December 10, 2013 | Morning Headlines.

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Countries continue to restore diplomatic relations with Somalia

09 Dec- Source: Office of the President- 209 words

The President of the Federal Republic of Somalia H.E Hassan Sheikh Mohamud today accepted credentials from the newly appointed German Ambassador, Andreas Peschke, and the newly appointed Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mahmoud M. Auf, in Villa Somalia.

While welcoming the German Ambassador H.E Hassan Sh. Mohamud briefed him on the good and long relationship between Somalia and Germany, the President, said: “Somalia has benefited and is thankful for the many successful projects delivered by the German Government. Germany supports the development of our security forces, providing training and mentoring through the EU Training Mission.

“The benefits of the improved situation are already being witnessed as our economy grows, we hope to compete in the European market shortly through the export of products such as Bananas, as Somalia used to do in the early 1990s.”

President Hassan’s meeting with the Egyptian Ambassador discussed the historic relationship between Somalia and Egypt. “Our two countries have enjoyed a relationship dating back centuries. My government welcomes you as the new Ambassador and we look forward to working together in the area of security and diplomatic relations.”

With an improved security situation and the new Somalia re-joining the international community many countries are restoring diplomatic relations with the Somalia.

Key Headlines

The African Union Mission in Somalia holds a Leadership Capacity Building Conference for Somali Youth (AMISOM)
Banadir court sentences alleged rape victim journalists to prison (Radio Mogadishu)
Somali Parliament urged to pass Refugees and IDPs Bill (Radio Bar-kulan)
Love of family country draw first refugees back to Somalia from Kenya (UNHCR)
Unknown disease spreads in Hiiraan province (Radio RBC)
Grenade attack kills one woman in Afgoye (Radio Bar-kulan)
Kenya establishes new military command to fight terrorism appoints new AMISOM deputy commander(Standard Media)
The dangers of reporting rape in Somalia (Al Jazeera English)
Outrage over jail sentences in rape interview case (Reporters Without Borders)

PRESS STATEMENT

Countries continue to restore diplomatic relations with Somalia

09 Dec- Source: Office of the President- 209 words

With an improved security situation and the new Somalia re-joining the international community many countries are restoring diplomatic relations with the Somalia.

The African Union Mission in Somalia holds a Leadership Capacity Building Conference for Somali Youth

09 Dec- Source: AMISOM- 389 words

In the context of its continuous support to the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) has today launched a leadership capacity building conference for the Somali youth.

The three-day conference seeks to provide an interactive forum between AMISOM, the FGS and the Somali youth, and also establish and maintain effective communication between the youth and the government on policy awareness.

The Somalia conflict which has lugged for over two decades left very little room for development opportunities for the youth. The involvement of the youth in positive activities including those creating income to the community was minimal during the conflict period because of insecurity, poor educational attendance and little information about conflict management.

Since the inauguration of the current government, the security situation in Somalia has improved considerably. This calls for mechanisms to galvanize the peace attained especially through sensitizing the youth on issues of participation and exposing them to alternative ways of engagement especially on opportunities offered by the FGS policies in improving the lives of Somali citizens.

The conference was officially opened by the Commissioner for Youth and Children of Uganda, Mr. Fred Onduri. In his opening remarks he urged the Somali government to enhance the participation of youth in the peace and reconstruction process.

“It is a good opportunity for the youth of Somalia to get abreast of the issues of governance and participation. Your strength, your knowledge and determination can help in building your country,” he told the youth.

The discussions during the deliberations will focus on the role of the youth in the implementation of the six Pillar Policy of Somalia namely Supremacy of the Law and Good Governance; Economic Recovery-Livelihood and Economic Infrastructure; Peace Building-Social Reconciliation through building bridges of trust; Service Delivery-Health, Education and Environment; International Relations-building collaborative relations and polishing the national image; and the Unity and Integrity of the country.

At the end of the conference, it is expected that working relationship between AMISOM, the FGS, and the Somalia Youth will be enhanced and key recommendations will be identified to inform more appropriate strategies for the active participation of Somali youth in the peace process and reconstruction of the country.

The conference is attended by youth from all regions and clans of Somalia, and many other stakeholders.

SOMALI MEDIA

Banadir court sentences alleged rape victim, journalists to prison

09 Dec- Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Mogadishu/Shabelle/BBC Somali Service- 158 words

Banadir regional court has on Monday sentenced Faduma Abdulkadir, a journalist who claimed to have been raped to six months in prison. Another journalist, Mohamed Bashir Hashi of Radio Shabelle who interviewed her also received six months imprisonment while Radio Shabelle Director, Abdimalik Yusuf was given one year in prison. Yusuf was charged with insulting state institutions while the other two journalists were charged with false rape accusations and defaming fellow journalists over the alleged rape. The three were arrested in November after Bashir interviewed Faduma Abdulkadir over unconfirmed rape allegation against two other journalists working for the government-run Radio Mogadishu. This is the second time the regional court makes similar verdict on alleged rape case.
Early this year the court sentenced alleged rape victim and the reporter who interviewed her to prison terms. The ruling was later quashed on appeal after international outcry over the court’s decision.

Unknown disease spreads in Hiiraan province

09 Dec- Source: Radio RBC- 124 words

An unidentified disease has reportedly affected at least 20 people in Hiraan region since mid-October, though unconfirmed reports put the number much higher, UNOCHA said in its humanitarian snapshot report Monday. Ceel Cali and Baar villages remain the epicentre of the disease. WHO has taken samples and the testing is ongoing. According to local health officers, the spread of this unknown disease has spread from district in the neighboring Bakool region in early September and later were seen people in Hiiraan. Somali MP Mohamed Goodir, who hails from the region has said that the affected people could not get any health service due to al Shabaab’s control in the area. This led to many people succumbed to death from the unknown disease spreading into area.

Grenade attack kills one woman in Afgoye

09 Dec- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 89 words
An explosion has killed one woman and injured two others on Sunday night in Afgoye district of Lower Shabelle region. Residents in Afgoye have confirmed to Bar-kulan that the explosion was a result of a hand grenade hurled at a bridge where the victims were passing by at the time of the incident. The injured two are being treated at the main hospital in Afgoye. The motive behind the attack is unknown and the police officials in the area have not carried out investigations into the incident so far.

Somali Parliament urged to pass Refugees and IDPs Bill

09 Dec- Source: Radio Bar-kulan/daljir-164 Words
State Minister for Internal Affairs and National Security, Mahdi Mohamud Ali has called on the parliament to pass the proposed Refugees and IDPs Bill in order to tackle the issue of refugees in Somalia. Ali stated that huge number of Somali refugees have fled to neighboring countries following the collapse of the former Somali government and the subsequent eruption of the civil war in 1991. He pointed out that the repatriation of the Somali refugees would ease the burden of refugees on Kenya, Uganda and Yemen, where largest number of Somali refugees have been living in for more than two decades. Ali added that there are many internally displaced families who need assistance as well while reading the bill in the parliament. The parliament has on Sunday started to look into the details of the proposed bill. Somalia has last month signed an agreement with Kenya and UNCHR over the repatriation of more than half a million Somali refugees from refugee camps in Kenya.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Kenya establishes new military command to fight terrorism, appoints new AMISOM deputy commander

09 Dec- Source: Standard Media-256 Words

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has created a new command for the Kenya Defence Forces dubbed the Nairobi Metropolitan Command that is tasked to deal with the emerging security threats in the country. A statement from the ministry of defence said, “The new Command is as a result of the current threat posture in the country emerging from terrorism, drug trafficking, proliferation of small arms, crime among others that tend to flourish in highly urbanized area like Nairobi.” Currently the Kenya Defence Forces ( KDF) is operationally divided into two commands namely, East and West. The President has at the same time, on the advice of the Defence Council, under the chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary for Defence Raychelle Omamo made posting, promotions, appointments and retirement of the officers of the Kenya Defence Forces. Maj Gen L M Ngondi has been appointed Force Commander UN Mission in Liberia, Maj Gen F K Nthenge appointed Deputy Force Commander of AMISOM, Maj. Gen J M Ondieki is now the Deputy Army Commander and Maj Gen, M O Oyugi appointed Assistant Chief of the Defence Forces at the Defence Headquarters.

The dangers of reporting rape in Somalia

09 Dec- Source: Al Jazeera English- 688 words

A court in Somalia’s capital has handed down six-month jail sentences to a 19-year-old alleged rape victim and the journalist who interviewed her after convicting them on defamation charges brought by the accused. The alleged rape victim – a reporter for the UN-funded Kasmo FM radio station – gave a video interview to Mohamed Bashir – a journalist for the Shabelle radio station – in which she alleged she was raped at gunpoint by other journalists working for state-owned Radio Mogadishu. The woman and journalist who interviewed her were arrested soon after those accused filed a defamation suit. The alleged rape victim received a suspended six-month sentence and will be confined to her home. The director at Radio Shabelle also received a one-year prison term related to the case, and both journalists from the news organisation are required to serve their time in jail.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

Outrage over jail sentences in rape interview case

09 Dec- Source: Reporters Without Borders-451 Words
Reporters Without Borders condemns the jail terms that a Mogadishu regional court passed today on Shabelle Media Network chairman Abdiimalik Yusuf and one of his journalists, Radio Shabelle reporter Bashir Hashir, in connection with the interview of an alleged rape victim. At the end of a three-hour trial, Hashir was given six months in prison for defaming the alleged rapists and Yusuf was sentenced to a year in prison for insulting state institutions. “This travesty of a trial ending in harsh and disproportionate sentences has the hallmarks of an attempt to intimidate the media,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It points to undue government influence on the judicial system, above all from the powerful interior minister, and a bias against Radio Shabelle and independent media in general. “There are grounds for real concern when a journalist is convicted of defamation without any attempt being undertaken to establish the facts of the matter reported. At the same time, the charges on which Yusuf was finally convicted appear unrelated to the case on trial.”

Love of family, country draw first refugees back to Somalia from Kenya

09 Dec- Source: UNHCR-658 Words
When the UN refugee agency starts helping refugees go back to Somalia from Kenya on their own next month, Dhahiro Hussein Ali, a 22-year-old mother of four, vows she’ll be one of the first to leave. “My love for my family is calling me back,” says the soft-spoken young woman in a grey headscarf. “I miss my family – my mother, my father, my brother, my sister and most of all, my first-born, my nine-year-old boy, Hussein. My mother is keeping him” She and her husband, Abdikadir Ibrahim Abdi, 42, fled drought and instability in Somalia in July 2011. Dhahiro, who was just 13 when she gave birth to Hussein, had been ill and unable to breastfeed him, so her mother raised him as her own. When it came time for Dhahiro to leave for Kenya, the grandmother refused to part with the boy. “My mother said since the whole family was leaving for Kenya, she would keep the boy, so when she looked at him she could remember the whole family,” Dhahiro recounts. Now, with reports that her mother is ill, Dhahiro feels she must go home to Kismayo, one of three regions included in the pilot programme for assisted returns for refugees returning on their own to Somalia.

BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2013: Double Olympic champion Mo Farah wants to join roll call of legends

09 Dec- Source: Telegraph- 674 words
For a man who has won two Olympic gold medals, three world titles and been hailed as one of the greatest distance runners of all time, Mo Farah is entitled to feel a little hard done by when it comes to the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. While few could argue with Sir Bradley Wiggins’s coronation last year after his Tour de France and Olympic double, more controversial was the fact that Farah’s epic 5,000 and 10,000 metres victories in the Olympic Stadium did not even merit a top-three place in the eyes of the British public.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

Somalia: Al Shabaab and the 2011-2012 Famine

09 Dec- Source: Amb David Shinn Blog-155 Words

The Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) and The Heritage Institute for Policy Studies published in December 2013 a paper titled “Talking to the Other Side: Humanitarian Negotiations with al Shabaab in Somalia” by Ashley Jackson, a research fellow at HPG, and Abdi Aynte, director of The Heritage Institute. The authors note that al Shabaab did permit some humanitarian organizations to operate in al-Shabaab held territory during the 2011-2012 famine. Most negotiations that led to permission to operate took place at the local level between aid workers and representatives of al Shabaab.
The authors conclude that the aid agencies faced an impossible choice: agree to al Shabaab’s conditions, with the hope of providing badly needed assistance to civilians, or withdraw from areas it controlled. While the systems and procedures al Shabaab put in place provided a measure of predictability and security for some, its conditions were extreme and posed a direct challenge to many of the principles aid agencies claimed to espouse.