September 26, 2014 | Daily Monitoring Report.

Main Story

African Forces Plan Surge to Cut Somali Militants’ Supply Routes

26 Sept – Source: Bloomberg – 149 words

African troops in Somalia are planning a “surge” to free areas still controlled by al Qaeda-linked militants, with more than two-thirds of the country already liberated, government and African Union officials said.

The multinational force is advancing on the al Shabaab stronghold of Barawe at the coast, which the militant group uses as an operations and logistics center, Zaddock Syong’oh, policy adviser at Kenya’s Foreign Ministry, said in an interview yesterday. Kenya contributes troops to the AU mission, which is also targeting Jilib, the most-populated town in the Middle Juba region in the south, as well as Buale and Badadhe, he said.

Barawe serves as an access point for al Shabaab “to get weapons and supplies by sea,” Syong’oh said. “It will be the next big thing after Kismayo,” he said, referring to the capture two years ago of the Somali port that severed an income stream generated by illegal charcoal exports.

Key Headlines

African Forces Plan Surge to Cut Somali Militants’ Supply Routes (Bloomberg)
Gunmen shot dead former Buq-soor village chief in Beledweyne (Radio Bar-kulan)
700 Somali refugees in Yemen asking to go back home (Radio Ergo)
Somalia adopts UN Convention on the Rights of Child‏ (Radio Mogadishu)
Saudi Foreign Minister Meets with Somalia’s President Hassan (SPA)
Galkayo airport shut down for security reasons (Radio Garowe)
Stability in Somalia will boost Kenya’s prosperity- President Kenyatta (Radio Risaala)
Somalia asks UN to shelve Kenya bid in oil border dispute (East African)
Between a rock and a hard place: Which way for Somali refugees? (Star-Kenya)
Somali-American officers bridge gap between police and community (Minnpost)
UN Human Rights Council: Interactive Dialogue with the Independent Expert on Somalia (Human Rights Watch)

SOMALI MEDIA

Galmudug president arrives in Adado town, Galgadud region

26 Sept- Source: Radio Bar-kulan/Radio Gaalkacyo/Radio Goobjoog- 125 words

Galmudug president Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdiid on Thursday arrived in Adado town, the administrative capital of Himan and Heeb Administration in Somalia’s central region of Galgadud.

The president met with Himan and Heeb Administration officials and civil society groups to discuss the proposed formation of a unified federal state for Mudug and Galgadud regions.

He said the technical committee to facilitate the state formation process needs to arrive in Adado town, where politicians and community elders are expected to gather ahead of the state formation conference.

He called on politicians and traditional elders from Mudug and Galgadud regions to play their part in assisting the regional administrations organize central state formation conference which is due in Adado.

Somalia adopts UN Convention on the Rights of Child‏

26 Sept- Source: Radio Mogadishu/Radio RBC- 275 words

The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs for the Federal Government of Somalia Farah Abdukadir said that the cabinet today adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which provides children protection under the law.

The Prime Minister of Somalia, Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed said: “It was more than ten years ago, more precisely on 9 May 2002 that Somalia initially signed the convention. In 2009 and more recently on 20 November 2013 last year, this Government committed to adopt and ratify the convention.

“I am happy to announce that this Government has kept his promise to its children, to its people and to the world and will officially join the international community in protecting children rights as soon as the law is ratified by Parliament.”

HE the Prime Minister continued: “For the past 10 years Somalia’s young generation and children have been victims of violence and war. Many of them even spent their childhood in refugee camps or were taken away by force from their home to become child-soldiers.

Children have been at the forefront of my agenda. Our children are Somalia’s future we must invest in them. We must seriously commit to protecting them from war, sexual abuse or any kind of violence and we dedicated to ensure their full development though proper educations, sports and job programs. Somalia’s youth and children are the foundation on which this country will re-emerge as a secure, stable and, economically prosper nation.”

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) provides for the child-specific needs and rights and requires that states, act in the best interests of the child.

Galkayo airport shut down for security reasons

26 Sept- Source: Radio Garowe/Raadraacnews-168 words

Puntland authorities for the second day shut down airport in Mudug regional capital of Galkayo of central Somalia over security reasons as President Gaas is holding extraordinary meeting with cabinet ministers, Garowe Online reports. The closure has come after Galmudug authorities threatened with attack on Abdullahi Yusuf airport.

The ban on flights into and from Galkayo airport entered the second day, with witnesses reporting that the dispute over new airstrip formed in Galkayo’s Barahley neighborhood is gaining momentum. Puntland denied Galmudug leader and former warlord Abdi Hassan Awale Qaybdiid entry to Galkayo, deeming the restriction a legitimate.

Sources close to Puntland presidency say, Galkayo airport closure remains high on agendas in the ongoing cabinet meet at Puntland State House.

On Thursday, Galmudug parliamentarian Mohamed Hussein Tahliil told reporters that Galmudug will impose blockade on departing and arriving flights at Galkayo airport if Puntland fails to respond to their demand.

Gunmen shot dead former Buq-soor village chief in Beledweyne

26 Sept- Source: Radio Bar-kulan- 130 words

Gunmen in Somalia’s central town of Beledweyne, the regional capital of Hiiraan region on Thursday night shot dead Maallim Aden Mohamed Aden, a local chief from Buq-soor village in Hiiraan region.

Deputy Governor of Hiiraan region, Mohamed Ibrahim Abdullahi told Bar-kulan that two men armed with pistols shot dead the former chief of Buq-soor village on Thursday night in Beledweyne.

He added the regional security agencies are taking measures to bring the perpetrators to book. No one has far claimed responsibility of the killing of the official.

Buq-soor village lies 55 KM west of Beledweyne town, the provincial capital of Hiiraan region and is one of several villages recently liberated by Somali and African Union forces from al Shabaab militant group.

700 Somali refugees in Yemen asking to go back home

26 Sept- Source: Radio Ergo- 325 words

Hundreds of Somali refugees in Yemen have expressed their willingness to return to Somalia to escape the escalating sectarian tension in Yemen.

The Somali consul in Aden, Ahmed Abdi Hassan, told Radio Ergo’s local correspondent that more than 700 Somalis in Yemen had approached the consulate requesting to be assisted in returning to Somalia.

“They need to be assisted in returning to Somalia since they don’t want to stay here any longer,” said Hassan.

He said the Somali government in collaboration with UNHCR and other international partners was working on ways to help refugees go back home.

In a recent meeting with UNHCR officials in Aden, Somali consular officials requested the agency to assess the situation of Somali refugees in Yemen and come up with a process that could see the speedy repatriation of refugees eager to go back home.

“85 per cent of Somali refugees live in Yemen’s southern regions where insecurity is rampant. They are now too concerned about tension in the capital, Sanaa. Let’s hope it doesn’t get out of control,” said Hassan.

Explaining why some of the refugees were now opting to go back home, he said: “They have been in the camps for a very long time and experienced appalling living conditions as well as poor health services.”

He said the improving security situation in parts of Somalia might also be another main reason for the desire to return.

Hassan said they were expecting officials from Somali federal government’s committee for refugees to visit Yemen soon and meet with the refugees to discuss on several issues affecting them.

He denied allegations that Somali refugees were fighting alongside the Shia Houthi rebels opposing the Yemeni government.

“There was no reason why Somalis here could take part in the current unrest. They are so concerned about the political instability because they will gain nothing from it except another displacement,” he said. There are more than 230,000 Somali refugees currently in Yemen.

Stability in Somalia will boost Kenya’s prosperity- President Kenyatta

26 Sept- Source: Radio Risaala/Radio Star/Star-Kenya- – 142 words

A secure and stable Somalia will boost Kenya’s prosperity, President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Thursday. The President, who spoke at a meeting to discuss Somalia chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said Kenya, will continue supporting the government of Somalia until the whole country is secure. He said Kenya will continue providing technical support to Somalia, which has been at war for the last 20 years, the President said. Kenyatta said securing Somalia will also help revitalise the tourism sector in Kenya which has been slowed down by terrorism. He said a secure Somalia will also lead to better environmental conservation since this will provide better coordination to control poaching in some parts of the country. He also called on the international community to support the voluntary repatriation of refugees of more than half a million refugees from Kenya to Somalia.

REGIONAL MEDIA

Somalia asks UN to shelve Kenya bid in oil border dispute

25 Sept – Source: East African – 143 words

Somalia has petitioned the UN body that determines international maritime borders to shelve Kenya’s applications for a larger territory in a dispute linked to lucrative oil and gas reserves in the Indian Ocean.

A document seen by the Business Daily shows that Somalia has filed a formal claim for a bigger chunk of the continental shelf but urged the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) not to consider applications made by Kenya, Tanzania and Yemen.

The internationally-backed government in Mogadishu is seeking to claw back authority over Somalia’s territorial waters, including the area bordering Kenya that is potentially rich in oil and gas deposits.

Somalia is pursuing a two-pronged approach that includes pursuing arbitration through UNCLOS and judicial process after it filed a suit last month with the International Court of Justice in The Hague – the UN’s top court.

Between a rock and a hard place: Which way for Somali refugees?

25 Sept- Source: Star-Kenya-1390 Words

“In countries where people have to flee their homes because of persecution and violence, political solutions must be found, peace and tolerance restored, so that refugees can return home. Going home is the deepest wish of most refugees.”

Those are the words made in 2004 by UN High Commission for Refugees goodwill ambassador Angelina Jolie.

Ten years later, her words ring true for Hassan Abdi Birikan. “There is nothing sweeter than going home. There is no greater reward for the displaced than going home,” he said.

Hassan, who has stayed in Dadaab refugee complex for more than two decades following Somalia’s bloody internal war since 1991, now wants to home.

But there is a problem. He cannot go home. He does not have the means to go home thousands of kilometers away in war-torn Somalia. Hassan, 60, who is a father of six, stays in Kambioos, one of the five camps that make up Dadaab camps.

Saudi Foreign Minister Meets with Somalia’s President Hassan

25 Sept- Source: Saudi News Agency-110 Words

Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Head of the delegation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the meetings of the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, met at his residence here today with President Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud of Somalia, on the sidelines of the 69th UN General Assembly.

The two sides discussed the topics on the agenda of the 69th UN General Assembly and reviewed means of enhancing bilateral relations. They also discussed the latest developments at the Syrian, Iraqi and regional arenas. They also reviewed bilateral relations between the two countries. The meeting was attended by Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel Al-Jubeir

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

African Forces Plan Surge to Cut Somali Militants’ Supply Routes

26 Sept – Source: Bloomberg – 149 words

Somali-American officers bridge gap between police and community

26 Sept – Source: Minnpost – 161 words

Cheers and laughter filled Safari Restaurant and Event Center in Minneapolis Wednesday night as members of the Somali-American Police Association (SAPA) presented the organization’s mission and service to the community — with lots of jokes.

“One day, a Somali woman was caught speeding,” said Mukhtar Abdulkadir, a Minneapolis police officer. “A police pulled her over. She was so nervous and fearful while she waited for the police [to] come to her window. Then she glanced at the window. Realizing the officer was a Somali, she said to him, ‘Oh, you scared me. I thought you were a real police officer.’”

Wearing his crisp blue police uniform and a black tie, Abdulkadir chuckled at his joke, and the nearly 100 Somali-Americans in attendance broke into laughter and cheers.

But jokes aside, the gathering was meant to introduce SAPA to the community, to showcase the contributions of Somali-Americans and to punctuate the integral role the Somali community plays in their adopted homeland.

UN Human Rights Council: Interactive Dialogue with the Independent Expert on Somalia

26 Sept- Source: Human Rights Watch- 520 words

The initial report of the United Nations Independent Expert on Somalia highlights the need for the Somali government to convert positive rhetoric and plans – notably in the areas of justice and security sector reform – into concrete action.

The human rights situation in Somalia, particularly in the south-central region, remains dire. Civilians continue to bear the brunt of the conflict. According to the UN, 120,000 Somalis have been displaced since the beginning of 2014, primarily as a result of insecurity and fighting between the new joint Somali-African Union military force and Al-Shabaab militants.

In Mogadishu, which is largely under government control, the population continues suffer human rights abuses, including by the Somali security forces. The government has failed to protect the capital’s hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people who endure forced evictions and restrictions on access to food and shelter. Al-Shabaab and other armed actors remain responsible for targeted killings of judicial personnel, lawmakers and clan elders. Since mid-2014, Somalia’s national intelligence agency, NISA, which does not appear to have a legal mandate for arrests and detentions, has intimidated and harassed journalists and media workers.

SOCIAL MEDIA

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

“The firm sense of visual scale—with shots often composed around the horizon line, reminding the viewer that even the container ship is just a speck on the ocean—provides Fishing Without Nets with a stage, but not much else; ultimately, the movie is less than the sum of its backdrops.”

The Somali pirate flick Fishing Without Nets floats by on style

25 Sept- Source: AVClub-555 Words

The appeal of Somali pirate movies, of which there are now enough to constitute a micro-genre, lies in the way they combine old-fashioned high-seas tension—shipboard confinement intensified by the freedom of open water—with the murky ins and outs of modern commerce.

Real-world maritime pirates hijack ships for ransom, not plunder, and modern-day pirate stories trade in abstracted space and action: claustrophobic container ships drifting through endless ocean; protracted, hostile negotiations carried out over satellite phone, with both parties left guessing what the other might do; pirates separated from their leaders and crew members separated from their employers; hostages turned into tradable commodities and forced to communicate with their minders through gestures and snatches of English.

Cutter Hodierne’s VICE-produced Fishing Without Nets—which is significantly expanded from the director-cowriter’s well-traveled 2012 calling card short—bills itself as a maritime hijacking story told from the pirates’ point of view, though the only thing that distinguishes it, perspective-wise, from A Hijacking or Captain Phillips is the fact that most of the movie is set on dry land.

“Professional armed forces, properly trained, uniformed, equipped and paid, are fundamental to Somalia’s renaissance. Let us hope we can all leave London with a clear idea of not just what is needed, but when and how it will actually be delivered.”

Professional and well-equipped armed forces fundamental to Somalia’s renaissance

24 Sept- Source: Albany Aasociates Blog/Capital Ethiopia-1087 Words

Stakeholders from various parts of the world will gather in London to consider how they could collectively play their part in rebuilding the Somali National Army. They will do so against a backdrop that serves as a stark reminder of the importance of “follow through” in global foreign policy. There are a multitude of views as to the rights and wrongs of what has happened in countries such as Iraq and Libya, and indeed what has and hasn’t happened in Syria, but a consistent lesson learned is that building peace is every bit as difficult and important as defeating tyranny.

The breakdown of nationhood and the challenge of re-building a failed state are graphically on display in Somalia. Ironically however, the rest of the world might care to take a longer look at Somalia, for amongst all the fragmentation and subsequent problems of the post Barre years, out of the wreckage has emerged a unity of action and spirit which other regions such as the Middle East might seek to replicate. AMISOM, the African Union Mission in Somalia, has sought to provide an “African Solution to an African Problem”, and this year it has enjoyed some considerable success. In 2 major military operations targeting the al Qaeda affiliate, al Shabaab, African Union forces have made significant progress, and fundamental to their strategy has been to work with a gradually rejuvenating Somali National Army.

Top tweets

@BeilehMofa Delivering the press statement after the high level meeting on Somalia with @Somalia111 @TheVillaSomalia @SomaliPM pic.twitter.com/L3pOLT43mo

@PuntlandWatch #Puntland controlled Galkacyo Airport has not been closed down, this is an image taken today #Somalia pic.twitter.com/HRo9xpirie

@MogadishuImages Seen at Lido Beach in #Mogadishu ,#Somalia an artistic expression: sand on face , seaweed on the head. pic.twitter.com/fbVFqKSUFk

@UNOAU_ Pictures of the #UNOAU & #UNAMID exhibition 2 re-celebrate the Intern. #PeaceDay -UN providing logist. sup. 2 AMISOM pic.twitter.com/QPrZlufF3d

@amisomsomalia #AMISOM Review issue 14 is out! Read, download and share the English version herehttp://bit.ly/1v7GUb3 pic.twitter.com/z9FRaXMFAV

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Image of the day

Image of the day Pictures of the #UNOAU & #UNAMID exhibition 2 re-celebrate the Intern. #PeaceDay – AMISOM SRCC welcoming UNSOM SRSG. Photo: @UNOAU_