November 5, 2013 | Daily Monitoring Report.
UN to send team of legal experts to Somalia
05 Nov- Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Mogadishu/SNTV- 112 words
United Nations will send a team of experts on legislation to Somalia in order to assist and build the capacity of the Somali parliament, according the Parliament Speaker, Prof. Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari.
Speaking at a parliament session in Mogadishu, Jawari said that the move comes after the Somali Parliament sent an official request to the United Nations to send a team of experts to boost the capacity of the parliament. The speaker reckons that the Somali legislators will benefit greatly from the recommendations of the team.
In the mean time, the parliament will hold a session to debate on the implementation of multi-party political system in the coming days. Jawari says.
Key Headlines
- Somali minister expressed goodwill to come out from Jubba reconciliation conference (Radio Mustaqbal)
- Somali military officer sentenced to two years in prison (Radio Mogadishu/Radio Dalsan)
- UN to send team of legal experts to Somalia (Radio Bar-kulan)
- Fund-raising conference for the people affected by floods of Middle Shabelle River will open in London(Radio Mustaqbal)
- Finnish delegates visit Borama town ( Somaliland Informer)
- Mudug elders on mission to deter further skirmishes in Godod village( Radio Bar-kulan)
- Al Shabaab poses threat far beyond Somalia(Irish Times)
- Himan and Heeb authorities take strict measures on illegal logging ( Radio Bar-kulan)
- Refugees in Kenya face hunger (The Star)
- WB rules out piracy cash in Kenya property boom(Business Daily)
- Somali pirates laundering billions in Kenya ‘miraa’ trade(Standard Media)
- Mastermind or translator? Somali piracy trial begins in Washington( Reuters)
- Kenya Forces launches assault on al Shabaab(CCTV)
SOMALI MEDIA
Somali military officer Sentenced two years in prison
05 Nov- Source: Radio Mogadishu/Radio Dalsan/al Shahid- 115 words
Somali military court on Monday sentenced to two years in prison one of the Somali military officers. Military court spokesman Abdullah Musa Keyse told reporters that the court sat for issue of punitive complaints against Colonel Mohammed Yusuf of the Somali armed forces in the 3rd of November on charges of refusal to adhere military orders.
He added that the officer was accused of disobeying orders from the top military commanders in the Somali armed forces. The court hearing was attended by a number of witnesses.
Keyse said that the court sentenced Colonel Mohammed Yusuf to two years in prison and revoked his military accolade due to violation of the laws of the military.
Somali interior minister expresses optimism on Jubba reconciliation conference
05 Nov- Source: Radio Mustaqbal- 125 words
The interior and national security minister of Somali federal government Abdikarin Husein Guleid is optimistic on the outcome of the Jubba reconciliation conference that will be concluded in Mogadishu on Tuesday.
The minister said the government will hail the communities’ dialogue as to improve their future and progress of their state and reach common understanding, calling on the residents in Jubba region to support the results of the conference.
The minister made these remarks at a dinner event held at Hotel City Palace for the Jubba delegates and Jubba leader Ahmed Madobe.
It is expected that Jubba reconciliation conference will conclude in Mogadishu later on Tuesday and a communiqué regarding the conference dialogue among Jubba communities will be issued.
UN to send team of legal experts to Somalia
05 Nov- Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Mogadishu/SNTV- 112 words
United Nations will send a team of experts on legislation to Somalia in order to assist and build the capacity of the Somali parliament, according the Parliament Speaker, Prof. Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari.
Speaking at a parliament session in Mogadishu, Jawari said that the move comes after the Somali Parliament sent an official request to the United Nations to send a team of experts to boost the capacity of the parliament. The speaker reckons that the Somali legislators will benefit greatly from the recommendations of the team.
In the mean time, the parliament will hold a session to debate on the implementation of multi-party political system in the coming days. Jawari says.
Somali community in London to hold fundraising for flood-stricken people in Middle Shabelle
05 Nov- Source: Radio Mustaqbal- 168 words
As a way to respond to the calls of humanitarian issues from the people affected by the floods of middle Shabelle region, a fundraising event is expected to be held in London, UK.
The Somali communities in UK will participate the drive to raise funds for those people who are in dire condition in middle Shabelle region following the floods caused by River Shabelle.
The preparations of the fundraising conference are under way in London. Somali Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon has appealed to Somalis and international aid organizations to provide urgent assistance and essential services to the thousands of people affected by flooding in Jowhar district of Middle Shabelle region.
The flooding has already claimed the lives of 11 people, while a further 11 thousand people and 31 villages have been badly affected.
Finnish delegates visit Borama town
04 Nov- Source: Somaliland Informer- 86 words
The mayor of Borama has received a delegation headed by mayor of Turku in Finland on Monday. The mayor of Turku is accompanied by members of Turku Councilors in his visit to Somaliland. The delegation from Finland also met with the governor of Borama.
They were staying in the country after having embarked upon touring all regions of Somaliland. They met with the mayor of Hargeisa in a bid to establish close working relations between Turku local council and Somaliland local Councils.
Mudug elders on mission to deter further skirmishes in Godod village
05 Nov- Source: Radio Bar-kulan/ Somali Current Online- 127 words
Elders in Mudug region have started engaging communities in the region to prevent further skirmishes in Godod village after Puntland and Galmudug forces clashed in the area.
Ali Dirie Alore, an elder in Mudug told Bar-kulan that the community elders have taken efforts designed to deter further unrest in the area, he added that they are working on bringing both sides to the negotiating table.
They also urged both Galmudug and Puntland administrations to work on preventing further confrontations between the sides.
Reports indicate that clashes erupted after forces loyal to Sheikh Abdiweli Ali Elmi, a religious leader from Galmudug who was touring in the area exchanged fire with Puntland forces stationed in Godod area.
Himan and Heeb authorities take strict measures on illegal logging
05 Nov- Source: Radio Bar-kulan-110 words
Himan and Heeb authorities in central Somalia have taken strict measures to prevent severe deforestation practices that have engulfed in the region in the last two decades.
Deputy security chief, Aden Mohamed Sodal told Bar-kulan that security forces have detained four people alleged of practicing deforestation activities in the area during a crackdown on illegal loggers.
He said that the four are now in police custody in Adado district and will be taken to court; he adds that the administration will continue its crackdown on illegal logging in the region.
Sodal urges the Somali communities in Himan and Heeb administered regions to report to the police on suspicious logging practices.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Refugees in Kenya face hunger
05 Nov- Source: The Star- 306 words
The World Food Programme and United Nations High Commission for Refugees agency have raised the red flag over an impending food shortage for more than half a million refugees in the Dadaab and Kakuma due to “severe” funding shortage.
The WFP country director, Ronald Sibanda, said they need US$10 million monthly, to distribute more than 10,000 metric tonnes of food needed in the two camps, home to 535,000 refugees mainly from Somalia and South Sudan.
According to humanitarian agencies, other refugees from Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Ethiopia have also increased in Kakuma this year.
WB rules out piracy cash in Kenya property boom
04 Nov- Source: Business Daily-621 Words
The World Bank and Interpol have ruled out pirate cash inflows as being behind Kenya’s real estate boom, saying Nairobi’s thriving construction sector is primarily driven by money from bank loans and diaspora remittances.
In a new joint report, the World Bank and Interpol however say that piracy money could be fuelling miraa (khat) trade across East Africa. The World Bank, UN and Interpol report was focused on investigating how the Sh35.1 billion ($413 million) that Somali pirates made between 2005 and 2012 mainly from hijacking ships sailing the Indian Ocean was spent.
The report says that real estate data across East Africa indicates that “the main drivers of the property boom are credit by the banking sector, flows of remittances from the diaspora, and general supply and demand of housing units.” The report says that all the available data “suggests that this perception of proceeds of piracy fuelling the real estate growth especially in Kenya is an exaggeration.
Somali pirates laundering billions in Kenya ‘miraa’ trade
04 Nov- Source: Standard- 376 words
Pirates have secretly invested part of the Sh35 billion ransom in the lucrative miraa trade in Kenya, a new report has revealed. Over seven years, the dirty cash from piracy in Somalia has fuelled criminal activities including funding militia like the Al-Shabaab terrorist group that killed over 70 people in the Westgate Mall attack.
But financiers of piracy have “cleaned” the dirty cash by investing in miraa trade in Kenya, which is largely unmonitored by government, in miraa trade in Kenya, which is largely unmonitored by government, says the report by the World Bank, Interpol and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime released Monday.
The study says much of the ransom is not being “cleaned” through the real estate sector in Kenya, as is widely believed, but mainly through the miraa trade, which is most vulnerable to illicit international cash flow.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Al Shabaab poses threat far beyond Somalia
05 Nov- Source: Irish Times-1091 Words
The poster, designed by popular Somali cartoonist Amin Amir, is striking: it shows a militant, his face obscured by a scarf and a gun strapped to his back, feeding a baby – representing Somalia – with a grenade-shaped bottle. “Protect our children,” the tagline reads in Somali and English. Another shows a would-be suicide bomber with blood-drenched hands. “Stop the barbaric violence,” it says.
But it will take far more than a mere poster campaign to dislodge from Somalia the al Shabaab militants that controlled Mogadishu and much of the country before they were driven from the capital by African Union troops and Somali forces two years ago. The group still holds sway across southern Somalia and, as the deadly September attack on Nairobi’s Westgate mall demonstrated, the threat it poses continues to metastasise beyond the country’s borders.
Al-Shabaab (the name means “The Youth” in Arabic) is an al Qaeda affiliated organisation that evolved from an Islamist movement that ruled Mogadishu until it was uprooted by Ethiopian forces that invaded Somalia in 2006. It contains two overlapping currents: nationalist-minded elements focused on ousting both the central government and the African Union force known as AMISOM in order to create a fundamentalist Islamic state in Somalia; and foreign-backed radicals with more transnational goals.
Mastermind or translator? Somali piracy trial begins in Washington
04 Nov- Source: Reuters-511 Words
The U.S. trial of a Somali man accused of piracy off the Horn of Africa began on Monday, with prosecutors portraying him as a ransom-hungry negotiator and his lawyers defending him as an intelligence source for the United States who served as a translator. Ali Mohamed Ali, a former Washington, D.C., resident, is charged with helping Somali pirates who seized a Danish cargo vessel in November 2008 negotiate a $1.7 million ransom to free the 13 crew members and the ship. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Julieanne Himelstein told the jury in U.S. District Court in Washington that Ali was not a mere translator for the pirates but was a negotiator who arranged for a $75,000 side payment for himself after the 71-day hijacking was over.
“The defendant didn’t have to have a gun. His mouth was his gun, and that was the most important gun on board because it was the gun that got them the money,” she said in her opening statement. But defence attorney Matthew Peed said Ali, who was hoping to obtain U.S. residency, had been a source in Somalia for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and later advised the Danish shipping company, Clipper Group, about Somali pirates.
Kenya Forces launches assault on al Shabaab
04 Nov- Source: CCTV- 1:53 min
The Kenyan military has launched air strikes against what it says are militant targets in Somalia. It says the raids are in retaliation for the Westgate terror attack, for which al Shabaab has claimed responsibility. The military says hundreds of militants may have been killed in a camp where its believed they are trained. Robert Nagila reports.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“Somalia’s remaining pirate kingpins, enjoying impunity at home, will surely be more cautious about foreign travel in the future, making Argo-like lures unlikely to work a second time. As funding pirate ventures becomes increasingly unprofitable, a quiet retirement becomes an attractive option — at least until the warships and armed guards disappear.”
The Rise and Fall of Somalia’s Pirate King
04 Nov- Source: Foreign Policy Blog-1807 Words
As the Somali piracy blockbuster Captain Phillips raked in $26 million in its opening weekend on U.S. screens, Mohamed Abdi Hassan, better known as “Afweyne,” was on a flight to Belgium with gainful plans to sell a very different story about East African marauders. Expecting to consult on a movie based on his life as a seafaring bandit, Afweyne and his associate were instead arrested by Belgian police and charged with the crimes of piracy and hostage taking. The two men had fallen for a hard-to-believe, reverse-Argo ruse — a months-long sting operation set in motion to catch the mastermind behind the 2009 hijacking and ransom of the Belgian-owned dredging vessel Pompei.
While some 1,000 Somali pirate foot soldiers have been jailed in over a dozen countries, Afweyne –whose sobriquet means “big mouth” or “crybaby” — will be the first pirate leader to be prosecuted by the international community when his criminal trial opens in Belgium.
Though his hopes of being immortalized on the big screen have been dashed, Afweyne, more than any other pirate, is responsible for making Somali piracy into an organized, multi-million-dollar industry. According to a recent World Bank report, Somali piracy raked in an estimated $339 million to $413 million in ransom spoils between 2005 and 2013. Like many of his comrades, Afweyne asserts that he not a “kidnapper,” but the leader of a “legitimate self-defense movement” dedicated to protecting Somalia’s marine resources.
“We must improve education, particularly among young women. In Somaliland, the majority of them cannot read or write, let alone understand the human reproductive system, the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, or the dangers of poor sanitation. Better education will help them understand the importance of healthcare.”
Women have a right to expect healthcare
04 Nov- Source: Impatient Optimists-697 Words
Imagine this. Your child is sick, but you need your husband’s permission to buy medicine. Your child doesn’t improve, and you still need your husband’s permission to attend a health clinic. In fact, you need his permission to do anything to help your child feel better.
Imagine this. You have a serious health problem and have been told that pregnancy may be fatal for you. Contraception could save your life, but under pressure from your family, you are forced to avoid it, putting yourself in unnecessary danger.
Your child is sick, but you need your husband’s permission to buy medicine. Your child doesn’t improve, and you still need your husband’s permission to attend a health clinic.Imagine this. You desperately need an emergency Caesarian section to safely deliver your child. This time, your husband gives permission for the surgery. But the doctor is unable to operate because your father refuses to give him permission to do so.
Top tweets
@UN Last week @UNSomalia delivered 1,000 units of body armor to the Somali Police Force: http://bit.ly/1ctDyEz pic.twitter.com/bbhOr6mlTT
@OCHASom New #health plan by #Somali Red Crescent & British Red Cross spells hope in #Somalia http://bit.ly/HGuZvH @WHOsom pic.twitter.com/QnXeTwwPCU
@SomaliPM International mail links with #Somalia restored after 23-year gap, a new beginning for Somali postal communication http://bit.ly/1aZmeG9
@AbukarArman There is fuel that flames #ViolentExtremisminto broad-based inferno; it’s called overreaction! #alShabaabhttp://www.irishtimes.com/
@FPA_ORG #Somalia is a country where the soft power really needs to kick in harder and come in faster. @Ol_barretthttp://ow.ly/qudbe #FPABlogs
Image of the day
Somali Police Force Commissioner Brigadier General Abdihakim Dahir Sa’eed and the Officer in Charge of the UN Police Section, Chief Superintendent Ertugrul Bozdag, participate in the handover ceremony of 1,000 units of body armour to the SPF. The armor was procured by the UN with funding from the Japanese government. Photo: UN