23 Aug 2011 – Daily Monitoring Report
Key Headlines:
- The Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission co-chaired the 9th Joint Security Committee meeting held in Mogadishu
- Iran foreign minister arrives in Mogadishu
- Somalia: Parliament’s Humanitarian Committee decries gov’t
- Ambassador Mahiga: Remnants of Shabaab are still in Mogadishu
- Charities join forces to donate cash to Red Crescent in Somalia
- Saudi relief campaign for the people of Somalia kicks off in Saudi Arabia
- US court gives Somalis life over pirate attack
- African leaders to pledge funds for Horn drought crisis
PRESS STATEMENT
The Deputy Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission co-chaired the 9th Joint Security Committee meeting held in Mogadishu
23 Aug – Source: AMISOM – 343 words
The 9th Joint Security Committee (JSC) meeting was held in Mogadishu yesterday for the first time since the year 2009. The meeting was co-chaired by His Excellency Mr. Abdiwali Mohamed Ali, Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia, Dr. Augustine P. Mahiga, and Special Representative of the Secretary-General, United Nations and Honorable Wafula Wamunyinyi, Deputy Special Representative for Somalia on behalf of Ambassador Boubacar Diarra, Special Representative and Head of AMISOM. Also in attendance were several key figures of the TFG, Ambassadors, senior staff of UNPOS, and representatives from AMISOM.
The purpose of the 9th Joint Security Committee meeting was to explore a collective understanding of the security implications following the recent and sudden withdrawal of Al-Shabaab. The meeting particularly focused on progress that has been made by the TFG in revising the National Security and Stabilization Plan (NSSP) reflecting current Security Sector Development priority needs and required actions to consolidate the Achievements Speaking during the official opening, Honorable Wafula, on behalf of the SRCC, emphasized the significance of the meeting being held in Mogadishu, adding it was a clear testimony of how the security situation was steadily improving on the ground, and therefore all parties should work together to consolidate the gains.
“It is a great pleasure to come together to find a common approach and ways to mitigate potential risks while consolidating current gains and charting the way forward. “I appeal to regional and international community to support the TFG to enhance their capacity particularly in the security sector to ensure the restoration of the rule of law in the country. I also appeal to the TFG to enhance dialogue and reconciliation for an all inclusive Somalia”, he said.
The meeting concluded with (i) a decision on priority Security Sector Development needs for months to come following the withdrawal of Al-Shabaab; (ii) a draft Mogadishu Security Action Plan; (iii) a consensus on completing the revised NSSP as an implementation of the JSC directives of June 2011; and a communiqué on the deliberations and decisions of the JSC was released.
SOMALI MEDIA
Iran foreign minister arrives in Mogadishu
23 Aug – Source: Radio Mogadishu, Bar-Kulan – 59 words
A large delegation headed by the foreign minister of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi arrived in Mogadishu today and was welcomed by the Minister of Interior Affairs and National Security Abdisamad Moallim Mohamud Sheikh Hassan at Aden Adde international airport. Heading a delegation of Iran’s Red Crescent, Salehi will meet some Somali officials and visit the famine-stricken victims’ IDP camps and hospitals and deliver aid to famine victims.
Somalia: Parliament’s Humanitarian Committee decries gov’t
23 Aug – Source: Shabelle – 149 words
The Humanitarian Committee of Somali parliament on Tuesday accused the TFG of being responsible for the repetitive looting of aid food by its soldiers. The Secretary of Parliament’s Committee for Humanitarian Affairs, Mohamed Amin told the media that the government is not doing enough to fight the soldiers who are accustomed to rob and loot aid for the starving Somalis fleeing from famine. He said the government is needed to protect the famine displaced people’s aid food coming from the local people and the international community. Amin spelled out the looting of aid food by government soldiers is not acceptable. The statement of parliament’s Committee for Humanitarian Affairs comes only one day after three people were killed and three others injured while Somali soldiers, who were looting aid for the destitute people, fired at an IDP camp in Mogadishu.
http://www.shabelle.net/
Civil societies appeal for immediate aid for famine-victims in Hiiraan region
23 Aug – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 136 words
Civil societies in Hiiraan region have called on Somalis and the world to come to the aid of thousands of starving people in the region. They raised their concern over the plight of over 3,000 families living in Bula-barde, Halgan and Buq-aqable and Mukeyle settlements, who are on the brink of starvation due to the ravaging drought and famine situation in the area. They said the few aid agencies operating in the region have pulled out of the area after al Shabaab banned them from aiding the needy people in the region. The appeal for immediate humanitarian aid for drought and famine-stricken people in the area comes days after the militia group kept behind bars the head of Danish Refugee Council and two other aid workers in the region for allegedly recruiting new staff without their knowledge.
Ambassador Mahiga: Remnants of Shabaab are still in Mogadishu
23 Aug – Source: Mareeg Online – 85 words
UN Special Representative for Somali Political Affairs, Ambassador Augustine Mahiga said that Somali national army control 95% of the capital Mogadishu and asked international community to help T.F.G, reports said. Speaking after security meeting that had IGAD, AU, French, American, UN and T.F.G agents, Ambassador Augustine Mahiga told that Somali government control 95% of Mogadishu city adding that remnants of Shabaab militias were still in Mogadishu. “We’ll give support Somali government in security and urge international community to back Somalis in every aspect, Mahiga said.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Somalia: Puntland rescue crew after fire sparks a vessel
23 Aug – Source: Radio Shabelle, Bar-Kulan, Kulmiye and Risala – 95 words
The semi-autonomous state of Somalia’s Puntland has managed to rescue eighteen crew after fire sparked their vessel at Puntland coastlines, officials said. The vessel, which was loaded with livestock, caught a fire hours after sailing from Puntland coasts. Said Mohamed Rage, Puntland’s Minister of Seaports and Transports said that the crews were from Somalia and India, adding that some of them sustained minor injuries. The fire was due to engines-related failures which started at the vessel and then spread, according to the minister. He added it took frantic efforts to put out the fire and rescue the livestock.
Authorities in Sool region call for IDPs aid
22 Aug – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 121 words
Authorities in Sool region have urged locals in the region to urgently assist drought and conflict displaced people from southern Somalia camping in the region. Sool regional governor Mohamed Mohamud Ali called on the locals in Las Anod town to help drought victims as well as those from conflict prone regions in Southern Somalia. The governor was speaking at a meeting organized by area women group, SUNGO, funded by the Danish Refugee Council. Las Anod Mayor Keyse Ahmed Hajji Hussein said the IDP camps in the area need vital infrastructures such as roads as they turned the camps into slums. Over two thousands IDPs from southern Somalia are camping in Las Anod towns as they seek refuge in this relatively calm area.
Shabaab claims victory over war in Gedo region
23 Aug – Source: Mareeg Online – 106 words
Rebel group of Shabaab has on Tuesday claimed victory over war between them and Somali transitional federal government in Busar village close to Elwak district of Gedo region southwest Somalia, reports said. Chairman of Shabaab in for Gedo region, Sheikh Abas told their media that their forces gained control of Busar where they had fought with Somali national army pushing T.F.G forces to Elwak district. “We have killed over 20 people, they fled their dead bodies on the road, we have the upper hand in the battle, Sheikh Abbas said. Similarly government officials in Gedo region early claimed victory over the routine clash between these sides.
http://www.mareeg.com/fidsan.
Bay and Bakol drought prevention committee receives $4,000 aid package
23 Aug – Source: Radio Bar-Kulan – 95 words
Bay and Bakol drought prevention committee has received $4,000 financial aid package from Somali community in New Zealand, says officials. Director of Dahabshil money transfer Company, Baidoa branch, Sheikh Ibrahim Bijini who is also a member of the committee confirmed to Bar-kulan that they received the money from Somali well-wishers in New Zealand. He said they will immediately distribute the money to the needy people in refugee camps in Baidoa town as anticipated. Bay and Bakol regions are in the U.N list of famine zones in southern Somalia, where hundreds of thousands are facing starvation.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Saudi relief campaign for the people of Somalia kicks off in Saudi Arabia
22 Aug – Source: Saudi Press Agency – 76 words
The Saudi relief campaign for the people of Somalia which was launched throughout the Kingdom this evening upon instructions of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has so far pumped more than SR 90 Million in Riyadh alone, it was reported.
The campaign, live on the Saudi TV, will continue for two more days, upon instructions of Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, the Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior.
http://www.spa.gov.sa/English/
AU chairman undertakes one-day visit to Somali capital
22 Aug – Source: APA, Afrique Avenir – 285 words
The Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union (AU), Jean Ping, on Sunday, undertook a one day visit to Mogadishu, the Somali capital.
According to a press release from the AU, the Chairperson, accompanied by the Commissioner for Peace and Security, Ramtane Lamamra, and his Special Representative for Somalia, Boubacar Gaoussou Diarra, was briefed by Major General Fred Mugisha, Force Commander of the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). Major General Mugisha also briefed the delegation on the recent developments on the ground and achievements made by the forces of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia and AMISOM, particularly the extension of their control to areas previously under Al Shabaab.
In his response, the Chairperson paid tribute to the TFG forces, as well as to AMISOM leadership and troops, for their commitment and courage. The delegation also visited Hawalwadag IDP camp, where it met with drought? Affected Somalis, as well as AMISOM Level II Hospital, where Somali civilians receive free medical treatment.
http://www.afriqueavenir.org/
Charities join forces to donate cash to Red Crescent in Somalia
23 Aug – Source: the National – 541 words
Charity groups across the country are joining forces to raise money for the work of the Red Crescent Authority in Somalia. Flea 4 Charity, a group that collects unwanted items and sells them at flea markets, has raised Dh45, 150 to date. Dubai Acts for East African Drought (DAEAD) was founded by Mona Gulaid, a Briton of Somali descent, and has raised Dh40, 000. A third group will hold a garage sale at Fujairah Tennis Club at 8pm on Friday.
All their efforts will come together when their combined funds are donated to the Red Crescent Authority (RCA). The majority of the funds raised will be presented to the RCA on Friday at a charity iftar event sponsored by the Jumeirah Rotary Club at the Southern Sun Qamardeen Hotel in Downtown Dubai.
“As Dubai residents we want to show that we stand in solidarity for what’s happening in East Africa,” Ms Gulaid said. “We will put our money together and present it to the Red Crescent as one.”
Somalia urges international community to help promote peace through sports
22 Aug – Source: APA, Afrique Avenir – 527 words
The Transitional Federal Government {TFG} of Somalia has called on the international community to give particular consideration to peace and sports promotion in the war-devastated Horn of Africa country.
The newly-appointed Somali Youth and Sports minister Mohamed Mohyaddin Sheikh Musral made the call at a joint press conference with the Somali National Olympics Committee (NOC) and the Somali Football Association presidents at the Banadir Stadium north-east of the capital Mogadishu on Sunday.
“On behalf of the Somali government, I am urging the international community in general and in particular the friendly countries and all those who are interested in peace and sports development to help Somalia rebuild peace through sports. Our country has been under-going civil wars for more than two decades and now we need every possible assistance from the international community,” the minister said.
“We are prioritizing football for peace programs, because we know that football is the people’s choice and also it is the sole element that can bring more than a 100, 000 people at one place at the same time,” the minister told journalists at the stadium where the Somali FA invited the Somali NOC and the Ministry of Sports on Sunday to study the real situation of the stadium.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
US court gives Somalis life over pirate attack
23 Aug – Source: AFP – 541 words
A US court on Monday handed life sentences to two Somali men over an attack that killed four Americans on a hijacked yacht, with authorities vowing to send a tough message on piracy. The life sentences to Ali Abdi Mohamed, 30, and Burhan Abdirahman Yusuf, 31, were the first delivered over the February deaths. Both pleaded guilty; 12 more men await sentencing, including three who face the death penalty.
US prosecutors pledged that the case would serve as a lesson for Somalia’s pirates, who have created a virtual industry based on hijackings and ransom payments in the strategic waters next to their lawless homeland.
The sentences “will be heard throughout the pirate community — and should send a clear message — that the days of unbridled armed robbery and extortion at sea are over,” said Janice Fedarcyk, assistant director-in-charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New York field office. “The only plunder these pirates earned is life behind bars,” she said in a statement announcing the sentences, handed by a federal judge in the major naval hub of Norfolk, Virginia.
Jean and Scott Adam, Christian missionaries from California, were sailing their Quest yacht around the world and planned to take in sites from India to Crete when they were hijacked off the coast of Oman.
The US Navy conducted days of negotiations and brought two pirates aboard the USS Sterett to negotiate. According to the Navy, pirates suddenly launched a rocket-propelled grenade and, as US forces headed to the hijacked yacht, shot the Adams and their companions, Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle.
African leaders to pledge funds for Horn drought crisis
23 Aug – Source: Times – 584 words
African leaders will meet to pledge funds to tackle the famine in Somalia and extreme drought across the Horn of Africa which are putting millions of people at risk of starvation. African Union Commission chairman Jean Ping will appeal to the continents’ leaders and the international community to assist more than 12 million drought-hit people in the region, during a pledging conference in the Ethiopian capital.
“(I) wish to make this clarion call to all Africans to… act out against hunger by providing both cash and in-kind support for urgent life-saving assistance to our brothers and sisters in the Horn of Africa,” Ping said in a statement.
Some 12.4 million people in the Horn of Africa, including parts of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda, are affected by the worst drought in decades in the region and are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN. The demands are huge, with a $1.1 billion shortfall from a total $2.4 billion needed, according to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
http://www.timeslive.co.za/
“We fled for our lives to Mogadishu”: Somali famine victim
22 Aug – Source: Xinhua – 746 words
The family of Muse Iyow was some of the last to leave their village in southern Somalia where months of drought led to severe famine that wiped out all they had forever. “We were living nicely on our farmland with several dozen heads of goats and cattle but rains started to decrease and eventually stopped for more than six months,” Iyow, a father of four, told Xinhua at a camp in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
“Our livestock began dying one after the other, crops and grass weathered because of lack of rain. We lost all we had so like everybody else we fled for our lives to Mogadishu to get help.” Iyow’s family then started their 15-day epic perilous journey on foot to the Somali capital Mogadishu, a war-zone, where Islamist fighters and Somali government forces backed by African Union peacekeepers battled for its control.
“We sold the last remaining four weak goats to use as a provision during our journey to Mogadishu. What we saw particularly our young children, saw on the way of carcasses of dead animals and graves lined along the road added to our fear and will remain with us for the rest of our lives,”
Iyow’s story of survival is typical of the tens of thousands of displaced people and refugees living in squalid often overcrowded camps in Mogadishu as well as other camps in neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
BLOGS/EDITORIAL/CULTURE
Charge Somalia’s Leaders in The Hague
22 Aug – Source: Nairobi Star – 842 words
It is not drought or nature that causes starvation on the Horn of Africa. War, conflict and irresponsible leaders are to blame for the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people forced to migrate and seek refuge for a chance to survive. Many will die. If these leaders are allowed to continue there will be new famines. The world should make the same demands on the leaders in Somalia as on any other leaders they should be brought to The Hague and charged with crimes against humanity.
The picture is of course complex. In Somalia there are lots of competent and entrepreneurial people who hijack ships, launder money, deal in drugs and weapons – but also people who in a vacuum and without a functioning state create hi-tech communications systems, manage money transfers, and start up radio stations.
Drought and floods come and go in Somalia, they always have. Climate change may have increased volatility, but people have been able to manage the caprices of nature without massive starvation. The Somali leaders are not the only actors. Ethiopia is neglecting the drought-prone Ogaden region where many Somali live and where there is a Somali liberation movement.
Kenya has for years disregarded its North-Eastern province, where the influx of Somalis has been large for a long time. Eritrea is in constant conflict with Ethiopia and hence supports all Ethiopia’s enemies, for instance Al Shabaab, on the principle that the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
The sad truth is that the only reasonably calm period in Somalia over the last 20 years was the short period when the ‘Islamic courts’ had a big influence around 2006. They kept the war lords at bay and had the support of the population in the capital Mogadishu. This support was not about religion but about yearning for peace. Many accepted restrictions of liberties in order to avoid the combats. But with the support of the international community, not least the United States, Ethiopia intervened with its troops in the fall of 2006, and chaos once again became the order of the day. And the – at least superficially – moderate Islamic courts were replaced by the fundamentalist Al Shabaab.
http://www.nairobistar.com/