September 17, 2014 | Morning Headlines.
President Mohamud opens reconciliation conference in Kismayo
16 Sept – Source: Radio Mogadishu/Bar-kulan/RBC – 94 words
The president of the federal government of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud arrived in Kismayo, the center of Interim Jubba administration and the regional capital of Lower Jubba region. The president along with a delegation has received a warm welcome from Interim Jubba Administration leader Ahmed Mohamed Islam Alias Modobe and other senior officials from Jubbu administration. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud opened the reconciliation conference held for the people of Lower Jubba, Middle Jubba and Gedo regions that has kicked offTuesday in Kismayo, the port capital of Interim Jubba administration.
Key Headlines
- President Mohamud opens reconciliation conference in Kismayo (Radio Mogadishu)
- Speaker Jawari urges security official to step up security in Baidoa (RBC)
- Senior official from US Department of State visits Somali capital (Bar-kulan)
- American tourist in Kenya mistaken for ‘White Widow’ Samantha Lewthwaite (AFP)
- Kenya’s First Lady Margaret Kenyatta leads Westgate commemorations (Daily Nation)
- Pro government demo held in Mogadishu (Somali Current)
- Over 130000 people displaced in Somalia so far this year as IDPs bear brunt of food insecurity crisis(UNHCR)
SOMALI MEDIA
President Mohamud opens reconciliation conference in Kismayo
16 Sept – Source: Radio Mogadishu/Bar-kulan/RBC – 94 words
The president of the federal government of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud arrived in Kismayo, the center of Interim Jubba administration and the regional capital of Lower Jubba region. The president along with a delegation has received a warm welcome from Interim Jubba Administration leader Ahmed Mohamed Islam Alias Modobe and other senior officials from Jubbu administration. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud opened the reconciliation conference held for the people of Lower Jubba, Middle Jubba and Gedo regions that has kicked off Tuesday in Kismayo, the port capital of Interim Jubba administration.
Speaker Jawari urges security official to step up security in Baidoa
16 Sept – Source: RBC – 91 words
The Speaker of Somalia’s Federal Parliament Mohamed Osman Jawari has urged the security officials to step up the security in Baidoa town amid the first regional level reconciliation conference in the town. The Speaker of the country’s parliament made the announcement after he met with the security apparatus in the region at the 60th Battalion base in Baidoa on Tuesday. “I urge our security forces and the AMISOM troops in Baay region to maintain the security patrol and beef up the security in Baidoa town.”Mr Jawari told the security heads.
Senior official from US Department of State visits Somali capital
16 Sept – Source: Bar-kulan – 94 words
The Counselor of the US Department of State, Thomas A. Shannon, visited Mogadishu on September 14. He was joined by Special Representative for Somalia James P. McAnulty and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Steven J. Feldstein. In meetings with senior government officials and representatives of the international community, he reiterated the commitment of the United States to Somalia’s security and development. With President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed he discussed the latest military and political developments, including the successful strike against al-Shabaab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane.
Pro government demo held in Mogadishu
16 Sept – Source: Somali Current – 95 words
Thousands of the residents in Somali capital Mogadishu have come out today in large numbers to show their support to government forces battling al Shabaab. The residents who waved Somali flag and anti-al Shabaab placards denounced the group activities while throwing their weight behind the ongoing Indian Ocean operation by Somali national army and AMISOM forces against al Qaeda linked group. The is part of series of protests organized by Benadir administration for past months in support for government against al Shabaab militant group insurgency since driven out of the capital two years ago.
REGIONAL MEDIA
Kenya’s First Lady Margaret Kenyatta leads Westgate commemorations
16 Sept – Source: Daily Nation – 139 words
Kenya began emotional commemorations on Tuesday to mark the first anniversary of Nairobi’s Westgate Mall massacre, remembering the 67 people killed by Somali Islamist gunmen and those who risked their lives to stop them. In a speech at a memorial site unveiled at the capital’s National Museum, First Lady Margaret Kenyatta said Kenya had been “seriously scarred” but not broken by the attackers from the al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab rebels.”This is a time that brings much pain and sorrow to many, and is still a time of healing, having also lost members of our family in this senseless massacre,” said Kenyatta, whose nephew and his fiancee were among those killed. “The nation may have been seriously scarred, but we shall never be broken as a people,” she said, after lighting a candle in front of a list of the dead.
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA
Over 130,000 people displaced in Somalia so far this year as IDPs bear brunt of food insecurity crisis
16 Sept – Source: UNHCR – 117 words
Forced displacement within Somalia and across its borders shows no signs of easing, as forced evictions, drought, conflict and lack of livelihoods have forced over 130,000 people from their homes since the start of the year. The vast majority – some 107,000 – are internally displaced in Somalia; a total of 23,000 newly arrived Somali refugees have registered in Yemen, Kenya and Ethiopia during the first eight months of the year. Insecurity was the main cause of internal displacement, with some 38,000 people fleeing their homes because of military conflict. It is estimated that in the last eight month, approximately 7,000 people have fled the ongoing military offensive in South Central Somalia.
American tourist in Kenya mistaken for ‘White Widow’ Samantha Lewthwaite
16 Sept – Source: AFP – 116 words
An American family whose Kenyan holiday was ruined when a policeman mistook their 15-year-old daughter for an international terrorist has been offered an all-expenses-paid trip as compensation. A statement from the Kenyan government said the teenage holidaymaker was “harassed by police in Mlolongo”, outside of the capital Nairobi, “on accusations of looking like” Samantha Lewthwaite, widely known as the “White Widow”. Kenya’s interior minister, Joseph Ole Lenku, announced that the government would sponsor a “fully-paid holiday for the family”, and that police were investigating the incident. British fugitive Lewthwaite was married to Germaine Lindsay, one of four Islamist suicide bombers who participated in the 7/7 bombings on the London Underground in 2005, killing 52 people.
SOCIAL MEDIA
CULTURE / OPINION / EDITORIAL / ANALYSIS / BLOGS/ DISCUSSION BOARDS
“This article has been somewhat long and thank you for tarrying to the end of it. From the time you have read it, I hope I have lit a little flame in your poetic heart that will make you henceforth see Somalia as a country alive with art and heart, irrespective of what economics and politics tell us about it. There is a country alive in the east. Her name is Somalia.”
Celebrating Somalia
16 Sept – Source: Slipnet Blog – 868 words
For a couple of months, I have been drawn to poetry coming from Somalia and the reason is simple: Somalis are a people who are faced with daily struggles that many African countries have already gone through at independence. For many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, much of our best poetry and most-studied poets were born in the pre-independence era, writing their struggles and pouring their hearts in the art. The world has branded Somalia the most failed state but for us in the arts, we had better recognise Somalia for the goldmine it is when it comes to poetry and general literature because really, Somalis are in that phase that births literature with heart. Somali script existed before the Arabic conquest. At this link, you can see a picture of an early tablet, which indicates Wadaad writing of the Somalis. Omniglot explains and illustrates further here. In history, Somalia stands with Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia as the early-settled and most historically-relevant countries in Africa. Somalia has some of the earliest pyramids. Let me not digress to history. I’m celebrating Somalian art.