to repatriate thousands of Somalia nationals in the Country. President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Somalia counterpart, Hassan Sheikh Mohamed, have agreed on a plan to repatriate more than 560,000 Somali refugees from Kenya.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Somalia Asks Medical Group to Reconsider Withdrawal

16 Aug – Source: VOA News – 128 words

Somalia’s government has asked aid group Doctors Without Borders to reconsider its planned withdrawal from the country. Somali Minister of Human Development and Public Services Dr. Maryan Qasim says the group’s decision “will directly affect the lives of thousands of vulnerable people” and could lead to a “catastrophic humanitarian crisis.”

The medical aid group, known by its French acronym MSF, said Wednesday it is ending all programs in Somalia because of attacks on its staff and what it called the government’s tolerance for such attacks.

In a statement Thursday, Qasim said the government understands the challenges MSF is facing and that the government “is ready to help overcome them.” MSF has operated for more than 20 years in war-torn Somalia, an environment where medical care was otherwise scarce.

Riddleyton house fire hero Abdullahi Guled gets Australian citizenship

16 Aug – Source: Herald Sun – 334 Words

ABDULLAHI Guled has spent most of his life in a refugee camp in Kenya after his parents fled from unrest in Somalia before he was born. Yesterday the 19-year-old received his Australian citizenship at a ceremony in Adelaide – the city he is now proud to call home.

Earlier this year the teenager rushed to the aid of a neighbour who was trapped in a burning house near his Ridleyton home and tried to extinguish the flames before fire crews arrived. Sadly, despite the efforts of Mr Guleed and other neighbours, the woman, 41, died in the inferno.

“I can still picture it like it was yesterday,” Mr Guled said, recalling the March 13 fire. “I saw the fire and the flames coming out the house. We couldn’t tell if someone was there because the flames were too high.” Mr Gulled was one of five people granted citizenship at the ceremony yesterday.

Journalism Brings Hope for Young Somalis Despite Danger

15 Aug – Source: VOA – 472 Words

They are 17, 18, 20 years old. They are journalists in Mogadishu, one of the most dangerous places in the world for reporters. At Radio Shabelle, the biggest station in Somalia, most of the journalists are young and don’t have much experience, but they are devoted and passionate, despite being targets of the terrorist group al-Shabab.

Kept like a fortress, this building is the headquarters of Radio Shabelle. It is here, in Mogadishu, that Hidaya Abdullahi Sabriye comes to work every day. She is only 17, but she already has been a journalist for two years. She said her job is her passion.

“I decided to become a journalist first because I liked it. And also because I felt the community needed journalists to report on what is happening,” she said. “I believed that, with the crisis that Somalia faces, you need independent journalists who help the people by reporting well on what is happening.”

Sabriye is one of the voices heard every morning on the radio. At Radio Shabelle, most of the journalists are young adults, or even teenagers. Somalia is rebuilding, and the media is growing. Journalism is one of the rare sectors that offers job opportunities to young people without a school degree or political connections, according to Radio Shabelle founder and director Abdi Uud.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“MSF’s pullout was announced at a time when most of the aid community seems to be warming up to Somalia, widely seen as a new “donor darling” after decades of neglect.”

Why MSF pulled out of Somalia

15 Aug – Source: Devex – 952 Words

Médecins Sans Frontières on Wednesday announced the closure of its programs in Somalia after 22 years due to conditions that prevent the organization from delivering medical care independently and safely.

MSF cited extreme attacks on its staff in an environment where armed groups and civilian leaders increasingly support, tolerate, or condone the killing, assaulting, and abducting of humanitarian aid workers as reason for its departure. Recent incidents include the abduction of two Spanish aid workers in the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya that ended only last month after a 21-month captivity in Somalia.

The pullout will not only impact the hundreds of thousands of Somalis who relied on MSF medical supplies and attention, but also over 1,500 employees that will all lose their jobs.

“Although we will try to minimize the impact we realize this loss of livelihood will be extremely difficult for them,” MSF USA press officer Tim Shenk told Devex. “We do regret this as they have been very committed to our work, many of them for a very long time.”

“Sameer Rahim talks to Nadifa Mohamed, one of Granta’s Best Young British Novelists, about her challenging novel set in Somalia.”

Nadifa Mohamed’s Somali journey

16 Aug – Source: The Telegraph – 761 Words

The Somali café in Shepherd’s Bush where I had agreed to meet Nadifa Mohamed turns out to be closed. “I forgot it was Ramadan,” says Mohamed, who was born in Somalia but moved to London when she was a child. When you’ve been away from home so long, it’s easy to forget these things.

She still has ways of keeping the old country alive. Sitting down in the place next door, I notice she’s carrying a musical instrument. “I’m learning how to play the oud,” she tells me, a traditional instrument similar to a lute. “I’m being taught by an 85-year-old who has been playing since he was 17.” She met him by chance on a plane and they became friends. “He’s very cool,” she says, adding, “he’s got some stories to tell. He’s a bit like my father.”

Her father’s stories were the basis of Mohamed’s award-winning first novel Black Mamba Boy (2009), which followed a child’s journey across the Middle East and Africa in the Thirties and Forties. She interviewed her father extensively, an experience she describes as “very collaborative, quite joyful”.

Initially she had wanted to write a biography rather than a novel, but found that the freedom of fiction enabled her to “disappear into someone’s mind, someone’s spirit” – which is much harder to do, she says, if you have to stick to the facts.

“The theme for the show at the So’maal festival was Somali goddess. ZamZam is a stickler for details designed twenty-four evening dresses worn by beautiful models from the Horn of Africa.”

Young Somali designer melds culture and fashion

15 Aug – Source: Africa on The Blog – 497 Words

Life in the diaspora has allowed many young Africans to flourish. ZamZam Duale, a Somali-Australian designer, who is only 19, is already taking giant strides at this tender age.

ZamZam, 19, made her fashion debut recently at the So’maal festival, a unique and creative event that allowed young people to express what it means to be a Somali-Australian.

“I would do anything to support my Somali community. Though I have worked in fashion shows before, to have and be at my own was something I could not pass! The feeling of seeing my first show at the So’maal festival in Melbourne come together on the runway was just wonderful. It was an experience I will never forget,” says ZamZam.

Doctors Without Borders draws a line in the sand, pulls out of Somalia

15 Aug – Source: All Alabama Blog – 185 Words

After 22 years, the international medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders is pulling out of Somalia, citing “extreme” attacks on the organization’s staff in the war-ravaged east African nation.

“The closure of our activities is a direct result of extreme attacks on our staff in an environment where armed groups and civilian leaders increasingly support, tolerate or condone the killing, assaulting and abducting of humanitarian aid workers,” Unni Karunakara, the international president of Doctors Without Borders, said, according to The New York Times.

“This decision comes after a long series of threats, kidnappings, violent attacks on staff, and murders,” a video produced by the organization states in a voiceover.

Two Doctors Without Borders aid workers were killed in Somalia in 2011, among 16 killed in the country since 1991, when a civil war started in the country. Two others were kidnapped in 2011, and freed last month after 21 months in captivity, according to the Times.

Top tweets

@reliefweb #Somalia: Despite efforts, #polio spreads – worst#outbreak in the world in a non-endemic countryhttp://bit.ly/14OZdHY @UNOCHA.

@UNDP Fact: Youth #unemployment in #Somalia is now 67%, among world’s highest http://on.undp.org/nTc6B v@UNDPSomalia #EndPovertyFriday.

@joanna_keenan #MSF Int’l president @UnniKarunakara talks to @CNN on the reasons behind the heartbreaking decision to leave #Somalia http://bit.ly/14fH5kc.

@amisomsomalia AMISOM to work closely with Federal Government of Somalia to investigate allegation of rape against its soldiers. http://bit.ly/19klBax.

@WaaberiProject Young #Somali designer melds culture and fashion:- Somali Australian Designer 🙂 http://fb.me/21KxOjEmI.

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Image of the day

Image of the day Somali Football Federation Secretary General Abdi Qani Said Arab speaks at the opening ceremony of a five-day FIFA-sponsored Grassroots Coaching Course held in Mogadishu. Photo: Raxanreeb.