22 Aug 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- 3000 additional forces to be deployed to Somalia
- UN envoy for Somalia is in visit to Mogadishu
- Two Somali soldiers executed in Mogadishu
- Al Shabaab free detained traders in Jowhar town
- TFG renewed public services throughout Mogadishu including transportation services
- “Food aid is not looted” says Mogadishu mayor
- Somali rapper K’naan visits homeland bearing ‘Waving’ Flag’ for famine assistance
PRESS STATEMENT
AMISOM delivers donated food to IDP camps in Mogadishu
20 Aug – Source: AMISOM – 306 words
The African Union Mission in Somalia has on the occasion of World Humanitarian Day handed over donated food supplies to local officials for distribution to internally displaced persons in the famine-stricken Somali capital.
$10,000 worth of supplies, including rice, sugar, cooking oil and salt, had been donated by the staff of RA International Services, a construction, logistics and maintenance company working in Mogadishu.
Mr. Abdul Diabagate, AMISOM’s Senior Humanitarian Affairs Officer, and Lt Col. Kaamurari Katwekyeire, head of the mission’s Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC), delivered the supplies to Wardhigley district to be shared out among 8 IDP camps in the area.
Working with a local NGO, the Somali Relief, Rehabilitation and Development Organization (SORRDO), AMISOM had previously conducted needs assessments in the camps and the donated food is enough to feed 1,850 of the most needy for one week.
On hand to receive the food was SORRDO’s programme officer, Mr. Mohammed Haji Omar, Wardhigley District Commissioner, Mrs. Deeg Abdikadir Ahmed, and the Deputy Mayor of Mogadishu, Mr. Mohammed Iman Ikar. SORRDO, which has been working in Somalia for 15 years, will organize the distribution of the food to the IDPs.
Mr. Diabagate said that AMISOM was committed to fulfilling its mandate to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian supplies to the people of Mogadishu. “We are doing all in our power to help our Somali brothers at this difficult time. The need is great and we stand ready to help in any way we can to ensure that food reaches those who need it.”
“I would like to take the opportunity on behalf of AMISOM leadership to thank RA International for their generous donation. I wish to also thank the AMISOM Military Component for their work in Mogadishu which has created a relatively safe environment for the delivery of humanitarian supplies to vulnerable communities of Mogadishu,” he added.
http://www.amisom-au.org/read-
SOMALI MEDIA
3000 additional forces to be deployed to Somalia
22 Aug – Source: Radio Mogadishu – 159 words
An additional 3000 troops are said to arrive in Somalia from Djibouti and Sierra Leone after being authorized by the African Union security arm that will see the AMISOM tally reach the expected 12,000 force. The Somali Deputy Prime Minister who is also Somalia Defense Minister Hussein Arab Issa told Radio Mogadishu that the AU session that took place in Addis Ababa confirmed the deployment of an additional 3000 forces who will be arriving to Somalia in the month of October 2011. AMISOM will be boosted by the additional forces and will have ample ground to protect after wiping out the al Shabaab extremists through a successful military offensive.
UN envoy for Somalia is in visit to Mogadishu
22 Aug – Source: Radio Shabelle, Risala, kulmiye – 115 words
A delegation led by Augustine Mahiga, the United Nations special representative to Somalia on Monday arrived at Mogadishu. The United Nations delegation has meetings with Somalia’s top government leaders. Sources said the meetings are being focused on how the UN-backed Somalia consultative meeting could be held inside the country. In his official visit to Mogadishu, Augustine Mahiga is accompanied by officials from the United Nations Political Office. The expected UN-sponsored Somalia consultative meeting is aimed at ending the transition after seven years of transitional governments.
Two Somali soldiers executed in Mogadishu
22 Aug – Source: Radio Mogadishu, Kulmiye, Shabelle and Risala – 108 words
Two soldiers of Somali government forces have been executed in Mogadishu after Somalia’s military court sentenced them to death. A firing squad of Somali soldiers fired the sentenced soldiers at a square in Mogadishu’s Hamarjajab district. Abdi Kus and Abdullahi Jinow were previously given death penalty after they had been found guilty of intentionally murdering their colleagues in the Somali government forces. After the capital punishment was conducted, Hassan Mohamed Hussein Mungab, the judge of the military court told reporters that the executed men had been part of the government’s military and police forces. Mungab said they had been proved to have killed deliberately their friends in the government forces.
Somali soldiers clash in Mogadishu; grenade attacks injures 4
22 Aug – Source: Shabelle – 133 words
Some TFG soldiers on Sunday night clashed among themselves in Mogadishu, witnesses said. Eyewitnesses said that it is not known why the soldiers fired at each other, but said skepticism among them probably brought about the armed clash at Banadir junction in the conflict-torn capital. Casualties were reported though there were no exact number of deaths and injuries so far. On the other hand, at least four civilian people sustained injuries in a hand grenade attack in Mogadishu’s Dharkanley district. Locals said the bomb was hurled from a luxury car traveling on a road in the district. The wounded people were said to have been immediately rushed to the local hospital for urgent treatment. The assailants escaped with their car and no one has claimed the responsibility for the attack so far.
http://www.shabelle.net/
Al Shabaab free detained traders in Jowhar town
22 Aug – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 110 words
Fifteen detained local traders in Jowhar town of middle Shabelle region have secured their release after meeting al Shabaab’s demand for payment. Al Shabaab have earlier detained the traders, mainly women, who defied their orders asking to pay a certain amount of money demanded by the militia administration in Jowhar town. Locals condemned the militia for imposing tougher rules on local traders struggling with their daily upkeep as drought and famine grips parts of the region. The detention of the defiant Jowhar local traders is considered to be part of al Shabaab’s strategy to threaten people in the area and extort them by compelling them to pay money to the already cash strapped militia group administration.
TFG renewed public services throughout Mogadishu including transportation services
22 Aug – Source: Radio Kulmiye – 123 words
The Somali government renewed yesterday public transportation services in Mogadishu, as well as other important services for the people. Mogadishu’s public transportation services used to shuttle along the highways of Debka, Tarbunka and other important junctions in the city; they have now resumed their daily operations. Minibuses carrying passengers are being seen in these areas where the government administrations advanced for the restorations of this service as part of their efforts to renew the capital movements after years of violent unrest between al Shabaab and the TFG.
Visiting Kuwaiti delegation pledges to assist hospitals in Somalia’s Puntland
21 Aug – Source: Markacadeey, Puntland Post – 121 words
A delegation of up to 25 Kuwait officials has visited Garowe, the administrative headquarter for Puntland Region. This Kuwaiti delegation visited a number of locations in the town including a centre for the mentally ill as well as another one for street children and the main Garowe hospital.
This Kuwaiti delegation has said they are in Puntland to provide assistance to mental patients whom they said are in need of care. The Chairman of Centre for the Mentally ill, Xaawo Qaylo Weyne, explained the situation of these patients to the visiting Kuwaiti delegation and told them they are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Xaawo said the centre does not receive any funding from official forces and is merely run on donations from well wishers abroad.
Xaawo urged the Kuwaiti government to help assist people in the centre that she said live in harsh conditions and are in dire need of assistance. Shaykh Nasir, a Kuwaiti official who was part of the delegation that travelled to Puntland said his government was determined to extend support to disabled and mental patients in the region.
http://www.markacadeey.com/
Puntland delegation returns from tour of eastern coast
22 Aug – Source: Radio Garowe – 253 words
A government delegation from Somalia’s Puntland region has returned to the Gulf of Aden port city of Bossaso after a tour of the state’s eastern coastal towns, Radio Garowe reports. Deputy Interior Minister Mr. Ali Yusuf Hosh told Radio Garowe that a trip to Puntland’s eastern coastal towns was a success. “We toured many towns including Bargaal, Hafun and Iskushuban,” said Mr. Hosh. The Deputy Interior Minister said that the Puntland government planned to “establish district councils and police forces” for the coastal towns, which are located more than 500km east of Puntland’s main north-south highway without any paved roads.
“Food aid is not looted” says Mogadishu mayor
22 Aug – Source: Radio Mogadishu, Garowe, Shabelle, Risala – 125 words
Mogadishu’s mayor has said that food aid being distributed to Somali famine victims has “not been looted,” Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed Ahmed Tarzan told local reporters Saturday in Mogadishu that food aid is distributed by Somali government forces. “I reject reports that food aid is looted…food aid is distributed by government forces to assist the famine victims,” Mogadishu’s mayor said. Further, he indicated that the local government is undertaking measures to improve security and living conditions in Mogadishu. He noted that 9 police stations in Mogadishu are being renovated with UNDP assistance. Mr. Tarzan said that the local government is working hard to improve roads that have been “destroyed by al Shabaab terrorists who dug up trenches in the middle of the roads.”
REGIONAL MEDIA
AUC, EASFCOM sign MoU to deploy personnel to AMISOM
20 Aug – Source: Ethiopian News Agency ENA – 163 words
The African Union Commission (AUC) and the Eastern Africa Standby Force Coordination Mechanism (EASFCOM) signed on Thursday a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance the capabilities of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) in the areas of operational planning, logistics planning and operations, training, medical support and assistance.
According to a statement AU sent to ENA, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra and Eastern Africa Standby Brigade Coordination Mechanism (EASBRICOM) Director in AU Headquarter, Major General (Rtd), Cyrille Ndayirukiye signed the agreement.
It said the MoU is a milestone in the operation of the African Standby Force (ASF), as it will provide the framework for the first ever deployment of an ASF Regional Standby Force. It is to be recalled that EASFCOM’s contribution is a follow-up to the recommendation of the 7th Extraordinary Meeting of the Eastern Africa Region Council of Ministers, held in Addis Ababa on 28 January 2011 to deploy EASF capabilities within AMISOM, the statement noted.
http://www.ena.gov.et/
UN warns famine could spread to southern Somalia
22 Aug – Source: Khaleej Times – 418 words
The famine in five regions of southern Somalia could spread to the entire area if relief supplies do not reach the starving population on time. The next four to six weeks could be crucial, according to a senior UN official, who said the humanitarian effort should be stepped up before it is too late.
Abdul Haq Amiri, Head of Office, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Regional Office for the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia (ROMENACA), sounded the alarm while speaking to this newspaper from Cairo. ‘‘The rest of southern Somalia could follow (into full- fledged famine) within the next four to six weeks. A continued scaling up of humanitarian operations and access to those in need is vital.” Bakool, Lower Shabelle, Middle Shabelle, the Afgooye corridor and Mogadishu have been officially declared famine-hit.
The UN does not foresee an immediate end to the crisis, considered the worst in 60 years, with the fluid political situation in Somalia and extremism only compounding the misery. ‘‘The political situation in Somalia changes rapidly and this has an impact on the humanitarian situation. In terms of the famine, we foresee that the crisis will continue until the end of the year.” But the UN hopes the situation will begin to improve from early 2012. Efforts to feed an estimated 12 million starving population have been met with limited success due to the precarious security situation, said Amiri.
‘‘We have asked the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia to ensure security for the people of Mogadishu, particularly the most vulnerable, including the internally displaced.”
Battle for Somali capital rages on
21 Aug – Source: Al Jazeera – 58 words
It has been more than two weeks since al Shabaab fighters pulled out of Mogadishu. But fighting has not stopped. The only difference is that the battle between the armed group and government forces backed by African Union troops has moved to the outskirts of the city. Al Jazeera’s Nazanine Moshiri reports from the new frontline.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
The new order in Somalia
20 Aug – Source: NTV – 69 words
Dadaab might have captured the attention of the international community for the moment, but the situation inside Somalia remains a black hole as far as the rest of the world is concerned. Four months ago the Somali border town of Dobley was under the control of al-Shabaab militants; now it’s in the hands of the transitional government force. Pamela Asigi reports from Dhobley, a small town in Southern Somalia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
75 tones of food relief transported to Somalia
22 Aug – Source: The Citizen – 317 words
Seventy-five tones of food and other items have been raised for donation to hunger-stricken Somalis. Mr. Ibrahim Ismail, the director of Programme on Life Emergency (Pole), which offered the aid, told journalists here yesterday that the organization would send food and other essentials to Somalia.
“Three trucks will travel to Dobley in Somalia via Nairobi and we will arrive at Liboi on the border of Kenya and Somalia on Wednesday,” he said. “On arrival in Somalia, Somali Relief and Development Forum and Islamic Help UK will help us in administering and distributing the aid, which includes wheat flour, rice, maize, dates, sugar and nutritional supplements.” He also said the Islamic Help (UK) would set up a centre in Dobley to serve malnourished children.
A representative of the Somali Community in Tanzania, Mr. Mahad Nur, said the donation would help women and children who are the main victims of drought. “We are saddened by the suffering of our brothers and sisters… we see them everyday through the media and we ask Tanzanians to continue to help save lives,” he appealed. He said the 11 people had volunteered to transport the food to Somalia and would be escorted by the police in Kenya to ensure safe arrival.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Somalia must become ‘priority’: Red Cross
21 Aug – Source: AFP – 310 words
Only when Somalia becomes a priority of the international community will it be able to escape a cycle of famine and violence, the International Red Cross chief said on Sunday. “Somalia must become a priority of the international community,” International Committee of the Red Cross president Jakob Kellenberger said in an interview published in the Swiss weekly Der Sonntag.
“In Somalia people are exposed to the highest pressures. These are people who have suffered from an armed conflict for years now. “They live in a country where there is no government infrastructure. “A precondition for peace is a development policy,” Kellenberger said.
The United Nations has described Somalia, where a civil war has been going on since 1991, as facing the most severe humanitarian crisis in the world following severe droughts in the region. “A development policy will not prevent natural disasters, but a population is much more resistant if general living conditions are better.
“I have been asking myself for years now how much more time is needed until (the international community) becomes committed to a political solution,” Kellenberger said. On August 4, the International Red Cross appealed for 120 million francs (106 million euros, 153 million dollars) to feed 1.1 million people for three months in central and south Somalia, in areas controlled by al Qaeda-linked rebels.
Kellenberger said that “in the past weeks”, over 160,000 people had been supplied with food in these areas where other international aid agencies have difficulty accessing. According to the UN, some 12.4 million people in the Horn of Africa, including parts of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda are affected by the drought and in need of humanitarian assistance.
Mogadishu calm after al Shabaab retreat
22 Aug – Source: ABC – 480 words
Famine is gripping the country’s south but for the first time in more than two decades Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, is almost calm. Residents have lived for decades through civil war and foreign occupation, and more recently al Qaeda inspired Muslim militants have reined terror on the city. But now the militants appear to have left as Africa correspondent Ginny Stein report from Mogadishu.
GINNY STEIN: Al Shabaab’s retreat from the city came quietly. First the leadership left, then a week later, thousands of foot soldiers and their families. They had tortured terrorized, murdered and even beheaded hundreds of people but when it came time to leave, they retreated as easily as they had taken the city. Paddy Ankunda is the spokesman for AMISOM, the African Mission to Somalia.
PADDY ANKUNDA: This has created more security, it has widened space for the delivery of humanitarian aid and I think the country is getting more peaceful now. GINNY STEIN: But not quite peaceful enough to suggest that people start reclaiming areas previously lost to al-Shabaab. Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali is urging people stay away for now. ABDIWELI MOHAMED ALI: Most of the areas that the al Shabaab were in control, eventually people will go back to their homes.
GINNY STEIN: They are going back now aren’t they? ABDIWELI MOHAMED ALI: Some of them may be going back but our policy is to secure the area first.
http://www.abc.net.au/
China offers largest donation to UN food agency for famine-relief in Somalia
21 Aug – Source: Xinhua – 208 words
China has donated 16 million U.S. dollars to the World Food Program (WFP) to support its famine-relief operations in Somalia, said a WFP press release on Sunday. It is China’s largest single donation to WFP, adding the country’s donation to WFP this year to 20 million U.S. dollars, according to the release.
The donation will be directly delivered to WFP’s food aid program in famine-hit Somalia, where about 1.5 million people are receiving emergency rations of food, said the release. “It fully reveals Chinese people’s greetings and heartful care for people around the world,” said WFP Deputy Executive Director Amir Mahmoud Abdulla in the statement. China had emerged as an important donor for WFP programs around the world, he added.
Currently the core task of WFP’s relief operations in Somalia is to provide ready-to-use food, which is effective in keeping teenagers from malnutrition, according to the release. Somalia has been experiencing the most severe food crisis in African history. About 3.6 million people in the country are at risk of starvation, accounting for half of its population. More than half of all Somali children are undernourished, with six infants dying from malnutrition every day.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Somali rapper K’naan visits homeland bearing ‘Waving’ Flag’ for famine assistance
21 Aug – Source: Washington Post – 315 words
Somali-born rapper K’naan brought his waving flag back home Sunday, promising to help his countrymen as they struggle with a devastating famine that has killed tens of thousands of children.
The rapper, who left Somalia as a child more than two decades ago to settle in Canada, made a brief visit to Mogadishu on Sunday. He was mobbed by famine refugees who tried to shake his hand or hug him as he toured Mogadishu’s Banadir Hospital and met with malnourished Children. “I came to Somalia to see the situation here and give any donation I have to the people and anything else available,” he said, speaking in Somali. “I will do all I can to help my people in Somalia.”
He did not perform his hit song “Wavin’ Flag,” which tells of the difficulties he faced growing up in the lawless, impoverished Horn of Africa nation. A version of that song was used for a Coca- Cola campaign when South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup. The United Nations says more than 3.2 million Somalis need food aid. The U.S. says 29,000 Somali children under age 5 have died.
Serbian peace-keepers in Somalia
22 Aug – Source: Blic – 240 words
After participating in the UN peace-keeping missions worldwide, members of Serbian Defense Ministry and Army are to take part in the first EU peace-keeping mission in Somalia until the end of the year.
In June this year Serbia concluded with the EU agreement on civil and army missions and agreement on exchange of security data with the EU. As regards Somalia, two missions have been planned for 2011 – Atalanta for fight against pirates and coast patrolling and EUTM (European Union Training Mission), a mission for training of Somali army and police which is to be carried out in Uganda. ‘We shall send two river unit officers to Atalanta and one medical team in Uganda’, Miscevic says.
General Milan Mojsilovic says that the EU missions are something new and that by participating in them we; too undertake responsibility for the defense and security policy of the EU. ‘All our soldiers who participated in peace-keeping missions returned with positive experience. By participating in the EU mission we undertake the EU standards and become a part of the EU peace-keeping policy’. General Mojsilovic says.
http://english.blic.rs/News/
Somali pirates seize tanker off Oman
20 Aug – Source: AP, Yahoo News – 94 words
Maritime officials say suspected Somali pirates off the Omani coast have seized control of a tanker with 21 Indian crew members aboard.
The officials say Oman naval vessels are following the tanker, Fairchem Bogey, which was commandeered Saturday off the southern coast of Oman near the port of Salalah. The Mumbaioperated tanker can carry oil and chemicals.
The maritime officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with rules to brief the media. Somali pirates have expanded their range in recent months to target ships along the coast of Oman on the Arabian Peninsula.
http://news.yahoo.com/somali-
BLOGS/EDITORIAL/CULTURE
Somalia famine requires collective responsibility
21 Aug – Source: New Vision – 319 words
WITH the declaration of famine and a drought of biblical proportions, the situation in Somalia grows more desperate each passing day. With death stalking Somalians and their families, these people who are victims of climate change, poor rainfall and perpetual internal conflicts by warring groups now stream into Kenya and Ethiopia at a shocking rate of 3,500 per day.
What hope is there for these people trapped in a drought? The mere declaration of a humanitarian disaster and famine by the international agencies does very little to arrest the dehumanizing and desperate conditions manifested, for example, in these hapless victims or refugees having to walk as far as 100km in search of food, water and shelter.
Thousands of children perish from acute malnutrition and anemia. While Somalis of all stripes and persuasions are fully united, perhaps for the first time, in responding to the drought by raising their voice through fund-raising events, Face book pages, and other social tools and distributing the message across the globe, we call on the international donors to act with urgency via scaling up their response and to rapidly devise mechanisms to reach out to the affected people. Gratefully, some international charities, mainly from the Muslim world, have already made a significant contribution, but they should redouble their assistance.